Monday, December 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
S U M M E R | 2 0 1 1
...dance downtown has begun.
Today more than ever I look at the below and wish for these times to come soon.
H - you're almost home...
Today more than ever I look at the below and wish for these times to come soon.
H - you're almost home...
 |
| Baker's a smart man... |
 |
| yes, after this outfit he stayed w/ me... |
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Bug Bites are GONE!!!
...bring on the HIVES!
These pictures do no justice - not even close. All is not horrid though, I have a very patient and distractingly handsome man here w/ me who helps out every way he can... Lucky me. Oh yeah, plus we have this:
Apologies for the butt peek above - but there's a welt on my upper left thigh that could not be left out.
Tomorrow we are waking up early for a trilha then meeting this guy Reed Halladay and his wife for lunch. We met them at the Brazilian Consulate in LA... should be nice.
I had a very nice phone call today with Grant Arnow, front man of Beta Wolf (previously singer of Takota), he's a good friend of Kyle's and someone I look forward to working with in the future. He's an amazing musician and I'm excited he and I will be collaborating thoughts.
***He also was the person who sang the hook in our Xmas vid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwDUwe-dK_g). Here's my current fav. song of his - acoustic version of course - enjoy!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Self Titled.
A day late and a dollar short. So sorry people, I live in a 3rd world country and many times, I have no internet access -- as was the case for most of yesterday. The good with the bad, yesterday I had the day to myself as Kyle had especialização, and yesterday was the first day where I felt 100% really happy to be back here. More on that luego.
After not sleeping all night (for real all night, reading about my cousin... ah!) Kyle's alarm went off and there he found me still up looking at him like "it's about time" so we got up, him super tired and me showing the effects of no sleep... a s-load of laughter sent off the tired man with this and you can bet he was happy to be away for the day. I -still not tired- ate some bkfst and then waited for sleep to kick in... didn't, so I started doing some work/research only to find 10 min. into it that today was going to be one of those no getting online days.. Put newly downloaded music on my iphone and then found some eyes shut hours. Woke up ready to do things but again, internet was down, then not... then down again (Viva Island Life!). So I packed up my things and decided whats the next best thing... ahhh, exercise (see Mom!).
***Side note: let's actually not forget that I went and dropped off our laundry first to the lady that does it, and I have a rollercoaster relationship with (still Evan...), point is this would be a funny drop off. Why? Because the night before this (Thursday night) after going to bed (and having a wonderful day, days before, etc. Amazing V-Day... even though Kyle got sick, the day was nice...) anyway, Kyle and I went to bed and later in the night I was woken up by the absolute worst thing I could wake up from; NO, not our neighbors sex noises, although that's def not a favorite (remember the walls are like paper, I can hear the man upstairs burping, all morning, everyday.. so gross). No, so I woke up from BUG BITES = kill me. Really, kill me and prob kill Kyle so he doesnt have to deal with me in this situation (I think I handled it well one time... work in progress). So I went to the bathroom to assess the damage - two on my right leg, three on my left leg and for the kicker, one on my right eyelid; ahhh life is sweet. So I decided I was going to remain calm even though skin issues are like the absolute worst in my book, but then I couldn't find the anti-itch cream - I knew we packed it away when we left for CA, so I looked in those places (our place is only +/- 400 sq. feet) and came up unsuccessful... Okay, where Kyle comes into play (and laundry lady, haven't forgotten where this story came from) so I nicely wake up Kyle, "Honey, I got attacked by bugs, do you know where the itch-cream is?" "You want to itch?" he says, j/k not funny but he didnt know where it was either. But he's a smart man - he knows how this situation can progress very quickly so he started helping me look and by the time every suitcase and every bag, and suitcases within the suitcases were opened, there still was no cream and my bites were now the size of swollen nickels (imagine) and my eye was already halfway shut due to the stupid death chew of a stupid bug that I hate. Because Kyle is not only very smart, but very patient and knows how to remain calm... and knew the attitude of mine was well on it's way to s**tland (it was really already there) - he looked up home remedies for bug bites (I swear, this guy is #1... I wouldn't have been able to get to that calm; okay plan 2 mindset - for a LONG time). So he comes to me with our pink banana shaped bowl (thanks Luis & Kathryn) filled with a cinnamon and honey mixture and tells me to apply to bitten areas with one of our Christmas spatula - we have two (thanks A Lois & U Gary). I look at him probably with death in my eyes and say the funniest now thing, "does this work?!?" How the heck would he know - I don't know but desperate, I put it on and at that point didn't want to tell him yet but besides being super sticky and smelling pretty darn good, but still really uncomf because now I'm laying on our white sheets leaving trails of cinn-honey behind... it really worked, better than anti-itch cream. For reals, I was amazed at how quickly they stopped itching. Okay, let's end this story -- myself and the bites calmed down, temporarily as I ended up getting bit by a vampire bug 2 more times right below my jawline, and Kyle had to leave prob an hour later (his alarm went off about 5 min. after we finally got back to sleep) but the absolute rock bottom of this whole story is waking up to find myself covered in dried cinnamon and honey, it's everywhere, and all over our sheets and it looks like s**t, literally. So when I dropped off these sheets plus other normal stuff to the laundry lady, I did my best explanation with the vocabulary I know on why the sheets were like that... "it's not bathroom on our sheets." ha!***
Back to yesterday I walked all the way to Praia Mole, about 44 - 50 min. walk next to the lagoon, sand dunes, water park, and cars cars cars (it's the main road in Lagoa da Conceicao where we live, very popular - think Main Street HB but not so bro-ish and believe it, more tattoos). This walk was particularly nice because the weather was absolutely beautiful, not too humid and with a little breeze. Also, I walked listening to Cold War Kids newest album and wow, Nate is so amazing... SO SO AMAZING. Kyle hung with him before we came back here (they used to play music together) and we're hoping to meet up with them (he's friends w/ Jonnie too) in Chile this April when they do Lollapalooza there. Everyone should BUY the album, MINE IS YOURS. So yeah, I was making headway to those sweet sounds when after passing CaoFianca - the dog place where I worked, I didn't see Gustavo so I kept on going only to see him pass by later in the passenger seat of a new employees red truck... Oh Gustavo, poor guy, when Kyle and I went to go visit/say we're back to him and his following, we were surprised to see him looking so much thinner. If you don't remember, Gustavo is the most bad-ass type of guy there is - he is the master at training dogs, he does so for the military, police, rich people and poor using dogs for protection (really popular here) in their homes/offices... he is so respected and so good at what he does. He is leading the security for the Olympics and the World Cup when they come to Brazil in 2014 (WC) and 2016 (Olympics). He is later this summer, flying to Dubai where he beat out 2 other dog trainers (one in Florida, another I forget) to design the security opperations for the palace. Not to mention he's the nicest man with the most adorable wife and new baby... Well, upon seeing him we were like wow, then he showed us pictures of his house in Rio Vermelho - completely flooded. Okay, so buy a new house you say... it's not that simple, behind his house (it's a very large property) there is a kennel, like 4-5 makeshift bomb shelters (for training dogs in that environment), a whole dog land of tricks/training camp - including a pony for socialization training, and all his cars + motorcycle... then the house he built housing his new-Mom wife, and prob 7 month old baby... OMG, so sad, he lost some dogs, one of his cars, almost his truck, and prob alot of sleep from his family trying to figure out what to do... Wow, people go through things all the time and you just never know. Well, he's currently training 40 dogs, from 7am - 10pm and I look forward to starting back up with him (I teach him English and listen to their Portuguese for new readers, plus I'm getting my dog training license/certificate from him, haha I know) so it's always a good time and good workout - the dogs are mostly huge and very strong - plus, he reminds me so much of a mixture between my two brothers, love it. Yeah so he passed in the truck, still thinner than normal, and that's that... I later walked pass Mario, who used to work with him and now works on the lagoon renting boats to tourists/locals/peeps, I just waved hi as the song was so good, even though I havent seen him in a bit, he looked dissapointed but I made a mental note to stop and say what up on my way back. At the beach, ahhh Praia MOLE; so beautiful & exotic, I pulled my towel thing out and discovered I actually only grabbed a black scarf (it's the same material as the towel thing we/everyone uses here) so that was not awesome but nothing can get one down when laying out on this so special beach, under the sky you only see in Floripa, and the ocean/view... incredible. I started reading a new book, The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo (thx Kyle and Paul) and later decided to go in the water. I don't normally do this because a) my hair is like the nappiest at times (not as bad now thats its so long and luscious) b) i still hold my nose underwater - and some of you can prob put 2 and 2 together with how that might as of recently be an issue and c) i was cruising solo and didnt want my stuff to get stolen (not like it would, but i practice stolen-prevention wherever I am). But I jumped in anway and can I tell you - it was PERFECTION. The water was so comfortable, not warm because it was hot outside and you wouldnt want it to be warm duh, but it was just the right temp. not hot or cold, perfect. The waves were rolling in sets where you could either jump over or go under (I went under - yes, my hair was clean - "just let go Julia!"). It was like being at Wild Rivers in the wave pool and for me that was a favorite becuase it didnt get my hair wet. So yeah, super nice afternoon, left after an hour or so as I have a lot of things to do, walked home (exercise) listening to Florence + The Machine - wow x 2 - even though I was offered rides millions of times (they offer to everyone, people "thumb it" here). Stopped and spoke with Mario on the way back - I like talking to him because he's from Uraguay and speaks Spanish, so when I can't think of words in Port. I can do the Spanish thing and all is good to go, he wants to meet Kyle and I out in Lagoa (he lives in Joaqua/Praia Joaquina for those who don't know) blah blah went home, got in the shower, went to Magia bought some ish, carried a nice weight set size of groceries home and Kyle walked in from school a few min. later. I was still full from some snacking I did earlier, he ate a snack and then we watched American Idol from the night before... Whoa, they really got some impressive people this year, that girl Haley Reinhart - holy hell, I want her album like yesterday, and album meaning her just singing like she does and no fancy song ruining extras. After we headed down to the park pretty much in our backyard because the samba peeps were practicing - as always, and now we pretty much always go because it really is super fun. The same people are always there (you really cant do anything else if you live in the area because the sound of the drums are SO LOUD) lucky for us we like drums, music and this one-of-a-kind energy that is felt only when Brazilians are practicing for their fav thing ever, Carnaval. The kid samba stars were in full effect, it's so cute.. and check this (Pao, Evan, Daniel...) we saw the crazy lady from before, the woman who jumped up on the car while we were eating dinner on Reinderas... Came home I made curry chicken for a snack/dinner -- watched a Tosh.0 enjoyed having the luxury of internet access then off to bed we go.
Minus all this amazingness, I am very very very very... worried about my cousin Lyndsey. Most know/have read, but she's 23 y/o and was diagnosed with Leukemia and then later Leukemia Cutis (of the skin) not to mention collapsed lungs... all these other health set-backs... while we were home visiting in CA. Lyndsey recently came back to CA after studying abroad in Barcelona -- she is the most positive, loving, kind... just the best type of person out there... people want to be like her, she has that "thing" and it just emits from her wherever she is. This came as a huge tragic surprise to her/our family. Her parents, my uncle and aunt, and her sister Jamie (who many of you know personally?) have been leaders in example of a family sticking together pushing through this together, with the help of course of the rest of us: family + their amazing network of friends/supporters. My Uncle Tom is a (highly respected) retired fireman captain and paramedic and have his old cronies really stepped up and shown thier support, so beautiful to see. They've done so much, besides assisting in setting up all the blood drives (there's one tomorrow!) and fundraisers, they've gone ahead and volunteered working this other firefighters hours at the deparment, so he can work full time at the co. my uncle owns - on the fire department's dime.. so cool. His really good friend/HERO Danny Espinoza has truly stepped up and done the majority of this, plus giving my uncle and aunt a weekly break on Tues. nights when he stays with Lyndsey at UCLA (my aunt and uncle are there every other day... moment with her - she's NEVER fighting this alone). She has universal support (she's traveled and charmed those all over the world) and I swear, cancer picked the wrong person to mess with. But it's been quite the rollercoaster and currently, she's off her 2nd round of chemo, but she's having difficulties again with fluid in/around lungs and other probs.. I worry constantly and pray the way I do even more... It's really tough being away from my family but I'm doing what I can from here... we both are. I cannot wait till she pulls through (example our FL. cousin Kelsey did, she's had her fight with cancer and beat it and will soon school the people in medical school when she comes in knowing more about medicine than any 15 y/o should). But yeah, thanks again for anything you've done; prayers, blood donating, positivety you've sent my cousins way - if you knew her you'd give yourself a really big pat on the back and say, yeah - she really deserves it, good job me. I am glad that I finally finished this family survey and my parents dropped it off to her when they visited on Thurs. my uncles bday. It will give her something to do/laugh at as I asked 18 of my family members a variety of questions (approx 50 Qs) and it's hilarious (espeically my brother Michael's answers) and really informative as you find out things about people you know so well, that you never knew before. I got the idea from Kyle's fam and LOVE that I finished and I was able to give to her first as a gift.
After not sleeping all night (for real all night, reading about my cousin... ah!) Kyle's alarm went off and there he found me still up looking at him like "it's about time" so we got up, him super tired and me showing the effects of no sleep... a s-load of laughter sent off the tired man with this and you can bet he was happy to be away for the day. I -still not tired- ate some bkfst and then waited for sleep to kick in... didn't, so I started doing some work/research only to find 10 min. into it that today was going to be one of those no getting online days.. Put newly downloaded music on my iphone and then found some eyes shut hours. Woke up ready to do things but again, internet was down, then not... then down again (Viva Island Life!). So I packed up my things and decided whats the next best thing... ahhh, exercise (see Mom!).
***Side note: let's actually not forget that I went and dropped off our laundry first to the lady that does it, and I have a rollercoaster relationship with (still Evan...), point is this would be a funny drop off. Why? Because the night before this (Thursday night) after going to bed (and having a wonderful day, days before, etc. Amazing V-Day... even though Kyle got sick, the day was nice...) anyway, Kyle and I went to bed and later in the night I was woken up by the absolute worst thing I could wake up from; NO, not our neighbors sex noises, although that's def not a favorite (remember the walls are like paper, I can hear the man upstairs burping, all morning, everyday.. so gross). No, so I woke up from BUG BITES = kill me. Really, kill me and prob kill Kyle so he doesnt have to deal with me in this situation (I think I handled it well one time... work in progress). So I went to the bathroom to assess the damage - two on my right leg, three on my left leg and for the kicker, one on my right eyelid; ahhh life is sweet. So I decided I was going to remain calm even though skin issues are like the absolute worst in my book, but then I couldn't find the anti-itch cream - I knew we packed it away when we left for CA, so I looked in those places (our place is only +/- 400 sq. feet) and came up unsuccessful... Okay, where Kyle comes into play (and laundry lady, haven't forgotten where this story came from) so I nicely wake up Kyle, "Honey, I got attacked by bugs, do you know where the itch-cream is?" "You want to itch?" he says, j/k not funny but he didnt know where it was either. But he's a smart man - he knows how this situation can progress very quickly so he started helping me look and by the time every suitcase and every bag, and suitcases within the suitcases were opened, there still was no cream and my bites were now the size of swollen nickels (imagine) and my eye was already halfway shut due to the stupid death chew of a stupid bug that I hate. Because Kyle is not only very smart, but very patient and knows how to remain calm... and knew the attitude of mine was well on it's way to s**tland (it was really already there) - he looked up home remedies for bug bites (I swear, this guy is #1... I wouldn't have been able to get to that calm; okay plan 2 mindset - for a LONG time). So he comes to me with our pink banana shaped bowl (thanks Luis & Kathryn) filled with a cinnamon and honey mixture and tells me to apply to bitten areas with one of our Christmas spatula - we have two (thanks A Lois & U Gary). I look at him probably with death in my eyes and say the funniest now thing, "does this work?!?" How the heck would he know - I don't know but desperate, I put it on and at that point didn't want to tell him yet but besides being super sticky and smelling pretty darn good, but still really uncomf because now I'm laying on our white sheets leaving trails of cinn-honey behind... it really worked, better than anti-itch cream. For reals, I was amazed at how quickly they stopped itching. Okay, let's end this story -- myself and the bites calmed down, temporarily as I ended up getting bit by a vampire bug 2 more times right below my jawline, and Kyle had to leave prob an hour later (his alarm went off about 5 min. after we finally got back to sleep) but the absolute rock bottom of this whole story is waking up to find myself covered in dried cinnamon and honey, it's everywhere, and all over our sheets and it looks like s**t, literally. So when I dropped off these sheets plus other normal stuff to the laundry lady, I did my best explanation with the vocabulary I know on why the sheets were like that... "it's not bathroom on our sheets." ha!***
Back to yesterday I walked all the way to Praia Mole, about 44 - 50 min. walk next to the lagoon, sand dunes, water park, and cars cars cars (it's the main road in Lagoa da Conceicao where we live, very popular - think Main Street HB but not so bro-ish and believe it, more tattoos). This walk was particularly nice because the weather was absolutely beautiful, not too humid and with a little breeze. Also, I walked listening to Cold War Kids newest album and wow, Nate is so amazing... SO SO AMAZING. Kyle hung with him before we came back here (they used to play music together) and we're hoping to meet up with them (he's friends w/ Jonnie too) in Chile this April when they do Lollapalooza there. Everyone should BUY the album, MINE IS YOURS. So yeah, I was making headway to those sweet sounds when after passing CaoFianca - the dog place where I worked, I didn't see Gustavo so I kept on going only to see him pass by later in the passenger seat of a new employees red truck... Oh Gustavo, poor guy, when Kyle and I went to go visit/say we're back to him and his following, we were surprised to see him looking so much thinner. If you don't remember, Gustavo is the most bad-ass type of guy there is - he is the master at training dogs, he does so for the military, police, rich people and poor using dogs for protection (really popular here) in their homes/offices... he is so respected and so good at what he does. He is leading the security for the Olympics and the World Cup when they come to Brazil in 2014 (WC) and 2016 (Olympics). He is later this summer, flying to Dubai where he beat out 2 other dog trainers (one in Florida, another I forget) to design the security opperations for the palace. Not to mention he's the nicest man with the most adorable wife and new baby... Well, upon seeing him we were like wow, then he showed us pictures of his house in Rio Vermelho - completely flooded. Okay, so buy a new house you say... it's not that simple, behind his house (it's a very large property) there is a kennel, like 4-5 makeshift bomb shelters (for training dogs in that environment), a whole dog land of tricks/training camp - including a pony for socialization training, and all his cars + motorcycle... then the house he built housing his new-Mom wife, and prob 7 month old baby... OMG, so sad, he lost some dogs, one of his cars, almost his truck, and prob alot of sleep from his family trying to figure out what to do... Wow, people go through things all the time and you just never know. Well, he's currently training 40 dogs, from 7am - 10pm and I look forward to starting back up with him (I teach him English and listen to their Portuguese for new readers, plus I'm getting my dog training license/certificate from him, haha I know) so it's always a good time and good workout - the dogs are mostly huge and very strong - plus, he reminds me so much of a mixture between my two brothers, love it. Yeah so he passed in the truck, still thinner than normal, and that's that... I later walked pass Mario, who used to work with him and now works on the lagoon renting boats to tourists/locals/peeps, I just waved hi as the song was so good, even though I havent seen him in a bit, he looked dissapointed but I made a mental note to stop and say what up on my way back. At the beach, ahhh Praia MOLE; so beautiful & exotic, I pulled my towel thing out and discovered I actually only grabbed a black scarf (it's the same material as the towel thing we/everyone uses here) so that was not awesome but nothing can get one down when laying out on this so special beach, under the sky you only see in Floripa, and the ocean/view... incredible. I started reading a new book, The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo (thx Kyle and Paul) and later decided to go in the water. I don't normally do this because a) my hair is like the nappiest at times (not as bad now thats its so long and luscious) b) i still hold my nose underwater - and some of you can prob put 2 and 2 together with how that might as of recently be an issue and c) i was cruising solo and didnt want my stuff to get stolen (not like it would, but i practice stolen-prevention wherever I am). But I jumped in anway and can I tell you - it was PERFECTION. The water was so comfortable, not warm because it was hot outside and you wouldnt want it to be warm duh, but it was just the right temp. not hot or cold, perfect. The waves were rolling in sets where you could either jump over or go under (I went under - yes, my hair was clean - "just let go Julia!"). It was like being at Wild Rivers in the wave pool and for me that was a favorite becuase it didnt get my hair wet. So yeah, super nice afternoon, left after an hour or so as I have a lot of things to do, walked home (exercise) listening to Florence + The Machine - wow x 2 - even though I was offered rides millions of times (they offer to everyone, people "thumb it" here). Stopped and spoke with Mario on the way back - I like talking to him because he's from Uraguay and speaks Spanish, so when I can't think of words in Port. I can do the Spanish thing and all is good to go, he wants to meet Kyle and I out in Lagoa (he lives in Joaqua/Praia Joaquina for those who don't know) blah blah went home, got in the shower, went to Magia bought some ish, carried a nice weight set size of groceries home and Kyle walked in from school a few min. later. I was still full from some snacking I did earlier, he ate a snack and then we watched American Idol from the night before... Whoa, they really got some impressive people this year, that girl Haley Reinhart - holy hell, I want her album like yesterday, and album meaning her just singing like she does and no fancy song ruining extras. After we headed down to the park pretty much in our backyard because the samba peeps were practicing - as always, and now we pretty much always go because it really is super fun. The same people are always there (you really cant do anything else if you live in the area because the sound of the drums are SO LOUD) lucky for us we like drums, music and this one-of-a-kind energy that is felt only when Brazilians are practicing for their fav thing ever, Carnaval. The kid samba stars were in full effect, it's so cute.. and check this (Pao, Evan, Daniel...) we saw the crazy lady from before, the woman who jumped up on the car while we were eating dinner on Reinderas... Came home I made curry chicken for a snack/dinner -- watched a Tosh.0 enjoyed having the luxury of internet access then off to bed we go.
Kyle has the day off today, it's Saturday... we're going to Joaqua or Mole (depending on waves) so he can surf and I can watch and read and enjoy this thing called relaxing... Bound to be a very very nice day.
Okay it's already after noon -- I must go... I leave you with Florence + The Machine's Florence singing with CWK's Nate singing together -- so much beauty comes from this...
Friday, February 18, 2011
LOOK WHO'S BACK!
Hello People.
I am back in Brazil and back to updating this bad-boy... As of tomorrow (it's late/early am, a break please).
Thanks for your patience - it's been an interesting ride since we've last run on these windy sentences, but I'm back with a vengeance and also some nice stories that I'm sure to write in a way that will have your head spinning and wondering if I am okay. I am, thank you and thank you for reading.
Look forward to catching up tomorrow, tchau.
I am back in Brazil and back to updating this bad-boy... As of tomorrow (it's late/early am, a break please).
Thanks for your patience - it's been an interesting ride since we've last run on these windy sentences, but I'm back with a vengeance and also some nice stories that I'm sure to write in a way that will have your head spinning and wondering if I am okay. I am, thank you and thank you for reading.
Look forward to catching up tomorrow, tchau.
Donations, donations, DONATIONS!!!
Calling my Dear Family & Friends,
My uncle's firemen friends are putting on a fundraiser for my cousin Lyndsey who is currently kicking leukemia's a** at UCLA Medical Center. Everyone is welcome to join. The money will go to Lyndsey directly for her long term care. It would be great to get everyone to the gym on this day whether you work out or not in support of Lyndsey and our family. Unfortunately, I will only be there in spirit as my current bank account balance doesn't allow me to fly back and forth from Brazil so often -- so any that can make it there for me (and Kyle, guessing he won't be attending in the flesh either) will receive high praise and a million high fives (hugs depending who, jk) upon our return.
***We are taking donations for the raffle - any items donated are greatly appreciated.
Thank you to all for your continued prayers and support for our family during this difficult time!!!
 |
| The Inspirers |
STEP UP AND HELP A BROTHER
A fundraising event for the Harhay Family
When: March 5, 2011 9:00, 10:00 Barbecue begins at 11:00
Where: CrossFit Orange County
927 Calle Negocio STE C, San Clemente
Format: The workout is “Fran” (21-15-9 of Thrusters and pull-ups)
The workout is scalable and will be easily completed by all participants.
The registration for the workout is $30 and the registration includes a T-shirt.
The raffle tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00.
***So far we have donations from Hobie, Oakley and are looking for any and all donations available.
As always, thank you Danny Espinoza (& fam) for being the absolute best friend a family could hope for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
