2011!

Just a quick note to wish you all a:

Christmas decorations are gone & replaced by a fresh bunch of flowers:

Have a great start of 2011 & see you back soon with some holiday pictures!

Bisous,

Some busy weekend days and sun outside... not so much time to sit behind the computer & update this blog...


But here are some images to show our week(s):




We visited the stables of the Chateau de Versailles and watched a training performance of the Lusitano horses.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside... If you're interested, have a look at http://www.acadequestre.fr/.
And of course, still real Dutchies, we went by bike!

Furthermore, we had some unexpected guests in our garden:



The black and white cats were pretty friendly, the reddish one quite unfriendly and Senna (in her own garden) got scared and took off!

At home, we had some guests as well and because of the springy weather, it needed to feel like spring at the table too:

Outside it was still too pale, so I added some colour (but there's still a lot to be done!!):




Apart from all this, the guest room has been painted, curtains are up there, so are the lamps on the wall (now just need to clean & decorate the room), big lamps are hanging above the dining table, as are the lamps in the hall way and the living room, etc. Quite productive, don't you think?

Have a lovely week!!


P.S. Wanna see some nice jewelry and have a chance to win some too? Have a look at http://sweet-as-a-candy.blogspot.com/. Good luck!!

A quiet day

A quiet day today, wowh what a nice feeling that is! It's been a while!

Only a meeting this afternoon at school (for an art project I'm working on). But for the rest of the day: no obligations. Which doesn't mean I don't have anything to do of course (the fridge is almost empty...) and I need to finish some articles for a Dutch magazine (deadline already past, sorry!).

But first of all I'll go for a long walk with our dog (my one and only daily exercise) and will visit the organic street market to do the first part of the (healthy) shopping!

By the way, this is how the veranda turned out in white:

I'll promise a nicer picture soon!

Tchau! C.

Sun? Where??

Some roses for a little bit of sunshine at home!

Oh I was sooooooo happy when the sun came back!

And what do you think? Yep, raining again! Grrrr!!

No chance to work in the garden, have to keep myself busy at home (no problem either, enough to do and I like that too!).

But rainy days lead to another 'problem':

Tea, coffee and ... chocolate!

Somehow I need to pamper myself with these 3 things to keep me happy during dark, rainy days. Do you recognize that?? Ok, and I admit: there's #4: magazines!!

Have a wonderful & (fingers crossed!) sunny weekend!

Love, C.

40... at last!

The day had come... last Saturday there was no more hiding...

Everywhere in the house I found little notes, remembering me about my new age...

And still, 2 days later, I still find little notes everywhere (the most unexpected places).

To be short: it was my birthday last Saturday and I turned 40! Let the fun begin!! Cheers!!

Ready for take off

Suitcases, clothes, shoes and presents everywhere...

Tonight we're flying to the Netherlands for a loooooooooooooong vacation!

Only back in August!!

Very much looking forward to meeting family and friends again, riding a bike, hiking in the hills, observing the Dutch cows, walking to the supermarket, strolling around cities in fresh air (instead of a covered shopping mall), enjoying the pleasures of a well-organized country.

But missing the friendly Brazilians, always open for a chat, happy to serve you whether it is in a supermarket, the little bakery around the corner, a restaurant or a parking place, always a smile on their face, the way they approach you: 'olá querida, ' bom dia linda'. But it's only for 7 weeks, guess I can manage that...

So we're off, hope to have some spare time to blog every now and then.

Either from the Netherlands or the States (we've planned a trip from New York to Washington D.C. and then we drive down to Orlando, any tips on where to go between Washington and Orlando are more than welcome!!), I'll do my best...

Take care everyone and hoop to meet you again soon in blogland!!

Love, C.

Internet problems...

How addicted can you be???

After 4 days without a functioning internet connection, I feel reborn now! It looks like it took forever, but it were only 4 days... and thank God (or Telefonica...) it's working again now!

The good thing about it is that I finally got down to do, organize, make things that I already wanted to do for a very long time... but surfing the net, looking for interesting decorating ideas kept me from that (yes, I admit: I'm addicted to internet!).

So I saw, I painted, I did some long waiting adminsitration, started organizing a tennis tournament, organized my sons birthday party, went shopping, etc. What a lot of hours a day has... Felt so free!!!

free

I promise, I will show you some pictures of the things I made and/or bought tomorrow!

Have a nice evening!
Love,
C.

What do the Eiffel Tower and Top Gun have in common???

You will find out hereunder... thanks to Marloes for tagging me!
I'm supposed to tell you all my secrets about...

4 Jobs I've had:
* Harvesting strawberries when I was 12
* Gardening in my grandma's garden
* Helping my granddad fixing his clients' shoes and handbags
* At present: driver of our nearly 9 years old son (and mom too!!)
(I used to work in marketing & communication!)

4 Movies I like:
* Top Gun
* House of the Spirits
* JFK
* Message in a Bottle

4 Places I've been:
* Cape Town
* Jakarta
* Dubai
* Buenos Aires

4 Places I've lived:
* Chelmsford (UK)
* Cagnes sur mer (France)
* Cambridge (UK)
* São Paulo (Brasil)

4 TV programs I watch:
* Project Runway
* Tennis and golf tournaments
* Extreme Make Over
* Changing places

4 Radio programs I listen to:
* Alpha FM (Only in the car)
* That's it...

4 Preferred food items:
* Crême brulée
* Foie gras
* Milk chocolate
* Champagne

4 Places I'd rather be:
* On the beach
* At a golf course
* On top of the Eiffel tower
* In New York

And then 4 people I tag... let me think... there are sooooo many interesting blogs and I would love to know more about the writers behind them... (curious??? me??? nóóóóóó!!!). Ok, here we go:


* Marjolijn from Something White
* Solange from Celebrating my home
* Mirka from OPRIKKA
* Aina from Modern Country


Sorry girls ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Love,
C.

Good things in life

Last night was one of those cosy, warm nights in São Paulo, the temperature didn't go under 25 degrees (Celsius). So we sat outside (on the varanda as it was pouring rain, warm rain I must admit!), played a game of darts and had some glasses of cool white wine. Nothing fancy, just having fun with my own little family, what else do you need?

Guests... I love them!

I love to have guests over, either for a longer period or just for lunch or dinner. They're always welcome!

And I like to do my best to offer them the best.

These two books are very inspiring and have nice, sweet ideas.

'A gracious welcome' shows you how to create well-appointed guest spaces (either in a tiny appartment or a roomy vacation cottage) furnished with everything necessary for comfort, plus those extra-special luxuries that show you care.

'Outdoor Entertaining' is all about planning, decorating, and organizing an outdoor meal anywhere (from a picnic dinner on the beach, a poolside cocktail party or an elegant brunch in the garden). Any outdoor meal, no matter how casual or spur of the moment, can have a sense of style and fun. And this book shows you how!

Have a look & enjoy it!

A gracious welcome by Amy Nebens (ISBN 0-8118-4083-2)

Outdoor entertaining - Williams-Sonoma (ISBN-10: 0-7432-7873-9

The streets of... São Paulo!

After spending a morning at the day care center (my voluntary job in a poor and violent neighbourhood - a favela - in the south of São Paulo), we met these 'amigos' in the streets. Even after 4 years of living here, it still amazes me...

This morning I went out for a walk with our dog and saw a lot of big trees in full bloom. They're just gorgeous. The green scenery and the early sunlight give some extra to it!

Went out again with a camera to make some picuters to share these with you.

Have a look (these are the streets in our little, green neighbourhood in the immense city of São Paulo):

You make my day!

I was pleasantly surprised when I received a sweet note from Isabel from Tarte Tatin. Thank you so much Isabel for this 'you make my day'-award! I'm very happy with it and you certainly make my day!

To continue this chain I have the pleasant 'duty' to grant this award to 10 other persons/blogs that often make my day! A message needs to be left on their blogs.

So here I go:

* Monique from Thyme and lavender, what an inspirational blog!

* Yvonne from Yvestown for the beautiful pictures you show us and you often make me laugh a lot with your personal stories!

* Marloes from Tante Tee, for sharing your beautiful creations

* The citygirl from Sanctuary, great pictures

* Tante Freddy from Tante Freddy for sharing your stories with us

* Elisabeth from Sweet roses & vintage chic, a very busy lady (I admire your guts to go back studying!) with a lovely blog and inspiring pictures

* Monika from Country living in the City, for her vibrant blog and colourful pictures

* Minna from Blomsterverkstad, although I do not understand a word of the written part of the blog, I love the pictures, they say more than a 1,000 words!

* Outi from White Country, another Scandinavian blog (fortunately it's in English!!) with a lot of inspiration

* Fred from Fred's world, finally a manly touch in the world of interior blogs! Love the 'write as I talk' way of sharing things and thoughts!

Congratulations to all of you, you all have such a wonderful blogs! Keep on going!

I will enjoy the rest of a day on the deck chair, with some inspiring magazines, a fresh 'abacaxi and hortelã' juice, the sun and the 'you make my day' award right next to me, a lazy Wednesday afternoon!

Love,

C.

Back in January...

Last post before the holidays!

Yes! It´s starting already, 1 more day of school and than we catch a plane to the Netherlands. We´ll be back by the end of the year to celebrate New Year´s Eve on the beach in Brazil (all in white of course).

Hope to catch up with you in the beginning of January!

But for now some ´Christmas in the tropics´ pictures:

I baked some Christmas cookies in the weekend (it´s hard work: 35 degrees outside and even warmer in the kitchen, close to the oven) and decorated the table with a Christmas touch (do you see the sun shining in the pool... , where is my Christmas mood?).

I wish you all ´Happy Holidays´!

Enjoy this lovely time of the year and hope to meet you all again for a sparkling 2008!

I´ve been tagged...

I´ve been tagged... by M. from this beautiful blog: http://somethingwhite.blogspot.com/ (have a look and pump up the volume!).

I´ve never been tagged before (I´m a quite new and not so regular blogger, sorry!), So I feel honoured!

Just don´t know if I will find new people to tag as all the bloggers I ´know´already have been tagged. But I´ll take the risk!

I'm supposed to post 7 random and/or weird things about me (who´s interested in this???) and I have to post these rules:

@ Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
@ Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
@ Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
@ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Well, here it goes:

1. Always thought of black, kaki and orange as nice colours for my wardrobe... until I read some books about what colours can do for you... I´m totally disoriented now! Never thought I would be sensitive to these kind of things... but I am. Don´t know what to buy anymore. Definitely no black or kaki... have to change to blue, watermelon, light grey, violet, silver. Wowh, can go shopping without feeling guilty!
2. I adore sunbathing while reading beautiful home and garden magazines and having a zip of pineapple-mint juice (in portuguese: abacaxi and hortelã... yes, that´s why it is the title of my blog!). Can do this for days!
3. While living in an exotic, tropical country, being a sun-loving person, I start missing (the change of) the seasons. Looking forward to travel next week to Europe and being able to use a winter coat with gloves again!!
4. I´m a huge fan of the Dutch rock band the Golden Earring.
5. You can wake me up for crême brulée or foie gras with a nice glas of champagne.
6. I cry watching any movie... (should I confess this here???)
7. I prefer regular mail to e-mail! What´s nicer than receiving an actual post card instead of a digital message. Yes I know, this is the present ánd the future, but still... getting a sweet letter or a lovely postcard is sooooo much nicer (probably that´s why all the swaps via internet are so successfull!).

Next step is to tag other people... you see, there comes my problem.
I will think about it and try to come up with some in one of my next posts, ok??
(Hope I´m not breaking any rules now??). Or are there any volunteers...please?

Enjoy ´Sinterklaas´!

For the Dutch readers: enjoy ´Sinterklaas´evening. I made a´speculaastaart´ especially for you (and for us of course...).

It´s still difficult to get into the right mood this season. It´s very warm here (between 28 and 35 degrees) and with these temperatures you just don´t think about Sinterklaas or Christmas.

Although we do not celebrate Sinterklaas evening today, I will only start the (few) Christmas decorations tomorrow.

Next week we´ll be travelling to Europe and we will spend Christmas in the Netherlands, the decorations will be limited this year! But a little bit is necessary to get at least a little spirit of it.

To be continued...

To blog or not to blog?

I´ve been in doubt... shall I or shall I not?
Well, the fact that I´m writing this post means that I made up my mind, doesn´t it?

I would like to use this blog as a personal diary, but also to tell friends and family about our life abroad. And since our website has died more or less (lack of time and too complicated...), this blog will serve the purpose!

Hope to see you here more often and I would be very happy if you would leave me a small note from time to time...

Enjoy it!