Coney Island

I had really been wanting to go to Coney Island for a while now. Especially since the weather turned nice. I have been there once before, but it was several years ago on a day when it was raining and the carnival was closed. I understood then that I wasn't witnessing the real Coney Island, the famous Coney Island.

Today, Anna and I witnessed it first hand. Memorial Day is either the best or the worst day of the year to visit the famous beach boardwalk in Brooklyn, depending on how you look at it. We rode the world famous wooden roller coaster, The Cyclone, because it is open for its last season and will soon be shut down. Now we can say we survived a ride on that wretched, rickety and impossibly uncomfortable piece of ancient history....I sure haven't laughed, screamed, or cried so hard in a long time though. We ate corn on the cob and had a hot dog and lemonade from Nathan's and walked down the pier. It was a little too windy (and crowded) to enjoy laying out on the beach, but we had a great time.

Sunday In The Park

Anna, Stellan and I made a picnic of pasta salad, strawberries and some brie and headed to Prospect Park. We weren't the only ones with such a great idea on this beautiful Sunday before a holiday; I have never seen so many people in my life, as a matter of fact. But we managed to find a spot halfway in the shade, halfway in the sun...just how I like it.A little game of frisbee :)
She just got back from Mexico but I am white as a ghost.Look how many people!!!

20 Things I Love Right Now

I don't think I was tagged on this one. But I am going to share anyways. I've really enjoyed other people's lists because it offers a unique peek into their life in the purest form. The things that make us smile, the things we reward ourselves with and the people that enrich our lives...the things we love are what makes life worth living, after all! In no particular order, here are mine:

1. my ipod- that little music gadget is amazing and really makes my daily commute more bearable. (I'm going to let this one count for music too because it is definitely one of my greatest loves)

2. bagels- I don't know if it's a New York thing, because I know they are popular everywhere, but you can seriously get any bagel, with anything on it, anywhere you go in this city. My new favorite is a multi-grain bagel with lite vegetable cream cheese...yummm

3. independent/foreign films- I have made an almost weekly habit of going to see an independent or foreign film at an indie theater or at the Scandinavian House in Manhattan. I usually go by myself after work so I don't have to worry about what the person next to me thinks about the film. I have opened my eyes to a whole new world of film I never knew existed.

4. the warm chocolate brownie sundae from Chocolate Room- best dessert on the planet. no contest.

5. text messages- every time my phone beeps with a new message I still get excited. It's like getting a letter in the mail or something and some days it's my only form of communication with Klas.

6. naps in the middle of the day- there is nothing like falling asleep with a book in my hand on a Saturday afternoon.

7. the Swedish language- kinda silly maybe, but Swedish brings a lot of joy into my life-hearing it, speaking it, reading it. It is something I am proud of having accomplished, the fact that I understand this crazy language, and is also something that I am humbled by, when I think of how much more I have to learn. I love the experience of adding new words to my vocabulary every day and setting goals for the level I hope to get to.

8. people watching- it's one of my favorite past times...especially in this city.

9. iced lattes- my summer drink of choice for sure.

10. Prospect Park- it's my little piece of heaven right here in Park Slope.

11. undressing after work- I remember my mom telling me when I was young how nice it felt to take off her pantyhose when she got home from work and I never really understood what the big deal was. I get it now. One of my favorite parts of the weekday is the minute I get home, rip off my work clothes and slip into my comfy pants.

12. crossword puzzles- (see previous post)

13. hanging on the roof of my apartment- we have a seriously sweet view of Manhattan from our roof top which we have access to through a cute little trap door with a ladder in our hallway. There have been many fun nights up there and some great days of sunbathing too.

14. talking to my family on the phone- I miss my family more than they know and I always love hearing about what every one is up to. Phone conversations always make me feel closer even though we are so far apart.

15. cute animal videos on youtube- Klas sends me about a hundred videos a week of cute animals that he finds on the net. They make me happy. This little guy is one of my favorites. (watch with sound on)

16. laughter- I am a happy person, but even for me it is a rare occasion that I find myself rolling on the floor laughing until my belly aches. Those moments are priceless.

17. gossip magazines- I've said it before and I'll say it again, "hello, my name is Camille and I am addicted to celebrity gossip." It's kind of horrible and trashy, but it's also kind of cool that everyone comes to me for anything pop culture trivia related. I love love love sitting down with the latest issue of People and Us Weekly.

18. pictures- taking them, posing for them (my roommate is a photographer), looking through the millions I have on my computer...pictures are such a wonderful way to capture life's small moments just as much as the big ones.

19. evening walks around the neighborhood- I got into the habit when Klas was here and now I can't stop. It's calming and fun to explore every nook and cranny of my neighborhood.

20. spending time with Klas- last but certainly not least...time with my love is something I love more than anything and something that is even more precious to me because we have been living apart for the past year. I am happiest when Klas is around. He makes me smile more, laugh more and overall brightens up my life.

They're Just Jealous

This article from today's NY Times about Park Slope, the nighborhood where I live in Brooklyn, cracked me up.

It analyzes the phenomenon of Park Slope haters and why they so strongly profess their dislike of the neighborhood. The article focuses a lot of attention on the fact that Park Slope is full of stroller pushing "latte moms" (a Swedish phrase I stole), which is in fact true, but I never knew it aggravated so many people. I guess that's probably because I am one to ooh and awe at all the cute babies in their expensive strollers and hip clothes. I don't mind them or their parents patroning the same cafes, restaurants or boutiques as I do.

As I have said before, we are happy as clams living in the peaceful yet bubbly Park Slope and have really found our niche there. Even this weekend, I went into Manhattan to do some shopping and ended up back in The Slope, only to find what I was looking for right around the corner from our front steps. I've made a habit of walking to and hanging out in nearby Prospect Park and have only recently enjoyed the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (see Cherry Blossom Festival post). I have my favorite bagel place, coffee shop and of course my favorite little second-hand store all within a two block radius. I love the place, and agree with the explanation one guy quoted in the article has about Park Slope haters..."They're just jealous because they can't live here."

Saltines and Ketchup

I just ate some saltine crackers for my afternoon snack. Something funny has happened to me everytime I have ever eaten a saltine cracker since I was in the sixth grade. It always makes me think of a story we read in school about a young homeless boy in New York City who lives on rations of saltine crackers and ketchup packets he takes from the nearby diner. For some reason, it is one of the only details I can remember about the story. I don't know what it was called, what the boy's name was or even what happens to him after he eats his dinner of saltines and ketchup in his cubby hole somewhere in the subway station. But I do remember the details of how he would only take one bite of the cracker every so often to make it last, and how the crackers with ketchup on them were worth savoring even more.

The human memory is so funny sometimes. How is it we remember such seemingly insignificant details and yet can often forget more important ones? This story-whatever it is called- touched me enough as an eleven-year-old, that I still think of the young boy and still feel grateful that I have always had more food to eat than just crackers and ketchup. I sure wish I could remember more about the story and what it was called. I would love to read it again.

I'm a Crossword Maniac

I have a new hobby and it's doing crossword puzzles. I know...pretty nerdy, right? Ehhh, oh well. I can't help myself OR my nerdy tendencies sometimes.

I have gotten into the routine of picking up the free amNY newspaper every morning from the guy who apparently gets paid by the paper to scream in everyone's ear, "GOOD morning, get your AM News right here!!!!" At first, I started taking one from him in hopes that it might make him shut his trap for a minute, but he never quit. Nowadays I just nab one from him and run because I have become addicted to the best part of the otherwise okay daily news print...the daily crossword puzzle!

In the past, I have been frustrated by crosswords because they always seemed to be either way too difficult or super easy, neither of which made me feel good about my vocabulary and word fitting skills. This paper however, has puzzles with the perfect mixture of easy clues, clues I have to think about or use other letters to help me out, and the clues I need to look up on the Internet. (It's not against the rules, I swear. p.s. I make up the rules). It is the perfect activity for someone like me who sits at a desk all day and needs some kind of distraction from Corporate Law once in a while...ok, more like once a minute. I love the feeling I get when I finish one. It's a great sense of accomplishment. Even more so than finishing a whole day of work. hmmmm. Strange.

Here are some clues from today's paper. They are pretty much impossible to solve without the grid, but still, go ahead and try anyway. You'll feel good if you come up with an answer, I promise.
1 Cutting remark
18 Univalent radical
62 Eye amorously
45 Kettle and Barker
34 Dots and dashes
4 ___ carotene
50 Agronomists' study
53 Old cash in Pisa
61 Chilean mountain range

Buncha Crazy AMinals

Klas and I went to the Prospect Park Zoo yesterday here in Brooklyn. We have this thing with animals...both of us act like kids when we see cute critters. And it's a good thing because we blended in with the million other kids running around. We even blended in with some of the animals :) You never get too old for a day at the zoo, right?Cute California sea lions all the way over here in New York.Turtles sunbathing.The cutest turtle of all.The Baboons were my favorite to watch.Feeding the llamas.
Klas hanging out with the prairie dogs :)

Friday Foto

Is it already Friday again? It's kind of lame to have only one real post between my photos of the week but this week seriously flew by. I didn't even have a second to think about writing. I'll try harder this next week.

For now, here's a beautiful black and white (or is it blue and white?) that caught my eye. I think I especially noticed it because of our recent trip to the cherry blossom festival. By the way...can someone buy me all of these gorgeous prints I am finding so I can hang them up in my apartment?

Untitled by Nick Lisitsin

Robyn and Sakura

I had a fantastic weekend and am hating the fact that my weekends seem to go by waaaay too fast these days. I guess that's what happens when you work full time but your roommate and house guests do not. I feel like I am missing out on all the fun during the week but do a good job of making up for it on the weekends.

If you were a teenage girl in the early 90's then you know who Robyn is. But did you know she's Swedish and that she's making a comeback? Even though I definitely rocked out to "Show Me Love" in 7th grade I never knew back then that she was Swedish and I haven't really followed much of her career since. On Friday night Klas and I went to see her show at the Grand Ballroom in Hell's Kitchen. Of course Klas just happens to know all the musicians in her band so we got on the guest list and got in for free. I didn't really know what to expect from the pop star that I had at one time idolized, but I figured that like me, she had probably grown up and changed quite a bit since 1997. And indeed she has. She has a new album out that she has released under her own label. She's way more pop/techno/synth now than in her early days, which is cool and she put on a pretty awesome live performance. We had a fun time during the show and were able to hang out with Klas' friends in the band afterwards while people awkwardly kept coming up to them and asking for their autographs.

Saturday was a fun day too. It was the annual Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri in Japanese) in Prospect Park. It's a huge festival they have in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. We are lucky to live close enough to Prospect Park to walk there and that's exactly what we did. They had Japanese dancers, Japanese food and music, a temporary tattoo booth where I got a sweet cherry blossom tattoo on my hand, and some interesting people dressed up as manga characters. I think I was bugging the heck out of Klas because I kept singing the song I learned in fifth grade called "Sakura", which means cherry blossom in Japanese. Good times.

Such beautiful flowers on ALL the trees. Klas enjoying some Japanese noodles.
yummmm...sushi.

After the festival we headed up to Williamsburg where a friend of a friend was having a backyard BBQ. There were a few Brooklyn indie bands playing as well as hot dogs with all the fixin's and of course a plethora of Swedish folks...'tis the story of my life :)

Photo of the week

The pictures I put up of myself don't count for my photo of the week that I said I would post every Friday. Here's a jewel I found that I've been staring at since Monday. There's just something about it I love.
Untitled by Erik Lewandowski.

Pictures

I've been thinking lately about how much I enjoy seeing the pictures my family members put up on their blogs. Especially of my adorable nieces who are growing up so fast. Sadly, I realize that it is especially important to me because I don't get to see them enough in real life.

So, I don't have any cute kids to put pictures up of...but I do have a cute boyfriend :) Here are some of me and Klas from the past two weeks.