Weekend #1 of Entertaining

My husband's colleague and our good friend, Jared, arrived at Confins International Airport around 1:35 Friday afternoon. He was met by yours truly and shown to his accommodations at Casa E & E. He scoffed at my release of blogging liability, told me I was crazy if I thought he was going to wear a sunga, and maybe mentioned something about me being nice if I wanted him to give me all the stuff he brought down for me.

I let him get settled in and gave him four hours or so (at least enough time to get my hair dryer, Brita filters, etc. from him) before I started giving him a hard time. On a side note, one of the side effects of growing up with three brothers is that you treat all male friends a lot like brothers which usually calls for a little bit of 'mothering' them, picking on them, laughing at them, and just a general 'giving back plus some' of all the crap they try to dish out to you.

Once Eric got home from the office, we went out to Adega do Sol, one of our very favorite churrascarias, and introduced Jared to the very best in the Brasilian dining experience. After eating our weight in beef, we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and back to the apartment.

Saturday morning, the boys had to go into work for a little bit. I decided to show Jared how good Eric has it by making breakfast (complete with fresh squeezed orange juice) and having warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven when they got home. We decided to go out and spend the afternoon at the club. The boys played tennis and then joined me out by the pool where I was able to discuss all the benefits of marriage with our dear friend (while my husband agreed - by virtue of silence). Saturday night found us out with three other friends at Rancho do Boi where we once again ate until we were stuffed.

We got up Sunday morning and took Jared to the feira (the 'hippie fair'/market) and also walked around the city's main park. After a brief city tour, we spent the afternoon out in the country at Vale Verde, the ecological park that also makes one Brasil's best cachaças. We had their fabulous lunch buffet and spent some time tasting cachaça, looking at exotic birds, checking out big-busted gnomes, reminding Jared that he has been dating his girlfriend just about as long as Eric and I have known each other, asking Jared what the heck he is waiting for, and basically, just enjoying a beautiful day in Brasil. I got to talk briefly to Steph, Jared's girlfriend, last night and let her know I was keeping him out of trouble and stressing to him how fabulous marriage is. (As I talked to her, Eric was washing some dishes in the kitchen while Jared looked on - I told her I was making sure Eric set a good example for him too! She doubts he's very trainable in the dishes department, but did appreciate my efforts.)

I made waffles for breakfast before seeing the fellas off to the office and getting myself ready for my English class this morning. Eric came in the kitchen as I was slaving over the Waring Pro Professional Belgian Waffle Maker and said something along the lines of, "Hey, I could get used to my wife getting up and making breakfast every morning!" I have no idea what he's talking about. (Note if Jared is reading: because see, I am his wife, and this is what wives do every morning. Yep, regardless of what some expat American husbands living in Brasil might tell you, wives never sleep in while their hard working husbands have a bowl of cereal by themselves for breakfast. Nope, it just doesn't happen really.)

Ah, yes, it is going to be a fabulous two weeks with Jared here with us. Despite the fact that at this rate I am going to gain twenty pounds before he leaves, Eric and I are having a blast playing host/tour guide. And having a second guy around to pick on and harass only makes it that much more fun for me. (Man, I miss my brothers now though.)

Pictures will be coming soon. I forgot my camera and then forgot to get the pictures from Jared's camera before he left this morning.