The Habecks are some of our favorite, closest friends. And we love spending time with them! Unfortunately Atlanta and Jacksonville aren't as close as I'd like them to be, but we make the most of it when we all get to be together. They were here last weekend, so Anderson and I got to hug, kiss, squeeze, (fight over) and laugh at their adorable little boy, Asher. He's such a fun baby; always smiling and so easy-going. We had a great time playing with him...and his parents. :) I hope he didn't go home spoiled, because I kept thinking of excuses to hold him all weekend.

"He doesn't want to nap. I should just pick him up."
"You're tired. I'll hold him for you."
"Awe-the sun's in his eyes. I think I better take him out of his stroller."

They finally called me out on my slick game. Ha! That's what "Aunts" are for though. Right?!

Ben and Aud,
We love you and are so thankful for your friendship. I think God made all of us a little crazy, so we would be "family" for life!

baby asher entertaining uncle anderson.

The other night after they left, Anderson and I were talking about how much fun we had with Asher and he said, "You better watch out, because when we have kids we're going to play pranks on you all the time!" Ha! Cant wait!

Since marrying Anderson (almost) 2 years ago, I've calculated that we spend about 15% of our time looking for his:

1. keys
2. wallet
3. phone

True story...
We were leaving our wedding when Anderson realized he couldn't find his keys...anywhere. It's all a blur now, so I can't remember how long we looked for them. Probably about 30 minutes, but it seemed like a really long time. Here I was waiting to be whisked off to our honeymoon, but first I had to run around a large church and help my new husband find his keys. We eventually found them. In the trunk. When I thought about the situation later I could almost picture God laughing and saying, "Welcome to your new life Mrs. Almeida!"

The expression: "He's like a chicken with its head cut off" was created to describe Anderson. He's always in a frenzy. It's a constant state for him. He seems like he's constantly running. Sometimes when he leaves the house I hear him saying to himself, "Cell phone, keys, wallet. Cell phone, keys, wallet." Then, "Have you seen my phone?" So when I saw this rug I HAD to buy it for him. It makes me laugh.

When we have a kid I'll probably have to add "BABY" in permanent marker.

-I was a terrible blogger last week, so here's a little dose of randomness...

-We went to the circus. Anderson had never been. Poor guy-he's lived such a deprived life. He loved the crazy animal tricks but was disappointed that it wasn't actually under a big tent-ha! Instead it was kind of like a low-budget cirque du soleil show. But we sat on the front row and laughed a lot. And I was especially entertained by the three bendy girls who could wrap their legs around their heads and stuff. :) Weirdness!

-Important News Flash: If you ask nicely at Chick-fil-a they will still make a yummy peppermint chocolate chip shake for you! Anderson told the girl in the drive-thru that he'd pay her $1 million if she'd make me one. She laughed and said they can make them until they run out of peppermint. (He took back the $1 million dollar thing.) I'm thinking about stock piling and freezing them to hold me over until next Christmas.

-When my Mom leaves a message on my cell phone she always tells me what time it is. It's so funny! Saturday she even told me the date. "Hey! It's Mom! It's January 30th at um...2:30." She cracks me up. :)

-I have this quirk that really, really gets under Anderson's skin. I always stop the microwave with one second left on the timer, because I hate hearing the loud "beep-beep-beep!" So, the microwave always has one second on the screen. Anderson is strangely bothered by this and is always clearing the "1" off the screen. Now I think it's funny and might do it just to annoy him. Same thing with leaving on all the lights, turning the air waaaay down and putting the toilet paper on the roll the WRONG way. Okay, maybe I have more than one quirk that gets under his skin.

-I bought soy milk the other day, because Anderson swears he's lactose intolerant. Actually, he says he's "lacto"... Whatever! Anyway, I don't think we'll be making that purchase again. Have you ever tried soy milk? It's kind of thick and has a tan color. And I don't think Mr. Lacto has even tried it.

-There's this one shirt that I wear A LOT. I didn't realize how much until I was organizing and archiving old pictures the other day and this Bon Jovi t-shirt kept showing up! How embarrassing. I'll have to give it a rest for a while.

These pictures span over 3 years-ha!

-Anderson bought me the most amazing running shoes. Interesting, because I don't run. In fact, I hate running. I walk for exercise, but never feel the desire to break into a run. (Side note-I ran track in middle school and one day at practice got so tired of running that I ran around the track, through the school parking lot and into my Mom's waiting car...and never looked back.) Anyway, these shoes actually made me feel so light that I almost wanted to run. And I can't stop talking about them! And last week a miracle happened, Anderson got me to run with him three times. I totally credit the shoes! Don't think I'm all disciplined and healthy though. I'm just temporarily motivated by our trip to Brazil this spring. We're kicking it off with 5 days in Rio (the land of beautiful bods). So, vanity is my motivator. :)

-When I was young I loved singing at church. Then as I got older I developed an extreme case of stage fright and insecurity about singing in public. So last year I asked God to please give me the strength to serve Him through singing, and He totally did. I'm so thankful for a God who uses my weaknesses to show me that alone I can do nothing, but through Him I can do anything! Amen? Amen! Ha! I thought it would be fun to post a little playlist for you of some of my favorite songs we sing at church. I know you'll like them too! Plus it's Monday, and we all need a little something to brighten the day, right?!

When two people from different continents live under one roof it creates a unique set of challenges. Some people refer to them as "cultural differences". There are the big ones like family dynamics and how to celebrate holidays and the day-to-day ones that mostly involve (at least at our house) food! When I first started dating Anderson I was downright annoyed with him. I mean seriously, who doesn't like pecan pie...or vegetables? And yeah, sure beans and rice are okay, but who eats them everyday? How boring. Even though we've been together for several years now, we still disagree on the food thing. He won't taste my cheese grits or casseroles, and I think his quindim is rather bland. So there! And you all know how I feel about red meat-the 6th major food group if you ask a Brazilian!

We've even brought our friends in on the great food debate from time to time. Anderson has been telling me and our buds, Ben and Audrey, about a delicious Brazilian avocado shake for the longest time. He brings it up every time the three of us eat guacamole. (Naturally, he doesn't like guacamole.) So we finally challenged him to PROVE IT!

So here you have it friends...the great avocado shake tutorial.

the avocado shake.
...the great debate continues. :)

Dear Blog,

-This has been one of those weeks. You know, the kind that drives you to countdown to the weekend by marking off each day on the wall like a prisoner? Ugh. We drowned our sorrows in Mexican food last night and reminded each other that no matter what's going on in our lives we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. Thank you, God!

-It's a rainy mess here in J-ville this weekend, so my photoshoot was postponed. Poop.

-I'm pretty sure my husband has been playing video games for about 14 hours straight. I pretend to be annoyed, but it really just gives me time to make fun stuff! (And sneak away to Hobby Lobby without being noticed.)

-We're having our kitchen and living room painted this weekend (thanks Mom and Dad!), so we had to take everything off the walls and move all the furniture and decorations. Wow! Maybe Anderson was right afterall. I have a problem saying "no" to home decor.

-I did a guest post on my cute friend and client, Julieanne Turner's blog. Check it out if you haven't already!

-My big goal this weekend is to put the finishing touches on the photography mentoring program I've been working on for several months. Look for more information in February. So excited!!!

Ever wonder what the really cool people do on the weekends?
They hang out at Lowe's, of course. :)