Tagged... that means I finally get to post something new.

1. What is your current obsession?
This is going to sound sad, but my current obsession is Simply Orange Juice with Pineapple. And about a month ago, my pool.

2. What do you hate that everyone else seems to love?
Harry Potter. Oh, and those ugg boots... I think they are UGLY!

3. What are you wearing today?
Green shirt and black pants. Very comfy.

4. What’s for dinner?
Italian crockpot chicken and potatoes by Dustin. Sooo yummy!

5. What would you eat for your last meal?
My mom's lasagna or my grandma's ngocchi and Carrabba's Sogno Di Cioccolata dessert. Yes, I love Italian food.

6. What is the last thing you bought?
Groceries. Sad huh!

7. What are you listening to right now?
Gravity, by Sarah Bareilles

8. What do you think of the person that tagged you?
Jamie is sweet, funny, witty, beautiful and super down to earth. That's why we get along so well. LOVE HER!!!!!!!!

9. If you could have a house- fully paid for and totally furnished – anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Florence, Italy. I have never been there but I have seen pictures and LOVE it! Maybe in the next couple of years I will make it over there.

10. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would it be?
Just for the next hour? Hmmm... I guess I would pick Iraq just so see what's going on, but I don't want to be there a minute longer.

11. What is one of your hobbies?
Does going to the gym count as a hobby? Man, I'm pathetic! hahaha

12. Favorite thing you did this summer?
Going to Brazil for a month and then have my mom here with me for another month! Love her!

13. What is your favorite color?
Purple and blue

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?
Right now... anything that fits me makes me happy! But I do have this one dress I love that I wore to a friend's wedding years ago... maybe I will get to wear it again in a year or so. ;)

15. What is your dream job?
I don't know. Something that I could do from home and make tons of money!

16. Describe your personal style?
Comfortable!!!!!!!

17. What is your favorite tree?
I love all trees, except the ones in my backyard that make my pool all dirty.

18. What are you going to do after this?
Watch TV with my hubby.

19. What is your favorite fruit?
Oh nooo I can't pick one. Apples, strawberries, mangoes and pineapples.

20. What inspires you?
Strong women

21. Who was the last person that you kissed?
Dustin

22. What are you currently reading?
The Appeal

23. Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book that you see with a red binding, turn to page 26 and type out the first line.
"Let me analyze this a little," I said to Morelli. "Your expertise in bed is my alibi." Hahhahahahahaha no comment.

24. What delighted you the most today?
My Sunday nap.

25. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?
I want to break free!

26. If you bought a wiener dog today, what would you name it?
Feio

27. What is your most memorable dream?
I remember my best friend growing up's dad following me with a pitchfork, but we were falling.... it was weird but I had that dream a couple of times.

28.What have you been avoiding that you can do today?
Homework as always!!!!

The rules: Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your own.
2. Tag five other people.
People I Tag: Maisy, Erika, Ashley, Kathryn (who will never do it)and Lynsie

Post 2 (and maybe last in Brazil)

So I thought I would be posting all the time, and as you can see that has not been the case. All I can tell you guys is that I am freezing here in São Paulo, it's almost making me miss Vegas a little bit. I haven't seen my husband for weeks now and I miss him tons, but here's a list of things that I love in Brazil:

- My family. It's great having my family around all the time. It's going to be tough on me when I leave, they are a great support system and I miss having them around.

- The food. All of it, junk food, my mom's food, pizza, chocolates, cakes... EVERYTHING. I love it all! Well... except the stuff that I normally don't eat. I love how lunch is the big meal here, and dinner is usually something small. Brazilians don't want to go to bed feeling stuffed. The plates and cups here are A LOT smaller, therefore, servings are smaller and as a result you don't eat as much.

- The people. Brazilians are so friendly. You meet someone once and they become your friend instantly. You can't stay in line waiting for something without someone talking to you. I love the warmth of my people.

- Having a maid. Oh yeah, it's very common in Brazil for people to have a maid or someone that comes a couple of times a week to help out around the house. There's nothing wrong with having a clean house all the time and not having to be the one doing it. LOVE IT!!!!!

- Health insurance. I know, weird but I have health insurance down here in Brazil and got to go to a ton of doctors and not pay a penny, no co-pay, nothing!!! It's awesome!

- Traffic. Hahahaha just kidding, that is the one thing I hate about being in such a huge city as São Paulo. The only time that there is no traffic is after 11PM or so.

Anyway, I'm sure I will think of other things later... but I am having a good time down here, it's great to be with family. But I can't wait to go back to Las Vegas and be with my hubby and Bella.

In Brazil... (post 1)

Ok, so I called it "post 1" because I'm hoping I will get to post tons while I'm down here. I don't know how often this will happen but I promise to try.
We got to São Paulo last Friday morning after a LONNNNNNNNG couple of flights. It was great to finally get here. We were expecting cold weather since it's Fall here but it has been very pleasant.
We have been busy but it's been fun. Dustin is leaving tomorrow already so that makes me SAD!!!! We will be apart for a couple weeks and I will miss him since we've only been apart for a couple of days since we got married six years ago.
Anyway, I started this post a couple of days ago and had more to say but now I can't really think of anything too interesting. I'll keep you all posted if something fun and exciting happens!

It's Marina's Birthday

This is Dustin again.



Happy birthday honey! Like I told you yesterday, today is the anniversary of the best gift I've ever gotten being delivered to Earth (you even look kind of like a present in that picture). I love you so much. You're the greatest.

Let's do one more picture too, this time of you on a cold day:

This post is dedicated to Lynsie!

So last Saturday we had the chance to hang out with some cool people from our ward at Sommer's house to have a BBQ. Lynsie was one of those people and she complained that I have not updated my blog in forever, which is true!!!

So today I went to a Scentsy party and two other people mentioned me not updating my blog... Maaaan, I didn't know my blog was that popular! hahaha

The reason I haven't been blogging much is because not a lot has been going on. School is boring and I often wonder why in heavens I decided to go back, Dustin has been working tons and it hasn't been hot enough for me to brag about my wonderful pool. 

OK, so I do have some news... Dustin and I are going to Brazil!!!!! Yay! Dustin won't get to stay there for very long but I will get to stay for over a month! :) It has been two years since we last went down there, so we are very excited! :) 

I am sure I will have lots of time to blog while I am in Brazil, so you guys won't miss me too much! :) hahahaha 

Settlement

This is a Dustin post.

So for the past 6 months I have been working on one big case. I have 12 or 13 smaller cases, but about 90% of my time at work has been devoted to one big case. The case had previously been handled by another attorney who left our firm, and there were a lot of things that had to be . . . fixed.

Well, my big case settled last weekend. And for those of you unfamiliar with settling cases as a defense attorney I can tell you it is quite . . . anticlimactic. When I did plaintiff's work a settlement was great, because it meant my client was getting a big check, and the firm was getting a big check, and (in theory, if not in practice) I was getting closer to a big check.

As a defense attorney, settling a case means my client (usually an insurance company) has to write a big check, I stop getting the opportunity to bill on the case, and I have to find other ways to fill my time. It has been nice to have the stress of the big case off my back, but I miss knowing I could go into work at any time and have something to do. Now I have to make sure all of my small cases are caught up. The firm has a lot of work, so I will be able to make my hours, but it was interesting that everyone kept congratulating me for a job well done (which was nice) and for not having to worry about the case anymore. We got a great result for my client and my insurance carrier, so I am happy with the result, but it didn't feel like a win. It felt like a tie, at best. I guess I need to learn to adjust my conception of what a "win" is for me as a defense attorney.

Anyway, just thought I would share a little bit of my legal world with everyone. I'm sure Marina has more fun posts with videos and pictures of bella coming soon.

I ♥ Karlie!

Ok, so today I got to babysit Karlie (Jonathan and Kathryn's little girl) for a little bit. The last time I babysat her was months ago, and it's so funny to see how much she's grown up! She is at that fun age where she repeats stuff that you ask her to say. Soooo I was trying to teach her how to count in Portuguese and it was the cutest thing!!!! I love her dearly and am so glad her parents let me hang out with her once in a while! hahaha Enjoy the little video! 

Nothing to blog about...

I guess my life is pretty boring because I was thinking about what to blog and nothing comes to mind, so I decided I could share with you all THE BEST banana recipe ever! At least, I love it! And have not come across a better one yet.


1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

1. Move oven rack to low position so that tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, 8 1/2x4 1/2x2 1/2 inches, or 1 loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches.

2. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 1 hour, 9-inch loaf about 1 1/4 hours, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.


This is not part of the recipe, but I usually make this little mixture of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it on top before baking it. That makes a little crust and itssooooooooooo good!! Oh, I should also mention that I got this recipe from a Betty Crocker recipe book.

So frustrating!

So I haven't had a job in over a year. At first, it was exciting to take some time off. Moving was a pain so I thought staying at home doing nothing would be fun. It was until I got bored and wanted to look for a job. When that happened, we started to look for a home to purchase and since I lived in Henderson, and we were looking in Summerlin, I thought it would be dumb to find a job and have to quit so soon because of the commute. After we bought the house and moved in, was almost to Summer time; in hot hot Las Vegas, and with a pool in my backyard... well, I didn't care too much to find a job. Instead, I spent a lot of time enjoying my pool and getting a nice tan. 

I started to look for a job in the fall and didn't feel like I was qualified to do anything (which wasn't true but that's how I felt), but decided to go back to school to get my degree. It's been good going back to school but I got the point now that I HAVE TO FIND A JOB!!!!! So I started looking again... EXCEPT that the economical situation is so bad in this country right now that nobody is hiring. It's so frustrating!!!! I truly miss not having to worry about money and also the social interaction with people other than my husband. Poor Dustin gets home and all I do is talk talk talk....

ANYWAY, if anyone knows of any jobs in Las Vegas or jobs that you can do from home, please let me know!?! Thank you! 

*I know this wasn't a fun post, but I needed to vent for a bit*