Squealing with Delight

Our photos from the wedding by the amazingly talented Leo Patrone are here!!! It took a little longer than I thought (he shoots exclusively with film, and develops all of the images himself) but it was totally worth the wait. It's funny - I really don't like posing for pictures (or being "serious" because I don't think I'm much of a serious person), but somehow he made me look quite good that day! So cheers to Leo Patrone - Here is just a smidge of some of the incredible shots from the day.

More Snapshots...

We're marrrrrrried!

At the rehearsal Friday afternoon

Earlier in the day ... Pomegranate cocktails at Zaytinya

My amazing and fabulous Godmother

My dutiful sister just sent me these. Hooray! I love reliving incredibly fun moments.

Deb's Insane Silver Collection

We used more than 30 (I think?) pieces of silver from my mom's incredible collection on the 3 long tables at the wedding reception. It was so special to use something "real" and not rented or bought just for the occasion. I think they really added a nice touch to the tablescapes! I've had my eye on several of these little bowls, dishes, vases and pitches for a looooong time ...

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)

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.

Sienna the Salchicha

Here is a beloved miniature dachshund, Sienna. She is so precious and wonderful and loves to be cuddled. Don't mind how dumb I look in that one photo, just focus on her dainty little features.

back to BA...

here are photos of amaryllis I took - to allay (see below):

packing anxiety
scary customs peeps (don't take my cheese plate!)
shoving things into suitcases
last-minute Indian leftovers
trying to tell Bella not to be mad at me (she knows)
praying said suitcases aren't overweight
wishing I could fast-forward and just be back at Basavilbaso

Life is What Happens when You're Making Other Plans..

...Right?

So
MUCH
To
Write
About.

So much going on. Dress fitting (!!!), Bachelorette in NYC (!!!), lots of Indian (!!!), lots of crossing off the To-Do's for the wedding planning (thank God), fun hunting for old trinkets on Ebay, sleeping with an electric blanket every night because I'm frozen, watching the days fly by ...

And some very, very exciting developments that - regardless of the outcome - I will be filling you all in on next week.

Tomorrow I'm off to Boston (Liberty Hotel, here I come. Woooohooooo!) but will be back for my last weekend in the USA. Birthday party, bridal fiesta (bridal is a weird word), and hopefully some good last-minute shopping before I head back to Josey and Autumnal Buenos Aires.

brrr

Between the rain from yesterday and the overall cold that I am still suffering I have been a bad blogger. Sorry about that.

Life has been crazy but in a good way, although Deb and I are together so much that sometimes we just want to ring each other's throats. But in the nice, family way, you see. We had some computer-related rage last night (btw Microsoft Word + columns + 6 page document = hard) but it all went away when we watched trashy Bravo/TLC programming. Side note: did Gretchen from Real Housewives of Orange County get a facelift? She looks especially eyebrow-y this season. I also couldn't help but laugh when Tamara thought that she was the classy one of the bunch. Ok, sure.

We're journeying off to H&M and Forever21 in Penn Quarter today. Joy! I need some fun wardrobe basics and can't wait for the cheapies to find me. I definitely have been looking forward to this since I've arrived back home!

Although let it be known that I do miss Buenos Aires in a bad way (sad but true), mostly because Josey is there and so are my plants. Many besos for my loves in BA.

also ...

I'm in America.

I'm FREEZING cold.

Have been wearing Deb's mink coat around the house to avoid hypothermia.

Can already taste Bombay Club's curry that's waiting for me tomorrow night.

Looking forward to happy hour with my parents (yep, you read that right).

Wish I had packed more sweaters. Why did I think 48 degrees was warm?

Am sans Blackberry (damned roaming that doesn't work) & am reunited with my old school flip phone (holler back, Motorola).

Wishing José were here to help put the finishing touches on the wedding with me.

Chaucha! (& .. brrrrrrrrrrrrr)

How Fast Can You Have Your Bags Packed for Milan?

Although instead of Milan I'm headed to DC! Weeeeeeee!

Just finished a pretty successful packing sesh upstairs. It's humid and rainy today, so I broke a serious sweat, which is just sad. Part of that is due to the fact that our bags are stored under the bed (which is actually bigger than California king), and I always have to lift the frame up to un-stick my gigantic bags. Yikes. As usual, I probably overpacked but given that one day it snows and the next day it's sunny and balmy, I feel like I need to be prepared for all seasons. I think as long as I don't accumulate too much stuff once I'm home (a mission that I know will fail), I'll be fine. Looks like I should take another gander at what I put in the suitcases ...

Being home is always a treat, and I am so excited to see my Bella and to eat Indian to my heart's content. The sad part is leaving Josey and our happy life in Buenos Aires. Happy Hours at Danzón, dinners at Bengal, eating lentils on the couch while watching The Dog Whisperer (clearly my fave show), going to the gym to burn off the wine + caipiroskas ... They're all such fun little parts of my days and weeks that make my life here so happy. The upside to my long absence is that I'm doing it to put the finishing touches on the wedding - getting ready for us to spend the rest of our lives together! Yipee! So that is a good thing. And Josey I'm sure will be enjoying the silence since I chatter his ear off all day, every day (He works out of the house and we share the office -- HELLO distraction!)

So ... what else? Oh, I love how this drama between the US and Argentina is unfolding over the "contraband" that the US Air Force is "attempting to smuggle" into Argentina. Not sure how much of a news item it is back home, but here we're all up in arms over the plane that was detained in Ezeiza for days and has now caused a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Basically the US Air Force was bringing down pre-approved items to be used in training sessions with the police for hostage situations. These items included emergency first-aid kits (which include small vials of morphine), a rifle or two, and GPS thingies that were all obviously meant to be part of exercises. Mind you, the US has paperwork signed by the Argies saying they are OK with what will be brought in. Flash forward to their deciding to say that the US snuck in "drugs, weapons, and spy technology" in what they made out to be large amounts. Yeah, ok. The irony of it all? The Argentine Air Force is about to be in big trouble as details of a huge drug ring are unfolding -- it has been discovered that the thousands of kilograms of cocaine that the Juliá brothers tried to bring into Spain on their private jet were, in fact, loaded at the local Air Force base located in Morón.

That's enough for my rant. See you on the flip side!