Happy New Year!

Dear All!

The 2013 is here and I hope all of you have celebrated as much as you possibly could!
We had it in two parts:
first one was a very cute and cosy celebration with friends (where Galushki proved herself as a rare party animal, compared to a 18 month old boy who happened to be at the party as well and peacefully  fell asleep at 9 pm).
second one at home while watching TV with a small "tazik of Olivie salad" (the Russians among you will get my nostalgic note), a wonderful bottle of Brut Rose Champagne, a fireplace, chocolate and of course my grandmothers crystal flutes.
Both were wonderful and I thank our beautiful friends for making this evening so special! and of course Galushki who was an amazing girl the whole night!

open house

So there was another open house today- a crooked tiny wreck in Park Slope, with horrible basement and dancing walls. 16x30 yard in the back for close to 1 mill. The only good thing about it was, that it is actually still livable, but in desperate need of demolition...Lot is 16x70 with FAR of 2, meaning there are 2240 build-able .. and this is legal 2 families- what a rip off.. But people a so hot and crazy about Park Slope that they would readily give more then the asking price for this sort of property. It doesn't make any sense!!
I mean, how can you pay so much money, just to demolish and start building from scratch?! Moreover, they bring suitcases w/cash and close the deal on the spot.
Is it me being blond or the whole world goes KAPUT?
Anyway I'm off to make my favorite family meal-goulash with mashed potatoes. Yammi!

I WANT

so It is 2am saturday night, I'm sitting in front of the computer and trying to do my portfolio which had to be done like about 3 years ago?  Hmm.. my mind though, goes full gas on neutral. I can not stop thinking, and all these thoughts about life and its meaning are driving me nuts! Even my physiotherapist asked me this week "Kamilla, what are you thinking so loudly about?". Honestly, about everything. I feel like I'm having a second Yom Kipur here, where I'm constantly doing "hesbon nefesh". I'm thinking about who I'm and where I'm in life, where I'm heading to and where do I want to see myself in a few years. What do I want? starting from finally reading Tolstoy's "War & Peace" I owe it to my Russian heritage, and finishing with eventually getting my license to be a lawful architect in NY State. otherwise why did I literally sacrificed my 20-s for all of these sleepless nights?  I'm 30 years old, I have a wonderful family: a terrific husband and a superski cute and chubby 4 month old baby. I love my in-laws and I live in NYC. I have a job as an Architectural/Interior designer in a boutique, little firm which does superb high-end residencies, but unfortunately doesn't pay my bills that much.. And here I'm running after my big and little dreams, without looking forward to see where I'm actually going :) This is so much me. At least let me write it down and clear some mess...

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

 

Honestly, politics are not the theme of this blog, and this post probably shouldn't be here, but after  talking to multiple people non-israelis, watching some news and reading some internet articles especially on Russian news sites, I've got the urge to write this.

It is really difficult to write about this subject, trying to collect all the facts and all the pieces of history, coping with my emotions - I really want to be understood correctly and want to help others to understand the core of the conflict. 

  

I see that multiple media sources and many people consider Israel an aggressor and almost a terrorist state, and I think it's because they are ignorant of the situation and lacking essential details of the conflict. I would like to clarify some facts and answer some questions (if there will be such) and hopefully my post can be useful for reasonable and adequate people among you.