Modern House Minimalist Design

We had one full day in Rio (Wednesday) and it was... (surprise!) grey. So we lay on the beach for 20 minutes with the wind blustering about and the wild waves hurling flecks of saltwater our way and decided to make our way to the Botanical Gardens. Which, it turns out, are pretty cool. See below. Thursday dawned bright and sunny, but unfortunately we had a lunch to make and then a

As you may or may not have heard, we spent two days in Paraty and the first of those sitting in the hostel looking wistfully out at the rain, fingers crossed for a rainless tomorrow. To our great delight, tomorrow was mostly rainless, if one of the wettest (yet paradoxically dryest - the whole town awoke to find itself without running water (!) apparently due to rain (?)) rainless days

1 Memo Carafe | Shopbop $30 2 The Transport Tote in Optic White | Madewell $168 $143 3 FE NY 'Brooke' Sunglasses | Nordstrom $22 4 Sweetheart Sports Bra | Forever 21 $10 5 Steven Fearless Cap Toe Pumps | Shopbop $149 6 Marc by Marc Jacobs Show Off Leather Tote in White Birch | Shopbop $528 7 Chloé Flat Oxford in White | Nordstrom $670 8 Alexander Wang Reptile Silk Illusion Crop Top | Saks

Oh yes I dooo!!! Or my legs do (see you!). You see, when it comes to tattoos, I like the ones that make people do a double-take. And I like that I can wink at people without even making eye contact (MAGIC!). Also, meet my newest and reddest shoes - I finally dived into the loafer game! Spotted them at Iguatemi the other day for R$50 (~USD$25) and how could I resist? TANK TOP David &

Hi there, its our monthly By Invitation only post and this one is a good one. BIO is a group of bloggers who get together and post about an agreed upon theme for that month. Its great fun to see each others interpretations.       The idea this month is to talk about something(s) we want to do reality or fantasy, something on our personal "bucket list". I have had so many, some have fallen off the bandwagon like make the cover of Seventeen magazine of course sporting bright blue eyeshadow(back when I was a teenager) to wanting to marry David Bowie (still love his music but Iman I am going to let you keep him) to wanting to adopt a chimpanzee instead of having kids (I will take my three boys over) "Charlie", yes I had already named him to going to medical school (too grueling and I still get faint at the sight of blood....a definite no no in the world of medicine)  But there's a whole list of a "grown up" variety that I have now and with luck at least so...

So after a full week off work and a lot of bone aches and bed rest, I seem to be mostly dengue free! Went back in to get my platelets checked yesterday and my blood is fully coagulative, so no excessive bleeding for me! And work again tomorrow, but I finally feel up to it. The bad news is there won't be many outfit posts coming up for while since I was too lethargic to get out and wear them.

Last weekend Andy and I headed south to Palm Springs. We had an unexpected 3-day weekend (Presidents Day), so we opted for a spontaneous trip. On Thursday night we quickly planned it out and made reservations at a hotel. We got lucky with hotel reservations because once we were there we found out everything had booked up really quickly due to the holiday weekend. Lucky us! Andy left work at 4pm on Friday and we started the 7 hour drive. Most of it was in the dark, so we had no idea what the surrounding landscape looked like. The next day we woke up to crisp clear blue skies, and a plethora of palm trees. Palm Springs is truly an oasis in the desert. We did some slot canyon hiking (more in a future post), and relaxed by the pool. We also visited a date farm. We thought it was a palm farm, but it turns out that dates grow on palm trees. I had no idea! Did you know that? There was a great date center with information on how they are grown, samples of dates (12 different varieties!), and a...

Finally, the promised Carnaval pictures! These are all from the Sambadrome (sambódromo), where a couple nights a year Rio's favela communities come out to play in all of their finest, sparkliest regalia! It was a fabulous time and an incredible show that starts at 9 pm and keeps right on going until 5 or 6 am the next morning. We headed out around 3 because we were exhausted, though, but not

Finally, some of the promised photos (more sambadrome photos (glitter!) to come later)! These are from my instagram feed (follow me!) and they basically consist of all of Rio's little pleasures: beach, açaí*, amazing views, and Carnaval festivities. KEY (top to bottom, left to right): 1 - açaí* for breakfast before heading to the beach & Carnaval nails! 2 - my makeup for the first bloco**

1 Shiny Ruched Front Tube Bra in Kelly, Fuchsia, and Gold (top to bottom) | American Apparel $16 each (Did I just hear somebody say MARDI GRAS?!?!?!?¡?! Opa, I just said it. Guess I did.) 2 Minkpink Splash Sequin Skirt | Revolve Clothing $88 (because anything that sparkles is in style for Carnaval) 3 Kate Spade Metro Watch in Pink | Nordstrom $175 4 butter LONDON 3 Free Nail Lacquer in

  Backpacking in South Africa with Andy and friends a few years ago. I was really hoping to write about making new friends or good looking older men (like Anderson Cooper!), but wanderlust kept popping into my head. I can never seem to get away from wanderlust. It follows me like the plague! I blame it on my parents raising me in another country and constantly traveling. Don't get me wrong, I loved my childhood, but it has definitely shaped the person I have become today. After graduating college I moved to LA hoping that would satisfy my lust for living in a new place. After 6 months I was not satisfied, so I moved back to Virginia. Then I got the crazy idea of teaching English in Korea. So I did that for a year and a half, and boy oh boy was my wanderlust being satisfied. Every day was new and different. I was challenged by the language, the culture, the people. I was able to travel to other countries like Vietnam and Thailand. It was magical to say the least. (But of course frus...

I just can't help myself on this post. I drove a large truck across the country and I have to boast about it! Yes, Andy was with me, and yes he also did a lot of the driving. So what?! I still drove a huge truck and that is something to be proud of! When I went to pick up this truck I saw a variety of small moving trucks in the front lot of the truck office. I wondered which one was mine. After signing all the paperwork the lady asked me if I had driven a truck like this before. I pointed to the trucks outside and said "sure, which one is it?". She replied, "Oh no, it's none of those. Yours is around the corner with the hitch on it." I figured oh, ok it's probably a similar truck just with a hitch on it. When the rental lady and I finished our casual pleasantries, I took the keys and went to find my truck. When I passed the corner I saw a much larger truck with a hitch on the back. Yikes, I thought...how am I going to get this thing home!?! I had a mini ...

So in case I haven't mentioned it before (I have), I'm a HUUUUGE feria* fanatic. I think most of my jewelry is from some feria or another, and I'm constantly dragging anyone and everyone with the misfortune to be accompanying me through any and every feria I can find. This trip to Argentina was no different! Boyf, who carries his grouch hat to all of them, grumbled and groused through feria

First things first: sorry for the extended disappearance! I've been visiting with my high school host family in the depths of Patagonia (where the internet is spotty at best) and shamelessly neglecting my blog duties in favor of mountain adventures. The good news is, I'm back in Brazil now! So will be coming back to you full force soon! Juicier updates to come, but for now I'll be leaving

We have done a lot of flying this fall. Some to visit family and some to California both for Andy's new job and for making our living arrangements when we move. 1-2 hour flights are nothing. I feel like there is little to no preparation for that kind of traveling. Cross country flights of 5+ hours are a different story though. For these longer flights I like to be comfortable. I feel like each time I fly I think of something different that I would do. Here are some solid things that I usually stick to: Flat slip on shoes for ease of going through security checks along with being comfortable. I see some ladies with high heeled lace-up boots and just wonder how they survive?! Yoga pants in a color like black or grey are perfect. They feel like sweat pants, but look so much classier for being in such a public busy place. Plus, if you have to jog to your connecting flight they allow you to move easily. (Been there, done that. Yoga pants for the win.) A comfortable sweater. Even in the ...

Because that's me, queen of the feria. Wherever or whenever there is a feria to explore, I'm right there exploring. With a disgruntled Boyf right there at my side. Next up: Patagonia! And lack of internet. So don't expect too much from me for the next two weeks.

Welcome to the city I used to call home but now just call Buenos Aires. This is our third day in the Argentinian capital and our third day of perfect sun, and boy did I miss this place. I guess especially coming from São Paulo, the city of 6 layers of concrete with a concrete cherry on top, this city seems like paradise. Sure, it's a bit run-down these days (Cristina Kirchner would not be my

Hi there, hope you had a great weekend Ours was busy busy...got our tree up (a whole other story) which I will be posting about later this week. Did some more decorating and had dinner with friends, lots of sporting events with my son and phew...... it all flew! This week  is also my birthday week, not talking age here just know I am between 31 and 49:) I am also hosting a birthday lunch for one of my oldest friends who I have known for 24 years this week. A small something grew and I am expecting about 25 over for lunch on Wed! So needless to say  I will be busy this week! I will naturally do my bests to share as much as possible with you. Have two winners of the monogrammed soaps and French towels, as I said I will do a giveaway a week until Christmas so will announce a new one next week!   Here are the winners for both the monogrammed soaps and French towel, please contact me at theenchantedhome@gmail.com to provide your details! Monogram med soaps Result: 67   No...

Andy and I just got back from a quick 3 day trip to California. (Apartment hunting.) Traveling and flying is always interesting. You meet people and have strange experiences because lets admit it, when you're traveling your are never at your best. Some quick tales of flying last week... image via  Tight connections meant Andy and I running frantically through the airport. Him about half an airport in front of me. Me, lagging behind tripping, dropping things, yelling at him. Yep, our typical way of catching flights. One flight we were serenaded by a flight attendant singing Santa Baby over the intercom with a few advertising lines added to the song. I wonder if they paid her extra for that?? Another flight I had a male flight attendant (very flamboyant might I add) wink at me every time we made eye contact. He would also bring me extra snacks (peanuts and pretzels) even though I wasn't asking for them. He'd slip them to me like it was a secret... One flight I was separated f...