Weekend update

1. Blame it on the (full) moon. Could the brightness of the night sky have confused my household (especially a mini-candy-bar-sized blond) into believing it was day when it was really night.

2. Or was it all those parties? Georgia's car seat commentaries after party #2: "home-no, party-more?" She didn't get the homebody gene.

3. I've fallen into the category of parents (all) who think their child's IQ is astronomical. Prodigy, anyone? Did you see G playing a duet with Tio (uncle) Leo?

4. There is nothing prettier than a pregnant belly wrapped in floral--especially when the belly belongs to your glowing friends. Congratulations M & E! You shall have a prodigy, too!

I hope the full moon spiked your punch this weekend. xo

Baby Shower

Daniela, Many thanks for the order and, especially, the invitation to the party. Georgia sang the whole way home. Imagine if we could have stayed longer?
May the rest of your belly days be filled with sugary, sweet moments. Soon your family will be complete. Beijinhos...

80's Baby

YSL

via

So much better than e=mc (squared).

Purple Pop Star

It wasn't the most beautiful cookie and was certainly far from a spitting image of Georgia's sacred-purple-pant-suited-idol. But, by gosh, it was BARNEY!

While Georgia napped this afternoon, I worked on creating balls of colorful fondant icing for a future order. I mixed rainbow colors and then piled the shiny cellophane balls. When the green coincidentally got stacked on top of the purple, an idea arose: a surprise for my little one who learned how to say "thank you" and "your welcome" today. (She says "thank you welcome" all at once but we'll get there.) And I just so happen to have a "naked" Barney in my freezer from last weeks experimenting with the Alice cutters. (G doesn't even know he is there.)

A few strategic placements of the icing and a hurried--rather amateur--looking face later, the surprise was ready just as Georgia started to stir in her crib. I felt like God/Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy. And my daughter looked at me like God/Santa/Easter Bunny/Toothe Fairy for a full minute--all adulation and bliss. Then she bit off Barney's head and said, bom (good in Portuguese). Two seconds later she looked me straight in the eye (deadpan), raised her eyebrow and inquired after Baby Bop (Barney's yellow sidekick).

Unfortunately Baby Bop isn't nude in my freezer and I've yet to bend the metal shape. But I do have a big ball of yellow fondant frosting just waiting for a cookie.

Whilst Walking

Rug, Terrarium, Pillow--Oh my!

1. 2. 3.

Alice In Wonderland Part I

Alice is back in Wonderland--and so is Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, too. March 5th.

And to celebrate, Coisas da Doris (one of the most charming boutiques in São Paulo) will be turning the shop inside out to set up the tea party and all things Alice. It's going to be like falling down the hole and entering wonderland. Several artists (of every medium imaginable) have been invited to re-create Alice's fantasy and I'll be responsible for the sugar at tea-time.

It has been a week of brainstorming, re-reading the Lewis Carroll classic, and sourcing materials. And since I couldn't find Alice cookie cutters (and saw another blogger mastering metal), I decided to create my own set. This was not an easy task. The challenge started off with a visit to every hardware store in town looking for pre-cut ribbons of pliable sheet metal and attempting to explain in my best construction worker Portuguese (in a country that doesn't have a culture of cut-out cookies nor women in hardware stores) that I (115lbs.) was planning on bending the metal to make cookies.

Naturally I couldn't find anything adequate. So I scratched hardware stores off the list and walked to a very industrial part of town, where they make aluminum tubing and exhausts for above the stove. I got lucky. I think the shop owner/welder felt sorry for me and gave me (for free) a hunk of somewhat pliable metal. And minutes later, he chased me down the street with a 20 liter container of olive oil (from his trash). We both agreed that the giant can seemed more malleable than the scrap piece he had just donated. And so I headed home with both--enough metal for a mega refrigerator magnet collection. Jackpot! I was smiling like Alice's Cheshire cat-- dragging my bounty home (and trailing a path of olive oil behind me).

After prying open and flattening out the oil container, I realized that the greasiness would never go away and I was potentially sliding my fingers into an emergency room visit. So I returned to the sheet metal piece. Although it was somewhat thicker, I was able to score it and cut it (somewhat safely) into strips for bending into the likeness of Alice's crew.

The bending part deserves a whole other post (and a big thank you). Lets just say that my mother-in-law (an artist) is just as crazy for her craft as I am. She also works a mean set of pliers.

So here you have it--my Alice cookie collection--ready for baking and decorating. I'm also pretty excited to return to the metal shop to deliver the owner some cookies and get some more scraps. I had a piece leftover (for a Barney cutter, naturally). But I am dreaming up images by the hour. I am just going to have to continue to be a good daughter-in-law. Because I don't know if I have the strength to touch those pliers again.

In your eyes

I can't stop making barrettes. They look cute on big people, too.
For sale. Just email.

In love

Georgia has been working on her sentence structure. And if you aren't around her much you may not understand her language because there isn't always a noun and a verb. But there is always a clear thought. Some examples:

1. Daddy face - Daddy shaved his beard this morning.
2. Mommy pee pee - Mommy went pee this morning.
3. Patrick nose. Patrick doesn't have a nose.
4. Sponge Bob nose. Sponge Bob has an enormous nose.
3. Georgie "coolie" - Georgia wants to go to the club/park NOW.

She does have, however, one complete phrase down pat--noun, verb and all. And I think she even knows the meaning, too. Heading to the club this morning, I spied her through the window of the stroller canopy having an intense encounter with Tigger and Hippo.

"Kiss". (They did.) "Hug" (They did.) Followed by the grammatically perfect: "I love you."

So it's official, Tigger and Hippo are officially an item. And I'm even more smitten.

Weekend Ingredients

2 Birthday Parties (One served bubbly and at the other we blew bubbles.)
6 Ice Creams (It dripped so much in the heat....had to repeat.)
1 Angel Exhibition (G still prefers Santa. Where is he anyway?)
1 Child's Pose (Yoga is amongst Georgia's new vocabulary words.)
1 Trip to Brazil's Home Depot (My husband will never be a handyman. It's cultural.)
1 New DVD of The Muppets (Barney inches closer to eradication.)

And ding. It's done.
Already.

Whilst Walking

'Shrooms

Why I love mushrooms:

1. They are delicious on pizza and in omelets.
2. Have you heard Georgia say mushroom. Have you heard her say mushroom with a stuffy nose (poor thing, but too cute).
3. And what about truffles, the gourmet mushroom? Mmmm. Did you know that they only grow underground? And female truffle pigs find these subterranean 'shrooms. I guess it relates to the that amazing female "ability to find" (husband's belt, OJ in the fridge...) gene. Go figure--even the girl pigs.
4. I thought they would make a cute gift for a surprise birthday party we are attending tonight. I hope the birthday girl likes the sweet variety.

Benjamin, Bubbles, and Pingu



Clarice sent me an invitation to her son Benjamin's 2nd birthday party last week. The e-vite featured a photo of the party local--an "x" marking the meeting spot in the middle of Parque Ibirapuera. The party theme: a big bubble blowing event with a picnic full of empanadas--a wonderful solution in a city full of unappealing headache-inducing and wallet-reducing party centers. Plus you haven't any worries about squeezing everyone into your apartment. And I'm thinking the clean up will be quick and of the dump into garbage bag variety.

Today was the day to prepare the present. I've been told that Benjamin is in love with Pingu. And after watching a few episodes of Pingu (and his baby sister Pinga), Georgia and I have a penguin crush, too. I love that the characters have their own squeaky language. Adults get to help interpret for the kids (as they see fit)--tackling experiences in the world (arrival of baby sister, jumping on the bed, first day of preschool). And without an understandable language your child's creativity and imagination are challenged to describe what they see (not just watch and regurgitate word for word and over and over).

So in honor of Benjamin and his love for Pingu, I've sewn up a penguin, a fishy snack, and a proper bow tie tee. Hope Benjamin won't mind that Georgia had to try it all out. I am pretty sure he learned about sharing from Pingu.

We're looking forward to blowing some big bubbles on Saturday.

Cheerleader

Fluffy, fuzzy, airy balls of color. Holy 70's pom-pom resurgence. I used to wear them on my roller skates and now I have them in a vase.

You can't imagine how difficult it was to find branches that had some snap in this tropical city of cement and palm. Plus it is pretty hard to climb a tree in someone's gated yard surrounded by traffic.

But the hardest task was winding wool in 90 degree (32 C) heat--with the assistance of a toddler and a cat playing catch with many a yarn skein.