Tøfler and piano

I was invited to my friend and boxing partner, Ida's, home for dinner this evening and we had a wonderful time. Her boyfriend, Didrik, just bought a new piano and we tried to get him to play us a piece - which he promised he'll do...next time we come over. Rumor has it, he is quite the talent.

Also at the dinner, my friend Anne Christine, gave me my favorite gift of 2008. She is a crafts woman with the knitting needles and since my toes are always cold, she knitted me these wonderful slip ons ("tøfler" in Norwegian) to wear! They were in my favorite color and had the prettiest little buttons on the sides. SO cute! I was bummed when I was leaving and had to take them off to put my shoes on, but I love them so much I might even sleep in them tonight.

It's still pretty cold around here so Ida had Didrik light up the fireplace for us. Such a delicious night. On nights like these I get a little sad about leaving so many wonderful friends behind. But luckily they are all gracing us with their presence for our wedding, so it won't be too long till I see them again.
Here's the master knitter herself!

-bahareh

New Years Table /Sofre Haft Sin

I know you all must have been holding your breaths while waiting for me to post more about the new years celebration...ehem...So here are a few more images from a lovely celebration at my big sister, Atefeh's (a.k.a hostess with the mostess) house.

The first picture is her Haft Sin table. Haft Sin is the new years table and basically contains seven items that all start with the letter "S" and all have symbolic meanings. Here are the items up for selection (To make things way easier for myself, I copy-pasted directly from Wikipedia) ;

1. sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish - symbolizing rebirth
2. samanu - a sweet pudding made from wheat germ - symbolizing affluence
3. senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love
4. sîr - garlic - symbolizing medicine
5. sîb - apples - symbolizing beauty and health
6. somaq - sumac berries - symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
7. serkeh - vinegar - symbolizing age and patience
8. sonbol - the fragrant hyacinth flower (the coming of spring)
9. sekkeh - coins (prosperity and wealth)

It is also very important to have a bowl of goldfish to symbolize life and the sign of Pieces, which the sun is leaving. Every year for as long as I can remember I've stood in line at pet stores waiting to buy my share and I have even experienced stores being sold out!

Oh...and you guys MIGHT notice that we were short a couple of "S's", but my niece Frida decided she was gonna keep the sekkeh and sib for herself and we never got around to restock. On the next picture you can see her still mocking us with her hiding skills.


I also got the chance to hang out with my sweetness of a friend, Firuzeh. She is studying in France and we haven't seen each other since last summer, so it was a happy reunion. She was pretty as ever and I can't wait to see her again for the wedding!


-bahareh

Good morning // 10

I was starving and McDonald's was the only open spot to grab a bite last night. Everything was closed because it was the last day of easter, but I guess McDonald's lives by its own rules.
I just got home after a long night working and a long morning at the police station.
Posting will resume after a long nap and boxing class. You best stretch in the meantime.

-bahareh

Steph Does it Again.

Always a good time in the Greene. Yellow everywhere. Click here for more.

- jelsen

Jonas Jargon-ing

Jonas gave me some Nordic love (hmm...that could be a bedroom position....hmmm) when he got back from his NYC visit. Thanks man!

Now i have a fiance [Bahareh, hurry back.], extended family of all wonderful sorts, and Jelsen Jargon stickers in Oslo. No, not THAT way.....THIS way, silly.

Here are two pics from their last night out in BK:

- jelsen

If Only I Could Read

This is just so damn ridiculously ridiculous....uhm...it's ridiculous. yeah.

Thanks to ilovetypography for highlighting my Monday dosage.

Wonder what the pricetag'll be?
....ehem, wedding gift?

- jelsen

Ghersi in BK?! Hooray!

A veddy good friend of mine [ Jessica Ghersi ] was in town this wknd from Montreal. The Good Lord was REALLY good to me this wknd - i got to chill w/ her twice, oh my!

I also got to meet her uber talented friend Yoann aka APY. Dude's pretty nasty. Check out some selects:

A bien tot,
- jelsen

Marge's Last Sunday

After the Guggenheim we figured to look for a brunch spot in the neighborhood.

There was another special occasion - Marge got a new gig in LA and is packed and ready to self-ship on Friday. So, everything we did was in the theme of, "...this is the last Nuts4Nuts i'll eat on an nyc Sunday....".

Thankfully the weather supported our candid Sunday pace.
Brunch.....eventually, after walking for about an hr & change. [......It's been FAR too long. Again.] Homeward bound, we hopped on the M103....after chasing down the wrong bus for 1.78 blocks.Rodney's consistent impromptu power naps.

- jelsen

Good Morning // 09

Top-O-Morning folks!

Rodney, Marge, and i woke up bright n early to catch Cai Guo-Qiang's exhibit at the oh-so-pwitty (and STILL under renovation)Guggenheim Museum.

ETA: 10:18am I def recommend a visit. There are also rooms that display vid clips of his process.

- jelsen

Golden Lady

Meet Goldie, the goldfish. She turns 1 today and was a gift from my pretty friends, Line and Katharina for Persian New Years last year (I'll get back to the significance of goldfish and new years in the next post). Originally she had a friend, called Mini Me, but due to a sad suicide incident that we don't really talk about in front of Goldie, she is no longer with us. This is the longest I have ever kept a goldfish alive. It might be due to the fact that I had to put it up for adoption when I was leaving for NY last summer and it's been under the wonderful care of my niece Frida (3) and nephew Amin (12). Then again, that's how we lost Mini Me.


Don't worry, softies. Goldie has a new chubby friend that will get introduced to you all very soon. He has a special role to play at this years New Years.

-bahareh

Yay, Spring!

I was awaken this morning at 5:30 am by a very familiar sound. I couldn't quite figure out where I had heard that scraping hum before and I didn't wanna move so I laid there for a few minutes just listening and thinking about it. Then, out of nowhere it struck me and I jumped up and pulled the curtain aside and exhaled a silent scream. It was the snowplow. From the time I parked the car at 11pm the previous night, to the time I went to drive it again at 6:30 am - it had snowed about 20 cm (about 7 inches)! On March 21st! The insanity closed off a number of roads in the area, trains were canceled and well...we had to deal with snow on March 21st! You probably don't get how much it really was since my camera couldn't capture the seriousness of it, but it kinda was a show stopper and it was far worse a couple of hours south of Oslo. I even had to pull my winter coat back out of the closet. Kinda sad, really. Check out the video if you don't take my word for it.

My footprints were the first in the snow this morning. Kinda looks like I had skis on.

-bahareh

Happy New Year / Eid Mobarak

Today Persians all over the world celebrate Norouz which is the mark of a new year and the beginning of spring. We now enter 1387 AP (Anno Persico). It is almost a national tradition to do an extensive spring cleaning of the house (Jels, I'll leave that up to you this year) and purchase at least one new set of clothes (check!) and finally leave their clean home in their new clothes to visit the elders in the family and then other family and friends to exchange gifts. This continues for 12 days and on the 13th day families (=EVERYONE) leave their house for a picnic outdoors to celebrate nature.

...to be continued (with pictures!) later.

-bahareh

"Ny - jork"

It must be my lucky day! Is that vodka from Norge?!! Yessir. Who else to thank but my friendly global neighbors Jonas & Morten (aka Morty ) who are here visiting from The Land Of Popular Socialism for a few days.

Why? "..cause we just looked up cheap tickets from Oslo and since the American dollar's so low we said, 'fuck it! NYC!'" - Jonas.

That's nice.We also spent alotta time doing alotta nothing.
Please observe:And what we were trying to do is....better. Here's an example below. It's at the very end of the music video - i was just introduced to these guys 2hrs ago; "OnkLP"

Enjoy:


- jelsen