bradley in london (trafalgar square)

fyi: Brad has a blog he's keeping about his time in Russia fromtheothershore.blogspot.com for anyone interested.

Basia Bulat

While in Amsterdam, on our Sunday day bike ride a bit outside of the city centre, Irene and I stumbled upon a chill little music shop with a huge selection, and I got excited listening to stuff (Haven't invested in much new music lately and miss discovering new stuff)...Anyway, I ended up buying "Oh, My Darling" by Basia Bulat-She's a Canadian songstress-kinda folk-rock-pop-ish, but I really like her voice and though the music can be very sing-songy, it has depth as well. She has a website I think and a myspace page, of course. Good stuff. "Taste it and tell me it's sav-or-y"...

yay amsterdam!

My buddy Irene and I took a quick weekend jaunt to Amsterdam the weekend after my birthday in June. Despite some nasty cold I came down with the day of the trip and massively annoying flight delays, we managed to have a wonderful (and way too brief!) time. Seriously I wish we had a photo to capture the amount of freakin bikes in this city! They rule the road.-I actually saw a bike push a car over in the lane. Cars regularly make way for cycles. Wow. A city full of bikes and boats and water and canals...very cool. And drunk, wasted travelers and men drooling over half-naked 18 year olds in windows...not as cool. All in all: a very eclectic city with character. I approve.

me and hyde park

Classic, I know. This was taken right before Cath and I were approached by a park ranger (well sort of) guy and asked to pay to sit in the lawn chairs in hyde park, which we refused. And, though the guy was very nice and courteous, he was also well-boundaried about his job and duties and insisted we pay or move. Thus, we moved...Ahh, England on a sunny day. One can only dream. sigh.

some photos from my b-day 6.6.07

(it was millions of miles of fun thanks to all my peeps who showed up to the bricklayers arms on my birthday-which was inconveniently on a wednesday...I felt really flattered and loved and royally appreciated. and even got a massive chocolate cake with candles and singing! big smile thinking about it. I miss all of you who were across an ocean this birthday though you were in my thoughts :)


me and jay

jiske and maria the great one

josh and ollie

mescarywithcupcake

prilla, sonia, and D

susie et moi

*photos courtesy of Catherine

thought of the day: "in an emergency..."

So I was on the Underground,
mind drifting, time idling.
it was my commute home.
the thing that is as much a part of my psyche now as is my name or my hair color
A part of me, my mind's landscape
Everyday
my commute.
it's funny, it's like upon leaving work everyday, it's the same:
I mentally prepare for it. I get hyped up, toned down, I zone out
All at once
My commute.
there are endless ways to spend a commute.
Among them are reading, writing, eating, listening to music, zoning out, sleeping, studying people, obsessing over my performance at work or personal life issues, my last relationship (let's go over ONE MORE TIME why didn't it work again?...), the meaning of life,
OR
reading the adverts
and also small writing on the train itself
things like
MIND THE DOORS
MIND THE DOORS
MIND THE DOORS
Ok, I've read that three times
moving on.
But this one day
last week
I noticed and really thought about
thought hard about
(cause I have plenty of time to do this on my commute)
the following words:
"In an emergency...blah blah blah...
Do NOT take ANY risks"
And I thought about it
And I know maybe it's silly,
but I thought to myself
Well, the thought came into my head:
"BUT
What if it's taking a RISK that SAVES YOUR LIFE?!"

Bratislava & Wien

Kati, Lucy, Daneen, and I hit Vienna and rented an apartment for a long weekend end of April. Beautiful architecture, beautiful coffee (and notice the small glass of H2O to rehydrate you afterward-a nice touch I thought), desserts, and music! Several of these pics (toward the bottom) are of the royal Hapsburg family's summer residence and its gardens. The woman in one of the 1st Wien pics was our very considerate but also frighteningly intimidating "landlord" for the weekend. Ooh those Eastern European women! :) The random dude in one of the Wien photos is this super speedy waiter we had a bar/club we went to-literally the best service any of us had ever seen. We would comtemplate another drink and he'd have it on the table in front of us! Also hit up Bratislava (just a train ride away from Vienna) for a day, and these top pictures are from that trip.-The castle and statues and whatnot. Lovely time, it was.

Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Wien, Austria