our newest addition

we weren't going to do it. we were going to wait for a few months. but then, it happened. we found the most perfect one of all and it was all over. i was looking on the internet on friday night, just looking for a breeder who might be breeding french bulldogs in the next few months. but then, i saw him. the perfect puppy. lp and i talked about it and decided that if this one puppy was still available, it was meant to be and we would get him. i emailed the breeder and heard nothing that night. i woke up saturday- nothing. i decided to call them and leave a message (i REALLY wanted this puppy)- nothing. we went and ran errands saturday and then decided to stay in that night. at 9, i was updating the blog when my phone rang. guess who-the breeder!!! the puppy was ABOUT to be sold, but she checked her email and saw that i had emailed first so she called to see if i wanted him. he was the runt of the litter and almost died when he was born- she had to carry him in a pouch for TWO WEEKS so he would get healthy. we immediately put a deposit, deciding to come visit him on sunday but leaving him there and coming back the following friday. when lp and i woke up sunday, we knew we would not be leaving the place without him. so, let me introduce you to our sweet little guy weebay (named after my favorite drug dealing, fish loving, hired killer on "the wire").

sleeping in the car

weebay!!!

love love love

our friends came over and spent some time with our little guy- which promptly tuckered him out

his favorite sleeping place

road trip....brazil style

we got to brasilia, brazil on saturday morning. our friend eliardo (sweetie that he is) came to pick us up from the airport and from there, we went and took showers, ate lunch and headed out for the beach!! our road trip was taking us through brazil to a small town called caraiva.

this view did not suck

best views in the back of the car

Brazil!!!

this was probably the slowest we drove (and the speed limit was 80kph)

that night, we got to a small town. we found a motel, checked in and went to grab a snack and a beer. in the morning, we got up and had breakfast before we hit the road. it was going to be a long day, but we had a nice, big, brazilian breakfast (lots of meat, cheese, bread and lp's favorite- cheesy bread, called 'pao de queijo').

boys bathroom

girls bathroom

gas station

we hit the road and drove allllllll day, getting to caraiva late sunday night. we grabbed some beers, some food and ended up hitting some of the bars until late in the evening/morning!!! it was so much fun, there was live music and dancing and we had so much fun with eliardo. the next day, we woke up and i got to check out our pad. it was pretty spectacular......

our villa

walking around the town

caraiva taxi!!!

our place

that afternoon, we showered and walked around the town to check things out. this place is AMAZING. no cars, just donkeys and mainly just walking. it's super secluded and mainly local brazilians. there is sand, water, boats (the cutest little boats!!), drinks, food and people. we spent the next few days doing the most wonderful things- sleeping, eating, drinking, laying out, dancing, walking around. it was PERFECT.

boats!!

one of the main stretches of bars and restaurants

boats!!!

beach!

lp!!

lp and ocean

lp's favorite thing- the hammock

boats!!!

yummy pina colada

lizard

oh, this was so cool. these are trees with branches growing branches growing branches into the ground. it was one of the coolest things i've ever seen.

pretty beach

beach band.

on thursday, we got up and started driving to rio. more pics to come soon.....

RIO!!!!

we left caraiva on thursday (see part one of brazil) and headed toward rio de janeiro. we drove all day thursday (well, we didn't leave until about 2 so i don't know if that qualifies as all day...) and drove through more beautiful country. seriously, brazil is every bit as gorgeous as the pictures make it out to be. we drove through open fields, mountains, forests, coastal lines- basically, every kind of terrain that brazil had to offer.

we finally got to rio friday evening. we were beat so we went and ate dinner. i wanted to go to a "brazilian" restaurant and eliardo said that restaurants like fogo de chao that served grilled meats were typical brazilian food, so that's where we went. it was a delicious food bomb and after we ate we all passed out early. saturday we went to the beach. let me tell you, rio's beaches are amazing. clean white sand, clear blue waters and tons of people.

walking up on ipanema beach

we walked up and down the beach and then headed to look around town for a bit. we stayed in ipanema and i think it was the perfect place!!! the beach was great, our hotel was close to the beach and to lots of bars and the area was really cool.

the lake in rio

that night, we went out with some of eliardo's friends. it was great!! we went to a few bars and then ended up at a samba club with a live band and everyone dancing. we ended up staying there until almost 4, going to grab some food and then to another bar!!! crazy fun times.

chopp!!!

view from the samba club- it was in the middle of a deserted alley overlooking a cathedral

samba!!!

the band

so this is the only pic of lp and me. and it's dark. and you can't see us. ugh!!

eliardo and me

eliardo's friends, sergio and sylvia

me, in the club!!

eliardo left sunday. lp and i were going to go with him, but when we got to rio, we decided it was too amazing to leave so soon. so we booked a one way flight and stayed two extra days. our last full day we had "the perfect day." it started with a trip to the beach. at the beaches, you could rent an umbrella and chairs for cheap cheap cheap so we got ourselves an umbrella and 2 chairs. lp stayed under the umbrella and i worshipped the sun right beside him. we stayed out for THREE HOURS!!!! (thank goodness for the umbrella).

beachin' it!!!

lp grabbed a coconut to drink

after the beach, we decided to grab some lunch. i did not know this but the song "girl from ipanema" was actually written in rio at a local restaurant in ipanema. we went to eat a big ol' plate of meat (like i said, brazil loves their grilled meats) and have one last caipirinha. this is the place:

we went back to our hotel and then decided to head to the botanical gardens in rio. it was really pretty and had some great views of the christ the redeemer statue.

palm trees-they had like a million kinds of palm trees

there he is....

lillies

don't go chasing waterfalls

we ended the day by going to a great restaurant by the ocean that had one of the best views of the sunset and ordered, my favorite thing, champagne. it was the perfect end to the perfect day.



the next day we left. just a side note- we go to the airport, walk up to the counter and as we are checking in, the power goes off. and it stayed off. for a while. by this time, i'm so thirsty and this airport has NO place to buy water!!!! it was so weird. anyway, here are all the people waiting without power.