Party Boy

Stina and the girls are still in the US.  They return at the end of the month so I haven't been wasting any time.  I've been going out to bars, movies, and restaurants as often as I'm able.  In fact, I've launched a website to catalog all the cool stuff going on in GDL.  For some reason, unknown by me, bars and nightspots seem reluctant to advertise or even hang a sign out front.  There is also no way that I know of to dig these things up online.  The end result is that if you don't know what's on, you just don't know.  Not anymore!!!  With MondoGDL you'll always know what to do that night.  Check it:  here and leave me comments, and suggestions on layout or events that I should be covering.

Other than that, work on the house continues.  We've finished the left side and are now working on the right.  One of the first things they've done is remove that hideous porch-type / shit box thing.  The house looks much more elegant now and has lost it's boxy, oppressive feel.  

Before:

and after

From here, they'll redo the texture on the right side then move to the front.  Ater that we start on the bathrooms and, from there, the end begins to come into view.  I'm hoping that we'll see that by the end of the year.

It's been a while so let's just get right into it...

We're still adjusting to GDL and, little by little, it's feeling like home.  We've had a lot of visitors in the past months and it's been great to see them.  I've been down to the coast 2 or 3 times and scored plenty of excellent waves.  Summer storms are starting to show and we're supposed to have 24 feet of swell (thanks to a hurricane) this weekend.  If it happens - I'm off like a prom dress.

Stina and the kiddies are in the US for all of July so I'm alone here for a whole month.  I've seen more nightlife in one week than in the preceding 10 months.  Turns out that there is a large and very active hipster scene here but it's almost entirely under the radar.  

To that end, I'm starting a side project.  A web site with upcoming movies, cool bars, shows, art, etc.  Stay tuned.  

Here's what got me thinking about this.  Stina and I went to see Sigur Ros.  I thought, obscure Icelandic, post-rock, band - in GDL, I expected that it would be Stina and I and the guy manning the beer tent.   

As it happened, it was packed, just freakin' packed with hipsters types.  Where do they hide these people?  Since then I've been exploring clubs, bars, restaurants, and have found an amazingly vibrant city.  I used to think that I was the coolest guy here and, once again, I discover that I'm a dork.

What else. . . oh, the house looks great.  We hired the grandson of the original architect (Rafael Urzua) - and he's been great.  Helped us get all of the paperwork and permits through city planning and architectural heritage committee.  We have the drawings for the front and have actually started the work on the facade.  

He also tracked down some photos from the 30's of what the house used to look like.  Our goal is to bring it back to its original state.

We've also just about finished the apartment.    That's where the live-in help will live.  I can hardly wait.  We'll finally have reliable babysitting whenever we need it - we get our lives back!!!!

Went to Lucy's graduation recently.  She's now in the first grade.  She's very stoked to have her own desk.  Both she and Lily continue to be the cutest kids on either side of the border.