Practically Perfect in Every Way

It is important that I record for posterity the events of Wednesday night, especially because they did not (sadly) involve photography of any kind. What exciting events, you may ask? Only the fact that I got to meet one of my top five favorite musical theater performers of the past century. That’s right, on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, I met Julie Andrews.

In the middle of the afternoon, I received an excited Gchat message from one Gavi Young, who is currently interning at the Kennedy Center, asking “ Do you want to meet Julie Andrews tonight?” My immediate and vigorous answer was YES. In order to meet the incomparable Dame Julie, one had to be one the of the first 100 people to buy her new book of poems from the Kennedy Center giftshop. Now I am not normally someone given to extraneous purchases that I don’t particularly want. Then again, I do own an avocado slicer and a mango pitter, but kitchen supplies don’t really count, and I think I got those from my mother.

Anyway, Gavi and I bought the books, and got tickets that came along with them for the signing. I spent the afternoon telling everyone on Gchat/Twitter what was happening and soliciting suggestions for what to say to her. I left work early to get to the Kennedy Center around 5:00, and Gavi and her co-worker met me by the Opera House. We stood in line for about an hour, getting excited and reading our books (which by the way, turned out to be a LOVELY anthology of poems and song lyrics. With an accompanying CD of Julie reading the poems. Why do I have no friends with children so that I can have them listen to this wonderful CD?). We found out that no pictures were allowed, but our enthusiasm was barely dampened with this revelation – after all, we were about to meet the woman who originated the roles of Mary Poppins, Cinderella, and Guenevere!!

After waiting for a while, we walked up to a side room near the Opera House (apparently where the Kennedy Center Honors award winners hang out beforehand . . . as in – BARBRA has been in that room. Woah.) where we waited in a line to get in. Gavi went first, and after she was done, I walked in, got my book taked and opened by a little boy who I was introduced to as Julie’s grandson (so precious), and then I got to the table where she and her daughter were sitting. I spoke with her daughter while she signed it, and I mentioned that I love the Stephen Sondheim lyrics they chose to put in there (from Sunday in the Park with George), and she thanked me for reading it, and then . .. I moved down the table to where Julie was sitting!

She took my book, looking perfectly elegant and matronly and well-dressed and well-coiffed and wonderful. She was much larger than I imagined she would be – not that she’s a particularly large person at all, but I think that she’s pretty tall when she stands up. Anyway, she took the book, and signed it. I told her that I recently read her autobiography, Home, with my friend as a part of our international book club, and that it helped us stay in touch when my friend was on the other side of the world. She said, “oh, that just warms my heart” (imagine Julie Andrews, the most recognizable voice ever, saying that!), and then I said, ‘it’s such a pleasure to meet you”, and she smiled and waved and took the next person’s book.

So, an hour of waiting in line and a day of getting excited culminated in about 45 seconds of interaction with a woman who once possessed one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, and who still possesses an elegance and presence that bowled me over. What a wonderful, perfect, vigorously fabulous day. I became friends with the Octet watching The Sound of Music, learned to dance like a penguin watching Mary Poppins, and learned to love musical theater watching My Fair Lady as a toddler. It was pretty darned amazing to meet the woman who made those beautiful musical experiences happen.

Twenty thousand points to Gavi, and double that for Julie Andrews for being who she is.

Mother-Daughter Weekend Part Two: Baltimore

After a restful evening enjoying the Bed portion of B&B (and let’s be honest how can you not sleep well with the Prince and Me on your mind), we packed up our stuff at the B&B, and went down for the second B, Breakfast. We chatted it up with the lovely proprietor, Heidi, and got to ask lots of questions about her gorgeous, partially-pre-Civil War (!) house. While she rustled up some breakfast (I do love the verb “rustle” when applied to food-making), Mom and I walked around the property again, all the way down to their dock, and back around the barn and farmy portion of the property. When we came back, me semi-winded and Mom fit as a fiddle, Heidi was waiting with tea, a lovely fruit bowl, and . . . raisin challah French toast, cut thick, and made in the eggiest of fashions. So yummy.

We drove to Baltimore, and headed straight for the Baltimore Museum of Art. I neglected to check the museum’s opening time, so we arrived about 45 minutes before that, which meant that we were forced to walk around the gorgeous sculpture garden. If I’m going to be forced to do something in future, I sure hope it’s as nice as this garden. It was warm (70 degrees!) and sunny, and I got lots of backlit pictures of sunlight filtering through trees, and the sculptures were cool and weird and thought-provoking . . . what a great way to start a museum visit.

The rest of the museum was also lovely, and it’s a relatively small collection (says the girl who’s used to the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Met, so my perspective may be slightly skewed. . . ), but really wonderful. I was particularly enchanted by the collection of mosaics from 5^th century Antioch, especially since I just finished As a Driven Leaf, much of which takes place in 1^st century Antioch. Also, Rodin’s the Thinker was wonderful to see up close – I never realized what a muscle-y, powerful figure it is. I don’t normally think of thinkers that way. Also also, it had a really great contemporary collection (especially the very moving and powerful and thought-provoking work of Hank Willis Thomas). Other things I loved: a. it’s free! b. the listening device thingymabob was free, so I got fun and interesting commentary throughout.

We checked into our hotel, and then went back out to investigate a Greek Food Festival sign we had seen. After parking in a semi-sketch lot, we galumphed into a large tent next to a gorgeous cathedral and dug into the most delicious gyros and calamari ever (note: this is where the kosher vacay started!). It was so homey and cute, and there were Greek children dancing, people watching the football game – a great way to start our afternoon.

After the vigorous eating, I was experiencing a little bit of a food coma, so we went to our hotel room for nap. While I was napping, Mona discovered some unfortunateness about our room (won’t go into details, but ick!), so we ended up switching rooms, and somehow ending up in this HUGE suite, with two bedrooms and a living room and a conference table and a kitchen and two bathrooms. So that worked out great.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Inner Harber, checking out my home for the summer of 2001 (the USCG Taney), the fabulous Barnes and Noble where I learned about minke biology that summer, and a number of lovely shops (we had a LOT of fun in the hat shop in particular). After guacamole and drinks at the Cheesecake Factory (yes it’s everywhere, yes it can be delish), we headed in for movies and bed.

The next morning, we followed the recommendation of my Baltimore friends and headed to Miss Shirley's for brunch. This turned out to be the best part of the whole trip -- Mom had carrot spice raisin pancakes (woah), and I had a sandwich with avocado, bacon, a fried green tomato and cheese. It came with either grits or potatoes, and I always order potatoes, since I'm not a grits kind of gal. At least, I wasn't until I went to Miss Shirley's Cafe. After some waiter-cajoling, I went with the grits, made with mascarpone cheese, chives, applewood-smoked bacon, and heavy cream. Let's just say, I will never again make a trip to Baltimore without having those grits. SO good. We ended the trip with a stop in Filene's (and the purchase of a lovely sundress), and then we went our separate ways. SUCH a good mother-daughter weekend.

Mother-Daughter Weekend Part One: Annapolis

This weekend was the Mona-and-Rachel mother-daughter weekend extravaganza. I warn you, this will be a food-filled blog post. Mona has decided that I’m a foodie now, and I think I’ve decided that I’m okay with it.

After a pumpkin pancake-filled breakfast with Alli on Saturday morning, we jumped into the car and sped off to Annapolis, a town not given to moving quickly, or speeding off anywhere. As we pulled into town, we drove by a very large and in charge Memorial Stadium, and decided to drive into the parking lot to check out what was going on. We thought we might find some tailgaiting or something football-related, but what we found was so much better: USSBA championships! That’s right, I happened upon the first marching band tournament I’ve seen since 2003, when, you know, I was in one.

We drove down to the city dock area, and checked out some of the cute shops – I really loved this place called Re-sails (they make backpacks and such our of old sails), and Mixed Greens, which makes lots of cool recycled things as well. We lunched at the Hard Bean Café and Booksellers, this lovely bookstore slash coffeeshop slash ice cream store. Lots of wonderful slash-ness there, especially the turkey-havarti-ciabatta sandwich I sampled.

After checking into the B & B where we stayed, introducing ourselves to the owners, and walking around their gorgeous property, we headed back into Annapolis and walked around the Naval Academy – I had been there on a CTY field trip in 2000, but Mom never had, so went to the Museum and then walked all around the campus. Apparently, they beat Notre Dame that day, so we saw lots of excited people wearing Navy gear.

Speaking of Navy gear, we also saw lots of students around town wearing their uniforms – apparently, the students have to wear them all the time their freshman and sophomore years. I wore a uniform of sorts my freshman and sophomore years, but it consisted of jeans and a rotating Brandeis sweatshirt . . .

After the Naval Academy, we galumphed in the area around the State House, where we walked all around the many circles in the center of town. There were gads of glorious shops, most notably the Annapolis Pottery, a great shop with beautiful pottery and even better glazes (I had never seen a rock-n-roll looking honey pot until that day), and a used bookshop that looked like something out of my most Henry Higgins-inspired library dreams, The Annapolis Bookstore. Although realistically, any bookstore with an Ollivander’s Wand Shop sign in the front is off to a good start indeed.

For dinner, we went to the lovely seafood-y Middleton Tavern in the center of city dock. I thought I was going to have to go on a kosher vacation earlier than expected (one prepares for this in Baltimore, less so in a new place!), but was pleasantly surprised to find tableside Caesar salad on the menu. Dinner preparation that involves a bit of a show always ranks high in my book, especially when the result is a vigorously garlicky and anchovy-y and delicious Caesar salad. We finished with a yummy Crème Brulee, and then headed back to the B&B for the Prince and Me, which Mona had somehow never seen (crazy, I know). We enjoyed the beautiful ridiculousness of Julia Stiles and the prince of Denmark, and then collapsed with exhaustion after a wonderful Annapolis day.

Hello, Salem! my name's Winnifred, what's yours?

Halloween has never been my holiday. Without a doubt, it is one of the holidays that Mommy Mona does the best -- not a year goes by without some new Halloween decoration, and the tradition of precariously-placing-pumpkins-above the shelf in the family room has become somehow a comforting seasonal ritual, even if I worry that Alli will fall everytime. In fact, Mona is so good at Halloween that she has three or four large tupperware 20 or 30 gallon bins full of the decorations for it. In college, I got a care package every year around Halloween time full of orange socks and bat garlands and pumpkin candy -- you name it, she did it.

I've had some good costumes over the years -- the clock and the Chiquita Banana girl were particular favorites. But since college, I've become more enamored with Purim -- it seems like I always have a wonderful time and Purim at Brandeis is second only to Simchat Torah at Brandeis (which consistently ranks as one of my top five favorite things about college). I met my first boyfriend on Purim, my best friend Prisco surprise-visited me on a Purim, and it always feels like a magical day to me.

That being said, the last Purim I experienced was just after I moved to DC, and while very nice (I was with D-kup and Fenster at Adas Israel), it felt like such a pale imitation of Brandeis-ness that I couldn't help but being disappointed. Needless to say, I didn't have high expectations for Simchat Torah -- this turned out to be silly, because I had a perfectly lovely evening at DC Minyan with Suzy and Sarah G, and got to spend time with lovely deis people as well.

Which brings us back to Halloween. Again -- not usually my holiday, since I've convinced myself that Purim is IT, but I ended up having a greatgreatgreat time anyway. I went to Janae's (friend of friends who I went to West Virginia with) lovely apartment, which was decorated even better than Mona would (can you imagine such a thing?!) for a potluck/party before going out. Most people were superhero or villain themed -- I was the devil, and Will, who came with me, was a Starbucks barista (which everyone declared the most important superhero of all, really). Janae is a FABULOUS cook, and made sweet potato casserole and red velvet cake (it was her birthday too!) and lots of other lovely things. I brought a momma-made pumpkin bread.

Anyway, that was fun times, but I really had a great night once we went out dancing. Somehow, I've managed to live in DC for 9 months and not go dancing once. I've been to lots of bar and happy hours, but no dancing. Luckily, I made up for all of that in one night of Halloween-wonderfulness. Bailey plotted out the whole evening the night before, and we went dancing at Saint Ex and at Policy, both of which had great music. Saint Ex in particular was wonderful because of the liberal sprinklings of late 90s rap and jock jams, and Policy was most enjoyable thanks to the vigorous music ADD of the DJ (some people might not appreciate this, but I certainly did). I came home with exhausted feet and a happy neshama.

I think Halloween has just moved up in the holiday-rankings.

A Short Ode to the wonderfulness that is Glee

It's like they opened up my brain and took all my favorite things in the world and put them in one show. And it really is. I love the corny plot, the oversized, ridiculous characters, and the glorification of musical theater. Clearly, Sue Sylvester's militant cheerleader coach is my favorite: you can't beat lines like this:

"Here I am, about to turn 30, and I’ve sacrificed everything , only to be Shanghaied by the bi-curious machinations of a cabal of doughy misshape teens."

Other things I love about Glee:

1. the entire jewish themed episode about Noah Puckerman, who is a. gorgeous, and b. a fabulous character, and c. should be singing more often. Great article about the jewishness here, thanks to Jonathan for sending it.

2. every time Will Schuster starts dancing. and singing. his acting usually makes me annoyed, but the rest is so lovely that I don't mind at all. also, SO sad I didn't see him in South Pacific

3. Mercedes. I think she might be my favorite. no question, this: is my favorite moment in the series so far. I bought the song on its own as soon as it came out on iTunes, and, according to my play count, I've listened to it 23 times since.

4. KRISTEN CHENOWETH. no further explanation is necessary, but I'll add that she should be tipsy all the time. also, 'Alone' was so cute

5. I love that they've made Will Schuster's wife such a caricature of a human being; I feel free to despise her and can spend all of my Glee-watching energy loving Emma, who sang "I Could have Danced All Night" while swirling and looking like a deer caught in headlights. That's just impressive.

6. any show that extols the virtues of musical theater is a-okay with me. any show that references Barbra Streisand in the second episode is golden forever.

To honor my vigorous love for the wonderfulness that is Glee, I just bought the soundtrack, and have been bopping around my room happily ever since. I really feel like this is going to be my favorite soundtrack for the next 6 months. At least.