New Update on all the stuff I haven't been talking about

Thank goodness the semester is almost over. At this point I'm reading my anatomy book/ power-points, and feel like I'm reading Greek. Such as "The Hypophyseal Portal System and Blood Supply to the Pituitary System." Fortunately (or unfortunately) the test is on Thursday and then I'm done with it. As long as I pass at least. Then, once that is out of the way, or perhaps even before that, we'll start moving into our new apartment. Exciting!! Then once we are done moving in (hopefully we should be done by then!) we're driving up to NY for shavuos and to pick up (some) of my husband;s 3000 books that are there. Yes, I did type three thousand, that is not an extra zero. He has a LOT of books, way more than I do, although I believe some of our books overlap. In any case, we plan on getting lots of bookcases to put all of them, which should be fun. Oh, and before I forget, I went with my husband, and saw How to Train Your Dragon and it was awesome. Makes me want a dragon of my own. (Though when haven't I?) Pity we didn't get to see it in 3-D, but otherwise it was fantastic, both in the plot and the animation. The dragons were if not instantly lovable, certainly made so later on. The movie took you into it and carried you off. Lots of fun for all. Anyways, I'm going to go back to studying now, and will hopefully update again soon!

Biking is Fun, Workouts are fun, and I'm Wiped!

Today we got my husband a new bike. I got a bike last week as my "afikomen present". Right after he got the bike, we went biking, all around the neighborhood and a nearby park, fortunately the weather was perfect for it. We biked 10 miles total, which was an accomplishment for me, who had never biked more than 2 miles before! On our way back, I managed to fall off the bike, and almost went flying. Adding new bruises to the fading ones from the last time I went biking. I am obviously not the most coordinated of individuals. Later, after taking a break from biking, I went over to CJ's to exercise. Then, when I got back, I exercised again with my husband. I am SO wiped.

Pesach Cleaning (Or Not)

This year, I'm not cleaning for Pesach. Shocking, isn't it? Ok, well not entirely avoiding cleaning, but since we're selling the kitchen and going to my mother's for all of the meals, it means I have no need to make myself crazy over every little detail. However since my mother is cleaning for Pesach, we invited her and my brother over to our apartment for the shabbos meals so she has one less thing to worry about. We still need to clean the car, vacuum carpet, make sure all the chometz stuff is actually in the kitchen... But Pesach should be a lot of fun this year, especially with my husband conducting the seder. It'll be interesting to see how long it will go. Wishing everyone a chag kasher v'sameach!

Last Night's "Nightmare"

*BANG pop pop BANG*
I turned over slowly, still more than half asleep. Cannons? In South Florida? Wait a sec...those weren't cannons...those were gunshots! Still lying in bed, hearing people yelling, hearing more "bang" and "pop", debating whether to call 911. Hearing a car drive away. Checking my phone for the time. 3 AM. Then there was a very very loud bang and I saw sparks fly. That got me out of bed and looking out the window. Outside, in the apartment building's parking was a car on fire. Not just coming oiut of the hood, but the entire car was in flames. I started shaking and woke my husband up. Then I dialed 911, as I was waiting for someone to pick up, he showed me there were cops already there. I felt slightly relieved. We watched as a fire truck came and dowsed the car, till there was nothing left but a smoldering heap of metal. I tried to fall back asleep, but my husband was too wound up. He left the room. Came back later to tell me that what was left of the car had been towed. When I woke up this morning, it all seemed like a bad dream, but when I looked out the window there was a huge black spot where the car had burned. Scary.

Wedding, Sheva Brachos and All the Rest...

Wow, okay, haven't written for a while, but considering I just got married, I think it's excusable. The wedding was gorgeous, and yes, I am biased, but considering I heard it from a lot of other people too, I believe it's true. It rained and drizzled all day, so in the end the chupah was held inside the hall, but as my husband and I agreed later, that was really for the best. The theme color was blue/teal. Not surprising to those who've been reading my blog for a while. Lots of dancing, lots of fun was had by all, and CJ took lots of pics (547 to be exact) afterwards, she printed them out stuck them in an album and gave them to us at our second sheva bracha. She didn't print out ALL of them, just 200, and gave us a CD with the other pictures. We had 2 nights of the sheva brachos in Florida and those were lots of fun, especially since the first half of the second sheva bracha we sat in mostly darkness since the block's lights went out. But it was cool, because we used some of the lanterns we had from the wedding. Incredibly early the next morning we hopped on a plane and went to NY for the rest of the sheva brachos. After we got off the plane, we slept for several hours in his parents’ basement. Did I mention we were up REALLY early? We stayed at a hotel the few nights we were there, had sheva brachos at a few people’s houses, saw our good friends Moshe and Jacob, delivered shaloch manos on purim, were very late for our last sheva bracha and left late on Sunday back to nice warm Miami. We finally got stuff toiveled and now have real plates to eat off of. But now that we’re back, I have some school work to make up…namely an anatomy test. Uch. Wish me luck! And now I think that brings everything up to date.

Getting Married TOMORROW!!!!

I can not believe that I am getting married tomorrow. At random intervals it hits me how close the wedding is and how much my life is going to change. I am giddily happy and excited and cannot convey this enough through the mere medium of writing. Unfortunately, won't be able to blog on the wedding day since my computer is in the process of being fixed, and I am currently using my mother's. We're going up to NY for the last 4 Sheva Brachos on Thursday and our last Sheva Bracha is going to be on Purim. That should be lots of fun! :) Of course, then we get back and I have to take an anatomy test and a Hebrew test. Not so fun, but not going to worry about it the day before my wedding. If you have any names you want me to daven for, just leave it in my comments, or shoot me an e-mail.

Wedding and Cold

I'm getting married in a week and have a very bad cold. NOT fun. I spent the past 2 days in bed, and should be in bed now, but I am so sick of sleeping...not to mention my bridal shower was today which was what got me up in the first place. Now comes the week of rushing around and getting ready, but first I have to get better. I think I'm about ready to crawl into bed and sleep some more.

Synthetic Sheital

I doubt whoever wrote this joke was thinking of sheitals....but still funny when put that way. Enjoy!

GCF: Who Did Your Hair?

"Good heavens! Who did your hair? It looks like a wig!"

"It is a wig."

"Really? You could never tell."

Apology and Musings

I know, I haven't posted in 2 weeks, maybe more. I've been busy! Classes, getting ready for the wedding, studying, and tons of pressure. It's a wonder anyone stays sane when getting married. I have noticed one thing though, it seems to be the case that most guys would rather elope than deal with all the nonsense entailed in a big marriage party. While it would probably be a whole lot stressful, like the stereotypical girl, I love the idea of a wedding. Getting dressed up, having friends and family be there, taking pictures, to have for posterity. So I can look back and show my kids, see this is how we looked then. Some couples are given the choice by their parents. The "Golden Ladder" I've heard it called. (I think) Take all the money that would be used for the wedding and use it for other things. I know that one couple that was offered that preffered having a wedding. We were never given that choice, and honestly I can't say which way I would have decided. Either way, doesn't really matter now. The wedding is in 3 weeks and one way or another it will be over soon enough. Maybe I'll have more time to post then.

First Day of Class

I'm taking a hebrew class, and that was my first class of the semester. It was...interesting to say the least. Most of the students had some kind of background in hebrew, and for the most part were Jewish (though not religious), there were perhaps 3 or 5 who had no idea what was flying, and the teacher gave them hebrew names. We learned three letters of the 'aleph-beis' (not the first three letters either, don't ask me why, I've got not a clue) Anyways, this should be an interesting class throughout the semester. We were put into groups and I somehow became the self-proclaimed 'leader' of our group if only because I was the only one who knew what was flying and was not too shy to speak. Tomorrow starting two of my other classes, can't wait to see how that goes. And right now, Mariner is jumping on me, wanting to play, so I'm gonna stop typing so he'll stop drooling on my keyboard and play with him.

Back from NY

So I'm back from NY, just got in tonight. I'm tired and a lil cranky and feeling mixed emotions. Glad to be back where it's warmer (50 degrees as opposed to 30 plus wind chill), good to be home, but missing my chasson, starting to stress about the wedding (thank G-d that my mother is so organized or I'd be ready to tear my hair out), and dreading the start of the semester come Monday. A full week and a half of the freezing NY weather was definetely enough for me, thank goodness the wedding is going to be in Miami. We did lots of things (including WAY too much eating out), movies (Sherlock Holmes and Avatar), registering for the wedding (Bed, Bath and Beyond and Amazon.com), wandering around different stores including several jewelry galleries, Ikea, and FAO Schwartz. I got a shaitel with my future mother-in-law, and snoods, and robes. We went and ordered a ton of things from Eichlers, and got the chasson watch. And I started thinking of more posts contrasting NY and Miami, which is now I think one of my favorite past times. Oh, and when I was there we saw Jacob da Jew, went to Moshe for a meal, and met with Mike in Midwood at the vort and at Moshe's. It was good to see all of you again!

It's been a pretty busy week and a half, and now I'm going to be off again for another week and a half. Going up to NY for that time, and I dunno if I'll have internet access. Leaving tomorrow, ridiculously early in the morning and I'm not even packed yet. I know, I should probably be packing instead of writing this post, but I felt I couldn't leave everyone for almost a month without a little warning.
Anyways, details!!!
Thanks everyone for the mazal tovs! No, we're not joining our blogs, two totally different blogs generally about totally different things.
I got engaged the day after one of my best friends, and since I had two wedding dresses (long story short: a friend gave me two wedding dresses several months ago for free) I took one and the other one worked perfectly for S.S. I'm really glad about that since I know neither of their parents are wealthy, and it's one less thing to have to spend money on.
Hopefully I'll have more of an update for everyone when I get back, but right now I really should get back to packing if I want to get a semi-reasonable amount of sleep tonight. See y'all in a week and a half!

Mazal Tov!

I am the happiest girl in the world right now. Why? Because I just got engaged to the most wonderful man I know. He'd probably say I'm flattering him, and inflating his ego (which I admittedly am) and I probably sound like the swooning maiden who finds her true love, but at this point I really don't care. Actually, those in the Jblogosphere will know him, it's Child Ish Behavior. He asked me to marry him, and I said "yes" without a second thought. Now the fun starts.

Done!!!!

My last final was today, and I am now finished with the semester! Month -long break, here I come! Now it's time to take care of things I hadn't had the time to because of school. Like my phone (which some buttons are not working - uh oh!), my car (in desperate need of a wash and replacing the windshield wipers), and my computer (the screen has some serious issues).

Call Me Crazy...

I've been called crazy a lot. By my parents, my friends, random classmates...usually for various strange things that I do. Such as randomly deciding that I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle, or wearing high-heels on a day that I wold be standing pretty much the whole day, or my (typical) tendency to squeal "kitty!" or "doggy!" whenI see either of those. It has come to the point where I now consider being called crazy to be a compliment. So when people ask, "You're crazy, you know that?" I say "Yes." with a grin. Because, hey, who wouldn't want to be called crazy?

Eating Out (or Not)

Over at MM's blog, her latest post mentions a difficulty in deciding whether to go to a friend's birthday bash that is being held at a (for all intents and purposes) non-kosher restaurant. She wants to know if it's ok to go and drink her tea while her friends are eating there.
I have this same problem in a way. But here, it's not with my friends, but with my family. My father and his family are not religious, and every year, twice a year the entire family gets together at a non-kosher restaurant to celebrate my grandmother's b-day and mother's day. My father insists that I come along, as it would make my grandmother happy to see her eldest grandchild. I typically either eat before, or I bring a wrapped sandwhich (which the restaurant usually doesn't know about). No way to avoid it for me.

Burn Out

Stress. We all get stressed at some point or other. There's the good type of stress (preparing for a wedding, getting ready for guests) and the bad type (studying for a test, trying to finish a project/paper last minute). Either way, can lead to burn out. And boy, am I getting burnt out. Unfortunately from the bad kind of stress as opposed to the good kind. The good thing though is I'll be getting a month-long break from that after next Tuesday. Going up to NY for a week and a half, going to work, and in general relaxing. Then, once I'm recharged - back to school. A new semester, a new start, a new stress.

New York and Florida

OK, I know I've done posts on the differences between NY and South Florida. But that was more differences of the people that live in those places. This post is on the differences between the places themselves...and how very very very different they are.

Note: This is between NY (the city) and South Florida and not the states as a whole.

NY: Lots and lots of tall buildings.

SF: Buildings taller than 4-5 stories are unusual. Unless you're talking about downtown, which usually reminds me of NY in any case.



NY: Lots of leafy trees, and in the fall, the leaves actually fall...
SF: Palm trees, all different types, very few decidous trees.

NY: Lots of buildings made of brick witht he brick exposed.
SF: Buildings made of concrete, to keep the buildings cool.

NY: Public Transportation!!! (subways, trains, buses)
SF: None worth speaking of. Hard to get around without a car. See previous post about distances...

At Work...

"Hey, I have the right to remain silent, you hear me? Anything I say can and will be held against me in a court of law, pal. I have the right to an attorney, and if I cannot afford one, one must pe provided for me." - One of the boys, talking through the door.
"What are you doing?" - another boy passing by.
"Oh...hi! That was my twin brother...we were cloned."
"Riiiight." Other boy leaves.

Me - in the office trying not to crack up.

Half-Birthdays

Who celebrates half-birthdays? No one I know does, certainly. Today is my half-birthday, and though I don't do anything to celebrate it (or even typically mention it) and it made me think. I am now halfway through my 22nd year on this earth. 22 and a 1/2 years, and looking back at everything Ive been through, everything I've done. Perhaps a better time to typically reflect on this kind of thing is on my actual birthday, but let's face it, who has time then? (Between the cake and the presents...) So I thought back on all of that, for all of about 5 minutes...then went back to thinking about other things...like trying to figure out where those files had gone...