It's almost Christmas

Karl Blossfelt

Have a beautiful Christmas

The LIST

So, as you can see, I started my list of stuff to do before 30! Not the most original idea, but a fun one! I figured, in 3 years I'll be 30 (not nice) so I might as well get everything off my chest and set my mind to accomplish this "very hard to come up with" list. I'm not big on planning but it helps me to set my mind and constantly remind me of all the different things I truely want to do before 30. It's not finished yet but I'm getting there.

What will I do after 30? I don't care, like I said, I'm not big on planning.

Red and white Christmas

Guess what Sandra brought from across the Atlantic?

Oh holy night

This is going to be a very special Christmas.

At first I thought it would be hard to convince my matriarchal family about the idea, but in fact, I was wrong! Everyone is excited and pitching in to make it magical!

After 30 years with the Atlantic separating us, we are finally going to be all together at the same table for Christmas dinner. We are 19 family members and a Brazilian couple. (Helena's roommates living in Portugal and have nowhere else to go...)

As was 30 years ago, Christmas will be at my grandparent’s house. There will be a real pine tree (we haven't cut one down in decades, so this year we are excused from an environmentally friendly tree) and instead of plastic balls, we are hanging up chocolates and there is no such thing as Santa... its Baby Jesus who's handing out presents. And the best thing is that each family member only has to buy one gift for another member, so this means no crazy Christmas shopping to worry about!

But since I can’t resist, I’m preparing a little special something for everyone… I’m sure they’ll treasure it!

In the mail

From Lamberto in Italy. A painting of a mountain village scenery in Montagne.

The walk

The walk

1st. Lisbon photo walk

While everyone else had digital cameras, I was the only old school "photographer" with my Canon A1 and 2 rolls of film.

At the lab I have only printed out this photo for which I have to thank James and his eye for detail!

Mary

Weddings are a long term planning pastime. You have to plan the date, reserve the church, book the reception, buy a dress, decide on who to invite, catering, flowers, hair, nails, invitations, giveaways, honeymoon and the list goes on. If you make it through all of this without getting your hands around your loved one's neck, them you'll manage a lifetime of morning breath, headaches and deciding on which table cloth better matches the kitchen tiles!

Marry and Alex are getting married! I think they'll manage...

On my way to work

Praça das Flores

In the mail

As a recent postcrosser, I have received about 15 postcards from different parts of the world. The part I enjoy the most is discovering who will be the next person I send a card to.

When I speak of this to people, the first thing they ask is:

"Hum... so... you send postcards to people you don't know?"

"Exactly!!"

This card is one of my favorites. It's a handmade card from Erika Jean of a cotton field. She took the photo herself and stapled it to a shiney cardboard.

It's up on my wall!

Oats

When we were kids, Sunday morning breakfast was special! My mom would prepare the most delicious stuff, we would set the table and everyone had the longest breakfast of the week. Most of the times my mom would make oatmeal with biscuits and fruit or bagels with all the toppings in the fridge! This healthy habit has followed me ever since. Normal people get up in the morning and the first thing they do is head off to the shower. Well, the first thing I do is head to the kitchen to prepare myself the first meal of the day: coffee and milk, toast, cheese, ham, jam, butter and (this is a must) cucumber! Sometimes I have fresh cheese, yogurt, fruit, and a muesli mix. On the weekends it’s brunch with scrambled eggs, pancakes and maple syrup (of course)! I recently discovered this blog and I thought to myself: finally someone that understands my craving for a delicious breakfast!!

oatmeal. raisains. waltnuts. sesame seeds. banana. cinnamon.

OIL… MILK… OLIVE OIL…

For the past two years I have helped as a volunteer at the Banco Alimentar (Food Bank) in Braga. My job was to coordinate volunteers for a major supermarket. I really enjoyed doing it, though a bit stressful at times but since everyone is always glad to help out for such an important cause the two day campaign would go smoothly and I still would have some spare time to actually be a volunteer handing out plastic bags at the entrance of the supermarket and repeating the phrase “Hello, would you like to participate in this campaign?” about 500 times!!

But I always wanted to help out at the warehouse where all the goods are shipped to for separation and shelving. And on my third year as a volunteer I got the chance! Here is where all the action happens: dozens of happy helpers all frenetically processing tons and tons of goods in an extremely well setupassembly line, listening to loud pop music to help stand the cold and keep the rhythm and cheerfulness! Its amazing how thousands of people get together and work together to help feed their community!

I helped to clean out the trucks that arrived with the goods and helped out at the first clearing phase where milk, oil and olive oil are separated from the rest of the goods which are placed in a treadmill. Here is where the assembly line comes in: each team must grab their specified goods and pack them in boxes for shelving.

But what I most recall from the thrilling experience were the sounds: aside from the Macarena, the top Shakira songs, the every other song that no one admits listening to but everyone knows the lyrics and the steps, was the shouting out of OIL… MILK… OLIVE OIL…