About

March 2003 found me ready to leave an interesting and non-profit (in the very full sense of the term) job in Washington DC to give my favorite city, Buenos Aires, a trial run and see if we could really learn to love each other. The answer was yes (and there was a guy, long gone, who made it that much easier) and before you know it I had signed a lease, sold my first car to furnish my apartment and made a special trip back to the States for a much awaited wedding/pick up the Golden Retriever and we were off, full speed ahead towards a life in the Paris of Latin America. Ten years later I am still here and still smiling, in a 9 year relationship and well into our fifth year of marriage with a subsequent and much improved Argentine, my darling husband M. We met at Creamfields in 2003, to the sounds of Paul Oakenfold Deep Dish, Sash and Digweed, left together and have been together ever since. Oh yes, we´ve had our ups and downs and split once or twice before we tied the knot, but what doesn´t kill ya makes ya stronger, doesn´t it? Now we are working on living happily ever after and so far, we´re pretty darn good at it! We are two yangs who struggle daily not to need to have the last word, whatever the topic may be. Like good wine, we seem to be improving with age!

I am the proud mother of two boys. The firstborn, Chip,as he will henceforth be known here, is a 3.5 year old at the end of 2013. Chip is a happy kid, curious, bright and a lot of fun. Every outing is an adventure and there is never a dull moment with this blond box of dynamite. He is happiest when dressed as Superman and is currently working on mastering his third language, possessing full command of English and Spanish (ever so slightly glib mom here? hell´s yeah!) I am also the loving step-mother of MM, a most excellent rising 8th grader who spends every weekend, Monday and Tuesday at our house and the other half with her mother and stepdad in a most cordial of divorced parent situation. I´ve been her dad´s main squeeze since she was four and I found her to be one of the most attractive aspects of M´s life when we met. Assisting in the parenting of a child who is not your own is tricky at best and when you add strong convictions like mine to the mix it can be a veritable minefield. But MM is a lovely, even-keeled girl and I think my sons are blessed to have such a great big sister. The fact that her mom and I have both made efforts over the years and maintain a friendly (that´s a step beyond cordial, in case you´re wondering) relationship has both helped over time and paid off in the long run. Really, it´s true.  Our fifth family member joined us a year ago. Nicky is my little piece of sunshine. He is that baby that makes single people want to have children and makes those who already have them sigh just a little. He has been no fuss from Day One, with a thousand watt smile that never fails to charm a grandma or three on the bus. Ot at least he was, until he started forming opinions about a week ago. Now I pity the fool who thinks they can simply place him on the floor and walk away without their ears ringing with peals of shouted protest. Yesterday he got so mad that I walked away from him he pitched a bonified fit, kicking and kicking (while seated, mind you) until he fell over backwards. Serves him right! (just kidding). 89% of the time he is the most smiling, darling little man ever.  The team is rounded out by the current Golden who has replaced the Wonderdog mentioned above, though as any dog lover will tell you, once you have had a Wonderdog, a regular old dog just ain´t the same thing.

But no matter, we love him too. Balti, short for Baltazar, was born on January 6th, Epiphany or King´s Day here, hence his name. He is a good dog, but he´s a brute. A brute who will push past you in a doorway, pull you on the leash to a piece of trash even though he knows he´s getting his butt kicked if he picks it up, and finally a bully who hovers so close to children with food that it´s almost impossible for them NOT to drop it. (No snatching though, of course, just a lot of invasive physical presence, especially if you are two feet off the ground and weigh about an eigth of what he does)  No, Balti, No, was one of C´s first phrases, though I have to admit C also said “Permisho” to the dog a lot when he wants to get by him, which is far more courtesy than Balti will ever extend to him. I am miserable without a dog, even a dumb dog, so here we are…

We also co-exist with infinite microscopic ants who live behind the tiles in the bathroom and Balti´s endless hair/dust motes which float insolently around my house, no matter how often I sweep.

The premise of this space is to share stories, juxtapose details of my life here and in the United States, specifically the Eastern Seaboard on which I was raised and in the process pass on just a bit of the passion and humor that have been part of my life since I settled in this town. A town of 14M inhabitants that I realized was MY place in the world some 11 years ago, in spite of being located over 5,000 miles from my childhood home and family whom I love.