happy summer days

this past weekend i travelled to Pittsburgh to host a shower with the other "hays girls" for my brother and his fiancee. I was only in charge of the invites but the other ladies did an awesome job to pull it off without a hitch, from making all the food to caring for all planned games and every tied ribbon 

homemade punch

homemade jelly

homemade hugs

hot buns

long time friends

neighbors

hostesses with the mostesses

As usual, we didn't spend as much time visiting as i would have liked but we did manage to see a few good friends, hang in the pool and get in a little "pre-birthday" cake

learning to fly

pa takes care

making a splash

staying afloat

spin with honey on raft

good friends

more happy summer days please

next stop: deutschland

 

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.

 

RASKOG

Maybe this name holds little meaning for you but in this household, Raskog is a darling.


I fell in love with Raskog, this beautiful turquoise 3-tiered cart, when doing some online window shopping this Spring. It became available at Ikea a month ago nearby our home and we left promptly at 7am on a Saturday morning to be sure to get her.  After returning home and a rather tough time getting her up the stairs, we opened up our flat box to put her together and found Raskog was in fact Stenstorp, and we were not impressed. The next day, all the 'real' Raskogs were sold and I was left once again to scour the nearby locations on the Ikea website, hopefully checking each store's "stock prognosis".  


At one point, Yahtzee even rode over an hour away at the promising show of six trolleys in stock in Connecticut, returning empty-handed to a very disappointed Dasha. 


Well this week based on another lead, Yahtzee took a ride out to NJ to pick her up "again, of course calling ahead of time to be sure she was really on the shelf. Tonight he put our little Raskog together and here she stands in all her amazing blue glory, ready to be stuffed to the brim with make-up and perfume and nail polish and scarves and pretty hair clips!


Husband does good.
He's a true blue little darling too.

 

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

sure appreciate everything you do

wish we could have also spent the day with you

looking forward to a tall glass of ice tea with you on the porch during the next visit in

When moths invade

Room 1

Room 2

Room 3 aka bathroom

Our little flat has become one big closet.
For several days i have been washing folding hanging and CURSING!  Clothes moths have made a meal out of one of my favorite sweaters, and a pairing with a dress and one of Yahtzee's shirts..though i doubt that was near as appetizing :-)


On another note I am taking close inventory…. and I clearly have nothing to wear.

 

Hello Rocco!

Well we are just one day back from vacation and already paying the price. Both me and Yahtzee worked tonight till 9ish in the name of "catching up".  On the bright side, Yahtzee works just a 10 min walk away from me so i got a personal escort home from husband.  As a treat we made a stop at Rocco for a baked good of my choice and a coffee with frothed cream.  I chose a "double chocolate" cookie but i can tell you, its not an easy choice. No sooner did we pay did i wish i got the cannoli, no, the pignolis, no wait…the cake, the CAKE!!!

I should say that even with this passion and enthusiasm for my double chocolate, Rocco is actually my 2nd favorite bakery, DeRobertis Pasticceria is my first love for the biscotti alone, forget about anything else. But the coffee not as tasty as Rocco's, thats a sure thing.  

The other sure thing…this guy!  He put together my new jewelry box for me and even followed the instructions (proof, they are on the floor!) which explains why this is a first without bickering AND record time. just realized as I write that this little success and how easy it is to come by took 3 years of marriage to grasp.  Hmmm,  I hope this isn't the rate at which men begin to realize the value of a women's good advice and conventional wisdom.  

Still, Ill take it!  Dasha doesn't do tools.

I hope your night was double sweet like mine.