more insomnia

this time because of a loud party in my courtyard (and paper thin doors).

so, tonight's post is a list of things that I used to hate as a kid, but now appreciate to a much fuller extent:

1 - olives. An English family favorite...

2 - art museums. The Tate Modern, The Met, The Uffizi...used to hate them, now love them. The quiet massiveness of their spaces calms me and allows me to think very clearly.

3 - public parks. They just always bored me...but now I enjoy the calmness.

4 - dark chocolate. Pretty obvious...

Top Gear/Insomnia

the excitement and nervousness of leaving at 6.30am tomorrow morning has left me sleepless, so i am staying up, watching top gear...my new favorite loisir. here is a picture of richard hammond, the cute one of the 3 main presenters...

fave new blog

http://uberkid.typepad.com/

or, new fave blog, as it were. I don't think this blog is necessarily new.

Also - a pic of florence...where I just got back from. So pretty. check more on my flickr page - http://flickr.com/photos/srq2009/

forgot to mention...

in NYC, I like: East Village, Soho, Tribeca (pictured), and Wall Street areas

and here are the list of cars i am currently obsessed with: (don't laugh...i know you!)

-Bentley Continental GTC - the sedan and coupe are wonderful, but there is something amazing about the convertible...in black with tan leather and wood steering wheel

-Audi Q7 - for some reason i hated it when it came out (think it was the rear which looked dumpy to me), but now I really like it...more than the Touareg and Cayenne. Rode in one (the shuttle from the dealership) and although it was the base model, it was very comfortable and beautifully put together...

Florence, exotic locales, lack of posts

It's unfortunate that I am lazy and rarely take the time to update this thing...and for that I am sorry.

Off to Florence tomorrow, should be a nice, quick trip...looking forward to being back and chilling for a week or so (the last month has been so busy!).

Lately I've been thinking a lot about various places in America that I would like to spend more time...on vacation, for property investment...just something. Here is a working list:

1 - Miami (Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, somewhere near the water...)
*tropical, beautiful, colorful natural environment, exotic south-american influence, sunsets, cuban food

2 - Portland, Or (Lake Oswego, downtown Portland)
*almost complete opposite of Miami (big dark trees, lakes, mountain feel)...less hyped than Seattle, good schools, amazing liberal climate

3 - Palm Springs, Ca (pictured above)
*desert climate is fantastic, natural environment is gorgeous, housing is very retro, cool, people are relaxed...every house has a huge pool!

4 - New York City
*never thought I would feel this way, but NYC really is amazing. Crazy, yes, nuts, yes, annoying and enfuriating, of course...but equally interesting, full of characters, and of course, the cutting edge of fashion/business/commerce