{maique}

It took me a while to get through this one. Busy couple of weeks, lots of traveling, working, playing, living. Heavily edited for brevity. Also used a photo I already posted, but I love it. This little human is getting cooler every day, and I am enjoying watching the whole thing develop a lot more than I thought I would. Fingers crossed I don’t screw this up, as she’s doing great so far!

• 😇 We’re in half-vacation mode. At the in-laws, and moving around, with movieStar on her laptop all day. I’m taking care of the little one, with HUGE help from mother-in-law. In return I’m helping her taking care of my father-in-law…

• 🏃‍♂️ The Pope came, and went. We moved out of the city, as things got crazy. There is no way to host over a million people in a city as big/small as Lisbon, and not have a chaotic time. Loads of people we know did the same: moved out. We followed the event at a distance, mostly through social media. As most of my colleagues were banned from taking time off during the event, Instagram was flooded with photos. Theirs, and from the many protests that happened. A lot of those as well.

• 🎸 N2 music festival. The usual stress that comes from having to work LOOOOONG days, while trying to keep both movieStars company, and entertained. Juggling too many balls. It was, in a (much used over here) word, awesome. We had a blast, saw some really nice concerts, met old friends, also some older ones we hadn’t seen in a long while. Had great food too. The city is home to us, and we don’t feel so welcome in many other places. It’s another level of hospitality. tinyMovieStar also got her first haircut. I love traveling with the girls, and got plenty of that these weeks. Hotel living is something we excel at (who doesn’t??), and not having to cook every day is a blessing. We get to spend even more hours together, and our mood is much happier because of that.

• 🥵 Both in Chaves, as back home, it’s crazy hot. Temperatures have been on the rise, and the fire season has begun.

• 🏖️ We had an epic beach day. We’re going to our usual spot in September, a month later than what we usually do, so we’re keeping ourselves entertained locally until then. movieStar is working from home this month, we’re visiting beaches that are close by. Plenty of those around. tinyMovieStar LOVES being on holiday. “Is today cartoon watching day?”

• 🏦 As promised, got a new bank account. At an old school bank, and at very old school branch. Love it. Decided to open the account at my in-laws village, on the farmers cooperative bank. The bank is modernizing quickly, but still manages to keep a very old school vibe that I love. It’s also the bank with the most branches in the country, as there’s one in every small sized town. “Aren’t you movieStar’s husband”?, asked the branch manager, someone I had never met. “Well, yes, yes I am”. Small village life.

• 📱 Prices on our mobile carriers keep going up, but some new players have showed up. They are mostly sub-brands of the bigger players, and offer quality service for a cheaper price. 2023 is the year of the change, so I decided to cancel my decades long Vodafone subscription, and move to WOO (a NOS company). So far no complaints, and roughly half the cost. I will probably go for a bigger plan soon, but still cheaper than the old one. Kept the same number, but the new one was actually kinda cool. Can’t afford to change numbers, too much is tied to the old one.

• 📺 D.P., new season is out. Acapulco. Gemstones, Lasso. No time for more, we’re going.

• 🍿 The Beanie Bubble. Awesome cast, great story, not so great movie. Entertaining, but felt like tapping the fast forward a few times. Operation Chromite got the same FF treatment. Air. All these, of course, after getting back from the festival. No time for that up north.