lession learned!

Don't ever go to the Museum of Modern Art on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
But if you are in New York for the first time for only a few days, then by all means go. But don't complain.

This was Christmas

For Christmas we packed our bags and flew to cold and frosted Toronto to spend the holidays with my sister Helena and Gusto. It was wonderful to be back, to spend time with my sister, to see old friends and to show Pedro around town.

It was blistering cold! Two days into our trip we get a phone call at 7 in the morning: it was my mom calling, very worried, that she had just heard on the news (in Portugal) that Toronto had been hit with an ice storm and thousands of people were without power. Fortunately, the area where Helena lives the ice was only about 1cm think so we were okay.

Being with my sister has always had a bad influence... on my hair! She gave me the "let's do it" attitude and it's the shortest I have ever had it.

Christmas eve was spent baking, cooking and on skype with family back in Portugal. This is has become a new Christmas tradition: family, food, presents and skype. It really does make us feel closer to home. Helena's blog has much better photos of this!

Thank you so much Helena and Gusto for a great Christmas!! We really hope to be back soon. 

(Helena, we forgot to do something very important: steal the mailbox!!!)

Feliz Natal!

To all near and far, friends and family, we wish a very happy Christmas full of love! 

Insanity at Burning Man

I'm almost finished editing our Burning Man photo album and thought I might share some Insanity with you. This was taken during one of the amazing sunsets. 

Angel's Landing

There is a place on Earth where angels land. That place could only be in Utah where strong religious beliefs pair up with breathtaking natural landscapes. Everything in Zion National Park is named after figures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. A couple of weeks back we visited Zion. Deciding that the first thing we would do was hike the ubber famous Angel's Landing was easy! The hard part was finishing the hike! Angel's Landing is a strenuous uphill hike on a well maintained path carved and sculpted out on the sides of a massive monolith about a mile high. 

This part was easy! The hard part was when you sight the very steep cliffs and very narrow path that leads you to the trail's end. Once you start needing anchored chains to hold on to, that's when I decided to sit still and wish Pedro a safe trip up the trail and hope he wouldn't be part of the list of people who have fallen off the cliffs! 

The top of Angel's Landing

I still can't believe that such a dangerous hike is opened to the public! It's "hike at your own risk"!

Special request!

Pedro, my darling, when will you return to being a blogger again?! I miss reading your long, descriptive, carefully laid out and curated blog posts about the amazing things you've done. 

Dahon

Pedro has just got home with this:

This is what happens when you let your husband go to yard sales by himself: he come home with 2 Dahon bikes! 

Drying for freedom

There are many things about living in the US that I enjoy: second hand stores and unlimited access to torilla chips! Then there are other, more structural aspects, that make me want scream (or do other less lawful things, but Pedro doesn't let me). We live in an apartment complex in Atlanta where one of the many rules is that we can't put our clothes out to dry in our patios. Nope! You can't reduce you carbon footprint because it doesn't look nice. Patios are for chairs. If you put clothes out to dry, your nice friendly neighbors tell on you! Don't forget, America is the land of the free: where you are free if you have a good lawyer!

Drying For Freedom - Official Trailer from White Lantern Film on Vimeo.

What is Burning Man? (part 3)

It's a "watermelon fairy" in the desert...

"In dust we trust"

It's what "happens in Bathrooms, stays in Bathrooms".

It's an unexpected wedding at the Chrurch-trap

It's Insanity.

It's a space shuttle and an alien.

It's a burning man.

It's a lot of heat.

It's where shoes go to die.

It's where Barbies go to die.

It's where RVs go to die.

It's what your house looks like after you get home. Not funny. But I hope next year we can go again!

What is Burning Man? (part 2)

It's not taking a shower for 1 week. Thank the heavens for wet wipes! I had a hard time running my fingers through my hair even though I did wash it with no rinse shampoo. The dust is everywhere!

It's writing love notes on tree trunks.

It's goggles, scarves, hats and sunsets.

It's baking flat bread in a fire oven with our neighbors of Bread Camp! How cool is that!

It's where you build stuff and then blow it up!

It's a Temple of Whollyness...

...where you take a break and grieve, contemplate, remember or just relax.

It's where we found Dr. Suess!