Leave your diet at passport control

If you ever doubted there was reason to visit Sao Paulo (instead of just hitting up the beaches in Rio), the food alone is reason enough!!! Even if you just stop in for a few days....the relentness delicious food meal after meal of all varieties will be enough to have you planning your next visit.  And this is coming from someone who used to be so picky my husband thought I was worse than our toddler!  So let me tempt you with some of my most recent favorites....

New fav comfort food! Beef croquettes with curry and rice.



Under the molten lava cheese is the best lasagna I've ever had!

 

Appetizers shouldn't look so good...who knew cheese bread could be this amazing??

Last but not least, my fav fast food Italian place, a weekly staple for me.



Rainy in Rio

I could liken my experience in Brazil to that of a love/hate relationship....and my rainy weekend in Rio de Janeiro was Brazil hating on me.  I'll spare you the gray/cloudy/rain splattered pictures from most of the weekend and just share a few from our last few hours there when the sun decided to peak out for a few hours.  We did make it up to the Christo, though we had to hang out for quite a while as we waited for clouds to pass so we could get a view of the city, and even the Christo itself.  Having the Christo disappear then reappear over and over had a certain ambiance to it that you wouldn't get to experience on a sunny clear day and just the experience of standing in a cloud was pretty interesting. I must say that despite the clouds and rain, it is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and it will be well worth the effort to try again another weekend.
PS. I tried to include some pics from walking on the beaches but I could not find one that would be work appropriate :) and yes, the stereo types are true.


Sunrise view from the hotel room



Rooftop infinity pool (something I have always wanted to experience and it was awesome!!!!)



FPS Memories

For my fellow unofficial Carly Rae Jepsen fan club members.....

I listen to one of the radio stations that mixes in American music on the way to work each morning and for the past TWO mornings I have heard "Call me maybe"....can't help but smile thinking of the good ol' conference room days. 

Take a moment to reminisce.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic

On a side note - In case you were ever wondering what your name would be if you played for Brazil....
Feel free to share your results in the comments section!

http://www.minimalsworld.net/BrazilName/brazilian.shtml

(thanks to Paulo for sharing the link!) 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming....

The holiday break in Atlanta was over too quickly (and to be honest I ended up working way more than I had hoped...) but I loved every second of being back home.  We had the unexpected perk of seeing snowfall while up in the blue ridge mountains for a christmas family get-together with my in-laws and we managed to put some mini trees up which seemed to be enough to get Liam in the spirit!

So here we are again, back in Sao Paulo. The weather over the weekend was warm and beautiful so there were crowds everywhere out to enjoy it.  In addition to our usual weekend stops, we made the trip to Liberdade, home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan, to enjoy the street fair (food and crafts) which was crazy crowded but a fun experience.  The food was yummy!

We also strolled the gardens of Parque da Independência which were inspired by the Versailles Gardens  and they were breathtaking!  We definitely plan to revisit this one!

We are hoping the nice weather keeps up while we have vistors in town this week! (always refreshing to have more people to speak English with!)