Facing the giants

Last night's dinner was actually a lot of fun. Avelino let Cristina and me leave work around 8 instead of the usual 9pm and both of us were all too eager to get an extra hour out of the office. At that point I wasn't all that excited about going to the dinner. Cristina was already convinced that she wasn't going to go this time around, after having a negative experience with a rude acquaintance of Avelino's who was invited to attend last year's Christmas party. After listening to her tale of woe, I was hardly excited about the possibility of running into this guy, who, from the sound of it, surely would have no problems being rude to a foreigner-- a brown-skinned, overweight americana at that. At least I wouldn't be going alone, I thought to myself, knowing that if I had to jump to my defense in the face of a rude comment I'd have my husband there to back me up. He's the sweetest, most gentle thing on this earth, but his wild streak can definitely come out when provoked.
So I went home, washed up the remaining dishes from lunch and relaxed on the couch for a while with a cup of my favorite Brazilian coconut/vanilla bean flavored tea. (Yeah, that does sound amazing, doesn't it?) After getting dressed, Chechu came by the house to pick me up and we left, gift and all, to go to the restaurant.

When we walked in I was pleasantly surprised to only see familiar faces. Apparently Avelino had rented out the entire restaurant for that evening, and at the center table he was seated with his girlfriend, his son and son's gf and Alfonso and gf. We all sat down to watch the rest of the Real Madrid vs. Rome soccer game (which RM LOST- silent victory dance for moi) and then continued with dinner. I behaved very well. Against my will I ate fish. I hate fish. Well, that's not entirely true- I do enjoy tuna, bacalao (codfish) and perch, but that's definitely the extent of it. I have never been a seafood lover-- that's the only type of food that I'm extemely picky about. Take me to Red Lobster and I'll surely go hungry. My husband however, like any other coastal native, would go nuts. Peeling shrimp and prawn, chopping off heads, sucking the supposedly amazing juice that comes out of I-don't-want-to-know-where and leaving shells complete with little black dots for eyeballs and antenae all over the place. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. So last night I tried to shield my eyes during the shrimp massacre (I was the only one who didn't partake) and focused on my bland fish fillet. Blah. The baked potato and sautéed mushrooms were pretty good though. Oh, and there was a slice of birthday cake involved and just a tad bit of red wine and champagne.

In terms of the ambiance, I was really surprised. I came in ready for battle, and ended up having a great time talking with everyone. It's so funny how much my boss LOVES Chechu. The two of them get together and you'd think he was another one of his sons. Avelino and I have a very positive boss-employee relationship, but nothing like how he and Chechu interact. Obviously they understand and relate to each other better on so many levels, which is obviously a positive thing. The main objective of course is to be witnesses of God’s love and life-transforming power, and I think that in a lot of ways Chechu is an example for Avelino, even in spite of the age difference between them.

We got home last night after 1:30am- way later than either of us initially anticipated. Needless to say, the late night work out was definitely out of the question as both of us nearly fell in the bed. I questioned whether or not I’d be able to get up and exercise this morning but set my alarm early anyway.

As expected, I got up late- at 8:45am with not an ounce of motivation to exercise. I mulled it over lying in bed for a few additional minutes and eventually decided that I wasn’t going to come to work and blog about yet another exercise-less morning. So I got up, put on my exercise clothes and worked out with TJ. My shower afterward, albeit lightning fast since I was running late for work, felt amazing- mostly because of how great I felt having been able to overcome my “don’t feel like exercising” excuses.

That was exactly what I needed to jump-start my day.

This afternoon we had Alejandra over for lunch. I made chicken breasts with alfredo tortellini and spinach. I’m not sure if it was because we had a guest over or not, but Chechu and I both were very good at controlling our portions and eating only one small plate of food. I had about a cup of the tortellini, a half cup of spinach and one breast fillet. I should have reversed the measurements for the tortellini and the spinach, but oh well. I didn’t have any bread (normal for me) and I only drank water. After doing the dishes I had a small glass of iced tea with Alejandra, and for work this afternoon I’ve brought a peach yogurt with me.

Tonight is going to be another long one because after work I have class with Jennifer. Tomorrow is her English exam and we’ve been studying extra hard this week so that she’ll do well.

It’ll definitely be after 11pm when we get back home tonight, and I’m praying that I’ll have enough will power resist the urge to nibble. I’m excited about working out tomorrow morning!