Anniversary

Today is our anniversary of our first date, whee! Well, actually, it was really last night that was the anniversary of our first date. And, as we watched the people crowd into Rabin Square, it brought us back a year to when we first met. So, we decided to celebrate by semi-recreating the evening. I dressed in the same outfit I wore on our first date, put on a little make up, and we went to Rav Chen to the movies. We saw Rendition with Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon and we thought it was very good. Except, I thought Reese Witherspoon was a waste in the film. Given the nature of her character, and her million dollar a picture fee, I thought the role could have gone to someone less high profile. Nevertheless, we had a great time. After the movie, we drove by Emek and went to Tal Bagels to pick up dinner. But, when we got home, I couldn't imagine eating a bagel at 1:00 a.m. and then going to sleep on a full stomach, so I popped some saltines and sipped my Chai and waited for Shabbos to come out in the States.

We had a very interesting Shabbos. Friday night, we were invited to Buggy's brother's in-laws for dinner, and it was quite a cultural experience for me. They are Algerian/French and the food and traditions were extremely new to me. They started dinner off with a bunch of little "salatim" like "full" which is Israeli for beans. I'm not sure what kind of beans they were, but they didn't have a sauce or any added flavor to them. There were a lot of different carrot type of salatim, one with artichoke which was very good. And, a huge fennel salad. I rarely use fennel when I cook, so I was surprised to see an entire salad made up of just fennel. I thought it was tasty, Buggy didn't like it. So, no fennel in our house in the future. They also served an entire fish, but I couldn't really tell what kind of fish it was so I past on that course. The main was couscous, some sort of bean soup on top, a side of broccoli and hamburgers and meat. I'm trying to not eat too many carbs, so I opted for just some hamburgers, broccoli and a piece of meat. Everyone else tucked into their couscous and soup quite enthusiastically. I also skipped the cake and sorbet for dessert and stuck with fruit. Aside from the food, no one spoke any English. It was either Hebrew or French, and so I stayed mute for most of the evening and tried to pick up on conversations around me. It was fun, I actually enjoyed not talking so much at dinner.

Shabbos lunch, we walked to Buggy's Grandparents and had a traditional, Ashkenazi meal. I haven't had chulent in months, so it was nice to have a spoonful at lunch. Of course, Buggy and I felt bloated and full after lunch so we were happy with the 30 minute walk home. I took a little cat nap while Buggy read and Shabbos was soon over.

Today is going to be a fun one for me. Buggy will be busy working, so I'm going to walk to Emek Refaim to Tollmans to look around at some stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm obsessed with Thanksgiving and this Friday night is going to be my dry run. Buggy and I are going to invite a few friends over and I'm going to cook a complete Thanksgiving meal. If everything goes well, I'll just repeat but in bigger bulk for the family Thanksgiving. I'm excited! I hope everything works out :) Plus, I have 8 more thank you cards to go and I'm going to write them today and be finish with it. I'm proud of myself, that I was able to get all our wedding thank you cards written and out within 3 months of our affair. I guess something positive has come out of this University strike.

Which brings me to my Product of the Day



Static Guard is an incredible invention. And, unfortunately, I can't seem to find it here in Jerusalem. So, I brought with me a couple of bottles from the States but I'm starting to run out. On Shabbos, I realized how much I needed Static Guard when we walked the 35 minutes from Baka to Talbieh to his grandparents and my skirt kept riding up and moving around. Not only was it staticky from the cleaners, which always happens when the lining of the skirt sticks to either my leg or the fabric of the skirt, but my skirts always seem to move. I constantly find myself turning around my skirts because the back moves to the front as I move. Some people would say that my skirts are too big on me, which in some aspects are true, but finding skirts that fit me are challenging. I have the little waist big tush body type, so that skirts fit nicely around the hips/stomach/tusch area but hang out at the waist. Most people solve this problem with a belt. But, I hate how belts look and feel, so I leave it out. And hence, the turning around as I walk problem. So, I guess if you see me walking in Jerusalem and I'm tugging at my skirt or moving it around so the slit - that's supposed to be in the back - is in the back, just say hi and smile. And remind me to use some Static Guard. It actually helps with both problems.

Till tomorrow!

XOXO

Super Bug

It's 5:30 a.m. and I've been up since 3:30 a.m. with a very sick Buggy who, unfortunately, caught the Jerusalem super bug that's been spreading around town. This super bug is quite special, and it causes people who get it to puke AND have diahrea at the same time. B"H we've got plenty of buckets in this house. I think I might have frightened Buggy when he was finished in the bathroom and ready to crawl back into bed. See, I'm a germ a phob, which will explain today's Product of the Day in a minute, and I am petrified to get this super bug. My sister-in-law and her family had it, and my MIL had to take her to Terem (the 24 hour clinic) for an IV for dehydration and she was really in bad shape when she had it. So, anyway, I also grew up in a house with a Dad who was also a super germaphob and, while I'm not sleeping in a separate bedroom to avoid getting the germs, I have taken some precautions.

I tied a bandana around my mouth and brought my cleaning supplies into the bathroom. Unfortunately, I don't have a pair of gloves, but trust me when I say I'm going out tomorrow and buying a lot of pairs! Anyway, first, I used the Jet cleaner to disinfect the toilet, and then I wiped down any surface Buggy touched like the sink and the tap handles (since he washed his hands). After that, I sprayed (and BOY do I miss Lysol disinfectent spray, but that's for another day) and moved Buggy's stuff (like his toothbrush) out of us our shared cup and onto the side of the bathroom. At this point, Buggy is watching me from his pillows bemused. I told him that from now on, the bathroom in our bedroom is his own, and that's the only place he should well, be sick, if possible. I'm trying to maintain at least one sterile facilities for me :)

Anyway, yesterday was a really nice day. First of all, the weather is finally my speed, with it being nice and crisp in the evenings and early mornings and pleasant and sunny during the days. Buggy overslept so we jumped out of bed and I tried to get him out the door at best as I could. Good thing I made him lunch and breakfast the night before! As soon as he left, I got myself up and I went to Steven Selig's framing store on Derech Beit Lechem to pick up Buggy's anniversary present. November 4th will mark our one year anniversary of our first date. It's so weird that a year ago, today, I was just thinking about going on some blind date with a Jerusalem dude from Jdate. I never, ever, in a million years thought I was going out on the first day with my future husband!

So, I framed for Buggy architecture plans from his Grandparent's old apartment. I thought he would really like that. I also framed for him the architecture rendurings of his Grandparent's bathroom, and both came out really nice. Buggy bought me a necklace that we returned for something else later in the afternoon :) I love him for being so understanding and for letting me be in a relationship where I could feel comfortable telling him if something isn't my taste. I loved the sentiment of the gift, and what I exchanged it for is really pretty and definitely something I will wear for P"G years to come!

After the jewelry store, we decided to check out Buggy's gym which is not far from the Malcha mall. It was really nice, and had a huge indoor pool. Since Buggy really loves his gym, we decided to sign me up, and at 95 shekel a month combined it's worth it. We're hoping to go at least twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays to start, and then see if we can add more gym time other days of the week. Hopefully, once I get my license and we get me a car, I'll be able to go myself when Buggy is either in school or working.

After we checked out the gym, we ran another quick errand and then we went to the SuperDeal at the Wolfson Mall. I wish I could give props to the blogger who wrote about this but, for the life of me, I cann't remember his name so I apologize in advance. But, basically, they lock the shopping carts in this country and you need to use a 5 shekel piece in order to "rent" one during your shopping excursion. Well, I never seem to have any 5 shekel pieces on me and, this guy suggested that I use an American quarter instead. The first time I tried it, I honestly thought I was going to jam the mechanism and so I experiemented at a supermarket I normally don't shop at. This way, if I needed to make a run away, I wouldn't have to go back there again. But, it actually WORKS! I am so excited every time I use the quarter in the slot. It makes me feel like I'm sorta bucking the system, eventhough I'm really not. So, we picked up some provisions for the rest of the week, and I got some salmon and organic whole wheat pasta and pasta sauce for dinner last night, and we came home to watch the rest of the Transformers movie we started the other day.

Dinner was delicious! I made rosemary grilled salmon (very simple, just marinade the thawed salmon in a little olive oil, some minced garlic and chopped rosemary) and then throw on any grill or grill pan. Cook until you like it which, for Buggy, means a little raw on the inside and for me means very, very cooked all the way through! We called it a night early and, even though Buggy was complaining of not feeling so great, I thought everything would be fine when we woke up this morning.

So, now all of our plans for today are up in the air. I will probably be able to get out of the house and do my errands. Hopefully, Buggy's comics will be at the post office so I can bring those back for him to read while he's in bed. I told him he absolutely cannot run around today as he really needs to relax. Good thing we are eating out both meals this Shabbos. Fortunately, Friday night's meal is in Baka and Shabbos lunch is with his Grandparents. I'm hoping by Shabbos day he will feel much, much better because it's a long walk. I'm really happy now that I made us stay home from yoga last night, could you imagine if Buggy would have gotten sick during tree stance? Yikes!

Which brings me to today's Product of the Day




I absolutely love Purell, the best hand sanitizer in the universe, which is manufactured by the lovely folks over at Johnson and Johnson. I carry little bottles of Purell in every single handbag that I own, and I the colors run the gamut. Right now, I'm using the green hand sanitizers, but in the winter, I use the white ones because they have added moisturizers. I have two big bottles of purell in the house for filling up my small bottles and, P"G, when my folks come to visit in a few weeks I'm going to ask them to bring me some more. Purell is like the wonder hand sanitizer as it claims to kill 99.99% of germs! Now that's a percentage I can certainly live with. And, since I'm the girl who takes those hand towels they give out at restaurants after the meals and fills up my bag with them, purell is an even better solution for me! If you've ever had to use a public restroom in Israel, or ANY country for that matter, you should be carting around a bottle of Purell. Lord knows what kinds of germs live in those places!

Well, I'm off to try to get some sleep since Buggy has finally fallen back to sleep himself. Hopefully, he will be better when he gets up in a few hours. Otherwise, well, I might just be forced to bath him in Purell and tuck him back into bed!