Winding Down ..

Jose left last night and now I am sad. I know I'm going to be seeing him on Thursday morning but it's always weird to travel separately! I am anxious to get back home to Buenos Aires to unpack, organize some of the gifts we have received and get back into the swing of things (aka beg people to hire me, please please pretty please with a cupcake on top).

As soon as I dropped José off at the airport, the skies opened up and the rain started to fall. We had a whole month of perfect weather - not bad at all ! It was so nice to bask in the sun, enjoy late afternoon runs along the C&O Canal, and not to have to think about wearing jackets or layers. Now I'm watching the Smithsonian Channel and I want to be the gardener woman whose responsibility is to plant amazing things and "teach the world about Mother Nature and her diversity." Hi, sign me up please! I cannot wait to get back to my rooftop garden, armed with my new book about urban/organic gardening (thanks Poodle and my j.crew model), ready to make things beautiful.

I'm sad Argentina is so far away from every other place on Earth (basically). We're just 8 hours from South Africa, but it's still a long enough flight to make airfares insanely expensive (same goes with the northern end of South America - Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, etc). I just want to hop on a plane one weekend and go somewhere new (as in new country, not new city). Although it's pretty sad that I still haven't seen all that Argentina has to offer ... I guess I should just take it one step at a time. Le sigh.

Yesterday I had an amazing little cupcake of love from Baked & Wired. A couple of years ago I was highly loyal to Georgetown Cupcake. After trying a strawberry confection from B&W at my sister's insistence, I bought one but couldn't even finish it because I thought the frosting was horrible! I sort of stayed away ever since, but praised the lords above when yesterday the line at Georgetown Cupcake was so ridiculously long that we headed on over to Baked & Wired. My "unporked Elvis" was so amazing that I am still thinking about it now. Amazing banana bread topped with light and sweet peanut butter frosting ... drizzled with chocolate. Yes. Please. I'm sorry Baked & Wired for having lost faith in you! I hope we can move beyond the past and look forward to a sweet and fattening future together.

I am having fun looking at things for a registry. I sort of think it's more fun to see what kinds of creative gifts your friends can come up with (no relying on a list for ideas!), but I know it's hard to anticipate what other people are going to get you as a gift. I think we'll just register for the bare essentials / upgrades of things we already have but are old and outdated. It's not like we have a brand new house to furnish, so we can have some fun with things and be more creative. I am dreaming of high thread count sheets and Wedgwood dinnerware ... can we register for antique rugs and vintage finds from the Paris flea market?

More musings later ... Off to lunch

Quick Update...

I'm sitting here, eating some raisin bran, watching a show about "Rebel Monkeys" in India (??), and waiting for my mint tea to cool off. It's been a wild few days, and yesterday in particular was extremely exciting and productive!

Josey celebrated his birthday yesterday, which was super fun, although we have decided not to do gifts while in DC (which is fine because that means the birthday celebrations will be extended and therefore, in my mind, neverending). I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the AM given the extensive task list that was waiting for us, but everything ended up turning out perfectly!

- We picked out invitations (!!!) - somehow we managed to agree on something. José is incredibly easy going and amazing, but his taste and mine could not have been more different re: invitations. Luckily we found something perfectly traditional but with a fabulous twist. Check.

- I got my wedding dress !!!!!!!!! BALHHHHHHHHH !!!! I am on Cloud 9. My Dad finally got to see it and he loved it! The girls at Hitched were nothing less than amazing and I feel so good about that part of the planning process.

- After getting measured for my dress, we went on over to POV at the W Hotel (next to the White House) for birthday champagne for Josey. The place is kind of a zoo, which gives me hope for DC in a way ... I was so surprised/happy to see a bar at capacity on a Tuesday night (and not a bar like Rhino in Georgetown where you know students will always be. Hell, we made MA's a hotspot on Mondays during Senior year.) We didn't get lucky enough to snag a table on the outdoor corner of the terrace, but our table had a perfect view of the Washington Monument and the champagne was perfection! The waitress even brought over a little birthday cake, complete with insane sparkler, to add to the celebration.

- Last, but not least, we dined at Rasika. I have been dreaming of this place since it opened in 2005. It. Was. Amazing. I loved it. Of course I did. I am an Indian food devotee verging on the border of serious obsession. It was just everything I could have wanted in a dinner and more! How sad does that sound? Not sure. Anyway. Actually I was happily surprised since I wasn't entirely sure what to expect - maybe something more along the lines of Indique which uses Indian flavors in modern dishes? - and I was really in the mood for traditional and amazing curries. Done and done. I am still drooling over the crunchy crispy fried spinach with tamarind we had as our appetizer ... José's PERFECT chicken tikka masala (not all are created equal), my spicy and fresh mint/coriander chicken ... and my heaven-sent gulab jamun for dessert. The 10lbs I have gained as a result are entirely worth it.

Now I'm still with my Rebel Monkeys and wondering if today will be as good as yesterday. Ooh we're getting massages so I'm going to say ... yea it probably will be.

blergh

Haven't had time to go running - only twice - since I've been home. Josey and I are off to frolic in the hills of Arlington. God help me!

Excited for the big fete on Saturday. Realizing that gifts will be hard to bring back to Buenos Aires but am not worrying about that yet. We'll get them all down there eventually. Maybe we can hire our friends to put them in their suitcases and come down and visit us! Oui.

Getting lots done re: Wedding but freaking out that I'm here for just 2 more weeks. Need invites, menu set, flowers, meeting with the band, etc.

I'm thinking I should take a xanax.

busy busy busy

We've been on the go since we went to NYC and came back last week - it was an awesome if not quick trip up to see some of my closest friends and to have some fun! Deb was ecstatic as we had a celebrity sighting while lunching at Bar Pitti with Fran - Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi - which definitely made her trip! Haha. We also had fun at Kleinfeld looking for wedding dresses; once again, Deb was so excited to be among her favorites from the TLC show "Say Yes to the Dress." Keasha was our consultant and she was so fun and kind!

Another place we visited was the j.crew bridal boutique. Spread the word. Let. Down. I was completely and utterly disappointed in it. The girls were completely unprofessional, the quality of the gowns was so poor, and they barely had any stock available! I was shocked. The big difference between their bridal line and actual bridal designers is that their dresses are mass-produced rather than made for you specifically. The price point is much better, but not when you add up alterations (which they don't provide for you in-house), the veil, etc. I was glad we went to Kleinfeld last since it was a great way to end the trip - on a high note rather than bummed out!

My cousin Brooke got married this weekend and it was the jam. It was quite possibly the greatest wedding of all time. I have never danced more in my life! My stupid shoes actually cut my feet open and I'm totally hoarse today from screaming and singing all night. I felt so lucky to be a part of such a special and fun day - it was Brooke through and through, and I loved that the wedding had their personal stamp on the whole day: nothing trite, cookie-cutter or forced. Everyone was relaxed, happy and ready to have a great time. The band was amazeballs. I'm going to post a link from the YouTube video that someone took of one of the greatest moments of the night later on.

Now we're just unwinding on the couch and coming down from a great weekend. I wish the tennis were on, and I'm too hungover to go on a run with Josey. I'll get my act together tomorrow for sure. Blagh.

I have millions of emails piling up in my inbox and I really need to get to those. I also need to do some wedding "homework" and get my ducks in a row. The biggest victory to date is that I found the dress!!!! I am so beyond happy about that!

Also, congratulations to Fran and Jeff (and Yoda) - I cannot wait for their own wedding!!!!!!

Off to NYC ...

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for NYC for some extra wedding dress shopping and quality time with Yoda. I cannot wait to see Fran and Katie and spend some time (albeit not much!) in New York.

It's been so, so hot (not news for those of you on the East coast, I know), but it's been nice to wear flip flops and feel that warm sun when you come out of a store that has the a/c turned up too high. Although it's weird because my three toes on my left foot have been red and puffy and I wonder if they're allergic to summer or just something insane happened to them.

Deb and I went to Forever21 downtown in the Penn Quarter today and I was so overwhelmed I had no idea where to begin! It's like, so stocked full of clothes I don't even think my brain processed it. We picked up some really fun stuff and it made me angry that I live in a land that has amazing but very expensive clothes. Oh well. I buy them anyway.

Also, it is possible that I have gained 20lbs just by landing on US soil? I feel like I am more gigantic and I haven't even been stuffing my face 24/7 with Ben and Jerry's or McDonald's (I never eat that kind of food anyway!)

Resolution: do Pilates like mad once I arrive back to Buenos Aires. Pretend that I am a long, lean ballerina who has perfect arms and nice reed-like legs. Yes. Long and lean and tall and elegant. We must achieve that look!

Although a nice piece of my mom's friend's almond cake would be really nice right about now ...

"I feel like a child with a diamond"

-Anonymous

Bridezilla in Action

We just got back from a morning of trying on wedding dresses! It was so, so fun. It felt surreal at first, and I couldn't stop laughing at first - I was in total disbelief that I am the one who is "the bride"! Wacky for sure.

It was fun and it felt good to get the process underway. We also did some bridesmaid recon which was helpful.

Had a crepe for lunch and am resting up before Round 2 of Bridezilla: Gowns gets going!

So happy to be home. Bella slept with me all night and we spooned and caught up. It was good.