Fleeing to Mexico

T minus 2 days til Anthony and I cross the border into Mexico.  On the one hand, it feels like time has flown by while I've been here, but on the other, it has been far too long since I laid a big fat slobbery kiss on Anthony and SMOOSHed! the babies.  And now that State packed up our house in Lima yesterday, I no longer have the Vonage phone to connect to my family.  So I'll have to throw my birthday wishes for Anthony out on the worldwide web: if you can hear me, honey, I'm screaming out the birthday song for ya right now (in my best impression of a dying cat, of course!).  Happy 33rd, baby!

But it will be exciting to reunite in Mexico.  It'll be the third country we've lived in together since starting to date 5 1/2 years ago.  Who would've thunk it?

I wrote Nicole the other day about what I know of Nogales and, I'll admit, it sounds a little bit intimidating the way I put it:

• There is a Nogales, Mexico, and a Nogales, AZ; they are clearly separated by a number of Customs and Border Patrol agents;
• Despite being a border town, Anthony tells me that crime has dropped over the past 5 years. He seems to think that this has something to do with the fact that, unlike other border towns that suffer from drug-related violence because the Mexican cartels are trying to smuggle the drugs over the border to the U.S., Nogales is the border town into which the cartels are trying to smuggle guns that they've bought with the money they made from selling the drugs in the U.S;
• Nogales, Mexico, is home to a thriving market, where many Americans make day trips from Arizona to buy Mexican goods;
• That being said, I have been told by people from the consulate that I cannot walk around, certainly not by myself, even during the daytime and not even with my dogs;
• Nogales is an hour south of Tucson, and about 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Phoenix.

But one of the young women who just left the Nogales Consulate gave me hope that my time in Mexico will be well spent.  She just finished her 3 year tour there in November and said it was a great post and that she really enjoyed her time there.  It's not exactly a glowing recommendation, replete with flashing neon lights, but when you consider the fact that I am both unemployed and a homebody, there isn't much I need in the way of entertainment from a post.

What I am most excited about (other than reuniting with my family, of course) is our proximity to Arizona.  I get nothing but glowing recommendations from Mel - although she is mostly referring to her spa vacations - and I have read wonderful things about the hiking opportunities.  There are also randomly cool sounding things like visiting Tombstone, AZ - I think I can see a cowboy shoot-out reenactment!  I don't know what's cooler - the cacti or the cowboys.  Now, who's with me???!

In the next few days, I'm going to have to start researching our new home town and find more cool things to do.  There's nothing like uncertainty and dreaming big to keep this girl enthusiastic about the possibilities!

I am a slacker

The past two weeks have been crazy.  With a capital "C."

First, we finally got Anthony's official orders, right before Thanksgiving.  So he was able to plan the pack-out of our house in Lima and we are now scheduled to arrive in Mexico on Monday, December 7th.  So now I'm running around most days trying to change our address everywhere and make sure everything is settled enough that I can live without internet for a few days if forced.

I also turned 30.  I don't have any major concerns about the number, but it's kind of a big deal.  I was worried I'd have to spend it alone, but it turns out that some very special people live in the area (or in a neighboring state) and were willing to make the trek out to delight in some New Moon entertainment (Go Team Jacob!  Right, Mel?) and turn my home-cooked dinner plans into a dance/karaoke party.  The only thing missing was a handful of male go-go dancers, some half-naked Native American werewolves, and Anthony, Grace, Maggie and Pookie.  (I love you Christy, Mel, Aurit!  And I thoroughly enjoyed guest appearances by Estee and Eric!  Although I am still wondering about Eric being in the bathroom with what sounded like five of his closest friends when we called...)

My birthday weekend was made all the more special by a romantic hot-air balloon ride with da' Momma.  Okay, so it wasn't romantic, but it did totally ROCK MY SOCKS OFF.  Because there is nothing quite like floating in a tiny basket 3,000 feet above the ground.  And since we were ballooning over Sunderland, MA, which is within spitting distance of Northampton, MA, I totally gave a shout out to Celia and her Masshole peeps.  What up, Schiffman family?!?!!

And my birthday commentary wouldn't be complete without a big KISS to my sweetie for gifting me a new Canon Powershot G11 camera, to replace the Canon Elph I had finally managed to destroy by hiking to Machu Picchu with it in the rain.  Let's see how long I can maintain this Canon in functioning order.

Of course, if you're American, you also know that Thanksgiving just occurred.  And if you've ever met me, you know what an enormous event in my life the annual Thanksgiving festivities are.  First of all, there's the food.  I like to eat, and I LOVE to eat Thanksgiving food.  Like I've said before (and will say again), any holiday based on food, food, and more food, is tops in my book.  Best idea ever.

Thanksgiving is also the only time of year that I get to see my relatives on my mom's side of the family.  And getting my family together is always an interesting experience.  My Uncle Dana comes from the Vineyard with his boyfriend Hyung, a case of Martinelli's cider, and his ex-boyfriend, my Auntie Thomas.  Auntie Thomas, of course, brings the stuffed artichokes from whatever little place in Boston that makes the closest thing to Nonnie's stuffed artichokes.  This year, my cousin Ilana and her husband, Scott, drove up from North Carolina and staid over.  AND we had San's brother, Binaya, and sister-in-law, Sarita, along with his friends Uma and Logan.  Of course, what we didn't have was San, who left for Nepal about two weeks ago.  So it was the usual smorgashborg and UN-themed event that we seem to have these days.  Never a dull moment.

Now things are quieting down again and I am just trying to make sure everything is ready for us to go to Mexico.  Of course, Anthony is the one who has the most to do, with packing up the house and transporting the pets, but I do what I can from here to help.

And that, my friends, is what you missed.