Remember me?

It's feeling like a list day. Astonishingly, the first of 2011. That gives me significant leeway on what to post. So:

1. Shoutout from a student. Emily Jones (sometimes Rosen, sometimes Ruth, sometimes Senator, always awesome), a woman who is about to take the world by storm. And once in awhile, she uses the SDR formula to showcase it. Thanks, Em!

2. This was waiting at my desk when I started my job (which, admittedly, was in 2010):

Appropriate today, since I'm in MAJOR camp withdrawal.

3. Most joyful wedding ever:


4. In the happiest place on Earth...(Kibbutz Sa'ad)

5. Adventures that could only happen in New York (like this indoor re-creation of Central Park):


6. Taking up photography again:


7. Aaaaand it's Sunday. Amen.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

...Secular winter wonderland. And I love it. So:

1. Ubiquitous Christmas decorations. The moment it gets cold, I'm ready for twinkling lights and boughs of holly. The Upper West Side has not let me down.

2. The color of the nighttime sky when it snows (like tonight!). One of my favorite precipitation-related phenomena...second only to the smell before a summer rain.

3. I have a big kids' job. Details to follow.

4. The butterflies that come from a new beginning (I officially start at the office tomorrow). I'm feel like I'm going to throw up...but in a good way.

5. Cap-Sac: the fannypack for your head. (It only sounds inappropriate...)

6. Comic Sans? Really, 243 W. 98 St.? You slay me, every time I walk by.

(This picture does not do justice to the hilarity. Way to let me down, googlemaps.)

7. Going to bed before midnight. Which I'm about to do right now.

Oh Look, It's Fall

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Hike to see the foliage? Not a bad way to spend a Sunday, I'd say.

Country Grammar

Spent a beautiful weekend in St. Louis - visiting Greta, seeing a little slice of her life, and hanging out with camp people at Wash U (Go Bears).

1. On Friday, we went to Beer School at Anheuser-Busch.'

That diploma was exceedingly easy to earn - all I learned was that Bud Light Lime and Wild Blue should never have been invented. Also, I still like Shock Top.

2. Lovely Shabbat dinner with Jessica Oynick, Jen Spielman, and Sarah Rubin. I still can't believe you're all grown up.

3. Sunday brunch and campus tour (how come no one ever told me Wash U looks like Epcot?) with Jess.



How gorgeous is this garden?

4. Greta told me about these last year. They continue to be awesome.

Good work on the environmental guilt trip, Wash U (The leftmost bin reads,"Landfill." The other two say "Recycling.")

5. Forest Park - giving Central Park a run for its community-building money since 1876.

6. Big Sam Deerson. One of my favorite members of the family.

7. Thanks for hosting me, GBD. I had a wonderful time.

...And Seven Reasons Why 5771 Will Be Even Better

As much as I loved my time in G-ville, I'm really looking forward to remembering what day-to-day life is like in the big city. Seven reasons why:

1. Living within walking distance of some of my closest friends. Because skype and gchat just aren't the same as hanging out in the same room.

2. Living near my family, for similar reasons. Bonus: Seffi at Columbia. I love being your neighbor, kid.

3. Weekend city adventures (the High Line and Sukkah City, so far)


4. Also, weekends in general. I forgot about those when I was a professional Jew.

5. Interviewing. While I would like to be gainfully employed (soon, please!), I'm actually enjoying being a full time office-visiter and shmoozer.

6. Having four seasons. Hello, fall. How are you?

7. It's New York, people. A wealth of cultural experiences like none other, in a city that actually doesn't sleep. Though the Starbucks in Library West was open later than the one on 93rd St...I guess Gainesville was more metropolitan than I realized. :)

Seven Reasons Why 5770 Was a Great Year

Yes, I disappeared for awhile. A long while. It was a combination of factors - I had gotten to be so entrenched in my unhappiness in Gainesville that the very act of finding seven positives each day seemed nearly impossible. More importantly, I think, I just got overwhelmed by the pressure of having to post every. single. day.

But I've been missing the blog. Missing the positive focus it enabled me to maintain. Missing the interactions it facilitated with friends - and even with some strangers.

So I'm back. I won't be here daily, but I'm going to try to be here a lot. And to start, let's have a bit of a (Jewish) year in review...


Seven Reasons Why 5770 Was a Great Year:

1. The climate in Gainesville. I mean, flowers grow there in February. That's a remarkable thing.


2. Wednesday Farmers' Market, I miss you.


3. Staffing Birthright - an experience I'll never forget (and hopefully, they won't either).


4. Gator Pride. Insane, but so fun to watch in action.


5. Alternative Spring Break - beautiful city, committed students, memorable week.


6. So many smachot...



(This video of my cousin Abby's husband Isaac serenading her will probably make your day.)

Mazel tov everyone!

7. My amazing students at UF. I learned more from you all than you could possibly imagine. I hope I taught you a little something as well. Miss you!

Throwback...to Several Weeks Ago

What up, kids? We begin the recap of recent events with the Saturday before Spring Break, both because it was a lovely day, and because I anticipate that this Saturday will be quite similar - lazy, gorgeous day, followed by super-anxious packing all night, with intermittent hysterical internet breaks.

Saturday:
1. I forgot to turn my phone off before Shabbat. This was a good thing, primarily because the buzzing woke me up when the management called - leaving me with exactly 37 seconds from the time of the missed to jump into clothes, before they showed up to tour the apartment.

2. And then I spent the bulk of the day reading in bed.

3. It was completely gorgeous outside...and incredibly quiet, since everyone was already gone.

4. "As a proud member of the NBC familia, we continue to broadcast this...nonsense."


5. Ok Go does it again (and, I think, significantly better) - behold a music video that is engaging without being distracting (for those unfamiliar with the original "treadmill video," click here):


6. Finally made it to Satchel's, a Gainesville institution. YUM.

7. Surprisingly humorous: