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.

 

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.

 

Settling In

This common sight on the streets of NYC is a reminder that as of Thursday, the 12 days of Christmas are officially over.  But after all the travels and visits and snowboarding, I feel like I have already begun to settle back into my life at home.

Coolness on back of bus - heading home from shopping

This weekend I was able to take Stella out for a spin (until she ran out of oil - new year's resolution…check fluids frequently),  do a few returns, meet up with our friends who are new parents and taxi them downtown with the most precious cargo on board - an adorable little newborn, go to beauty salon, restart dance classes that I was really missing after a month off!, take an nicely unexpected call from Dad this morning - for no "special" reason at all, and kickoff Improv coaching with Abra Tabak who i have admired since seeing her perform with the Grandma's Ashes troupe at the first Harold night I attended. Abra just has quick wit and a very positive energy - i know I will learn lots from her. Also I am reading up on the art of Improv - in hopes of a better show come March.

I took on the bold task to clean out my hats! These are not even all of them, not even half! - disgraceful I know. Oh, i have challenged myself recently to wear all my winter hats at least once. I am toying with posting a temporary page to host all the looks for good fun.

Raclette Love!

APRES SKI!!! Since we missed much of the bar scene after the slopes in Colorado, it was decided we would do a followup here at home. And without wasting anytime, we found ourselves gathered around this extensive setup for Raclette night, talking about about some heavy controversial issues - -  of which are easy to stand as judge and jury after a little JD&Coke!  Love hanging out with this group of friends - time just flies.



And in between, took a little time to dream a little of things to come.

Hope you are finding your arrival in 2012 is full of happiness.

 

Rock the Backstage

No Flyers Allowed

We celebrated Christmas this year with 

Roadies, Groupies and ROCKSTARS!

We only needed a kitchen table….that could double as a stage
(ours is soapstone and weighs 400 lbs so this was actually not an easy feat)

How Low can you go Silvestro

      Food in the form of a 12 Ft of Hoagie

of which 9 ft were eaten!

Some signs & stage props…enter "the artist"

Hard Booze & a good rocking' bartender

Some sound checks and warm ups...

 ….A kick-ass band - with a kick ass guitarist of course

Falling for Breedlove

 And ROADIES, GROUPIES & ROCKSTARS

to rock the house with Dasha

 Hope your holiday's were mind-blowing. 

 

Little victories

Do you remember this little cutie? 

Little Cutie

Here she is in the early days

Well she turned 3 months old last week and I couldn't believe how much growing she did in that time, my oh my.  First and foremost she is growing into one sweet thing - holding up her head a little better, smiling - oh boy the smiles!, and just staring at everything in grand wonder, especially her mama.

Makes me think about he importance of other milestones we celebrate in life - which tend to be mostly the big ones, like birthdays (dad just had a biggie!), new jobs or promotions, finishing something you really wanted to do, moving into a new space or a new place, getting married….and all these things that really begin to shape us somehow and define who we are.

But what about all those little ones, they count too don't they?  

Grasping things for the first time, learning to transition quickly from a F to Dm to G chords on the guitar, holding a yoga pose without blocks, drinking 10 shots of espresso, finishing a hard workout, making Sunday dinner, or packing for a trip in less than 2 hours (still working on this one…)

Whatever they are, 

I was reminded last week when visiting little cutie

to celebrate the little victories a little more too

what little milestones are you proud of?