Ruth´s Birthday December 5th

As you know, birthdays here in Argentina are a BIG DEAL! To put things in perspective, if you miss someone´s bday you have basically missed their wedding... tragic, I know. Ruth´s (Juan´s mom) birthday was December 4 and so obviously, we celebrated allllllllll weekend long! Traditionally, people gather on the even of your day and at midnight you are sung to and blow out the candles. After that the celebration continues for a day or two. If you are lucky, you get the weekend to celebrate again and again! I love this country!!!!! This brings a whole new meaning to birthday month! Here are a few pics of the flaming cake, her gifts though, sadly, none of the sweet little parrot her children gave her...

An Argentine Wedding and the Aftermath

November 27th was the wedding of Santiago, one of Juan´s close pals. When I was invited everyone assured me repeatedly that weddings in Argentina were NOTHING like weddings in the states and I better get ready for the best party of my life! The Beraza family and I piled into the family truck and headed to the church for a quick ceremony and then on to the celebration. By 9:30 PM the guests were steadily streaming into the reception hall where drinks and about a million different varieties of appetizers were being served. Dinner commenced roughly an hour or so later and I was served both a regular meal as well as a vegetarian meal. From there on out, the drinks kept flowing... I had borrowed a dress from Juan´s 6-foot tall, well-endowed sister, the thing actually looked pretty decent and definitely left me feeling modest as it fell just short of my knees. It really could have used a bit more filling in the top but this was an issue I was unaware of until I started in with some serious dancing. Hours went by and still no cake in sight. Please keep in mind that wearing my watch was absolutely out of the question because it would have severely clashed with my formal attire so each reference to time is totally an estimate. I believe that somewhere around 3 or 4 AM the cake finally made her regal appearance along with all the standard traditions of tossing flowers and bits of this and that into a crowd of less than sober guests. My boyfriend even won something! Of course it was the bottle of whiskey... hahhaha I suppose there are a few differences between the wedding traditions I am accustomed to and those here. Though, I have to admit, the party was amazing. At 8 AM, a solid 12 hours of wedding celebration later, we gave our congratulations and said our goodbyes. Needless to say, a grand time was had by all.

The next morning (and by that I mean around noon) Juana (Juan´s sister) woke up the house, enticed us into the car with the temptation of passing the day by lying in the pool. Here are a few pics of the day at the Quincho. Pics of the wedding have yet to be procured as I was not the one with the camera that night... Hopefully, those will come into my possession in the relatively near future.

Lavender, the Color of Spring in BA

November is by far the most beautiful month here in Buenos Aires. Here is a little taste of the beautiful color the city becomes during spring. Unfortunately, we decided to take pics on a bit of a cloudy day but I am sure you get the picture!

Carlitos! Cutest Lil Pupper!

Our buddy Jose moved into a new apartment on his own and discovered that he was a bit lonely. Carlitos was the solution to that prob. Stinkin´cute little guyo!

The day I took the kids to the playground Puerto Madero

Summer is just around the corner but as for now the weather is PERFECT! I suppose this is a good example of what people do when they don´t have jobs... mahahaha I love life!

Thanksgiving 2010 in Argentina

Pictures from the Farm