Fire Island Shots

Time for a lovely beach walk...

Me, AJ, and Ly

Ly and Elba enjoying brie and wine on the beach...

Action shot of the three of us..that's right...not much going on...just lay there and take in the view!

AJ the Merman

Another beach shot

Deer!! She had two babies with her as well - can I keep one?

Before heading off to the beach, we had lobster rolls and "rocket"fuel on the dock near the ferry...all in all, a giggly day was had by all those involved!!

DUDE! 15-6 METS WIN!!!

Well I haven't had much to be excited about Mets-wise this year but they've colored me happy this afternoon with their big blowout in Game 1 of the Subway Series..won't be going to any games this round but oh well, I'll cheer them on from afar... I've been paying attention my other fave team Red Sox to keep myself interested in baseball but if the Mets can somehow turn it around, I'll be there to root root root for the home team...

Tomorrow I'll be on Fire Island all day, hoping it doesn't rain, but thrilled to be by a beach at long last this summer - we won't be swimming or sunning, just walking and relaxing and feeling groovy...slow down you move too fast got to make the moment last just kicking down the cobblestones...looking for fun and...

FEELING GROOOOOOOVY!!!!!

Mamma Mia! It was the Summer Solstice this weekend!

Hope you all got outside on Solstice Saturday - it was a beautiful, luverly day here in Queens - sunny, breezy, not too hot and just enough humidity to make my hair curl up nicely. So I met The Cousins in Astoria for Solstice in Socrates Sculpture Park where they had music, a drumming circle, empanadas, crafts and face painting for the kiddies (and as you can see, Kara and I qualified as kiddies - we made flower wreaths to wear), followed by a ritual by the Urban Shaman Mama Donna - which was really cute - again, more for the kiddies, but it was very cool, the park is right on the water so she held it as the sun was setting and summer officially began and made everyone sing "This Little Light of Mine...I'm Gonna Let It Shine...". And here is Kara, belting it out, really "feeling" the moment... she's gonna let IT shine!!

Yesterday was brunch and then Mamma Mia with Floating Head, Ly, and Jany followed by "just enough" vodka and cranberrys at Faces and Names ... oh you guys still have me giggling ...

New York Icky

So in case you people don't know it, it is UGLY outside. It's smelly, it's sticky. And of course I'm leaving just as it's going to break and get cooler... oh well, I survived. Sweatily, but I got through it and managed to have quite a nice, yet tiring weekend on top of it. My body was just not made for these hot and humid times. Damn you global warming! Saturday, we had quite the merry olde tyme watching Teen Witch and reliving the 80's fashions and hairdos and eating Thai food at Jany's with Floating Head and Ly and Kaya. Sunday I met The Cousins Megan and Kara for a flick on the Lower East Side - The Fall.

I think this might be my new favorite film..at the very least its most likely the best movie I've seen in a really really long time. It's so amazing looking, the little girl is so freaking cute, and the character of "Roy " is super hot in his "Bandit" costume. So there you go, all the elements of a great movie. So please check it out, I guarantee you, you will be amazed. Its the same director who made The Cell, but this is not freaky visuals or too scary, just super cool and breathtaking. And funny and heartwarming and sad...then we walked around and did a bit o' shopping and then got stuck on a R train for over an hour... needless to say, I was wiped when I got home, I felt beat up and sore and dehydrated. Oh woe is me! Poor Pitiful Pearl is on her way to Vegas tomorrow and surely that will turn her into Life Is Lovely Lola!

Obsessions!

I'm easily obsessed by things, in case you don't know me very well. Sometimes they are longlasting, other times they pass as quickly as they came in - I tend to research the hell out of things, read everything I can (or if its a food or drink, eat/drink it over and over) and then done. Onto the next. In case you were wondering, my latest obsessions are:


1. Pete Seeger - easily the coolest guy on the planet (right up there with Chuckie - yes I put that because I know he's reading this), a guy who walks the walk and talks the talk and ever since watching the American Masters on him, I absolutely love him. Beautiful voice, beautiful spirit, amazing human being. I could easily substitute my earlier model "what would Fraulein Maria do? " to "what would Pete Seeger do?" Here's a good site if you don't know much about him: http://www.peteseeger.net/

2. Wasabi peas - who doesn't like getting their tongue nice and burned for two days so that you have no taste buds? Its all about that great buzz you get from eating too many at once, inhaling and then...wait for it...your head feels like it might explode from its wasabi-ness. I can't seem to stop eating them...


So what else? Well I get to go home for a much needed respite next Tuesday and I can't wait. I'm desperate to get away for rest and I can't wait until the real vacation in August. I'm running ragged right now and trying to fight out my quarterly I HATE NYC vibe. It isn't easy, but I fight the good fight and smile on and try to find distractions. Such as - last weekend. Met the Cousins Megan and Kara for brunch in Astoria, across from the Beer Garden - I had eggs sunnyside up and speck - yummy - and then we walked and walked and walked to the Noguchi Museum and the Socrates Sculpture Park - I highly recommend both. They are just a bit far from the train, but no worries. It's worth it - although the Noguchi museum is undergoing renovations so you can't go in the garden which is listed in a book I have as one of the most peaceful places in NYC. So I'm planning a return trip at some point. Socrates is just funky and right on the water so that might be a good place to hang out in the future - we want to go back for their Summer Solstice festival.

This weekend is - ta da!! Laundry, then to Jany's for Movie Night, then to see another movie on Sunday - The Fall. Then it's packing and getting ready to fly away home...YAY!!!

PS - Snow White? My favorite moment from this week's repeats of The Office on TBS was when Toby's little 5 year old goes up to Phyllis and asks "are you Mother Goose?"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!

Ho hum, the blahs of summer are upon us...

Yes, that's right, the blahs...everything is just sort of blah right now, so I'm trying to have as much fun and smile and laugh until the blahs are gone and the YAYS! return ... for awhile I had the Chicago trip to look forward to and future plans keep you going but then when I got back - NADA! So I finalized my California beach August plans, complete with pricey airfare ticket purchase so now I'm set for 10 days on the Central Coast - thank god. I can manage to keep alive until then. And then I had a whole Memorial Day weekend with not a whole lot to do - yet somehow I kept quite busy and it passed way too quickly and was over before I knew it. Saturday was a "just stuff" day - not that exciting - but Sunday was brunching in the East Village, shopping, walking around and enjoying the sunny weather, have a Tasti-Delight in the park while enduring the chaos of Taiwan Day - don't ask, it was a lot of noise and a lot of people and we just wanted a bench to sit on to get some sun, we didn't even try to participate.

But Monday, Ly hosted us again for some BBQ-ing and more Settlers Cup action - can I tell you his hamburgers rank among the greatest? He used honey, pressed garlic, chopped onions, sugar, salt, and some fish sauce, mixed that in with the meat to make the patties, let them marinate overnight and the smell on the grill was OUT OF THIS WORLD. Plus, he also grilled veggies, drumsticks, and Floating Head brought the hot dogs plus fixins and I brought two bottles of wine. I'm leaving it to you to do the math:

1. Two full bottles of wine at 11 am.
2. Floating Head and I are the only ones who drink.
3. We left at 6pm. Bottles are empty.
4. So who did all the drinking?


Plus we made plans for more summertime adventures (i.e. more reasons to keep on going through the blahs) - Baltimore trip for crabs, Fire Island Day, maybe Maine, Mamma Mia - since ABBA is the official theme music for our circle... so yay for us!

Oh and yes I know, my Mets aren't doing so well...I'm not too worried, they are only 5 out of first place and I have a feeling they will turn around at some point...I'm not guaranteeing they will make the playoffs but I don't think they'll have a rotten year..and I'm not into firing Willie - you just need someone to stop paying top dollar for too-old and too-injured players - get some new youngbloods in there who are hungry and all will be well. Enough said. Now get to work!

Goodman Ly hosted this month's Settler's Cup Tournament and served us Thai fish cakes, shrimp and cuttlefish balls, pork and leek dumplings and wine in his Astoria backyard - YUM!

Goody Elba "explains" (i.e. argues) the rules to newcomer AJ

But in the end, after two rounds, our host was victorious and so he keeps the Settler's Cup and medallion, proudly displayed here...

Oh and - how excited was I about the Mets SPANKING the Yankees? VERY!!!!!

Neverending Math Equation

"I'm the same as I was when I was 6 years old
And oh my God I feel so damn old...
Oh my god, Ive gotta gotta gotta gotta move on
Where do you move when what you're moving from
Is yourself?
The universe works on a math equation
That never even ever really even is any end
Infinity spirals out creation
We're on the tip of its tongue, and it is saying
We aint sure where you stand
You aint machines and you aint land...
Well I don't want to have and want
But I dont know what I need..."
- Modest Mouse Song...and Current Earworm but the Sun Kil Moon version...


So, today has started off with quite the bang...and that bang would be me falling down a flight of stairs!! I could not, would not sleep last night...I actually went to bed sleepy as hell at 12 only to toss and turn and feel my adrenaline pumping so I got up around 2 and watched The Jeffersons on TVLand only to fall asleep on the couch. When I moved back to the bed, it was a repeat of before...toss and turn, wide eyed and bleary. DAMN. I gave up being stressed about it though. I finally fell asleep around 5, woke up at 7:56 to pouring rain and I rush rush my way to work, I hurry hurry down the stairs in my building and nearly broke my crown...slid all the way down on my back, let out a very loud "FUCK!!" to my embarrassment and looked down to see the heel dangling off my left boot like a wiggly tooth. So I hobbled back up to my apt. to change shoes and get to the platform only to be told there is a stalled train ahead of us on the track so we'll be moving shortly albeit slooooooowly.

Silver lining? If I hadn't fallen on my ass, I would have been on that stuck train and I would have been hysterically sobbing on the inside because that is the WORST feeling - I get a little bit claustrophobic and panicky if stuck on a train - especially a crowded/smelly one - for too long. So whew, I suppose, for being a clumsy clumsy but cute kid (SNOW WHITE!).

I still can't believe I fell down a flight of stairs. What a dork. And yes, I am a little achy - thanks for asking!

And it's still raining and I'm sipping some coffee now to prepare for later - I will be baking a cake for tomorrows Settler's Game Extravaganza at Ly's. And to bed, oh glorious bed, early I hope...I do NOT do well on less than 3 hours sleep - the same thing happened last Thursday, only I had to get up at 4am to make it to the airport at 6 to fly to Chicago - Floating Head can attest, I was quite giggly giddy for most of the day and then I operated on 5 second delay and was not very smart - she had to do all the thinking. Then around 4pm , I just started zoning out and needed a 45 minute disco nap before going out for our luscious dinner - steak and lobster, come on, I'll forgo sleep for that anytime.

Anyhoo...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wait, did you say something? I feel like I lost time...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And she's out people....

More Chicago Photos

Our view of Lake Michigan from hotel floor elevator

Elba enjoying the last bit of Portillo's Hot Dawg with a swig of beer!

Taking pics of ourselves in The Bean - I look confused because this thing is TRIPPY!

Underneath The Bean


The Bean




The Sears Tower

Elba breaking her back to get a picture of the Worlds Tallest Building (spires not included Kuala Lumpur!)

Our first strategery meeting in Dunkin Doughnuts - what shall we do today?

Navy Pier

Self portrait, top of double-decker tour bus - we are cold and it is windy. Enough said.

If Chicago was a cow, we milked it dry!

I'm back from my Midwest Adventure and we had quite the whirlwind experience, but we saw everything we wanted to see and completely maximized our time there - all in all, a BLAST! I have lots of fun times to blog about but for now, I'll just put these two pics up because they will please Cub Fan Charlie!





And here is one for Bob Newhart Fan Joyce - Floating Head having her own therapy session with Dr. Bob Hartley...