Lacquered Me Giveaway

Since I haven't had much time to post, here's something fun to try. My friend Ju Juba through her blog Lacquered Me, is giving away a cool threesome of awesome Revlon Polishes. Check it out! The giveaway ends October 2nd.

Here's the link:

http://lacqueredme.blogspot.com/2011/09/giveaway-because-i-love-you-guys-d.html

Sign Up and enjoy!

On New Life in Utah and Grad Schoo'

Well, as you readers may have noticed, I haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to my blog. In fact, I should be doing some reading for tomorrow's class but I am kinda sick of looking through theory and research books, and decided to take a little break to report a little about what has been going on with me.

I left Recife on August 15 and spent a whole week in Florida visiting my aunt. I had a blast! She is super fun to be with and I also got to go to the beach a couple of times and work on my tan :) In Brazil it was hard, because it rained a lot during the time I was there. So Florida helped me :)

I arrived in Utah a week later and stayed for almost two weeks at my friend Camila's house. I was in the process of finding a place to live and was still debating whether I should move to Provo or if I should stay in Draper. It looks like the Lord wanted me in Provo and I found a great deal at a cute house! It's just me and two other roommates and they are super laid back and cool. Also, the house is VERY CUTE and newly remodeled, which gives me motivation to stay organized and also to cook rather than going out to eat every single time. It will also save me some gas and it's been nice to be in a calmer place.

I started Grad School as well and this is my third week. There is a lot of reading involved and I am still trying to catch up with so much information at once, but I am excited and happy. We have an excellent group (only 10 people) and everybody seems to get along pretty well. There are also a lot of new things that I am learning. The Grad School language/jargon/whatever you wanna call it, is completely different from the Undergrad. So, yes, I am having a hard time adapting.

In the meantime I just want to express my gratitude for all the blessings that I have received. I love this life and also my Savior, for providing me with such blessings.

I'll be posting more soon!

xoxo

Under Construction & Other Stuff

I have been looking at the design of my blog page lately and I must confess that I haven't been very happy with the way it looked. I spent a lot of time without blogging and I've noticed some changes on blogspot as I came back, and to be honest I haven't had a lot of patience to explore and deal with it lately.

Yesterday I decided that was ENOUGH, and will be making some gradual changes to it. Right now, you can't see the header, but I am brainstorming a new blog header that hopefully will work with what I want. I also want to make font changes and layout as well, so be on the outlook for those changes as they come. In the meantime I ask you for your patience :)

As for the other business I mentioned on the post title, I was reading Kevin and Amanda's blog this morning and came across her post for today, which talks about an EASY website for photo editing and posting. It's called PicNik. It's FREE and super easy to use. I picked the picture below and played with it, and that's what came out. Cool, eh? So if you're tired of just posting pictures with no effects or extra cuteness added, I recommend you access that website and see what it can do :)

And here's one of my favorite Brazil shots so far - my dasch Willie, with his face in focus, sepia toned .

Carpe Diem!

Simone Barros

My friend Karina - some of the people who read this blog know her - has been one of my constant companions during my three month vacation here in Brazil. We grew up together and have been best friends for a long time, which made me realize "Holy Smokes, I have a TON of best friends!":) She's a doctor and her schedule is very crazy, but we've been making an effort to hang out a ton.

Right before she traveled to Cuiabá to spend a couple of weeks with her parents, she took me to this place in Olinda called Simone Barros. This lady is famous for the sweet treats she makes and pretty much EVERYONE who gets married or has a huge party going on hires her literally "sweet"services.

So here is a hundredth of what that lady can make:

Here's a picture I took of the Logo on the door, so she can be recognized for her amazing talent

"Crocante Branco"

The plate just looked amazed and no - I did NOT want to eat them!

Another view of the plate [clockwise]:

Brigadeiro colorido, bombom de amêndoa, moranguinho,

brigadeiro preto, white cherry cordial, surpresa de uva, and crocante branco in the center

DE-LI-SH! Yes, I plan to go back there before going back to the U.S.

As soon as Karina gets back from Cuiabá - which should be TODAY, I will schedule another visit to Simone Barros with her. It's worth the trip and the prices are super affordable :)

Enjoy!!!

"The Surgery"

I've been owing this post for a while, so here it is :)

In August 2009 I started an acne treatment with Accutane (Roacutan in Brazil). The treatment took about a year and about six months into the treatment I noticed that a "zit" started to develop on my face, but it would never come out. I decided not to bug it and by December 2010 I had a hard, fibrotic cyst on my face. I'd feel like the cyst was pulling my skin and it'd also itch. So I decided to look for a doctor to refer me to a surgeon that could remove it with minimal scarring.

I went to the "plastic" surgeon and he said that this was a simple procedure that could be done in the office, so I scheduled the surgery for January 19, 2011. Got the surgery done and he said that in about 3 months it should look normal. However, 6 months after I had two little things sticking out (one on each end of the incision), and the place of the cut looked like a huge dimple. Here is the picture that kinda shows it:

Close look at the scar, you can kinda notice

For some stupid code error I couldn't write anything right before the three pictures above but this is how my face looks after the procedure done by Dr. Ivo Salgado, the plastic surgeon.

Of course this is only two weeks after the new procedure. There's still a long way for me to go through, but I believe that the final results will be good. :) What is it with me and doctors in America? I was treated for Tuberculosis when I am autoimmune, hahaha :) What will be next?

Oh, and I will post some new adventures here in Brazil soon :) More pictures to come.

Carpe Diem!

Coming Back to Blogging

I guess trends are usually set by someone... I'm not sure about who it was this time, but a bunch of my friends decided to blog again... so here I AM! It's been over a year since I last posted on this blog. To be honest, I didn't even remember what it looked like, and had forgotten all the tricks to make the blog look cuter, so yes, this blog will be under gradual construction/improvements.

Since I am in Brazil and life is a little less boring than it was while I was in Idaho and Utah, I will be trying to post more and give some updates. I also have some ideas in mind for a new blog (this one will NOT be a personal one), so as soon as I get it going I will ask for some support to get traffic coming (that means people visiting the new blog). :)

I'm excited to see all the new looks and layouts on my friends' blogs and I promise I'll try to be a better friend and learn more of what's going on with each and every one of them!

As for news with me, I am undergoing another surgical procedure today. For those of you who had NO IDEA, I underwent surgery in January to remove a cyst that was on my face due to the usage of Accutane (Roacutan). The surgery went well but there is a scar on my face that insists on being there, and there are two little pouches of skin that look like zits and didn't come out. So I'm going to get them removed today by a plastic surgeon here in Brazil - I don't know why, but plastic surgeons are MUCH better here! So please keep me in your prayers so I will regain my original face back. It's not a big surgery but it is surely noticeable and I want it to go away.

I will be taking a before picture today before the procedure, so I can take it back to the American surgeon and HOPEFULLY get my money back. And yes, I will also post the post op picture, and hopefully a BEAUTIFUL after picture ;)

Carpe Diem!