NATAL / XMAS

Saio para levar as meninas ao cinema e quando volto, vejo que alguém entrou na minha casa enquanto estavamos fora.
Não foi a bagunça que me fez perceber a invasão - a sala estava de pernas pro ar quando eu saí, e continuava tão bagunçada quando eu voltei.
O que aconteceu, no nosso primeiro Natal no Arizona, foi único.
Nossa amiga, vizinha e Papai Noel Holly entrou na nossa casa  de mansinho, e deixou um monte de coisas em cima da mesa.

I went out to take my kids to the movies and when I came back, someone had broken into our house.
The mess was the same as when we left, but on out table we found the whole generosity that is surrounding us.
Our friend, neighbor and Mrs Klaus Holly left a huge ham, capable to feed the whole neighborhood plus 4 stockings full of surprises...



Tem presunto para mais de dez pessoas e quatro meias cheias de presentes!!
Corri lá na casa dela e fui avisar que aqui nos Estados Unidos, entrar na casa alheia é crime e a punição é cadeia... 

I rushed to her house to tell her in USA breaking and entering is a crime!

O carro

Esse lindão aí é o meu carro. Presente de dia das mães.
Mas vocês que andam acompanhando a minha saga, bem sabem que o carro era uma necessidade, por que nós estavamos pagando aluguel caro, até comprarmos o nosso, né?
Pois então, "ganhei" o carro de dia das mães.
E até agora não botei a mão no bichinho.
Tudo o que eu ouço é:

- O seu carro é uma delicia!
- Mas esse seu carro é mesmo muito macio.
- Carrão que voce ganhou, hem...

E assim o homem vai me enrolando. Eu achando que tenho carro, e na verdade mais a pé do que nunca!!!

This is the pic of my car... Mother's day gift.
If you have been around, you know we needed to buy cars, because we were renting and the cost was exorbitant, so when I was "gifted" a car for mother's day I saw the trick straight away.
What I did not imagined was how bad it would be.
I still have not driven it, but I keep hearing:

- Your car is great
- Your car is soo smooth to drive
- WOW! your car is nice, uh?

And with this flattering, he keeps fooling me into believing I got a car when he is the one doing all the driving...

And the winners are.../ E os vencedores são...

E as tamaras já tem endereço certo! A Milena do Viver Plenamente Paris  e o Manoel do Blog do Obvio vão recebe-las dentro em breve. ( não tão breve por que eu, euzinha, morro de preguiça de ir ao correio, e enrolo, enrolo, enroooolo). Mas juro que vou fazer o possível prá preguicite passar e eu ir despachar as tamaras de vocês!!

+++++++++++++++++++++++

And the dates will go to Milena who lives in Paris and Manoel in Brazil.
Congratulations to both of you!!

RESULTADO E MAIS SORTEIO /WINNER AND MORE GIVE AWAYS

E a vencedora do sorteio do kit de scrapbook é a Dani Rabelo do Viagens de primeira viagem!
Parabéns Dani!!!! Quero ver muito scrapbooking com a sua filha liiiinda!
Como vocês são uns pidões uns fofos, vou sortear mais duas caixas de 1/2 kilo de tamaras, para mais dois coleguinhas  da blogsfera.
As regras são as de sempre:
- Deixe um comentário nesse post com um e mail de contato
...e pronto!! Você está concorrendo.

Posso despachar as tamaras para qualquer país, então todo mundo pode brincar. Um comentário por "freguês". Espero 48 horas pela resposta ao meu e mail, aí se não recebe-la, resorteio as tamaras fofas lindas e deliciosas.

E é verdade. Eu odeio ir ao correio, então as minhas promoções demoram pra chegar. Mas chegam. Pode perguntar prá quem já ganhou...

Sorteio dia 7 de fevereiro ! Bora participar??




The winner of My Memories Scrap-booking kit is Dani Rabelo, from this amazing blog!
Congrats Dani!!

Due to the incredible success of our last give away, I decided to repeat the promotion and  I will give away two 500g boxes of dates, to two lucky  readers.

To participate, just leave a message on this post with your contact information ( an e mail, preferably).

Anyone can participate and I will post it to any country in the world. One entry per person, please.After I send you the e mail, you have 48 hours to send me your physicall address.

I hate going to the post office, so sometimes every time the despatch gets delayed, but you can check with our former winners. they eventually do go!
We will draw it on Feb the 7th

Good luck!

SORTEIO ? GIVE AWAY

Eu já estou de viagem marcada prá semana que vem e ainda não fiz o sorteio das duas coisinhas que eu trouxe do Vietnam para dar prá vocês. Feio! Feio! feio isso.
Então aproveito a oportunidade prá comemorar o marco de 100 mil paginas visitadas! Quase infartei quando vi, e bem sei que a minha mãe é responsável por 50 mil dessas visitas, mas assim mesmo me deu a maior alegria!! Obrigada!
Como sempre, as regras do sorteio são simples! É só você querer participar. Quer? Então deixe um recadinho nesse post com o seu e mail, que já está valendo!
Uma entrada por pessoa.
Boa sorte!!!!

O sorteio vai ser dia 3 de novembro e você vai ter 48 horas prá responder ao meu e mail com o seu endereço !!

Bora participar?


When I was in Vietnam, I bought a couple of gifts to give to you, but ( shame on me! shame on me!) I have not done it yet and i have already booked my next trip, so i better hurry and share the items with you.
This blog also reached 100.000 page views ( yes, i do know my mum is responsible for 50.000 of these views, but still...)

On November the 3rd I will publish the winner in this space!
To participate all you need to do is write a comment on this post, with your e mail address, so I can let you know you have won! If you don't send me your address in 48 hours, i will draw another winner. :-)

Good luck!


First winner: embroided bag
Primeiro sorteado: bolsa bordada

 

Second winner: Silk embroided bag

Segundo sorteado: Bolsa em seda, bordada

 

Boa sorte!

Good luck!

What to say, Iane? Sometimes words scape me...

Eu que sou cheia de lorotas e conversa mole, vira a mexe fico sem palavras. Hoje foi um desses dias.
Minha amiga Renata tocou a campainha, e quando eu abri o portão, ela entrou com esses três quadros debaixo do braço. ( mentira, por que cada um mede um metro de comprimento...e ela teve que entrar com um de cada vez...)
Agora me diz se eu poderia ter recebido um presente mais lindo?


Out of the blue, my friend comes to visit and bring me a gift. Such an amazing gift, i am lost for words. She made three amazing portraits of me and my girls. 1 meter each. They are full of color, spank and fun. And she managed to capture our essence in them too.
Re, I love them!!! T H A N K   Y O U !!

O Correio / Bahraini Post Office

Mando varios presentinhos mundo afora. E 25% nao chegam ao destino. E batata! Mandei 4, pode ter certeza que um volta.


Dessa vez foi a caixinha da Monica, que esta em Londres, que fez o caminho de volta pra ilha. Recebi uma notificacao pra ir ao correio que tinha um pacote pra mim. Mas tinha que ser o correio de Muharaq, por que eles nao podiam mandar pro que e perto da minha casa.


Ja farejei enchecao de saco.


- Oi. Vim buscar o meu pacote.
- Ah! Voltou.
- O endereco esta correto, nunca tentaram entregar.
- Nao. Tentarame ntregar. O pacote foi recusado. Agora vc paga 20 euros pra pegar o pacote de volta.


Eu olho pra caixa linda octagonal cheia de girassois que eu tinha comprado e vejo que ela esta toda destruida... me da vontade de pular no pescoco do cara que quer me cobrar pra devolver um pacote que eles nunca tentaram entregar, e que agora, alem de tudo,e sta todo estracalhado.


Sai de la sem o pacote, morrendo de raiva. Agora vou tentar provar que nunca tentaram entregar o bendito... Vamos ver!

********************************************************

I send several packages every year, to my friends worldwide. And 25% of them do not reach their destination. It is a done deal! If I send 4, one can be sure that one will back.



This time it was Monica's gift, who was going to meet her in London, who made ​​it's way back to the island. When I got a notification to go to the post office, explaining they had a package for me, I knew it could not be good news.
Off I went all the way to Muharraq ( in the other side of town, because they refused to send it to the office close to my house).


- Hi I came to get my package.


- Oh! It is not a parcel for you. It is something you sent and it came back.


- The address is correct, clearly market and no one ever try to deliver it in London.I checked.


- Not true. They tried to deliver. They did. The package was refused. Now you pay 20 euros to get the package back.


I look at my ex beautiful octagonal box, fully decorated with sunflowers, and see it is all destroyed ...

I feel like yelling at the guy who wants to charge me to give me a package that they never tried to deliver, and now is back in bahrain and all shattered.


After the same argument happened several times: they tried to deliver/ did not/ did too...
I left without the package, spitting fire.
Now the only thing I can do is try to prove the post office in London never tried to deliver ... Let's see!

O pacote cor de rosa / The pink gift box

Eu tenho sorte de ter uma moca que me ajuda muito, desde que eu cheguei aqui em Bahrain. Ela trabalhava como faxineira do primeiro predio onde nos moramos, e foi ela quem me indicou todas as empregadas que eu ja tive aqui na ilha e tambem e ela quem arruma empregadas para todas as pessoas que me pedem ajuda.

Since we moved to Bahrain I have this angel who helps me with all sorts of things. When I first met her, she worked as house keeping in our building. Because she was so amazing, I introduced her to a good friend of mine who needed help at her house. From that day onwards, I introduced Merla to all her future employers. People move quite frequently from the island, so jobs are never a 100% secure, regardless how wonderful you are. But I am getting off topic, here. I was talking about Merla...


Alem de todo o auxilio "empregatistico", ela vem me socorrer quando eu tenho qualquer coisa fora do ordinario. Ela ajuda na preparacao das festas, ela empacotou a minha casa inteira antes da mudanca e desempacotou na casa nova. Ela cuida da Mia nas ferias...

She was the person who helped me and all my friends find maids. She helps me with whatever I need. She comes to land me a hand when I am trowing my parties, she packed my whole house when we moved, then unpacked it on the other end. I was not even there to help or supervise. She is the person who takes care of Mia when we travel, and treats her like a member of her own family. That's how much I trust her...


A Merla e sem sombra de duvidas o meu anjo da guarda. E eu sou imensamente grata por isso.

Merla is my guardian angel and I am very greatful for it!

Quando eu viajo, trago sempre uma coisinha pra ela. No Natal e em datas festivas, sempre dou um jeito de dar uma lembrancinha pra agradecer tudo o que ela faz pela nossa familia. Esse ano ( como no ano passado), comprei pra ela uma perna de carneiro e um presentinho.

When we travel, we bring her a little gift. For Xmas, I buy her lamb roast and a little gift, to thank her for all she does to our family.


Eu sou DOIDA por embalagens, pacotes e fru frus, entao fiz uma embalagem super bonita pro presente dela e coloquei embaixo da arvore.

I love packaging, boxes, paper wrapping... So I made sure I had a nice gift box for her, and put it under the tree with the other gifts.

presente da Merla

Merla's gift

Infelizmente eu nao estava em casa quando ela veio buscar o presentinho dela, entao pelo telefone eu expliquei:

- Eh uma caixa, com um laco cor de rosa. Esta embaixo da arvore e tem um cartao com o seu nome.

- O cartao esta dentro...

- O cartao esta pendurado no laco, e nao tem nada escrito do lado de fora. A mensagem esta dentro do cartao.

Unfortunately I was not home when she came to colect her gift, so I explained over the phone:

- It is a box with a pink ribbon. It is under the Xmas tree and it has a lil card with your name
- The card is inside...
- The card is attached to the ribbon, but it is only written inside. There is nothing written outside the card

 Mas pelo jeito ela entendeu que o cartao estava dentro do pacote, porque quando ela estava saindo de casa, toda feliz com a "sua" caixinha debaixo do braco, Fabio chega e diz:

- Merla, Feliz Natal! bla, bla, bla... Acho que esse ai nao e o seu presente nao.
-  E sim, a madame me disse que e esse, com o laco cor de rosa, embaixo da arvore...

It seems like she understood the card itself was inside the wrapping, because when she was leaving the house, with "her"gift, Fabio arrived.

- Merla, good to see you! Merry Xmas!!  ... but I think that's not your gift.
- Yes, it is this one. Madam explained it all over the phone. A box, with a pink ribbon, under the tree...

Fabio correu la, encontrou a caixa dela e resgatou o presente de aniversario da minha filha mais velha, que tambem esta numa caixa, com um laco cor de rosa!

Fabio went straight to the gifts under the tree, found hers and swapped it with Anita's ( my eldest daughter) gift she was mistakenly taking home.

Salvos pelo gongo!!!
Phew! It would be hard to explain that one!!!

long distance gifts

This blog isgiving away a super digital scrapbooking from My Memories ($ 40). Check it out here and good luck!

And here I am talking about gifts once again.

I've said a million times I love giving and receiving gifts, what you do not know is how much I enjoy sending gifts by mail. People who can not be physically near you can feel closer with these little demonstrations of affection.

Before the holidays (in May), I put two boxes in the mail. One going to NZ and one to the Canary Islands. In three weeks the package arrived in New Zealand. I was very happy and so was the friend who got it.

Time passed, passed, passed, and I heard nothing about the second box. I called Nalu (the "gifted") and she went to the post office to see what was happening. Too bad it was no longer going to be a surprise.

- Nothing here. The package did not even came to Spain yet.

When I returned from my hols in September, I got a call the post office:

- There is a package here for you. Undelivered. Came back to you. From "somewhere".

I went to the post office to try understand what was happening. Here there was, my box full of  Arab trinkets.

- What happened?

- When they tried to deliver it, there was nobody at home. The post office then  leaves a note to the receiver to come and collect the parcel from the Post office. They wait for a whole month, then if no one shows up, they return the parcel to the sender.

I was intrigued. Of course Nalu would have gone to collect it. And she mentioned she never heard about it, besides, the postal service in Spain tried to trace the parcel and it never crossed the border.

When i took a peek at the  package and all the comments written by the destination's post office, i finally understood what happened. Everything was written in French.

- But you sent it to France. Look, it's all in French.

- Oh, Sorry ... this happens a lot. The staff of the post here like to say they have traveled a lot, so when they see a package written in another language they say: "Look, I know that language, I have traveled to this country and can assure you this parcel should be going to this or that country." So other colleagues think that he is well traveled, but in fact he never left the Gulf.

I tried to argue that it was all fun and games, but i paid to send a package to Spain who went tikki touring in France and came right back to me. And now I had to pay to resend it once again. How unfair is that?

But I thought twice, ande decided to let it go.

I picked up my box, I put it under mys arm and came home. I'll try again in a few weeks.

GIFTS

'Speaking of which...are you participating on our Digital Scrapbooking Give Away? Just click here and follow the simple steps. You may be the lucky winner of this amazing promotion.

But today's post has nothing to do with gifts for you, but it is all about my very own gifts. I love giving and receiving them. I simply love it.

Another day Shanthi, a great friend of mine, came to visit and casually said: 

- Wow, that's cool.

- Was a gift from one of my girlfriends.

- And that thing there is beautiful.

- Someone else's gift.

- That stuff there is so cute

- Gift.

- ... 

- Gift.

It was only then that I realized all the gifts I get. 90% of the plants in my house were gifts. And I love plants. The photos on my walls (various photographers, independent friendships) are mostly gifts, I also got masks, perfumes, clothes, bags, decoration stuff, glassware, jewelry ... 've got a bit of everything gifted to me at one stage or another.

And you know what touched me the most when I realized this?

What every little thing I've ever won was the result of someone thinking of me, when they were not with me.

And in every corner of my house, I have memories of loved ones, people I love and who have left their fingerprint in my life. What an amazing feeling! And the greatest gift of all, is the affection and friendship that fills my heart with joy!

Murder Mystery Night - Noite do Assassinato Misterioso

 

To celebrate my birthday ( next week), I organized a  Murder Mystery Night party. It was New Years Eve 1920.

Do you know about Murder Mystery Evenings? You buy a script and distribute the characters. Each person receives a story line with details only they know. 

During the party, everyone interacts with everyone, trying to solve a mystery (normally a murder). People chat, black mail, tell tails. You have to follow your character's line, but you can add, invent, create your own things too. No one really knows what will happen or how it will end.

Pra comemorar meu aniversario, que e so a semana que vem, eu fiz uma festa tipo "detetive". O cenario era o Reveillon de 1920.

Voce conhece esse tipo de festa? E so comprar um kit "misterio" e vc recebe todas as instrucoes para a festa correr sem nenhum problema. Sao intrigas, personagens, props, tudinho.

Durante a festa, cada pessoa incorpora seu personagem e age de acordo com o estilo, a personalidade e o passado do seu carater.

Algumas pessoas se animam e inventam historias, craim mentiras, aumentam a confusao. Nunca se sabe o que e verdade e o que e mentira, nem o que veio no script alheio ou o que e pura imaginacao. Tudo pode acontecer. E uma diversao so.

O Fabio, que detesta essas coisas, foi maravilhoso e alem de se fantasiar, fez o papel dele com perfeicao.

Ele o medico, eu a dona do bordel - deu pra notar?

Fabio, who does not like this kind of thing at all, played his part with perfection. He dressed up, he played along. I am so proud of him!

And my gorgeous, gorgeous girls came to say hello!!

E as minhas princesas passaram pra me dar um beijo!

I had over 40 guests, and for my surprise, EVERYONE came dressed up, everyone put lots of effort into it.

Eu tinha mais de 40 convidados, e pra minha surpresa, todo mundo apareceu ultra produzido, pronto pra farra!

Tinha gangster, Militar e homem de negocios

There were gangsters, Captains and business men

E bailarino a carater

And a ballet dancer

Lucky man, surrounded by gorgeous ladies!

Homem de sorte, rodeado por beldades!

There were nobles

Nobres tambem compareceram

Doctors and lawers

Medicos e advogados tambem apareceram por la

Charity ladies

Mulheres caridosas

Outras tambem envolvidas com caridade, mas de um tipo beem diferente...

Some other ladies were involved with a different charity work

The Queen was also present

E ate a rainha participou da festa

 

A dona do bordeu interagindo com "gente de bem"

Madame interacting with good, hard working people!

The inspector did a brilliant job.

O inspetor fez um trabalho magnifico!!

The maid drove most men crazy !!

A empregadinha enlouqueceu os homens...

Lady Cunningham sure found the good looking guys in the party! The captain AND the Hollywood Director...

Lady Cunningham rapidinho encontrou os bonitoes! O General e o Diretor de Hollywood...

Pretty ladies everywhere we looked!

Mulheres lindas por todos os lados...

E essas ai vem todas do mesmo lugar!!

And these "ladies" all come from the same place. Or sort of...

Prostitutes and actresses...

Prostitutas e atrizes!

Essa foi a cena mais divertida da festa. Mae e filho se encontrando! Ele brasileiro, ela neo zelandesa, nunca se viram antes. De repente ele chega de peruca ruiva - e ela ruiva de verdade! Foi a coincidencia mais engracada da noite.

This was the most amazing scene in the whole party. Son and mum meet. He is Brazilian, she is a Kiwi, they never met before and knew nothing about each other. When he showed up with a red wig and saw her, real red head, we could not believe it!!

 

The gardner is mingling with the boss

O jardineiro confraternizando com o patrao

In real life, two Brazilian beauties!

Na vida real, duas indianas lindas!

The prostitute and the reverend

A prostituta e o padre

The dancer and Madame Meme

A dancarina e Madame Meme

This mustache was specially kept for the party. How cool is that?

Esse bigodao foi "guardado" especialmente pra festa. Chic ou o que?

The dancer and the maid...what a pair!!

A dancarina e a epregada. Que parzinho!!

I was delighted to see so many laughs, so many smiles!!

O que mais me deixou feliz (alem dos presentes, claaaro), foi ver tantos sorrisos, tantas risadas!

look how gorgeous everyone looked

olha como todo mundo estava liindo!

And some people looked like they came right out of a 1920's book.

E alguns personagens pareciam ter sido importados diretamente dos anos 20!

Is it a surprise look??

Surpresa??

Is he the murder?

E ele o assassino?

Or her? YEAHHHH, it was her all along!!

Ou ela? Siiim!! Foi ela! Foi ela!

The policeman

O  policial

I love being with them!

Eu amo estar com eles...

With these two around, I wouldn't dare misbehave!

Com essa dupla por perto, eu e que nao vou me comportar mal!!

 

Oh Ohhh  What is she up to?

Vixi! O que ela ta aprontando?

 

The journalist

A jornalista!

Teve ate boca a boca...da uma olhada no batom!!!

And there was even a mouth to mouth - look at the lipstick all over his mouth!

What was so funny? What, what?

O que estava tao engracado? O que?

Shylock Nones

I am scared of the butler!! 

To com um medao do mordomo!!

 

Look at this man! Look closely...

Olha esse senhor respeitavel. Mas olha bem!

Now tell me if you believe this is the same guy.... just in another character??

Agora me diz se voce acredita que esse aqui e o mesmo cara, so que em outro personagem...