Fondly Faring-Well

As I sit here at the kitchen table in my mother's house, the same table at which I would sit every morning before elementary school, reading the backs of every cereal box in our cabinet and scarfing down my Golden Grahams, I come to a realization: this holiday season, I have been "home" for the most consecutive days in almost 4 years. I've been here 5 days. Between making home-made meyer lemon curd and cookies for the neighbors, three nights in a row of prime rib, beach jogs, and movie watching, suffice it to say that this weekend was one of indulgence, togetherness, and joy.

The past year has been incredible. I have ridden camels, motorcycles, jet skis, horses, and private jets. I have stood on the southernmost tip of Greece with the ocean air in my face, and hiked to see a giant Buddha on a mountaintop in China. I have wept from the deepest part of my soul at the wailing wall in Jerusalem with hundreds of other women, and rejoiced at the beauty of being so close to such rich, meaningful history. I have gazed up from underneath the Eiffel Tower at night, and strolled through Monte Marte on a Saturday afternoon. I have discovered vintage stores I will always return to in Berlin, London, Paris, and New York. I have toured the world with friends and collected new ones in each place I visit. I have fallen in love.

I am the luckiest bish I know. Seriously. Hey God? Thanks. <3

Monte Marte in Paris

Hannah, Tanaka, and some of the crew on the roof of our hotel in Israel

View from the water in Tel Aviv

Hong Kong high rises

This afternoon, I am in Istanbul. As I write this, I sit amidst green plants and blooming flowers on the perfectly-sized garden terrace connected to my hotel room. It is peaceful and quiet, save for a few birds chirping at each other. I don't mind them. This is one of those moments I feel full of thanks and appreciation for my life and the wonderful people in it.

Yesterday by 11am, I was laying on a white cushioned lounge chair on the Grecian coast at Cape Sounio, soda water with lemon and lime in hand, enjoying the sun and the GORGEOUS Mediterranean with my tour family. About 200 yards away from the beach, the ancient Poseidon's Temple sat (and still sits) majestically atop a cliff facing the Sea; at one point welcoming travelers coming to pay homage, and warning sea-faring armies that the gods were with Greece. I kept imagining what it must have felt like to have traveled days/weeks/months by sail boat, and after any and every hardship to finally see that temple break the horizon.

We were completely spoiled yesterday. After working up a ridiculous appetite by jet-skiing, rock skipping, volleyball playing and sun bathing, there was a feast of epic proportions set up on the dock for us. By the way, the tomatoes in this region of the world are absolutely delicious. So red, sweet, and ripe. I kind of want to buy a bag full and smuggle them home.

We unwillingly left the beach at 4:30 to go to Turkey and must have been a sight to see at the airport; 20 or so sunburnt, exhausted, people navigating giant Burton bags through and around other confused travelers.

Upon arriving in Istanbul, a friend of a friend, Ceren, offered to take me out. She and a group of friends was having dinner at a swanky place on the water, Anjelik. On one side, you can pull up in a car, but if you just can't bring yourself to be seen on four wheels, there is always the dock in the back where one can valet his yacht. Noted for next time! :)

Ceren said it was close to the hotel, so I hopped in a cab, with the thought that I would be at the restaurant in 7 minutes (the doorman's quote). My cab driver apparently had the wrong place in mind, however, because he took me 20 minutes out of the way before stopping to ask directions. We had to turn around. The traffic going the other way was completely stopped, and rather than wait in it, he proceeded to drive down the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD into oncoming traffic! There were cars honking at us and narrowly swerving to avoid a collision...meanwhile Ceren is texting that my fish and my salad are waiting for me, but the restaurant is turning into a club, and they are replacing the dinner tables with high bar tables. By the time I finally arrived at the club, it was packed, and blaring techno music. Ceren and co had a spot upstairs overlooking the water - three banquette tables raised to bar height, and one small table against the railing still lowered to dining height, with a chair and my dinner perfectly laid out. It was so cute, and I couldn't help but laugh and feel a little embarrassed. I enjoyed my first meal in Istanbul sitting while everyone else stood drinking champagne and leaning down to talk to me. They insisted that it be this way.

One of the photos below shows a white mosque (1,000 years old!), and a suspension bridge, which they tell me is the first of its kind - it connects two continents. We were dining and chatting on the Bosphorous, which is a 32 kilometer strait connecting the Black Sea, and the Sea of Marmara. While sitting and chatting on the continent of Europe, we gazed across the water at the continent of Asia. wild. Cheers to new friends!

Photography Lesson

Mid-year resolution: To post more frequently. In an effort to jump start this notion, here is a pretty neat thing I have been toying around with recently. I'm sure some of you already knew this on some level (friendster photo-shoots, anyone?), but I didn't, or had forgotten. So here's a reminder, or a lesson in photo editing. You can pretty much take any picture, taken from any camera (I am going to show a few taken with my blackberry), tweak it, using something as common and accessible as iPhoto, and turn it into a masterpiece. (okay, I could be exaggerating slightly, but you get the picture. ha. get it, "the picture..." schwing!)

All I did here was enhance the photo (which you can do automatically in the iphoto edit screen), boost the color using the pre-determined filter provided in iphoto and mess with the black/white balance a little bit, in the "adjust" window. Doing that really brings out the shadows and the detail in the blades of grass. By the way, it helps to make the original as large as possible while editing, which you can do by holding ctrl and alt (option) and clicking "edit using full screen."

Here, I obviously used the "sepia" filter. Then I changed the "adjust" window settings slightly (which I posted below, so take a look!)

Below are a few more examples of what can be done...and also just pretty photos, I think, so I hope you liiiiike. :)

Taken at the artist's entrance at the NRJ awards in Cannes

Taken in the sky over Norway