SURREAL!!! All of my best friends and sisters from the different stages of my life, together in Israel to see me get married! Couldn't even imagine doing this without any of you. I just can´t wait to have you all in the same place. Niñas, prepare yourselves for the BEST time of your lives!!!!
Can´t wait for all you to meet each other, here is a small brief on all of you (in no particular order) so that you start getting to know each other:
Natalia Parra (Naty) – Colombian, Currently living in Miami, FL. Met her at the University of West Georgia, instantly became best friends the day we met. We dressed as Ninja Turtles for Halloween, drove to Miami for Spring break and rocked Savannah for St Patricks day 2006. Naty has a cool Barranquillan accent, alegrisima, guapisima, nice sense of fashion, every time we get together is like we have never stopped seeing each other, could spend hours talking to her.
Gabriela Rosales de Palomo (Gaby, Gabs) – Salvadoran, living in El Salvador. Mother of two beautiful girls. Known her since pre-school, best friends since the 6th grade. Spent all my vacations at her beach house in Cangrejera. We share a special ability to pee our pants while laughing too hard, which made us laugh even more... The most sweet, caring and understanding of all my friends, she is the one whom I go to for advice, seriously, don’t know what I would do in my life without her.
Carmen Avelar (Nini) – Salvadoran, living in El Salvador. Known her since Kinder Garden, my oldest friend of all the girls in the class, became friends with her in 1st grade. Godmother to my childhood rabbit Keds Georgina. Leader of a boy band fan club that we all joined in the 6th grade. Knows the lyrics of all the pop songs, had Satellite TV at the time when there was no cable TV and watched the Disney Channel while all of us watched Domingo para Todos. Creative, loves farm animals and is very sweet.
Marie France Infantozzi (Marie) – Salvadoran, currently living in Holland. My cousin, my sister, my partner in crime. Known her for 26 years, was present when she was born, I do all that I do in life to make her proud, her mom is my second mom. Crazy like me. Drove to El Tunco with me the night I met Raz so that I could see him again. The best company for anything, especially shopping, helps me decide without getting frustrated. Patient, intelligent, dated twin brothers, loves chocolate, no one gets me like she does. Probably the most difficult to live without.
Margarita Hassin (Maggie) – Salvadoran living in Paris. My cousin and sister, my first role model. I share all of my childhood memories with her, she is the person I most miss every Christmas. We once saw Santa Claus in the sky and no one will ever convince us otherwise.
Mother of my two beautiful twin god sons André and Loui. Showed me Paris for the first time. The most good hearted person I know. Love is not enough to describe what I feel for her.
Carolina Gomez- Aubert (Caro) – Salvadoran, living in London with her French husband and 2 kids with whom I´m totally in love: Maya (9 years old) and Cielo (8 months old). Soul mates since the 5th grade. We had a secret mean girls club called CACI that no one else could ever join, till now... Caro is my confident, my best friend, the person that knows everything about me. Did my first eurotrip with her. Have done many crazy things together, miss her every day.
Silvia Recinos de Kerslake (Chimbix) – Salvadoran, lives in New Jersey with her American husband Richard and the cutest twin girls. Known her since Kinder Garden, Best friends since the 5th grade, impersonated Celia Cruz in our School´s Circus. We hiked the Izalco Volcano together, has the coolest skin- eye contrast, she is an Aggie, alegre y única, once you meet Silvia you will never forget her, makes friends very easily, speaks her mind, no tiene ni un pelo en la lengua. AMAZING friend, someone that is always there for me and we always have something to talk about.
Sally Jo (Sally, Sal)– American (Texan), Currently lives in Washington DC. Met her in College Station, my first real college and foreign friend. Lived together for two years. Two words describe her: CRAZY and SMART. Did many insane things together. Lost our car in Houston at 4am and drove around with some crazy Indian person till we found it right in front of the club. Knows perfect Spanish, loves Latin people. Showed me not to care what people say or think of me. Helped the Hillary Clinton Campaign and does volunteer work. Has done Couch Surfing. Calls me Cindy Lou.
Fatima Avelar (Fati, Shati, Fats)- Salvadoran, Currently lives in Milan, Italy doing her Masters degree. We worked together, saw her face from 7:30am to 5:30pm every day for 3 years and could never get enough of her! Free spirit, expert at losing stuff everyday, saw Pope Francis, models on her free time, hyper active and spontaneous, loves life and loves to travel, you will never get bored with her.
Cindy´s Bridesmaids
Roxana Marin-Simen (Rox) - Rumanian, currently living in El Salvador. We met about two years ago when she came from Switzerland to work for Holcim El Salvador. Very special, loves to create things, believes that “we can make” anything we see on the store or on Pinterest, and she does! addicted to Nifty, visiting her closet is like going to a department store. Caring friend, unbelievably smart, very busy, but doesn´t care to spend a whole day helping you out. Definitely knows how to have fun at concerts. Loves chocolate and has seen Kings of Leon more than 10 times.
Leonella Gomez (Leo, Seagull) – Salvadoran, living in El Salvador. Known her since Pre-school, impossible not to laugh when we are together, great sense of humor, we call each other Seagull for something no one else would understand. Loves to imitate nigga and Cuban accents. Her mom and sister are the coolest. She was evacuated because of Hurricane Katrina, she visited me in Atlanta and we also found each other in Mardi Gras among 10 million people. Loves to travel, works with Chefs and shares my passion for Jamiroquai and 311.
Antonina Cuesta (Anto) – Salvadoran living in El Salvador. Partners in crime for the past 10 years of my life. Knows all my dirty secrets, and vice versa. Together we formed, for a very long time, El Salvador´s nightlife dynamic duo, until we retired. Have different tastes in everything yet complement each other. Mother of two beautiful kids, Rodrigo and Antonina Jr. She is a lawyer, she legally married me and Raz in October 2016 and made me cry with her speech. Great spokesperson, easily makes friends. I can call her at 4am and she will come rescue me for sure.
Ana Raquel Sanchez (Anita, Rana, Ana) – Salvadoran living in Mexico City. My best Friend since I am 3 years of age, met because of our maids, consider her my sister, we have lived uncountable memories together. We laugh at the most stupid things. She loves it when I sing Opera, she always laughed at my mom when she cursed. For some reason our lives are always aligned starting when we got chicken pox together. Probably the easiest description to write. The only one of my best friends who is not coming to Israel, but for a very good reason. Will miss you sister.
Alexandra Wagner (Ale) – Salvadoran, living in Austin, TX. Known her since Pre-school, found out we are cousins after 14 years of knowing each other. Travels around the world for a living. Athletic, very smart and caring, can get crazy but always keeps her cool at the end of the night. Gags with Tequila. Does not think twice to help you. A very independent woman, Loves to play volleyball. She is an amazing friend, daughter and sister.
Maya Aubert (Maya) – Caro´s daughter , the one and only Junior Bridesmaid in my wedding, fell in love with her the moment I saw her 9 years ago. The most smart and witty kid I know, speaks 3 languages perfectly, donated her hair, practices judo and plays chess, secretly wish she was mine!
Margot Weizman (Margot) – Dutch, living in Israel. Married to Raz´s younger brother Chen, and mother to our beautiful nephew Lottem. Met her about four years ago in Israel , was definitely not hard to identify with each other being both foreigners dating the Weizman´s brothers. We now share the same last name and all of the craziness and happiness that comes along with belonging to the Weizman / Harari families. Margot loves the simple things in life, she is a teacher, she travelled all over India for several months, loves the snow and has created her own amazing garden where you can find anything you might need for your salad. Proud to call her my sister in law.