Brazil

Quick post to catch up.

Yes, I went to Brazil. That now makes 6 of the 7 continents of the world that I can check off my map. Antartica is all that's left.

No doubt you're asking "Wow! Brazil! Where? Rio? Sao Paulo? Iguazu Falls? How Exciting!"

To which I will reply "Erm, nope. Brasilia."

That's right. Brasilia. Capital of Brazil. Planned city. No beach. No rain forest. No jungle (except the concrete type). No aboriginal natives (except the ones demonstrating outside the federal government trying to get their land back.) Just Brasilia.

Not exactly the resort destination most people head to when they go to Brazil.

Still, the people there were unbelievably wonderful. You've heard about how friendly Texans are? Well, take it from someone born and raised in Texas, they're downright aloof compared to Brazilians! These were the most welcoming people I've ever met.
So, while we didn't really have any sight-seeing activities (we were there to work), the nights were a lot of fun spent with some really awesome people.

Don't get me wrong. There were some nice sights. For example, the cathedral there is designed to resemble the crown of thorns,

and the inside is gorgeous, with angels hanging from the ceiling

and a stained glass egg to represent the trinity.

Also, this bridge was designed to represent a stone being skipped across the water. But, we, naturally all believe it looks like a DNA Helix, so we have dubbed it the CODIS Bridge, or, in portuguese: Ponte CODIS.

Other than Brazil, not much news. We went to Vintage Virginia with my peeps from work. That was a lot of fun. I was in bed by 8PM from too much wine and too much sun.

I finally finished my Beachcomber tunic. It was a work in progress for 2 years, and was ripped back at least 10 times, but I did, definitely, get plenty of crochet practice, and I feel a little more confident that I have a clue what I'm doing now when I crochet.

I celebrated my birthday.

Lots of good presents. I pretty much just asked for money for yarn since I'm on a yarn-diet all year long - trying to pay down my debt. I scored pretty great yarn, but then, when I got it home and started adding it to my stash, I realized I had lots of yarn that I had originally purchased with a project in mind, and now couldn't remember what the project was. So, I spent several days re-organizing the stash, and creating a queue on Ravelry to try to categorize as much as possible. That was a lot of fun - in a sick, twisted way.

And really, that's the sum total of my news. You'd think there'd be more, considering how long it's been since I posted, but what can I say. Times are tight.