happy belated birthday to mieke

sunday night we celebrated mieke's birthday at her place with the usual loads of great food and chocolate-mocha birthday cake. mieke is a beautiful and inspirational friend who moved to new york via turkey and her native belgium three years ago, studied hard to be certified in the u.s. as a physical therapist, and now resides in a beautiful apartment in williamsburg, brooklyn.


mieke always makes time in her life for exercise and outdoor fun, which is more than i can say for myself! who else says, "hey, let's ride our bikes down to red hook!", then forces me to ride her new 'luxury cadillac' bike home while she bumps along in my 'pinto'? having her for a neighbor has felt blissfully hometown--even when we're both super busy, we manage to meet up even if just to ride the train home together. this has also made it possible for me to force her into henna and haircutting servitude (which reminds me, mieke, my roots are showing!).
mieke and i first met at my annual christmas tree decorating party, and since then, she has shared entertaining duties with me, as we both love to throw parties--sometimes for sixty, sometimes just for the two of us. she's even humored me with costuming sprees, letting me outfit her even when it's not halloween. in return, i outfitted her with her honey, ezra, a similarly sweet and positive spirit who keeps her company when i can't, because with my schedule, let's face it, i ain't the greatest friend! finally, mieke makes me feel like a belgian rock star, by mentioned me often on her blog, which is written entirely in flemish. sneaky mieke. don't think i don't know what "Kitty, drank aangesleept door onze genodigden, mijn mooi parket bleek een uitstekende dansvloer te zijn" means!


i gave mieke a print of this photograph i took of the abandonned domino sugar factory, which sits a block from mieke's doorstep. it is the typical landscape of our post-industrial hipster neighborhood. probably soon to gutted and converted into luxury condominiums.....