Peace. Food. Bungalow Babe Gets Dressed #5

This has been a summer of simchas, surgeries and shlepping, work and worry, too much asphalt and not enough greenery.

For the first time since we discovered the Love Shack in 1995, it has been sadly neglected, inhabited all too infrequently. Typically, my summer work life is focused and wonderfully workaholic -- centered on the front porch of my bungalow where I sit in shorts and a tank top, connecting with my clients and the world at large via phone and Internet while gazing out at the verdant woods just a few yards away -- but this season is a sweaty, sweltering subway-centered one, featuring me dashing in heels and professional attire through Times Square and Grand Central at least three days a week, hauling laptop and gym attire, being pressed up against strangers, reaching constantly for cards to swipe: my Metrocard, work ID, AmEx, Mastercard, VISA, ATM.

Over the past month we have had:

• Two family weddings
• Two surgeries (FOBB -- Father of Bungalow Babe)
• An Aufruf and several Sheva Brachot, one which we hosted this past Sunday*
• Lots of family meals
• Three birthdays
• Various long car rides
• Big Babe arriving from Berlin and returning
• Middle Babe leaving her job at UJA-Federation's Caring Commission to prepare for her MA program in Human Rights Studies at Columbia
• Little Babe departing for the remarkable BIMA program at Brandeis, from which we retrieved him last Thursday, en route to my nephew's wedding in NYC
• FOBB and MOBB (Mother of Bungalow Babe) packing up their large Great Neck home in preparation for their move into an apartment
• Other things I either cannot remember or do not have the strength to recount right now

The picture, above, was taken last night at Peacefood Cafe, on Amsterdam and 82nd Street, where I sat for over two splendid hours with my good friend -- the original Cool Jew and Hot Mamaleh, Lisa Alcalay Klug -- eating extraordinary vegan food while dishing, kvetching, laughing our heads off and planning world domination.

In the pic, I am posing in front of the menu wearing a black lace Necessary Objects dress I found in the clearance section of Loehmann's last year for about $19, a Chanel chain necklace my late mother-in-law gave me, another piece of gold tone street bling and my beloved Aerosole gold platform sandals.

Lisa looked pretty cute, too.

On my left arm is a Hot Mamaleh sticker, given to me by Lisa, who had them made for the release of her amazing new book.

You cannot tell because the photo is fuzzy but I look exhausted.

It is exhausting to be a Hot Mamaleh in the Summer City when you are, at heart, a Bungalow Babe.
_________________________________________________________
*It was my supreme joy to host the Sheva Bracha for my Israeli nephew at Rosmarin's, which featured a sudden violent rainstorm forcing us to dash indoors clutching the food and setting up in the wonderful casino building. PS: A great time was had by all. PPS: After the storm, a double rainbow appeared over the blacktop, a magical omen.