the winter is forbidden til December, and exits March the 2nd on the dot.

The month of December has been an in-between month, a month of transition. I’m coming out of it in a very different place than I started.

The month began with a lot of boredom at work, and a feeling like I wasn’t growing or learning so much. I resolved to solve this by applying to volunteer at the Academy of Natural Sciences in an entomology lab, after attending a wonderful lecture on the ‘superorganism’ by Bert Holldobler and E.O.Wilson, two luminaries in the bio world that I really respect and find particularly inspiring. While volunteering at the academy would have been lovely, it was not to be.
You see, earlier in the month of November I had applied for a few jobs I had seen on idealist.org, including one at ACEEE, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (longest name ever, right?), doing research and program assistance for the three directors of the organization. In the second week of December, I had a lovely phone interview, and then the next week I came down for an inperson interview, and three days later, I had a new job! It all happened very quickly, and I’m quite excited about it.

This means, of course, that I’ll need to move down to DC, an exciting prospect for me as I’ve always liked DC as a city. Plus, it’s my sister’s city, and some great friends are down there. I was understandably nervous about finding my first apartment on my own, but I just returned from a weekend-long apartment-finding trip (and the first apartment I saw was a winner). I also looked at a few others after that and have some back-ups, but barring any abnormal difficulties, I’ll be moving to Van Ness in northwest DC in a few weeks! I’m going to be living with two other jewish women, both in their late 20s, and in a rather nice apartment and building.

Needless to say, I’m pretty thrilled about going to DC – the beginning of a new administration feels like a great time to move to the capitol, and I’m happy that I’ll be working for an organization doing something I’m really passionate about.

slip a sable under the tree, for me.

I really love Christmas music -- even if it has little to no relevance for my personal beliefs, it's upbeat and commercial and it makes me happy.

This month has been a good one, among the best of my months here so far. Work-wise, it's been frustrating, because we're reorganizing, and somehow in this process I ended up with not so much to do, but that'll get better soon. Anyway, it was a good month, which clearly merits a blog entry so I'll remember it.

The trip to Boston in the beginning was really wonderful -- I ended up needing a lot less of Brandeis and a lot more of my friends than I thought I would. Which is healthy and normal and wonderful, and I felt good about it. Highlights included Madagascar with Sarah, Miri, and Matt, lots of Miriam time and Shaked time, Seth's birthday party, and a fabulous day of gallumphing about the MFA and newbury street with Esti and Shaked.

I was really looking forward to shabs at Brandeis, but it was good in ways I didn't expect it to be and bad in ways I expected to be good. Namely, I was not so excited about the prospect of BaRuCH davening, but excited to see BaRuCH people, and then that ended up being fabulous all around. On the other hand, I was really looking forward to dinner, which was rather blah and small and not so good (there were a lot of other things going on -- BOO Freshmen dinners, Koach shabs, etc, but it still made it weird). Plus the board did this psuedo-educational thing, which was interesting in concept but poorly executed (rule #1 of informal ed - people don't really like being read to.)

So that was a great trip, but more because of wonderful friends than anything else. Another great part of my November was the two trips to Nueva York -- one Sunday-Monday trip, and one Saturday-Sunday trip. In the first trip, I saw David's new apartment, dinnered at a yummy vegan place with Sara and Kat, bar-ed it up with Schutz and Kat and Sara, slept over at Schutz's and then Popover Cafe-d with Jonathan, and then headed home. It was quick and fun, and just what I need that weekend (I had been a smidge frustrated with home at that point). The second trip was two weekends ago -- for some unknown reason, i didn't have to teach sunday school, so I left right after work on Saturday, went out to a fun gay bar with Mat and Arnab -- we actually got Alli's BFF from home, Zach, to come play with us, which was great. def a fun night. The next morning I visited Aunt Li for a few hours, then gallumphed about AMNH with David (SO much fun), and then dinnered at the Shake Shack with Katherine-bear and two of the cutest 4-year-olds ever (it was crowded so we shared a booth with them).

The month was capped off in lovely fashion by the visit of one Ms. Shaked Hoter, my dearest furniture and friend. She came from Wednesday to Sunday, and I got to show her the Franklin Institute, and she survived/endured multiple Gold Family dinners (including Thanksgiving, of course) without injury. It was really nice to have her here, because I definitely miss living with her all the time. We also met up with Matt (Stern) and his friend Sierra, which was great and diner-y and ridiculous.

So that was my month, which I'm definitely thankful for. Especially because it is now almost socially acceptable to blast Christmas music from my Brandeis-sticker-adorned car. Oy.

puppycam

I have a new love. No, it's not a man. No, it's not a new book, or an old book, or even a sweater.

It is a website. I am obsessed with the puppy cam. It's this website where you can watch a batch (6) of really cute puppies (not sure what breed). All day long. Most of the time, they're schluffing, or playing with each other, or schluffing.

Work will never get done again. Oh, happy day.

Check it out yourself; your day will instantly get better! http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

we'll ask the local jet set, to dine on our dinette-set

This week was jam-packed with wonderfulness and busy-ness in a crazy way.

Last Tuesday, as the universe knows, was the election. I don't think I can remember a time in my life when I was quite that excited to wake up at 5:45am, but I zoomed through getting ready and bustled my way to the polling station in Skippack. It was totally packed with people, which made me happy, and so I spent a beautiful hour chatting with other citizens and waiting to cast my ballot. Note to self: casting a ballot in person is really so much better than absentee. I spent all day at work checking the polls and being ridiculous, and was quite glad that I have a non-office job because if I had been near my computer for any more time I would have exploded.

I got home, and Bubbie and I had a yummy meal, then alternated between CNN, ABC, and Jon Stewart all night. I got a lot of needlepoint done, and my poor Bubbie had to endure renditions of "Ohio" and "I was Born in Virginia" throughout the evening. I was on the phone with Schutz when Virginia was called, and we both figured out that this meant that he had won, and we were still on the phone together when they called it for Obama -- AMAZING.

So needless to say I went into work on Wednesday a very happy me. We were all pretty excited about things, and the day was going quite well until around 2:00 in the afternoon, when I got pulled off the floor. Turns out visitor numbers are way down, and they had to lay some people off, so we had this big awful scary quiet meeting, and my boss was laid off. It doesn't really affect my day-to-day so much, but I think before this economic crisis thing felt very far away, like it didn't really impact my life, and this made it much more personal.

Considering last week was only a three-day week of work, it was pretty ridiculously up-and-down. The trip to Boston that followed was even more ridiculous and was filled with many more good things, and not so many bad as the week before. More on that in a later post.

I'm just the cleverest feller twas ever my fortune to know

A bit of an update seems necessary, since it's been a while, and I no longer have the stress of the GRE preventing me from writing in the proverbial unnecessary, self-aggrandizing blog.

Speaking of which . . . I'm done with the GRE! I did well enough that I'm totally not going to retake it, and it's one thing on the need-to-get-done-in-life checklist. And, I'm now required to go to grad school within the next five years, or I'll have to take it again. Which would be gross, so grad school it is.

In much more exciting news, I'm headed to Boston/Brandeis/my happy place in two weekends -- I'm ridiculously excited to a. not have Hebrew school for a week (although I'm loving it and it's going well, I could use a break), b. see all the people I miss desperately, and c. be social, goshdarnit. I really don't love the whole not-seeing-friends ever situation that seems to be where I've landed myself at home. Perhaps it was silly to lose connection with all of those people from high school, but everyone I love is away or busy for the most part. And realistically, high school friends aren't quite the same as college friends (with some notable exceptions). So needless to say I'm excited about going to Boston.

In decidedly ridiculous news, my mother and I were sitting in the office the other day and decided to make her a facebook page. So Mona is now on facebook. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, but amused is definitely a part of it.

So I believe a few countdowns are in order:
4 days - spending a night in NYC just for fun!
7 days - election!
9 days - Brandeis!

Happy happy day. Even if it is intermittently snowing and hailing and blowing nasty stuff. Plus, I just bought a new coat. So even that can't bother me that much, because I have prospect of happy warmth coming into my life soon!

One thing has been really bugging me throughout this very long, very fatiguing campaign. The accusation that Barack Obama is a Muslim drives me up a wall. First of all the evidence clearly indicates that he's not, but much much much much more importantly, it shouldn't matter. Not at all, not one bit. This is America, and there are Muslim-Americans who fight in Iraq, who run for Congress, who are every bit as American as my family or George Bush's family or John McCain's family. So if Barack Obama were a Muslim, I'd STILL vote for him. There are moderate Muslims all over the world (out of 1 billion people, I'm sure they don't all want to wipe Israel off the map), and I'm much more interested in a candidate's ability to affect change, position on the environment, position on Israel than anything else. And Obama's got it together on those counts. 

I've been ranting about this to everyone for months. It's a real pet peeve. But when Colin Powell said the same thing (and infinitely more eloquently than I could) on Meet the Press this Sunday, I have to say my heart leaped. Here is a moderate, thoughtful, former General who really knows a lot more than me about this country and he also thinks that the behavior of those who insist that a Muslim-American couldn't be President is deplorable. Of course, Obama isn't even a Muslim, but if he were, what would matter?

I almost feel like this is the Muslim version of the song If You Were Gay from Avenue Q. "If you were muslim, that'd be okay I mean cuz hey, I like you anyway. .. etc etc, followed by "but I'm not Muslim". Of course, it doesn't rhyme as well . . .

Anyway, check out the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_NMZv6Vfh8 

I am finding it simultaneously frightening and exhilarating (from a purely historical perspective) that the Northwest Passage opened briefly this summer.

by order summer lingers through September . . .

Last week moved along quite briskly, with a few ridiculous highlights punctuating my relatively humdrum existence.

Last Saturday, I went into work as usual, having heard rumors of an intense former hurricane coming the way of Philadelphia. I figured it wouldn't really affect me so much since I work inside and my walk to work isn't that bad. Needless to say, I went out after work to meet someone only a few blocks (maybe 6 or 7) away, and almost blew away. Like actually, I felt like Almira Gultch again. Only not on stage, and minus that amazing ruffled shirt I got to wear. Anyway, dinner at Fuji Mountain was amazing -- I totally recommend it for those in Philly. But I can't remember the last time I was that overwhelmed by the weather. Oh wait, yes I can -- remember when it snowed 3 ft at Brandeis? ... that was similarly overwhelming.

The next day I woke up to a frighteningly idyllic day (especially in comparison to the previous one) -- I went to the ACAJE (jewish educators) Supplementary School conference at KI in Elkins Park. It was an okay morning, lots of chatting with Beth Or people and Or Ami people and stuff life that. Definitely nice to see my old teachers now that I've been away from Beth Or a while and have some distance from it, but I'm also really glad that I'm not teaching there -- I think it'd be too weird. Maybe at some point in the future, but for now, I'm loving Or Ami. Anyway, my first session on different types of learners was nice but rather typical, and I didn't feel like I got anything new out of it. The second session on the other hand was wonderful -- it was led by Ellen Walters, who was my 3rd grade Hebrew school teacher, and who is one of those master teachers that everyone should learn from. Anyway, the session was on giving early elementary kids a set of problem solving tools and empowering them to think through their own problems -- definitely some food for thought there.

I did have one moment where I felt really uncomfortable at the conference -- I saw Michelle Shapiro, whose husband gave us Harley when they moved to an apartment and couldn't have a dog -- anyway, she asked how Harley was, and I had to tell her that he passed away and the whole awful story and it was just miserable. I'm really fine about it, it's not like I'm still missing my dog like a crazy person 8 months later, but there's something awful about having to talk about something when you're not expecting to have to.

Anyway, after ACAJE, I dropped the car off in Jenkintown and took the train into Philly, which was wonderful because I got to see Jackieeee :) (and the elder Ms. Feinberg as well :) ). It was so great great great to see her before she took off for the land of kilts and haggis, and we had a beautiful afternoon of wandering around in the sun, playing in South St. and checking out the decidedly wonderful GreenFest. goodtimes had by all. Note to self: the key to happiness = eating more Maoz falafel.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Highlights included:
- an accidental and unfortunate addiction to that stupid secret life of an American teenager show. it's like a train wreck. i can't stop myself from watching.
- a chat with Skrevsky on the phone!!!!
- the pronouncement by Bubbie Ethel that "I'd rather have Newt Gingrich than that awful Sarah Palin woman." This may not seem remarkable to you, but considering Bubbie's previous history with Mr. Gingrich, I was shocked (in 1994, she repeatedly threw pillows at his image on C-SPAN while stuck in bed due to heart troubles. 8-year-old me was mildly frightened, and grew up thinking that Newt Gingrich was the devil).

look, I find some of what you teach suspect

RIP, RENT.

I'm having trouble believing that RENT is actually over -- it's been a part of Broadway basically since I knew what Broadway was (well not quite, I WAS watching Peter Pan and South Pacific as a 3-year-old), but still.

I didn't start off loving RENT. Like many things in life, I refused to get excited about it until Matt Stern Made me (the story is the same for Wicked, Avenue Q, and Stephen Sondheim, as well. Parade, too for that matter). But I digress. As a kid doing musical theater in the Beth Or and PV world, I was convinced that RENT was too commercialized -- everybody liked it, and I was a musical theater purist, so of course I wouldn't. Having every word memorized and shouting it on buses to youth group events and during rehearsals for other shows did not appeal to me. In fact, I blocked it out so well from my repertoire of musicals-i-like that I didn't see it or listen to the full CD until 2005, when the movie came out. Matt told me I had to see it, and that I was ridiculous if I didn't, so I got the CDs from him, listened to them over and over until I felt like I got the plot, and then went to see the movie. Which I enjoyed thoroughly. I became a latent RENT-head, somehow knowing all of the words to the songs I had judged people for 5, 10 years earlier. The allure wore off about a year later, when I worked as a counselor for Rockwood Adventures, a teen tour. Nothing kills a RENT buzz like 12- and 13-year-old girls screaming the lyrics.

Anyway, fast forward again to this April, when I took a well-deserved weekend off from the craziness of senior year at Brandeis to go see the show with Ronis in New York. I'm sure the show lost something over time, and I get that it's now a relic of something that doesn't quite exist anymore, but its music still resonated with me. At the time, I loved the feel of the theater itself (although in retrospect, it was a little East Village theme-park-y). Anyway, I'm definitely glad I got a chance to see it before it closed, if only because it's a part of musical theater history, and there are few things in life I love more than musical theater history.

So rest in peace, RENT. Lots of people will miss you.

why isn't life the West Wing?

Last night was disappointing. Not that I ever had much interest or faith in Sarah Palin. But she really exemplifies ALL of things I tend to dislike about the Republican party. I like thinking of myself as a moderate liberal, I like maintaining the personal illusion that I might be a swing voter. With McCain of 2000, there would have been a contest for my vote (of course, I was 15, so it didn't matter so much). But McCain 2008 has moved farther and farther away from being my candidate.

And last night Palin and Guiliani put the nail in that coffin. Really? 'drill, baby, drill'? are you INSANE? and you actually don't believe in global warming? or sex education? Oy, that convention is making my back hurt.

gaaaaaah, I'm voting for Vinick. or Santos. Obama will do I suppose.

cream-colored ponies and crisp apple struedels

because I recognize that the last post was mildy morose, I've decided to compile a list of good things about this summer:

1. Mona food all the time. my mother really is the best cook ever. I'm not just saying that because she's my mother. Or because she's Mona and she could kick my bum.
2. I had just the right amount of Abramson this summer. a month was perfect -- I got to hang out with my favorite geriatrics but didn't get sick of the place or frustrated.
3. i got to see the 4th of July fireworks with Missy and friends!
4. the botanical gardens with Fenster and Gold families might have been the most precious thing ever. nothing beats growly Jason when Mona started taking pictures right and left
5. the fact that I got a lot of Skrevsky time at the beginning of the summer. that was pretty great
6. the day with Matt and Sarah involving avocado-brie-pesto sandwiches, mimosas, Merrymead and schnuggling. that was one for the history books.
7. I get to dissect eyeballs, run an 80-year-old train, look at the sun, teach kids about spectra and color, play with plastinated sheep and mouse and horse brains, ride on a segway, and make paper. oh, and assembling space suits is kind of fun too. right. and i get paid to do these things - amazing.
8. i got to see my Schutz and Ronis twice. which makes for goodtimes always. I mean, I'd rather see them more, but I'm glad I still get to see my friends.
9. PRISCO. we were in the same place for more than a month for the first time since, what, 1997? this was a good thing for my neshama. so was the crazy day we spent gallumphing around the Philly art museum
10. BRADLEY WHITFORD. going to see him in Boeing Boeing with Shaked and Will was not only one of the highlights of the summer, it may have been a highlight of the past decade. just saying.
11. getting to read for fun all the time. it's been glorious, and i've found a few gems which is always a wonderful feeling.
12. i finally finished Gilmore Girls. i cried when it was over.
13. Les Mis at the Walnut Street Theater, Boeing Boeing, Mamma Mia with Mommy Mona, and Sex and the City with Skrevsky. these are a few of my favorite things.
14. deciding to teach Hebrew school again. i just need to accept that i can't get away from it. and i'm really excited for Or Ami, which is much smaller than the gigundo-synagogues i'm used to at Beth Or and Temple Beth Elohim.

As We Stumble Along

Life is so different outside of Brandeis. Not really in a bad way or a good way. I mean, a part of me is utterly weirded out that I'm not there right now. But a larger part of me knows that I was done with it, and that it's a part of my life that is over, and that that's okay. 

It's just that life seems so much more bland. It's probably a characteristic of most people's college experiences, but I certainly found that my highs were so much higher there (and as a result, my lows were lower, too). But I was non-stop busy and always moving and there was always something to do next. I'm still doing a lot at home -- working at the franklin takes up 5 days a week, plus the Hebrew school thing, plus dealing with going back and forth between Mona and Bubbie Ethel . . . but it's not like I'm always stressed about the next thing. It's definitely nice to have less stress, and to be able to read for fun is glorious (the hour commute on the train each way ensures that reading happens). I just feel like my sense of direction is a bit off, like I'm pointing NNE when I should be just going north. When I'm not surrounded by amazing, driven crazy-intense Brandeis people all the time, it's much more difficult to maintain my drive. 

I'm not unhappy, and I like my job, and I enjoy the day-to-day of my life, but it's just not as rich and multilayered and ridiculous and intense as Brandeis was. 

In related news, I went to CVS to pick something up and was very sad that I wasn't purchasing school supplies. I love fresh notebooks and pens and the feeling of possibility at the beginning of the school year. 

You've seen the sign that says George Washington once slept here; well though nobody spied him, guess who was beside him?

As evidenced by the title of this post, I really need to stop listening to Damn Yankees so much.

So I've decided to accept a job teaching Hebrew school on Sunday mornings. I was originally reluctant to jump back into teaching, but I figured I'd send out my resume and see if I got any bites. The job is for 2nd grade at a small synagogue, and it really feels like the perfect match for me -- well-designed curriculum, seemingly supportive staff, etc etc. I've never attended/worked at/dealt with a small synagogue before, but I think it'll be a nice experience, especially because I don't really feel like Beth Or is my home anymore. 

Obviously, taking the job will cut down on my ability to travel to NY and DC, etc, but realistically, I can always take a day or two off of work or just go to either of the above after work on Sundays. Also, as much as I'm loving the job at the museum, it's not challenging in the same way that teaching is, and I don't do well when I'm not busy and challenged. 

Anyway, decision made, yay! Tomorrow, playtime with my dearest Matt. 

Ms. Gold goes to Washington

For the second weekend in a row, I spent my days off visiting with friends -- this weekend in DC was considerably less jam-packed than last weekend in NY, but I definitely had a lovely time. Mom and I drove straight to DC from the franklin institute on Saturday, making great time (2.5 hours! no traffic!) We listened to the wonderful Beltin' Broadway Babes mix created by a certain Skrevsky and I, and finished the ride listening to The Lion King. Lovely choices all around. I can think of few images I enjoy more than my mother singing Hey, Big Spender :)

We arrived in DC around 7:30, whereupon Alli gave us the grand tour of the apartment (I had seen it in June, but it was Mom's first visit) I realized as we walked around that the two months since I had last been there had gone by awfully quickly, between work at Abramson and then the transition to the franklin, and then a whole month of work at my new job . . . crazy. I'm definitely in a very different place than the last time I visited DC -- I was so stressed about not having a job and not knowing where I was going to be and . . .oy.

Anyway, after the tour, we hopped into Alli's car to drive to dinner. That's when the ridiculous Gold family antics ensued. Alli decided that we should go to this place in Cleveland Park, the Open City Diner, for dinner. She neglected to think about the fact that parallel parking is not really her forte, and in her vain attempts to find parking near said dinner establishment, accidentally got onto the Rock Creek Parkway. Ten minutes on the parkway later, we were downtown near GW, frantically attempting to figure out where we were and what was going on. To her credit, Alli kept her head and remember that a CPK was nearby, so we found someplace to eat and park and all was well. But being in a car with Mona and Alli is tense at the best of times, so this was mildly trying. Anyway, we had a lovely dinner and then drove back. (Alli did swimmingly this time! -- she really is a very good driver, and she handled it much better than I would have) We started watching the Olympics, but I crashed pretty early, demonstrating my amazing ability to sleep through anything (sleeping through men's gymnastics really IS a feat).

The next morning we woke up relatively early and lounged about Alli's apartment, watching the Olympics and then the first half of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was mildly ridiculous, since Mom hadn't seen or read the fourth book, and barely any of it made sense for her. Anyway, I got lots done on my embroidery project (!) and soon enough it was time to leave for the Fenster-Gold family adventure! We got on the metro and waited for about 25 minutes (apparently they're doing track work on the Red line - ugh), and I was in a snarky I-don't-like-waiting-and-I'm-hungry mood, which didn't help things. Eventually the subway came, and we got to Dupont Circle, where we walked to this lovely bookstore/restaurant to meet Jason and Marilyn, his Mom, for brunch.

We embraced and were silly and poked around the bookstore for a few minutes until our table was ready -- such a fabulous bookstore, with a great selection of just the kind of books I like, and a very cozy atmosphere. We got to our table and enjoyed a wonderful brunch -- a little expensive, but all of the meals came with mimosas (I got a strawberry one, yum!) and I had a vegetarian version of eggs benedict, with avocado and tomato instead of ham. SO utterly delicious. Also, the bathrooms there require a special bathroom coin that you have to ask your waiters for, but I didn't use mine and just kept the coin because it was so cute. oops. After lunch, we walked around the bookstore some more, and i decided that I need to buy Salt: A history. After browsing for a bit, we all hopped onto the subway, which we took to the botanical gardens.

I've never actually been to the national conservatory and botanical gardens, which seems improbably considering my mother has apparently given talks there and I'm, well, me. Anyway, the botanical gardens are beautiful, but we spent most of the time inside the conservatory, which is wonderfully curated, with really fabulous specimens. It had been a long time since I've had the leisure to walk around a greenhouse figuring out plant families, and Jason and Alli were wonderfully tolerant of me (and I think may have actually enjoyed themselves, too!) They have a great exhibit on scents and spices, which I loved, and a fabulous "cool globes" art installation in the garden, which I'm very into. I definitely want to go back another time, and could absolutely see myself working someplace like that in the future.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking down the Mall, passing the Air and Space museum and the very clever to-scale (by 1/10-billionth) model of the solar system along the sidewalk. We got ice cream and soft pretzels and walked around the Hirschhorn sculpture garden which was nice, but not fabulous -- I like my art exhibits with a healthy dose of explanatory descriptions. Anyway, it was a wonderful day, and so very great to see my favorite mr. fenster and to galumph around DC as a group. Afterwards, Mom, Alli, and I went back to her apartment, watched the rest of the Harry Potter movie, then went to Guapo's in Tenleytown for delicious Mexican food. I was beat, and collapsed into bed early for the second night in a row, while Alli and mom chilled out and watched TV.

Yesterday morning, we woke up early, got the car packed and some of Alli's stuff packed, and then jumped into the car for a morning of shopping and fun! We drove to Friendship Heights, where we went into Borders (I got my Salt book), Loehmanns (Alli got a cute shirt), and Filene's (Alli and Mom bought purses). We ended up at Cosi for lunch, where Alli and I both enjoyed the amaaaaazing signature salad -- hello, who doesn't love pear, gorzonola, grapes, pistachios, and a sherry vinaigrette all in the same salad? crazy people, that's who.

When we came back to the car, we realized that we had totally forgotten to put money in the meter. Expecting a towed car or a ticket, we were happy to see neither, and particularly amused when we realized that the DC parking authority had parked right in front of us and hadn't noticed. (it seems like the officer was on a lunch break, thank goodness.) We dropped Alli off at American, then drove home, stopping only for Barnes and Noble (that's right, two large chain bookstores in one day; Grandma Hilda would be ashamed), where I bought myself a history of the Little Ice Age and its impacts on empire building (!)

So all together a lovely, family-filled weekend. Next weekend, Mr. Stern comes home to Philadelphia!!!

I drink from the keg of glory! Bring me the finest bagels and muffins in the land!

This weekend was one of those that was so wonderful, so jam-packed with friends and happiness and greatness, that it deserves to be recounted so that on gloomy days I can look back and think, "wow, that was ridiculously fabulous." This weekend's intense outrageous wonderfulness can be attributed to a lot of things, so let's just get started.

I began my weekend as I do now, spending the day working at The Franklin. Saturday's are actually a really fun day to work; things are pretty laid back, the volunteers are fun, and there are more families than camp groups, so the visitors are especially wonderful. The overall greatness of visitors was significantly enhanced this particular weekend by two people I tend to enjoy a lot: my mother and Nor-man. Norman basically just wanted to come to see the train, but they walked around the museum and I think they had a lot of fun. I spent my lunch break that day basking in the Philadelphia warmth, walking to Whole Foods for sushi and getting Isaac Asimov's Foundation out of the library (because somehow I've managed to get this far in my life without reading it).

After work, I dashed to Suburban Station, where I hopped on an R7 train to Trenton (note: i decided to take the train instead of the bus. further note: never doing that again). I arrived in Trenton about 45 minutes later. Now, I don't normally LOVE Trenton station but it's not the worst train station I've encountered in my 22 years, but this time it was awful! Construction everywhere, confusing signs, I could barely figure out where I was going and once I did, they had told me the wrong place to go! UCH. Anyway, after those trials and tribulations, I popped onto NJ transit and spent the next hour and a half in space-age-bliss (those two-level trains are trippy! hello alliteration . . . ), reading my book and getting excited for the weekend to come. I finally got to Penn Station, whereupon I jumped onto the two trains to Schutz's. On the way I saw not one, but TWO brandeis kids. woah.

I got out of the train, walked to Schutzy's apartment in the rain, and collapsed into his waiting arms, at which point I was promptly whisked back out the door by Schutz and Laurie (apparently Shaked, Missy, and Will had been waiting for us at the restaurant, so we had to get a move on). Anyway, we had a lovely dinner full of silliness and margaritas (these are a few of my favorite things . . .) and catching up and getting excited about the show the next day. After finishing my delicious three-mushroom quesadilla (who knew shitake and cremini mushrooms went so well with jack cheese? this kid did :) ), we went back to chill at the apartment. Mat endeavored to show us his Bradley Whitford-signed program from Boeing Boeing, but, to his horror and despair, he discovered its absence from his room. He spent the next half hour gamely looking for it, sustained only by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra's rendition of the West Wing theme song on repeat. oh lordy allah. Anyway, he never found it, but Shaked, Will, and Missy eventually left, to be replaced only a few minutes later by Jonathan and Brian. We stayed up chatting until an hour that I haven't seen since I graduated college and became a working-world-fuddy-duddy (ah, for the days when 2am was a reasonable time to go to bed!) They left, and we went straight to bed, because we had an early(ish) morning.

We woke up Sunday morning to the annoying buzz of my cell phone. After zippily fast showering and changing, Mat and I left to get bagels and cream cheese from Bagels and Co (everything and plain bagels with lox or scallion cream cheese, in case you were wondering. heaven). We got to Jonathan's apartment, where we met Shaked, Will, and ESTI (!), and went upstairs to find Jonathan barely functional but gamely friendly nonetheless. We all trooped up to the roof, where chilled for a bit (and lost a number of napkins to the winds of doom), then had a lovely brunch of our bagels and Jonathan's assorted leftovers and yummy french toast.

After brunch, we all split up and went our separate ways. Shaked, Will, and I had tickets for 3:00 and it was only noonish, so we decided to talk a leisurely walk down central park west, where I sunburned a bit, on our way to the American Museum of Natural History. We spent about an hour in the museum, hitting all of the most important highlights, especially the African mammals (love the ones shot by Teddy Roosevelt . . . ), the blue whale, the really racist holdover exhibits from last century, and my favorite, the Hall of biodiversity (ah, heaven!). We ended our brief tour in the fourth floor's Dinosaur, ancient mammal, and evolutionary comparison exhibits, also a favorite of mine, especially after having read Tim Flannery's The Eternal Frontier. Ridiculous pictures from the excursion can be found on Facebook, of course.

We still had about an hour before we needed to be in line downtown, so we walked around a street fair with lots of yummy looking kabobs and lemonade, and then got some fabulous cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery, which Shaked and Will are obsessed with (case in point: they spent the entire day carrying around a package of four cupcakes to take home). After enjoying the cupcake, we got stuff in Duane Reade for their journey home and then jumped on the subway downtown to Broadway! We got our tickets, waited in a not-awful line, then walked up to our seats in the balcony. The seats were pretty close to center, and it's a smallish theater so the balcony's not too far up, so we had a good view of things.

The show itself was tremendous, and defied even my high expectations. I was particularly excited for a number of reasons -- firstly, the presence of a certain Mr. Bradley Whitford and Ms. Mary McCormack, both of whom I loved in their roles in the West Wing, as well as Christine Baranski, a favorie from Cybill and more recently Mamma Mia!. I was further excited because it was my first non-musical Broadway experience . . I often intend to go see plays, but I always get to the tkts line and think to myself, why see a straight play when there's a perfectly lovely musical theater experience to enjoy instead? Anyway, my expectations were high, and I was not at all disappointed! It was non-stop funny, with hilarious physical comedy, ridiculous caricatures of characters, and a really thoughtful costume/lighting/set design. I loved the overall production, most especially the lead Robert, whose dopey, pun-ny character kept me laughing and laughing, and Mary McCormack's character, whose German, larger-than-life accent and movements produced some of the funnier moments in the show. Bradley Whitford was great too, though it seemed like he had a cold and his voice was straining. But he was great, and his character felt very Josh-like at times, so I enjoyed it.

After the show, we waited outside the stage door to see who we could meet. Christine Baranski came out first, and we got her signature, which was lovely. Of course, nothing could quite compare to the scene 20 minutes later, when Bradley Whitford came out -- we had basically come to New York to see him, and we were so excited! He came out wearing a bicycle helmet and carrying his fold-up bicycle (yay!), and went down the line signing things. He got to Will first, who asked him to sign his Season 4 DVD pamphlet, which he did, and then he also said, 'oh wait, i have to correct a mistake', and drew a mustache on Rob Lowe's picture! precious! Shaked told him she thinks he's brilliant, and then asked him if he would take a picture with us. And then she handed him the camera. oops, awkward, but I grabbed the camera, thrust it upon the unsuspecting person next to us in line, and asked her to take a picture, which she did. I told him we loved the West Wing, and watched it together in college -- he asked where we went, and when we said we went to Brandeis and were nerds, he said, "nah, more like brainaics". Josh Lyman called us braniacs!!!

So after that lovely encounter, Shaked and Will went home to Boston and I trekked eastward to Missy's apartment for a lovely dinner full of chatting and talking and the wonderfulness of the Mlotek family. They ordered sushi, and Missy knows my order (Boston and Philly rolls and miso), and it was so nice after a crazy day to just come back there and feel so at home. Uch, lovely people. Dinner was followed by the inevitable singing -- highlight of the evening was clearly When you're good to Mama :) After dinner, I trekked back uptown to Jonathan's for the evening. We plopped for a few minutes and then went out to 'our place', which is not really our place, just the dinner that we've been to the last three times I've visited him in NY. Anyway, decidedly un-melted nachos were eaten, and good times were had. Extra points were given to the cute, sad-looking old man eating matzah ball soup alone at the counter. presh. After chit-chating a bit more, I went to bed. I was just falling alseep when I woke up to the doorbell ringing. Whattttt? It was Jonathan's roomate, who had forgotten her key, but I was so confused and half awake and oh lord I did not know what universe I was in. anyway, good times.

The next morning, after donning the fabulous new argyle sweater :), Jonathan and I headed to the Popover Cafe, home of the popover. In case you are wondering, because I was, a popover is a delicious pastry which is hollow in the center and decidedly croissant-like in texture. only less cooked and more doughy. ding! Also, they come with strawberry butter. ding again! Anyway, we breakfasted there, then said goodbye, and off he went to work, and off I went to visit Ronis up in Washington Heights! At this point, I had recognized the loss of my credit card (idiot idiot Rachel), so I could not get her stuff in the drugstore, and basically felt like a total tool. Anyway, our visit was lovely, it was sad that her knee is post-surgery and therefore unhappy, but it was great to see her, as usual. At about noon, I got back on the train, and trekked home, arriving at my humble abode in Skippack 4.5 hours later.

And that was my fabulous, jam-packed, over-programmed, wonderful weekend. Next weekend, DC!

Les Miserables at the Walnut Street Theater

There's something about seeing a new musical for the first time -- the excitement in the air is palpable, there's this anticipation that it could be the most wonderful thing, could provide the tunes you'll be humming for the next three years. Les Miserables was one of those shows that everyone else knew, but that I had never seen, and I was anxious to see it once I realized it was in WST's season. 

Les Miserables is a different kind of musical than those I normally prefer. I tend to go for the mildly kitchsy, happy-ending musical, replete with clever lyrics and humm-able tunes. I'll suspend the happy ending requirement for Sondheim, but otherwise, that's what I need in a musical. Les Miz was not kitchsy, the ending was bittersweet, the lyrics were tolerable but not fabulously witty. This musical was not what I normally need -- it was a lot more, and I loved it for defying my expectations. I think there's something to be said for watching a performance break your own silly rules and preconceived notions. 

The book, though lengthy, was excellent -- it did justice to Hugo's masterpiece, one of my favorite novels and kept all of what I thought were the most important sections. I would have liked more of the history of the thing, and I can imagine for audience members who hadn't read the book, it might feel slightly disjointed at places. The music had an epic feel to it --I had heard  some of the songs, like "Master of the House", "On My Own", and "I Dreamed a Dream" before. I loved the motif that kept repeating in all of Jean Valjean's songs -- the actor who played Jean Valjean was brilliant and each time I heard the motif I felt differently about it - beautiful!

In general, the cast was fabulous, and really a joy to watch. Usually the Walnut Street Theater does a good job of casting, but they often fall short when casting kids (Peter Pan's cast of kids was disappointing), but Gavroche and Young Cosette were wonderful. As always, Paul Schoeffler thrilled - -he made Man of La Mancha, one of my least favorite musicals ever, fun to watch, and as Javert he really shined. (I'll admit I preferred his Captain Hook, but they're not really comparable performances, and I'll always choose Peter Pan over almost anything. Except maybe Anything Goes. And Babes in Arms.). The Thenardiers were wonderfully brought to life -- both actors were hilarious, and "Master of the House" made me laugh to tears. Marius was so talented (and gorgeous, let's be honest), and his rich tone really helped the second act sparkle. 

The production was HUGE, and I've heard that it's only larger on Broadway (one could assume, of course). It was definitely one of the larger undertakings I've seen at WST -- so many beautiful, intricate set pieces. I really enjoyed the fly that served as the top of the sewer; the lights came up dimly on that scene, and I really felt like I was underground (I had been wondering how they would pull that off). Speaking of underground (well, sort of) -- the pit was in top form on Saturday night! Such a powerful score, and they really pulled it off. The flugelhorn sound was to die for throughout, so yummy!

Les Miserables was clearly not my typical kind of musical, but the intricate production and talented cast really brought it off, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly! I can't wait for my next musical theater adventure.. . next weekend, off to see Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience!