Iced Tea & Cookies

Wow, I am kind of in shock that Shavuot is over. Wasn't it just Purim? It's hard to believe that time is passing so quickly. Since last I blogged, school has officially ended. I handed in my portfolio and now I'm just waiting for my certificates. In the meantime I'm doing a few freelance projects - but that's not really overly interesting stuff.

Last week I spent a lot of time hanging out with Rebecca. Daddy came into Jeru on Tuesday and we got to spend a whole morning together while the car was getting tuned up. I even went to the gym 3 times. (Yeah, only 3 times - it was a short week - since Shavuot started Thursday night and all...) We were in Bet Shemesh for the holiday and then for Shabbos (since it was a 2 day chag/shabbos deal.) And then this morning we got a ride into Jeru with Mommy, Daddy and Freddie and after dropping Freddie off at school we went out for Brunch. It was quite a nice day overall.

I took a 4 hour nap this afternoon to make up for lack of napping over Shavuot and Shabbos. (2 days of nothing to do and I didn't even get a 1/2 hour nap. Go figure.) I woke up super refreshed and finally sat down to finish organizing my digital portfolio. Technically it's finished but I'm pretending to be a perfectionist so there are a few more projects that I would like to put together in order to include in the file. Anywho - I sent it 'as is' to a potential client when I finished and am waiting to hear back from her regarding a project. Overall, I think it looks good - so I'm pretty gosh darned pleased with myself.

Here is a link to a few pictures from May. I haven't really been taking many photos and it's kind of getting me down. Remember when I used to document everything on here AND there were pictures to go along with 60% of the posts?! What happened to me? I guess I got busy - or maybe I got lazy? I'm not really sure which is the real reason.

I'm off now - a blue ice-pop and then I think maybe I'll go to sleep.

Toodles. :)

HodgePodge

Lately I've found myself a bit confused regarding the date, month and sometimes even year. I am convinced that it is a direct consequence of not being in a setting where the date actually matters. (Unless of course it's Friday, in which case I should probably be getting ready for Shabbos.) I find it pointless to wear my 'just for show watch' (which I have trouble reading due to lack of numbers) and checking my phone doesn't really help because a few seconds later I've already forgotten the hour. Lately it's even hard to tell the season thanks to the random changes in the weather patterns. Hot, cold, hot, cold, sandy, cold, hot... Yeah, you get the picture. Ok, maybe not - but this is my soapbox so just do me a favor and smile & nod. Thanks much.

So, what's happened this week so far? Sunday was a quiet boring sort of day, class in the afternoon and not much else going on. Monday morning Becca and I went out to the shuk to do some grocery shopping for the Lag B'omer bbq which we hosted for Freddie, Phil, 2 friends of Freddies and Z even made it home on time to eat with us. Tuesday was a 'don't leave the house day' - I got dressed because Akiva came over (it was his b-day so I even made a cake) but aside from loads of dishes, I didn't do much. And that brings us to today - Wednesday. I decided that a 2nd day of 'not leaving the house day' was a bad idea - so I went to the gym, cheaperkol, bakery, local office supply store and then made my way home. (Yay for 6 km of walking and a workout!) Oh, and I was SUCH a good girl - I refrained from indulging in an iced coffee. Yes, that's a BIG deal for me. So, pat on the back please. Thanks again.

Back at The Ranch I looked through 7 years worth of photos. (2003-current.) Gosh, Avi was so cute, I was so skinny, Brenda was such a dork (hehe, I REALLY DO love you and you've turned out as QUITE the beauty so don't worry!), Oxford Court was - ok, I'm not sure what, and Daddy hasn't changed... Anyway, it was A LOT of pictures. I'd love to make something out of them - but I'm not quite sure what to do. I'll have to think about it.

Now it's 4PM and Z won't be home from school for a few more hours. I've calculated that it will take me about 30-40 minutes to make dinner (with all the chopping, cutting, cooking, boiling, stirring and washing. Yeah, there's lots of washing to do. A whole bunch from yesterday too. Ok, I'm not going to think about that now.) so if I need to leave 40 minutes tops to make dinner then that means I've got another 2 hours and 20 or so minutes of free time until I'm not home alone going stir-crazy and sort of out of my mind. Comforting.

In the Dollhouse

Hello world! Well, it seems that I've allowed April to slip on by without even one post. Honestly nothing much happened. The 'big' stuff; Pesach, no school for a whole month, Yom Haatzmaut turned out nicely hiking Sataf and BBQ with the family. And that's about it.

Now things are just getting back into routine. This is my third-to-last week of school. I've been printing out my portfolio bit by bit and it's slowly coming together. We're looking for a place to move to out in Ariel at the beginning of August. Due to scheduling conflicts and ticket prices we won't be flying to the US this summer but we're planning a nice little getaway to either Turkey (haha) or the Dead Sea (also haha) at some point after moving and all that jazz is squared away.

I'm supposed to be building a website for a real 'live' client - but I'm lacking inspiration and due to a lack of logo or any beginning point I'm sort of at a loss for where to start.

I don't have anything overly perky or exciting to say but figured that since it's been over a month that I should probably update you (or myself for future reference as the case may be.)

More to follow at some point.

I hope.

Ritchie, Ditchie, Squitchie!!!

Woke up kind of late this morning (ok, so it was only 8:00) but I managed to pull myself together and get myself out of the house and to the gym. After a great workout I made my way home to get dressed and then I went to Geulah to meet up with Becca. We spent a lovely morning wandering around Geulah, Town and everywhere in-between in search of cute pre-tied bandanas which don't slide. We also got bagels for breakfast and Brooklyn Bakery treats which we only ate after walking allll the way back to The Ranch in the craaaaazy wind.

Today's 'Pesach Cleaning Effort' involved washing yesterday's dirty dishes and then an interesting activity which I've been meaning to take care of for quite some time. (Even more pressingly since I joined the gym...)
On the bright side - my mitpachot are now allllll clean and they even have the deeeliciously relaxing gentle scent of lavender. On a funny note - hand-washing them has stained my fingers an interesting shade of grayish-purplish. But as they say, lo norah. On a 'down to earth note' this chore didn't really have any connection to Pesach cleaning whatsoever. Oh well. At least I did something.

In other exciting news - Mazal Tov to Tova & Simcha Simon on the birth of a baby boy! A little early, but b"H all is well. I guess that makes me a cousin once more remove-ed.

Ishkamabob!!!

MAZAL TOV SHOSH & DOVID!!! IT'S A BOY!!!!!! I'm an auntie (or am I an uncle?!)!!!

What else is news? Well, today was my first day of Pesach Vacation and it was an awesome one.

This morning I woke up thinking that I had wet my bed, but it turns out that I was in the clear. My hot water bottle had decided that 3 working winters was all that it wanted to give and so it sprung a leak. It has now been relegated to the trash heap.

Then I went to the gym and had a totally incredible work-out. Not too many people were there and the really nice 'trainer' was there so all in all - it was quite enjoyable.

Next on the agenda was a pathetic attempt at straightening up the kitchen. I managed to get most of the dishes washed and put my chicken soup up to cook for Shabbos.

In the meantime Becca arrived in Jeru with all of her suitcases and she left them at The Ranch while we headed out to Shaarei Zedek to visit with Shosh and her new itty bitty babykins.

After a really enjoyable 2 hour 'visit' (during non-visiting hours) Becca and I headed out to town. First for some pizza in town and then to Kikar Safra to pick up last week's Kad V'chomer stuff. (For out 1st anniversary Z and I went to Kad V'chomer (a pottery painting studio place) and painted mugs together.) The mugs came out looking very cute and I'll take pictures someday soon when I remember to (or you could come and visit and see them for yourself.)

After Kad V'chomer Becca and I parted ways for a bit. I headed out with Feige on an almost severely overdue girls night out. We went for baguettes and they were gooooood. It was really nice to shmooze and catch up. I enjoy our outings.

I was a very very nice wife and even took a pastrami stuffed baguette home for Z (along with my left-over french fries - which I'd been too full to finish.)

A few minutes after getting home Becca and Reuven came to pick up Becca's bags and shlep them to the apt. she's staying at in Ramat Eshkol.

B'kitzur - it was all in all a really really wonderful day.

And now it's almost Shabbos.

Yay!

Till next time...
Over & Out.
Rodger Dodger that.
Over.

Parfaits

Hello World! It's me again! I'm trying to get back on track after a craaaazy weekend and an awesome Purim.

School today was interesting because we learned all about creating buttons in Flash. We also received our 'final assignment' which is to incorporate everything we've learned into a lovely little site. Wish me luck - it's going to take HOURS upon hours...

I'm being a lazy bum today and skipping the gym because I've decided that it's more important to clean my house for Shabbos and get my cooking done. I will try to get to the gym tomorrow (I hope I'll have the time.) We're having 3 guys over for Shabbos, so I kind of want to get the guest room semi-organized. Ever since I've started doing my homework at home I've sort of let the housework kind of, well, I guess you could say - 'slide' - but just a teeeensy bit - hehe, yeah, ok, I'm lying. It's actually dirty enough to be grossing me out.

Anywho, things are gong well and I should really go start my cooking so that I can start my cleaning so that I can start my homework but I just wanted to say hi.

Here's a link so that you can see all the fun we had on Purim.

Well, not ALL the fun (cause there aren't any pictures of our visit to the Wolickis', of my haircut, of the countless hours playing with Oscar Be Wild, of our PJ party, of me stealing Phil's toothbrush, of the neverending supply of hot-water and some other stuff) but the pictures will give you a good summary of most of the fun we had. If you want to experience it all - next time - come and spend the time with us... :)

Cinnamon Bunnies & Dust Rabbits...

Do you like the cover of the first edition of my new kids magazine? Coming soon...So what's new in the last 2 weeks? Ummm, schoolwork. Yeah, that's not new.

Last week was our first anniversary and Saba & Savta bought us absolutely wonderful presents! Z finally has a kiddush cup and I have the most graceful and beautiful candlesticks! It was lovely last week, after the meal we sat and watched the candles burning. *sigh* Bliss.

This week I joined the gym. The location is perfect, halfway between school and home. The best part - the hours are also perfect, I can go on my way home from school! While I'm doing the whole 'gym thing' for my own physical fitness, theoretically it'll help me lose some weight too. (Well, hopefully anyway.)

We'll be in Bet Shemesh for Shabbat and we're staying at Saba & Savta's house. The mishpacha is coming to the meal Friday night because the 'birthday meal' has finally been rescheduled.

It's hard to believe that Purim is next week. It's almost Pesach?! Gosh.

Sorry I'm jumping around. My mind isn't really focused. I'm sitting in web-class now (shhh...don't tell my teacher) but it's kind of going slowly. We're working on editing video clips in Flash and importing them into Dreamweaver for inclusion on websites.

Now that I know how to use Flash to edit videos - I'm going to have to pull out all of those old family movies...

"Hey Daddy, what's everybody wearing?"
"Ties."