Well, somehow I thought I had written here that I decided visiting all Bloomington museums this Spring/Summer. It’s funny that I am so into art, and never seen our own museums.

Last week I went to the first floor of the IU Art Museum. I was impressed by some nice things there, and some famous people too – Monet, Kandinsky, a Picasso, maybe? I had a fun 30 minutes there during my lunch time.

This week I went to the Lilly Library, which has a permanent puzzles exhibit, and now is celebrating it 50th anniversary with some rarities for us.

I was very surprised to see the first edition of many super important books, such as Darwin’s Origin of Species (with the author’s hand written dedication!); MLK’s Why we can’t wait, inscribed and signed by himself; James Joyce’s Ulisses, some very beautiful medieval illuminures, a very very old map in Ptolomy’s Geographia, the oldest scientific textbook in the world – Elementa Geometriae, by Euclid; some other curiosities, and my favorite part…. the smallest books in the world. Incredibly small. take a look in the photo gallery…..

Well here you have some pictures, for those who asked!

2009-12-projects

From Veggies and Verl

Summer is definitely here, and a new thing in my life is our veggie garden! We have zucchini, peppers, Thai and Italian basil, and oregano. The spices are great – we’ve harvested them several times already, and they are so yummy!! We’ve got a small zucchini to try, and the peppers are still green, but I am excited about them – all look very happy! We also have 2 tomatoes, and the dozen of blueberries that will turn blue eventually – but they are still greenish.

I’m enjoying the summer, not only with flowers, but also our own veggies.

The other V was Verl’s visit (with Sue and Michael). It was fun to have them here for a week. Verl is growing fast and he is a very sweet and polite boy! Good job, Sue and Michael!

I’m glad I went to watch the musical Mamma mia! on Sunday with Eric!

It was mostly VERY VERY fun. My review is that the second act didn’t have as many fun songs than the first one, but I had a really good time. Thanks, Eric! I really like several ABBA songs, so I was kind of singing some times (but without lyrics…)

I loved the light effects (also remarked by Eric, my Musical specialist friend) and, the acting in general was very good! A fun story, a real comedy…

I had mixed feelings about the singers – sometimes I disliked the voice of a singer singing one particular song… and was very impressed in another song. Confusing!! (This is so different from my usual classical reviews… I either like or not a singer).

See if you can scape of hearing the song while you read this:

…”You can dance… you can jive… having the time of your life!”

(Yes, you can JIVE!!!)

I also wanted to mention that I am loving my voice lessons with Janiece Jaffe. She is encouraging me to experiment, to play with my voice, to be less “certinha”. I guess that’s exactly what I need….

Ok… I was curious about this class, and since Virginia and I are having lunhc on Mondays this semester, I decided to go!

The “Multi-step III” class is very very very hard. I sweat a lot, and it was very tiring. Not mentioning the high level of coordination!… These guys were super good in “step”. This is definitely a very advanced class.
And everybody keeps changing/rotating steps, so if  one makes a mistake, moving in the wrong direction for instance,  she/he bring half a class down!
It was very nice, but I had to fix my self 100 of times, and made sure I wasn’t stepping in the wrong place!

I loved it. As a dancer, it was very much into my type of exercise – lots of brain work, body doesn’t stop moving, and good for my heart as well!

Maybe I won’t go to contradance this evening…

Para os que estao interessados em aprender sobre as mudancas… Este link eh otimo!

Here I go… First time writing from my iTouch! Thanks, Michael for the tips!
More to come…

So, Yoga will be Thursday and Sunday evenings. I thought Sunday evenings could be a nice time alone for me (and David). We know how important it is in a relationship to have “space”, so here we go!

I am contacting some places for volunteering – but it’s not as easy to find a regular schedule work with kids  during weekends… I left a message for the Middle Way House.

I am also waiting for Janiece Jaffe to contact me. This is the voice teacher I am interested in taking lessons with. She is a classical/jazz trainned musician. And she lives in a convenient place – our own street.

Oh! David and I went to give blood last Monday. It was a strong experience – I guess I hadn’t eaten enough, so I felt a little weak and dizzy, BUT this is all past, and, like the very friendly nurse told me: you are saving up to 3 lives today. FEELS GREAT! And I am O+

Yesterday I also started knitting. My friend Virginia welcomed me to her house and taught me the simplest action:  “knit”.  Well, I can’t say I loved it, but as a beginner (and very aware that things tend to be easier after some sessions + practice) I decided I would continue until I make a 4 inches square. Then, I will undo it all, and decide if I will continue this new hobbie trying to make a hat or not. (I really wanted to start making a hat for myself…)

And… I want to update the blog once a week, right?

This end of the year was very good, no problems in our trips, LOTS of ping pong (we’ve been playing almost every evening!), and abundance of joy and relaxation in the holidays! (good to have some days off work!)

Some new things happening now:

-finally we’ll start to fix the walls in the basement! Remember that in June 2008, while David and I were in Brazil we had a flood here?… So, it’s exciting to have it all back to normal.

-I’ve been doing more and more graphic design work. I might even to a big project related to a museum…

-I’m also excited about learning new things -such as Flash, or the new CS4 Adobe Suite. I just got my new computer – oh… so good to have a reliable and super fast computer at home!… And all paid with the money I got from my extra-income as a designer!

-For the first time in my life I have a color printer at home – and you know how I am fond of color…

-David and I are enjoying reading together Anne of Green Gables (such a cute beautiful story about an orphan (who is clearly to me a mix of Mary Poppins and Pollyanna!)

-I’ve been using my new iTouch quite frequently. It’s a very handy type of palm, with connection with the internet when there is an available wifi signal. Ive been also struggling with it to learn simple things like how to keep my contacts updated also in my computer etc…. I’m also trying to find time to search for applicatins that will make it more like my ex-palm or organizer… (see here a VERY modern version of the machine I am retiring)

————–

Is there a bad sign when some of our resolutions for the new year sound similar to the resolutions of the year that had just passed?…. I feel that I am progressing, but some things – like having more time for myself – are always part of my resolutions. They’ve been in different “shapes” along the years (read more books, do more exercise, study more, meditate more often, etc)

Well, some of my 2009 resolutions are : writing once a week in this Blog. (I bet there is always something to say – even if it’s small and unimportant); exercise twice a week during lunch time plus yoga twice a week; try a new voice teacher – she is a jazz singer in Bloomington; meditate at least twice a week; starting to give blood (after 3 years living in US I am now eligible!); starting to volunteer, preferably with kids.

According to David, if the resolutions are falsifiable (you can clearly check if they have been accomplished or not) it’s easier to keep track, and, in my opinion, we are more likely to accomplish them.

Let’s see how I will do this year!

Cheers!

Love,

Pri

Click here for my first flash application! I will upgrade it when I learn more tricks, so check it again later…

or maybe if it doesn’t open, try this…