28 and feelin' great! (I am very aware at how cheesy that sounds, yet for lack of a better idea).

Today has been a wonderful birthday! I made the observation this month (I'm sure most people make it earlier in life) that as I get older my mind stays the same but my body changes in ways I'm not too excited about. I will save my energy and your time by not continuing down this path, as it is a path that leads to nowhere and because anybody over the age of 25 already knows what I'm talking about (I'm sure those over 40 are rather flabbergasted that I even think I know what I'm talking about, still being under the age of the big 30! Believe me, I understand more than you think:-)

Anyway, my birthday celebration actually began last night as we hit the town and had espetinhos at a park down the road (a plate full of rice, forafa, vinagrete, manioc and meat for a whoppin' $2!) We were a small group (my preference) and after we ate we headed home to put the kiddos down and play an aggressive round of Settlers of Catan!

To my surprise my wonderful sister-in-law, Cristy, had made time in her very full schedule yesterday to bake me a carrot cake and sneak it over to the Kimball's house (our great friends who ate supper with us and hosted our game of Settlers). This post for today at some point will seem like a tribute to Cristy who I am not ashamed to say is absolutely fabulous! Everybody should have a sister-in-law like her. She is definitely one of my best friends! So, the cake was thoughtful gesture #1 on her part.
Karis should have been in bed at this point but since she was watching "The Donut Man" on the couch and couldn't help but observe our activities she helped with the candles.

Our game ended just after midnight (at this age I can only afford to stay up that late every once in a while. ha!) And yes, they did let me win since I was only 5 minutes short of my birthday. Thanks guys!

After being lazy a bit this morning my DH made a great omelet for us to partake in as a family. Normally he enjoys making omelets filled with sausage, hot dogs & ham yet kept the meat to a minimum today and even added yellow pepper for my sake! (what a sweet man I have.) I will try not to be too wordy with the rest of this post but I have a few more events to include.

After breakfast I took Karis swimming (we didn't have to forbid Jonathan coming with us since he was already busy). It was good to wear her out a bit and get some sun. The reason I even mention this is because on the walk home I was thinking "It sure would be nice if the birthday lunch I had in mind would somehow fix itself...I'm feeling a bit hungry". I don't recommend entertaining thoughts such as these since it's a good way to set yourself up for disappointment, yet thanks to my fabulous sister-in-law I walked inside to a house filled with the fantastic aroma of beans cooking!
What a sister-in-law, huh? Thoughtful gesture #2 on her part. It was an amazing meal, exactly what I wanted....File mignon*, rice, beans, forafa de banana** and vinagrette***.

I put the munchkin down for a nap and savored every bite. I left some food out on the counter since I plan to pick here and there for the rest of the day! We had some more carrot cake, opened some presents and got dishes done in a hurry (thanks to Cristy...thoughtful gesture #3).

It doesn't even matter how the rest of the day goes...

*You have to understand that even though we don't buy it often, the price of file mignon here is only $3.50 lb when it's on sale...and of course it was this week (I'm sure the grocery store knew it was my birthday).
** ground and toasted yucca root with plantains (much better than it sounds!)
***kind of like salsa...has tomatoes, onions, oil, vinegar and lots of cilantro, my favorite!

PS. I did change the heading of my blog from "Doninha no Brasil" (doninha means "Weasel" which is the nickname my fabulous sister-in-law gave me) to Land of Sunny Days. I'm so new to this whole blog thing that I didn't know what to put at first. Then today I thought of this change since almost every day here is a sunny day (something I didn't used to appreciate but now after spending a winter in the States I definitely do!). I may change it again in the near future as I become more accustomed to blogging....or if something else just hits me. Who knows...