tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9452655329486804362024-03-13T16:29:02.093-07:00LoLovieUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-14153109020332823042014-12-08T22:54:00.000-08:002014-12-08T22:55:47.607-08:00Recycled gloves from old sweaters I have a thing for recycling sweaters. As soon as the cold weather arrives, I am browsing through thrift stores (and hubby's closet) for cashmere and wooly sweaters. I've made a pair of cashmere gloves for my mother-in-law in the past <a href="http://lolovie.blogspot.com/2012/02/cashmere-gloves-from-old-sweater.html">HERE</a>, but this time I wanted to make mittens for LoLo. Well, I wanted them to make them for themselves by themselves. Lola got a kids sewing machine for her last birthday and while she enjoys using it, she still needs much help. I thought mittens would be a great beginner's project!<br />
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Lola wanted bunny mittens and London opted for dinosaur kind. I was left with my old sweater with stripes and decided that the crazy pattern would only suit a monster.<br />
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After tracing our hands, we cut the mitten shapes out of the sweaters and sewed 4 pairs of gloves together, lining them with another color. I cut up various body parts to make the desired animals and here are the results: </div>
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What do you think? </div>
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LOLOve, LV </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-32070946491023366732014-07-10T17:40:00.000-07:002014-07-10T17:45:24.864-07:00Day 2 and 3 Paris It's raining! It's been raining for two days now and we've had enough of it, quite simply, honestly. This is not the Paris I planned for. It's much less glamorous or beautiful or romantic when you are running for cover, waddle in your wet shoes from store to store or bistro to bistro and pack/unpack your rain gear 10 times a day!<br />
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For our second day sightseeing, we were holding onto a hope that it may not rain and so planned around seeing the city. We started off with Notre Dame and were immediately stunned by the long line snaking around the streets to get in. I don't do lines as a principle! I'd rather "waste" the time wondering around the unknown streets than being squeezed into any building (church in this case) - which by all account must be stunning and beautiful, but doesn't the magic stop somewhere between the lady that doesn't use deodorant in front of you and the annoyingly loud speaker behind?<br />
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We walked across the Seine towards the Latin Quarters in search of a restaurant and found a small market. Bought a few souvenirs and admired the local produce - cheese, giant oysters, fruit and vegetables.<br />
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We've been warned about not so friendly Parisians, but all what we've experienced so far is quite the contrary. The old lady next table at the bistro poured us wine from their bottle (I may have looked in dear need of some liquid happiness, given all that rain combined with LoLo's demands for sweets, ice cream or toys or all of the above at the same time). The same day, another lone lady waved Lola over offering her a small toy that came with her ice cream sunday. People stood up to give up their seats, smiled at LoLo, winked at them, moved their seats so that we can be seated as a family together.<br />
I must say people were kinder in transportation much more than in NYC and visibly wanting to do the kind deed and not feeling like they had to. It maybe LoLo's charm (the fact that London doesn't stop talking and smiling and Lola flirting - minus when they are whining - but we won't mention those cases here) and the French love of kids, that we get such a warm friendly feeling, but I;d like to think it's more general and just the way people are here.<br />
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We passed by the Pantheon stopping for ice cream and crepes. I tasted the boozy Grand Marnier crepe for the first time and didn't really like it. The Latin Quarter is as charming as I remembered it to be - small shops and restaurants and streets buzzing with locals and tourists.<br />
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I bought Bensimon sneakers finally - simple pull ons that my Parisian friend, Viera introduced me to many years ago, upon my first visit here.<br />
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LoLo found a playground at the end of the day - just the time when it was sunny for about an hour and spent time on a spring see-saw going so fast, I was getting dizzy just observing them (but kids love this stuff, don't they?). It's funny to observe French parents and compare them to those at home. I keep searching for their "superior" techniques as described at the "Raising bebe" book and don't really seem to find it. Ok, so it's been only a week or so that I've been doing my French parenting observation, but still .. (oh and it's not that I am not biased at all lol) ... My only conclusion is, that it's just like sweet home Brooklyn - there are parents who follow their child from swing to swing hovering over them and there parents that sit on the bench reading a book, while their child is pushing aside others on their way up on the slide ladder.<br />
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One is for sure, I once again could not keep my mouth shut and when one mom watched her son grabbing the long-awaited ball from London's hand (first on line), I had to tell her it wasn't right and gave her the mean mom look accordingly. She seemingly was oblivious at my upset look and could not be bothered. Uhmm yeaaahh ... I've never been good at playground politics.<br />
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<b>TIP: </b><br />
When traveling with LoLo, I always like to buy a kids book with local stories. (Most major cities have them published in English.) It teaches them about the city and makes them excited for the sights that we plan to see. And pssst .. if you want the real lazy guide to any city for yourself - just buy one as a gift to a child and you can find out all the major tourist attractions without ever buying a proper guide that you may be lugging from home ;) and may just discover more than a guide book will ever tell you. It is also a wonderful keepsake and a memory and keeps coming back every time you read the book. LoLo remembers much of Barcelona also, thanks to the books we've bought!<br />
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Reading the Paris kids book the second after we bought it :) </div>
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<b>La Cite des Enfants </b><br />
Yet another cold, rainy day on Wednesday (57 F) made us look for things to do indoors and so we decided to visit the "children's museum" of Paris. It is on the outskirts of the city and so the travel there took us an hour and a half and we were very hopeful! The guide book for kids said that it's the "one museum not to be missed", so we were ready for major WOW factor - well, there was none of that! The museum is divided to two parts ages 3 to 7 and 5 to 12. I bought tickets to the part for smaller children - thinking LoLo were 5 (it's closer to their age first category), but many activities were geared for much smaller kids. Also, if you are a spoiled brat, like we are and happen to live in a big city (like NYC f.e.) surrounded by amazing museum, your children's museum is likely be just as great or better than this one. We're a bit bored by now with the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the place could use some extra TLC, but it's just as good in terms of fun as this giant facility with more interesting things than the one in Paris. And! You can spend as long as you want there! This museum lets you in for an hour and a half and then you have to leave. So, it's not a whole day program - thought with the track out there it may as well be. <br />
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Construction site at the Children's Museum </div>
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<b>TIP: </b><br />
If you have children 5 and you've already decided to go to this museum (I would not, but if you did .. ) .. buy tickets for the older category and not the younger. I haven't seen the older section, but would probably forget about the entire place if my child was 10+ years old and would rather take them to another museum and not here. Also, buy tickets online ahead of time! <br />
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<b>THE SUBMARINE </b><br />
For 3 Euros per person we walked through the submarine - just outside of the museum. We walked through the entire giant, black iron submarine (not in water) passing by the sleeping quarters and the kitchen and the captain's place. It was an interesting and short visit, but again .. not worth a visit unless you are a serious submarine fan.<br />
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Captain needs a lift! :) </div>
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Next entry: Pompidue, a walk through Paris and Jarden des Tuileries </div>
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Bisou Bisou, Elvi and the Gang xox</div>
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<b> </b> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-16400979571689260722014-07-07T15:35:00.000-07:002014-07-07T16:02:11.284-07:00Bonjour from Paris! Bonjour Everyone! Haven't posted in ages I know .. :( But now we are in France, in Paris, the city of love and fashion and I am inspired to share the journey of our second year of home exchange with you all!<br />
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As you may know, last year we spent an amazing month in Barcelona and loved it and I am now a religious home exchanger! There are really only three ways I will ever travel again ...<br />
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a. home exchange (the obvious)<br />
b. on points of any kind - airfare, hotel, coffee card (whatever it takes)<br />
c. camping (I will get back to this one again, but if you read my post about our trip to St. John this January, you know why. Well, the St. John experience is now enhanced and reconfirmed by our amazing, no, AMAZING week at Huttopia in the Loire Valley, which I will review here later.)<br />
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This year, we found a nice French family with three boys, who live at 15 arr. (I am not going to spell this out) in Paris. All was agreed on Skype soon after our first contact. The general rule of the thumb is, that if you find some elements of your apartment in theirs on the photos, you will most likely be comfortable at your adopted place.<br />
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We exchanged keys at a hotel upon our arrival and here we are!<br />
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It's exciting to walk into somebody else's world and imagine and experience what it must be like to live here, to be a Parisian. To run across the street in the morning for a fresh baguette or a croissant, to sit at the corner bistro on one of those charming chairs by a tiny table watching the world go by or to type away on your computer by a desk with a clear view of the open glass doors of the ornate facade of the building across the street and its inhabitants. The young guy in shorts, who is constantly on the phone, the chubby lady in a dress who takes a cigarette break once an hour or the family that hopelessly tries to get their young child away from the open balcony door.<br />
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Argh Paris ...<br />
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A week and a few days in France and we are all fluent in "Merci", "Bonjour" and "Au revoire".<br />
We walk self-assured, map-less, Lola skipping, London making the sidewalk pillars an obstacle course, camera hiding (mostly) in my large satchel (notice the choice of words here), I-phone ready for a quick photo ... Oh my! We could be easily mistaken for Parisians ... Well, not quite! We need a fashion upgrade! Badly! Ok, so we didn't come for the Dior fashion show that just happened today and J-Lo was there (don't ask me how I know all this and nothing about world news!) but we are far from locally looking. Stretched out jeans and t-shirts (at least no sneakers) ... Is it just me, or the stereotype, or our general, collective lack of fashion esteem that makes us feel somehow less put together, less sophisticated (I mean that girl today with a black hat and style made me want to run back home, paint my nails, get a massage, splatter some Dior 5 all over my body and wear stilettos .. or at least my shiny self-made sequins Dolce fake pumps or something that would put us on the map as a non-tourist type ... I was jealous)<br />
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Something stunk in our apartment ... After LoLo tested all the toys, took over a castle in a battle over a princess, built a car track looping four times in the air and managed to find a box of marbles that were now a hazard to life all across the three rooms, we opened the fridge.<br />
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Lola, opened the fridge and shining eyes and bushy tailed she whispered in my ear: "Mommy! There is pudding in there!" (Side note: we never buy pudding! .. This poor, pudding deprived child knew that the opportunity was here ... ). Then she closed the door, upon which an odor that would make a skunk seem a desirable perfume of choice took over the entire apartment.<br />
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"Was it you?"<br />
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We pointed at each other in disbelief at what our noses were experiencing.<br />
"It must be from outside" .. I concluded, until the next time we opened the fridge and started a search of all shelfs, nooks and crannies of the fridge. Our 10 minutes search in t-shirts pulled over our noses (bank robber style) produced no rotten food of any kind or body pieces (as we started to suspect).<br />
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It was unbearable! We made cross wind throughout the apartment and proceeded to open the fridge only with extra caution and solely in necessary, unavoidable situations ( f.e. when Lola wanted another pudding).<br />
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Until we found it! It sat on the middle shelf, wrapped in perfect crispy paper, in a perfect clean box with some fancy french wording ... It wasn't old, it wasn't bad, though it was definitely dead, it was the cheese the family left us as a gift. I caution you, we are HUGE cheese lovers, we've had smelly cheese, we've tasted a few that made us not breath for a few second taking a chance at fainting or even dying from the lack of oxygen, but never, and I mean NEVER have we smelled anything so atrocious, stomach turning, skunklicious in our lives!<br />
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Geoffrey placed it in a plastic bag, tied it carefully and took it to the garbage downstairs.<br />
.. and it still smells!!!<br />
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.. Oh ooohh ... but I wanted to tell you all about our first day of adventure in Paris ...<br />
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We went to the Citroen Park and took a balloon up in the sky. We learnt that advance tickets are sold out for the entire month for the Eiffel Tower and that lines can be long and quite unbearable, especially with children, who are not so much amused mostly by the height or the construction of the building, so we won't see the tower once again but at least we got to see the city from high up ...<br />
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Always a reason to come back!<br />
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xox LV</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-43009493157715555822014-03-02T20:55:00.000-08:002014-03-03T09:19:12.233-08:00And the Oscar goes to ... <div style="text-align: center;">
We are having so much fun with these Oscars ... </div>
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On the red carpet ... </div>
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OSCAR<br /></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvohQA23UGM/UxQKZLX2BpI/AAAAAAAAB54/vFf3y0uS7T4/s1600/1622626_604527092954782_1103190713_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvohQA23UGM/UxQKZLX2BpI/AAAAAAAAB54/vFf3y0uS7T4/s1600/1622626_604527092954782_1103190713_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a><br /><br />(Pssst don't tell LoLo, but it's a Barbie wrapped in foil)<br /><br />And finally reporting live from the event:<br /><a href="https://vimeo.com/88031131">https://vimeo.com/88031131</a></div>
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xxx LV<br /><br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-62290743084981454622014-02-12T19:57:00.003-08:002014-02-12T20:03:36.296-08:00Valentine's Day flower bouquet <span style="text-align: start;">Even if you don't like Valentine's Day, these cupcake liner flowers can be a cute gift for Mother's Day or any birthday. </span>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NvN0kyMxwDw/UvxBC40zXoI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/F8KcCeLtuWM/s1600/bouquet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NvN0kyMxwDw/UvxBC40zXoI/AAAAAAAAB5Y/F8KcCeLtuWM/s1600/bouquet.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a>You may attempt to make an entire bouquet. Hershey's kisses work well for the center, but you may put them on a skewer stem and attach a mini peanut butter cup or a ferrero rocher chocolate.<br /></div>
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London and Lola also tried making these and I am not claiming theirs came out this way, but we had fun making them and can not wait to give them out to their teachers and classmates! </div>
<br />Happy Valentine's Day!<br />LoLove, Elvi<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-44695158150686764642014-02-12T19:29:00.003-08:002014-02-12T20:03:47.686-08:00Today in winter wonderland! - Prospect Park <div style="text-align: center;">
Every Tuesday is LoLo and mom day! Last week Tuesday we spent in Prospect Park. We love Prospect Park and don't go nearly as often as we should, <br />
because all covered in snow it felt a like we just stepped into a winter wonderland.</div>
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The entrance to the park was like a magical alley leading to surprises ... </div>
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A lone runner passed by us, while the sun amazingly lit the glistening white trees and ground ...</div>
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The picnic house and tables were also covered in a white coat ...</div>
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<br />The snow was so deep - it was a workout to get to the sledding hill </div>
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And this is the moment when you arrive .. backwards from the hill ...</div>
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"Yumm, this snow is delicious" .. as it kept falling from the tree branches</div>
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Isn't this beautiful?</div>
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Three hours later we were on our way back home ... Full of nature ...</div>
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We love you Prospect Park! :)</div>
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Elvi</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-89023085931664764222014-02-05T17:05:00.001-08:002014-02-05T19:27:59.773-08:00Drugs and I <div class="MsoNormal">
In regards to drugs, I am a happy, ignorant child of
Communism, I would say. I had no idea what they were while growing up. Nobody
tried to sell them to me at school, none of my friends experienced it – or I
was too nerdy or naïve to know? <br />
<br />
Drugs were something you bought at the pharmacy and took for headache. When I
was 19, I was invited to a New Years Eve party and a bunch of guys went out for
a “smoke” … I don’t smoke! I can’t inhale and smoke makes my eyes itch, so who
cared?! There was talk about marijuana and one guy mentioned, that he was
growing it and asked his mom to water his “herbs” while away. His mom thought
her son found a new hobby in horticulture and we all laughed hysterically,
including myself, who didn’t want to be exposed for the lack of knowledge. I
never took an offer for a fear of being completely ridiculed not being able to
inhale. <br />
<br />
In another case, years later, I was offered white powder while already living
in the US. I looked at the baggie and thought it would look pretty on my baked
cookies sieved onto cutout jelly hearts. </div>
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<br />
Later again, we took a trip to Jamaica. It was an unexpected vacation I won
through a magazine competition and we stayed at an all-inclusive resort. I am
not a resort person! During the first 30 minutes I tried every bar chair,
table, hammock and pool and was ready to leave somewhere else in search of an
adventure, when a guy in a little boat waved at me from the water. He was a bit
far, but I was happy to take a swim and make contact with the first real dreadlock
rastaman. <br />
“Ya maan!” .. You need weed? <br />
I realized he was conducting business ... <br />
“Uhhhmm sure! But how do we do this?” <br />
“Just put the money in a plastic bag!”<br />
I was excited to finally try it and did just that. Placed bills in a zip-lock
and proved my swimming skills with one arm were sufficiently great. We smoked it
that night on our little balcony overlooking the crystal blue water. I felt it was part
of the culture, like rum cake, Bob Marley and the bobsled team, though I had no
idea when or how “high” would come … <br />
… I guess I didn’t inhale … </div>
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Then came colonoscopy! <br />
I had no idea! <br />
Seriously!!!! <br />
I thought it was all awkward, painful, terrifying. But waking up from whatever
drug, I found myself a part of a kaleidoscope swirling peacefully in shine,
shimmer, color, glitter. My first question awake jokingly was: “What was that
stuff? When can I come again?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That was the closest I have ever gotten to high, I think, but I am still
not 100% sure. <br />
<br />
The one thing I know a lot about are needles! Not by a choice of a recreational
drug, but by chemotherapy and IVF. None of them made me high or gave
pleasurable experience. Heck, not even an altered state of mind that I could
rely on when I thought there was death in my deck of cards that life dealt.
Chemo made me sick with nausea, depressed and wanting me to spend days in bed
watching TV and feeling like my life was slipping away. <br />
<br />
I finally, painfully learnt the mastery of needles while undergoing IVF. I was
telling myself “this time it’s to create a new life and not a battle”. I
mustered up all my strength to take a needle, pinch my stomach and with a fast,
but decisive moment shoot it all in there. <br />
<br />
Every time I hear a celebrity passing, because of recreational needles I feel resentful,
angry. I’ve seen too many needles! I’ve seen and known people living their life
to the fullest, maybe not celebrities, but amazing people who would have done
anything for the opportunity others had. Their needles contained drugs of no
choice or recreation; it was to live longer. Their “high” was defined very much
by being with family and friends at times, when they could still comprehend. <br /><br /> I am so angry! How do you, addicts dare??? </div>
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I have an addiction experience! <br />No needles, bottles instead!
<br />Many bottles. <br />Violence, doors that were bang shut, promises not kept, knives
that flew overhead. <br />Fearful days and nights from not knowing the state, in
which he would enter through the front door. Sometimes he would just collapse,
as he entered and fell asleep – this was the better. Other times, we would have
to pack and run for our lives and ask for shelter from family, friends … until
nobody would take us in for their own fear. We would then take a train and book
into a hotel that was the cost of mom’s two weeks salary … </div>
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Behind every addict there is a family that suffers! </div>
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Numerous attempts made - doctors, medications that supposed
to help, rehab that gives new hope every time, but more often than not fails; tears
shed, discussions and family meetings had. Sometimes threats, fights and mostly the feeling
of helplessness …<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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An article that I recently read talks about people that faze
out the addicts, that addicts don’t get help … (The phasing out part you know,
that also happens to cancer patients.) <br />
<br />
Behind every addict is a family, friends that tried … that are hurt, that
mostly have done everything …<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are kids that have been sheltered from the truth, but are smart
and know all too well … </div>
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I was that child, the cancer patient and I resent – the drugs,
the addicts, the chance at life they had, but threw away! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-30138260192775135772014-01-29T21:53:00.002-08:002014-02-04T20:45:45.271-08:00Humble lessons in paradise <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">London and Lola (a.k.a. LoLo) are travelers. Traveling is our religion and so they
come with us wherever we go. During their 4.5 years they’ve flown 4 times to
Europe, visited 4 Caribbean islands and managed to get a frequent flier card.
My husband, Geoffrey travels for work and carefully manages his reward points,
so that we can stay comfortably in most places of the world for free. (A perk
that is nice to have, but hardly a substitution for family dinners missed or
good night cuddles). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This year, we picked the Virgin Islands as our winter
gateway. We’ve stayed on St. John before and re-tell our Cinnamon Bay adventure 12 years ago, again and again. You know, when … we could not figure out how to build our
brand new tent and it got dark, when we were told there were wild donkeys
roaming the campgrounds and one may just wander into our brand new tent, when
we realized what it meant to have “too much privacy” getting a bare site in the
middle of the dense forest, the time when all horror movies came alive every
and each night … and the rest of course … the stunning beaches, the 50 shades
of turquoise of the water, the amazing wild life, the hikes, cactus, live
reggae and the horseback ride that almost killed Geoffrey (because I did not
completely believe that he is so allergic to animals).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This time around, before we booked our bungalow at Cinnamon
Bay, we thought of all the advantages and disadvantages of spending 4 nights at
a campground. Though we’ve been planning to, we have not yet camped out with
LoLo. Our vacations were spent in the comfort of hotel rooms with crispy, white
bed sheets or family homes that provided as much comfort as our own apartment
in Brooklyn. We would stay in a bungalow with simple beds, a closet (I was hoping
for) and no bathroom facilities. The lack of bathroom seemed to be the biggest of
our concerns, so I ordered a portable potty with 5 stars review from amazon and
decided that the 25 USD spent was part of our private insurance policy (“just in
case we need it”). We were wondering how LoLo would react to this new, unusual environment.
At the end of the day, they are children of privilege – just as all their peers
at home. They have the entire world in their city, get exposed to a variety of
experiences one would only find in New York, they travel, they suffer no
shortage of any kind (if time spent with dad doesn’t count). We were excited to
show them something different. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Weeks before the trip, we talked about the beautiful
beaches, the palm trees, the islands and what we would do without mentioning
even a word about our “hotel”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
because we didn’t want to, but because it was not important (I thought). After
a short flight, a taxi ride and a boat ride we loaded our belongings into a blue rental jeep and were driving the winding roads of St. John. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Tree Lizards restaurant stood without change, just as 12
years ago. A lady with a wide smile checked us in, we loaded our wheel barrow
and were on our way to bungalow 8D. Everyone we passed by greeted us with a big
smile and a “hello”. We felt welcomed. A single key on a ring and a green
plastic triangle opened the lock on the door, LoLo ran ahead and did the hotel
initiation ceremony of jumping on the beds, while we figured out the room set
up. 4 beds on visibly rusty, old spring boxes, one table, four plastic chairs, no
closet, but few weathered shelves with basic kitchen utensils and a few plates,
a mini fridge and two fans at the corner of the room. Two sides of the bungalow
were walls, the other two were mesh screens with curtain panels. The porch had
a picnic table and a small gas cooker. As soon as I put down our luggage I went
to check the mattresses for bed bugs, but before I could Geoffrey frowned at
me: “Elvi, don’t!” … </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">… I did not … </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1DrFwHR_v3w/UunnTjrrCtI/AAAAAAAAB2M/W4hMDYuiUtU/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1DrFwHR_v3w/UunnTjrrCtI/AAAAAAAAB2M/W4hMDYuiUtU/s1600/1.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Can we please, go swimming” sounded the unanimous plea of
both, London and Lola from below the tall palm trees full of coconuts. We ran
to the beach visible from our bungalow. LoLo jumped the waves, screamed from happiness,
threw their shoes to shore and ran back and forth chasing the blue water. I
wish I had my camera ready … “This is why we came here”, I thought ... the pure
joy of them being by the ocean and of us, parents witnessing all of it was
worth a trip … LoLo wanted to shed their clothes on an instinct and run ... I
often wonder why happiness in kids shines through by running … When kids run,
they are happy … always! </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmC9j6xhv5Q/Uunng6Iz2WI/AAAAAAAAB2U/_9L8L3Pg34g/s1600/cinnamon2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lmC9j6xhv5Q/Uunng6Iz2WI/AAAAAAAAB2U/_9L8L3Pg34g/s1600/cinnamon2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We went back to the bungalow, changed into our bathing suits
and enjoyed the rest of the day by the beautiful water, sand and palm trees.
Finally, we discovered the bathroom facilities – basic, clean, with cold water
showers! “I work too hard for this” I remembered Geoffrey’s words when we
camped here for the first time. “Ok, this will definitely be an adventure” I mumbled to myself and turned to the kids with smile “Yay for cold showers!” London and
Lola felt the water and giggled to my surprise (why are they not whining? I
want to!). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There were three adorable kids checking us out all this time
– an 8 years old girl, Anna, her 7 years old brother Harry and the 5 years old Holly
all came to introduce themselves and offer their water and beach toys to share.
I would see them the following days playing by the water, collecting twigs and
leaves and going proudly with their 5 dollar bills to and from the camp store
to purchase ice cream of their choice, like big kids. Melanie, their mom is a
single mother and brought them on vacation. I thought about me taking London
and Lola to school and how long that took and had immediate admiration of Melanie,
who packed up three kids and herself in one!!!! suitcase. When I asked them if
I could take a photo, Anna said she would ask her mom if it was ok; when Lola
fell on the rocks, because she followed Anna, she came to apologize, though it
was not her fault. These kids were the best behaved, most responsible,
independent kids I’ve met. Melanie told me, that she believes in giving
experiences to her kids and not material things, I agreed and liked her immediately.
We matched in our philosophies, but I still need to learn! 1 suitcase! .. I
kept thinking … </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At night, when all four of us crawled into two single
beds pushed together, I realized that it wasn’t only the four of us that shared
the bungalow, but also a variety of four and multi-legged creatures that
crawled under and above the bed. This time, a cockroach walked lazily across
the room while I was tucking myself into the single white sheet, getting ready
for story time. I wanted to scream and run. I glanced over to Geoffrey, who was
comfortably hugging the two munchkins and I decided to keep this news top secret
to myself fearing, that he will pack us all up and we’ll head to the nearest
resort the next day. That night, as all the following nights<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of our stay, we fell asleep with
the sun setting, waves crushing, the sound of our fans spinning the warm Caribbean
air, night birds and frogs chirping and stories from Geoffrey’s and my
childhood. And every night it seemed magical. Did I say there was no cell phone
or internet service? It brought us, as a family closer than ever before. To my
surprise, still nobody complained. After a while I realized, that Geoffrey was fully aware of the creatures that shared our living
space – what’s more, one apparently even crossed his face one morning, but
somehow it wasn’t a big deal. I wasn’t even sure if LoLo noticed the change in
their living conditions – they were just happy and content (cold showers, bed
mites nicknamed ants, saltines for breakfast, toilet away .. etc.) The only
thing London said on the first night was: “Mommy, this is not like home!” (The
understatement of the year, we giggled.).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Melanie, the single mom with three kids and one suitcase,
who as we’ve learnt is an attorney in “real” life recommended, that we visit
another beach that’s part of a resort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This beach is also part of the national park, so anyone can have access.
We drove through the manicured lawn, walking across the hotel property to yet
another stunning beach. We spent the day enjoying the water once again. Only
one thing stood out – the guests at the resort didn’t smile and didn’t greet
each other, just like every single person at the campground. They walked past
each – other as strangers, who happen to be at the same place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Thinking of
Melanie, who could most certainly afford taking her kids to
any hotel, seeing the strangers at the resort, going through our amazing experiences as a family and yes, that 1 suitcase, the well-known lines of Tolkien’s poem kept coming back to
my mind again and again<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-78173370059662918772014-01-19T22:38:00.000-08:002014-02-04T20:46:02.708-08:00Easy crocheted slippers Hiiii Everyone! Hope you are all having a wonderful year so far! We had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Years Eve and I was ready and full of energy for January, but then everything got spoiled by the polar vortex. It got so cold that uncollected dog poop froze on the sidewalk and you could play street soccer with it, if you wanted to. So, we layered up and wore ski gear as regular clothing and swished through the streets of Brooklyn in strange fashion.<br />
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If you know anything about us, Eastern Europeans - you know how much we love slippers (especially in the winter)! We live in them, give them to visitors and buy them as Christmas gifts on a yearly basis. Despite my concerted efforts to instill the slipper love into LoLo - they do not like them! I've bought countless pairs and there is always a problem with each and every one. One is too stiff, another one is not comfortable, another one is too girlie or boyish. On top of it, the comfortable once (I like - not LoLo) are expensive! At the end, I decided to crochet them a pair. <b>If you know as little as making a chain and a single crochet you can make these slippers in an hour! </b>This is how cute yours can turn out: <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-unn61WZheoQ/UtrGYVpRmDI/AAAAAAAAB1U/jwPZ9JK10H8/s1600/SlippersLolovie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-unn61WZheoQ/UtrGYVpRmDI/AAAAAAAAB1U/jwPZ9JK10H8/s1600/SlippersLolovie.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>What you'll need: </b><br />
Thick yarn<br />
Large crochet needle<br />
Thin yarn (the same color as the thick one for sewing)<br />
Sewing needle<br />
Anything else you may want to decorate the slippers with<br />
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First, make as many chains as long as the length of the foot + add about two chains so that the slippers are comfortable. Start a row of single crochet. When you've finished, make a chain and turn your work. Start another row of single crochet leaving out the first chain and inserting your hook to the second chain. Carry on crocheting until you've made a square. To know if've reached a square shape, simply fold your work half into a triangle - photo below. Once it's a regular square, take your needle and thin thread and gather one side of the slipper. Pull tight and carry on sewing to form the top of the slipper. Sew as far as you want the opening of the slipper. Try it on to guess accurately. When the toe part is done, take the other side of the folded-in-half slipper and sew at the heel.<br />
That's it!!! It's this simple!<br />
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You may add many cute features to the slippers! <b><a href="http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-crochet-heart.html">Add a crocheted heart for Valentine's Day</a></b>, a pom-pom, a ribbon bow, a felt face or simply crochet ears and embroider a cute face. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pNmL35UBFDs/UtrIhhDAe6I/AAAAAAAAB1g/SzxSpOrQ0VU/s1600/SLipperLolovie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pNmL35UBFDs/UtrIhhDAe6I/AAAAAAAAB1g/SzxSpOrQ0VU/s1600/SLipperLolovie.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lr5j8Oo0QUc/UtrLSirehVI/AAAAAAAAB1s/UPHEgqwAacg/s1600/loloslipper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lr5j8Oo0QUc/UtrLSirehVI/AAAAAAAAB1s/UPHEgqwAacg/s1600/loloslipper.jpg" height="640" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-55Qp0Kc0jpk/UtzEAZUrd3I/AAAAAAAAB18/ffbedL8h7Yk/s1600/LOLOpapucs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-55Qp0Kc0jpk/UtzEAZUrd3I/AAAAAAAAB18/ffbedL8h7Yk/s1600/LOLOpapucs.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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Stay warm LoLovies!</div>
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xox Elvi</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-25166075186744142202013-12-08T22:04:00.000-08:002013-12-08T22:04:15.684-08:00Once Upon a Christmas Tree (puppet show) at Two Moon Cafe, Park Slope, Brooklyn <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MyLx107b2Bk/UqVdNLPlDHI/AAAAAAAAB08/hBkfGQ0Tt44/s1600/XmasTRee2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MyLx107b2Bk/UqVdNLPlDHI/AAAAAAAAB08/hBkfGQ0Tt44/s1600/XmasTRee2.jpg" height="640" width="460" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-55356548730027941892013-11-26T19:03:00.000-08:002013-11-26T19:08:40.548-08:00Happy Thanksgiving! <div style="text-align: center;">I am thankful for so many things - a wonderful family, friends and health most importantly, but also that I am able to do all these crafts, this blog (albeit not so frequently) and for those of you who are sticking it out here with me and spend time reading.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thank You!</div><div style="text-align: center;"> LV xxx </div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ypA5C9dst7w/UpViNk9q2gI/AAAAAAAAB0s/y4aabYEzDb0/I/photo_325201.jpg" border="0" class="bloggoimg"></div><br><br> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-34858323716855117162013-11-12T19:25:00.002-08:002014-02-04T20:46:15.463-08:00Haloloween 2013Oops we did it again! Yupp, it was all mummies and witches and ghosts at HaLoLoween this year.<br />
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Thank you ever so much to the wonderful superwoman: Barbara Rock, who did a fantastic job, as always with her camera. Barbara, you are hired for ever and ever :))) And to everyone who came. We had so much fun and made this Halloween so memorable .. just take a look ...<br />
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<b>ACTIVITIES</b>Pumpkin Hockey</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QhivM95dNMo/UoLubY80VgI/AAAAAAAABzw/41k30Fr9jF4/s1600/Pumpkin+hockey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QhivM95dNMo/UoLubY80VgI/AAAAAAAABzw/41k30Fr9jF4/s640/Pumpkin+hockey.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Toilet Paper Mummies</div>
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Kitty cat, kitty cat where is your mommy? </div>
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Here we are ... (well those that we could get to stay for a second :)</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nK6mrMijpHE/UoLvM02glHI/AAAAAAAAB0E/KZEy_e8qPwQ/s1600/Group.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="434" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nK6mrMijpHE/UoLvM02glHI/AAAAAAAAB0E/KZEy_e8qPwQ/s640/Group.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>And finally us on Halloween day ... Flying skeletons and Rock Star Barbies </b></div>
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And a photo by a Park Slope photographer Roberto Falck ... </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-96pky8dZHr8/UoLwgCabZNI/AAAAAAAAB0c/FAZgaV5mpoU/s1600/LoLoFalck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-96pky8dZHr8/UoLwgCabZNI/AAAAAAAAB0c/FAZgaV5mpoU/s640/LoLoFalck.jpg" width="414" /></a></div>
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I will be back soon with some craft, I promise!</div>
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Lo(lo)V(i)E, Elvi</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-45531706193472177852013-10-17T20:26:00.000-07:002014-02-04T20:46:23.923-08:00Miriam and Pam's wedding picnic <span style="font-family: inherit;">When my friend Miriam told me she was getting married to her long time girlfriend, Pam I was thrilled. My first thought was "I am so happy for you" immediately followed by thought number 2. "I hope I can decorate your wedding". And so I did :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Miriam and Pam didn't want anything fancy - they wanted to get together with their family and closest friends. Weddings are always meaningful, and I wanted to make their decoration also. I wanted to M&P's personalities and connection. Miriam is a writer (a very good one) and Pam loves bicycles (they love many, many other things also, but these two stood out, and so I built the design of the event on books and bikes. Here are the photos:</span><br />
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I always had a thing for giant flowers, but I was always worried how would they hold up. Building a steam can be an issue, when you live in a small space in Brooklyn. So, I stole hubby's umbrella, inverted it and it served as the perfect base for the flower! No fuss, no heavy wire, no cement ... </div>
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The centerpiece had about 40 flowers. Some were from tissue paper, others from book pages and napkins. I used balloon weights to keep the arrangement from flying away. </div>
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Giant flower a la LoLoVie .. What do you think? </div>
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CONGRATULATIONS MIRIAM and PAM!<br /></div>
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xox<br />Elvi</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-34487616975588274282013-10-07T19:29:00.001-07:002013-10-07T22:08:05.992-07:00A trip to Vermont We went to see friends to Vermont this weekend. I've been to VT before, but never in the middle of the foliage. It is sooo sooo sooo beautiful! No, it is gorgeous! Here are some photos I took ...<br />
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And I had to do a quick family shoot of course .. :) </div>
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And no photo, but guess what Elvi brought home from Vermont (besides some delicious maple syrup)?</div>
I know you won't guess it unless you have been following <br />
my Facebook page and seen this photo below ...<br />
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Yupp, we brought home a big bag of leaves (I know, I know .. I am crazy :), but I could not resist the colors, or the fact that they of the most amazing colors one has seen! </div>
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(Though these from Prospect Park on the photo are no too bad either)</div>
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Happy Fall LoLovies! xox LV </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-34908949732416909942013-10-01T15:21:00.000-07:002013-10-01T17:54:22.583-07:00Leaf rose My first of the season ... Hope you are all having such a beautiful day as we had ..<br />
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xxx lv</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-57480133946143971842013-09-30T20:32:00.001-07:002013-09-30T21:29:59.265-07:00The Giant Pumpkin presented by the Isty Bitsy Theater <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My friend Annie and myself are producing this fun morning.</div>
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It's going to be very cute, so if you live in Brooklyn or NYC, we would love to have you!</div>
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Please, share with your friends.</div>
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xoxo LV </div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-19999814573782915822013-09-26T20:54:00.000-07:002013-09-26T20:57:15.502-07:00The donut I've heard it many times before ... "You have to do what you say you will, otherwise your kids won't take you seriously and won't ever listen!". Today was THE day! London wasn't listening and I said "no dessert". This on its own would not be such a huge punishment, if there wasn't for Lola, who loves dessert and is London's twin sister, plus she loves to rub in the fact that she WILL get dessert.<br />
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So, we are on our way home when we stop at a local food store. I browse through the counter when my eyes reluctantly stop on the display of baked donuts. I don't buy donuts, rarely do I eat them, but this little round fat blob with a thick chocolate cover was calling my name clear and loud. I wrestled it into a bag and we took it home.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7kkllF3mFV4/UkUCCOZ2JwI/AAAAAAAABuA/WmuMMSENPhM/s1600/DDBlend_Donut_Lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7kkllF3mFV4/UkUCCOZ2JwI/AAAAAAAABuA/WmuMMSENPhM/s320/DDBlend_Donut_Lo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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London: "Mommy, is this for dessert?"<br />
Me: "Yes!"<br />
Lola: "But London you are not getting any! Mommy, you will share it with me, right?"<br />
Me: "Right" ... I nodded with huge guilt engulfing my heart ...<br />
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Dinner was served. London sat down behind the table and without a single word it was all gone. <br />
It was delicious! (A natural born charmer, who can certainly pull out a few tricks from his sleeve, what can I say?)<br />
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London: "Mommy, I am done!"<br />
Me: "Good job, London!"<br />
London: " Is there dessert?"<br />
Me: "Yes, the donut"<br />
London: "Can I have some?"<br />
Me: (painfully while reciting the "stick to your guns" mantra) No, you get no dessert today!<br />
Lola: "Do I get some?" (rub, rub)<br />
Me: "Yes, you will!"<br />
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London cries as I am cutting the donut in quarters. He sobs, while I hand over the little piece covered in chocolate to Lola. It's not the hysterical, upset cry. It's the kind that breaks your heart ... like he had lost his favorite toy or when some kid tells him he can not run fast enough. It's the cry that makes me want to hike up to the sky and get him a bright shining star ... "Mommy it looks so delicious" ... he can barely pronounce while crocodile tears stream down his face ...<br />
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I am heartbroken.<br />
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"stick to your guns"<br />
"stick to your guns"<br />
"stick to your guns"<br />
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I want to cry with him .. or ... give him a donut! Not a little piece, a HUGE one ... with chocolate and sprinkles; not one, two! Or three .. or a dozen ... baked or deep fried, who cares?<br />
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Then something happens that catches me completely by surprise!<br />
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Lola turns to him and hands over her donut while licking her little fingers ...<br />
"Here it is London, don't cry!" <br />
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I am overtaken by emotions .. (What can a donut do to you, huh?) I bet no parenting book counts with this outcome. <br />
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London's eyes are shining big and brown with tear drops drying up at corners, his little face beaming, the single dimple stretched to bigger than I've ever seen.<br />
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Thank you Lola!<br />
I am relieved. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-75868320331353875442013-09-26T19:48:00.002-07:002013-09-26T20:20:10.216-07:00LoLo's Lemonade Stand 2013 We did it again! Yes, the "almost" famous LoLo's Lemonade stand. It is almost famous, because whoever takes a look at my blog and talks to me afterwards, they will surely mention THE lemonade stand <a href="http://lolovie.blogspot.com/2012/08/lemonade-stand-lemonade-story.html">(CHECK OUT LAST YEAR HERE)</a>, despite the fact that by now I've made/designed/crafted quite a few items besides lemonade. I feel that the lemonade stand somehow "talks" to people. I must admit, it is our most favorite family activity as a team. Basically, we are excited for two big events every year - Christmas and LoLo's Lemonade Stand. London loves tending the lemonade jug and Lola loves thinking up themes and how we could make it even more fun.<br />
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Last year we did the "standard" lemonade stand .. with lemonade, cookies and lemon bars. This year I bought LoLo the Pinkalicious Lemonade Stand book and so was our theme born. We decided to do a PinkDelicious Lemonade Stand.<br />
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Then we set off for the park ...</div>
... little wagon filled with decorations, lemonade and lemon/strawberry cupcakes ...<br />
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I always think of things "lemon" to add to our store and so this year I made pink and white playdough, wrapped it all in cling film and filled the empty lemon shells with it ... I really adored them, but nobody else did :) or wanted to buy them at the end of the day,</div>
so we gave it all away to kids walking past us ...<br />
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And we are on our way ... </div>
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Marketing ... </div>
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We've finally set up and waiting for customers ... </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From my Facebook wall on the day of the stand ...</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"<span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">As we were setting up at the park today a man came to us asking all sorts of questions (why we are doing this, how often, if the kids helped etc. ) .. he was talking so fast and emotionless, we thought he was there to throw us out from our spot, as there was another event happening just steps away. I was already preparing my inner tiger for the confrontation, when his face turned into a smile and he stuffed a 20 USD bill into my pocket with words "this is so wonderful what you are doing" ... We wanted to give him our entire stand with banners and pom-poms and LoLo (just kidding) and all, but he left and said he'd be back for a cupcake ... he was ... And you know it's not about the twenty ..."</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is where it all began ...</span><br />
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Selling it! ... </div>
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A few details ... </div>
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... US ... </div>
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We had an AMAZING time! Thank you to all our supporters, customers and fan club :) </div>
We will be back next year bigger and better and with a brand new lemonade theme ... <br />
Now we are off drinking apple sider and hot chocolate :)<br />
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Don't forget to make lemonade any season if life gives you lemons ... </div>
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Lo(lo)ts of lo(lo)ve, LV and the gang</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-6617430993648203742013-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:002013-09-26T11:09:26.250-07:00Lollipop puppets <div style="text-align: center;">
Our favorite Hungarian kids series is "Bogyo es Baboca" by Erika Bartos, who was an architect by trade, but after the birth of her children she started writing and drawing kids books. Today LoLo and mommy made two BB puppets. Baboca, the main character and Baltazar, the bee. I am also making a box theater, so stay tuned but in the meantime here are our puppets from today ... </div>
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and the finished product .. </div>
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See you later lolovies! xxx lv</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-35397243038894473242013-09-25T20:39:00.001-07:002013-09-25T20:39:58.452-07:00Summer 2013 .. A look back Hiii! We are back to Brooklyn and school since Monday, so I will have more time blogging and creating (hopefully). Wow! What a crazy, busy, amazing summer this was! A quick stop in Dublin followed by beautiful Barcelona for an entire month, then Slovakia and surroundings for another month (including a trip to Budapest and the Sziget festival).<br />
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LoLo learnt so much! A little bit of Spanish, a lot about Spanish/Catalan food, the city and Gaudi. I bought a children's book about Gaudi and his art and by now we talk about him with an affection of a deceased uncle. London fell in love with soccer, especially Messi, whose soccer jersey must be the second most worn clothing item in the world (that is after the "I love NYC" one). He has never even seen him playing the field, but Barcelona buzzez with excitement about soccer and anything that has anything to do with Barca, the soccer club. We went to the beach, collected shells and painted rocks and ate an ungodly amount of "Calipilo" (which is a lemon or lime ice pop of sorts not-in-lolo language also called Calippo). We used every transportation possible throughout the summer. It all started with airplanes, then trams, double decker busses, trains, 3 different cable cars, boats for tourists and a boat for not-so fainthearted. We went to Sitges and Montserrat. Our exchange family introduced us to their friends and we were spoiled by their Spanish hospitality 8 floor below us. <br />
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"Calipilo" in Barcelona </div>
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Montserrat </div>
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By the time we got to Slovakia we had already 4 thousand photos on the camera. Our time there was also eventful and amazing. We loved hanging out with my family and at the open air pools and at home, in the gardens full of fresh fruit - plums, peaches, blackberries. LoLo attended a short swimming course, which started off with crying and leg clutching and ended with big splashes, giggles and a "see you next summer". We were pool hopping the entire time, it was that hot every single day! I finally learnt how to make a strudle (something I've been wanting to do for a very long time).<br />
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LoLo got to practice their Hungarian and spend time with kids of my friends and meet others on the playground. It was a wonderful feeling and a huge accomplishment for me to see LoLo communicate in Hungarian without a problem and making friends (and become the playground's instant celebrities upon revealing that they were fluent in English). It can be annoying and tiring (to say the least) at times to speak two languages, often feeling like a parrot and facing resistance without any feedback on progress, but seeing how the language really sticks and it is "there" even if unused, I am now more than motivated! I started teaching LoLo Slovak a week ago and they are already responding. My little polyglo(lo)ts ... and they don't even know it ...<br />
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The outdoor dinner picnic was another summer highlight for me and LoLo. Food brings people together .. just add a few crates made into tables, rag rugs, wild flowers, pretty napkins, lemonade (of course), candles and good company and a dinner becomes an event, a feast, a memory. (Oh yes and add all those gawkers who could not understand what was happening on the grass of our apartment complex or why would anyone want to picnic in the dark right below mom's apartment balcony). <br />
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Sometimes I forget how beautiful the part of the world really is where I am from. I tend to think of natural beauty in terms of the ocean and mountains most of the times and forget the Danube and its bird life, the wheat and sunflower fields and the plains, where you can see as long as your eyes can. Lacko, my cousin's boyfriend took us on nature adventures. LoLo saw how wheat is harvested with a combine, how it is then poured onto a tractor. We picked wild flowers, saw a hunting lodge and walked into the forest to see where the deer feeders are. We took a small motor boat down the Danube passing swans and ducks .. it was a little bit like my Amazon adventure I took many years ago in Venezuela.<br />
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I saw friends I haven't seen in years and my nanny baby Annabel, whom I looked after in London unbelievable 17 years ago. <br />
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It's true that real friends are real friends regardless of how much time passes without seeing each other. All these reunions were exactly like those days, evenings and nights that we talked till wee hours and never ran out of a subject. (sounds like a lot of noise, London would probably say :) Once you have a connection with somebody it doesn't disappear .. it's still there no matter what. <br />
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So, now we are back to where we left off - our beloved Brooklyn, school, pulley bag.<br />
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Back with more NYC stories soon! lo(lo)v(i)e, LVUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-51952436404372704552013-07-10T16:00:00.002-07:002013-07-10T16:00:54.363-07:00The blue tongues of La Rambla ... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-53000487443809377422013-07-09T15:14:00.000-07:002013-07-10T15:59:24.530-07:00Barcelona Day 5 (but it's really 6,7, .. and 11 by now) <div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>It's hard to keep up this blogging thing especially when you are having fun every single day and all you want is to come home, stick the kids to bed and read your book (I've read about 10 pages so far ..) ... </i></div>
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Here is the account of what have we been up to as LoLo would be describing the experience ...</div>
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We've been getting up late every morning because mom and dad can't really get us to bed at our usual 8pm bedtime. So, we wake up late, we eat late and by the time we get somewhere it's time for lunch. We went to La Boqueria market ... Lola wanted to wear her flower girl dress very much and mom has already given up explaining that there are no more family weddings that we can attend, so she paraded through La Rambla street as if she was performing. (In case you are surprised why she is wearing her fancy dress on these photos).</div>
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We were excited to see the street performers like we were told we would, but there wasn's a single one out there. What there was though, is ice cream! Every corner had an ice cream shop with as many flavors as you can get at Uncle Lou's in Park Slope (but maybe they had even more).</div>
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I asked for the blue and London wanted the same right away. Mom just rolled her eyes and looked at dad who then said very quietly "Well, it's their vacation too! Let them have it!" ... Then mom rolled her eyes again and asked for two scoops of "helado azul" with cones and cups - just the way we like it ... We could tell mom was terrified of all that blue food coloring and flavoring ending up on our clothes (and stomachs), so she kept a close watch over us.</div>
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La Rambla was full of people and souvenir shops of all kind. We passed by the National Theater and went to La Boqueria, which is a big, no, a HUGE market in Barcelona.</div>
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As soon as Lola sew food, she said she was hungry (I knew she would say that when I sew the candy display ...). I like candy also, but I just ask for it like this .. "Mom, can I have candy?!" but Lola does it in a more confusing way, so sometimes we end up looking for "real" food, then we find it, buy it and then she says that's not what she had on mind, but rather some sort of sweet treat.</div>
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We were picking out candy for so long .. London can never make up his mind ...</div>
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The fruit stalls looked colorful and delicious. </div>
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Mom bought strawberries and dad bought mango and mango turned out to be a better choice, because it was sweet as honey and we love honey!</div>
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We liked so many stalls - the candy, the chocolates, the fruit, the spices and even the fish and seafood counter, but the meat counter was a little scary! There were things with eyes looking at us and things that even mom and dad would not eat - like stripe (I mean tripe)! Although, dad ate tripe soup once, because it's mom's cousin's husband's - Tibi's favorite dish and dad was scared to refuse. Seeing tripe up close behind the window made his dislike grow stronger ... </div>
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We agreed that it looked "yucky musch" and a little bit like beehive carpet.</div>
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We also sew a heart and tongue and can not believe how big they both were. </div>
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Cows must be super loving animals to have such a huge heart and must be able to eat all their food super fast with such a long tongue!</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">We were also curious about the spices display. Mom took a photo of a strangely neon colored pile of yellow not knowing what it is. </span><span style="text-align: center;">All the rest of the names of the spices sounded somewhat familiar and romantic - like out of a famous cookbook, but this one was strange ... "colorant alimentari" said the label. Only a few days later, when she ordered paella in a restaurant and it tasted terrible (but was beautifully yellow) did she realize that this "spice" is in fact food colorant used in cheap paella across Barcelona. She is still upset about this .. what a spoiler to find out that yellow rice is yellow many times not because of the fragrant saffron, but because of some manmade color?!!)</span></div>
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At the exit we bought some "jamon" and bread on a stick and mom got an idea of doing the same for our next year's birthday, which is still far away, but it's good to have inspirations (she says).</div>
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Our next stop was a book store, where we bought Barcelona guide books for kids. One is in English and the other one in Spanish and it's all drawn like a cartoon. Mom and dad said they would buy books like that in every country where we visit, so that we will remember our trips. </div>
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We made a quick stop on Placa Reial and bought these light things that you can shoot up to the air.</div>
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We had a party with them at home after we came back and you can see how we can boogied <a href="http://instagram.com/p/bRzrMDj9N8/">HERE </a>.</div>
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More adventures to come!!</div>
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Hola from Barcelona! The word of the day is "SORTIR" which means exit (we think :) </div>
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LOLO</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-4078595993780481632013-07-01T15:05:00.001-07:002013-07-01T15:08:13.414-07:00Barcelona Day 4 (Adventures in Home Exchange) by LoLo Mom and dad wanted to do something cultural today, but we still insisted in the "toes in sand" and beach so they compromised. They said we would take a cable car ride, have lunch on the top of the hill, come back and play in the sand. They also promised to buy us sand toys, ice cream and pretty much anything we wanted as long as we can last through the day without drama ...<br />
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It all started really well because there was no line at the "teleferico" (as they call it here) ...<br />
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We took the elevator really high and looked around. We saw the beach from above with all the naked people sunbathing and the sail building on the other side, where we ran around yesterday. </div>
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Above us were these huge yellow rings and mom said she thought they were part of the mechanism that makes the cable cars move along ... (Though she has no idea about anything mechanical we think she was correct this time .. I mean there were no hamsters around ... )</div>
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By the way, our exchange family friends told us that going on the teleferico was a very touristy thing to do and most barcelonins have never been or been maybe once in their lifetime as a part of a school trip. Mom said it must be like the Empire State Building for New Yorkers.</div>
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Then the red car arrived, we went inside the little cabin, doors closed and swiiiscchhhh it was like on a giant slide but down the rope. We enjoyed the view so much, we giggled all the way up. </div>
We found out that the journey was 1330 meters long till it reached Monjuic.<br />
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There was a beautiful restaurant at the top of Montjuic with amazing views of the city. You could see the ocean on one side and the city with tall buildings sticking out on the other side. </div>
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Mom looked at the menu and she could not believe her owns eyes! There was a different price for all items depending on where you sat. The ocean view was more expensive ... </div>
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Then Lola threw a huge fit because .. because she was tired and she really wanted to play photographer with mom's I-phone but mom would not let her. Look at Lola's huge smile ... </div>
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The purple trees in the gardens had beautiful flowers ... they did not smell, but we took many photos of them anyway ...<br />
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Then it was finally back to the cable car </div>
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to the beach and sand!!!</div>
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You must all know by now, that mom has this internal need to always do something and create. After a while we got bored filling our buckets with water and spilling them out so mom decided to do some painting with rocks (Barcelona beaches are rocky), which is very funny because the one thing she can not do is paint ... We did rather well though and "painted" a house, a car, a giant flower and a tree ... (that's basically her entire repertoire in stone on sand people!) </div>
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We barely made it home in a taxi. Mom and dad had to carry us into the elevator and we collectively collapsed in front of the TV and Peppa the pig!</div>
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Adios amigos! Adventures await manana! (We forgot a new word! Must find two tomorrow!) </div>
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LO(lo)V(i)E, LV </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-55254200503194688412013-06-30T17:31:00.003-07:002013-06-30T17:31:47.136-07:00Adventures in home exchange (AIHE) Day 3Hola hola Barcelona!<br />
It's our third day and we are almost Barcelonins (people who live here) .. well not yet, but we are very comfortable and feeling right at home. <br />
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Today's wake up time: 10.30 am<br />
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LoLo seemed to inherit Geoffrey's vacation ideology, that feeling truly on vacation you need to have sand in between your toes ... that's exactly what LoLo wanted .. the beach! The benefit of staying a month at one place and staying at a home (among so many) is that we don't feel rushed to do anything. On a "regular" one week - ten days trip I'd have a plan for every single day and would constantly have a FOMO (just learnt this acronym from a travel magazine ... fear of missing out) if I did not fulfill my plan. This time, we do what we want to do. We surely want to see all the famous places but we also just want to do what we want to do and today it happened to be the beach.<br />
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We took a tram to the ZOO stop and walked to what was the <br />Olympic village built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. </div>
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We walked by the giant headless fish, a work of Frank Gehry and headed for the beach. </div>
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We strolled on the beach and collected rocks to be painted. </div>
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The beach was crowded with with topless bronze bodies and people relaxing in their beach chairs. </div>
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We stumbled upon a Japanese festival, where people could try on a kimono, beat a watermelon while blindfolded and drink Japanese bear. (I am not sure about the watermelon beating event ... we will find out next time we exchange homes in Japan, I guess). </div>
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And what about this crooked house on the beach ... </div>
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The teleferico had an hour wait so we rather headed towards the impressive looking W hotel shaped as a sail boat and found these shadows on the W's terrace posing like it was fashion week ... </div>
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Exhausted, tired and hungry we headed to a taxi and the port to take a ferry back to where we started off the day. No photos of the ferry ride! Momma was busy gulping down Coca Cola and concentrating on keeping down that calamari she had for lunch ... </div>
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Then a ball almost fell on our head ...</div>
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.. but it didn't so more adventures in LoLoLand tomorrow ... </div>
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What I learnt today about the differences and similarities between New Yorkers and a Barcelonins:</div>
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1. There is no such thing as a "quick lunch" here even .. once you sit down you SIT DOWN ... </div>
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2. Both are inpatient species when it comes to crossing a street. Green on the crossing light is really just one of the colors of the rainbow ... </div>
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The word of the day is MELOCOTON, which means peach!</div>
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Buenas noches amigos, </div>
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lo(lo)v(i)e, LV </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-945265532948680436.post-39392049723735631142013-06-29T18:15:00.004-07:002013-06-30T01:38:40.095-07:00Adventures in home exchange NYC-Barcelona (Day 1-2)The idea of exchanging apartments always excited me. I love traveling and knew that my beloved (and sometimes hated) b&b's just won't cut it once we have children. Kids are needy (and some adults are also, but that;s for another blog entry). They need breakfast the second they get up, they want to take closet full of toys with them on a vacation and they go through clean clothes like you wouldn't believe. No matter how amazing (or expensive) a hotel may be, these services are not part of their marketing plan. We needed to find another solution for a vacation that would be affordable and would encompass all our needs and so I figured, a home exchange with a family with similar age children would be just what we needed.<br />
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I went on homeexchange.com and within minutes found an apartment/family I liked. I signed up for a year long service, emailed the people .. aaand never heard from them :( Having been rejected, I abandoned the idea and did not return to it until 3 months later. This time I wrote a nice profile, managed to find impressive photos of our apartment and put together a profile describing what an amazing place we have. It felt a little bit like being a real estate broker and an online dater all in one ... I looked through profiles, studied photos, read descriptions of areas I've never heard of and finally found one that I felt connected to. The family emailed back within 20 minutes, we skyped the next day and now it's July and I am sitting behind their desk in Barcelona, while expecting them to arrive any minute to our homey digs in Brooklyn.<br />
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We are staying in Barcelona for the entire month of July and it is promising to be a real adventure for all of us. Our new apartment is in the are called Poblenou, which according to Wikipedia means "new people". The closest big street to us is Avenida Diagonal, which has two bicycle lanes and a wide walking path in the middle with benches and people rollerblading, running and walking (or dancing like LoLo did today). We have a view of the Sagrada Familia, the cucumber building and Tibidabo from the glass walls of our 12th floor home.<br />
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<b>Day 1: </b><br />
Having just arrived, we decided to take a walk to a supermarket, which is also part of a shopping mall. We are located in the middle of the Avenida Diagonal, which also has a mall on both sides.<br />
Around the corner is a little playground, where we stopped and picked up wilted tree flowers and tossed them around ... so little is enough to have so much fun ...<br />
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The food store was just like any giant food store in the US, with a difference that their seafood section takes up an entire isle and it is so fresh, it actually moves around the display table (not kidding).<br />
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We stocked up on all necessary groceries and brought it home in a taxi. The one item we did not buy was toilet paper - having previously assessed the tp situation as "no need, have enough". This situation rapidly changed, as I found three rolls in one of the bathrooms all soaking wet, but carefully placed back to their place of origin. I cross examined the entire family about the event, but there was no admission of the deed by anyone (though Lola has been smirking ever since. I am not sure if it's because of the TP or the chewy candy gone missing from my nightstand). </div>
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We had three dinners. One at 5 pm, another one at 9 pm and yet another one at 1 am. We sat around the table eating Spanish bread and butter with tomatoes and loved it. LoLo thinks it's New Year's Eve all over again because of the late bedtime and the fireworks sew from our window. </div>
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<b>Day 2. </b></div>
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Wake up time: 11 am! We are getting better at this! That's an hour earlier than the previous day! Decided to stay local, as we wanted to come back for an afternoon nap and were worried about meltdowns, crankiness and general unpleasant behavior due to jetlag of all parties involved. Glories is the other shopping mall on the opposite side of Avenida Diagonal and a few blocks away is Barcelona's most famous flea market ... Now, I love flea markets, but Geoffrey is repulsed by the idea of buying something old, used or smelly for that matter. I love the idea of old, used and non-smelly, so we went and did not find much beyond a bunch of men waving their hands at me not to take photos .. ooops I already did ... bad, bad tourist!!! (I can't help my impulses ... ) </div>
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I could spend the entire day here! Watching people haggle, rummaging through photos, books, memories that once may have been somebody's treasures. I would want to interview all the items .. where they came from, who used them, what happened to the owner, why are they on the unwanted pile? Who would they want their next owner to be? How long have they been lying around this dusty market? It's a shame items can't talk ... (that reminds me of LoLo's baby clothes quilt that I should finish when I get back to NYC ... they will tell a story ... ). Anyway, I wasn't impressed by the goods, but still loved the atmosphere, as I always do at any market wether flea or fruit or flower any other ...</div>
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LoLo got Spanish fans that they kept fanning the world with them for the rest of the day .. You know, just so we "blend in" and don't look like tourists ...</div>
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We took a short nap for about three hours and headed out for dinner. What else to do on vacation besides scheduling your day around food? We are on our third round on octopus, second paella, numerous glasses of sangria and wine, bread with tomatoes and for those prosciutto friendly vegetarians (just like myself) there is always JAMON ... </div>
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Walking through the old part of Poblenou we found this amazing balcony full of flowers ... </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QPwayegBgNM/Uc-EVn0FjsI/AAAAAAAABks/4WmekL4RHC8/s1600/IMG_5798.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QPwayegBgNM/Uc-EVn0FjsI/AAAAAAAABks/4WmekL4RHC8/s400/IMG_5798.JPG" width="365" /></a></div>
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... and a wall painted with strips of different color and these people hanging around ... </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eHk1BMwe6LA/Uc-EpBFn5fI/AAAAAAAABk0/cTW-oW9j1EY/s1600/SChumanVidaFamily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="371" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eHk1BMwe6LA/Uc-EpBFn5fI/AAAAAAAABk0/cTW-oW9j1EY/s640/SChumanVidaFamily.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We are learning one Spanish word a day and today's word is <span style="color: purple;"><b><i>CANITA </i></b></span>and means "straw" </div>
(popote in Mexico, pitillo in Colombia and sorbeto en Puerto Rico) ... <br />
no wonder my Spanish is so pobre :)))<br />
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That's all for two days ... we are LOLOving it here!</div>
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Adios, LV</div>
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