An Ode To NYC

Hi!
I figured I need to post something just for the sake of posting. & here's this cute lil video:

The Lost Tribes of New York City from Carolyn London on Vimeo.

Soon it will get colder, & the nights will get longer, & I will sit at the computer a lot more, drinking coffee & thinking about the summer & all that took place during it. &, of course, I will be posting much more often...

My lil sister is married now.

So, my lil sister is a married woman now. I still feel slightly out of it. It is a wonder how fast the time goes by. We all say that now & then concerning different things in our lives. You meet a friend from school, or see somebody's kids for the first time in a year... But it is especially shocking when you marry off your lil sister whose diapers you used to change. Especially if you yourself aren't married :)
It was a great wedding. It blesses my heart to see my sister this happy. For the first time in so many years. I am excited to witness her & Jake's marriage. Very excited.
A few pics:

Я всегда с собой беру ...

...даже если я "...".

It is things like this that make me feel like my laziness is no biggie. When it actually is. I do appreciate my ipod. Very much so. But... seriously?

Recent Reasons For Happiness

The last several days were really great. I have discovered many small things to make (& what's more important, keep) me happy. The main blessing was discovering more about my favorite singer, & actually getting a hold of her! I have really been learning a lot from her approach of things & people, & can't even put in words how grateful I am for her.

It's been nice to finally get a taste of the spring, & not have to wear too much clothes. The sun's been shining. My friend Vadeem & I took a walk that has turned into a hike (would be strange if it didn't). Conversations about weddings & life... church politics & businesses... a dam & swamps... Here are some shots from the village called Low Mills:

My sister Ira & her fiance (well, husband on the paper already) Jake came to visit today. That was fun. I like him, & am very blessed my sister is marrying a nice & respectful man. It has been amazing to me to learn just how very similar his & my taste in movies are. Like, last night he FaceBooked me, saying how he's got these two movies he's bringing for me. They happened to be exactly the two movies I had here waiting for him!

Small Matters For Happiness

This morning wasn't very nice to me. No, not because of the Saint Patrick yesterday. & today so far half a gallon of coffee didn't help much. But after watching some news (which don't necessary help with brightening your mornings) I came across this video. & it just made me happy. See it yourself, & find out just how simple of a being I am. O' you're smiling too? Then I guess we aren't much different.

"Aleksandr Petrov"

Not all my kin are as lame as myself & my Kamchatka son. Some actually produce something people like. For instance the guy who likes his name spelled just slightly differently. This fellow had won quite a few awards (including Academy Award for Animated Short Film) for a paint-on-glass-animated short film, based on the Ernest Hemingway novel with the same name "The Old Man & The Sea". The film took over two years of work, & was released in 1999. I say: "Good job, granpa"! Beneath is a few-minute-long piece of his work:

"Naturally Enough"

So, trying to get a BlogSpot account first thing I did - naturally was checking whether my name was available. & naturally enough it wasn't. The page has one single post, & is dated by 2006. The post is two lines long & explaines the picture of a boy & his dog taken somewhere in Kamchatka, posted under it. I tried contacting my probable relative, but I guess he isn't as much of a far relative as I thought, because, of course, he never got a hold of me. Could've at least sent me to hell.

But I'm not going there. So, what do I do? I keep on looking for a name that would remotely satisfy my ego. & having checked about five of those - I see that every single one of them has only one single post. & all of them are dated by 2006. I guess 2006 was the year when Google's marketing just really exploded. So, I figured if my kin wouldn't let me use something he's not using (rich Russian heart) - who else would?

&, naturally enough, I ended up starting here.

& here I go.