Tags
art, beach, bird watching, ducks, Life, love, memories, nature, park, photography, sandpipers, seagulls, swans, travel
BIRD WATCHING
09 Friday May 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Mom is 90th!!
05 Monday May 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Tags
3 frontiers, birthday cake, birthday celebration, Casinos, Fresh nectar, home, Iguaçu Falls, Iguazu Gran Hotel, Life, love, memories, slot machines
Hello from Brazil. My mom turned 90 years old on May 1st. Since the trip to the US has become too much for her, Michael and I traveled to Brazil to take her to Argentina for a few days.
In Brazil, casinos are illegal, and the closet casino is in Argentina, near Iguaçu Falls. She loves slot machines, so I chose a hotel that has a casino on the premises.
This was a very short trip, only 4 days, as I didn’t know if she would be okay. Her problem is her back and hip. She needs a hip replacement, but at 90 years old with a heart condition and other issues, it is not safe to operate. At this point is all about pain management.
We drove 2 hours from our home in the suburbs of Sao Paulo to the airport. Then it was just one hour and fifteen minutes plane ride. We traveled to an airport in the Brazilian side of the border, and the hotel came to meet us there. We crossed the border by car.
We stayed at the Iguazu Grand Hotel in Misiones, Argentina. Everything about the hotel was great, specially all the staff. On mom’s they brought her a cake at breakfast and they all sang, along with the other guests. She was over the moon. The cake was delicious.
Since it was a short trip my mother decided to mostly stay at the hotel. We just took a trip to the Triple Frontier – 3 borders comprising of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguai. There is a gorgeous view there and some little stores.
Michael went to see the Iguaçu Falls and he also went to the Bird Zoo. Since arriving home, mom regrets not going to see the falls and the Zoo. Next time…
Iguazu Grad Hotel
Iguazu Grad Hotel
There are slot machines in 3 currencies: Argentinian Peso, Brazilian Real and US Dollar.
Argentina is the best place to eat meat. This is chicken fried steak. It was to die for. We had other beef dishes, but I didn’t remember to take pictures.
Best drink ever: Rum, passion-fruit, lime and mint.
3 Frontiers: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguai
Progress: we finally have a couch
23 Wednesday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Tags
burgers, Casinos, construction zone, Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock Hollywood, home, Life, love, memories, new couch, slot machines
Last weekend we went to a follow up with my dental surgeon. According to him, all is going well. I was hoping it would look and feel better, but I know not to have too many expectations when it comes to my teeth.
The surgeon is located a couple of hours away, and it is not too far from some casinos. Since I like casinos, we always stop by one of them.
This time we went to the Hard Rock in Hollywood. The guitar shaped building is so cool. We had a great meal at their restaurant. I had a flat smashed burger with burger and caramelized onions. It was delicious. Michael had the impossible burger, since he doesn’t eat meat. He enjoyed his as well.
To drink I had a cosmopolitan. I had to stop and congratulate the bartender. It is the best one I have had since my nights in New York City. Michael had a Bahama Mama and it was equally delicious.
We are finally seeing a lot progress in our building renovation. This renovation started in March last year. We bought it in June, but didn’t move in until September. We didn’t expect to last this long and cost this much. The cost is still increasing as at every turn there is a new costly discovery, and more assessments.
We finally have a couch. Since we moved in, Michael and I decided we wouldn’t really get any furniture or spend any money until the construction was finished. But there were things we needed to do. We got a cheap bedroom set, an Amazon one that we put it together ourselves, and a couple of TVs.
As you can see in the pictures, the TV is sitting on Tupperware. We are still debating if we are going to have it on the wall or on a rack. The rug is an extra one I had in NY. This couch has made us so happy. It signal to us that this project is almost done, if feels like a huge step forward.
We also had contractors to do part of the tiles to match the part that it was damaged with the construction. To do the entire floor, it would be costly and too much disturbance. We also had the walls and floors painted. We just left the second bedroom out, it has a wall painted with flowers, so I will leave that as is for now.
Once the building is complete than we will work on decoration and the rest of furniture. With that being said, we don’t want a lot, we want simple and minimal. We want it to be practical and comfortable for us.
Snake and Birds
16 Wednesday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Today a saw a snake on the beach.
I am terrified of snakes, even if it is just a tad larger than a worm. This finding makes me afraid of my morning walks and of going in the water.
I am not sure it had been in the dune vegetation and just wondered off too far, or perhaps a bird was carrying it and dropped it.
Since I heard the story of the hawk that dropped a snake on a woman and then both started attacking her, I am always aware of birds above me.
“Even snakes are afraid of snakes.” — Steven Wright
After a few more minutes walking I encountered all these birds. I am surprised they didn’t notice the snake.
Bike upgrade for Christmas
15 Tuesday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Tags
bike shop, evening bike rides, Huffy Bike, Life, love, Specialized bikes, sunsets on the pier, Walmart
Last Christmas Michael upgraded my Huffy bike from Walmart to a Specialized from the local bike shop.
He wanted a different color but the only one available was black, and he wanted to make sure I had it for Christmas.
I love it! Classic and understated 🙂
The difference is amazing, it rides so smooth. I also love the accessories that Michael added: the mirror and the lights. And let’s not forget the bright yellow helmet!
I am a lucky girl!
“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle
New wheels- classic black
My old beauty is for when my sister comes to town.
Sunset Bike Rides
14 Monday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Daily Message, travels
Tags
amazing nature, blessed nature, evening bike rides, Life, love, Melbourne Beach Pier, sunsets on the pier
I am blessed to start my day with walks on the beach, and to end it with bike rides along the Indian River.
I love discovering new neighborhoods and seeing all the different styles of houses, there are old Florida styles alongside very modern new homes.
But the best part of my evening rides are the sunsets at the Melbourne Beach Pier on the Indian River.
It is just spectacular!!
Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.
One walk at a time
11 Friday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, travels
Tags
amazing nature, beach toys, blessed nature, clean beach, daily walks, Life, love, walking on sand
I have started taking daily walks before going to work. It has become a good routine that has improved my day. It makes me feel even more blessed to be able to have this contact with nature first thing in the morning.
On the first day I saw some garbage and other items left behind by the beach goers and decided to pick it up and throw in the trash bin.
In the following days I started taking a bag with me to help with the garbage collection. For the first few days I threw everything out. But the last couple of days I decided to keep some of the children’s toys. See the 2 pictures below.
The items I find the most are:
- Children’s plastic toys
- Hair ties
- Bottles, cans, bottle caps, plastic cups and straws
- Suntan lotion bottles
- Food and candy wrappers
- Socks (I found 3 pairs in 2 days)
Today I decided to take 2 bags, one for real garbage and one for toys. Guess what?
Nothing was found, except for a couple of bottle caps. I am happy to see the beach clean. Today is Friday, I am guessing the beach is the worst after the weekend. I will report back after Monday’s walk.
Wishing everyone a blessed weekend!
Birthday weekend – beach, massage, shopping, eating, gambling, and loads of fun
08 Tuesday Apr 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Food, travels
The weekend before last I turned 59. 59!!!! I can’t believe I am 59. I don’t feel 59. But then again, what is 59 supposed to feel like?
The scary part is that 60 is just around the corner… and I have so much to do. Will I have time to do it all?
But, getting back to last weekend, my identical sister flew from NY to Florida so we could spend our birthday together.
I was excited to see her and for her to see my new place.
She arrived on Thursday night. On Friday we walked on the beach, went for a quick bike ride, then I took her to see my new office. Then we went to get massages, but they only had space for only 1 person, so I let her have the massage while I waited.
After that we went to a pizza place for a quick bite. Then we went to Ross stores I had never been there before because of my growing dislike of shopping. I don’t like going, but once there it was enjoyable, and my sister bought a bunch of stuff. It was very similar to Marshalls.
After Ross we were going to Bealls, but my sister had no more room in her carry on so we skipped it. We went back home and rested for a little bit, before getting ready for dinner.
For dinner we went to Estampa Gaucha, a Brazilian steakhouse. The meats were divine, but the salad bar and the sides were just okay. We had the typical Brazilian drinks, caipirinhas, and they were good.
On the Saturday we decided to take a casino cruise, Victory Casino Cruise. I was curious about it and figure it could be fun, since my sister is a fan of slots machines as well.
It was better than I expected. I won, my sister lost, but we all had fun. The waters were choppy, so was a bit shaky at times. I saw a young not feeling well and gave him a Dramamine pill. I saw him a couple of times after that and he was very grateful.
After arriving at the port, on the way home we stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Tiny Turtle. We enjoyed our meal, and then went to Fat Donkey next door for ice cream, which was delicious.
On Sunday, we spent the morning at the beach, then it was time to help her pack and drive her the one and half hours to Orlando Airport.
Her flight was really delayed, she didn’t get to NY until midnight. But she had a great weekend and was happy to have been here.
We enjoyed all the food and drinks so much that we didn’t remember to take pictures. I guess that is a good thing.
This was a laid back 59, perhaps I should start planning the 60 now!!
A little break for some snowy fun
25 Tuesday Mar 2025
Posted in Daily Life, Food, travels
Tags
Being audited, Breckenridge, food, gum surgery, Hearthstone Restaurant, Life, skiing in Colorado, snowy mountains
Life continues to be beautiful and chaotic.
In the midst of dental issues and audit headaches, Michael and I were able to get to our favorite skiing spot: Breckenridge.
We were there for 5 days. I only skied four days. The first day I always struggle with altitude sickness.
We had an amazing time. There were some flight issues, but we were expecting those as we chose flights with connections. We wanted to be able to use a small airport just 15 minutes from home.
Every time we are in Breckenridge, we talk about buying a condo there. That would allow us to spend more time there, and I would focus on improving my skiing. Skiing 5 days a year, or even 10 days, is not enough to see improvement.
Besides skiing, we didn’t do much. We spent some late afternoons at the hot tub and/or walking around in town.
We had some great meals. The most memorable was at Hearthstone Restaurant. We had an all-fish night. For appetizers we had pistachio crusted tuna and mahi-mahi tacos. For entrée, Michael had the salmon with a lobster sauce and I had the black cod with black rice. To drink Michael had a beer and I had a cocktail called cornice fall (St. George citrus vodka, Domaine canton, lemon shrub and cava), absolutely delicious!
This restaurant also had an awesome view of the mountains.
We can’t wait to go back to snowy mountains!
Got Bread?
28 Friday Feb 2025
Posted in Daily Life
Tags
addicted to bread, Being audited, bread lover, can't eat want to eat, diet, food, from New York to Florida, gum graft, gum surgery, Life, regulators and auditors
After 2 weeks of eating just soft foods, mostly yogurts and creamy soups, today I finally had bread. I couldn’t have the French, crusty, baguette that I adore, but this soft brioche tastes like heaven.
Yes, my heaven is made of bread and butter. And coffee with chocolate and cream.
My dental issues continue. I had laser surgery and gum graft in 2 areas in my mouth. The front upper and the lower left, so eating, even soft foods, has been tricky and awkward. I still can’t have any foods that are hot, spicy, hard, seeded, etc, for another 2 weeks.
I am being extra careful as I don’t want to go through this surgery again. It is way too painful and expensive. I just they help save the implants and make the gum healthier.
There is always a silver lining, and in this case is that I lost weight. I am not sure how much, as I haven’t really weighted myself in ages… I can’t find the scale. Blame it on the messy, chaotic state of our condo. Even though we don’t have much furniture, whatever we have are in boxes, and it is a nightmare any time we need to look for something.
There is progress being made on this condo renovation, slowly but steadily. I can actually see the light at the end of this tunnel. And it is so bright, so beautiful, so full of hope.
This “not eating” really illustrated to me, how much I depend on food to even out my moods. Hi, I am Ana, and I am an emotional eater. I run to food to deal with mental discomfort. Well, for any reason really.
Many times, throughout the day, I find myself thinking of food. I know I am not hungry, what I am is anxious, worried, etc. I am happy I eat, I am sad I eat. Any emotion is dealt with food. And when I cannot rely on food, it becomes really tricky. I am lost.
Speaking of food, the pictures below are some of the snacks I bought for the auditors that are visiting my office for a few days. After only 2 years since the last physical audit, the auditors are back. They seem to love our little firm. We are guessing it is because we moved from New York to Florida and they want to see if we actually have an office, or I am working out of my bedroom.
Those cookies and pastries were fresh out of the oven, from a French bakery. Perhaps I can charm the auditors with food.
Thank you for stopping by. I wish you all a blessed weekend! I will try not to be a stranger. I keep promising that and failing. Even my blog doesn’t recognize me anymore. Sad!
Blessed with a Star on the Forehead 