Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Back from Rio!

I am finally back from Rio, where I stayed 2 months, ie, since Aug'29th. I arrived last Wednesday and, since then, I am feeling a bit down - but it's always like this when I come back from my home town. I miss it lots!

By the way, Rio is still pretty and the weather was quite gorgeous - the way I love: not too cold, not too hot, just mild, breezy and perfect.

News in brief:

- Diet - I am on a diet since, dunno, July maybe? And all is working and going well. My Dietician is great, dr. Mary, here in Blackrock Clinic, I love her.

- Gym - along with the diet, I am going to the gym, here in Dublin and also while I was in Rio. That helped me loads too. I mean, helps me (present tense). However, since I came back, I did not go yet. Ha ha...

- Weird stuff (aka, "shit happens") - the day after I came back, I went to my local Post Office and when I left, I fell on the floor, face down. Yeah, I kissed the ground. Literally. The only thing I saw was people coming to help. Two lovely ladies brought me to their shop, where they helped me cleaning my face (blood everywhere) and gave me sweets. It seems I fainted, and it happened again inside the shop. Well, I cannot remember much, but it's true that I was a bit dizzy (as quite usually nowadays) and did not have breakfast, so... I am lucky that I did not break any teeth or nose though. Well, I am bruised - but even that is starting to clear up now.

- Jewellery - yes! That is great! I made a very basic jewellery course while in Rio, in a shop where I used to buy my own necklaces and stuff before! It was very good, and I was loving it. Well, I still am loving it because I've been making some nice necklaces and buying some beads and findings out of eBay lately. Next step will be a more detailed, advanced course if I can or perhaps a good book. I am super-interested in the materials that can be used and mixed: gemstones, glass, crystal, wood, porcelain and so on. No plastic though. I love the weight of real stones and glass instead. Wires and threads are also interesting me deeply right now! Anyway, will post some pictures of what I've done later tonight - or more certainly, tomorrow.

Labels: , , ,

posted by Andrea Leite Marques at 8:42 PM 0 comments

Sunday, January 07, 2007

I'm back!

After a very, very long break from blogs and Internet in general, I am back! Happy New Year for everybody! I'm sure 2007 will be a great one!

What was I up to these days? Hhhhmmm... Let's see... Some highlights of the past few weeks...

Christmas - we spent some days with Mark's family in Ballina and it was nice. We've been there for Christmas and St. Stephen's Day too. I got lovely Christmas presents, including lots of Hello Kitty things, the DVD collection "Himalaya" (BBC/Michael Palin), a cool handbag, chocolates, and the new Sony MP3 player NW-S705F (see details below!).

New Year - we finally met my friend Monica, her boyfriend and fantastic son! We've been to La Strada for dinner and it was, as ever, gorgeous.

Gym - yes! Still going! Increasing the weights and so on. I just love it. Actually, I hate the cardio workout and LOVE the weights and stretches. I found out that my left leg is much weaker than the right one, but who cares... Anyway, it's very, very good!

Health - seems to be OK, better perhaps due to the gym, but I've been having lots of headaches, especially on the left side of my head, including teeth sensitivitya and ear ache. But I seriously suspect it's got to do with my sinuses, since I am always very blocked when I wake up! D'oh...

The Perfume - I restarted reading "The Perfume" by Patrick Susskind and, yesterday, we went to the IMC to watch it. It is a great film, very faithful to the book, especially when depicting the odours and landscapes. Dustin Hoffmann is brilliant as Maitre Baldini, and the guy who plays Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is an amazingly talented young actor. I would not be surprised if he got an indication for the Oscar as best actor (and Hoffmann as best supporting actor). There is also a Le Parfum coffret of scents that has been launched by Thierry Mugler, to coincide with the film release. I am very curious about it and think the idea is fantastic, although a bit too "conceptual" perhaps. For example: what can we expect from a scent called "Human Existence" ? If you read the book, you will know what I mean... Anyway, the descriptions of the scents are on the website, in case you are interested. However, the collection is a bit too dear, I'm afraid.

My MP3 Player - it's the cutest thing ever! When I opened it I said to Mark: "But it looks like a cigarette lightener..." and, I must admit, was a bit disappointed. However, it turns out to be the best thing ever! Especially when I go to the gym! Here it is...

Pink, slim and pretty!

Well, these are the news for today. I will be back soon, hopefully, if I'm not too lazy, that is!

Labels: , , ,

posted by Andrea Leite Marques at 7:40 PM 0 comments

Friday, December 30, 2005

Shiseido Forever...

We are just back from our Christmas holidays in Ballina. Actually, we came back on Tuesday the 27th. Unfortunately, I got (another) cold there and was quite bad since then. I did not come to the office this week, i.e., from Wednesday until today and stayed in bed most of this time. I have been having lots of colds lately, and this time it was quite bad. The worse for me is the cough. Besides that I managed to burn my tummy once again while preparing for the injections! It looks horrible and I need to change the dressing every so often. It doesn't seem to be healing very well this time and, if it's still bad next week, I will probably need to go to Dr. Kavanagh again.

Christmas, apart from the cold, was fine, and relaxing. I had the chance of starting my new Murakami book, "Wind-up Bird Chronicles" and, once again, it's a book that I cannot put down. What I love about him (Murakami and, of course, his translator) is the way he describes things so well. You can easily picture locations, characters, smells, everything. Sometimes when you are reading other books it is not so easy, but with his work it just flows and everything is pictured so vividly and perfectly. He doesn't cease to amaze me in this regard. I love this book now because it is funny, poetic and very surreal.

Mark gave me some wonderful gifts, as always. He is just great to get the right things for me! I got a fantastic Canon scanner that virtually does everything: scans negatives, can be used as a copier, is super-fast and comes with a great little software package. The model, in case you are interested is CanoScan Lide 500F. Perfect! I don't know how I survived for all these without a scanner, really...

And he also gave me the new Shiseido perfume, available in Japan only. Rose Rouge. It is pure parfum and comes in a very exquisite box and a lovely iridescent red bottle (32ml to be precise). Mark also got from the sales person a beautiful enameled purse atomiser, black metal with tiny roses, same design as the box. It came with a pipette to make decanting easier. The bottle as you may have guessed is not a spray one - which I prefer when it comes to pure parfum anyway.

The perfume itself is a joy: it's got great staying power and the main note (or should I say "theme") is the red Bulgarian rose. It is sparkly and comfortable, starting up with that lovely rose note and some other fruity accords, like blackberries and raspberries as far as I can tell. Then it settles into a subtly powdery heart of Moroccan rose, heliotropin and irises. In the end, I am left with the evanescent, faint aroma of a million roses, laying on a persistent base of velvety musk and sandalwood. It reminds me of the delectable Bulgarian rose jams, that I used to buy in Rio some years ago (and cannot find anymore). It had a lovely, very deep rose colour and you could see the transparent tiny petals of delicate roses floating on it. The Fauchon jam is quite good, but doesn't compare to that Bulgarian delicacy! Pity I cannot remember the brand now. Here is a picture of my Rose Rouge:

Labels: , , ,

posted by Andrea Leite Marques at 11:26 PM 4 comments

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas Time...

This is how Christmas in Rio looks like. The huge laser Christmas tree floating in the Lagoon, changing lights and patterns at every minute. I love it, and miss it so much!
We are heading to Ballina today, where we'll stay until Tuesday. Then back to Dun Laoghaire. I have lots of things to blog about, but not much time right now. So, I wish you a super lovely Christmas, full of light just like the tree on the Lagoon! And see you next week!
XXXX,
a.

Labels: ,

posted by Andrea Leite Marques at 9:45 AM 1 comments