Buh Bye

So I haven't been blogging lately. Have you noticed?

The last time I decided to shut this site down, I got inspired again and wrote a few posts. And then... nothing.

This started as a way to keep in touch with people while I was in grad school. For a time, it was about the bedbugs. For a great majority, it was about dating.

Life looks a little different now. The past year has been one of the most challenging and difficult times in my life. With that said, I've also been (and continue to be) enormously in love, and incredibly grounded and present in my world. And there have not been words to document the disparity in these two experiences.

There may be words later, in a different place, and from a different voice. For now, I am content to just be.

AKA Dog

B and I are currently fostering a dog.

This came about *not* with careful planning and reasoned discussion, but with one of us (ahem) responding to an ad on Craigslist about a dog on the euth list with less than 24 hours to live.

How could we say no?

We pikced up Kilo this past Saturday, with the information that he was a 9 year old "Staffie mix" who had recently been abandoned when his owner was called for service in the army. We thought we'd be getting a nice, sedate companion dog.

Kilo is a maniac.

He hurls all 50 pounds of himself toward squirrels, birds, and insects. He circles our couch, never settling down. He doesn't seem to know his own name, or at least, does not respond to it. He's not so familiar with basic commands like "sit", "stay", or "please don't chase after squirrels". And in the past 24 hours, he's developed a wicked case of kennel cough that has him horking all over the apartment at all hours.

He's also a sweet, dopey, gentle dog who never got the right training. And though he is generally uncouth, when left alone in our home, he's very respectful.

B and I would love to adopt him, but neither of us has the time to devote to training, discipline, or structure. So, if you're looking for a dog, or know someone who is, would you consider Kilo?

After all, you could probably rename him anything you'd like.

Half Marathon Summary (One Word Answers Only, Please)

Long.
Windy.
Raining.
Long.
Cold.
Painful.
Fun.
Raining.
Cold.
Long.
Long.
Long.
Triumphant.

I Rock

This morning:

- I ran 2 miles in 19 minutes
- The Metro New York newspaper lady actually greeted me and complimented my sneakers
- I was able to reframe a potentially upsetting piece of communication as a marker of personal growth

Mexican Honeymoon...

was amazing.

We don't really want to be home right now. There's no fresh breakfast delivery at our apartment, sadly. Nor are there poolside drinks, or spa services, or clear blue ocean...

Our wedding was equally amazing; we spent much of our week away discussing just how awesome it was. I will try to recap later, but for now, I need to convince my husband (ha! I love writing that!) to turn off Fox News Channel and go vote.

Feelin' Newsy

- Marriage/Wedding coming right up, in about 52 hours. Feeling really calm and happy, and about to head out the door to Bliss for a massage.

- Thank you, unidentified neighbor, for the free internets. All the last minute planning this week would have been impossible without it.

- My long-standing crush on Brian Williams might be over, due to his quasi-endorsement of McCain, which I discovered in AARP magazine while waiting for my therapy appointment today.

- Oh, and did I mention I'm going back to work on November 10th? No? I can't really even think about it until I get back.

- Honeymoon location remains a surprise (for me). Surprised that it has remained a surprise, given my predilection for snooping, and B's tendency to blurt.

- And in case I forget to tell you later, I had an awesome time at our wedding.

It's All Small Details

- We're in the new apartment and we have free internet coming from somewhere.

- The apartment is HUGE. We love it, despite the mess of boxes and clothing and whatnot.

- We can't figure out how to turn the shower on. I am going to call the super. He will have to show me. This will be embarrassing.

- Stewbert is adjusting well, although he has certainly amped up his frantic eating/barking/ball playing activities as B leaves the apartment.

- Oh yeah, we're getting married in 9 days.

- Met with the DJ on Tuesday night who said that our first dance song was the best that he's seen in a long time. Score! He is going to invite people to dance with us after one minute, thus taking a lot of the performance pressure away.

- I'm changing my name personally, not professionally. It's strange to see my new name. I'm sad to leave behind my old name.

- I was also sad to leave the old apartment. Even though I really wanted to move, that place had a lot of memories.

- And we knew how to work the shower.

Almost There

We're just over 2 weeks to our wedding, and one week away from moving.

This morning, we started with a reminder to be calm to each other amid all of the stress. And then wishing each other a happy fifteen-month anniversary.

Later today, my favorite people start arriving for shower/bachelorette madness.

It's all really happening. Excuse me while I pinch myself repeatedly.

Just Checking...

I know that fasting is part of Yom Kippur. Is bitching about how hungry you are *also* expected?

Because if so, I've got both covered.

And...can I call it "The Yom"? It's catchy, no?

GET PSYCHED!

Made some good progress this weekend on both wedding *and* moving stuff, so I'm feeling a bit calmer.

In the meantime, looking forward to this:



B has never seen "psychotic Syracuse football fan" ridiculouschick, so this should bring a whole new level of interesting to our relationship.

Afianced

On Friday evening, just one day shy of our 10 month anniversary, B asked me to marry him. We were at the site of our first date.

Of course, I said yes!

I promise not to turn the blog into a wedding journal. Too much.

Crowded Hizzouse

B and I went to see Crowded House at The Fillmore last night. They closed with this, which was quite lovely:



Only bad part of the night? B couldn't use his "UNcrowded House" joke, since it was a sold out show.

In Between

I have reasons lately, for tottering on the edge of excitement.

There's nothing that I can fully write about yet (other than to post semi-cryptic blog entries) other than to say that I'm feeling pre-excited about the possbility of both of these things...and I'm holding a space for being more excited should they pop up.

I'd say I'm somewhere between happy/fluttery/anticipatory - and jumping up and down.

Passover Is So Over

- The General, B's brother, and B's nephew arrived early. Early enough to witness The Removal of the Schmaltz *and* Ridiculouschick: Unshowered.
- Stewie enjoyed about 20 minutes of freedom before he was banished into the gated kitchen on permanent time out for snapping at B's nephew.
- The matzoh ball soup was a definite cause of stress. Who knew you had to mix the batter, let it set/chill for 2 hours, form into balls, boil for 1 hour, remove, set/chill for another hour, then add to broth? Answer: plenty of people knew. I would've known, had I glanced at the recipe at any other time than last minute.
- Even my Dad knew, based upon on segment he saw that morning on CBS.
- The General seemed to have a good time. Sure there were a few instances of orders being barked ("Where are the small plates for the gefilte fish! You can't put them on the meat plates! Get some small plates!") but really, given her nickname, can you expect anything less?
- Everyone brought dessert, anticipating that B's first attempt at macaroons would be a disaster.
- Happily, they were wrong.
- V, our designated Haggadah reader, gave up after about 1 page, due to boredom (his and ours) and lack of attention (ours).
- The charoset was lovely, despite the addition of truly horrible supermarket sweet wine. (How good could it have been when the label on the bottle has to stipulate that the wine 'contains no fruit juice'?)
- When it was all over, B and I collapsed on the couch, laughing over our favorite moments of the day and making plans for next year.
- Yes, we're just that crazy/stupid.

Goy-a, Oh Boy-a

(Thanks to The Reporter's SIL for post title.)

B. and I REALLY got a lot done last night - we hung pictures from our trip to California *and* put together our new furniture. I guess having family over is a real motivator to make our apartment seem like we really actually live there.

Today, I need to go to Fairway to complete the rest of the grocery list (read: the items that B couldn't find the first time around), stop by a bookstore to pick up copies of the Haggadah (you should have seen what that looked like when I tried to spell it out phonetically), make sure the schmaltz separated from the chicken stock(I haven't looked at it since I put it in the fridge at 1:36 am Wednesday morning), and compose the charoset (note to self: resist guzzling the red wine in the process).

Rock On

When, after spending a day with your family (as we did Saturday) while your niece was having one of her "difficult" days and your parents are, well, your parents and you get back to the city too late to do any of the things that you were hoping to do (mostly, the gym) and you're running late, making The Librarian wait for you, and you have no time for dinner, and you know how cranky you can get when you're hungry...

...Stoli Razz and soda and rockin' out to this song can be helpful:


Note: Joe's Pub looked a little different from this video - thank doG.

DOMINATION

Last night - actually got my butt out to Conker Hill for trivia.

Here's what I took away:

- Renewed appreciation for the Damn Yankees, due to a question in the music category and their overall awesomeness
- A nagging and persistent need to look up this painting, also due to a question (but not so much with the awesomeness)
- 2 pints of Guinness, 1 game of Big Buck Hunter
- Admiration for B's random knowledge

oh, and

- A free bottle of premium vodka, because WE WON! (I'm probably much more excited about this than I need to be.)

Update

Been a little busy lately, watching BabyTV.

Vacation - Day 6 - L.A./Dana Point

Eating at In-And-Out Burger was a priority.

So was gawking at rich people (at least their houses).

At the end of the day, we very happily turned in our rental car and checked into the resort that was hosting MC & JJ's wedding. Above, the view from our room.

Vacation - Day 5 - Santa Barbara/L.A.

We had lunch in Santa Barbara (no pictures, for some reason) and drove the rest of the way down the coast to Los Angeles. Stopped for "dinner" at Neptune's Net where I became acquainted with the poor man's version of a chelada - Bud Light and Clamato in a 24 oz. tallboy. It was DELICIOUS.

We made it to our hotel in Venice just in time to walk out on the pier and watch the sunset.