Well I am back from the Carnaval in Salvador!! It was fantastic. The best part was the warmth of the sun and the Nestlé people around me.





Oh there is soooo much to write about!!! Where do I start? First I will tell you about this moment. It is Sunday afternoon and I am sitting at my desk freezing as I write this. It has snowed 2 times since I got back on Friday morning... oh my... welcome to England Angie and Renee!!! I sure hope it is at least above 0 by the time they get here! I gotta tell you that I am a bit happy to be back even though it is freezing. I was a little concerned about getting back due to THE WORST AIRLINE ON THE PLANET!!! VARIG IS TERRIBLE, I RECOMMEND THAT NO ONE EVER FLY THEM AGAIN!!! Well I guess that is where I will start.....

Once upon a time, in a country far far away from LA, a beautiful princess... ok ok. Well you should all be laughing right now. Anyways, on Thursday afternoon, I got a message at work from Varig that my flight back had changed. It seems that they decided to change my flight from Sao Paulo to Miami ahead 14 hours!!!! Considering my layover in Miami was a short 11 hours, this would make me miss my flight back to England. Since I have no desire to live in Miami, this needed to eb fixed. (Can someone please explain why the airline is allowed to change a flight by 14 hours!!!!) So I call the Varig number here in England which happens to go to a call center in Ireland for an airline that is located in Brazil.... hmmmm.. The very nice man explains to me that airlines are allowed to change their schedules whenever and however they want and I am lucky they even notified me. Well aren't I lucky I sat there thinking. So after about an hour of very nice banter and him calling Brazil etc, it finally comes down to me having 3 choices. I can cancel altogether and get a refund (when I asked how this would help me get to Brazil, the man said that wasn't their problem once I cancelled the tickets....) Choice #2, I stay with it as is and they would give me a hotel in Sao Paulo but once I got to Miami I was on my own. Choice #3, I leave a day early and basically have everything back to the way it was originally planned except that it is one day early. I tried to get them to compensate me for the hotel I had already paid for for the night of me leaving early and a bit for leaving my vacation a day early and they flat out said no. When I stated that I would never fly them again, they said that was ok with them. So I went with choice 3 as I didn't really have a choice. I also tried to talk to the airline instead of just the man at the call center but he stated "Varig airlines does not want to speak to the general public. There is no way to contact them." Now that I am back I plan on writing a stern email!! That will show them!!

So I got in my cab at a dreadfully early hour in the morning and hoped I would make it to Brazil. The flight to Miami was uneventful which is the way I like it. Talk about a contrast, going form one of the best airlines, British Airways to the worst....say it with me now.... VARIG AIRLINES IS THE WORST AIRLINE ON THE PLANET!!! When I got to Miami, I checked in and found that my first Varig flight was of course delayed by one hour. Shocking. I walked around the airport a bit, after all I was there for 8 hours and found that Miami airport has this wonderful area outside!!! I ran out there and took off my sweater and laid on a bench under the big yellow ball in the sky and felt an amazing sensation. Warmth. Wow, that is the first time I have truly felt a warm sun since last October!! It was wonderful and I laid on that bench for 2 hours. Later as I was waiting in the security line to go to my gate, I heard a woman behind me screaming on her cell phone. She was saying things like " That's just not acceptable! How can they do that? No, I can't just cancel my flight!! I am in the f*&$ing security line to get on the plane!!! No, I don't want to cut my vacation short by one day!!!!!" I asked a person in her group if she was dealing with Varig and of course they said yes. But instead of changing thier flight like mine had, the airline had cancelled their flight home all together and refunded their money. They now had to figure out a way back. Hmmm, sounds very mean of me but it made me feel a little better about my crappy experience since theirs sounded worse. By the time my Varig flight left it was 1:30 in the morning for me and I had been awake since 5am. I was exhausted. I sat on the plane, put on my fantastic (here's a product plug....) BUCKY eyecovers and fell instantly asleep. It was wonderful to sleep through the entire flight.

I then got to Sao Paulo and thank goodness I had a few hours to kill because it took me 2 hours to get through customs and passport control. Brazil is taking revenge on us Americans. They split us out into a seperate line and we have to be photographed and fingerprinted just like we are doing to everyone else that goes to America. I was later walking to my gate and saw a wonderful sight! MIKE!!! Yeah someone I knew!! It was so exciting but the joy only lasted a few minutes as he was getting on his plane to Salvador in 10 minutes and mine wasn't for another 2 hours! So I waited and then finally saw Tami and Ron Ramos! YAY!!! how exciting. We all chatted about our adventures thus far and how excited we were about the coming week... (Oh and by the way, Tami's Varig flight home was all screwed up too. She was supposed to have a direct from Sao Paulo to LA, but it got changes and she was now having a layover in Mexico City.... Just to round out the Varig tale and then no more complaining, during this trip I met no less than 10 different people who had been screwed over by Varig in one way or another.)

OK, well my hands are now growing icicles (they don't run the heat in here on the weekends) and I am getting a bit peckish (that means hungry over here) so you will have to wait until tomorrow for the rest!!! Considering most of you won't read this until tomorrow, you aren't really waiting but.... for the 2 of you that do! You get to wait!!)

Oh and by the way, it seems that I had forgotten to add to my calender that Renee is coming over here with Angie, so just to let you all know.... Anyways, they leave on Wednesday, but according to Angie since I fly all over creation and haven't died in a plane crash yet, she figures they have a pretty good chance. So keep good thoughts for them as this is a big deal for both Angie and Renee as neither of them have ever needed a passport before and gone so far away. (Thank goodness I am not in a third world country or they would surely die.)

Blessings to you all, I miss you.
D~

So I am all packed and ready for tomorrow!! Jamie is worried about me catching malaria...If anything I will just suffer from sleep deprivation and that's before I even get there!!! It should be a great time though. I kind of enjoyed packing in the sense that I got to pack sandals and shorts and tank tops! WOW! It will be so strange to have those things. I way overpacked but it was too hard to choose as it has been so long since I have worn those things I don't know if they will even fit. So I am pretty much taking it all.

I have been fighting a fever and flu all week but feel pretty good today. I hope I am completely better by tomorrow or that could make the 30+ hours of travelling a bit more uncomfortable..

My mom booked her trip to come out in May and I completed the bookings for Ashley and Brittany, my god-daughters to come out in June!! I look forward to having visitors more than travelling! I can't wait!!

Anyway, no blogs until I get back on March 1st!!

BTW, Jamie and I are getting married a year from tomorrow!!! Woo-hoo!!

So I was just putting together my itinerary for Brazil.... wow... this will be the longest I have ever travelled. Give me some sympathy (but not too much, after all I am going to Brazil!!)
I leave Friday at 9:40 am (leave my flat around 6am) and arrive in Miami a bit over 9 hours later at 2:25pm (time change)
I then sit around until 8:30pm then fly to Sao Paulo and get there at 6:15 am (ugh!) I then sit around until 12 and then fly to Salvador getting there at 2:10pm
But the way back is even worse!! I leave Salvador on Thursday at 5:15 PM and get to Sao Paulo at 7:40pm then wait until midnight and fly to Miami arriving at 6 AM!! Then I sit around for 11 hours until 4:50 and finally fly back to London arriving at 6am on Saturday.... I then have to rush home and change and go all the way across London to go to a wedding show that I booked a ticket for already....
Feel sorry for me? I didn't think so!!

Happy Presidents Day!!! Here I am at work while you are all sleeping in! I had a fabulous weekend and hope you did too. the only bad part was that it went too fast!!!! Here are some pictures of our weekend. Valentine Pictures

The Grove was an excellent hotel. Definitely one of the nicest I have ever been too. When we arrived, we parked in front of reception. After checking in, I asked where we should park the car and they said they would take care of it and bring our luggage up to us!! That's the kind of place it was. I think Jamie liked the big screen plasma tv the best though!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE HRAG BADALIAN!!!!



I know this is an older picture but I don't really have anything newer online! You'll just have to imagine him as 2 years old unless you are lucky enough to see him in person!!! Sossi, please give him kisses for me today!!!

I hope you all have a fantastic Valentine's Day weekend!!! I know you will at least enjoy having Monday off! I won't have Monday off but I will be at work late, since I will be taking Jamie back to the airport... :( Oh well, I would rather have to take him to the airport than not see him at all! So anyways, there won't be any blog on Monday.

So enjoy your time off, I hope you make the most of it and do somethign grand... like go to San Diego... (hint hint!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER DERRICK!!

CONGRATS to my cousin Sarah who had a baby boy named Tavion Jacob Dawson on Tuesday. My grandparents are Great-Grandparents! This is their first great-grandchild. How exciting!!

Well now you are all caught up on my family news... Tonight we have a farewell drinks at All Bar One for Yasu (the Japanes guy I have travelled with) and Amy Nordstrom. Yasu is being transferred to South Africa for a year or so to work on the Globe project there. He plans on adopting a lion. Amy is moving to Glendale and will be working for Frank Jimenez. Frank is in charge of my favorite division, Nutrition, the one that supplies me with all of my Instant Breakfast!!! It's a great position and I have to admit I am a little jealous, I would love to work for Frank someday. (hint, hint..)

Aside from all that I am just counting the hours until Jamie gets here!!!

So I watched a documentary the other night. Surprise, surprise! I am in the land of the constant documentaries!! Well anyway, it was about a woman from the US that had a 200 pound tumor. It was wrapped around her and they did the documentary on how they removed it. It was fascinating and disgusting. It looked like and enormous mole of fat!!!! I hope your not reading this as you are eating breakfast.... Anyway that helps describe my average evening. We then come into work and discuss the various documentaries that we all watched. The one on after the tumor woman was about a woman that had a huge hole in her brain and scientists couldn't figure out why she was alive, or even smart!! Fascinating. Hmmmmm... what I wouldn't do for a few I love Lucy repeats...

I told someone yesterday that I would pay £50 for a good Mexican dinner. He's going to Mexico next week..... but hey, I go to Brazil next week!!! There has to be good food there!!! Please enjoy your lunch today and think of me and know that you are eating much better food than me. There was a documentary on a few nights ago about an English guy that went to Ethiopia to live like an Ethiopian for a month. He was hungry, almost starved but still never said he missed English food!!

Well I just put in my request for my home leave in April... time flies so quickly! Work is pretty busy right now and I should be going back to Vevey this week or next but I just don't have the time!! I'm sure they can get by without me.

Weather here is still cold. Sunny but cold. It really doesn't rain here as much as people lead you to believe. It's a bit more than LA But not that much more. It's just regularly freezing cold. I have successfully been cured of wanting to live in a place with 4 seasons. Once I am back in LA for good, I don't think I will ever complain about it again!

I talked to my mom yesterday to wish her a happy birthday and it seems that tax season is well underway! They are already starting to work Saturdays. Busy, busy, busy until April 15th! Here's a little plug for them... if you don't have someone to do your taxes or you do use my mom or grandma already, here is your reminder to make your appointment!! And make it early!!! TABSCO 323-257-9597!!!! Just say I sent you :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!


I tried on a Wedding Dress this weekend!!! Oh it was so exciting!!! I had seena pair of shoes in a magazine and went to a bridal store to look at them. I didn't like them as much on me as on the model in the magazine... maybe it was the jeans? While I was there I just started looking around and this one dress caught my eye... You can see it if you click on this link and go to the dress called Valentina. http://www.hollywooddreams.co.uk/collection.html OH! It was so pretty on me!!! It is nothing like the dress I want but it was so much fun to try on!!!

The rest of the weekend was very uneventful. It was way too cold and windy to go out so I pretty much stayed in and relaxed.

Yesterday I woke up to a dreary gray day and trudged my way into London. Applied for my Visa, went back home then came to work. All very uneventful. But I have loaded my Vevey pictures! I am quite pleased with some of them. So enjoy!
Vevey3

You know... I am a bit embarrassed to say this but... well... I really like this Christina Aguilera album. I am listening to it right now and it is quite good. Hmmm... Can't imagine I would have said that 15 years ago (15 years?) when I was listening to ... umm... non Christina Aguilera stuff. Oh well I guess getting older gives you the ability to admit stuff that you wouldn't when you were in high school. Although I have always been outspoken about my love for Bette Midler!!! I am still keeping my eye out for her to play in Europe and then whoever happens to be here will be stuck going to her concert with me!!!

Today is my last day in Switzerland. I leave this afternoon and I am glad. It would be better if I had an apartment and my own stuff but living in a hotel for any length of time just sucks. It's quite boring and lonely. Tomorrow I get to (get to?) go into London bright and early to apply for my Brazilian visa. I can't believe that I will be going to Brazil in just over 2 weeks!!! WOW!!! Hopefully I will get my passport back quickly, I may need to come back to Switzerland next week but that wouldn't even be a possibility if I don't have my passport! So I have to take time off work to go apply for the visa then I have to take more time off work to go all the way back to pick it up!!! Oh well it will be worth it when I am basking in the sun.... OH! I get to wear shorts and sandals!!! What does it feel like to be warm? Actually I know I will regret this as I won't be warm... I will be HOT!!! I heard on the news this morning that there were heavy rains in Brazil and flooding.. I haven't checked where but I am just going to assume that it is no where near where we will be.....

Yesterday the woman at the front desk called me Madame Bennett. I smiled and thought to myself that in a year I will be Madame Keeney!!!! I'm such a girl huh?

Last night was very uneventful.... make that boring. I am bored here at night!! But the 500 page book I brought with me is almost done. At least I am catching up on my reading....

Well yesterday marked several things!! Jamie and I have been engaged a whole month!!! I have been here 4 months which is 25% of the total time I will be here. I will be home in 1 year. WOW!

I had a fantastic weekend. Well Saturday kind of sucked... but I am in Switzerland so a sucky day in Switzerland is still ok. I had a plan of going to a rstaraunt called Piz Gloria which is near Interlaken at the top of a mountain and it rotates around. It was in some James Bond movie so some of you may know where I am talking about. I stopped by the reception desk at my hotel just to confirm I was using the right freeway. The woman suggested I use a shortcut through the mountains. On the map it was a tiny little black line (the highway is a big thick red line) so I thought maybe it would be closed with the snow or something. She assured me that it would be fine..... famous last words right. So I go down to the garage and am putting my stuff in the car and start talking to a guy loading his car. He is Australian and off for a day of skiing. He asked where I was going and I told him and he suggested that while I am in the area I might want to go to Jungfrau. He said it is the highest mountain you can go to in Europe. I looked at the map and they were very close together and both things were in my "1000 Things to do Before you Die" book. So off I went......

I knew it wasn't looking good when I kept seeing signs that warned of avalanches and eah time a car came down the hill, we both had to edge over as close to the side as possible to pass each other..... I finally stopped and asked someone if I was going the right way and he said that the little black line stood for train tracks and the only way I was getting over the mountain was on a train!!!! So I had to turn around and go back down the avalanchy mountain.... at least I have a general good attitude and admired the beauty around me. It was absolutely amazing. The sun was out and there was snow everywhere, I can't wait to show you the pictures. So rather than getting upset at losing 1 hour, I looked at it as an opportunity to see the mountains around Switzerland, wasn't that my intention anyway?

So I finally make it to Interlaken and stop for a tea. I started looking at my maps and decided to go to Jungfrau and then to the restaraunt for dinner. I drove to a town called Grindelwald. I parked my car at a park and ride and stood out in -5C weather with wind and cold blowing at me for about 20 minutes until the bus finally came. No one spoke English so I just trusted I was going the right way. We get to the top and I ask the busdriver "OK, Jungfrau?" He then starts talking to me in English!!! Basically it turns out that I am crazy because it is 2PM and it is a 2.5 hour ride to the top so if I went then I would have to stay the night up there!! Oh no!!! I definately wasn't ready to sleep at the top of the mountain!! I had to go to the restaraunt!! My plans! My plans!! So I went to an information booth and the very nice man told me that I could make it to Schtiltorn to go to the restaurant that the last gondola up the other mountain with the restaraunt was at 3:25 and so I had plenty of time. I just needed to get back down this mountain!! So he walked me over to the correct bus stop and low and behold... the next bus wasn't until 2:43. He gave me this sad, sad look to tell me I wasn't going to make it! But he didn't know how determined I can be!!!!

So I went across the street, bought a Twix to eat for lunch and waited patiently for the bus.... and waited... and waited. Fortunately the Swiss are very on time and the bus came right at 2:43. I got in my car at 3:00 on the dot and thought yeah! I have 25 minutes ot make it to the other place on the map that is only about an inch away! I can do it!! As I was driving I kept telling myself not to be disappointed if I didn't make.... tried so hard to prepare myself..... Then a slower than slow car pulled in front of me.... Any of you that have been in a car with me when I am stuck behind a slow driver can just imagine the kinds of things I was saying to myself!! Especially since I was in a hurry!!! I kept watching the minutes tick by..... Finally the gondola place came into view!! It was 3:18! I made it!!! I had time!! I pulled into the parking lot thinking I would have to run... 3:20 no parking spot... 3:22 no parking spot.... 3:25 still not parking spot and I look up to see that the STUPID SWISS ARE ALWAYS ON TIME!!!! There went the last gondola!!! And of course that is when I found a parking spot. I sadly walked to the ticket booth and the woman said I was too late. I said I know and walked back to the car. I sat in the car and cried. Stupid Swiss. I hate the Swiss!!! Then I hear a boom and look up and there was a mini avalanche. Not anywhere near anything so it couldn't hurt anyone but I was able to see it. Really amazing. I dried my tears and determined that "Tomorrow is another day!"

I got back to my hotel starving but decided to see a movie instead. I saw 21 grams. For those of you who have seen it you know it is probably one of the most depressing movies there is! I went back to the hotel, got a sandwich and went to bed.

Sunday was again beautiful and sunny. I decided that driving a far distance wasn't working out for me so I was going to play it safe and stay in the area. I laid around and read my book and slowly ate breakfast and didn't leave the hotel until about 12. I dorve about 15 minutes to Montreaux which is still on the lake. I went to a Castle called Chateau Chillon.



(I got the picture off a website, I'll be able to put mine up on Friday) I spent 2 hours wandering around it and it was lovely. Usually at these sort of things I am in a hurry as it is a stop in the day with lots of other things. But this time, I took my time. I then spent the rest of the day walking around the lake. About 4-5 hours worth of walking but it was worth every minute. The day was lovely and you could see across the lake. Again I can't wait to show the pics!! At one point I sat next to the lake and the sun was warm enought that I was able to take off my coat, close my eyes and enjoy the sun. It was wonderful and completely made up for the disappointments of the day before!!!