Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

My head is officially ready to explode. Whereas a month ago, I made about three decisions during the course of the day (where to surf, where to eat, and where to go out), I'm now making about 200 per day. The decisions are all across the board also: what kind of fabric do you want to use on the sofas, what kind of soap do you want to use in the bathroom, how many shelves do you want in the kitchen. It is literally unbelievable the amount of things that you have to consider in this business. I now have a great deal more respect for people who run successful restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. because I can see how much work it involves. I have a consultant who is with me literally all day long, and I thank the Lord each day that she is alive. Without her, I would be screwed. I'm laying the groundwork to hire her permanently, but it isn't going to be easy. As I've always said, everything is for sale. It just depends on the price, and this would unquestionably be the best money I've ever spent. To make things more complicated, I have four friends coming into town this weekend to visit me. I'm very interested to see how I will be able to coordinate the beach, the surfing, the parties while all the meanwhile continuing on with this monster project. If I think that I am not sleeping enough now, then next week should be quite an adventure....

The good news is that I'm still having a ton of fun. I'm creating my own little baby (hopefully this is just the beginning!), and I'm doing it in one of the most fun places in the world. We officially shut down on Friday and will be cranking away for six solid weeks to get ready for a December 18th opening. The trick is trying to coordinate the 100 different people involved in the reformation to make sure that they all do their part in time. If one goes astray, then the whole thing falls apart. Of course, the fact that I'm dealing with Brazilians is making it more complicated, but I have faith and right now that faith is holding me together.

With this new endeavor, one of the most important things to do is to be out there marketing. Luckily for me, this is what I love to do. Everyone here knows my plans, but I still take every opportunity to talk about it as I can. The most hilarious part of this was the opening of Pacha (one of the most famous clubs in the world) in Floripa this past Thursday where I was asked to give an interview to a famous journalist. Imagine trying to give an interview in the middle of a packed club with a bright shining light on your face while the music is blaring and their people all around. Oh yeah, and it's in Portuguese. I tried to warn them that I wasn't fluent in Portuguese but they assured me that it would be fine. Well, it went ok at best. I will spare you the details but I will say that it was very, very funny. I would be deathly afraid to see a recording. Undoubtedly it was a good experience and at the very least, hopefully I gave the reporter a good laugh.....

I also had my first house party of the summer. I had been wanting to throw a party at my house for some time and I finally had a reason....actually, I didn't have a reason but that's beside the point. It was an incredible party. The lights in all of Praia Mole went out for at least an hour around 3AM (we joked that the neighbors were trying to stop the party) but nobody left. The party started again and everyone had an absolute plast. Summer Party #2 at Praia Mole will be next Tuesday with the whole gang in town. If the house gets burned to the ground, I would not be even remotely surprised....