Light, Life, Love

I am at that point in my life that I start thinking about what is next for me. I was googling grad programs today to see if something inspired me. Funny enough I found an arts management program at U of O that looks very interesting. It is 2 year full-time program which is a bit scary. Committing 2 years to school again is a challenge. The program has a performing arts management concentration and with that you can get a certification in non-profit managing. This seems to be in the right path of what I want to do. I like designing but I am in a location where there is little available. I don't like being a grunt very much anymore, I much prefer the job of telling someone else to do something. I need something for me in my life. Being a SAHM only doesn't seem like a realistic option for me. I enjoy being a mom but I need more than that. I have miscellaneous part-time jobs but none of them really call to me in any meaningful way. The Jew Crew was keeping happy, busy...

We had such a fun day! Yesterday we flew all day, ate dinner at the mall food court and went to bed at like 8pm (CST). We were tired! Today we started out by eating breakfast at the hotel and headed to Touro synagogue for services. It was a very typical reform saturday morning service. Talyah and I played in the children's play area pretty much the whole time. This synagogue however doesn't look like a typical reform synagogue. It is huge, old and gorgeous. We had a nice time looking at all the stained glass windows. After services we headed over Magazine Street where we walked for awhile and found a cute little cafe and had panini's and Talyah had a peanut butter sandwhich. We walked over to whole foods from there and bought sunblock (which I had left at the hotel) and grapes to munch on. We then headed up to Audobon Park to walk around and landed ourselves at Soul Fest at the zoo. It was very crowded but it was a great zoo day and the music and southern fare f...

For the first time in months I am not stressed at all about anything. It is an amazing feeling that I don't get that often. I seem to have managed to get everything in order that had to be. I have no real big projects coming up that I know about it. All that is coming up for me is a vacation to New Orleans with James and Talyah and then Passover. Passover used to stress me out real bad but after 4 years of hosting big seders I finally have it figured out. My menu is pretty set. I now know to preorder my kosher chickens so then I just have to go to Trader Joes to pick them up, no more driving to every possible supermarket in a 60 mile radius to find what I need. The local supermarket in town that carries kosher stuff does not sell out as quickly as markets back east did, so after payday next week I should be able to buy all the matzah, cake meal, blah blah without too much of a hassle. Plus at this point I really like hosting the seder. We had 29 people last year in my tin...

I love sweets. James and I started taking a bootcamp class at the gym with a goal for him to continue weight loss and me to start some weight loss. We have really worked hard in the last year or so to eat healthier and exercise more. My weakness is sweets which I can thank my mom for. I grew up eating ice cream every night for dessert. Dessert is my favorite meal of the day. Chocolate makes me feel better and helps me destress. With this new attempt to lose weight I have put a limit on myself with the help of James to have one serving of sweets a day. No more cookies or chocolate in the middle of the day randomly. It is amazingly hard. We have girl scout cookies, caramels, and lace cookies in the house right now. I can't stop thinking about them. James put them above eye level to help with the desire. When I got home today from the gym all I wanted was a caramel and James played the good husbandly work out partner to remind me that if I had a caramel that would be my ...

I have been out of theater on a regular basis for too long. I have lost my virtue of being a patient person. At Zoellner Arts Center we were a machine, typically on schedule or ahead of schedule, typically not wasting our own precious time, (sometimes other people wasted our time), typically doing a great job the first time around. I remember in the theater department student designers spending hours and hours tweaking and changing things but that was never me. I run on time or early for everything (sometimes a little late with non important things because of a little munchkin named Talyah) but if it is just me I am always ready. I am in tech right now for a show in Portland called Slap That Bitch and I am trying to remind myself that theater is a collaborative art and not everyone runs on time like me. I am not saying that it is a bad thing, its just a thing that I have to get over. I had my plot in on time, hung in 5 hours, focused in 6, cued in an hour and now we are in t...

There are only a few places in this multicultural country of ours where you will find large populations of stereotypical jews. Delray Beach is one of those. From my grandmother who yelled at the kosher butcher about the size of the chickens to the old jewish couple complaining about the orthodox jews at the movie theater. Walking into Glicks is like one of the most surreal things, with endless options of kosher food, meat, milk, pareve whatever my tastebuds desire. I am sure that life in Delray Beach is comforting to the older generations of Jews, it is what a lot of them grew up with in Boston, New York and New Jersey. It is also what I grew up with, I grew up in a town that was 80% Jewish and I do find it comforting to be around kosher food and grandmothers, but I wouldn't trade it for the life that I have in an area of not so many jews. I think that by being in a small community it makes me feel more Jewish, I meet people who have never met a Jew or just don't know any...

All I can say is who knew a child could bitch and moan for 6 hours of flying time! Not even crying mostly whining and "mammaing" and looks like why can't I get out of my sit. All of the goldfish in the world would not have helped and then I messed up by adding apple juice to her water cup thinking that would cheer her up but no that just made her give me the nasty face look. The travel aquadoodle and books get her entertained for short bursts of time. I was very glad that our long leg of the flight she was able to sit in her carseat and there were very few people in the back of the plane. The first flight the overfull flight was not so lucky, I was pretty sure the woman in front of me was going to kill my daughter or me. Luckily it was young 20's girl who was sitting next to us so she didn't care and was full into her ipod touch. Anyway so here we are for the exciting adventures of old people in Florida. Talyah was very happy to see Bubbe who also flew dow...

There are times when I get very frustrated working with teenagers, but this weekend is not one of them. After months of emails, program writing, phone calls, brainstorming; we pulled off an amazing event. Most of the kids had never group led before and they all did great. I was very impressed with their new jewish songs, their "jewtopias", their ruach, their singing, their active participation... They even all went to sleep eventually last night so I got a moment or two of sleep. Thank you to the teens for reminding me why I am doing this job, thank you to Rabbi James for supporting and encouraging me, thank you to Noam Katz for his beautiful music and thank you to the parents for helping me make this event successful!

Why am I starting this blog? I am a very busy mom with 2 part time jobs, freelance gigs, volunteer positions and a family and house to hold together. I am hoping that this blog will help me see the joy in my craziness and give me a moment to think about all the wonderful things that I am creating and working on in my life.