Argentina: Even the Leaves Blowing Out of the Tree ...

I hang my head out the window and put on my Ipod which Dana loaded full of tunes for me and begin the opening scene to my own personal travel movie.

That's Heaven To Me - Sam Cooke

Argentina's airport is called Ezeiza field. The abbreviation is EZE, and any time you say it its like you are saying "easy!" Can't speak the language? Easy! Being the smelliest person on a bus? Easy! 

And they weren't lying about the field part either. The first forty-five minutes of the journey are through plains that smell like freshly cut grass where taxi drivers and police officers pull off the road and park in pastures to share a cup of coffee. The grass sways like oceans, and groups of old men sit on pick-nick benches on river sides. Life seems easy. The ancient people of South America believe that the world is ending in 2012, and looking out at rural Buenos Aires I think I'm starting to get that. In the United States when I think about the apocalypse I think 'no no no! I'm not ready! If I'm vaporized what about to-do lists, my life goals, the books I want to read? 'All of them feel too great to leave behind uncompleted. But here people just seem to go about living, and when it ends there will be no jobs left undone except for the grass to be mowed. Leaving this world from Buenos Aires seems all too anti-climactic since you've already felt the peace in heaven.

Against Hestitation

If you stare at it long enough
the mountain becomes unclimbable.
Tally it up. How much time have you spent
waiting for the soup to cool?
Icicles hang from January gutters
only as long as they can. Fingers pause
above piano keys for the chord
that will not form. Slam them down
I say. Make music of what you can.- Charles Rafferty -


{a serendipitous sign from the Oprah Magazine I'm reading in the airport}

An Exciting Annoucement

I'm going to Argentina!

for 2 whole months!
I leave {with Eli} on the 25th of January! 9 days from now!
for 2 whole months {did i say that already?}!

I am flying into Buenos Aires, Argentina and out of Santiago, Chile!

... and that is basically all the information I have for you because "planning" will make the trip too "predictable" for Eli. He say's "not knowing is the fun part", and I am trying to believe him!

So, I will probably be making that "Where the f- am I?" face {seen in the picture above} a lot.

Portland Polaroid

Loving this polaroid by Cori Kindred today, taken at Portland's St. Johns Bridge.

I feel so lucky to live here lately {despite the fog and cold} because the more I look around the more I realize how many inspired people live here.

If there is one thing that I hope travels by osmosis it's creativity. You can be inspired too: just add {rain} water

Acronophobia*

*Acronophobia (n): An abnormal and persistent fear of heights. Sufferers experience severe anxiety even though they realize as a rule that heights pose no real threat to them.

When it's slow on Sunday's at work I get to read the New York Times at the host-stand. I don't think this is generally allowed but my managers realized that I get antsy and walk around if I have nothing to do, so they went for the lesser of two evils considering I will read the paper cover to cover and stay put. I saw these photos on a backpage advertising The New York Times store and even though it is a 2-dimensional image I still got that momentary tightening in my stomach when i looked at them {like I felt when I visited the Empire State Building and stayed plastered to the wall}. Funny the way a photo, even when it's flat and no bigger than my hand, can elicit a response so real.

I guess when they say "It feels like you're there!" that includes feelings of imminent peril and nausea.

Familiar? : Flowers & Footwear

1. Ranunculus inspired these gold Badgley Mischka 'Randi' Sandals [via Lace & Tea]

2. Peonies inspired these Louboutin's from a year ago.
{My friend Shannon (who is equal parts sarcasm & style) sent these to me on a dreary day. I keep them in a folder on my computer called Digital Treasure Box. I think these are my favorite shoes of all time. Sometimes I like to put on that song from Garden State by Colin Hay called 'I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You' and stare at them longingly. }

Kelly Cutrone | On Courage

"Gather up your courage like an armful of free clothes at a McQueen sample sale and celebrate the magic inside of yourself."

Kelly Cutrone, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside ... And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You
[via the cut]

-
* even though i am the most sensitive person in the world and I know she would make me cry like all the time I still really love Kelly Cutrone. A lot.

Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot ...

"In victory, you deserve Champagne, in defeat, you need it." Napoleon

On New Years Eve 2009 I'm not sure which of Napoleon's occasions inspired the Champagne. In ending a year and closing a chapter spotted with mistakes and misgivings I am finally admitting defeat. I was not always the person I could have been.

But then I think of 2010 and the endless hope & possibility that lay in 365 days to be better. I made it here and to me that's victory: after it all, to still be standing.

Happy 2010 Darling Readers!

(photo) One of my last moments in 2009