Guess I should have told you

That I'd be on a big blogging hiatus ...

I have been home in DC for almost 2 weeks and have been so busy I haven't really had time or desire to blog. Now Jose is here and the business has boomed exponentially.

Plus I've just been really blah the past few days. We got some really awful, awful news and I'm just trying to make sense of it all. I'm so sad and so angry and so upset I just don't feel much like celebrating.

I'm just so thankful that the wedding isn't this weekend. I need some more time to heal and to get back in the "happy" mindset.

Now I just wish the sun would come out for once so I can relax for the first time this week and read in the sunshine.

In just 7 days Jose and I are getting married. Woweeee!! I must say I couldn't be more excited about that.

Sorry for the lack of posting and lack of fun things to read.

Here are some links:

Another article I wrote about the newest boutique hotel in Buenos Aires

Weekly News Roundup, for some laughs and cynical humor

Gossip roundup via Gawker. Love.

My Life.

My friend Greg works in publishing and has always had a sarcastic quick wit. When we were in highschool we actually came up with absurd book titles (some favorites: "Albania: Land of Milk and Honey", "Aladdin: Disney Character or Al-Qaeda Operative?") ... That list is somewhere. Anyway, he just sent me this incredible website "Better Book Titles" - it saves you the laborious task of actually reading the book and basically sums it up for you succinctly via the revised title. Here is my favorite ...


Story of my life. This book has and always will describe how I feel when I'm having a bad day. It's one of the few stories that I remember reading repeatedly when I was younger and it still rings so very true as I shuffle toward adulthood (or maybe I'm already there? At what age are you considered an adult? Not legally, but like, when are you supposed to have your life together? Any help would be appreciated)

When AIM Was King

Up with the sun (or before it).

José left for his business trip so we had some nice tea together before he left for the land of poultry.

Le sigh. I miss him already.

Today should fly by though, thank the lawd.

Loved this article, written to mark the death knell of AOL's Instant Messenger. It's a great bit of nostalgia for those who remember what the world was like with dial-up internet connections and life before Facebook. It's a humorous and interesting little piece, so if you remember the 90's as the decade you had a crush on Zack Morris, played Oregon Trail in elementary school, or thought that Peace Frog shirts were the most chic item one could own ... Mosey on over.

I went on a walk

sunrise from the dining room - I was up earrrrrrly today

My flight was canceled. I don't really want to talk about it. I'm bummed. One more night in BA is fine with me, but since José has to leave on a trip for work tomorrow that means all day killing time, alone, WITH the cleaning lady (which makes me feel worse about planning to watch reality tv on the couch all day, feeling sorry for myself) ... It's not the most fun of prospects. Plus everything is already packed! And I realllly don't want to take anything out of my suitcases. I'm stubborn like that.


So, in an attempt to make me feel better José made me go for a walk around the neighborhood. I admit, it did help. He's always right about things like that. We found some fun little shops and walked down streets that I almost never encounter on my daily routine. It was fun. I took some pictures so here they are. Direct result of bad moods. I guess it isn't all negative.

The big book sculpture is Marta Minujín's Tower of Babel that she built in honor of Buenos Aires's being the international capital of books this year. She's wacky and wild and I love her. The tower is cool - I love spirals - and it's even better that it's 1/2 block away from our apartment. Weeeeee.

Tum ti tum

Today was rather productive. It's really been a nice weekend, although you know when you feel that pressure of "ok, I have 2 days until ____ (usually leaving on a trip, moving away, whatever) so I have to do 1,000 cool things/see everyone I know/be fabulous/look good while doing it" seems to pop up? Well, yeah. It's Sunday evening and I guess I hadn't planned on being so mired down in practical errands these days. Definitely for the best though - last weekend was more than enough fun and I want to get some rest in while I can before the crazystorm of weddingland hits. Yay!!!

I'm going to be gone for a whopping 6 weeks, folks. Yep! Kind of nuts. Maybe it's 5 but I think it's 6. Doesn't really matter. Try packing for that!! I'm the worst packer ever, consistently referencing George Costanza as my doppleganger (dressing according to mood/bringing 3 bags for a weekend trip). But the last thing I want is to be schlepping around 100lbs of luggage across Europe, cursing my lack of foresight (I plan on doing some shopping as part of furthering my cultural education).

Somehow I managed to select some key pieces from my wardrobe without just pulling everything off the shelves and hangers as I'm prone to do. Hooray! I think I'll be great. The hardest part for me is the shoe element, though I practiced some serious restraint in hopes of sprucing up my collection via travel. And we all know how much shoes weigh. They also take up way too much room in a suitcase. Darn.

I finally finished my article - I act as if it were 15,000 words. Try 800. Whatever. It's hard to focus when I've got so much going on, like whether to watch "Keeping up with the Kardashians" or "Jerseylicious." But really, sometimes that final push is the hardest one to give.

Josey will be coming up to DC about a week after I arrive. Hopefully the sun will be out and we can give our tans a boost since I'm really not planning on being a ghastly pale bride. I'd also like a machine to exist that can tone every muscle in my body in less than 3 weeks. That would just be excellent. There is still lots to do in terms of tying up loose ends before the wedding, but it will be fun to do that in person finally! It's going to be great.

Hmm.. What else? I got another plant. Yep. A Chinese Ornamental hot pepper plantita that has these little multi-colored pepper babies that are purple, orange, red and cream. I hope our cleaning lady doesn't kill it when we're gone. I've already drafted up a "Plant Care" list for her - it's a big job to keep my green friends happy!!

I think that's all. I'm sad Nadal lost in Rome today. Djokovic is amazing, and I love his temper tantrums, but I'm loyal to the Spaniard through and through. Now I'm listening to Jose do sudoku on the iPad while we wait for the next episode of House to download.

Happy Sunday ...

In the land of Kings

Thank God for Anthropologie. Unfortunately I've just been scratching my eyes out as I've been drooling over their newest catalog shot in Rajasthan ... Not only does it make me want to be whisked off to India but it also has planted a serious seed of "I WANT" in my little brain!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm so eager to move back to America not for the proximity to family and friends, not for the reliability ... perhaps it's because I would then have total liberty to style our home in Anthro. I've managed to smuggle down quite a few items - Octopus plates, adorable planters (engagement gifts. Love them), an octopus pillow, a beautifully illustrated book with seashell & botanical prints ... But it's not the same. I'd like to go all-out please (Sorry, José).


Here are some shots (click to enlarge) from the catalog that made me squeal with delight. Thankfully I will be in Anthrolandia in just a few days!

House Hunting in Barracas - Buenos Aires

The New York Times always seems to find random just lovely hidden gems all around the city and publishes whatever's for sale at the moment. Just today I saw a tri-level penthouse for sale in the Barracas neighborhood, definitely an "up and coming" part of the city. You know when the author/relator relies heavily on "industrial" or other euphemisms, the neighborhood still hasn't been totally gentrified. Barracas is a cultural hot-spot, home to the famous Pasaje Lanín and numerous workshops and things of that nature. However, you couldn't pay me to live there. Not yet at least. Nestled behind La Boca/Constitución and bordering on Nueva Pompeya, it's too out of the way for my tastes. Palermo is like a long-distance trip from that side of town - which is saying a lot since it already feels lightyears away from my dear Retiro.


Anyway - The space itself is pretty cool. A random decor style seriously contrasts but whatever. The terrace is spectacular and who wouldn't love 23 foot ceilings? Ours are pretty high but this one takes the cake for sure.


Be sure to read the article & check out the entire slideshow - it's fun to house hunt in other countries!

Homage to Spittles

When we were young, living on lovely Larrimore street and up to no good, we spent lots of time playing in the stream that ran past my best friend's house. One day we found a huge, enormous, sloppy lookin' frog who literally leapt several feet with a single bound! He was so big that we had to put him in a large cardboard box with a window screen as a lid - otherwise he'd leap out and hop away. Every time he jumped up to try to escape he'd leave a little spit bubble in the grid of the screen. After a very short period of deliberation, we named him Spittles (so creative, I know).

Spittles was too big for our little lives and we ended up re-releasing him back into the stream. I remember he was so big that we had to put him in a laundry basket because that was the only thing that really "fit" him.

Our friends - the same neighbors from Larrimore - sent us a picture the other day of the next generation of Spittles - Spittles' progeny, perhaps! He was traipsing around their backyard, hiding under the leaves. They snapped a few shots and sent them our way.

Anyway ... Viva Spittles! His legend lives on.

Redmere is hot

My sis is pretty damn cool. She does fancy pants things with the art world and is always traveling somewhere neato (Turkey, Bilbao ... next up Hong Kong). She's the one in charge of dealing with the press and media coverage for really interesting exhibits/shows/etc. Michael Landy's "Art Bin" (one of my favorites) was her project and now she's headed up Weiwei's bronze Zodiac animal head sculptures at Somerset House. I la her! She's so amazing and talented and works her booty off. She's also the best long-distance Maid of Honor of all time. Yep, I'm giving her that award.

She'll probably get mad that I'm posting this picture of her but I think she looks fabulous.

quiero estas flores en mi casaaaaa

Dachsund Heaven

Ummmmmm so I have a rather wild obsession with dachshunds, especially long-haired/minis/dapples. All I want is to have a little pup running around the house with little spots and blue eyes. It would be the most wonderful little canine companion a girl could ask for.


Sooo imagine my pure joy when I went to the j.crew website for the first time in ages (I try not to torture myself with items that I can't get here in BA) when I saw these images of one lucky little pup. Sorry about the poor screen shots; I was too excited to even think about anything else.

random thoughts

I do not want this post to turn political but I still feel like I can't not write about the death of Osama Bin Laden .... and in Argentina I'm definitely living it in an interesting perspective.

First off I want to thank the gods of technology (seriously?) for Twitter. I was about to go to sleep and before heading upstairs to bed I checked my emails and Twitter (who knows what 140-character message I had to read before slumber) - it was there that I saw the first blurbs about President Obama's forthcoming speech. We decided to stay up to see what it was about - I love MSNBC live streaming. It saved the day - and managed to follow all of the updates.

This was important to me because while I wasn't directly affected (no friend or family member of mine lost life on September 11) there is no way I will be able to erase those images, those terrifying snapshots that are seared into my memory forever. The goal to seek out and find Bin Laden had eventually evolved into something intangible ... So many years had passed that I really wondered if there would ever be a conclusion, a way to put the story to rest.

Finally that day has come.

I haven't been running around town with pots and pans, banging drums and celebrating his demise. Of course I was happy and cheering for my country as I watched the President give his moving speech late Sunday night. I couldn't avoid that - As a citizen of the US and someone who takes pride in her country, yes that was part of my initial response.

Many people, both here in Argentina as well as in the US (and around the world), have been decrying these "celebrations," calling the revelers everything from disrespectful (which is fair) to "asshole retards" (rough translation from one of my Argentine friends' wall posts). Even fake MLK Jr. quotations have been disseminated all over the internet to battle this celebratory patriotism that so many find out of line.

I'm not saying that this event gives American citizens (or anyone, for that matter) carte blanche to run around like banshees and leave all remnants of taste or respect behind. But I'm having a very hard time listening to people from other countries criticize how these people are responding.

They weren't there nearly 10 years ago when thousands of American citizens were killed, for no apparent reason, with no warning, with no mercy. How can they sit and judge us for something that they have never experienced? I know the entire world felt and feels the consequences of 9/11. But for someone who lives more than 5,000 miles away, who wasn't in NYC on that sunny morning, or watching the Pentagon burn across the river from their high school's computer lab ... I have a hard time standing idly by and letting them criticize and scorn us for releasing emotions that they have never had to suffer.

When Nestor Kirchner died 6 months ago, many people did "celebrate" his death with jubilant Facebook posts, snarky conversations among friends, and general sighs of relief. While I myself felt a little relieved as well, I wasn't going to shout from the rooftops as if it were Christmas morning. That's just not my style. Either way, my point is that while most rational human beings - American citizens included - would tell you that it's never "OK" to celebrate the loss of another human's life, when that human is responsible for the worst terrorist attack on your country in its history, when that human has been the reason for decade-long war in which tens of thousands of young soldiers' lives have been lost, when that human has expressed nothing short of pure hatred and evil sentiment for your country, when that human is what you associate with the malicious nature of terrorism in the 21st century ....

I think it's a little more than understandable that these reactions are almost knee-jerk.

As I said ... I'm not necessarily condoning the over the top festivities that have been happening all over the US this week in response to Osama Bin Laden's death. But what I do wish would happen is for those from other countries (or maybe just Argentina where I live, and where one minute there's nothing cooler than going to the US, hitting up the outlets in Miami ... and the next you're supposed to act like the Yanqui credo is nothing short of idiotic and imperialistic) would be a little less criticism and a little more understanding. It's so easy to rely on those intangibles when you're lifetimes away from the epicenter of tragedy. Sadly enough, for the families and friends of the victims and all affected by September 11 that's just not a possibility.