Oh Henrietta

I'm in denial. I can't believe that in one week from tonight, I'll be on a plane headed back to Israel. Where has all the time gone? I feel like I still have so much to do! This last week here is going to be extremely hectic, especially since I have a lot of packing I have to get done in a short period of time. That being said, I've been packing up as I've gone along so I don't have that much to do.

Last week was an exhausting blur of bottles, diapers, baths, and cleaning. I went down to Baltimore last week and stayed from Sunday through Thursday after the bris. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun bonding with the family and spending some time with my new nephew. He is named after both of my Grandfathers and of course, I cried when my Father named him at the bris. Granted, I have a hard time with the whole bris to begin with (the baby is really crying up there people, don't tell me he's just cold!) but was especially choked up when I heard that he was named after two of my favorite people.

It was great seeing my nieces and my other nephew - and of course - it's always fun hanging with the sisters. I was able to get together with my friend Debra and we grabbed some coffee at Barnes and Nobles in Baltimore. There's also this new kosher dairy place called Cocochino, owned by the same people who run Accents, and they make the absolute best chai lattes. I've been on a mission to find the best kosher chai latte in the world and have been to many places in both New York and Israel and can confidently issue the following list:

Top 3 Best Kosher Chai Lattes
1) Coffee Shop, Jerusalem (Emek Refaim) - just the right amount of froth and sweetness! Perfect for a rainy Jerusalem day.
2) Cocochino, Baltimore - so sweet you'll be riding that sugar high for days!
3) XX, Katamon - Don't remember the name of the small cafe near Tayasim street, I'll have to ask Buggy next time we speak, but it's worth it for the froth alone!

After bearing witness to my niece's first poopy in the potty, I packed up yet again and took the Acela back from Baltimore to New York. It was Thursday afternoon/early evening and I anticipated that the train would be crowded and sure enough, I ended up sharing a seat with someone. When the trained pulled into Penn Station, I was shocked to see about 15 secret service agents rushing past me to get to the back of the train (where I had been sitting). At first, I thought they were there to arrest someone but then I noticed how nicely dressed they all were and realized that someone in the Government was riding the Acela from DC. It was clear who it was when I got out of the Penn Station and saw the entourage of black sedans and town cards screaming through the lights of the city.

Yup, I shared my train with Senator Hillary Clinton herself! Too bad I didn't get a chance to talk to her, I would love to discuss the speech she gave recently at a meeting with pro-Israel supporters. I would recommend she fire her advisor who thought it was a wise idea to discuss initiating in a dialogue with Iran, especially given that President's love for Israel and us Chosen Peeps.

But, this blog is not a political forum so I'm going to move on and talk about the awesome weekend I spent back on the Upper West Side! Marns and Rachel hosted me Friday night and it was the usual suspects: Cousin Neil, Ari, Rantz, Ilana and Elana. I was just so excited to see everyone, I don't really remember everything we talked about. It was just so nice to sit next to Cousin Neil and discuss the movie we want to see on Saturday night. Shabbos, I actually made it to shul in time for Torah reading. It's Marnina's fault really; she wakes up at 9:00 a.m. on the dot and is one of the first people in shul for services. Personally, I would have been happy to sleep late but figured since Marns and Rachel were going, I might as well rally. It was actually really nice to be there for services, and to see some folks at the Kiddish afterwards. After that, I raced back to Cousin Neil's apartment to prepared for lunch on Shabbos. I had to put the food on the plata to get hot, and make the taco salad. Fortunately, the boyz (aka Cousin Neil, Rantz and Ari) still had the punch bowl I bought for the taco salad. This bowl is absolutely huge and one of the best investments ever! When you're making one salad to feed 12 people, you need a big bowl folks. This bowl holds three bags of romaine lettuce, 2 orange peppers, a container of cherry tomatos, two ripe avocados, one container of mushrooms (stems removed, even if Ari thinks that's weird I just think the caps taste better!), an entire bag of crushed tacos and of course the dressing!

Lunch was a lot of fun! This time, the boyz hosted and Marns, Rachel, Fruma, Janet, Hannah, Liora and my friends Kess and Cuch all came. I did a lot of talking at that meal, especially about the trip I took with Hannah and Liora back in October. By the time I finished washing up (that punch bowl can take up to 15 minutes just to rinse!!) and made my way back to Marns and Rachel, it was too late in the afternoon to grab a nap. I went to visit Hannah and spend some quality time, which was nice as we hadn't really had a chance to chat in person since she left in October. With an hour left to Shabbos, I went back to Marns and Rachel's and basically hung out with them until Shabbos was over.

Saturday night was a lot of fun too. I went with Cousin Neil to see Pan's Labrynth and I highly recommend that film! It was pretty spectacular and the theatre was absolutely packed! I guess that's what four Academy Award nominations could do to a flick. I hope it wins the award for Best Foreign Film. After the movie, Cousin Neil and I headed toward Makor for dinner and were joined by Ilana, Rachel, Marns and Moshe the Costa Rican. Dinner was memorable; 'nuff said. I walked into my parents house in Queens at 1:09 in the a.m. (apparently I woke Dad up, sorry!) and was happy to finally fall into bed at 2:00 a.m.

Yesterday was pretty busy with errands, lots and lots of errands. Buggy is coming to visit me tomorrow and so I've been trying to get ready for that. Plus, I had to do another unpacking and load of laundry and put all the stuff I wore this weekend into the cleaners. Then, I got bitten by the cleaning bug so I tackled my parents house. Literally, I hit the living and dining rooms hard and let's just say it all looks beautiful now! I was so tired from all the dusting and packing that I fell asleep during the Grammy's last night. Yeah, I know, I didn't miss anything. The Dixie Chicks cleaned up apparently. That's a shame, I'm not a fan of country music.

Which brings me back to this morning and why I have been up since 5:30 a.m.! They are predicting a heavy snow storm from Tuesday night into Wednesday. That means there is a chance I won't be able to get into the City on Wednesday and so I need to pack my day today and do all the things I had been saving for Wednesday. I'm actually blogging right now from my Dad's office as I have another Dr.'s appointment up at Montifore hospital in the Bronx. After my appointment, I'm going to hop onto the express bus and head into the City to have my Mac and iPod "serviced" at the Apple Store on 5th avenue. After that, I have to head back home to Queens to bake some cake for Shabbat. I went to bed at 2:00 and was up at 5:30 so chances are, I'm going to be making tonight an early one!

For all those wondering about my title for the blog, here's the story. I've really liked this British band called The Fratellis for over a year now. Then, the hipster in charge of music for the Apple ad campaigns, decided to use the song Flathead by The Fratellis in the new iPod commercials and suddenly people everywhere are excited about this band (which, by the way, has been hugely popular in the UK for over a year!). So, if you've found yourself bopping to the commerical, that song is called Flathead. Personally, I prefer the song Henrietta to Flathead, its just got a much better beat.

Literature of the day is A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend: For Every Guy Who Wants to Be One/For Every Girl Who Wants to Build One by Felicity Huffman (yup, the Desperate Housewife!) and Patricia Wolff. Just in time for Valentine's Day, here is the latest in a long line of awful relationship propoganda books. If you read last year's The Game, this one should also gather dust on your bookshelf!