Just another day in the park.

I wouldn't be very truthful if I said that every day has been like a day in the park since the pregnancy began….if i said amusement park…well, that might be closer to the truth

But Sunday WAS actually a day in the park, from at least 3PM onward. At 38 weeks pregnant, I decided to finally take a day off from work and my never-ending "things -to-do" list-- and forget about life for awhile.

It looked something like this:

benched at 38 weeks

….and a doting husband

a 9th Street Espresso treat!

and sweet little gifts for baby

And the day ended with a nice dinner at 

Northern Spy with these lovely ladies

Life is good

 

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Look who has got his green card!

It's certainly a turning point

after 7 years living here in NYC on a work visa

Yahtzee's green card status is official.

In his own words

"You can't even run and hide from me in your own country now"

Not to worry, this Yankee is here to stay.

And how to celebrate????

cheap diner food of course

A late night, processed food feast sitting at the counter at Joe's Jr Diner in Gramercy

I think Yahtzee is hooked

Especially with the sappy songs playing, like

Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong and Hello by Lionel Richie

very classy

Oh, and we even brought home a slice of lemon meringue pie

in case we have to satisfy a sweet tooth later

I was happy to introduce an all american diner experience 

to this tall cool americano

Congratulations

A Yankee Doodle Dandy for sure

 

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.

 

Little Celebrations

despite considerable back pain, i managed to find one or two things to celebrate this weekend

….a trip to the grocery - for first time in months we have more than film and beer in fridge

…a new dress, Barney's sale :-), got it half off and I was eyeing up in October at regular price

…The Lob!

…and a husband who has been waiting on me hand and foot - with a little coaching

happy saturday

 

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.