What Day is it?

I'm all discombobulated due to my off-kilter weekends. I know it's Thursday but it's technically a Wednesday for me.

After a much needed gray and rainy day (although I would have loved a really major storm), the heat wave has broken, the skies are blue again and you can leave the house without feeling like you're taking a walk through some serious urban rainforest. My plants are happy (although I've been drowning them for the past week+) and I am happy. We can finally roll up the hardcore wooden window shades that are so prevalent here. In their defense they really do help to block out heat/blazing sun.

What's new? Well, not much, unless you consider a lack of fans, irons and other home appliances news. Due to the ever-strict controls/restrictions on importations, there is now a dearth of typically common items (such as fans, irons and other small appliances) .... and the prices have also skyrocketed due to the shortage. An average price of AR$180 has now boomed up to AR$350. No this is not a joke.

José's mom went to to Frávega (their motto: "primeros, siempre!" confuses me. I also think that Frávega is the exact same as Garbarino and the other "casa" that sells the same overpriced shit like ovens and stereo systems) a couple of months ago. Their iron had broken and she needed a replacement. So she goes on over to the 21st century futuristic type store and asks for an iron. Not a tall order, right? Wrong. The salesman informs her that they only irons they still have in stock are non-steam irons - aka the ones our grandmothers lovingly used like hot steel bricks that will pretty much burn the crap out of your entire wardrobe. That's right. No more steam irons, he said. "Due to the import restrictions, ma'am." No more explanation, no apology, nothing. That is pretty common here anyway - the shrug your shoulders "Qué va a hacer?" attitude that you can't do anything to change the system so don't waste your energy worrying about it.

I am sending some serious prayers to the Big Man upstairs that our blender, iron, washing machine, food processor, life don't break anytime soon ... Because if there is one thing that pisses me off more than a scarcity of something, it's having to pay 3x as much "just because."

Some fun links:
Top Baby Names in Argentina for 2011
Lisbon, Warts & All (a nice short piece about my new favorite city)
Fudgy Mint Brownie recipe - Make these for me and I will love you

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!