California part Seven: Family Portrait

{from when Emmy was still pregnant!}

These Days...

These days, our life looks a lot like this..

California part four: Our time with Lala + Ice-Cream for breakfast

While we were in California, we stayed at Lisa's house. She lives in a perfectly decorated little bungalow cottage just a couple blocks from the beach. She put us up in her room, gave us her bed, and hosted our little family for the week we were in town. I loved staying there, with her. It's so different now than it used to be, back in the days of us single girls hopping on a plane to visit one another, running around all day, going out all night, and sharing a bed. Now, with a family, arrangements must be made, time must be a bit more scheduled, and baby girl's needs must come first. I am so grateful to have a sister who embraces these changes, and so happy that she and Gaby get along so well (really, they get along in a "call and chat with each other while I'm at work" kind of way). Our time with her was peaceful & fun & wonderful. She is such a giving person, and, truly, one classy lady. So THANK YOU Lisa {Auntie Lala}, for everything.

Here are a couple shots from our first day with Lisa walking around the neighborhood, and from one of our last days with her, eating ice cream, on the beach, FOR BREAKFAST! We had gone a little crazy at the supermarket the night before, and bought a couple pints too many of Ben & Jerry's. Upon waking, I realized that such a thing as too much Ben & Jerry's simply did not exist, and decided to go out on the beach, and put that ice cream to good use. Lisa and Gaby and Biet joined me. We were on vacation after all. That's one thing I especially love about Lisa: she joins me on my spontaneous indulgent adventures. She is, and has always been, one of my best partners in crime.

Exploration Day 1 (photo heavy)

Twas a gloomy, rainy, overcast day yesterday. We awoke in our slowly evolving new home, sat down for coffee and breakfast, and began planning the projects we wanted to complete in the apartment that day. Should we build the new bed frame or put up shelves? Finish painting or put away the winter clothes? Organize the records or hang the guitars? Then Gaby had a great idea: how about none of it? What if we put the apartment plans on hold for a few hours and went on an adventure? Biet, Nico, and I were game. We threw our plans out the window, grabbed a couple umbrellas, and went to explore our new front yard: Prospect Park.
The park was completely deserted in the chilly wet weather, and it was beautiful. We hiked deep into the center of the land, past the lake and through the forested area, and into a lush green field. We discovered abandoned turn of the century platforms, grand at one time but now decaying. We let Nico run free and head the way. We watched the ducks and the swans, and said hello to the occasional fisherman. We walked under bridges & down staircases & along winding dirt pathways. It was a magical way to spend a rainy day.  I couldn't believe that we were still in New York City. I can't believe that this green oasis is our new New York City.

Puppy Love

Biet is slowly getting used to Nico's unique style of affection (read: slobbery dog kisses all over your face & neck 24 hours a day). I suspect that they'll soon be the best of friends.

My 2 New Yorkers

Gaby was stopped on the Broadway the other day by street photographer Edward Thornton to be included in the portraiture project "100 Strangers"... Here is the winning shot of my two New Yorkers.

Smiling

We're still anxiously awaiting Biet's first "real" smile (it should happen any day now) but we're catching more and more hints that she's trying. Her chubby little cheeks get all swished up & her baby lips begin to curl up a bit at the sides. It's almost here!

Rainbow City

Imagine yourself walking up 10th Avenue on a hot summer evening, pushing a carriage through Hell's Kitchen with your slumbering baby & your husband at your side. The streets are empty, the buildings desolate, & you can see the wavy heat emanating from the concrete. It seems that this dark & industrial corner of town has been deserted for the summer. When, suddenly, you come across...
RAINBOW CITY!

The empty parking lot of yesterday has been transformed into a colorful nighttime balloon land, a block of childish wonder squeezed into the somber city. You look inside- not many people.. You ask the admission price- "No, no, Miss, Rainbow City is free to everyone!" Are there rides? No. It was made to enjoy, to frolic & run around in, an interactive conceptual art piece. So you smile and look at your husband & sleeping daughter. And the three of you go inside to run & play..























And though the baby girl slept through it all, you know one day she'll see the photos. And on that day she'll see that all of the spontaneous joy, wonder, magic, & luck in her life, that it was in her life from day one.