More pics of the view

southwest
8.30 am

southwest
10.24am

northwest

3.27pm

Sunset 21Jan

A view of today's sunset. From the window of my living-room.
:)

IKEA - a record

Of course I had to go to IKEA. Specially, because I needed to buy a sofa-bed. With friends arriving, I decided that Wednesday would be 'the day'. 1 hour to go, 3 hours there, I'd be back with enough time to unpack and have my regular classes.

But... there were sales on IKEA, my mom had never been there and.. I found plenty of things I 'really' needed, plus I had to figure out what was the best wardrobe.

Time was... : 9 hours (lunch included) inside IKEA shop. Even I was astonished. Once again, the debit/credit card machines (remember, J & S?) weren't functioning properly which made us queue for 25min beside the ATM machine without knowing if we'd have cash when our turn came. I was finally able to withdraw what I needed only to find out that the service was working again when I got back to my 2 'cars'.

Shopping result: this lovely sofa-bed :-) plus a number of things that you'll notice next time you come. And, yes, I did buy oven trays - for 4 and 8 people. Cod with cream for everybody!

"Just moved" / Casa nova !!

I just moved in! The house works are all finished (fingers crossed), the first boxes were emptied and I'm ready to live here everyday. :)
Plenty of things yet to be unpacked - books, old pictures, notebooks, postcards and friends' letters. This isn't just moving into a new house and finding new places for all the stuff I gathered over the years... I'm sort of re-evaluating my life, deciding what is worth keeping and what's not. Shoai, shoai :)

To celebrate, I held the New Year's day lunch here. 11 people and a lovely, super-quiet child. With the help of my friends and my mom, we had a wonderful meal and everybody felt comfortable, what else could I ask for the first day here?
_______________________

Já cá estou!!
A casa está pintadinha, as fugas de água parecem estar todas resolvidas (fingers crossed!), o conteúdo dos primeiros caixotes foi visto e encontrou o seu destino - numa prateleira/armário ou no caixote de reciclagem... :)
O essencial está no lugar, no quarto das visitas esperam-me uns quantos caixotes cheios de livros, cadernos e notas, fotos antigas, postais e cartas de amigos. Isto de mudar para a minha casa tem que se lhe diga... não é so arrumar caixotes, é também arrumar as minhas memórias e, em certa medida, a minha vida, decidir o que ainda quero guardar.
Vamos pouco a pouco...

Para comemorar o primeiro dia, fiz o almoço de Ano Novo cá em casa. 11 pessoas e uma garotinha super-sossegada. Ajuda preciosa da amiga Irene e da minha mami, comida até não podermos mais, elogios dos visitantes... :-) Há outra maneira melhor de começar o ano e uma nova vida?