Guess What?

https://vimeo.com/46735913

…and we couldn't be happier

Photo by Erica Berger

 

Summertime in the city

friends, sunshine, good music, ocean, bbq, celebrations

I love the summertime.

we spent a lot of time with friends this weekend.  at a time of year when many new yorkers cityscaping, we were enjoying the "quietness" and time with friends

this was an especially notable weekend because we visited 

three of the five boroughs.

We went out on Long Island (queens) friday night for a Poison/Def Leppard concert.  I can't believe how many hits that were produced between the two bands 25 to 30 years ago. 

Oh, and people watching was totally awesome, but mostly we were were rockin' out reliving those high school days and had lots of fun doing it.

i made an attempt at a little iMovie to some Poison favies, a 45 second clip which took 2 hours to produce. the transitions are a little obnoxious but practice makes perfect

and NO saying that the people-watching goes both ways now….  :-)

Saturday we had a nice BBQ with our Canadian mates, who are living down the hall from where the now famed JZ lived growing up on State Street in BK (JZ references his old address in Empire State of Mind).

after little thought, it seemed obvious to name their flat "stash spot" and so it is.  

interestingly i made my first summer salad for such an event and it went down well -
Dasha's Quinoa medley

Yahtzee challenged the two year olds to scooting races around the courtyard - and later was found on the couch reading bedtime stories

it was very sweet.

and remember this little one?  here too!

well today we celebrated her first birthday in Astoria, Queens
time flies!

she was a perfect guest of honor and better, knows how to throw a pretty good party

i liked the Romanian tradition where all sorts of objects are put in front of the baby and whatever the baby grabs or chooses will determine the future occupation.

I think we are going to have a wise (owl) fun loving (monkey) writer (pencil) on our hands.

And of course we had a little something to celebrate right here in Manhattan with this guy!

Today marked 10 years at his job and i am very proud of him

(even though he spend most of the day like this at the kitchen table...)

we did manage to get out for an hour tonight for a celebratory glass of champagne

(and this is a better weekend style anyway, wouldn't you agree???)

More summertime weekends, please

Shine On.

 

when parents come in for a visit

Me and Yahtzee have been in the thick of cleaning out our flat to do a bit of redecorating, and at same time trying to sneak in the "regular" errands and manage a heavier than normal workload for both of us. Making decisions like fabric and color for a loveseat have become trivial.

"tech-savvy" mama

Two weekends ago we got a rather spontaneous visit from my parents. It was only a few days but so helpful, what a difference it makes to have a helping hand from family to keep calm and scoot on!

Furniture - ordered!

Stella - registered!

Sink - fixed!

Cabinet - organized!

Winter Clothes - stored!

Unwanted clothes - consignment!

Wallpaper - picked!

Fun - loads!

thanks for the visit and the help mom & dad.

Swedish Crepes, turned out better than i thought

Bike Line-up in Red Hook

Ice Cream break

Mom liked the ice cream jerk

Making it through the Holland Tunnel…without getting lost!

 

Happy Independence Day

I spent my morning off work relaxing, afternoon shopping (several hours!) and evening having a delicious dinner at Extra Virgin with Yahtzee and a hip west-villager, followed by a gorgeous display of fireworks on the Hudson River. Man, I miss this neighborhood.

When we moved here (already 7 years ago yesterday) the fireworks were launched from East River, Hudson River and the harbor downtown. Now its just one barge on Hudson..and on a 95 degree night  like tonight standing with a large crowd, no wind…one just might begin to entertain themselves in the name of fun. And this came in many forms - from smoking reefer, hollering out for the fireworks to start, singing out loud, or, after the fireworks have started- very passionately cheering on the works with a "come on baby bring it higher", and "spit it out" and "oh yeah, there you go, thats fine baby fine" as one woman did. At one point I had to glance over at this woman to see what was really going on!  There stood a very patriotic 50 some-odd-year-old woman just staring at the sky in delight.

My personal favorite was the occasional breakout where one would shout, "Happy Birthday America" and everyone would clap and hoot and holler. It might seem corny, but it is a reminder of what the holiday is all about, those that gave their lives for all the freedoms we enjoy in this country, and the pride that comes with being an American.

Hope your fourth of July was spectacular too.