Done deal!

So we finally closed! We are the proud owners (well; share holders) of a 2 bed 2 bath beautiful Co-Op apartment in Manhattan. I am sure it is much much much easier to do anywhere else in the world , but WE DID IT anyway!!!
After 2 hours of papers and documents flying around and 4 lawyers and 4 other people around a big round table, and checks signed and signatures passed around, from us to this lawyer to that banker to the seller to the lawyer, after all that, we got 4 sets of keys, to our very first home. sweet. home.
Halleluya!

So we finally got a (third time a charm?) closing date, for Monday. We have been so ready to start the works, we can hardly contain our excitement comes the real closing, finally.
We are in need of so many things: the previous owners had a pretty simple (to be polite) taste and so all 6 light fixtures need to be replaced (old ceiling fan etc) with some descent lights, and all the walls (vomit orange and sailor blue) need to be repainted and the sinks and vanities in the bathrooms (salmon "marble") replaced, and the wooden floors (50 years of abuse) need to be sanded and polished.
But mostly, since both of us have been living (together and separately) very, very humbly, neither of us has ever owned a good quality, good looking piece of furniture.
All our stuff is things we found deserted on the street; Shelves, dressers, book cases, or furniture we have been given, all in a shocking state of pre-death agony.
Here is what we would like to end up seeing at our new place (none of which we actually have):
1 (Faux suede?) couch and love seat
1 coffee table
1 big dresser
6 ceiling lights
2 lamps
2 bed side tables and 2 little lamps
One bathroom sink and vanity
2 bathroom mirrors/cabinets
door handles
1 fold out sofa bed
1 Desk
2 Bathroom lights.
I think there is more stuff , but I forget...

When Carmen met Giovanni

What was it at that striking moment when Giovanni was talking to some boring acquaintances , and all of a sudden from the corner of his eye, he could see, not clearly, but well enough, the other center of the party; this fully executed womanhood.
It wasn't only the curvy definition of her full breasts accentuating her feminine figure, it wasn't only her long, thick hair framing a most distinguished, beautiful face, it was something else about that woman; you could tell by the way everybody gravitated towards her like moths to fire. The way she moved, her gestures,almost like she was dancing a mysterious and sensual belly dance,tempting anything trapped within her surroundings .
her voice, low and velvety , her sure smile, her dark, strong eyes. it must have been the telling eyes.
Under Giovanni's spell, all were lost in this unexplainable, magnetic power; Old and young, men and women, were at his mercy. Giovanni was so beautiful and so charismatic, that you would just want to become invisible and watch him like you would watch a lion, hypnotized by it's cat -like smoothness mixed with the danger of his strength. But Being so lonely in his own kingdom, he could almost smell immediately the scent of another royal ruler. They were born of the same blood.

By now Giovanni felt like he was burning inside his head, all the thirsty eyes of his listeners disappeared and all the voices in the room became a monotone, blurry white noise to him.
He executed all the unnecessary talk at once, moved to another spot, and studied this magnificent woman very carefully.
Carmen noticed Giovanni, how could she not. From the moment she saw him ,centered in the midst of the crowd,she caught herself more and more intrigued by the tall dark man, who possessed a most handsome face. A face which told thousand stories, and the lips which kissed thousand others.
Carmen could feel it was not going to be a boring night;
After all, she was there for pleasure and what more could she ask for, but a beautiful , strong man. But this one, she sensed, was special. It wasn't the normal womanizer, the regular good looking hunk, or any other need- catering man she is used to play with and spit out. This one was different.
Their eyes met first, and from that moment,each was a slave to the urge, burning, to escape into each other's gaze, like looking onto disaster without the ability to run away.
There they were, in two different corners of one room, about to find out what exactly was to be their next, most interesting conquer.
.
* Who made the first move? :) to be continued...

Nothing at all.

My week has gone mad. The paper the seller's missing is not yet anywhere it should be and so our closing is yet again postponed and I am crazy living here with half of the apartment boxed away already.
We are not allowed to get into the new place and do any renovation at all until we OWN it.
At the same time, I am supposed to get me flights and accommodation for London.
People: one week , one WEEK in a furnished apartment in the center of London goes for about 800 to $1800.
Is that the reason I sit in front of my computer gazing at rental adds for a few hours before I leave it alone again? (without booking a thing)...

gym time

I finally made it: I got myself a month pass to the New York Sports Club (no use to get a year commitment since I am mostly gone) but I finally went there, like I promised I'd do after I'm back! yay! It's amazing to me how much I actually enjoy walking fast on a stupid treadmill. It can be boring after a while, but this is exactly what turned me from a 185 pounds girl into the reduced and happier version.

Auf Wiedersehen, and was'up!

I finally got back home.
We had a nice goodbye dinner at the authentic Austrian bar/restaurant " Wuerstelstand am Albertinaplatz" where you can get a plate-size schnitzel and cheap Austrian beer, and there's an obnoxious accordion player buzzing around the place like an annoying fly with his little melodies and the more you get drunk on the cheap Austrian beer the more you want to crash his accordion into thousand tiny little pieces and enjoy the silence that would follow. But it was fun nevertheless, spending my last Viennese minutes with 3 good friends; One dear old friend I know from New York who's living in Vienna , one whom I know from Berlin and happened to be in Vienna (AND friends with the one from New York!) and one who's a new friend! After that I got back to the apartment, and in no time, I was finally in New York again.
Home sweet home waited for me with my own, most special reward: my very much missed husband! :)
What followed the next day was the lame attempt (!) to close on the new apartment; The seller's lawyer 'forgot' some paper from their mortgage bank, and now we are all on hold, instead of starting renovating and moving IN already before we are off to London.
Life is complicated and unpredictable, and I am in a pissy mood.
Lucky for the accordion player I'm here and not there anymore!

Say what?!

Tonight the concert was being recorded for the Austrian radio.
Here is my second line as it should be sung:
"Je voudrais m'en aller avec la goelette qui se berce ce soir dans le port mysterieuse et solitaire"

("I would like to depart on the schooner that is rocking this evening in the harbor, mysterious and solitary")

Here is what came out of my mouth;

"Je vodrais goeleetaceclabercesoiiiiiiir qui ce porte la qua , mysterieuse"
("I would like to bcswl;leeeeekbcxx which this (kind of wine) the , here(in Italian) , mysterious")
Otherwise, it went pretty well :) , thanks for laughing...

Sheherazade's crying

"Sheherazade rolled out of her hibernating corner of my soul and merged out, stretching her magical phrases and mysterious chords .
I was amazed to have felt, again, how beautiful this music is, and with how much pleasure I now can stand on any stage really, let it be sung,and just enjoy it all."
Luckily, not only am I not apathetic, but I actually get tears in my eyes every time I start singing this little song cycle, I know I am not supposed to cry while singing, but I can feel the first tear forming at the corner of my eye, then it wets my black eyeliner, which starts getting into the apple of my eye, which then causes more tears to roll down my cheek.Then my mascara starts running as well, and at the end of my beautiful, fragile songs, I look like a goth chick! (only missing some piercings and an electric guitar in my hand...).

Sheherazade

This piece is very close to my heart.

I first sang it with my very dear friend and the world's greatest Simon Rattle, and for a little while, I felt like I would never want to sing it again, because I loved it too much, and because of the unfathomable , almost painful joy I felt while making that music alive and breathing, together with this master magician.

I am singing it tomorrow,with someone else, and although the hall is a magnificent one, and the music is technically the same piece I sang before ,I feel a bit apathetic at the moment, and I hope it goes away soon.
My mother's mother , swore to never love another man again after my grandfather died, and I think such were my feelings about singing this ever after.
But I keep telling my self that in this world you can't be faithful to a passing moment.

The naked truth

The next time you stay at your ubern-modern gay friend's apartment, and you decide to take a shower in your friend's ubern-modern one way see- through bathroom, please DO check BEFORE HAND that it is indeed ONE WAY see -through and not just plain, both-ways SEE -THROUGH bathroom wall, standing (hardly)between you and the living room.And don't take a shower, soaping away, while there's a VOICE LESSON going on right outside that bathroom,while you are bending over to pick up the soap.

I heart Skype

Take a note; all you people out there traveling like I do:
Download skype!

Yesterday I was on the 'phone', meaning; calling from my computer (being in Europe) to my bank in Philadelphia and my mortgage bank in New York. I was basically with them for like 4 hours. (Had some urgent business to sort out and of course dealing with bureaucracy usually takes at least 4 hours...)
What did it cost me? nulla. nothing. 800 numbers are free to call on Skype , as is calling to other "Skypers". no matter where you are in the world, baby.
I also talked for a good chunk of my evening with Peter (free; computer to computer) my dad (free), my brother (free) and a couple of friends (free).
My grandmother should rethink her 'nothing in life is free' old saying.

Hello Vienna

Flight was everything I know already; My body is tired, tired tired, my eyes force to shut, but I just can't seem to find a comfortable position to actually allow me to fall asleep. I'm on my side,then I lean backwards with my legs stretched as far as they can go under the seat in front of me,then I lean against the window, then I lay my poor head against the food tray in front of me, then I turn on my entire right side, nothing works. I am just devastatingly tired, and hopeless.
Vienna on the other hand welcomed me with a fresh and loving smile. Suitcase rolled right out to me on the moving belt, taxi took me within 10 smooth minutes to the Staadsoper where I picked up a key I was worried about not finding there, and in the lovely apartment of my friend Josef's who is not here, was waiting a smiley new friend, who is staying in the apartment as well.
Dinner was a fun event, meeting up with an old friend of mine, Speranza, a sunshine of a gal, who is now playing in Vienna as a coach at the opera.
I love seeing good old friends wherever I go in the world, What a privilege it is! All of a sudden that very same world is not as big and lonely as it seemed to me a few years back.