Valentine's Day

We celebrate Valentine's Day in our house, especially since it's also the 1 year anniversary of our engagement.  I still can't believe its been an entire year, sometimes I feel like it happened just yesterday. Where does time go in life? Our engagement was very romantic and extremely unexpected. Pidgeon tries so hard to surprised me and last year, he certainly succeeded. It was the New York Valentine's Day Noreaster of 2007 and Pidgeon and I were stuck at my folks in Queens, and the day I had planned in the City was never going to happen. With roads closing and the snow piling up, I had to cancel our dinner reservation at Le Marais and forget the movie we were going to see. My Valentine's Day plans completely in ruins, I had to go with the flow, and laced up my Timberland boots, buttoned up my jacket, pulled on a baseball cap and trudged through the snow to wake up my love. 

I cam bearing gifts and presented Pidgeon with a bag full of great presents and tons of cards. He smiled through each gift and then he pulled out the ring and proposed. It was such a happy moment. I can still remember what he was wearing,  how he looked so nervous, and the flowers in the vase by his bed gave off the sweetest scent. In the background, the snow fell softly and the room was cast in the white sheen of a snowy day. It was perfect. And then, we spent the afternoon between calls to family and friends, shoveling the snow. 

When my parents came back from work, I was just so excited to see them and to celebrate with them. My Mom walked into the kitchen, and I asked her if she wanted to see my engagement ring. She took off her glasses and then looked at my father and said: what does this remind you of?. My Dad smiled and responded, your Mother.  That was so touching for me to experience, to recreate a moment my own parents had years ago. It made me sad that my own Grandmother wasn't around to experience the joy of our engagement. Afterwards, we had a nice dinner as a family and just talked about wedding plans and logistics.

This morning, I woke up next to my husband and felt this incredible joy. I'm just so happy that we're together. Each and every day with him is amazing, even when we fight. He surprised me again today by sending me flowers - orange tulips, which are my absolute favorites. They are gorgeous, and I set them up in a beautiful vase on the dining room table. Tonight, we're going out to a nice dinner to celebrate. I'm really looking forward to it!

I can't even tell you how many Valentine's Day's I had as a lonely single gal in Manhattan. There were a couple of years when I was dating someone, and one year my buddy Lou sent me flowers at work and I sent him a Bonsai plant, because we decided to be each other's Valentine. But in general, the day would be spent working for me. Since I have clients in the dating industry, I spent a lot of time talking to couples and dealing with people who want to get engaged on Valentine's Day, etc. I always felt just a twinge of jealousy during those moments, and genuine happiness for the people who had love on Valentine's Day. When I was in my bitter/angry single girl modes, I would hit the gym and then have a pint of chocolate Ben and Jerry's for dessert. Other years, I met my girlfriends for movie night at the theatre. I have some good and some bad Valentine's Day memories. But since Pidgeon came along, those memories have faded in my mind and been replaced by happiness.

OK - moving on from Valentine's Day.

So, Hot Extra now has the Ellen DeGeneres Show and that makes me so happy! Today, they aired her 50th birthday episode, which was fun but I had already seen the highlights on YouTube. That being said, it's good to be able to catch up on my American talk shows. We get Dr. Phil here too, but he's really boring, so I don't watch him much. 

Meanwhile, my cleaning lady is here and she is doing the most incredible job. The problem is that she is sooo slow! She's been here since 12:00 and has even gotten to the living room/dining room/kitchen area. I told her that she has to leave at 4:00 and she was shocked that she has to leave so soon, I think she expected to work here for a few more hours. That being said, I can't afford to pay her to work here for more than that! She charges 40 shekel an  hour, and at 4 hours that's 160 shekel! I can't afford that each week. I was hoping she could work for 3 hours each week, since we're pretty much clean people in general. All I really need her to do sometimes is just wash my floors. Well, we'll see how the next hour and a half shapes up. Also, when she came to the house today, she asked if she could wear my slip on New Balance sneakers. I thought she was going to wear them with socks, so I told her she could. Just now, I saw that she's wearing them barefoot and I'm really not happy about that at all! I really don't share shoes in general, and certainly not with someone whose going barefoot. Oh well, I guess there goes my slip on New Balance's. I think there going to now have to be her sneakers. That's very disappointing! 

Well, I'm off to do some homework and some reading. Hope everyone has a LOVELY day!

Corn Chowder

It's almost 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and I'm sitting here as the corn chowder cools on the stovetop, and am waiting for the AC/Heating repair man to come take a look. It's been 5 weeks since our heating/AC unit died a very miserable death, and it looks like we might be in for another snow storm at the beginning of next week. I know he won't fix the problem before Monday, but here's hoping we'll figure out a solution sooner rather than later.

Week in Review:

Friday

Pidgeon and I were in Ashkelon for Shabbos with his parents, and it was such a beautiful day! I woke up early and poked Pidgeon out of sleep. I wanted to spend the day outside since the sun was shining and the beach looked so inviting. I left Pidgeon to daven and took the dog for a nice, long walk on the beach. When I got back, Pidgeon was finished davening and we took the car and went to the huge SuperSol Big that's right outside the city. We had a quick breakfast at Aroma and then did some pre-Shabbos food shopping. I didn't want to leave, the supermarket was amazing. It reminded me of Costco from back home and I tried to steer clear of the massive cookie/cake aisle. We finished getting what we needed for Shabbos: some herring, smoked salmon, caviar, etc. and then drove back to the apartment. With a few hours left to go before Shabbos, we just relaxed and watched some DVD's. It was amazing.

Shabbos

I slept in but Pidgeon went with his Dad to an Ashkenazi shul in the area. When they got back, he woke me up and we joined his parents and their guests for an elaborate Kiddush in the apartment. I treated myself to some delicious chocolate Babka while Pidgeon feasted on the smoked salmon. After Kiddish, we took the dog for another walk and this time we went to the Ashkelon Marina. It was absolutely packed with Israeli's enjoying the weather and all of the various eateries. The marina was full of boats with names in English, and some sported International flags as well. The dog was a little overwhelmed with all the people, but we stayed outside for a while soaking in the sun. I got a bit of a tan, but Pidgeon laughed and said that all my freckles came out. I get freckles in the sun, which is annoying, but it's nice to know that a mere 1 1/2 hour car ride could get me some color in this Country. We went back for a late lunch and then slept Shabbos away. We ended up driving back to Jerusalem after Shabbos and spent the night just unpacking, relaxing, and watching some TV.

Sunday

It was a pretty busy day, with a very early morning start. Once again, I needed to go and get another blood test. We thought that the center opened between 7:30 and 9:00 a.m., but it turns out that the Maccabi on Aggripas doesn't start drawing blood until 9:30. So, we went to eat breakfast at Beiytza Ayin on King George Street. We love that place for breakfast as it serves some great eggs of our choice. Pidgeon got the Shakshuka, and I got the Healthy Breakfast with scrambled eggs. Fortified, we went to Maccabi and stood on line for our turn to register and pain. Well, as soon as I went up to the front, the woman at the desk told me to cut the line and go ASAP inside for the test. That was a little scary, but it worked out nicely as the woman who drew my blood was very experienced. Unfortunately, she took 7 viles of blood! Needeless to say, I spent the afternoon resting because I was exhausted from the morning and Pidgeon ran around getting ready for the week.

Monday

We woke up very late and decided to do our major food shopping. We went to the SuperSol Deal in Talpiot and literally loaded up our cart. Pidgeon remarked that most people don't food shop for Shabbos on Monday, but the supermarket was empty and they had a pretty decent selection. We got some staples like cheese and deli and bread, and then some interesting items like Phyllo dough and cocktail olives. I decided to make a brisket for Friday night and a deli roll for Shabbos lunch. We got home and I set to work on putting everything away and then got down to doing my homework for class. I'm reading the Autobiography of Mary Rowlandson, who was kidnapped by the Native Americans in the 1600's and wrote about her 11 week captivity. It was a little difficult to get through as Rowlandson preached a lot (she was a Puritan, so what could I expect?) but the details of the situation was riveting. Pidgeon did his own homework too and, before I knew it, it was late at night and I had to cook dinner and get ready for bed.

Tuesday

The alarm went off at 6:45 a.m. and I jumped out of bed, ready to start the day. Pidgeon was so dead to the world, I was scared he wouldn't get up in time to drive me to the Central Bus Station. Fortunately, with much prodding, he got up and drove me in time to make the 8:20 a.m. bus. I zoned out and listened to my iPod and managed to get to the class before the rain started. I love how it rains in Tel Aviv. When class was over, and after I dealt with Schar Limud, I walked to the bus stop and waited for the 400 to Jerusalem. I felt two heavy, big drops, and knew that I'd better make a run for cover. I entered the crowded bus kiosk just as the rain starting to come down in sheets! Everyone crowded in and waited for the bus, and I just pulled my hood tighter and waited for the rain to stop. Almost as quickly as it began, it ended and the bus pulled up a few minutes later.  The ride back was pleasant and Pidgeon picked me up and we went to his parents house to raid their fridge. I was starving and cranky, so it was a good thing we did the parental pit stop. We loaded up on bagels and tuna and then, satisfied, went back to the apartment to relax. Pidgeon left for a bit to do some errands, and I just unloaded from my day and did a little work for my American client. I was more than happy to fall into bed early. 

Today

Pidgeon was up early and out of the house to go to school for his test review classes. I was tempted to sleep in, but decided to drag myself out of bed and get my day going. Since our freezer is full of bread, I thought I'd make a bread pudding for Shabbos. It's a pain to make as it takes at least 3 cooking utensils and a lot of elbow grease, but Pidgeon loves it so much that I knew he'd be thrilled to have it for Shabbos. I also got us some turkey legs for Shabbos lunch, so it will be very tasty coupled with the bread pudding. I also wanted to try this new recipe I found on the box of Saltines. I've never made corn chowder before, but I had all the ingredients in the house, and as an old episode of House played in the background, I got to work. The chowder is extremely thick and creamy and, since I'm not a big milk person, it doesn't really fill my palate. Pidgeon's opinion will determine whether or not I make it again. The previous apartment owner sent an electrician to look at our AC/Heating unit problem and, he stood here for a few minutes before telling me that he was the wrong person for the job. I was more than happy to let him out the door as quickly as he came in. I'm starting to think that this is just never going to get fixed!

Meanwhile, tomorrow is our 1 year engagement anniversary. I cannot believe its been a year since Pidgeon proposed in New York City in the aftermath of the Noreaster. It was a lovely, and surprising, Valentine's Day. We are going to celebrate by going out to a nice dinner and, since our cleaning lady is coming to the apartment at Noon, I plan on taking my time and getting dressed up for the occasion. We're on a very strict budget, so there will be no exchanging of gifts. Instead, we're treated ourselves to a nice dinner out on the town. I'm really looking forward to a fun evening together!

Well, I'm off to go fold the laundry and call Cousin Neil. I shipped a package to his apartment in Manhattan so my friends (who are coming P"G next week) can bring them to me. Anyway, I need to let him know so he can BOTL!

Erev Tov!