My Super Sweet Valentine

Have I mentioned lately that I married the greatest guy on earth? Luckily I am unbiased too, so I can say this with some certainty! ;)




He is so awesome with making plans and surprising me for holidays! Yesterday morning neither of us said a word about Valentine's Day. I was planning to surprise him with a big supper of some of his favorite foods and he was planning to surprise me (one of these days we'll learn just how dangerous it is because we have this tendency to plan surprises at the same time-holiday or not.) Just before I left yesterday morning to go to the grocery store, I received an email from him telling me not to cook supper and to be ready to go out when he got home. Well, a girl can't argue with something like that, so I decided to put off his special meal until next week.

Once he got home, he presented me with a card and 2 gifts. Inside the card were 2 tickets for the evening to a play we've been wanting to go see. And the 2 boxes contained some new beach apparel. I was then informed that I needed to have my bags packed today because he wanted me to get to try out my new beach clothes - he planned a trip down to Rio de Janeiro for the weekend!

We went out to the theatre and saw a really funny play; the name translates to "Danger! Mineiros on Vacation!" ('Mineiros' are people from our state, Minas Gerais.) It was all in Portuguese with loquacious fast speaking Mineiros and lots of slang, so we didn't catch it all. But it was good listening practice, and the actors were hilarious. After that we had a late supper at a nice restaurant near our apartment. It was a great Valentine's Day evening for sure!

We want to get away as quick as possible today and start our drive down towards Rio. Eric's office is on the Rio side of town, so I dropped him off at work today and coming back home I had my first solo drive through the city (and in rush hour traffic no less!) Traffic was crazy, but I feel a little empowered by the fact that despite it all, I managed just fine. And by "it all", I mean: buses that ride with their left turn signal on but only veer over into your lane and almost on top of you 45 seconds after they turn their signal off, motorcycles that ride the white line between lanes and weave in and out of traffic, the cars that insisted on pulling right up to my bumper while at stop lights on hills with a 30+ percent slope (remember, manual transmissions are the rule here-thank goodness for emergency brakes or else the little fella would have gotten rolled back onto!), and other drivers who almost run you off the road to get into the left lane only to make a right turn across three lanes and almost run you into a motorcycle who is passing you on the white line. But I must admit, it was kind of fun! And I get to do it all over again in Friday afternoon rush hour to go pick up the hubby! Woohoo!

We will drive tonight until we are tired/or roads get too bad to drive on at night/or sometime before Rio so we don't have to try to find our hotel late at night traveling unknown Rio streets. In the morning we will complete the drive into town. We are staying in a hotel on Ipanema Beach (right next to Copacabana Beach and Leblon). Plans include lots of beach time and maybe a trip up to the Cristo if we get a clear day.

Off now to pack, load the car, and clean up the house a bit so I can get out of here early this afternoon! Pictures are sure to be coming on Monday!

Oh, and I learned this morning that Eric called over to my salon yesterday before my 11:00 manicure/pedicure appointment and was going to tell them to give me a facial too while I was there (something I've been talking about wanting). He found out they don't do facials there...but how sweet was that!?! Have I told you about the incredibleness of the man I married?