Photos are in the same album as last post, or here:

Paris II

Entao…. Deu meu dois minutos no domingo a noite e resolvi pesquisar algum lugar na costa onde eu pudesse ir visitar sozinha, como nos velhos tempos! Eric recomendou Mont Saint Michel. Pra chegar lá peguei trem e onibus, chegando na segunda por volta das 2 da tarde e deu pra fazer e ver tudo.
Fiz um tour in the abbey after I rested and ate a Sandwich in the cloister. Very beautiful view from there!
Amazing 3 layers of churchs in there, constructed in different centuries.
Fiquei em duvida se ia embora no mesmo dia ou dormir por la e voltar na Terça como planejado. Quando falei com o motorista do ônibus e ele disse que talvez eu não encontrasse lugar no trem, e eu não gostei de arriscar… Então resolvi ficar e foi a melhor coisa!!!!
Resolvi ir caçar o por do sol, mesmo que a moca do guiche de informação tivesse me falado que não dava pra ver. Achei uma passagem pra parte de trás da abadia e andei pelas pedras. depois de uma hora mais ou menos (nossa…. o sol esta demorando demais pra baixar! agora são 8:30 e ainda ta claro!!!!) vi um casal andando pela areia e fiquei observando por onde eles estavam passando, já que esta parte e’ famosa por areia movediça… não me pareceu nem um pouco perigoso. Então também fui, curiosa pra ver o que tinha mais pra lá! encontrei uma igrejinha e na porta tinha uma família com 2 crianças pequenas e um guia da baia!!! hum! se eles estavam andando na areia e’ porque não tinha muito problema. falei um pouquinho com o guia e peguei informação sobre o tal tour em volta da abadia. Toda tarde tem um tour andando ate uma ilhota próxima de onde estávamos, a aventura de andar enquanto a maré tava baixa.
Não ia dar pra eu fazer porque teria que usar uma bota de borracha, que nem a que a Donna me deu.
Fiquei feliz assim mesmo de ter me comunicado um pouquinho em francês.
Observamos a maré subindo muito rapidamente e após um certo ponto decidi entrar na cidadezinha e escolher o restaurante pro meu jantar. Depois de muito escolher, me sentei aqui com esta lindíssima vista! Mas o menu não servia os tais crepes salgados da Bretanha, e acabei jantando crepe doce de macas flambadas com sorvete : delicioso!!! Na mesa ao lado no restaurante tinha uma família de portugueses, mais a vista, e tive esta sensação engraçada de achar que eu estava em Portugal!!
Agora mais aventura… vou andar 2km ate o hotel, pelo fiozinho que e’ a estrada que liga a cidadezinha mais próxima a ilha.
Quando comecei a andar e percebi que minha barriga começou a doer…. fui me sentindo pior ao longo do trajeto e agora estou no quarto que peguei, descansansando depois de ter vomitado e tido a maior diarréia.
será que e’ sina que meu quarto dia em Paris tenho que ficar doente??
que chato… foi a noite toda passando muito mal.
Resolvi voltar mais cedo pra Paris e agora estou no TGV (trem super veloz).
neste exato momento não consigo parar de pensar na minha cama, lá em Bloomington. meu estômago ainda dói – tomei comprimidos pra fazer parar a diarréia, e apesar de eu não estar tão mal quanto durante a noite, me sinto fraca…
será que vou ter que ir revisitar o hospital em Paris?
Agora estou de volta a casa do Eric e ele saiu pra comprar gatorade.

Termino a estoria com esperanca de que eu esteja ja em processo de cura. Se eu piorar, tenho os remedios necessarios, que o Eric foi comprar pra mim. Agora, um bom banho e cama vao me ajudar bastante.

I saw this biking home, fter having cut my fingers when I was trimming the MAC banner (I don’t remember seeing that amount of blood… It was making a “lake” in my two hands while I ran to the bathroom… ).

Yesterday in Cleveland, at David’s parents house, was the first snow of the season. In the morning through the bathroom window i saw some flurries which prepared my spirit to the whiteness to come later. I went jogging with George (who admirably jogs 1.5miles everyday regardless the weather) and they were already gone. It was refreshing and lifted my spirit and moved my tingling body towards vigorous freedom. Driving to the airport I saw the snow had taken over everywhere. My goodbye kiss was under the delicate snow that got caught in Davids beautiful curly hair.
In the plane it was almost like in a sci-fi movie…. I was in an airplane-wash: first removing the layer of snow from it’s wings and then using jets of what seemed to me to be soap and then a green liquid all over. at this point the snow was not falling anymore.
Arriving in the parking lot in Indianapolis airport I walked through the roughly one inch of snow with my not-for-snow leather boots and sicks and followed the detailed instructions of how to find Erics car- a white car hidden under an inch of white snow. the fun of the adventure was mixed with the apprehension of not finding it immediately, with my feet freezing and my gloveless hand trying to reach the cellphone to call him. Not being in the correct row and not being able to acess his very nice YouTube video of how to find the car made me feel even colder…
after his help I found his car and although 3 doors were frozen-locked with the cold, the drivers one opened, together with my huge smile of relief to be inside the car rubbing my hands… After some instructions and laughs, I got courage to go scrape the car. I learned immediately the real importance of wearing gloves, so I had to do half of the car and run inside to revive my red hard hands and my feet inside the covered-in-snow boots. after some more instructions (the windshield was also frozen and it worried me) I finished clearing the snow off the car (using the driving gloves i got from Donna last Xmas) and was ready to leave. There was no more snow coming from the sky, and the roads were clear. very few cars. wrong direction for 5minutes due to a sign that was covered by snow( I could read “67..th” and I mistakenly assumed it was south…). David helped me out and I felt safe again moving now towards home.
slow drive – arrived home at around 1:00am.
When I woke up I was in a land with snow on the ground where people used some kind of powder which prevented feet to get cold. In the dream I was barefoot walking by a frozen river. Imagine that!
(I fell now more prepared to face the real winter by myself. at least fir 3 days…)
off to work…

David tem o maravilhoso hábito de doar sangue, e foi uma grande oportunidade para eu começar a fazer o mesmo, pois penso que é uma grande ajuda para outras pessoas com necessidade. Ambos somos O + e isso o torna um motivo ainda maior para doar. (doador universal)

Fui lá com David 3 vezes, mas nesta penúltima vez, eu não pude doar por causa do meu baixo nível de ferro no meu sangue. Desde então, tomei comprimidos de ferro, mas na verdade não tão regularmente. Após 3 semanas (ontem) voltei confiante que eu seria capaz de doar desta vez. O nível (12g/ml) etsava um pouco baixo do nível aceitável (pra mim: 12,5). Ele perguntou se eu queria testá-lo novamente, já que algumas vezes a máquina não é tão exata, e lá vamos nós: ainda menor da segunda vez! (11)

Não estou realmente preocupada, mas parece que vou ter de aumentar o meu consumo de ferro com mais comprimidos (Silvana disse-me para tomar o comprimido com suco de laranja 30 minutos antes da refeição), e vou fazer o esforço de comer mais espinafres Que difícil!!!

Para aqueles que estão pensando que eu deveria voltar a comer carne, eu encontrei um artigo que demonstra que os vegetarianos, ou flexitarians (como eu!) Não têm mais deficiência de ferro ou anemia que não-vegetarianos. D & I também pesquisamos um pouco sobre nutrição para vegetarianos, mas já sabíamos o que estava lá.

Quando for a hora de David para doar novamente, eu vou com ele e ver se o meu plano funcionou!

(tradução/translation: Google Translator + some adjustments

______________________

David has the wonderful habit of donating blood since a long time ago, and it was a great opportunity for me to start doing the same, since I believe it’s a great help to others with need. We both are O+ and this makes it an even higher reason to donate.

I’ve been there with David 3 or 4 times, but this penultimate time I couldn’t donate because of my low level of iron in my blood. Since then, I took iron tablets, but not really regularly. After 3 weeks (yesterday) I came back confident I would be able to donate this time. The level (12g/ml) was just a little bit under the accepted level (according to the person 12.5). He asked if I wanted to test it again, since the machine sometimes is not so exact, and there we go: even lower the second time! (11)

I’m not really concerned, but it seems that I’ll have to increase my intake of iron with more tablets (Silvana told me to take the tablet with orange juice 30 minutes before meal), and I’ll make the effort to eat more spinach

For those who are thinking that I should re-start eating meat, I found an article that proves that vegetarians, or flexitarians (like me!) have no more iron deficiency or anemia than non-vegetarians. D & I also researched a little bit about nutrition for vegetarians, but we found what we already knew…

When it’s time for David to donate again, I’ll go with him and see if my plan worked!

I didn’t find it that easy to find the normal levels of iron in blood, and compare to my results. The different units of mesurement didn’t help.

(translation to portuguese: Google Translator + some adjustments – I liked it, it saved me a lot of time!)

Hoje é nosso terceiro aniversario de namoro! E eu tenho estado tão ocupada com diversos projetos, já cansada logo após voltar da nossa viagem, que nem lembrei. Nossa… EU NEM LEMBREI!!! Que vergonha….Nem parece a mesma Pri de antes…

MAS o David não só lembrou, mas comprou um vaso lindo com flores (que vamos plantar juntos), escreveu um cartão muito doce, junto a um pacote de gengibre cristalizado que eu amo…hummmm). EU tomei um grande susto quando entrei na cozinha pra pegar meu café da manhã e vi tudo isso em cima da mesa…

Hoje à noite depois da minha yoga vamos nos encontrar no mesmo restaurante indiano que fomos há 3 anos atrás, logo antes de começarmos a namorar.(e que a gente adora)

Como eu sou abençoada de ter David, que é tão carinhoso, cuidadoso, sensível, como meu companheiro nesta vida. E que companheiro mais alegre e sempre sorridente e positivo!!!

Tirei a sorte grande…

——————————–

Today is our 3rd anniversary, and I have been so busy, tired and overwhelmed by so many things happening at the same time that I confess… I forgot!!!…

How shameful…

BUT David – not only remembered – but also surprised me with beautiful flowers! YES he gave me flowers (which we’ll plant, and see if they come back next year as well…), and a pack of crystallized ginger… hummmmmmmmm

David, thanks for being so sweet, so caring, so loving, so thoughtful, and being my companion, and being such a happy (huge) part of my life. I love you!

Nossa….

I loved my whole birthday weekend! I started with a 1 hour massage with Millie and then the party – lots of friends came to our house for a game-party and it was FUN!

On Saturday we flew to Cleveland to surprise David’s parents – it was the day of George’s 70th birthday party. it was a gift for him and also for all of us – it’s always very fun to visit! I also had the opportunity to glaze my own little ceramic “pots” that I had made in our last visit in December. (right?)

On Sunday, back to Indianapolis, David took me to a Spanish restaurant  (Barcelona?) and we had great, really delicious food (the idea was to go to San Torini, but it was closed – so we’ll go there next time).

I was pretty happy!! We drove to Mason, to our next adventure for my actual birthday: Kings island!

2009-06 Pri Birthday

9:30 am we arrived in the extremely empty parking lot – very unusual!! We actually entered the park, but had to wait until 10am for the “streets” to open to general public, so we gathered there with some dozens of adolescents. The excitement was building up – everybody was getting more and more anxious and at 10am we heard the National Anthem in the speakers all around the park. It was sung very beautifully by a woman – no instruments.

At10am the sidewalks inside the park opened and we kind of run to our first ride:

Face-off (now called InVertigo): its was a great ride to start! and actually one of my favorites!

David:”The 2 fee-requiring “rides” were on sale from $25 to $5, so we did both of them, and they were amazing.”

Slingshot: I loved it! They aim you to the sky and…. VUPT! There you go like a little ball shot in the air! I felt like I was levitating – I opened my arms as if I were meditating – it was almost a spiritual experience. I recommend – and it’s not scary at all.

Xtreme Skyflyer: It was like a dream – I didn’t know what this ride was about (David knew) and the woman explaining was talking real fast. We had to put on a heavy “front vest” that had a hook in the center of our backs. We walked up to this kind of podium, in the center of this “ride”. Then, they said hold on this kind of low wall (that appeared from nowhere) to help you continue to be standing up… Then they continued talking and David and I had to hold to our arms in a specific way, and then suddenly “VUPT!”we were facing the ground! There was a hook pulling us up from the ground until 153 feet high. Well, after the shock of being so high up in the sky I remembered that I was the one to pull a cord that would unlatch us and make us “fly”. David had decided way back when they were speaking very fast and told them that I would do it.   Ah! It was hard to release that right arm (that was grabbing Davids arm) to find the yellow thingy that I had to pull. But then, when I do it – nothing – the free fall was really scary in the first second or so. Then it was just the amazement of flying. Really really REALLY unforgettable. I recommend to anyone that is not afraid of heights.

David: “After that, we rode every single (grownup) coaster, multiple times as we wanted – 4 on The Beast, 3 on the very nice new coaster (Diamondback). About half of the coaster rides were “walk on”, that is, there was at least one empty stall when you got into the boarding area.  We did a lot of waiting for the front car, which Pri loves. By late afternoon we were almost tired of roller coasters and quite hot, so we spent a little over an hour at the water park, to which we’d never been.”

I happily bought a swimsuit for me as part of the gift that Donna had given to me for my birthday, and also paid for the lockers, then David and I could enjoy the water park together. It was the refreshment I needed, since I was feeling really hot and tired. I even tried a water slide, which confirmed that I don’t really like this type of “ride”. But being in the water for an hour made me feel ready for more!!

So.. we still went back to more roller coasters, including the Racer, according to David, his first roller coaster. We also had a lot of fun in the “Scooby-doo” castle – for kids – we had to shoot the targets while the car was moving to make the cartoon move. David beat the record of the house!

I had a blast. It was a very fun, exciting and relaxing day!!

What a lucky person I am! Thanks David for wanting to share this unique celebration with me!

Well,

This weekend was a bunch of cancellations:

I haven’t been working since Thursday afternoon, our Movie-Thank you party on Saturday would have been an invitation to make people sick, and the Cheesy-Rock-Band party at Fiona/Doug’s would have been a frustration, since I can’t barely speak, imagine sing!

Well, then David and I,  every time I was awake and felt a little better (probably when the fever went away) we/I did some productive/fun things. So…

- we finished painting the Hoosier Cabinet. (pictures will come soon)
- I marveled the beautiful little flowers growing everywhere by our house!
- I almost finished the new Sugar Hill flyer and logo for the T-shirt
- I’ve been researching webdesign in the internet – Thanks, Ian!
- we watched one of the movies that we had rented for the party
- we hid all the cables in the ceiling, making our home theater very professional-looking
- we made fresh pasta!! For the first time I saw how fun and easy it is! Check the pictures…
- When David was at Kroger’s today I played piano – so good to have the ability to make music even when my voice fails… (check previous post)

I’m so blessed…

Here you have some of the pictures I mentioned:

miscelaneous March2009

Right when I started thinking “the roads are clear, it’s not snowing anymore – let’s get my bike!”

Last time it was cold like this and I regreted… SO.. Let’s go ge the bus AGAIN.

:/

Pri

Click on the image to see more images.

The story is in our blog. Click here.

da’ pra acreditar????…