The most random blog ever

New Year's Resolution #1: improve on the whole "blogging" thing-blog more often.
New Year's Resolution #2: keep to New Year's Resolution #1.

So, since last blog, Al and I checked out a yoga class. One of his coworkers told him about this "free yoga class," so we decided to check it out. I've done yoga only a handful of times, but I'm not great at it. I can't quite figure out where I need to be for each pose, or if I'm doing it right-plus, I'm clumsy as all hell. Anyways, we arrive at this sketchy sketchy place called the People's Media Center, filled with a few computers circa 1990. Ok, not exactly "zen." Then, we got down into the basement of said sketchy place to our yoga class. Mostly, yoga studios are fairly warm to make your limbs all limber-like. But, since we were in a basement, and not in a proper studio, it was damn cold. So, there we were spread out on our towels (no yoga mats for us), for 2 hours practicing our "cold" yoga. It was actually enjoyable though, and for once I felt as though I was doing it right, despite the chattering teeth from the cold. I think we'll likely go again......but this time with a sweater or two.

For the holidays, we trekked down to Roaonoke. It's a bit of a mix for me going home-I love being with my family and enjoy the board games, cups of hot tea, visits to the gym, the movies, etc, but most of my friend's families have moved from Roanoke, and those whose families are still there live in DC area anyways--so I don't get the chance to catch up with old friends when we go home. But, I digress...

We got back on Tuesday, and have been busy bees since. Birthday dinner out w/ our friend Mir on Tuesday, and then dinner out again for our friend Paul on Wednesday. Paul's b-day was a blast-we went to Bistroit du Coin (a great lil French restaurant in Dupont Cir), and Erika split up the couples so that we could all meet new friends. I loved where I was sitting-had a great time, and laughed so hard that no sound came out.

Erika came up with these clever table cards saying "to your left is so and so, ask them about such and such." It was a really great way to start a conversation. I wish every party I went to people could walk around with these cards-so fun! Anyways, as a result of the card, my neighbors learned about my "alter ego" Judy. Whenever Paul gets drunk, he starts calling me Judy....and so my new friends wanted to know all about Judy, and decided to take it one more step and deem me Judy G (as in Ali G.). It's one of those "you had to be there" moments, but hilarious. Judy G was in full force and tearing up the hizzzouse.

Anyways.....I also found out that Will's (who was sitting next to me) grandma lived in the same town that I did study abroad in (Patcham, right outside of Brighton), and was only a mere 2 blocks from my host family. He knew all the same pubs that I hung out at and everything. It made me want to go back to England (as if the movie the Holiday wasn't enough....). So, Jez and Emma, and Simon---if you're reading this, prep yourselves. I'm going to plan a visit (with newly jawed Al in tow).

After dinner, we headed to Chinatown to meet our friend O'Malls in from Philly and also meet his girlfriend. What a fun evening. I love city living. Make sure to check out our pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGHs

Chain Gang

Work has been crazy busy the past few weeks. Crazy! So, I haven't had time to blog, much less come up with many blogworthy tales....Here's a quick blurb of life lately....

Thanksgiving was quick-up and back to CT in about 26 hours. I definitely missed my family and all of our traditions-but we'll get to see them at the end of the month, and it was good to get our QT in with Al's fam (most of which involved sitting and figuring out our plans for the day--I tease---sort of).

Post Turkey day was a blast. The evening we got in we went out for a delish Ethopian dinner w/ friends followed by a long game night (2 am!). So fun. I just love game night! The next day we ran around doing holiday shopping and then met up with Andy, Mags, and Ilona for Belgium din-din followed by foozeball and pool. And, Sunday night some friends had us over for a yummy chilli dinner---biked on over there and home. DC after Turkey Day is the best. The city is empty and I love it.

This past week was Al's b-day. He's been burning the midnight oil too, so we were pretty low key. Ended up going for dinner Thursday night, and then celebrated all throughout the weekend, including a bowling night. I bowled the worst game in the world, but did enjoy coming up with fun names for all of the bowlers. Loved seeing the words "The Godfather" flash up on the big screen every time Al got a spare or strike! Hee Hee!

Spent the better part of the week and weekend cooking-enchiladas, brazilian stew, roasted chicken, tons of baked goods. Maybe one of these days someone will compliment me rather than assuming Al is the only cook in our household...b/c let me just tell you, I rock the enchiladas. Rock them!

Culture Club

Do you remember the first time you realized that there were other cultures and countries that existed besides your own? I vividly remember that point in my life where I realized that there were other people with different languages and traditions than my own---and I remember thinking how cool it was that we all coexisted on one planet, and all had something different to bring to each other. I have always been lucky to have parents who embraced different cultures themselves, and never discouraged us from learning about them. That's one thing I think I LOVE about living in DC. You never have to hunt down an opportunity to do something really unique and different-it's all at your fingertips.

The past few weeks, we've gotten a chance to do tons of great cultural things...I just love it. On Nov 9th, Al and I went with our friend Colleen to see our first Cirque du Soleil (Corteo), which was incredible. Those people can do some pretty amazing things with their bodies, and are extremely talented. My favorite part was the jugglers though....I guess I'm easy to please--while the other performances definitely required a great deal of skill and agility, I still found myself liking the juggling act the best. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't necessarily easy, but compared to what the others were doing, it was not as strenous. But, I still loved it.

Then, over the weekend, our friend Christina took me to an Acoustic Africa concert that featured 3 African performers-Habib Koite from Mali, Vusi Mahlasela from South Africa, and Dobet Gnahore from Ivory Coast. It was AMAZING! Before the concert, Christina had given me CDs of 2 of the performers, but seeing the performance live was very moving. The three artists harmonized together beautifully and there were all sorts of people in the audience of every shade and culture. At one point, when the performers were really jamming, someone from the audience hopped up on stage and started sprinkling money on top of Habib Koite. Christina informed me that an African tradition is to sprinkle money on a performer so that you can dance with them. Before long, there were about 10 people on the stage putting their dollars above each of the performers. Quite a sight! The woman performer Dobet was a fantastic dancer-weaving in traditional dances of her tribe into her music. Awesome!

This past weekend we just took in the city, and hit the National Portrait Gallery. I have never been-wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm glad we went. I guess I just prefer other types of other art- impressionists, landscapes, photography, not so much portraits. After that, we went for Thai and caught a movie in Chinatown-Stranger than Fiction-which I definitely recommend. Great cast, good story.

Glad to be out and about, and enjoying all the opportunities the city has to offer. Always good to know that there are things out in the world that can bring you some perspective on your own life.

Tastes Like Chicken

Now that Al's jaw is unwired, he's back baby! He's been able to eat pizza, burgers, steak--with the exception of a huge hoagie, he can pretty much handle everything, so...I decided to take it one step further. Let him try something REALLY unique.

So, anyway, when I found out about DC's 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival, I thought...sure, why not? I bought Al and I tix-and we went on 10/25 (which happened to be our 3 year wedding anniversary, so it was perfect!)

Over the course of my life, my travels have me to some pretty interesting places, and I've been brave enough to try some pretty exotic foods (no, I'm not a vegetarian, and yes, you may want to skip this blog if you are.). My motto is that I will try anything once with a few exceptions to the rule. So far I've had kangaroo, crocodile, haggis (sheep's stomach), squid guts, sea anenome, goose liver, pigeon (squab), escargot, goya (bitter melon), octopus, caviar, buffalo, oxtail, shad roe, cow's tongue and who knows what else.

I was pretty open-minded going into this. I think I tried almost everything-and why not?

So, for the night, we feasted on:


Rattlesnake Gumbo with Sassafras Scented Rice
Pink Peppercorn and Wattleseed Crusted Ostrich Leg Roast with Diablo Hollandaise
Veal Kidney with a Dijon Mustard Sauce - 100 King Restaurant
Hindbeh Bil Zayt (sautéed Dandelion Leaves in olive oil with garlic, parsley, and caramelized onions)
Nut Crusted Sweetbreads with Pomegranate Syrup
Buckwheat Blini with American Caviar and Crème Fraiche
Jerk Frog Legs with Jamaican Spices
Barolo Braised Veal Cheek with Shropshire" Orange" Blue
"Bacon and Eggs": House Cured Berkshire Pork Belly with Fried Quails Egg
Terrine de Tête de Veau
Boudin Rouge, Black Mission Fig and Goat Cheese Strudel
Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Braised Pigs Feet,
Crostini of Beef Tongue
Llama Slider with Bleu Cheese and Rosemary Red Onion Jam
Grilled Cayman Tail (crocodile) with Smoked Tomato and Basil Butter
Olive Oil Braised Octopus with Cici (garbanzos) and Lemony Vinaigrette
Crostata di Formaggi. Erborinato di Pecora Cheese Tartlet: cave aged raw sheep's milk cheese with natural bluing. Robiola La Rossa Cheese Tartlet: Cow and sheep mixed milk cheese wrapped in cherry leaves that are macerated in grappa
Beef Bone Marrow and Liver Parfait
Veal Kidney in the Style of Peking

Spytastic!

Before I launch into my most wonderful spytastic 30th birthday, first thing's first. Al's jaw is officially unwired! We went first thing this morning, and it's already a huge difference-he can talk more clearly, and can breathe more easily....we're so excited!!!!! (if you can't tell by the amount of exclamation marks).

So....where to begin? (Note: this is a long blog, print out, and read on your commute.....) Friday I ended up working from home for the day. We had an early out for the long weekend, and the weather was miserable out, so no point in going in. During the day, I got a call from Al telling me about a break-in that happened that morning in our neighborhood, so I was a bit freaked out working from home. Anyway, I had a hair appt at 4 pm, so I headed out to my appt., and called Al afterwards to pick me up-but he wasn't able to b/c he "was not in DC". I had not idea where he was, so I cabbed on home, and as I go to open the door, I notice it is now unlocked, and the alarm is off (which is not how I had left it). Turns out my brother-in-law Marc was the first of many surprises for the weekend. Shortly after catching up w/ Marc, Al got home and before I knew it, the doorbell rang, and my friends Sylvie and Jarrod (from Michigan) were here, with their baby Deidrea in tow. The birthday weekend celebration had officially begun!

After calming down, we all went to dinner together at Logan Tavern to catch up and visit with each other--last time I saw Sylvie and Jarrod was 2 years ago for Al's 30th dive trip, so it was such a treat to see them again, and have them be a part of the weekend, and it was great having Marc there as well, and have him join in the festivities. Dinner was pretty chill, but it was great to just catch up and have a low key evening after such an exciting start!

The next morning, Al got up early to go into work--and the rest of us agreed we would all go out to brunch to Busboys and Poets when Al got back from work. As I walk into the back room of Busboys, and I'm greeted by about 20 of my closest friends...some new, some old, some DCers, and my friend Shannon from Memphis (along with the other out of town guests mentioned above)....all having brunch and yelling "surprise!!!". I was in shock. I had NO idea we were going to have a morning surprise party (I had knowledge the birthday celebration was this weekend, but didn't know when or where, or more importantly....what.)

So, to answer the question of "what is all this????", Al (my most fabulous husband) started a flash movie he created, which explained that it was to be a Spytastic weekend-with a Scavenger Hunt!!! After watching the film, I got tapped on the shoulder, and my parents (and brother) were all standing behind me...I jumped up and totally started balling. I guess I was just so overwhelmed, and it's been a crazy few months, so the comfort of seeing family was such a relief.

Al started to launch into his speech about what the day would entail--we were all broken into color teams...green, blue, red, gray and white. We each got t-shirts for our team, which had the coolest panda spy design, done my friend(s) Jerrold Connors (with help from lovely wife Kristen). (make sure to visit http://www.alligatorboogaloo.com/, he's genious!) . We were also given spy kits including a pencil, and marker, a roll of nickels, a decoder, a list of objects to obtain, and a list of places that 3 members of the team had to take a picture in front of. Each team also got a zip car (http://www.zipcar.com/) that they would have to drive around for the day. I got to drive a Mini-Coop for the day, so I truly felt Spytastic! We also got a CD mix of "Music to Spy By", including music from Mission Impossible, James Bond, etc.

This is how it worked: we were given a list of certain places in DC to take pictures in front of and certain items to obtain (some specific to DC, some not). Each picture that was taken and each object obtained amassed a certain amount of points. We were also given a checkpoints we had to go to. Checkpoint 1 lead to the next checkpoint (but a secret decoder had to be used in order to determine the next location point. There were a total of three checkpoints that we had to go to in order to determine final checkpoint. So, in addition to getting pictures across the city and obtaining objects, we also had to go to the various checkpoints so that we could determine our final destination point (we had to be there 5 pm SHARP, and the first team there got 1,000 points!) My team was Mags (my childhood friend since 2), Sylvie and Jarrod. Hilarity ensued. We had a great day running around the city collecting items, and reenacting scenes from movies, reinacting my wedding, going to pretermined checkpoints so that we could figure out our final destination point. There was definitely smack talk going on between the teams, and a competitive vibe throughout the day. We had a great time being silly and acting like spies. Luckily, my team was able to determine the final checkpoint (we missed one of the checkpoints), but we made it to the finish line first.

On the music to spy by, there was a key decoder hidden on track 48, which helped the other teams figure out where to meat. The secret hint was "half smoke", which lead to only one place----Ben's Chilli Bowl.

We had dinner at Ben's, and then everyone went home to change. An exhausting day, truly, but the day was not over. We all met up for cocktails at Spy Lounge later that night (to continue the spy theme). While some people were tuckered out, I was impressed by those who rallied. A few people joined who were not able to be part of the scavenger hunt. At one point in the evening, my friend Diana (also from MI) walked in the door and surprised me, which was awesome!! I thought all of my surprises were over, so it was nice to have one more.

The night ended around 2, a couple of martini's down the catch, but mostly a great evening with good friends, my wonderful family, and my terrific, thoughtful husband.

I just want to say special thanks to those who made my day wonderful, not just by being there, but contributing ideas, helping Al with coordinating music to his flash invite, designing t-shirts, calling to check in, etc. It was a great day, and was the most I've laughed in the past two months. Thank you for that!!!

And, thank you to Al. You never cease to amaze me. You are so talented and creative, and a wonderful life partner. Even through a wired jaw, you continue to be so thoughtful, kind, and caring. I am truly lucky to have you as my husband, and I can't wait to have even more adventures with you.

Check out our pics: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNGTZs3ZOGHO

Princess Power!

So, as a new, ahem, 30 year old, I've decided that I would like to be a princess when I grow up. Princesses are so pretty, and never have to clean, and they get to ride horses, and never have frizzy hair, and they always have really nice skin.

I got a good start on Wednesday(my b-day)-my husband got me a kickin camera, and my coworkers got an arrangement of flowers for me and we got to go out for lunch to one of my favorite places! After work, I met up with some girlfriends for a little soiree my friend Colleen put together. She was so clever and came up with a ton of fun drink names like "Dirty 30" and the "Jodie-rita", etc. And, she made my FAVORITE of FAVORITE cakes-yellow cake with chocolate icing. See...I'm telling you, meant to be a princess. My case was really sealed when my friend Erika walked in with a princess bag full of treats only a TRUE princess could love. (I mean, you have to really be a princess to enjoy ring pops and pretty shiny bracelets, and really cool change purses and what not.) And, my friend Emily (and Sam) got me a mani certificate...pampering fit for a.........you guessed it.

Oh, alright, I'm just day dreaming. But, it's been a rough few months, and I deserve it, right? I have to admit, it was pretty special when we told the bartender I was celebrating a "big" birthday, and they thought I was turning 21!!!

Anyways, more b-day festivities to come at some point. Stay tuned....

Ringin' in the new year

It was the start of Jewish new year this weekend...happy 5767! Everybody Wang Chung tonight!

I am totally a high holidays Jew, I go to synangogue just about twice a year-for the high holidays, and sometimes I toss one in for good measure and just to make sure I'm inscribed in the Book of Life and all, but usually, I'm a two-for-one type of gal. Don't get me wrong, I love being Jewish, and I do the whole Hannukah and Passover hullabulloo, but for hitting services, right now, I'm just at the bare minimum.

Even so, I love the holidays. They are super relaxing to me, and the older I get, the more I look forward to them. I just love the few hours of sitting in service and having some quality reflection time, and just mindlessly humming the different prayers. And, even more so, I am so SO in love with the food around Jewish holidays. This year, we kicked off our holidays nicely. I made a potato and cheddar soup on Friday, and afterwards, we met up with my friend Bill for a coffee break, which was nice. On Saturday, after I hit services our friend Miriam had us over, and I swear, I almost burst into tears just thinking about the spread. It's just nice to know that no matter whose house you go to, they all have the same tradition, the same food, the same comforts you remember from being little. Following Mir's, we went to our friend Paul and Erika's for a nice end to the evening.

But, I'm excited to say one of the MOST exciting things from this weekend is that I made a pillow! Yes, as part of the quilting goal, I started with a pillow. Our friend Missy had us over for a stitch and bitch, and she totally helped me become a quilting diva--okay, well, not quite to that extent, but did I mention I made a damn pillow?

As for Al, 2 more weeks of being wired shut. Still a long road. And people still suck. Jaw surgery is not fun, so I can't imagine why people thing it is okay to say mean comments to Al about not being able to understand him, etc. Those people seriously need to get some manners, and should ask their mom's why they were brought up with poor ones. And, I can say that because I'm going to totally atone for it while I'm fasting next Sunday for Jewish high holiday round 2, Yom Kippur.

30, flirty and fun?

A week from today I turn 30. I've made a resolution. I'm going to be 30, flirty and fun! Okay, maybe not flirty in the traditional sense, I just mean flirty in the fun, fabulous, youthful sense. Flirting with new hobbies, new passions, trying to stay YOUNG.

So, here's looking down 30 square in the face, and a list of things I want to do in my 30's-some are quite a reach, but you gotta have something to reach for!

• Play piano-I took lessons when I was little, and would love to pick it up again.
• Learn how to speak French and Yiddush
• Travel to South America
• Make a hallah (traditional jewish bread for sabbath)
• Have kid(s)
• Raft down the Grand Canyon
• Take an African safari
• Take more pottery lessons and make a decent bowl (not just one my mother could love!)
• Learn how to make a quilt
• Write a kid's book
• Get promoted at work
• Become involved with a synagogue
• Learn to be not so self-involved
• Reunite with my old camp friends
• See more concerts
• Go to more plays
• Go camping at least once a year
• See a sea horse while diving
• Become a better cook
• Be 30, flirty and FABULOUS

Alright 30's, I'm ready, I have a list, and I'm coming for you, ready or not!