Back to the Big Apple

It's true, I'm back in the good ol' USA and I'm already so tired that I wish I could just close the door to my bedroom and sleep for a week! Since I haven't blogged for almost an entire week, I'm going to try to back track and remember the highlights of last week.

Tuesday - Tisha B'Av day was much better once Buggy came over towards the afternoon. I was stressing over my final on Thursday afternoon and all the things I needed to buy/do before leaving Israel after Shabbos. Buggy suggested that, even though it was a fast, we go to the Mall and at least buy all the things on my list. It was the smartest thing he could have recommended we do, as after 3 hours of running all of my errands at the mall (and food shopping at Mega), I was thrilled to have all my pre-flight errands taken care of. We drove back to the apartment and waited for the fast to end. I made us a small break fast and then Buggy and I went out for his sister's birthday. Poor girl, I can empathize about having a birthday on a big fast day. Mine can sometimes fall out on Yom Kippur!

Wednesday - I woke up in the morning in a complete panic about the strike, it was nail biting nerves for me. I absolutely HAD to get back to the States! Ever single day in the States is planned for and, if I even miss one day, I'll be in trouble for the wedding. So, I called Buggy's travel agent and she was able to get me on the 10:40 a.m. flight out of Ben Gurion on Thursday morning. She thought that if they would end up closing the airport, that they would just move up my flight to 7ish and I would get out. I spoke to the folks and they decided it was worth the money and so I booked the last ticket. That left me with a final that I wouldn't be able to get to, and so I had to call Professor Harvey and plead my case. The man was absolutely wonderfully understanding and told me to get in touch after the wedding so we could figure something out. I was so thankful and spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready for the morning flight. Buggy was working all day and so I decided to cook most of the food I had planned on making him for Shabbos. I made him a carrot cake and macaroni and meat for dinner. A few hours before dinner, I got a text message that my flight was moved up and that I had to be in the airport 5 HOURS beforehand! That meant being in the airport at 2:00 a.m.! Buggy agreed that it was ridiculous to go to sleep and then get up and go, so we decided to leave the apartment at midnight and I would just try to sleep in the airport.

Thursday - Midnight on Thursday morning and I had my last crying jag on Buggy's shoulder. I didn't want to leave him for the next 3 weeks, but it means that we're getting married and will P"G be together forever, and all of the emotions that have been pent up inside of me just flooded out. Buggy was wonderful, as usual, and told me to just let go and let out the emotions. It was tiring! Afterwards, we left and got stuck on the #1 to Tel Aviv. Fortunately, I still arrived with PLENTY Of time before the flight. I don't think I've seen so many people in the airport at one time. And Duty Free was hopping! People were flinging things all over the place and running for gates, it was pretty insane. And, my 7:15 flight was delayed almost 2 hours. I was wiped out at that point, and freezing from all the AC blasting over night, that I grabbed a large cup of tea and just waited at my gate to board. Finally, around 8ish, they started boarding the plane. I joined the line and when it was my turn, my boarding pass was rejected. They asked me to step to the side and my heart started pounding. I asked what was going on and they said they had to check. I had to get on this PLANE! What was going on? The woman behind the computer suddenly ripped up my ticket and I thought I was going to throw up. And then, she said one beautiful word:

upgrade

Miraculously, I was upgraded to business class. I was so relieved to be getting on the plane, I don't think the magnitute of what was happening hit until I walked into the business class area. The leg room! The extension on the seat recliners! The really nice stewardesses and stewards walking around with glasses (yes, GLASSES!) of water! I was so exhausted that I just put my stuff overhead and sat in the seat, opened my blanket and buckled my seat belt. I was asleep within minutes, barely remember takeoff, and slept straight through breakfast. I slept for 3 hours before finally getting up to see what was going on around me. Folks, if you ever have the money to fly to or from Israel on business class ticket, I highly recommend it. It was an absolutely pleasurable flight. I hope that one day, P"G, I will be able to afford to fly business class to and from Israel. Touching down at JFK was bittersweet, it was really nice to be home but overwhelming with wedding plans really coming to the forefront. I can no longer avoid everything that needed to be done! I got back to Queens after sitting on the Van Wyck for an hour and immediately went to work! My bed was under a mountain of boxes and I had to open them all before I could get any sleep that night! Buggy and I got some really great wedding gifts, and I'm already hard at work with the thank you cards! I'm hoping to get as many written before the wedding as I possibly can! I stayed up until Midnight and called Buggy in Israel to wake him up. As soon as he was coherent enough to get out of bed, I crashed and went to sleep.

Friday
Jetlag and excitement caused me to get up at 6:00 a.m.! That's insane in terms of time of morning, but I had a ton to do so I got out of bed. I ended up running a lot of errands on Friday, first going to SuperSol on Main Street to do some food shopping before Shabbos. I don't know if it was the sugar free 60 calorie Jello pudding snacks or that they actually BAG my groceries for me, but it was nice to be shopping again the America. From there, I went to Fresh Meadows to pick up some coffee and hit the CVS. I bought my brother this funniest card ever - it was a musical expressions card from The 40-Year-Old-Virgin and it was great! It was the reenactment of the waxing scene - classic! Afterwards, I drove over to see my Grandmother and pick up some more packages. We chatted for a bit and then I came back home to get working on my list! I had a list 3 pages long of things to do. And, while I was making the calls, I decided to try on the wedding shoes I ordered months ago.

They didn't fit. All three pairs! I freaked out a bit because my fitting is slated for Tuesday and you needed your shoes for that fitting, so I decided that I had to go into the City on Sunday to find wedding shoes.

The pressure is ON!

My parents made early shabbos and I was actually grateful for the break from my phone and computer. I fell asleep on the couch after dinner and somehow managed to make my way upstairs around 11:00 p.m. I slept like a rock until 9:30 the next morning when my AC went off with the Shabbos clock.

Shabbos
Very quiet. Didn't do any sleeping but read a million magazines. Realized that Cameran Diaz looks like a muppet after third issue of InStyle and wished that I had Jessica Biel's body. I think I'm going to have to take up some Pilates when I get back to Israel! I spent Saturday night at my computer, listening to musical selections so I can choose who is walking down the aisle at the wedding to which tune, while writing personalized thank-you notes. I woke Gaby up at 12:00 and then spent 2 hours looking through baby pictures for the wedding video. I was a cute kid until puberty and then, boy, did hormones not do me good. I selected what I needed and then went to bed, Sunday was going to be one hell of a day.

Sunday
The alarm went off at 8:00 and I sprung out of bed, ready to get going on the full list of items we had to do. Mom waited while I ate a quick breakfast and it was back to SuperSol to replenish some of the food we ate of the weekend. After we did the household errands, we hit the second half of Main for the rest. We went to Paper Palace and picked up plates, tableclothes and utensils for the Sheva Brachot. We then went to Lilac to talk about flower centerpieces for Sheva Brachot and they were in the midst of preparing for a wedding that afternoon. He requested that I come back later in the week and I took his card to call for an appointment. Next, we went into Town to get shoe laces for the bathroom baskets of drugs that we are putting into each bathroom at the Hall. I have to make sure to pick up any outstanding items but I think, with the stuff that I already ordered from Drugstore.com we should be set. We moved on to Main Sweet where I inquired about gift baskets for our out-of-town guests staying at the hotel the Shabbos before the wedding. The price was pretty reasonable and now I have to wait for him to create the sample so I can approve and hopefully, place an order before the wedding.

That's when the thunder started to go and we abandoned going to Amazing Savings for the rest of the kiddies bags and I headed back home to get ready to go into the City. I managed to avoid the really heavy rain and got a bus fairly quickly into Forrest Hills. I got to Lord & Taylor without much of an issue and thankfully, was able to buy both wedding sandals and sneakers! Elated that I got that off my plate, I waited for Melissa to join me and we had a really nice reunion shopping through the department store. I went with her back to the Upper West Side where I hung out with my brother for a bit before hunger started tearing away at my stomach. I called Cousin Neil and apologized that I wouldn't be able to wait until after his nap to hang out, and caught the subway back home. While waiting to transfer at 59th Street, there was this homeless man singing to a Karoake mix and as I got off of the subway onto the platform, he started singing my wedding song. It sent chills through me - which was really a tremendous feat given how stinking HOT it is in the subways of New York - and I felt like it was a sign that taking things one day at a time is going to payoff with a wonderful wedding (B"H!!!). I managed to make it home in good time and Dad was waiting for me at the subway stop to drive me home. With Jessica Biel's body in mind, I managed to keep to the diet and only ate a light dinner. I had the munchies though, and so I made my way through an entire stalk of celery. It was really yummy!

And now, I'm finally able to just sit down and update the blog. Dad just gave me a bit of a pep talk because some things aren't going as planned, and it was good to hear. At the end of the day, Buggy and I will IM"G be getting married, and nothing else really matters. That being said, until I know that he is on American soil, I'm gonna be a bit anxious. It's going to be a long 20 days until Chupah!

Tomorrow, I'm staying local so I can run some errands like finishing up the kids bags that we're making for all the youngsters coming to the wedding. I also want to try to get a pedicure and finish up with the thank you notes. I need to start figuring out how I'm going to pack everything to bring back to Israel and - at some point - I'm going to take a break with a big bag of vegees and watch Top Chef.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!