Carnaval 2009, our group

We started to get ready early....

we were the 4th group in the line up,

Portela.

I didn't get to see much of the floats of our group, or even the other costumes!  Really, once we started getting ready until the time that we were shuffled out of the Coke box and to the craziness of, well, I guess I would liken it to a backstage...

but really, it is the closed off streets where the schools line up their thousands of marchers, floats and bands....

we were trying to figure out how the heck all the contraptions went onto our bodies!

There were leg pieces, bottoms that looked like huge balloon shorts, two arm pieces, head gear, shoulder gear...

and of course figuring out how the heck we would stay like this for hours!

Remember, we started to get ready about the middle of the group of the second group, left the booth during the third group and then had to wait for our section to go on~ the schools had 82 minutes this year...so we were standing/walking/samba dancing the whole time!

boy, it was fun!  I am used to being in the spotlight and on stage...

but this was something completely different.  The energy of the group's members when the school's music started was unbelievable!  They all instantly started screaming, singing and of course.....doing the SAMBA!!!

Then our section finally started moving and it was non-stop constant motion down the street.  We were supposed to sing, but of course, none of us really knew all the words!  Granted, the school can get points taken off for members not showing enthusiasm and singing, so we mouthed certain words that we knew!  This was quite funny....we knew that certain verses ended in words like amo(love), Portela(the school), etc...so we just all kept mouthing those words!  TOO FUNNY!

So, these fotos are of Portela either from the street (I took my camera of course!  and then hid it amongst the straw covering my arms/legs when we went past the judges booth) and by my Tia.

Enjoy the fun!

This year, the theme was love...in many different ways!  There was love of the internet, movie romances, the love of the sun and moon...and according to the school:

"when love is in the air, nothing is impossible!"

What a better group could there be for me to walk with?  This is how I feel about my life, and my loves....they are varied just as Portela's are...

and actually, I am trying not to use the word love so haphazardly...as in "I love that movie...or I love this color"...

I am trying to be more selective.  I do have my passions...my family first and foremost, the only true loves of my life!

 Then there are the other things that I truly enjoy...

diving, flowers, the beach, the sun, the beauty of the sky....

well, these are my thoughts...I have strayed from the Carnaval theme, but 

 theme got me on a roll!

Here we are in action!  and this is the float that we came before!  I am not quite sure how our African

 theme fits into the overall love theme, but hey, who I am to question :)

This is the last image that I have of walking the Sambodromo street called the Apoteose (where they also hold concerts, like the one I saw with James Blunt and Elton John!)  It was an amazing event and one that I will never forget.

Remember,

Love conquers all