Dasha loves Stella.

as you know, I have had my little heart set on one blue vespa with a red seat for some time..well, as of yesterday morning - Dumb has a little sister, Stella. Not quite the golden child i had in mind, but I think even better!!!

She is gorgeous, manual!, powder blue and a classic

Tonight was a bit stressful and a lot liberating.

 I took her from Red Hook and over Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, 

Click HERE to check out my FIRST RIDE!!!!

more piccies to come, as long as she doesn't get kidnapped!

I should also mention that I will be riding that bridge back over into Red Hook again soon to feed my appetite at Red Hook Lobster Pound, where the lobster roll was Connecticut style (warm)and tasted very close to my all time fav at Rolands in Pittsburgh

I HEART Polaroids

"raw" polaroid by Brian Rawson

"sunny days ahead" polaroid by Dasha!

I bought an old typewriter recently and did my first project -- typeface on a polaroid of Joyce and Jason just after the ceremony from their beautiful Montana wedding.
The theme is "going-to-the-sun" in line with the road through Glacier State Park.

"Smile, breathe and go slowly" - this was the mantra to kick off my zen-like weekend.

Well, things did start off pretty good.  Saturday morning we had a neighborly breakfast with my favorite Yinzer in the Apple. We sorely needed to catch up and what better way to do so than over eggs, bacon and a 9th street bean.  Oh, and blueberries.

In the afternoon we did some leisurely antiquing and fleas.   On a funny note, Y snapped this photo at the Fort Greene flea market because we found this rather amusing - if not perverse.  Were we the only ones see the irony here?

After a rush Wiener Schnitzel job at Loreley in Williamsburg we arrived home to greet a few friends that we had asked to stop by for a cozy rooftop get-together at Urban Disco.  This is when it all started to go array. I am beginning to wonder if Dasha knows the meaning of zen-like at all.

We chatted with friends and new significant others of friends as expected, but then somehow the evening took on a life of its own.  Lets just say lemoncillo,  party crashing, qi chong, Das Dusch and opera singing ensued.  Amusingly, the evening is all on record thanks to Dabby's video experiment, but that will not be public to my blog followers....(with the exception of the lovely Mountaineer singing Johanna for us).

 

But Sunday is a good day for rebounding back into shape, right? 

...sounds good in theory, but then how do you find your dream Vespa, read your new book, workout, continue writing on your manuscript (more ideas abound), dine with husband and go wall climbing?  

btw this was not my dream Vespa

            Wall at Brooklyn Boulders

Yes, this is a typewriter.  A 1950s Olympia! Grandma Opal would be proud.

Moral of weekend experience:
I am not a zen monk.
I can smile. I can breathe. But I do not do slowly.

Friday I'm in Love

In the early 1990s I discovered the Dave Matthew's Band and have been an avid follower of the music since.  Secretly, I would love to meet Dave Matthews since I find him not just talented, but also his lyrics and style extremely sensual. No matter, I will leave those details on my x-rated Dasha blog.  Seriously, the man knows how to speak to women (at least through song) and he most certainly speaks to me.

So Friday night we hopped on the 7 out to Citi Field so I can be serenaded.  Soul Sister and Yahtzee came too. We caught a pretty good breeze in peanut heaven and wore our party hats well.  Friday I'm in love.

"What I want is what I've not got, and what I need is all around me" - Dave Matthews

Oracle Paul

While the world watched in awe as Paul the Octopus predicted with 100% accuracy the outcome of the world cup, my husband, a German mind you, is still holding a grudge. 

In patriotic fashion, yahtzee promptly ordered calamari tonight at Kitchen and ate it with gusto.

Paul, I think you are pretty neat....Yahtzee just thinks you are pretty tasty

Outdoor Concerts

I have always liked outdoor concerts...counting crows, RHCP, dave matthews, pearl jam.  It wasn't until very recently I expanded my horizons to include a new genre of music, opera.  

Tonight I was invited to attend the MET opera recitals at SummerStage in Central Park. It doesnt take an expert to know that Susanna Phillips is pretty amazing and opera does not sound as good if sung in English.

thanks for taking me along, hot mama! it was good to spend time with you and I realize how much I miss your sense of humor.  I look forward to our upcoming plotting and planning...

Friend of Gold from the City of Gold

Look who came in for a visit!!!

It was so nice spending time with my dear friend from Dubai and her lovely friend. We had a great night of catching up and the weather, finally, was perfect for just sitting on the deck. Couldn't resist getting a few shots from the rooftop since the skyline looked pretty cool against the cloudy sky

And one hubby was also amazingly relaxed

summer in the city

@ 99 degrees, it is too hot to stay at home. 

We choose Glass Bar at Indigo Hotel

 as destination "get some cool breeze"

table setting

a dab here, a dab there...

Dabby's Angels

It speaks to him

Click Here for Live Feed from Glass - Prost!

View from Rooftop

oh, and one more special for Billa's mom

Happy Birthday LB

the geburtie girl

To celebrate the birthday of my fabulous friend, we listened to opera melodies performed by New York Philharmonic at the La Dolce Vita concert in Lincoln Center.  We especially liked Puccini's Intermezzo from Act III of the Manon Lescaut opera.  I personally liked Rossini's Overture to Cinderella too, which takes a lot of unexpected twists and turns. It made me anxious. Or more anxious than normal. Anyway, the whole thing prompted me to sing Happy Birthday to LB opera-esque style.  Though I am not a soprano, I think I would be pretty good with some voice lessons.

My geburtie wish for you, LB, is that one of those better ideas you have take off, with you as the driving force - of course. Maybe your gift of the Herman Hesse's Narcussis & Goldman from the Statistician will inspire you.

la la la la LA LA LA la LA LA LA la laaahahahahaaha

xoxo!

Glacier

It is estimated that the glacier in Glacier National Park will be melted by 2020. We were lucky enough to stand on it today.

















The entire park is breathtaking. Here is why;

mountains, lakes, rocks, greenery, snow - just surrounds you

There is hidden beauty everywhere to be explored (and photographed)

There are lots of places to pull off and take it all in

And there are adorable bears

We ended our trip with a great Independence Day picnic at Haymoon Ranch, which included BBQ, pinata full of organic candies, a friendly soccer game, jacuzzi,  fireworks, a blazing bonfire and a happy (and tired) newlywed couple.

g

Big Sky on Fourth of July

We have been spending time in Whitefish, Montana with our friends Jason and Joyce, who were just married yesterday. Jason and Joyce are outdoor adventurers so the location was very fitting. They had almost 80 friends and family gather together for the occasion and we met some very lovely people in the course of the extravaganza.  It was a rainy day but actually stopped raining for one hour in the afternoon, exactly at the time the wedding was scheduled.  I think there are only blue skies ahead for these two.  The wedding also gave me an opportunity to debut my new hat, which by the looks of the picture, has possessed me (and my boobs).

Me and Yahtzee have found lots of time to relax here and make time for recreational activities. I finished Peter Camenzind by Herman Hesse too, which I think is an earlier novel. I appreciate Hesse as a writer and interestingly, I relate to his characters. I really liked Hesse's poetic relationship and description of clouds, "And as the clouds are suspended faintheartedly and longingly and stubbornly between heaven and earth, the souls of men are suspended faintheartedly and longingly and stubbornly between time and eternity".

And for the adventures - here are some pictures of us zipping at Big Mountain.

And we found time to also play pool, dampfbad, sauna and jacuzzi, dance with cowboys and eat roadside cherries.

Enjoying a coffee and blogging break now at

Montana Coffee Traders

(this place deserves a blog of its own!)

then off to see the glacier in Glacier National Park.