It's Gonna Be A Snotty, Sunshining Day

Check out my Bed Art! I've got empty bottles of water strewn about, one bag of tissues that's practically new while the other bag of tissues is empty and being utilized as a recepticle for my dirty tissues. And boy, folks, are those tissues yucky!

I didn't make it to class today, which is very frustrating since I only have one more class this semster! But, when my alarm went off this morning I literally could not move. My nose was stuffed, my knees were achy and I had such a bad headache. I turned over and went back to sleep, hoping that a few more minutes on snooze would help get me out of bed. It didn't work out quite the way I had hoped. I called Lisa in my class and asked her to send Professor Kramer my regrets and she warned me about the Aliyah sickness.

Huh? I'd never heard of that.

Apparently, it's a well known syndrome that affects people who make Aliyah. Basically, it takes about a year and a half for my body to get used to the Holy Land "bugs". And, in the interim, I'll continue to just get ill until my body can adjust to my new home.

Fan-freaking-tastic. Just what I need right now, constant illness.

I'm still swigging Nyquil though, drinking loads of fluids, force feeding myself hard boiled eggs and grapefruit so I keep my metabolism moving and just trying to rest up. Buggy is coming tomorrow night to take care of me (yea!!) but I'm really hoping to feel much, much better by then.

Anyway, staying home in bed ill has actually been pretty productive for me. I spent this morning working on the wedding program, and edited some stuff my sister sent me and then added some more information. I'm hoping to get that done and off my plate sooner rather than later, so that all I have to do when I get back to the States is send it to the printers. I also uploaded more pictures to the wedding website and checked our wedding e-mail to see if we got any RSVP's.

We did!

Sadly, there were 2 "not comings" and so that was a little disappointing. Ari e-mailed me to say that Daniel got his invitation but he didn't get his and "what's that all about". (Danny, Ari and Cousin Neil all live together and all three were getting invitations to the same address). I laughed and sent him back an e-mail that it's probably just a post office conspiracy against him and he'll get his with some melted chocolate or chewed up gum stuck to the back. Either way, folks, you should be getting your invitations any day now if you haven't already gotten them!

So, now with all the wedding stuff for today done and off my list, I can turn to my school work. I have to start a new story for Professor Kramer and also rewrite my last piece for Professor Hoffmann. I hope to be able to get the bulk of this done between today and tomorrow, so I can get THAT off my plate too!

Phew!

Well, since I have no appetite today, I really don't have a Crave of the Day, I'm just going to be really happy once I get the ability to taste back.

Postal Strike

I'm wiped. Between this nasty cold and the absolutely miserable heat of Tel Aviv, I'm tired. Last night, I went to bed at a decent hour and ended up waking up at 6:00 a.m. not able to breath. My cold had managed to clog up my sinuses and I was trying to sleep while breathing through my mouth. Lord knows what that must have sounded like! Either way, I was feeling lousy and couldn't get back to sleep. So, I turned on my computer and managed to chat up on some IM conversations with a couple of folks back home. I called over to the boyz in the James Tower and caught up a bit with Ari too, which was nice since I don't remember the last time I spoke to him. Melissa suggested that I take 2 Advil and I did, hoping that the muscle relaxant would have ease the tension in my shoulders, and by 7:30 I was back asleep.

Buggy called to wake me at 9:30 but I wasn't moving, so I wished him good luck on another final presentation, rolled over and went back to bed. El Jeffe called to wake me up at 11:00 a.m. and this time, well, I got myself out of bed and into the shower. Feeling a bit better after the shower, I quickly got dressed and ran to the bank before it closed. I deposited the money I got from Bar Ilan (reimbursed for part of my tuition this year) and then headed down to the SuperPharm on Gordon and Dizengoff to pick up some more tissues (I went through an entire box in a span of 2 hours yesterday).

At this point, as I was walking back to my apartment with my stuff, El Jeffe called about lunch. Since he was driving, I was more than happy to tag along and we went to Cafe Joe on Bograshov for some chow. Now, you know when you have a cold you just really don't have an appetite? Combine that with oppressive heat and I really didn't think I would want any food. But, as soon as the waitress put the plate of tuna salad in front of me, I realized that I was absolutely starving. We tucked in and before long we were both finished and ready to get back. El Jeffe dropped me off at the corner and then drove back to his apartment so he could get back to work.

I got back home, switched into my heavy duty sneakers, called Buggy to say hello, chatted with Mom in the States and then grabbed the bag of invitations and began the long walk to the Post Office. Imagine my SHOCK to discover that the post office was closed. Fortunately, Buggy called just then and I read the letter posted on the door. It looks like these people are on strike - again. Lord knows why they are striking, but they just are. Since there were two big post office boxes in front of the building, I made the executive decision to just put all the stamped envelopes into the boxes and prayed that the strike would end soon so that my Israeli invitations would go out before people left for vacation.

I decided to stop by Boris and Maya's on my way back to the apartment because I literally have one onion and 4 shallots in my vegetable supply. Since that's really not enough for me, I had to replenish my fruit and vegetable stock for the rest of the week.

People, for 48 shekel, which is around $12, I purchased:
1 head of cauliflower (for beautiful roasting)
2 lemons (for dressings)
10 mini plums (for a quick snack)
6 vine ripened tomatoes (great for Israeli salad)
2 HUGE grapefruits (Vitamin C to help fight this cold)
2 red peppers (perfect for taking to school as snack)
5 nectarines (low glycemic index for pre-breakfast fruit)
9 cucumbers (for great Israeli salad)

While there are a lot of things in this country that's significantly more expensive than in the States, fruits and vegetables are so much cheaper and in some cases much better! I'm missing blueberries though, and need to start my list of things I want to eat when I'm back in New York. Fake crab for crab salad and blueberries are topping the list!

And that brings us to:

Crave of the Day I miss summer BBQ's in New York, the ones back in the day when my Dad would put on his skivvies and knee socks and grill over charcol underneath the front porch. We would set up a table on the porch and after a long day at summer camp, come home with hamburgers and hot dogs with slices of watermellon for dessert. What I miss, besides the nostalgia of it all, is the corn on the cob with a pat of melted margarine sliding down. I love corn of the cob right off the grill, although I don't like the husk it myself, I like seeing the grill marks on the corn itself as the way the margarine drips around the kernels to make it shine. With a little shake of the salt, it's a perfect side dish to the hamburgers!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

There's a lot to write in today's blog so I warn folks reading to go to the bathroom now, as if embarking on a trip, so that you won't have to pull over and stop reading in the middle.

Let's rewind to Thursday, when I spent the morning shvitzing at the laundromat and doing pantomime theatre with a French woman who spoke no Hebrew or English. It was pretty funny, but we managed just fine and she was able to take care of her washer and dryer without a problem. I then went to Dizi at Dizengoff Center to meet Rachel and Oren, who are back from their trip to the States, to say hello and pick up the package of invitations my Mom sent with them. Thank g-d for Rachel, otherwise, we wouldn't have had enough invitations for Buggy's list! I hung out for at least an hour, just catching up and relaxing, before going back to my apartment to pack and get ready. Yuda sent a driver to pick me up and at 8:00 p.m., I was heading towards Jerusalem and Buggy!

Now, here is an example of shooting myself in the foot. For months now, Buggy has been telling me not to tip cab drivers in Israel. He said, unlike cab drivers in the States, you just don't tip. Yuda sent his friend Avi, who has driven me to Jerusalem a couple of times before. In fact, he was the driver who was taking me when the cab broke down right outside of Lod about 45 minutes before Shabbos. I didn't like how he behaved during that instance, but as long as he's a responsible driver I pretty much suck it up and just go with it. Well, when Avi pulled up in front of Buggy's parent's house, I asked him how much I owed him because I just didn't remember. He said, "last time you gave me 270 shekel, so that's what you owe me." Buggy was a little annoyed, because he knew that I had given a tip last time, and so I gave him that money but didn't appreciate that he told me to tip him. I wasn't annoyed for long though, because I was just so happy to see Buggy (it was a week!) that I didn't care.

We were pretty starving, so we hopped into the car and went to Ema's for dinner. The food was actually pretty good, I had a vegetable soup with kabob and Buggy (as usual) had the Pargiot. We got back to his parents place and then both crashed for the evening. Buggy woke up bright and early on Friday because he had a final presentation at school and I got up because I had an appointment for a blow out (or Fan as they call it in Hebrew) at the salon next door. With the heat and humidity, I knew there was no way I could tame my hair into submission by myself. And, since prices for blow outs are pretty reasonable in Israel, I decided to treat myself.

Chanan was the KING! My hair was so straight, it looks like I went and got the Japanese Hair Treatment to permanently straighten my hair. And, even in the terrible heat, my hair still stayed straight. Buggy got back from the final presentation early and together, we got ready for the wedding. We ended up arriving 30 minutes after the wedding officially began and were SHOCKED to see that we were one of the first people at the wedding.

FOLKS - if you are coming to our wedding in P"G a few weeks, please COME ON TIME! The Chupah will be on time! The badeken will be on time! I don't want to be sitting in the chair all by myself for an hour before people show up! That would be so sad :(

Anyway, there were between 600 and 700 people at this wedding, which was an insane number for me to comprehend. The cocktail hour was nice and then I missed the badeken because I had to go to the bathroom (lots of water folks in this heat!). The Chupah, though, was outside and with the weather hovering around 91F and the strong Jerusalem sun beating down I was cooking (I also was wearing ALL black!). Buggy and I escaped towards the bushes and tried to stand underneath. I felt the sweat dripping down my shirt and into my bra. It was gross. And yes, as usual, I cried after the ceremony. I am going to be such a mess at our wedding, oy! Buggy's Dad asked us to take a sip of the segulah wine, which was cooking underneath that Chupah, and then we joined the crowd inside for the meal.

When we got to our pre-assigned table, however, all the seats were taken. I was surprised, as I thought the table was a family table. Well, since Buggy's sister was in charge of seating arrangements, we consulted with her and discovered that people just sat down at our table randomly. They just took their food (it was buffet) and decided that our table looked good and sat down. Well, Buggy's sister was having none of that and she marched over and ordered everyone to get up and get out. Unfortunately, they had used all the utensils and ate all of the chocolate party favors that were left for us (the groom makes chocolates for a living). So, we waved over a bus boy and asked him to get us all new utensils. Since the hall was so huge and full of people, he got lost and went from table to table before he finally found the right one (30 minutes later).

Towards the middle of the dancing, I was getting really tired from the heat. Buggy and I bade everyone farewell and heading back to his parents house, where I prompty passed out from the heat. I woke up 30 minutes before Shabbos, which gave me just enough time to shower (again) and light candles.

Shabbos itself was very relaxing. Buggy and I were alone for the most part, with his brothers and neice floating in and out with friends for Kiddish and throughout the afternoon. We thought we would spend Saturday night with a movie and relaxing before our hectic weeks, but Buggy's parents decided it would be a good time to get the invitations ready.

I was up until 3:00 a.m. working on the invitations! His folks left me around 1:30 after we went through lists and stuffed envelopes with Aufruf and Sheva Brachot cards, and made sure addresses were correct and names were spelled right and the response cards had numbers. I spent the extra hour and a half licking stamps for all 200+ envelopes.

I know, I know - I saw that Seinfeld episode and no, I was not concerned. Buggy woke me bright eyed and bushy tailed on Sunday morning as he ran to get some work done in the office and I got ready for my meeting with Professor Hoffmann. Now, I had no idea where we were meeting. He mentioned Cafe Hillel but there are 3 in Jerusalem! I knew it wasn't the Cafe Hillel on Emek Refaim though, because that was too far from his house. But, I wasn't sure and I didn't have a phone number to verify. I quickly sent an e-mail and prayed that Professor would see it before Sunday morning.

No Dice.

Buggy and I rationalized that he must mean the original Cafe Hillel on Hillel street, so I took my laptop, papers and my iPod and began the walk from Buggy's parents house to Cafe Hillel. I usually cut through by the Prime Minister's house, but there was a suspicious object and so I was stuck going around Achad HaAm and back up Keren HaYisod Street. Once I got to King George though, and past the Sheraton, the walk was primarily in the shade so it wasn't too bad. I got to the restaurant 20 minutes before my appointment and settled in to wait. In the meantime, I called someone from the class and asked her what she thought. She rationalized that since Professor H. lives in the Old City, he probably meants the Cafe Hillel on Jaffa. I had NO IDEA though where that was. First she said to go to the Village Green, but that just made me go huh? Then she said to go towards Kikar Tzion but again, I had no idea where that was!

She yelled that it was time for me to learn how to get around Jerusalem. I told her patience, I'm a Tel Avivian. I asked her about Kent and was able to figure out from there. I had the women behind the bar put my iced coffee into a to-go cup and with 10 minutes to go, sprinted through Ben Yehuda, past Kent, across the street and 2 blocks to Cafe Hillel. I made it in time and sure enough, there was Professor H. waiting for me.

I was, at this point, covered in sweat. The flies were gravitating towards me and once again, I felt like Pig Pen. I don't think I smelled though, so that's good, and the meeting went very well. 2 1/2 hours later, we parted ways and I sat outside to wait for Buggy to come pick me up for a quick lunch. But first, we stopped in at Mr. Meltzer's to pick up my Yichud Room present. I love the gift, but won't say what it was so that people can be surprised when I get it B"H at the wedding.

Afterwards, we walked back towards Hillel street and had a quick lunch at Burgers & Chicken. Not bad, I got my huge dose of protein and some vegees to boot. We went back to the office where Buggy finished working on a model for a final project this week and I helped with the pins and some glue. We got back to his parents place for a quick change of clothing, then headed out towards town for a quick bite to eat and then to the Mall to meet with him Chosson teacher. The meeting was nice, although it was a bit rough since he didn't speak any English, but we managed to make it through and Buggy was really happy. Afterwards, we got back to his parents house and again, both of us passed out. I haven't been going to bed before 2:00 a.m. since Thursday night and when I got up at 8:00 a.m. this morning I really felt the exhaustion.

Today, we were back at the Mall for my neurologist appointment. The good news is that she doesn't think my pseudotumor cerebri has come back. The bad news is that I still have vertigo and we need to figure out why. The next course of action it an ENT appointment. Hopefully, I won't have to do that until after the wedding. Afterwards, Buggy and I got breakfast at Cafe Neeman in the mall and I kept asking him for a cinnamon bun. He refused, as I warned him months ago that no matter how much I ask for it, he has to make sure I don't get it. Wedding lent is important! Well, after whining for a few minutesI told him that we left the wedding early and I didn't get dessert then and so I deserved it now. Finally fed up, I guess, he lifted his hand to order me a cinnamon bun and that's when I started laughing.

I was bluffing and poor Buggy folded.

Sans cinnamon bun, we went downstairs for some low-fat ice cream and frozen yogurt, and made our way to the garage in Talpiot to fix Buggy's tailight. Then, it was back to Buggy's parents place where I packed up and waited for Doron the driver to pick me up and bring me back to Tel Aviv.

At this point, I'm really dragging. I've got a lousy cold and I haven't slept for almost 4 days. All I wanted to do in the cab was fall asleep, but he wanted to chat so I talked the whole way back to my apartment. When I got here, everything looked status quo. The door I always close was closed, the apartment was hot from no ventilation, and my TV was still here. When I dropped my stuff in my bedroom and headed towards the kitchen to get a drink of water, however, I was shocked to see a piece of popcorn on the floor. I have a white mat in my kitchen floor, so it was camafloudged (sp) by the mat. That's odd! Popcorn isn't on the diet, I haven't had any popcorn in this apartment for months now, and I certainly didn't pop any before I left. I did some more digging and noticed another piece of popcorn underneath my AC in the living room.

WTF?

Then, when I went to turn on my AC, the remote control said 27C, when it was 21C when I left the apartment on Thursday night.

I don't know whose been sleeping in my bed, but it looks like someone has been in this apartment. I immediately called Itai and asked him about it, and he claimed that he never stepped foot into the apartment. He mentioned he "heard some noises" but thought it was from upstairs. He said it definitely wasn't him.

Bullshit!

He's the only one with keys to my apartment and I know for a fact that the neighbors have been complaining that my AC is making too much noise. I bet that Itai let himself into the apartment, while he was chowing down on some popcorn, and checked my AC. But, since contractually he is not allowed into my apartment without my permission first, he denyed that it happened to begin with.

So, I guess I have some popcorn eating ghost who likes to haunt my place and then jack up my AC so that hot air is blowing instead of cold air. I wish I had the nanny cam right now! I would set it up and count every time Itai let himself into my place without permission and then bust his ass for breaking the contract. What a jerk.

I'm so happy to be back in my apartment though, really, it's nice to have my own space and to be able to walk around in my underware and a t-shirt (hahaha, how's THAT for too much information?). Tomorrow, I have to go to the post office and mail my wedding invitations (to my Israel list) and go to the supermarket since I have absolutely no food in my apartment. Since I'm so tired, I think I'm going to just skip dinner tonight. It doesn't pay to hit the supermarket today, even though it's only 4:30 p.m. I also have got to get started on my short story for one of my final papers and I need to hand in to Professor Hoffmann a rewrite before I can get a grade in the class. That, and if I don't pick a date to move and get movers, I'm going to be in trouble!

Crave of the Day is pancakes & syrup. When I was little, my Mom would make us a huge pancake breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. We would eat around the big yellow kitchen table, pulled out from the radiator for someone else to sit at the other head, and scarf down our food so we could get back to the TV and the parade. The big breakfast helped tied us over until we got to Aunt Amy's for Thanksgiving dinner. And, as delicious as her turkey and side dishes were, nothing beats Mom's pancakes with Aunt Jemima's syrup! Yummy!

Pitor and Pastries

The program is DONE! I am a bit in denial right now, I can't believe that this year is over. Where did all the time go? I feel like just yesterday, I showed up on campus a few days before school to meet Josh, Yonatan and Josh's Mom for a campus tour. How did we get here? How did we finally get to the last day of this program? The program that I uprooted my life for, moved 6,000 miles across the globe for and ended up meeting my soulmate because of? (wow, that sentence is super awkward, but you get the point, right?)

Surreal how time flies. If only the next 59 days will go as fast, I'll be a happy and P"G married lady.

I don't know where to begin, it's overwhelming. First, the amount of work that I still need to do before the wedding and second, the fact that now I have to write my thesis (and finish up a bunch of other stuff like papers and finals).

OK, Monday I spent the day trying to get organized! I wanted to put all of my Aliyah papers, bills and school stuff in one place. I hate when I feel that I'm all cluttered. So, I walked to the Mall and went to Kravitz and Happenings to buy some supplies. I also got some masking tape and pens for the boxes that I will inevitably pack for the move. Granted, I still need to hire movers, but that's another story. Anyway, after loading up on some supplies, I headed back to the apartment to get myself organized. I was also thrilled to get the letter from Bar Ilan that says I'm patur from one of the Jewish Class requirements. As part of the University requirements for a Masters, you must have at least 2 of these courses. Since I'm taking Professor Harvey's course this year, and with my new pitur based on my transcript from my days at Seminary, I'm done with the requirement! (Woohoo, provided of course that I pass Professor Harvey's final That will leave 2 courses and my thesis until I get my Masters!) Anyway, the day went by pretty quickly, I read some stuff for the last class, made my lunch, bought some Peppridge Farm cookies for the party and went to bed.

Tuesday was hot, I mean, it's getting steamy hot in this Country. When I got into the elevator I almost threw up, the stench of bad milk and body odor was overwhelming. As usual, I got to class too early so I set up the room, took out the cookies and just waited. I was a little nervous about workshopping my final story, but I was hoping people would give me really helpful criticism. Fortunately, majority of the comments were very on point and I think I have a lot to go on for the rewrite. Sometimes, I know in my head what I want to come out at the end of the story, it just takes a while until I can get there. I hope to get there sooner rather than later. After we workshopped, the food came out and I was in awe at the selection. How did everyone know just what I like to eat and just what I can't eat on the diet? I mentioned to Michael Kramer how much I wanted to graze through the box of pastries but because of my wedding lent it was offlimits. Michael chuckled at the phrase and said that I keep teaching him some new terms. I laughed cause he hasn't read any of my new stories; he's in for quite an education.

Let me discribe the contents of the party table for y'all, and especially for the benefit of Cousin Neil who is pretty much the only other person I can think of who would appreciate the spread, and you can understand why this pepper/protein muncher was in awe: 1 large bag of potato chips, air popped popcorn, 2 tins of brownies, a bunt cake, a container of pastires that included my favorite cinnamon buns and rugalach, the 2 boxes of Pepperidge Farm cookies I brought, some English eight mints (I think that's what they were called) that Lisa pulled out of her pantry and loads of drinks. I was okay as long as I stayed in my seat with my red pepper in hand. Man, I just wanted to pull the bag of potato chips into my lap and go to town. There is nothing I miss more than mindless crunching of the potato chip. I wouldn't have been so frustrated if I was starting to see some results on the scale but I'm still stuck at the same weight! Its been 2 weeks now and I'm getting pretty nervous that the numbers ain't budging. I started added more exercise, mixing up my eating habits, switching from my watermellon to low-sugar content fruit and I'm praying that my plateu will end soon. Buggy told me to stop stressing, that I'll still look great at the wedding, but I'm not doing this for the gown. I'm doing this for the honeymoon! If I'm supposed to be in a bathing suit for an entire week, I sure as heck don't want not cellulite or a beer belly hanging out over my bikini bottom. That just ain't attractive!

We had another guest writer join us for the last Jewish Arts Seminar and, well, I think I might have been a bit hard on him. I feel a little bad about my questions, but I am not an mystery genre enthusiast. In fact, I pretty much abhor the genre and find it tedious. It's like Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picault novels - they all follow the same successful formula that appeals to a certain demographic of readers which makes it a commercial success. When I asked Michael Wiley, whose novel The Last Striptease has a picture of a Vietnamese prostitute on the cover, why he thinks people like the genre I didn't really get such a satisfactory response. In fact, I don't even remember what he said, I just remember that it didn't really answer my question well. Pesonally, I would have preferred we not have Michael Wiley come as a guest speaker at our last class, and had more of a wrap up to the program. I felt very flat when I left the room, as if we just had this intense year and there was no completion. To borrow a term from the course - there was no narrative completion - and if this were a story I was writing, I would have to go back and tweak the ending. I'm meeting with Allen Hoffman on Sunday to discuss my stories and my thesis proposal, so I'm going to also ask him what they did in prior years at the end of the program.

So, I got home yesterday a bit dazed and then it dawned on me - 2 months until the wedding! And, I started to get really hyper. I called some friends in the States and talked like a mile a minute, I went online and did some more searches for bride hairdo's cause I have no CLUE what I'm doing with my hair for the wedding, and then I kept calling Buggy to scream excitedly at him that we're getting hitched in 60 days. I finally exhausted myself around Midnight, which was good, because I had to be up at 7:00 a.m. for Kramer's 10:00 a.m. class.

I woke up at 3:30 in the morning, drenched in sweat, mouth dry and dehydrated. My chest was covered in sweat, with trickles already started to pool and soak around the waistband of my shorts. My sheets, which has been twisted around me, were sticked to my body and stained. My pillow was soaked through and some of the purple thread of my new sheets had bled into the white. Oh, check out my new sheets! I got up and went into the bathroom to clean myself off and was shocked that I was covered since my AC was at 21C! That should have been cool enough to keep me comfortable all night. Well, when my alarm went off at 7:00, I was wiped. I really couldn't think about getting out of bed and going to school. I promised Buggy I would call to wake him, so I sent him an SMS and then tried to snooze. Guilt finally got me up and out of bed and I managed to shower and get dressed and leave the apartment in plenty of time. Class today was good, so it was well worth it to come. We're discussing Holocaust literature and compared two short stories by Cynthia Ozick and Melvin Jules Bukiet. I highly recommend both stories, if only for the contrast in characters and style.

We got to Professor Harvey's class and the attendance was really, really sparse. I sent around the attendance sheet and settled in for the lecture. Since he's going to be in Spain next week, we only have one more class of the year and so we had to really focus on the texts. The class wasn't as exciting as usual, but it was interesting nonetheless. I found myself listening to the material more for the test purposes and less because I was interested. I think the stress of the exam is really starting to get to me, especially since we have to now decide on a Moed Gimmel date. Part of me wants it over with before the wedding, but with the move coming up, I think I might have to suck it up and take the test in September. We'll have to see.

As for tonight, I'm hoping to meet up with Oren and Rachel to find out about their trip to Manhattan and pick up the extra invitations Mom sent through them. I also want to pack a suitcase with some shoes and clothing and move them into Buggy's apartment. I figure the less stuff I have to move in a few weeks, the less stressed out I'll be. As for tomorrow, I've got loads to do starting with a huge mound of laundry, packing, figuring out what I'm wearing for Shabbat and the wedding we have on Friday, meeting with Rachel and Oren (if we don't meet up tonight) and pull together stuff for my meeting with Professor Hoffman and the neurologist appointment I have on Monday. I'm staying in Jerusalem through Monday afternoon, so I have to make sure I have everything with me for such a long stay.

And, before I foget, I have got to start a wedding countdown and moving to Israel for good list. That includes last minute shopping excursions and asking Mom and Dad to start stocking up on Crystal Light for me. This new pink lemonade I've been drinking is fabulous!

Oh, and if anyone else but me is hooked on the new Rihana song Umbrella, I feel your pain. It's an annoyingly addictive song and I can't wait for it to not be on the radio playlists in this Country.

Crave of the Day is a hush puppy. I absolutely adore a hotdog, covered in mashed potatoes and then wrapped in a knish bun! Dipped in mustard, it's heaven! Unfortunately, it's definitely not part of the diet nor have I even seen one of these in this Country. If I were back on the Lower East Side, I would get myself a table at Noah's Ark and order these with a stack of their french fries and a plate of chocolate chip cookies for desert. Yummy!

Private HolyLandHipster is in the Army Now

Well, I hope to speak to my folks before my Dad reads this blog entry. I don't want them to freak out too much. So, today was extremely productive. I am sitting in Buggy's Mom's office blogging while Buggy is across the street at a study group. We had quite a morning today in Yafo. First of all, Yafo is an extremely quaint, beautiful city at the base of Tel Aviv. Years ago, the port city was teeming with fishermen and an extremely active area for boats coming in off of the Mediterranean. Since the Namal opened up years ago, the port city doesn't really function as much but it still maintains some fabulous architecture and fish restaurant. It's in this city, which is populated primarily by Israeli Arabs, that the Customs office is located. When I went to Misrad HaKlita, they told me that I needed to go to Customs to open a file so that I could have my Zechuyot, which I need when buying a car, appliances for the apartment, sending a lift, etc.

So, Buggy and I decided that today was a good day to go down to Yafo since we spent Shabbos in Tel Aviv. We took a cab down there and told the cab driver to take us to the Meches (taxes/customs). He immediately knew where to go so I didn't need to dig anything out of my purse like the address. Nevertheless, we got to the dingy building and were handed a number. It was 493, and that was pretty high but since they had opened at 8:00 a.m. that morning and it was already 11:45, I figured a lot of folks had been through. There was one woman before us, and only 1 woman working behind the desk.

Typical.

Buggy and I settled in for a long wait. Two other people joined the line and now we were getting a little ancy because it wasn't moving and time was going by quickly. Finally, a gentelman came out and asked what we all wanted. I told him why I was there and he went in to hand me a piece of paper that said exactly what I needed in order to opent he file. Hmmm, I wish someone would have told me this BEFORE I left my apartment, I would have made sure to have all the documents.

While reading the list, though, I noticed that it said I needed my Army status. Well, I don't HAVE army status. I didn't do the army because I was in American during those years. When I asked him what the requirement was talking about, he said that it was a "big problem" that I didn't have either proof that I served or an exception and without it, I wouldn't be able to open up a file with Customs.

Well, Buggy stepped in to try to sort this all out in Hebrew. I tried to follow their conversation but they were throwing loads of words around and names of places not familiar to me. At one point, Buggy's eyes well - bugged out - so I knew something big was up. He finally turned to me to translate.

I need to go to Tel Hashomer, to the recruitment office, to work everything out with the Army. I asked him if he thinks they would draft me into the army, given my age and everything (and when I mean everything, I am referring to the fact that I am overweight and the army would probably kill me), and he said he honestly didn't know but that was what needed to be done. Then Buggy told me that he was there once, on his first day of the army, and it's not a very pleasant place. The woman in front of us online told me not to worry - the most they would keep me in the Army at 30 is 2-3 months.

What the hell?

In the cab back to my apartment, Buggy called the recruitment office at Tel Hashomer and started explaining my situation. The next thing I know, I hear him mention something about my "medical condition" and then he hung up. He was as perplexed as I am but they said I should send a fax detailing my situation and see what happens from there.

I think I'm going to avoid the fax and go down there in person on Thursday. Unless I'm physically there, it is going to take a year and a day until they get to it and I need to get customs off of my list before the wedding. Otherwise, I won't be able to bring any wedding presents into this country!

I hope they don't draft me folks. Honestly I do, and not because I wouldn't be thrilled to serve but because the timing is off. If they can hold off until after the wedding, well, maybe then I could swing it.

Worse comes to worse, the 18 year olds will all be calling me Savta Private HolylandHipster and I'm going to be panting to keep up with them during basic training.

So, Shabbos was really nice, especially once everything with my evil landlord was dealt with. Basically, my friend Jeff came by and helped even the numbers so that they couldn't gang up on me. We decided on an appropriate time for me to move out, I paid them for 6 months rent, and gave up my security deposit. Whatever, I'm not letting it upset me anymore, it's over and done with.

Buggy knew I had a rough day so he sent me 2 dozen red roses. They are gorgeous and I'm going to put up the pictures a little later on. Since my morning was spent with the landlord, and then I went out with Jeff and met Lana and Gayle F. for brunch, I was behind the 8 ball with shabbos preparations. That's when I got the call from the florist that I should be home for the delivery. I waited and waited and waited. In the meantime, Buggy came from Jerusalem and we waited together. Finally I called, since I had to run out and buy chicken otherwise Buggy and I would be eating cheerios for shabbat. They told me that apparently, the delivery guy had been here but I didn't answer my door so he left it with a neighbor.

Which neighbor?

Buggy started knocking on doors on my floor. Nope, no one had the flowers. He went upstairs and startedk knocking on those doors. Nope, two out of the three didn't have them either. I was frustrated and pressed for time, so I called the guy back and said that it was ridiculous and we weren't going to be knocking on strangers doors for the rest of the afternoon! So, he sent the delivery guy BACK to my apartment to find the flowers.

We didn't give him a tip, were we supposed to? He couldn't even tell us which apartment to go to!

Anyway, we went out and picked up some food for Shabbos. We went to Boris and Maya's for fruits and vegetables and decided to try the papaya. I've never had fresh papaya before - neither has Buggy. I was so excited about it too! I decided to save it for Kiddush on Shabbat.

On the walk home, I confided to Buggy my latest fantasy. I told him that I would love to be baked into the center of a gigantic cinnamon bun (you know, one that the Guinness Book of World Records would induct) and then eat my way out of it. I told him that I would want to be baked inside up to my waist, so I could have my arms free to grab at the delicious cake and just eat my way through the wheel. I don't think Buggy laughed that hard in his life!

Can you tell this diet has got me a bit mad?

Somehow, I managed to cook Shabbat and have time before candel lighting. But, because I spent the whole night scratching on Thursday night instead of sleeping, I ended up falling asleep at the table during dinner! Poor Buggy, he doesn't see me all week and I fall asleep before dessert. He took pity on me and helped me put everything away so I could get to bed. I was asleep by 11:30, which is extremely early for me!

Shabbos itself was nice and relaxing. We enjoyed each other's company and the food turned out ok! Then, last night, after I washed all the dishes and cleaned the apartment, we went to the movie theater Rav-Chen and saw the new Fantastic Four. Buggy LOVED it and, well, it was mindless entertainment for me. And, as long as he was really happy, it was worth it! We then went to this bar called Cerveza on Dizengof to say farewell to Lana, who is off for the next 2 months to visit her folks in the States and then go traveling with them to Italy, etc. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and had Melavah Malka. A very enjoyable Shabbat!

As soon as Buggy gets back from his study group, I think we're going to grab a bite and then he's going to take me to the bus stop. I have to go home tonight because I have a HUGE mound of laundry I want to do tomorrow. Otherwise, it's just going to pile up and I'm going to be left with the Granny Panties again.

Happy Father's Day Dad!!! We left you a voicemail this morning, but just in case, hope today is a GREAT one!

Crave of the Day is pizza. But not just any piece of pizza will do, oh no! I want two plain slices of Shimon's pizza, with its sweet sauce and oozing cheese, it's my absolute favorite! It's going to be hard to be back in Queens before the wedding, and NOT treat myself to a slice before Buggy and I return to Israel for Sheva Brachot. Difficult, but I think I'll manage....at least, I hope I'll manage!

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me

Buggy and I almost did something really naughty at the bank today. No, we weren't thinking about becoming Bonnie and Clyde, although that could have been an interesting scenario. No, what we had in mind was far more mischevious then criminal. And, it involved peaches. But, before I tell the story of the Bank HaPolim Peaches Predicament, I have to give a quick synopsis of Tuesday/Wednesday.

Tuesday morning, woke up feeling nasty. Headache and some nausea so I stayed home from school which was good because I had to finish my story. So, I wrote for most of the day, caught up on some e-mail backlog and did some wedding stuff before hitting the hay. Wednesday it was bright and early wake up for me, in school by 8:30 a.m. Professor Kramer's class was great, as usual. We discussed Tillie Olson's short story Tell Me a Riddle which is one of the saddest pieces of literature that I've ever read. While Professor Kramer tends to cry every time he reads the piece, my tear ducts stayed dry. It was sad but not boo-hoo sad. After Professor Kramer's class, it was on to Professor Harvey's and now we're really at the meat of the course! We're finally discussing Free Will vs. Gods Knowledge of Paticulars and it's getting interesting. I think I'm going to opt to write the 3-4 page paper on this topic, which should be pretty easy for me. I've been grappling with the Free Will vs. Preodination concept since Junior High School and I will be absolutely thrilled if this course gets me to a satisfying answer.

After class, Tobye drove me to the bus stop and I walked home, stopping at the SuperSol to pick up some stuff for dinner. Buggy called to ask me out on a date (a first since engagement) and we were invited by his best friend's wife to come over to their house to celebrate Buggy's friend's birthday. I have to say, Buggy's BF and his wife are two of the nicest, most genuine people I've met since moving here. And, I'm absolutely thrilled that we all get along so well, especially since Buggy has been close with them since his Yeshiva days. Anyway, it's a good thing I never got around to cooking dinner cause it was a dinner party and we were starving by the time we got there! The food was excellent, onion soup, Egyptian meatballs, orzo and Israeli salad. The chocolate cake with a big #3 for his b-day looked amazing for dessert, but I held my resolve and didn't partake. I just sipped my cinnamon magic tea instead and enjoyed the conversation.

Now, I ended up sleeping in Jerusalem because Buggy's friends live in Givat Zeev. In fact, they have an absolutely beautiful apartment there and it has a gorgeous view and sports one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. I guess that's what is to be expected from a gardener's home! I wish he could give me pointers, it's a miracle my cactus is still alive! Anyway, when Buggy got to Tel Aviv to pick me up for my date, I was really itchy. And, I noticed these red splotches on my arm and was getting a bit nervous. In fact, I've noticed them before but now I was concerned since they didn't appear to be going away. Buggy called the Medical Center in Wolfson and got me an appointment with a dermatologist for this morning, and so off we went to Jerusalem for the night.

The problem with sleeping by Buggy's parents is that the bed is so comfortable, and I'm not alone in the house so I feel a bit more "protected", that I overslept. Buggy overslept cause, well, we didn't go to bed until 2:00 a.m. and he didn't hear all three alarms! (Three alarms people, he even took my cell phone and set that alarm as a backup but it didn't help!). Anyway, at 9:45, he woke me up and we started rushing to make the 11:00 a.m. appointment. The Dr. at Wolfson was really nice, and she told me that it looks like I have bug bites but couldn't tell me from what kind of bug.

Yuck!

She gave me a steroid oitment that should bring the swelling down and told me to call her if it doesn't get better. I hope it does - with wedding 67 days away I really don't want to have bug bites! Anyway, it's now 11:30 and I'm pretty hungry. I need to eat and drink water in the mornings, especially drinking water with how easily I get dehyrated in Israel. Buggy, though, is like a Sabra camel and can go all morning without food or drink and be fine. So, instead of going to eat something, we decided to go to Bank Hapoalim to open a joint bank account. Now, normally I would have waited on that until after the wedding, especially since now I'm going to have to go back to the Bank and sign 33,000 forms again with my new signature (after the name change) but we got some engagement checks from the States and it's not nice to not deposit them. Anyway, so there we are at the Bank, and we're waiting to open the new account. Now, I also needed to go and take out the rent money for my Wicked Witch of Northern Tel Aviv landlord since she is coming at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to collect. Nevertheless, I didn't anticipate how long of a process this was going to take.

First, we needed to set up the account. That took a while, since there were a million forms to sign and loads of questions to ask like when I want an SMS sent to my cell phone with my credit card statement or what address I want my statements to be mailed to. Then, Buggy and I both had to sign and finally, almost an hour later, the account was open.

However, the gentelman who opened our account couldn't put money into it - that's not his department. So, we had to wait for someone else. But, the person we wanted to go to was busy so he told us to wait for another woman. Now, this woman for whatever reason, got up and disappeared right when we sat down.

And that's when we saw her bag of fruit on her desk. It started to speak to us, the 2 peaches, 3 cherries and 4 apricots. They looks so good, Buggy and I both started salivating. We were starving - it was already 1:00 p.m.! I said to Buggy, "don't they give new bank customers fruit as a present?" Well, he agreed. And we tried to figure out what would happen if we just helped ourselves to the peaches.

We imagined scenarios:

1) The woman returns to see us in the midst of chowing down on her peaches. "Are those my peaches?" she would ask. "Peaches?" we would say "what peaches? We don't see any peached!" SLURP.

2)The woman returns to see us in the midst of chowing down on her peaches. "Are thos my peaches?" she would ask. "I'm sorry," we would answer "but these aren't for bank customers?" Awkward pause in mid bite. "Umm, would you like them back?"

3) The woman returns to see no peaches in the bag, and Buggy and I wiping peach juice off of our mouths. A trickle rolls down my arm but I rub it away in the arm of the chair. "What happened to my peaches?" she would ask. "Peaches? We didn't see any peaches. Just those three cherries and 4 apricots. Are you sure you had peaches?"

At this point, I am hysterical with laughter. My side is hurting because I can't breath and Buggy is laughing with me but getting a little nervous cause it appears that I'm cracking up. Oh, and did I mention that the bank closes at 1:00 so we were the only customers left in the now quiet building? I felt like I was making a big ruckas at the library but I couldn't control myself.

FINALLY, the woman returns only she wasn't interested in helping us. Now, I was past the funny-happy-hungry girl and told Buggy that he really didn't want to meet Hungry Holylandhipster. She's usually locked up inside cause she can be a real, well, bitch if let loose. I started snapping that people needed to help us so we could be on our way and, well, they finally did. We left the bank at 1:30 and made our way to Ben Yehudah.

Folks, I have no idea the name of the place where we ate nor do I care. However, the food was amazing. It's this shwarma restaurant place across the street from Cafe Rimon, where they give you about 10 salatim with 2 pitot as soon as you sit down. You choose from a pretty nice meat menu and then they just bring you either a pita or platter of what you selected. Buggy chose to get the Pargiot on skewers and I went with the shwarma with fried onions.

And then our waitress brought us a huge plate of french fries. I told her not to put french fries on my platter and just give me Israeli salad. She said she couldn't remove the french fries from the platter (does that make ANY sense?) and brought me my plate with shwarma, french fries and a side plate of Israeli salad. I removed the french fries to this other huge plate of fries she gave us and Buggy and I chowed down. At the end of the meal, Buggy reached over to eat one of the skewered vegetables that came with his pargit. He took the green pepper and bit down, not realize it was a Jalapeno green pepper. His eyes started watering, his mouth went numb, and he looked like he was going to faint. Unfortunately, he had finished his drink and so I gave him some of my soda while he waved his hand to the waitress. He told her to quickly bring him some water from the tap and she went to look in the cooler for mineral water. At this point, I thought Buggy was going to pass out and finally she ran and got him a glass of water.

He couldn't feel his tongue or mouth and was starting to look like he was going to be sick. So, I did what any other loving fiance would do. I leaned over and kissed him. Twice. My mouth and tongue became a bit numb, tingling a little, but Buggy starting feeling better.

I guess mouth to mouth works on hot peppers too.

Anyway, after a huge lunch, Buggy dropped me off at the bus stop and I was off to Tel Aviv. Somehow, I managed to get stuck with Mr. Drooling, Sleep-on-the-person-next-to-me's-shoulder. I felt like a fly on a windshield, that's how squished I was against the window. Finally, I just cleared my throat and pushing his leg a bit with my own. He got the hint but for a few seconds, and then he was snoring again against me.

Gross!

I was thrilled when we got to Tel Aviv and I ran like a bat outta hell off the bus. The wall home was good, although was sweaty, and I had to once again peel off my clothes when I got home. Now, I'm just relaxing before I have to go plan the menu for Shabbat. Buggy is coming and with my dietarian restrictions - and his - I'm going to have to be the creative culinary cook!

Crave of the Day should not come as a surprise. McDonald's French Fries! Not only was I taunted by the big plate of thick steak fries at lunch, but the girl sitting across from me on the bus to Tel Aviv was devouring a super sized MickeyD's French Fries and they just looked soo good! I think I'm gonna have a peach for a snack :)

PS. Katherine posted on my blog and, while I wish I was able to post back on hers (I don't know what your blog URL is so I hope you're still reading!) the requested information from your comment is as follows: Mei Eden can be reached either by *5335 on your cell phone or at 1-700-70-2002. I have a hot/cold water cooler and get 2 containers a month which is more than enough for one to two people for that time!

Dumbest Tap Ever

OK, look closely at these pictures folks. This is the dumbest tap to ever be put into a bathroom! In case you can't really tell from the pictures, the faucet on this tap is too long for the sink. In order for me to wash my hands so that water does not end up on my shirt or pooling down at my feet, I have to move the faucet to either the left of the right side of the sink. Forget trying to wash my face. That's a near impossibility! Fortunately for me, I am outta here in 5 weeks! That's right, 5 weeks, and whomever they end up getting to move in here will just have to deal with their stupidity.

What I don't understand is why the plumber, who spent all of 30 minutes in the apartment installing the thing he claimed would take 3-4 hours (minimum!) didn't call to tell them that this tap wouldn't work with the sink? How come he didn't let them know that they need to purchase a smaller tap? I mean, they could have come and measured the tap when my landlord's sister was in the apartment yesterday! Did she simply look at the sink and then went to the store and just picked out something cheap that closely resembled the old tap? That's really the only thing I can think of, cause otherwise it just doesn't make sense.

My landlord is not my favorite person these days. First, she called me at 7:45 a.m. to order me to stay home and wait for the plumber. I don't take too kindly to being woken up before 8:00 when it's not Wednesdays and I have to go to school. Then, she called again to tell me that she still needs to read over our lease agreement before our meeting on Friday (the exchange of funds for my final rent payment) when she can discuss with me leaving the apartment early.

WTF?

Where did that come from? When we spoke a few days ago, she didn't have any problem with me leaving. I was giving her plenty of time to find a replacement! In fact, I was giving her almost 60 as opposed to 30 days as stipulated. I'm not really sure what her end game is, but I will physically only have a certain amount of money on me on Friday. If she wants me, she's gonna have to tell me well in advance. And if she's thinking about messing with my security deposit, well, then it's all out war. There's only so much pushing I can take!

So today was very productive. I did my reading for class tomorrow, which included two 22 page stories! And, in the midst of printing out the second large story, my printer cartridge died on me. Unfortunately, I will not have any time to buy a new cartridge before the semester is over and so now I'm stuck. I'm hoping Buggy will be able to print some stuff out for me for class next week. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to find an Office Depot ASAP!

I'm about 12 pages into my final story for class and I'm stuck at an ending. I don't know what to do, as I must e-mail the piece out by tomorrow night. I could probably ask for a few more days, but I really want this to be done with. That way, I am left with only edits to my thesis proposal and my final paper for Professor Kramer's class, to do before the wedding. I am going to be happy once all my work for school is done, cause now it's time to focus on the move!

I need to find movers, reputable individuals who won't charge an arm and a leg and will be able to move my entire life from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I also have to cancel my cable, but without changing my settings, so that my VOIP will work from the Jerusalem apartment. I have to deal with the Mei Eden people, since I want the water cooler moved to Jerusalem too, and I also have to figure out how I'm going to deal with changing my name.

I haven't told Buggy this, but it's going to be hard to change my name. I've been HolyLandHipster for 30 years! Going from HolyLandHipster to Mrs. Buggy is like creating a new person. And since Buggy's Dad has two brothers, and Buggy has two brothers, there are already 4 Mrs. Buggy's out there. There are no Mrs. HolyLandHipster's out there as The Dude is still single and both my sisters changed their names. I'm having a bit of an identity problem right now, grapling with the name change, and I don't know how it's going to play out. Can't I be married and we exist and HolyLandHipster and Buggy? Do we have to be Mr. and Mrs. Buggy? I won't do the whole HolyLandHipster-Buggy thing cause, well, that would be torture for our kids and I don't need to give the playground bully's any additional ammunition. Anyone else married out there have this concern before their big day?

Check out this site! I got this off of my Hungry Girl daily enewsletter. Apparently, if you go to this site: Naturopathy Works, you'll be able to figure out what your body is telling you when you have a craving. So, apparently, each time I want a big ol' piece of chocolate Babka or some cinnamon rugelach or an entire box of Dunkin Donut's Munchkins, my body really wants Chromium, Carbon, Phosphorus, Sulfur and Tryptophan! Hmmm, I guess it's gonna be turkey for dinner!

Crave of the Day is a pint of Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk, with its sweet cream cinnamon ice cream combined with chunks of oatmeal and fudge, it's a heavenly treat! What's not to like? I'll go for ice cream and cookies - together - any day of the week!

Heat Stroke

OK, so I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. And, sometimes when Buggy says something, it doesn't really register. Like last night, when he told me that today was supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. I didn't really get what he was saying, I was too busy being disappointed with the ending of Pirates of the Carribean, The End of the World. And, after we spent our morning in Jerusalem running some wedding errands and getting him some luggage for his trip to the States for the wedding, I boarded the bus to Tel Aviv without really giving a second thought to the temperature outside. After the long trek, all I wanted to do when I got off the bus was move my legs. Stretch them, as my late Zaydie A"H used to say, and walk home. It was hot outside, but I thought I could make it. I pushed my heavy knapsac higher onto my back and started the trek. By the time I got to Arlozorov/Weitzman I was feeling pretty parched. I stopped as soon as I crossed over Ibn Gvirol, rooted around in my bag for the bottle of water I stowed away last night, and downed it in three long gulps. I didn't care that water was dripping all over my shirt, it was already drenched with sweat and sticking to me. By Dizingoff, I contemplated sitting on one of the benches and resting before making the rest of the trip but pride got the better of me and I kept going. I stopped again to get the second bottle of water out of my bag and finished that while crossing the street towards Ben Yehuda. By the time I got into my apartment, my face was so red from the heat that I thought I had gotten a sunburn. I had to literally yank my shirt just to get it over my head, it was absolutely plastered to my body. I stood for 15 minutes in front of the AC, with a large glass of water, and tried to get the sweat to stop pouring out of my body. It took me a good hour before the room stopped spinning and while I'm hydrated now, I feel like I was hit by a bus. I just can't wait to crawl into bed and go to sleep, but I'm keeping myself up so I can keep drinking.

I finally booted up my computer and went to check the temperature and was shocked to see that, when I was walking home, it was 102 degrees F in Tel Aviv. Wow - that's just dumb of me! Next time, I listen to Buggy when he talks and take the bus home. Phew!

I'm procrastinating and it's not good. I have my final story due for class on Tuesday and I'm only one page into it, which does not bode well for me as I need it completed within the next 48 hours. I thought I'd be able to work on it all afternoon but, between not feeling great and my usual glut of Sunday phone calls, I haven't had time to devote to working! Buggy told me to just not answer the phone, but I just can't do that, its been programmed into me to always answer a ringing phone! Since, once again, there is an issue with my apartment I have to spend all day tomorrow waiting for the plumber to come and fix the tap that he never fixed last week. And, my bathroom is once again full of water and I'm not happy about it but the good news is this:

I GAVE NOTICE!

Woohoo, moving day is merely 5 weeks away and I cannot wait! I'm looking forward to leaving all these apartment issues behind me. And, while I am going to miss the proximity to the beach, my friends nearby and the shops and restaurants I've come to know and love this past year, I'm looking forward to the cooler climes of Jerusalem!

Friday was disappointing for me, as Buggy and I both expected to see the rainbow parade pass by my apartment. I was on the parade route but, when he left at Noon, the parade goers hadn't gotten this far yet. I had my camera out and everything to capture Tel Avivian's gay pride but it was all for nought. I took some pics of Buggy instead as we drove out of the City.

This week is going to be busy with school work but I'm really hoping tomorrow will be productive and I'll be able to complete my story and have something ready to submit by Tuesday evening.

Crave of the Day is the cinnamon buns and rugelach that they make at Marzipan in the shuk of Machane Yehudah. I already told Buggy he needs to take note of all the Crave's of the Day cause, once the wedding is over, I was one of everything I'm yearning for in the apartment! I am really looking forward to sinking my teeth into one of these sweet, delicious treats! If you haven't been to Marzipan in the shuk, you MUST make your way. It's a delectible experience!

Staving off Dracula

Oh, have I been enjoying myself in the kitchen! With 74 days to go until the BIG DAY, I had to buckle down and get my eating under control. That meant that, after classes this morning/early afternoon, I hit the AM PM on Dizingoff and stocked my refridgerator. I bought tuna and salmon fillets and beef and chicken cutlets for grilling, garlic cloves for roasting, frozen berry's for breakfast smoothies and cans of chick peas for Hummus.

Yup, I am going to make hummus with absolutely NO oil. The hummus will be extremely tangy because of the inordinate amount of lemon juice, but it's going to be a nutritious and healthier alternative to the fatening options out on the market these days. I told Buggy I would bring him some to taste, warning him in advance that he really might not like it as much as the other hummus he loves, but he is really excited about my experimentation.

After I got back from Supersol, I cut off the heads of the garlic and roasted them at 180C for 45 minutes. They came out nice and soft and spreadable. I used two cloves on grilled beef for dinner. Delicious! My breath is so rank, Dracula would drop dead a few blocks from my apartment. Good thing I'm not seeing Buggy until Friday, cause he definitely does not want to kiss me now!

Anyway, it's really hot in Tel Aviv today. There is a Sharav, which is a heatwave. And, in Tel Aviv, that means the humidity is so thick that it's difficult to breath. After a great morning Jewish American Literature and Philosophy (another amazing lesson with Professor Harvey!), Tobye dropped me off at the train station and I walked back to my apartment. By the time I got in, I had criss-cross shaped sweat stains across my back from my knapsac and not even a deoderant made strong enough for a babboon could have kept me dry! Yup, that t-shirt went straight into my laundry bag and fortunately, tomorrow is laundry day!

So, last night, I had a late night date with my plumber. Once again, and it's third times a charm, I went to wash up and I opened the cabinet underneath my sink and there it was people. A flood. And once again, I was pulling out all of my stuff and praying that the water hadn't completely ruined my entire makeup case. It was soaked through and my powders, well, let's just say that they're not powder anymore. So, it was almost midnight and I called the plumber and told him to come ASAP. He told me to just shut off the water and he would eventually get to it. Well, nothing I turned shut off the water and so he got dressed and he came over to figure it out. Turns out, when he was here the other day to get the pebble out of my hot water line, he never reconnected my pipes correctly and they were leaking....ALL DAY LONG!

I am sooo happy that I'm moving out at the end of July. I'm looking forward to leaving this money pit behind!

So, tomorrow is gearing up to be a busy day for me. I have to do laundry in the morning and then I have a Dr.'s appointment in Herzliya Pituach around 3:30 in the afternoon. I guess going to the beach is out, since I'll be busy during all prime sun hours. Anyway, I have a story due on Tuesday and I need to really get to work on it since I'm facing the business end of a hard deadline and I can't miss this one! It's going to be my very last story of the year!

Ok - Grey's Anatomy is on and I'm off to watch it!

Crave of the Day is the Knock Out cookies and cream ice cream bars. All I wanted this afternoon, after my hike home, was a refreshingly sweet cookie treat! Instead, I settled down with a bowl full of watermellon and got the better end of the deal - or at least, that's what I hope my scale will say in the morning.

Pebbles, Post Office and Prank Callers

Can you believe that I'm getting prank phone calls on my VOIP line? If the perv hadn't called at 3:30 a.m., multiple times mind you, I would have found it a lot more amusing. But alas, once I realized what was going on (and it was too nasty sounding to even recap here) I screamed and hung up. I left the phone go to VM and turned over to go back to sleep before I really woke out of my dream.

My cell phone rang at a decent hour and it was Micah, the plumber, would was letting me know he was on his way. Since I officially gave notice yesterday (hooray for me!!), I decided I should probably fix any problems so that my landlord doesn't blame me and make me pay for fixing. Basically, for well over a month, I didn't have hot water in the sink in my bathroom. But, since this is Tel Aviv in the summertime, it didn't bother me. I was more than happy washing my face and brushing my teeth with the cold water, especially since it was pretty hot outside. Well, Micah spent three HOURS in my bathroom this morning and finally removed a teeny, tiny pebble. Folks, it was so small, that when I went to look for it to take a picture for my blog I couldn't find where I left it! Anyway, all was fixed, and I was finally able to get out of the apartment.

I took a couple of wedding invitations to the post office to figure out how much it's going to cost to mail them out here in Israel. As usual, I spoke in English, since I really didn't want to bother with my broken Hebrew. Well, the teller's manager came out of the back when she heard that I wanted to purchase 220 stamps (a large sum of money) and told the teller to try to convince me to upgrade 10 agurot to get the higher postage so that the invitations would arrive a day later. She was goading her into trying to sell me, and she was looking at me through slitted eyes that it was so funny. I love when I can understand when people talk about me! It's super fun. Anyway, I didn't need to spend the extra money cause I have plenty of time before I need to mail out the invitations. I bought what I needed and then went about the rest of my business.

I had to hit the Superfarm to get a new eye drop perscription. My eye Dr. doesn't like how dry my eyes are here in Israel and so he upgraded me to a stronger drop. He also told me that I must get out of contact lenses earlier because it's not good for my eyes to wear them all day long. I'm going to try to wear glasses more often and see what happens. Anyway, I also had to upgrade my deoderant. I don't know if it's that I'm using the wrong brand, or if it's the heat in this country, but I am not happy with my deoderant. It's not a smelling issue but an aesthetic one, in that I tend to get pit stains. Now, I know countless of fashion bloggers talk about this issues and most attribute it to the tightness of ones t-shirt, but it's still not attractive. And, unless I plan on wearing a black t-shirt or tank top for the rest of the summer, something has GOT to be done. I've heard that Botox helps, in that it freezes the sweat glands, but I don't know if I'll have time to do all the Botox treatments before the wedding. For now, I'm switching brands and hoping it will help. And, if you're in class with me, don't be surprised if I stop raising my hands.

After picking up my new purchases, I went to the store and finally gave in to what I should have bought months ago. Yup people, I bought a new scale. And now, my cactus room has become the scale room as I've put it in the middle of the living room. From now until I move, I will be strict about my diet and that includes a rigorous regiment of exercise, water drinking and better eating habits!

Which leads to my Crave of the Day feature and it's a good one! I have a hankering for the Snyder of Hanover's Restaurant style Corn Tortilla Chips with a big ol' bowl of salsa to dip it into! Yummy! I think I'm going to eat my steamed string beans instead.

5 shekels to heaven

I'm such a nerd. On Wednesday afternoon, I stopped in the hardware store across the street from my apartment and picked up a few things for my kitchen. With 8 people joining us for Friday night dinner, I knew this Friday night's dinner had to be special! Especially since, I think this past weekend was my last big meal I'm making in my Tel Aviv apartment.

Thursday was an early morning for me, I had a tremendous amount of work to do for the meal on Friday night! First, I went to the Supersol to pick up the remaining ingredients. And then, I got to work on cooking. I made the cranberry crunch for dessert (or the Apple Brown Betty as Ari called it), the macaroni and meat and the shallot and onion quinoa. After that, I jumped into the shower, and ran to catch the bus to Jerusalem. Buggy and I had some errands to run and the nutritionist to meet with. I have no idea how it happened, but I lost 2 pounds. I certainly wasn't trying - can you imagine what would happen if I tried? Buggy put on the 2 pounds I lost, but all is not hopeless! We have an entire month to lose more weight. After the nutritionist, we went to the only kosher Indian restaurant in Jerusalem to celebrate the fact that I lost weight (I know, I know, so counterproductive but very romantic and yummy!). We shared a few courses and then Buggy took me to the bus station to get the last bus back to Tel Aviv.

I was wiped when I got home but managed to put together my Friday to-do list and get to bed. After catching a few Z's, I woke up early again and ran to buy the fruit. And then, I spent an enjoyable 30 minutes just balling my mellons. It was so much fun, and much easier then cutting through everything! I then made the Israeli salad and the corn salad, the spinach chicken, the mushroom tartlet and the cauliflower kugel. I grilled the chicken cutlets for the wraps Buggy and I had for lunch on Shabbat and then I got to work on cleaning the apartment. By the time Buggy got here, the dinner was done and I had to clean the toilet and set the table. Buggy helped me and then, well, I picked a fight and made him crazy for no reason at all. He was a little out of it and accidentally set the Shabbat clock incorrectly. By the time everyone sat down to dinner, around 9:15 p.m. Friday night, the lights suddenly went out. Since one of my friends isn't observant, he got up and put on another set of lights, and at least we weren't eating in the darkness.

Well, I wracked my brain for a good appetizer and managed to settle on something I thought would be fun and nutritious. I managed to succeed in both regards! I steamed 3 bags of edemame and made a dipping sauce, which everyone put into little soy sauce bowls I picked up across the street. People filled up on salatim, challah and the edemame and then I got nervous that no one would eat the rest of my dinner. Well, I shouldn't have worried because with 6 guys at the meal, eating was not a problem. And, we all got our drink on! Ari and Jon practically finished my Scotch while Buggy and Eliav made dents in my beer. Gayle, El Jeffe and Nechama enjoyed the red and white wines while I made myself some Malibu and Diet Coke. People finally cleared out after Midnight and, after Buggy helped me wash and dry, I passed out and slept almost till Noon!

Shabbat day was very relaxing, and Buggy and I just hung out, ate, read and chilled. It was perfect. Saturday night we went to the beach and had dinner at the new Kosher Sandwhich place near Gordon beach. Actually, Buggy had a sandwhich and I had some ice cream.

Today was another busy day. I woke up early and Buggy drove me to my eye Dr.'s appointment in Modiin. We got there a full 45 minutes earlier than expected and so we had a long wait in the waiting room. After my appointment, we drove back to Jerusalem and I stuffed invitations while my dialated eyes shrunk back to normal. Once I was able to see without wincing, Buggy drove me back to the bus station and I was once again on my way to Tel Aviv. I needed the fresh air after the ride and so I walked back to my apartment. And that's when I discovered that they are ripping up the street in front of my apartment YET AGAIN! They literally just finishing fixing and repaving the street, I have no idea what could have happened that they have to rip it all up again. The worst is that now they are working well into the night, and I'm nervous that I won't be able to sleep tonight with all the noise. It sounds like I'm sleeping on top of a construction site.

So, I'm almost finished with wedding preparations. Tonight, I ordered the benchers and mincha/maariv's for the wedding. Yea! I was just so happy to cross that task off of my list! And now that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is on TV, I'm just relaxing before I call it a night. It's going to be difficult not seeing Buggy this week, but I'm really looking forward to spending Shabbos together again!



Craving of the Day is Entenmann's Crumb Donut! Which now has 0 Trans Fat! I would like my honeymoon suite to be stocked with a box of these babies after the wedding!