criplomats

Mom with Leigh and Lacey, 1984

Spring is pretty much here in GDL, and our countdown to leave has begun. We’re already entering the period of time where we start scrambling to do all the things we’ve been putting off doing. It’s an abrupt shift from, “oh, we’ve got lots of time to do that” to “OMG, when are we going to fit THAT in???” Thoughts are less about daily work than planning for handover to our successor, getting Flavia her shots to return to the U.S., and just the logistics of the move – where will we live, do we sell a car, etc.

But even as all of those thoughts are creeping into our daily conversations, the work goes on. We are extremely busy in my office – we’re now 10 years down the road from the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, when everyone needed a U.S. passport to cross the land border from Mexico into the United States, so people are starting to renew those passports.

This was a pretty good week, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I had a nice phone chat with my good friend Ann last Sunday. John took me out to a new-to-us restaurant Friday after work and we really enjoyed it. It’s a funky little place, with excellent food – the chef is Argentinian and lived 10 years in the Yucatan, so the food is a bit of a fusion. We enjoyed walking back through the stalls of vendors who set up downtown on Friday evenings, as well.

I’ve been working on digitizing all of my old photographs in my spare time, but the question I have is, What do I do with the actual photos? I guess I’ll put them in boxes to keep, just in case. It feels good to at least downsize them from the albums into boxes. The picture above was taken in 1984.

Beautiful spring!

The weather here right now is really beautiful. The jacarandas are starting to bloom and our view off the balcony is gorgeous. I’m really going to miss this apartment!

This week was fairly slow. I’ve had a stomach bug off and on, so I’m taking it kind of easy.

We had book club at our house on Thursday, and it was one of our best meetings yet. We had a couple of new folks, and said goodbye to Max. The book was “Superpower.”

John took me out for a nice dinner Friday night at a new-to-us restaurant. We’ve been making an effort to try some new places before we go. There are so many good restaurants in the city!

John and I have been binge-watching “Madam Secretary” and really enjoying it!

John and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on Friday – hard to believe it’s been that long. When we first married, we moved to Costa Rica, which was fabulous. I don’t think either of us would have guessed back then that we would quit our jobs in Little Rock and continue moving around the world. We’ve had a great time, and I’m thankful everyday that I snagged such a wonderful husband!

To celebrate, John took me out to a nice dinner at a new restaurant, Polanco. He had octopus and I had delicious bacon-wrapped scallops – yummy!

Monday was a holiday, so we had a four-day work week, although it felt like a six-day work week! We are so busy. Usually our passport demands drops a bit after the first of the year, but this year it’s actually gone up.

Last Sunday, ours friends Tom and Max had us over for a nice home-cooked meal. They were both early adopters of John’s book club and we’ve enjoyed their company. Max’s tour is coming to an end, so they’ll be heading out soon for their next posting in Norway. We’ll miss them!

John has been busy this week writing a paper for Army War College. He’s doing really well in the class and learning a lot!

My very favorite bi-annual arts and crafts fair was this weekend, and my good friend Tammy and her husband flew in for it as well, so it was extra-special this year. It will be my last one, so I was really looking forward to it.

Tammy and Scott stayed with us Thursday night before moving to their favorite B&B in Tlaquepaque. We all went for dinner at Corazon de Alfachofa and had a lot of fun catching up.

Saturday we met for lunch at La Luna, along with my boss Pete and his wife Alicia – lots of fun, and it felt good to sit down after walking around the fair for several hours. I ended up not buying a lot, but did find a pretty set of hurricane lamps and a perchero, a little stand restaurants put by your table to hang your purse on. I’ve put mine by the front door to throw things on when I come home. That was about it, other than a couple of little trinkets.

John and I watched a couple of good movies this week, “Arrival” (aliens!) and “The Gift” (creepy!) – both very good.

We made a quick trip to Northwest Arkansas this weekend to visit with my in-laws Pete and Ginger – Pete has a birthday coming up this week and we wanted to see how they had settled in to their new apartment at Butterfield Trail Village.

We were very impressed with the place. John had seen it last year (before they moved in), but I had not. It’s lovely, with lots of amenities – gyms, bikes, nice dining room, community garden, wood shop, and lots of activities. We stayed on the compound in a guest apartment that was very nice as well.

It was a very quick trip – in on Friday and out early Sunday morning. I had asked John to buy travel insurance and rent an SUV in preparation for bad weather or snow, but the weather was sunny and warm – more like being in Mexico! We spent Saturday afternoon at Philip’s house and ate delicious smoked ribs – and had time for a game of Catan with the kids.

I was saddened to hear that my younger cousin Ryan passed away this week. His mother Louise just died a couple of weeks ago. He had been ill, but his passing came as a surprise. Donna and her sisters have had a rough couple of years and my heart goes out to them.