week 4.

Sunday, January 22nd 

The problem with buying 1.99€ IKEA and Glade candles is that they burn in a skinny little tunnel down to the end of the wick, and you feel like you only got to use the candle for half of it's life, since there is so much lovely-smelling wax leftover, but nothing to burn it with!  After searching all summer for some wick string here and finding nothing, I decided to just bring some back from the US.  Now, 3 months later, I finally melted some candles down to make new ones! Exciting Sunday afternoon, I know... but at least our house smelled amazing!

Monday, January 23rd

With sunshine and temperatures in the mid-60's, Luis and I couldn't resist taking a walk in the park across the street from our Center during our lunch break.  We ran into an older man who was taking his 2-month-old puppy for a walk... without a leash!  I couldn't believe it!  I'm not much of a dog-person, but I can not resist a puppy!  I asked the man if we could take a photo with Kiko, and though he was a bit timid at first, he warmed up to us quickly! :)

Tuesday, January 24th

Though I may sometimes "complain" that my husband is only creative when it comes to the way that he moves the soccer ball around the field, I have to admit that he surprises me every once in a while with something like this!  He actually brought me this flower after a soccer game last week, and not only is it the biggest and most beautiful gerbera daisy I have ever seen, but it is STILL living, 10 days later!  I took this photo 6 days after he bought it, and it still looks about the same!

Wednesday, January 25th
If you have ever talked in-depth with me about the Portuguese people, you have probably heard me speak of how honest they are... both in the "not-fake-but-really-sincere" sense, and also in the "say exactly what they are thinking" sense.  As in "You are looking skinny lately!", or the opposite truth, "You are looking a little fatter than last time I saw you!".  This, of course, bringing a little tender pat on the cheek along with it. This photo of the day would be one example of the latter.  Taken from the Portuguese exercise book that I am studying in my language classes right now, you can see on number 4 that telling someone they are fat is not an uncommon thing to hear at all!  "É verdade que estas mais gordo." translates to "It's true that you are more fat."  Sincere, eh?

Thursday, January 26th

I would like to congratulate my dear friend Marisa for making it into the photo-of-the-day two weeks in a row!  We hit up the twice-a-year sales at the mall this night, and though we tried on some really cute blazers which I wanted to take a photo of, we both forgot and ended up snapping one of our my buyers remorse cleverly hidden by our smiles.  This photo was just to show that yes, we still had our tree up on January 26th! A few of our friends that we have been trying to plan dinners with kept mentioning that they wanted to see our "American" tree, but with all but one of them, the dates never worked out, so down she came.  At least Marisa got to see it!

Friday, January 27th
This week all the staff at our Center were given the opportunity to attend a conference of the Federation of Cerebral Palsy Associations in Portugal.  Considering that we left at 7 am and didn't get home until 7 pm, and all but one of the presentations were in Portuguese, I think this should be a valid excuse for being allowed to skip my Portuguese homework this week.  8 hours of listening to speakers (of varying clarities of speech!) should at least get me out of one lesson, right Professora??

Saturday, January 28th
These beautiful eyes and adorable curls belong to Sofia, the daughter of one of Luis's best friends, José, and his wife, who both work at APCC with us.  In Portugal, the role of godparents are very important, as they have a strong presence in a child's life, almost like an immediate family member, as opposed to an "emergency care person" in case something happens to the child's parents, as this role is often seen in the US.  We were very honored when Sofia's parents asked Luis to be Sofia's godfather two years ago, and we loved celebrating her second birthday today!  (Note: those toys in her hand are beaters to an electric mixer that we bought her for her new play kitchen... Hoping she will love baking and become a woman after my own heart!)