Exercise Across America

I'm walking across America! Well, in spirit. I'm on a new walking regime and have found a neat way to keep track of it. A lab that studies exercise set up transcontinental virtual trip across the United States. Each time you enter your exercise mileage, they total it up and show you where you are on the map. The basic trip is from Yorktown, Virginia to Florence, Oregon. They even show you photos of what you would see along the way at various mile markers. So what are you waiting for? Sign up and we can be walking buddies!

Architectural Salvage

This place called Housewerks looks awesome. And it's in Baltimore!

Scholarly Storage

My latest obsession: Finding an antique library card catalog in which I can store odds and ends. They're so charming and can be quite beautiful. Not to mention all of the items you can store in them.

This blogger suggested that you can sometimes find them for sale on a neat site called GovDeals. Wow, who knows what else you could find here for neat decorating ideas from old school lockers to playground equipment. Of course I've already scoured craigslist and eBay and just might have to take a roadtrip to pick one up I saw in Pennsylvania. Nevermind that it's $750! I guess I'll keep looking.

Shopping for a cause

I just ordered these adorable shoes from TOMS. I saw someone wearing them on the subway, made a note of the name on the tag, and promptly impulse bought them online. They looked so comfy and simple. But what clinched the deal was that it turns out to be a really neat company: For every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need. Not bad!

A City Too Small

I went kayaking out on Jamaica Bay with the canoe club yesterday. It was a lovely day and I have a nice farmer's tan to show for it! Everyone was really friendly. I didn't fall in the water and I saw an egret.

Then I went to Laura's fifth annual brunch party. The quiche was amazing. The kicker was that this guy I went on a 15-minute date with a few months back was there! He had written me that I wasn't his type after our brief meeting when I walked him to the subway. Small world. We said hello, ignored each other the rest of the time and then he asid goodbye before he left.

"The Place Where Bison's Graze"

Last month, Aunt Marina, Uncle George, and I met for an adventure in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach neighborhood. Some go so far as to say it's the largest Russian-speaking community outside of the USSR (disclaimer: this has not been fact checked)!

Uncle George had a field day looking for gypsy music at St. Petersberg, a CD and video store on the main drag, Brighton Beach Avenue.

I wanted to get some buffalo grass to make my own Zubrovka vodka. I'd tasted it (subtle, smooth, sensational!) at Easter, when Uncle George and Uncle Eugene were drinking it in the kitchen and commenting on how hard it is to find good grass. They were right -- even in "Little Odessa" the plant was hard to find. I ended up just buying the ready-made Zubrovka at Oksamit Liquor near the metro.

In the end, we sat on the boardwalk looking at the ocean and eating kabobs, which Aunt Marina called "shashleek." People were milling about, barely clothed and the air was sticky. I didn't mind. I felt like I was in Europe.

Not one to give up on obscrure home projects, I'm thinking about buying the buffalo grass (translated as "The Place Where Bison's Graze" or called sweetgrass) from here, though it makes me a tad nervous to buy obscure herbs online with Paypal. I'll keep you posted.

The Octagon House

My latest obsession is checking the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of historic properties for sale. Some of them are as little as $100. My favorite is the 1852 Octagon House in Barneveld, New York (right near the Adirondack Park!). It's so lovely. Here's another photo. I'm definitely going through a phase where I want to just sell all my possessions and move to the country. This seems like the perfect bed and breakfast, no?

July 4th Weekend

The holiday at Water Taxi Beach was amazing. Great atmosphere, decent hot dogs, and though the potato salad left something to be desired, it couldn't have been a better view for the fireworks. The show lasted nearly 30 minutes with everybody oohing and aahing and Eva and I had a good time catching up.

I'm thinking about joining the Sebago Canoe Club in Brooklyn. After two weeks in Vermont, where I learned to kayak on Echo Lake in Camp Plymouth State Park, I've fallen in love with it and am happy to learn I may be able to continue kayaking in the city, even at a reasonable price!

Went for lunch at this vegan place in Park Slope -- am I granola or what? It was shockingly good. Who knew vegans eat lasagna and paninis?

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind. I need to call Australia, French Polynesia, Nicaragua, and Indonesia. What a strange life!