Pure Brazil

Planet Rhythm 2004, Audio CD, $15.98

I can’t believe Tuna already left. Time just flew! It was great to see her again and I hope she enjoyed her trip.

Thursday, I left early to pick up Tuna from the airport and we then headed back to downtown Mountain View. We checked out our pub but it was a little dead so we ended up at F&A. It was 18 & over night so I felt like a grandma! We had both skipped dinner so we stopped by Denny’s before heading home. It’s amazing how there aren’t that many 24 hr restaurants or diners around here.

Friday, I worked from home for most of the day and then Tuna and I went shopping for the party. There were some older guys at Andronico’s who looked like they were there to pick up chicks. Very weird. The party was nice although several people couldn’t make it. I think some were afraid of driving over the Bay Bridge. Tuna became an expert at making Caipirinhas and people were drinking them as though they were lemonades.

Saturday we spent most of the day at the Stanford Mall but we didn’t buy too much stuff. We then met Su at Niebaum-Coppola for dinner. The food was great as usual. We then headed to Café Borrone to get some coffee but Su was a little freaked out by the men at the table next to us. We ended up at the pub again and made the bouncer happy since he’s totally in love with Tuna. She was very popular with the men there, especially the very short ones. Some of the people dancing were hilarious. Hopefully TT will write more about it since she took copious notes (our coasters had a “Notes:” section on the back).

Today, we woke up pretty early and I drove Tuna to the airport (after the obligatory stop at Jamba Juice). She made it back safely to Rochester and I already miss having her around. I hope Tuna and Chuck can come to Brazil in December.

And I don’t have anything interesting to say.

I went shopping in San Mateo. I figured I should buy myself some b-day gifts. I got a few clothes and a new pair of shoes. Most of the clothes are wintery so I’ll have to wait to wear them.

I’m thinking of getting my hair cut tomorrow but I’m worried that might just be some sort of crazy reaction to turning 30. See, the thing is that I haven’t had my hair professionally cut in a decade. Yep, that’s right. My hair is such a mess that I can cut it myself and make all kinds of mistakes and it doesn’t show. We’ll see if I’m still fond of this idea in the morning.

On other news, I was planning on having a nice b-day working at home but now I have a meeting at 10:00 am and one at 1:00 pm so I’ll have to spend part of the day at the office.

I got my first b-day gift today! It was from someone in my group and it’s this really nice journal with a silk cover. Very cool!

Happy early b-day to squibnocket too! Her b-day is on Saturday, Oct. 27th. Another insane (she said it, not me) Scorpio in our group of bloggers. :-)

Lancome Renergie Night Treatment

Lancome, Misc.,

When I turned 25, I went out and got all these anti-aging anti-wrinkle anti-sagging anti-nature creme for my face.

Now that the big 3-0 is approaching, I suddenly feel the urge to do the same all over again. The main difference is that this time I’ll probably feel compelled to use them!

Tina had asked me to post a list of things I would like for my b-day. The sad part is, I can’t think of anything! I mean, there are many things I want but they are all pretty expensive and not appropriate gifts.

For example, I have used up all of my dental insurance money but I still need to get a root canal done. I’d love to have someone else pay for that but the likelihood of that happening is very slim, unless I wait until I go home at the end of the year and spend the next two months on pain killers.

Still on the dental arena, I need a mouth guard because I grind my teeth at night. That’s not covered by my insurance so add another $400 to my dental expenses this year. Oh, did I mention that I would also like to get braces (removable kind, of course) since my teeth started moving now that I’m getting older?

What else? I really wanted a 21" monitor for home. Again, not a very likely gift. Luckily, Su scored one for me through her job so I will get one after all. And it will only cost 80 bucks. (Yes, it’s used).

A DVD player would be nice. I also need a new VCR. Those things aren’t too expensive so I could probably buy them myself. The problem is that then I would have to somehow connect them to my current setup which Chad so carefully put together. Twice! And I can’t risk spoiling my Tivo setup. Yes, I’m addicted!

Moving on… Did I mention that I would love to have my own house? Again, not a very helpful item to add to my wish list.

So, Tuna, as you can see, I can’t think of anything to add to this gift wish list. I hope you have an easier time writing your list (and that you do it soon! Hint, hint).

Yesterday I bought my fourth dental floss dispenser of the year. Considering that one dispenser used to last me a whole year, I would say I have made some progress when it comes to dental hygiene.

Reading about driving mocs on Jenny’s blog gave me a major flashback. They used to be HUGE when I was in High School back in Brazil. I had 3 or 4 pairs but I got rid of them several years ago.

They are super comfortable but I couldn’t see myself wearing them again. They’re a little too preppie-soccer-Mom-with-the-largest-possible-SUV-and-blond-shaggy-haircut-who-spends-summers-in-the-hamptons for me.

Woke up and there was no water.

Called the water people. They sent some guy. He said the water was shut off and turned it back on. He figured kids must have turned it off.

Five minutes later the water was off again. Now I knew how to turn it back on. Thought this was weird and kept watching the water shut off valve location. Caught a Mexican guy turning it off again. He explained, in broken Spanish, that the water would be off all day.

Tried to clean my closets but felt this compulsive need to wash my hand every five minutes. Since there was no water, decided to go shopping.

Went to Target and bought a few things. Went to Pier 1 and bought BB2 pillows. Came back and watched a movie.

The water was shut off all day at my place. Apparently they were fixing something next door. It felt weird being a house with no water. It’s amazing how many times you wash your hands or need water to wash a glass or something. We really take all these niceties for granted.

Anyway, I decided to leave the house and went to Pier 1, looking for pillows. I got a new comforter a few months ago and it had been sitting in the bag all this time. The comforter and the pillow shams are very light (Ivory. That’s what “they” call it). I thought that some nice silk pillows in jewel tones would look nice. All the pillows I had were also cream so I found myself headed to Pier 1.

At first, I couldn’t see anything I liked. There were a couple of Indian-looking silk pillows that I liked. One was an olive green and the other was a dark red. There was also a purple pillow but I hate purple. I needed three pillows. Two wouldn’t do. Too symmetrical!

That’s when I spotted it! It was also made out of silk but it had three different fabrics in a patchwork-like fashion and it went really well with the red and green pillows (it’s the one in the middle of the picture, with the yellow vertical stripe). I loved it! I bought it and I was looking forward to making up my bed tomorrow morning and seeing how it looked with my new pillows. (You might be asking yourself why I decided to wait until tomorrow. First of all, you shouldn’t be so judgmental but if you figured I was just plain lazy, you were right).

Now you might be asking yourself, where is she going with this? Well, I was watching Big Brother 2 and they have MY pillow in the Head of Household room! How awful! (Also, what are they thinking? Downgrading their props from IKEA to Pier 1?)

Things are changing around here although it looks like some people (meaning landlords) are still unaware of that fact:

$1600 - 2 Bedroom Apartment Mountain View
Places like these are still rare and sound suspiciously cheap (I know, I know, people who don’t live in this area are thinking: “What? That’s higher than my mortgage”. Yep, it probably is and yep, we probably are stupid to be living in this area to begin with).

$1850 - 2/1 Apt - Centrally Located (Move-in Bonus)
Ads like these are becoming more and more common. Last year, the word “bonus” meant that you had to pay the landlord a little something extra to even be considered for a place.

$2000 - Mt. View -2bdrm, 1.5 ba avail now. Private addition
This is probably average for the area although last year I saw a “private addition” where they just built something over a garage, divided up 700 sq. ft. into a living room and two “closets” and called it a 2 BR. Oh, and they were asking $2,500 for it.

$2400 - Beautiful 2bed/1bath house 1 block from Castro Str
Yeah, but is it really *that* beautiful? As in, Am-I-willing-to-pay-$400-more-a-month beautiful?

$2695 - Beautiful Upstairs 2×2 Condo @ The Lakes of Mountain View
I’m assuming that part of the rent goes to pay for the hired ducks. Ducks are getting pretty expensive. Last I heard, ducks were getting paid $15/hr just to hang out in our ponds at work.
By the way, since when are there Lakes in Mountain View?