Especially in an urban setting?

This happened recently in Miami, FL and was itself worth a pot of gold:

Photo Courtesy of Emília Campos Schaffler

I don’t know much about packaging but I am sure it’s a big business that tries to use the latest innovations and technology for a cleaner planet.

But I have come across three types of alternative packaging that I want to share.

You may be familiar with some of these.

1 – Sausage in a burlap bag

My sister-in-law from Kentucky sent me this traditional sausage from her region. It’s really good but you have to squeeze it like toothpaste. No, I’m just kidding. The sausage comes out quite easily.

If you are tired of hearing about “organic”, “healthy” foods, check these out:

http://www.broadbenthams.com/

2 – Fanta “to go” in a plastic bag

If you’ve seen the second Hangover movie, you may remember the guy buying fanta in a bustling Bangkok neighborhood. The drink was poured into a plastic to-go bag. This was common in school cafeterias and other establishments in my home country a couple of decades ago.

Note: straw is a must-have

3 – Grinded coffee in a box

I had this amazing coffee in this hole in the wall coffee shop and asked the person at the counter which coffee they used. He told me it was Colombian and that he could sell me some if I wanted. To my surprise, he grinds me a pound into a cardboard box. I had to run home and transfer it into a sealed container.

Note: I am not talking about a sealed or vacuum packed container.

A marriage can be a source of infinite inspiration for not so inspiring, yet funny histories.

The battle involving household chores is a never-ending one. I made it clear to my better half several times that he’s responsible for at least half of the domestic work. Servants are no longer part of the modern world. (And no, we wives did NOT replace them!)

Let’s talk about laundry: they pile up like unpaid bills. To make things worse my husband uses a pair of jeans for half a day and puts it in the dirty clothes basket.

I decided to rebel and declared I was no longer responsible for any laundry – his or mine. I had at least one weapon: I have more clothes than he does, especially underwear.

About three weeks went by and the humiliating moment came: his last clean underwear was gone. I thought he would do a load of undies and move on but he tackled the challenge and did multiple loads until the pile was gone.

Then the giant pile of clean but unfolded clothes sat there for several weeks. Then he started to throw the dirty ones there and we didn’t know which ones were clean and which ones were dirty.

I couldn’t take it! I started to fold them and put them in the closet.

That’s when I realized most of my clothes had shrunk to kid’s size!

My dresses no longer cover my derrière, my shirts show my belly button and my socks only cover half of my feet.

Time for a new wardrobe!

I’ve seen some pretty interesting New Year’s resolutions around.

Some are actually realistic: My husband changed his laptop screen resolution to 1440 x 900!

Some are mind-boggling: I have friends who are lucky enough to not smoke and who are not fat. They had a hard time coming up with resolutions.

Some concern ethics: Telling people about your New Year’s resolution is like a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

I recently posted that I didn’t fly anywhere domestically or internationally for an entire year.

Unfortunately this record will not stand for much longer.

Sadly, my mother, who lives in Japan, broke her leg and will stay in the hospital and then in the rehab center for about two months. Since time doesn’t pass in a hospital, especially for older people, I will try to keep her company for a few weeks.

But I had another amazing accomplishment to be proud of in 2012:

The farthest I drove in 2012 was 64 miles!

And just one time!

And for a good cause: To share a drink with a good friend who was staying at a mutual friend’s apartment.

Actually, I don’t even know if this counts since I drove a few miles from my then office and the next day we all came to my place to spend a few days.

The farthest I’d driven up to that point was 45 miles to visit an art exhibit in a coastal town. Oops, this may not count as well, since I rode in a friend’s car.

Okay, the farthest I drove in 2012 was, therefore, 35 miles, when I was commuting to work.

Am I getting old? No, I just realized how much there is to explore within a few miles radius and how much quality time is important, especially when your companion is a lazy couch, a good book, an entertaining movie, a husband who listens to your complaints, friends who laugh with you, a blue ocean, a bluer sky and, why not, a cup of coffee and a glass of booze!

My World is Indeed a Small Place!

Life sent my best friend to the opposite side of the world. Or perhaps she was just running away. But I am of the opinion best friends shouldn’t judge each other. Or maybe they should.

We would meet whenever there was a chance, even if that happened between connecting flights. This took place for more than a decade, maybe almost two. No matter how long or how brief the meetings were we felt there was never enough time to catch up.

We would talk about everything: family, common friends, travels, books, movies, a little bit about the future, a lot about the present and a whole lot about the past that had gotten bigger every time we met.

I know my friend had been rehearsing that question for many years, just seeking courage to, one day, perhaps, ask it. It had to sound natural, spontaneous, truly en-passant, like many others before in the course of our conversations that lasted hours when the occasion allowed for it.

And I feared for the day the question would materialize and prayed that day never came. We were such close friends and there were no secrets to be shared, we knew every single detail of each other’s life. It was so strange that that question remained in such a forbidden and feared territory.

But we both knew the inevitable question would come. And then it did. With that pained expression that had never really left her face, my friend asked:

“Has he ever asked about me?”

“Just once.”

For years, I had feared the same question from HIM as well.

“When?”

“Many years ago. I can’t remember.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were getting married.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“No.”

“What did you tell him then?”

“That you were fine.”

“Why didn’t you just say we had lost contact?”

“Because that would be another lie.”

“We are all pretty good about lies, aren’t we?”

That statement angered me. I fired:

“Speak for yourself”.

She tried to return the fire:

“Isn’t omission the same?”

A heavy and never-ending silence descended between us. This was not the tone of our friendship. She smiled and said:

“But tell me about your kids.”

I had a big accomplishment last January 1st: I completed a full year without setting foot inside an airplane!

How cool is that?

No airports, no transfers, no hotels, no taxis, no rental cars, no delays, no cancellations, no security checks, no lost luggage, no sleeping as an “L”, no weird passengers to sit next to, no stressed-out airport and airline officials, no having my back on fire and my butt getting flat…

How things change overtime! One year without flying? In a not so distant past that would have made me feel like the biggest loser in the world!

Many years ago flying to me was synonymous with professional success and the epitome of being a “citizen of the world”!

Back even more years, when I had my entry-level jobs I remember how jealous I felt of my superiors and more seniors co-workers. They got to travel to meetings and conferences and that made them look so cool.

Then there were the rich friends and acquaintances spending vacations and holidays in Disney, in Paris, in New York, in Rome! And I wondered how cool it would be to ring in a New Year in Paris or New York.

Well, thanks to a lot of hard work (and travel) I was able to start discovering the world. How cool that WAS! I was planning my next trip even before completing the previous one. Why would you visit your family when you have the whole world to explore? They can wait!

Not that I have been to that many places, but soon all the places around the world don’t look so special anymore. Certainly not as special as in the pictures, in the movies or how you pictured them.

So this year I was happy to just stay where I was. I rang in the New Year at a party TWO BLOCKS AWAY from my apartment in beautiful and WARM Miami!

As for how cool it feels to ring in a New Year in Paris? Well… Pretty COOL I guess, as Paris can be pretty cold in January.

And in New York? Well, I lived there for a couple of years and wouldn’t set foot on Times Square to see a ball DROP instead of raising up!

P.S.: Don’t get me wrong. I still want to visit many places on Earth. If only my couch wouldn’t get in my way!

Because obviously we were all sleeping during the first sunrise,

but we woke up on time to see the first sunset!

Photo:

Courtesy of my friend MV!