Weekend To Do

This weekend I have a number of things to do:

• Cut the boy's hair
  
• Organize my cooking magazines
• Dye and moisturize my hair
• Go shopping
• Host dinner party for Mary's boyfriend (it'll be the first time he comes over)

As you can see I have my hands full. I'm going to try to squeeze in some reading time with the kids and for myself as well as a nice walk, weather permitting of course. We were going to picnic at a new spot we discovered nearby, but since it rained today I'm afraid the ground will be a bit too damp. Looks like we'll have to wait until next week. It will be a cozy, cozy weekend so lots of popcorn and movies are in order. Fun! Now for all of you Twilight fans out there, here are some stills from New Moon. You're welcome!

Ask Flower Power

Dear Flower Power,

I need advice. I'm not happy with my boyfriend. He's really laid back and seems like he doesn't care about our relationship. It's almost like he doesn't want me as a girlfriend, he wants me as a stand in until something better comes along. I offered to take him to a nice restaurant for his birthday and jokingly suggested we go to a strip joint where the buffet is free. Then when I told him that he didn't seem to be too into the idea of dinner so I would just take him for a couple of drinks instead, he was fine with it. I was trying to do something nice and he didn't even care. I have a lot of fun with him whenever we're together, but dates on the weekend are not a given even though we've been going out for two months now. I'm getting attached but I'm unhappy with him and I just don't know what to do. Should I step back and give him some time to decide what he wants? I really love hanging out with him and it looks like he does too. I love spending time with him but then after the weekend he just spends time with his friends and doesn't call me for days afterward. This hurts my feelings and I just don't know what to do anymore and I don't want to be the hag that's always nagging and wanting to "talk" about our relationship. I'm unhappy partly because I miss him and partly because I feel like I'm the only one who cares about us.

I welcome any advice, Your Friend



Dear Friend,

I am so picking up what you're putting down. Once I put together 3 menu options for HRH to choose from for his birthday and he told me all he wanted was for me not to spend money. Ouch! I had taken a considerable amount of time and effort putting those ideas together so I was pissed, but I got over it because I'm awesome.

Anyway, back to you. It sounds like you've been unhappy for a while now because you're too high maintenance and he's too low maintenance. He's all about taking it easy and chillaxing, going with the flow and not working too hard on anything, including a relationship, and you're all about effort, hard work and stress. You are at opposite sides of the spectrum and this makes for an unhappy camper.

You can't make him change for you and you shouldn't. I have long been of the opinion that any man who changes for a woman is a fool and a woman who thinks a man has changed for her is an even greater fool. People must change for themselves and because they realize they need it, not because someone wants them to. If they have the added bonus of your support while doing so, great, but it must be something they would do with or without you. If not, then the change will not be permanent and in the end they will resent you and one day the shit will hit the fan and you will be in the firing zone.

Taking this into consideration, it looks like you have a decision to make and it's not an easy one, nor is it one you are not aware of. You must either examine yourself and see if you're the problem here and change - because you want or need to and not just because of him - or you must end things with him. I can understand why you've been stalling on this one, I would too. If you quit now you'll miss him and you'll be unhappy for a while until your situation changes and you find the perfect someone who is dying to give you the attention you need. If you stay in the relationship you will have to adjust to his way of thinking and simma down now, which will also make you unhappy for a while.

The thing is, Friend, by not making a decision you're just turning into a bore. No one wants to be around a whiner. So before driving your friends, boyfriend and dog away, please figure out what you want to do.

I know this all sucks, but most things do. Hang in there and know that we're all cheering for you.

Love,

Flower Power

The Famous Glue Sniffing Incident of '87

Remember how I promised to tell you the story about sniffing glue. Well, here goes. It's a story about trust - or lack thereof - and honesty. It's also about how no matter how many times you tell the truth and consider yourself and are considered by others to be an honest person, when it comes to glue, all bets are off.

When I was about 12 or 13 Rosita* (my best friend at the time and partner in crime) and I were asked to babysit my little brother Aaron while my parents were out. My Uncle Lam* had also gone out and the only one around was Aunt Jezebel* and she was an evil witch who wanted to sink her long, ugly, dirty talons into my Fajah so she would use us to try to gain his favor. When Dad was around she was all hearts and flowers, but when he wasn't, her true character came out and she was all eye of newt and toe of a frog, wool of a bat and tongue of a dog. Anyhag, we lived in a very large house with a couple other houses on the property (explains all the uncles and aunts around).

We were in the main house and were basically alone in my parent's room. Baby Aaron was fast asleep after having eaten a dozen bananas, 4 bottles of milk, a bowl of oats and two T-bone steaks (he was a really fat baby - super cute). Rosita and I decided to investigate the treasures in Majah's walk-in closet. There was my Dad's old hardcover, leather bound copy of Don Quixote de la Mancha -boring. There were perfumes, powders and creams - interesting but not enough to keep us occupied for hours on end. There were old hats and boots - we weren't 5 yr olds dressing up for God's sake. Then we found Dad's can of contact cement - oh fun! We opened it and talked about how good the smell was and then we decided to glue something. What to glue, what to glue? There was nothing in their closet that could be glued without making Mother upset. We went out to the little veranda and thought about gluing our shoes, or someone else's...that's when we heard footsteps. Loud, ugly, evil hunchback-like footsteps. That could only mean one thing, the Wicked Witch of the West was coming to check on us. Damn! It was past lights out and even though we were babysitting, we were expected to be asleep by 10pm. We ran and turned the light off, hid in the bathroom with the glue and didn't say a word or even breathe until we didn't hear the footsteps anymore and we knew it was safe to come out. We fell asleep on my parent's bed and that was that.

Later that morning while I was working on one of my 18 chores of the day, happily whistling and going about my business I saw my Dad walk with a purpose out of his room with the can of glue. I thought nothing of it and continued on with my day completely oblivious of the storm that was brewing. A couple of hours later Rosita and I were called into my parent's room. We thought Aunt Jezebel had told them that she saw the light on at 10:30pm when she passed by, so we were pretty nervous when we walked in.

Upon entering the room we saw that everyone we knew of any authority at all was there: teachers, uncles, aunts, fairies, gnomes, a guardian angel or two, a couple of ancestors brought back to life just for this occasion, you name it, they there. Wow, what a serious overreaction to disobeying the light's out rule - or so we thought. When I looked at my Mom she was weeping. Weeping! What the hell is going on here? - was my next and perfectly natural reaction. That's when Uncle Lam started talking. "Why? Why? What did we do to deserve this? How did we fail you? Isn't Jesus enough?" That's where he lost us. Rosita and I looked at each other, then looked at them...nothing. I couldn't figure it out. Meanwhile my Mom's blowing her nose and sobbing - eh?

Then my Dad started, "Why are you turning to drugs and hallucinogens? Why are you searching for answers when we've already given you the answer - Jesus. If you have Jesus, then why do you need these other things? What are you looking for? Because your mother and I searched for years as hippies and we never found it until we found Jesus. Why do you need to go outside the warmth of His love to find happiness? Isn't serving the Lord happiness enough for a lifetime?" Needless to say we were dumbstruck. We couldn't answer. It was so bizarre. It was like we stepped into some alternate reality and were in someone else's body, living someone else's life. They kept this up for a really, really unnecessarily long time. They would make us answer by saying, "Well? Do you? Really? Answer me!" and of course we would answer to the best of our ability trying to tell them what we thought they wanted to hear and all the while wishing someone would explain.


Finally, finally my Dad held up the can of glue and said, "You know that streets kids fry their brains by sniffing this. So why did you do it? You know this is addicting. So why were you snorting it?" The penny finally dropped and all the events of the night before and earlier that morning came crashing before me. I swear to God - hand to heart - I had no idea anybody did that, much less why anyone would want to. I had no idea anyone got high like that. This was all news to me - I was 12 for crying out loud, living a sheltered Christian life - how was I supposed to know this? When he finally asked us to explain ourselves we did, to the best of our ability. But looking around at the room I could tell that no one, not a single one believed me. We were given a very severe punishment and told to leave. For days different uncles and aunts would try to "talk" to us and get us to confess because we would feel better about it, and because there was nothing to fear, no more punishment, just the joy that comes with honesty and coming clean before God - nothing. They weren't able to force a confession out of us. Do you know why? Because there was nothing to confess!!

Years later I was talking to my Uncle Lam and I reminded him of the incident and told him that we were telling the truth, and he still didn't believe me. I finally told him that when he got to Heaven he would see that he should have trusted us because we were telling the truth. Whatever. It's so stupid it doesn't matter anymore. But every time I see a can of contact cement I remember that story and laugh. (Insert dramatic sigh here) Good times!

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent....or not.

In Which We Console Ourselves With Cheesecake

Adam Lambert - you will always be my Idol!!

I can't tell you how disappointed I was that Adam didn't win. I had totally planned to celebrate and prance around letting my crazy hang out for the world to see. It was not meant to be because alas, in a ridiculous twist of fate and stupid fluke, Kris (with a K) the most non-Idol Idol won. As far as I'm concerned Adam won and he'll always be my Idol. All that to say that I had made a cheesecake to celebrate his win, but we used it to console ourselves in the end. Lua who usually strongly dislikes cheesecakes loved it. It was a major success and we all felt much better after mouthfuls of creamy, mousse-y, luscious, and rich cheesecake. There's nothing like good company and a good cheesecake to make you feel better. Here's the recipe:


Flor's No Bake Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 500 gr whipping cream
• 600gr softened cream cheese
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 1 big lime
• 1 cup sugar (aprox. to taste - keep in mind that there will be sweet jam on top)
• vanilla

Pastry:

• 250gr maizena (or graham) cracker crumbs (processed to fine)
• 100gr melted unsalted butter

Jam:

I know I should say that I make my own, but I don't. My fave cheesecake jam topping is a good brand of store bought jam with a bit of flavored fruit brandy to thin it out a bit.

Directions:

Pastry

• Process the cookies really well so that they're nice and smooth
• Mix with melted butter. The "dough" should hold when pinched. Press it into your baking dish (I like a pretty round 10 inch spring form pan, but you can use whatever you want)
• Bake in medium heat until the edges start to brown
• Cool completely

Filling

• Beat the cream to stiff peaks and reserve
• Beat the cream cheese, sugar, zest, juice, and vanilla together until very smooth and light
• Carefully and thoroughly fold in the whipped cream (you can add a couple of tsp of gelatin if you feel it won't hold without it, depends on the cream)
  
• Pour into completely cooled pie crust and chill for at least 4-6 hours before serving
• Thin out the jam with brandy of your choice and spoon on top of the cheesecake and enjoy!

Weekend Update: Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie

During the week I kept our menu pretty frugal by making a number of different soups and they all came out amazing. I made an all veggie soup with a really delish roast chicken broth. I roasted a carcass as well as the head and feet of the chicken (nice), then boiled it, took out the bones and feet and stuff (not beautiful to look at but great in soup because of all the cartilage - natural thickener), added the veggies et voila, a really, really healthy and slurpalicious vegetable chicken soup. I also made a roast pumpkin soup with cayenne that was to die for, and then towards the end of the week fish chowder using the fins from cacao (baby shark that is cheap and easy to come by here in Rio).

On Sunday my brother Aaron and his girlfriend Patti came over for lunch. We had roast chicken thighs in gravy and prunes, rice with matchstick potatoes, and sauteed carrots in butter and sugar. For an appetizer we had small rice patties with sweet Thai chili dipping sauce (possibly my fave dipping sauce ever!). We all played Risk for hours and Aaron won. For dessert I made Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie. It's a super easy recipe and my pie came out exactly like hers. I was very pleased with myself. The real reason for this post is to share her recipe with you all. With winter upon us this is a perfect weekend treat. I hope you give it a go.


Anna Olson's Country Apple Pie
makes one 9 inch pie

Ingredients:

Pastry

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 6 tbsp to 10 tbsp cold water as needed

Filling

• 8 cups peeled and sliced tart apples, such as Spy or Spartan (I used Gala)
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 egg whisked with 2 tbsp cold water for brushing
• sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Pastry

1. Combine flour with salt. Cut in butter and shortening until mixture is a roughly even crumbly texture.
2. Add lemon juice and water and blend just until dough comes together. Shape into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Filling

1. Toss all ingredients except butter together and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 °F.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of dough to just under ¼-inch thick. Lightly dust bottom of a 9-inch pie pan with flour and line pan with dough. Fill pastry with apples and dot top with butter.
4. Roll out remaining half of dough and place over apples. Trim and cinch edges of pie and cut in holes in top layer of pastry to let steam escape. Brush top of pie with eggwash and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 °F and bake about 40 minutes, until filling is bubbling. Cool pie for at least an hour before slicing. (Super important: make sure you put your pie dish to bake on top of another bigger oven tray in case there's any dripping. You don't want the drippings burning and smoking all over your brand new Brastemp oven you just bought and almost suffocate to death trying to clean it while the oven is still hot so you can bake your chicken - I learned this the hard way.)

Tata for now!

What Have You Been Up These Days?

Book
Smoke and Mirrors by Jayne Anne Krentz - also a guilty pleasure. It's a silly all nonsense romance - heehee. I'm also reading a book with the kids right now, Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief.

Song
I don't know. I really don't. Does that make me a weirdo?

Makeup
Still big time into my new blush, MAC Fleur Power. It's beautiful all the time and anytime.

Perfume
Al Nabha by Al Haramain. It's a beautiful oriental saffron and rose.

Drink
Still loving gin and tonics but I'm also drinking tea like a Brit.

Food
Soup.

Guilty Pleasure
Lollipops. Chupa Chup lollipops to be precise. I love me the lollies.

Bane of my Existence
Dust and blitzes.

Show/Movie
American Idol - so sad it's ending. I loved the new Star Trek.

Check out this awesome trailer to a cool movie. I don't know if it came out here or not, I haven't heard anything about it but I have a feeling it's somewhere:

The Secret Garden

When we were kids we didn't read many classic novels. We read Bible stories and Aesop's Fables. We liked them a lot and until today I remember all the stories we used to love. From the famous David and Goliath to the Benjamites kidnapping women dancing around the fire (so cool!). Looking back now I'm sure my parents can see that it would've been interesting to let us read other novels as well, but as someone once said (you see, I do use the title in my posts - in your face Mary!), hindsight is 20/20.

As we got older we became more interested in certain stories we caught wind of like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Ivanhoe, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Those stories took us on a wild, wild ride and we loved every second we were were able to sneak off and read them. I remember reading Little Women up in the attic in Argentina with a flashlight hiding behind trunks and suitcases. It was very exciting, which is probably the reason why the book seemed all the more awesome to me.

Before moving to Argentina we all met up (us older kids were living in different places) in Sao Paulo while we got ready for the trip. There was a lot of paperwork to be done so we were there for a little while. We were in a temporary situation that was not providential at all. We had to bunk with some of my Mom's friends and we felt very unwelcome. Majah had to travel and do things and we were left in this uncomfortable situation with some really uncool people who's idea of taking "good care" of the teenagers was to make us work like orphans in a poor house so we wouldn't have any time to get into trouble. I think Majah's friend (our "hostess") was secretly - or not - a witch, because she was the most creative evil task master I've ever met - and I've met some. (By the way, Majah had no notion of what was going on until she came back from her journeys and we didn't want to worry her while she was away.)

We devised a way to make a haven for ourselves away from the people who we didn't like and who really didn't like us. That's when we started reading. We found a storage place that was kind of like a pantry and storage room with a lock and key. No one ever went in there so it was always locked. We stole the key, a lamp, some pillows and blankets (it was winter) and would go to our hideout after hours and read together. We read many different books, we even listened to music, but the one book I remember well was The Secret Garden.

I guess we identified with the fact that they had also found their little haven away from the hate and it was a magical secret garden. Our little storage room was far from beautiful or magical, and smelled a bit like old Cheetos and feet, but it was ours and it made us feel safe and brought us closer together. We had been separated for a while before meeting up in Sao Paulo and we had more or less grown apart. Some of us were doing courses in Rio and others were with our parents. Reading the book together in that little dingy little hole in the wall (literally) was a life saver and kept us all sane during a very difficult time. To me The Secret Garden will always hold a very special place in my heart. When the movie came out in '93 I flipped. It's absolutely gorgeous! Perfect for a cozy Saturday afternoon with tea and cookies.

I love the movie. Here's the trailer - enjoy!



This is my favorite moment in the movie:

Movie Review: He's Just Not That Into You

A couple of weeks ago Tati and I went to see He's Just Not That Into You. I loved it. The theater was packed with chicas and we were all going "Awww" at the same times, cringing at others, and laughing - of course - laughing a lot. The main character was Gigi, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, a total riot. She was down to earth, not overly embarrassing, cute, endearing and relatable - plus she always wore the coolest purple nail polish. There was an all-star cast (everyone in the movie has a serious name in the big H), but her and Justin Long are the ones that stand out. Did anyone else think that Drew Barrymore's character was super lame and expendible? I've already forgotten why she was there and what she represented.


If you haven't seen the movie and you love romantic comedies, drop everything and go running to see it now. If you have, then this next part is for you. The movie got me thinking about a lot of things silly girls do and I realized that many of my friends have fallen for the same traps that are so adorably portrayed in the movie.

Here's what I mean: I have one friend who has been living with a guy for years and is still waiting for him to propose and agree to have children with her; I have another friend who sits around and interprets every single, annoying, mind-numbingly boring thing her boyfriend does (or boyfriend hopeful); and I have another friend who was all in doubt about getting it on with a married man because he gave her the whole, "My wife and I are not connecting anymore....blah, blah and yada, yada". All bullshit of course, but for some reason las chicas always eat that stuff up.... urgh - mini vomit.

I remember sitting on my varanda with my friend listening to the most boring recap ever and trying to interpret the "signals" this person was sending my friend. It was so funny to see it in the movie later because everything we thought was a clear cut signal wasn't. In the end we had no clue whatsoever as to what was really going on in this ridiculous dude's mind, just like in the movie. Such a monumental waste of time.


I have sat for hours upon hours listening to my friends woes (hours I will never get back!) and the funny thing is that although everyone is an individual and we are all our own person, the problems are really quite eerily similar around the world. Why is that? I love that for the first time ever someone else is telling my friends to cut it the hell out and snap out of it. I'm always the one that has to lay out the "heavy truths". Well, that's not the case any longer. Now they have the same message straight from the horse's mouth - Hollywood. You know you're seriously in sinc when Warner and you are on the same page and giving the same advice. Wow! Yeah. Well, you heard it here first.

I'm sure every woman in the world can identify with at least one of the characters in the film, at least once in their life (except for me, of course. The character I most identify with is the Oracle in Matrix - truth, baby, truth.), which is why the movie was so very popular.

Anyhow, I urge all you silly little ninny girls to watch it before coming to me with some relationship Armageddon. It'll make the whole thing a whole lot easier and I believe that once people stop trying to analyze, interpret and force things to happen, they will be loads happier and infinitely funner to be around.

TTFN!

Weekend Update: Makeup and Movies

I had a blast this weekend. On Saturday I started off by doing Terra's makeup. She wanted some photos done. I imagine she wanted more variety and a dozen different looks, but it didn't work out that way as I wasn't going to spend my entire Saturday there without some kind of remuneration. In the end I did one look I felt would be versatile enough for whatever she decided to do. I wanted to give her a bit more of a youthful look because I had seen some pictures of her before with a lot of brown makeup on that made her look 10 yrs older than she is.

I ended up working a glittery grey and silver look on her eyes, no false lashes, and very defined and beautiful eyebrows. I used MAC Fleur Power on her cheeks and my MAC highlighter as well. On her lips I used a mixture of pink and nude lipstick with shiny beige on top.

She has beautiful curly hair so I just crunched the curls with mousse et voilà.

After I was done there I went to Greti's and we had tea, sandwiches, cake and popcorn. We watched Persuasion and Enchanted. It was so fun. Greti watched Persuasion the way most men watch sports; shouting, cussing and overly involved.

Later that evening I saw What Happens in Vegas with HRH and was pleasantly surprised. It was fun. I don't like Cameron Diaz at all, so for me to say that the movie was fun, even with her as the main star, that's because it was.

On Sunday night we all went to Andre and Lua's to see Idol. My God! It was so exiting. We were on the edge of our seats. Next week is the finale and we are going to make a party of it complete with cheesecake. Do any of you remember how I said that Kris was going to be there for a long time because he's got the little girl vote? Well, now you know that there is a prophet among you. You heard it here first, folks. Although even I couldn't have foreseen that he would be in the final 2. He's been surprising us and getting better and better all the time. I'm glad with the progress he's made. I can see him being a real star. I think Adam needs to watch out. There are some that think Kris has a chance at winning Idol. I don't think so and I refuse to entertain any thoughts of Adam losing, but there is a very, very slight possibility - I guess. I mean, weirder things have happened.

Tata for now...

Friday Fun: Let's Get our Trekkie On

I have to say that I was seriously impressed with the new Star Trek. I thought the effects and action sequences were fantastic, the casting genius, and the story unbelievably intelligent. It managed to stay completely true to the original without being old and "told". It's a brand new story that has started all over again, without exing out the original story and cast. So cool!


I know I sound a bit overly excited about something "geeky" but I really like Star Trek. (Yeah, yeah, very funny - bite me.) Give me a chance to explain: when we were kids we didn't watch TV per se. We were allowed to watch some programs that were deemed worthy of our time and not an overly corrupting influence on our young moldable Christian minds. Star Trek was one of the shows we could watch so we had them all on VHS and would periodically watch them. We thought it was the coolest thing ever. So, when the new one came out I was really hoping I wouldn't be disappointed - and I wasn't. In fact I was impressed. Check it out. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

Eh?

On a completely unrelated note, what the hey is up with House? I mean, what the frick is the fricking matter with the frikkin' writers of that show? I'm talking about episode 5.20 where they kindly kick Kumar off the show because now he's working for the Obama administration at the White House (I know, right? Totally insane!) Instead of simply transferring Kumar/Kutner to another hospital or having him leave a note saying he was going to scale the Himalayas, they killed him. They made him commit suicide. With a gun. What??? There were no answers as to why. It was a silly and monumentally unnecessary mystery that could and should have been avoided at all costs.

What precisely possesses a group of seemingly intelligent university graduates to dive off a cliff into suicide land without prior indication of intent, thought or justification in any way, shape or form. Are they all sniffing glue? (Oh, remind me to tell you a totally hilarious story about that.) It was all just very confusing and incredibly frustrating and I just hope I can get over it in time to see what "nifty surprises" they have in store for us in the coming episodes. Wish me luck.

OMG! That's Channing Tatum!! Be still my heart...

In closing I want to leave you all with the totally cool tip, click on this link now to see the official trailer for the new GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra movie - it's friggin' awesome!! You're welcome!

Makeup: Spanish Chic

My baby sister went to a wedding in Itaipava (beautiful mountain town in Rio) with her boyfriend Guilherme. It was a garden wedding (my favorite, so much better than a stuffy church. Oh wait, I love beach weddings too.) so she wanted to wear flowers in her hair. She got some beautiful red amerillis which were the inspiration for our look - Spanish Chic.

I made a low bun at the base of her neck but not in the center, it was off towards the side. I didn't do a traditional bun for a couple of reasons: a poo style roll bun would look a bit passe and a little like a Fräulein; and her hair is a medium short so a traditional bun wouldn't work. So what I did was I made a low ponytail and then took individual strands and pinned them to make a modern looking bun. I arranged 3 flowers in her hair and they looked beautiful.

For her makeup what we did was a smokey matte brown eye. I lined the base of her lashes (upper only) with black gel liner (MAC fluidliner, of course). I didn't do a cat eye look because it was not necessary, I just wanted to emphasise her lash line so it was very thin and very, very black. We used like 3 coats of black mascara (Lancome Fatale).

This look is all about the super arched and perfectly defined eye brows, so the first thing I did was attack them with my tweezers like nobody's business. The end result was a perfectly flawless brow that would rival any hollywood superstar's.

I did a very defined cheekbone look with a lovely pop of orange-y shimmery color (YSL has a really pretty one someone gave me in a past life and it's still perfect - totally worth the investment). I used a good highlighter to contrast and give her that glow that everyone is always looking for (MAC). It's the kind of product that helps you fake good skin.

I decided to give her subtle red lips so as not to fight with the rest of the outfit including the super red flowers in her hair. We used a flesh toned liner (MAC in Oak) to line and fill in the whole lip and transparent red gloss (Maybelline) over it. Very lovely, very sexy, very wearable for any and all situations.

Just so you know what a genious I am with my paint pots and brushes, this is what she normally looks like:


This is what she looked like when I was through working my magic on her:

The Many Faces of Evil: NET

I have long suspected that there is a vortex of evil right here in our fair city sucking the life out of everyone around it making ordinary citizens consider the benefits of "going postal", or the time and proven "torch and pitchfork" business. I was right. The evil I speak of is not metaforical, it is in fact the largest cable company in our country - NET.

They represent all that is wrong with our supposedly "working" democracy. It is filled to the brim with lazy, untrained and ignorant people who have no idea what they're doing and force us to waste mammoth amounts of our time trying to get them to accomplish the simplest, most basic tasks. While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to answer a phone and pass on information, but it does take someone with a modicum of intelligence. Unfortunately for us that is not one of the prerequisites for becoming a NET employee.

Sadly, it is harder and harder to find people with enough brain cells to work in a call center. The amount of time I've spent over the last couple of weeks trying to make myself understood to what seems like a company consisting of 1st class morons and doofuses is infuriating not to mention frustrating. There is not one person working for NET who knows their left hand from their right much less where to find the buttons on the keyboard. One can't help but wonder - why bother?



While giving NET my hard earned coinage is something I will dread every month, I will still have to do it. Do you know why I'll have to do it? Because while they are evil - EVIL - and I hate - HATE - them, they are the best bandwidth/cable company here. How sad is that? It took two weeks to get them to transfer my account to my new place, and longer to change a double charge from last month's bill, but they are still the best. That just blows my mind.

This is the reason I say that they represent what's wrong with our country. I'm not afraid to sound cliche here and say that this is why Brasil doesn't move forward or progress. Irresponsible, inefficient, ignorant, disrespectful, disorganized, incapable, untrained and lazy ass companies rob the hard workers of their cash and leave them no option but to put up with their substandard ways of operation and their outrageous prices. This is the basic blueprint of all the companies here and the reason why we should all get down on our knees and thank our respective deities when we can get any work done at all.

There are times that I look out onto the street and stare totally baffled that the streets, lights, traffic lights, signs, and cut grass are there. I mean, WOW, how? Seems unbelievable to me, and impressive. So, given that one of the biggest, and best companies cannot accomplish the simplest task in a timely manner, or any manner at all, how can we expect to grow and progress as a country and as a people? How? No really, this is not retorical, this is a real question. Here, I'll repeat it just in case you missed it the first time around: Given that one of the biggest, and best companies cannot accomplish the simplest task in a timely manner, or any manner at all, how can we expect to grow and progress as a country and as a people?

If you know the answer to this, then please, please say so in the comments, because at this point I could use a light at the end of a very dark and cableless tunnel.

I promise I'll have a more upbeat and less bitter post tomorrow, but I had a lot I needed to get off my chest. Ta ta for now...