Cool!

THIS piece of art is super cool and very NYC looking.

I would like it.

So is THIS one. It tells a story.

Oooh! And Coney Island brings back Summer memories.

I love shopping for art. I have a lot of it but one can never have too many pieces of art, I guess. At least that's my working theory.

Preparing to party.

My husband and I are having our housewarming party in 2 weeks (as we planned about 6 weeks in advance) and I'm starting to realize that even though we are MOSTLY unpacked, there is still crap everywhere that needs to be sorted. We have four perfectly good dining room chairs with slipcovers that have been trashed by our cats. So I have decided to sew new slipcovers and coordinating pillow case covers for the pillows on our couch in time to display them all at our party. We have a lot of white, gray, dark browns in our home and we want a "splash of color".

So I was shopping on Mood's website and found this garnet damask fabric that might work and I'm really excited about it.

I'm thinking simple slipcovers (I hope I can copy the ones we have now by dissecting them and recreating them exactly... ahem) and a couple of pillow cases that use some of this fabric in them as well. Our home is very modern looking and I like the idea of throwing in some vintage style fabric to offset the cool, sleek colors and lines of our furniture. I love cool and sleek, but I also like a bit of character and quirkiness. Luckily, my husband is really interested in the style of our home as well, so I always consult him and he also liked this fabric the best. Lucky me!

Now I'm off to clean and eat something and go to the nursery for a lemon tree and move more stuff into our storage space. SO. MUCH. STUFF. (And yes, we've weeded out like 5 times.)

Vamos!

Colonoscopy.

I just had my first. Fear not, all is well.

The prep for those is DISGUSTING. Drinking that shite was one of the least pleasant tasks of this year so far... it tastes AWFUL. I finally realized that putting ice cubes in the glass (you're supposed to drink one 8-oz glass every ten minutes until the fluid is gone) and interspersing with sips of ginger beer/ale really helps. I actually threw it up at first it was so gross.

Moving on, once I got through that and the frequent trips to the bathroom (sorry, but this is the deal), it was just suffering through a day and a half of no solid foods and then nothing at all until the procedure. Not even water. That was hard.

But I had heard that the drugs they give you as anesthesia rock. And BOY do they. You only get to feel it for about 60 seconds before you're under... so as the anesthesiologist said, "I injected a small amount of medication to flush out your vein... you're going to feel it in a few seconds" I lay back and monitored my body. Sure enough, a few seconds later the warmest, most relaxing feeling in the world spread up my whole body. I said, "Cool. I can see why people are heroin addicts." He said, "Yeah... I've actually never had this." I said, "Really? Is it an opiate?" (Stupid question - I was high, people.) He said, "No, it's __________ [a long technical name I could never hope to remember]." I said, "NOT that I care about drugs" and could feel my consciousness beginning to fade. He looked down at me and said, "Here you go..." and I passed out.

I woke up what seemed like a second later in another room still feeling drowsy and cozy and one of the nurses was standing over me saying, "Hi there. You awake?" I said, "Is it over?" and she said yes, it was. She said, "You talked a lot" and smiled. I said, "Oh god, what did I say?" and thankfully they couldn't understand me. Then she offered me Oreos and apple juice and I grinned... FOOD! She said, "I thought you'd like that."

They couldn't have been nicer there and my dr was cool and sweet and clear. So all in all, it could have been worse. But if you have to suffer through one - get a ton of apple juice, ginger ale and have ice on hand. It will help.

A threat

I listened to a call-in show today on NPR about the resistance to building a mosque near Ground Zero here in New York. There are some people who believe it's dishonoring the memory of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001 to establish a religious center celebrating the same religion of those who executed the attacks on that crystal clear morning.

First of all, I have no idea what the loved ones of those who were killed have gone through. I can only imagine it to be a long, arduous road through grief, anger and loss. My heart goes out to all of the people who were murdered that day and their friends and families who I know still grieve their absence.

However, I have never quite understood the argument that some people non-violently celebrating their religion or lifestyle is dishonoring anyone. I know there are many deep feelings surrounding what happened on 9/11, but it seems to me that the terrorists win a bit if we aren't able to differentiate between people who practice non-violent Islam and Muslim extremists who wish destruction and chaos on the USA.

I personally hope we are able to welcome Muslims to worship near Ground Zero, to grieve those loved ones they may have lost on that day, and embrace the mutual sadness that would unite us. After all, the terrorists hope is to divide us with fear and hate, bringing us to a place where we are afraid to reach out to other people. That is what they are banking on - that violence and terror will begin to run our lives instead of our human desire to connect with other people.

I think I can say with total assurance that the bravest acts in my life have included moving beyond the hate, anger, sadness and hurt to a place where I still FEEL those emotions, but recognize that that is not the place to set up camp. Bad things happen in life - America is a young country and we are not familiar with having war brought to our soil. There is no guarantee of safety, no matter how few mosques we have, how many clothes we take off at the airport when passing through security, how much racial profiling we may do... there will always be people who want to hurt us for who we are, how we live our lives and express ourselves. Sound familiar?

I feel that the moment we give in to hate and fear mongering and stop the difficult process of sorting out who is our friend and our foe (even within our own country, our own selves), regardless of race, nationality or religion, we become the terrorists. We become the people who are intolerant, hateful and exclusionary.

I'm not a particularly religious person, but I know what most world religions have in common: the advice to treat thy brother/neighbor/sister/friend/family as you would want to be treated. To work towards a peaceful coexistence, not a conflict-filled one. Only extremists preach violence and intolerance. In times of crisis we find friends in unusual places and people.

I hope New York City can pave the way with this new mosque for tolerance, acceptance, and friendship in a new world, no matter how scary that may be. Because I can tell you how scary a world without (religious) freedom is - and I don't want it.

Today

A shady looking man (homeless?) said to me, "I had no idea Miss America was in Brooklyn"... and I was secretly flattered.

Cute, environmentally friendly and very useful.

I am obsessed with these reusable towels (thank you, sister-in-law, who introduced them to me... me to them... whatever)!

They come in all kinds of cute designs and they are perfect for cleaning off counters, stove tops, fridges etc. They can get spills and just wipe things down - things that I often use paper towels for, but I realize this is wasteful and want to cut down on it. AND they're biodegradable.

Et voila! The fuckin Scandinavians, I'm telling you, everything I covet I eventually find out is Swedish. Maybe I should go to Stockholm! I hear they are tall there too...

Check these tea towels out too. LOVE!

Say hello to "Farewell"

It's time to call in sick to work and go to your nearest movie theatre that would be playing a foreign film to see "Farewell". It's a riveting spy thriller about a real life Russian KGB agent who decided to leak crucial information in 1981 to the French (and therefore got passed on to President Reagan).

I wasn't sure what to expect after reading a few reviews, and only as the movie ended did I begin to realize how great the movie is. The story is expertly told, the cinematography is great, acting, directing... all really good. It got compared to "The Lives of Others" which I can see... I loved that movie as well.

It's rare that I am deeply impressed by movies in the theatres. It's even more rare that that movie is American. This it is not... and you should definitely see it as soon as you can. It's probably the best movie I've seen since "Let the Right One In" (Swedish vampire movie) that Hollywood is now remaking (groan).


It renewed my faith in storytelling. According to some reviews, the screenplay is more romantic than the real life version, but I have no problem with that. I often prefer artistic versions of things anyway unless the truth is locked into the reality of a situation. I'm blathering.

GO SEE IT!