Sand Collecter

My friend Joanne told me about a great idea ....collecting sand from every beach you have been to and displaying in bottles. Yes, it's very Martha Stewart (literally) I started this a few years ago, and have quite a lot of bottles. if only she would have told me a long time ago.....I am missing so many beaches. I'll have to retrace my steps........

I have about 24 bottles.

The collection grows..............

AHHHHH PARIS!

Three free nights at any Hilton in the world? Where would we go? Only 2 days to plan this trip? SHIT!

I spent HOURS on the Hilton website looking at their properties. There are so many places that I want to see. But alas, Paris was an easy decision. Although I wanted to go somewhere NEW, how could we go wrong in Paris? The flights were open and it requiered no research. Just walking the streets of Paris is enough. Its is so beautiful!

Neto and I looking oh so cool at the Notre Dame.

We climbed the 5 million (or so) stairs to the top. Breathtaking!
We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the BUDDA BAR, a very swanky restaurant that I had read about in a magazine a long time ago and wanted to check out. Sometimes in a place like this, you pay more for the atmosphere, but the food was actually worth the price.
The streets are so cute! Look at this one!!!

Hanging out at the Louvre, along with the 5 million other tourists. We opted to go to the huge Flea Market Saturday morning instead of inside the museum. (OK, I opted....as you know I can be very convincing)

OOOOOOOH AMSTERDAM!!!

Amsterdam is the coolest city!! Even though this was my third time visiting, I appreciated it so much more. The bikes are the best part. EVERYONE rides a bike, no matter what they are wearing. Men in suits and women in skirts. I LOVE IT!!

Of course I ended up saying what I always say when I visit europe (or anywhere else) "Oh I could live here" Here is the view out our apartment window. Gorgeous!


Smita and I flew over (business class, of course) to meet her sister Nameeta. She is a producer in India and had a museum exhibit opening in Amsterdam. She had been working on this for months....along with the Trompin Museum, she recreated the city of Mumbai. It was unbeleivable. They actually shipped every little , and big thing over from India. (an actual taxi and rickshaw) This is a replication in the museum of one of the many "god shops" (obviously, not the proper name) you would see on the streets of Mumbai. It got me really excited for our upcoming trip to India (November) Woo-hoo!!

Here we are at the tram stop: Smita, Nameeta and her husband Ajay.

FIRST BI-ANNUAL GIRLS TRIP

DESTINATION: SOUTH BEACH MIAMI OH YES!!!!! We're going to Miami, bienvenidos a Miami!!!!

4 great travel partners: Treffry, Me, Smita, and Jenny

There's nothing better that a girls trip!! How could we go wrong in Miami?!

Lounging on the beach for hours, dining on Ocean Blvd,

dancing salsa until the wee hours....it did NOT suck!!!

Our hotel, The Betsy Ross was a perfect location and check out the cute pool area!

Hi Birdies!!

Blue Door

This weekend we painted the front door and shutters a midnight blue. Look at what a huge difference!

Home Improvement

Recently, we have been putting a lot of hard work/money into our house. Buying a fixer-upper home may have been a good investment for Ernesto and I, but it has been a long time waiting to see the improvements. In the last two months we have had our hardwood floors redone, my brother bill designed and built an awesome deck on the back of the house (with the help of Neto, Brrrrrian, and my dad), Ernesto put up chairrail in the living room and into the kitchen, and I repainted (with the help of my mom) those rooms to create a very modern look. I love it!!! Check it out:





After the paint job, deck and new windows, it hardly looks like the same house (thank God!)

Launch of Pluma Jewelry

Pluma jewelry was started in at the beginning of 2006. My cousins wife, Treffry, and I had met several years ago and saw eachother at some family functions. We really hit it off at one wedding when we were seated at the same table. We discovered we have similar style and interests so we chatted the night away. Later that year our families got togerther for thanksgiving and she really loved the necklace i was wearing. She said she had made some necklaces in the past and would like to get back into it.
We really fed off eachothers ideas and excitement... so Pluma Jewelry evolved. Our first appearance was at Inman Park Art Festival in Atlanta in April 2006. We were so happy with people's reactions! They loved our jewelry and loved our display. We painted the branches silver and hung necklaces from them. It was such a success gave us the encouragement and confidence we needed to create our business. Below are a few shots:

A very very sucessful show!!!!

Pobre Sito Loquito-R.I.P.

On March 29, 2006 my little loquito passed away. He was almost 7 years old. The most horrible part is that the reason he died was probably my fault. Barbie was visiting us for a few days and we made a delicious mexican dinner (tinga). Lupe was sitting on my shoulder and I was chopping onions. Of course he always wanted to eat anything i had, so i let him nibble on one. I left at 9pm for my dance class and when I came home I scream "hola loquito" (as I always did) I didnt hear him...he usually squacks back. I didnt see him in the cage, or on top. So I started calling for him.....nothing. I looked a little closer at the cage and saw him cuddled in the blanket on top, his head and half of his body was snuggled in. I said to Neto and Barbie "Ay, look how cute, little loquito is cuddling in the blanket." I went to pet him and he didnt move. I screamed and Neto jumped off the couch. I left the room crying, I couldnt look while he opened the blanket.....he was gone. I couldnt figure it out, he was fine when I left. It had to be the onion, Barbie said that onion is toxic in cats and dogs. I googled it and found that to be rare with birds, but possible. I have had pet birds for 15 years and never heard that. I miss him so much. I do still have the two little parakeets, but its not the same. Pobre sito Loquito........lo siento.

Rio de Janiero

Joanne and I have been traveling the world together for 8 years now. She was my first travel buddy when I first started with delta. We have been to Paris, Cairo, Lima, Rio de Janiero (2x), Cancun, Mazunte, hmm where else?.......Our first trip was Jamaica.....it was on that trip that we discovered we are GREAT travel partners, and we havent stopped since.

Below are some pics from our latest adventure to Rio..... a city of spectacular landscapes and beautiful peeps. I love it, everyone takes care of themselves....contanstly working out on the beaches. So what if it is plastic surgery, it still makes for the best people watching. Although it rained quite a bit, we walked Copacabana and Ipanema beaches every day and enjoed the sun and food..... Poor Joanne accidentally erased all of her pictures on her camera the last day of the trip...ohh she was pissed......luckily I had mine, i did get some great shots, but she had better and video from a pre-carnival parade that was unbelievable! Oh well, I guess we will have to go back next year :)

Mmmmmmm jugo de coco

All of the beaches have mosaic boardwalks, can you imagine the time that took, im talkin MILES of beaches......

Joanne and I Looking over Ipanema Beach.

Aruba

Aruba.....Jamaica.....oooh I wanna take ya.......
Ernesto, Smita, Sean and I went to Aruba for a long weekend. Smita and I chipped in on a silent auction at work and we ended up getting certificates to the Raddison for a great deal. (plus we shared one room so it was perfect) The boys in one bed and the girls in the other.




I was in heaven they had so many parrots there!! Everyday at 11am they took them out for feeding and handling...needless to say I was all over that!!



It was so beautiful, the water was so blue. We went on a 1/2 day catamaran trip and snorkel a ship-wreck (not great). Sean brought his guitar and entertained us on the beach. We did a lot of relaxing on the beach.



Kristen and her husband were also staying at the Raddison, so one night for dinner we all ate at a restaurant where our feet were in the sand and the water was 2 steps away, it was so beautiful. What was the name of that place?? oh and the wine we drank too?? I need to keep my travel journal more handy!