Yesterday Dave and I went to a Bat Mitzvah for the daughter of a gal that Dave works with. This was the first time I had ever attended anything pertaining to the Jewish culture or Judaism as a religion, and it was really quite amazing. Viewing it from a completely outside the group vantage point and trying to acknowledge and appreciate the artistic aspect of the service, it was very beautiful. There was a rabbi and I believe a 'chanter' who were conducting the service, of which half was in English and half in Hebrew. They sang a lot of prayers in Hebrew and even without having any connection or familiarity at all to the language, it was pretty to listen to the prayers and chants in the service the service. After it was done I wanted to find the woman who had been singing the prayers and tell her how beautiful I thought it was. Cause it really was. Listening songs in different languages can either be annoying or pleasant, and this was definitely the latter. Dave and I both were glad we had gone and although we didn't know the daughter, it was good to support the family. There were a lot of people from Dave's job that had come to support their friend and co-worker.
And just for the benefit of everyone who was like me, according to Wikipedia: In Judaism, Bat Mitzvah (בת מצוה, "one (f.) to whom the commandments apply," is one of the terms to describe the coming of age of a Jewish boy or girl.
It was a very good experience and we both enjoyed ourselves and the service. And so I will say to you now, Shalom שָׁלוֹם
.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Please Simon Fuller, put a MUZZLE on Mary Murphy!!!!!
This is the first season I've ever watched So You Think You Can Dance. It seems to take me awhile to get into Simon Fuller shows. I didn't start watching American Idol until the 3rd season, and I think this might even be the 3rd season of So You Think You Can Dance. But as I've been watching it I really am pretty amazed at how talented the dancers are. Some of the choreography is a bit beyond my comprehension, especially when it's modern dance, or interpretive dance, I just don't get it. But it's amazing how difficult these dances are and how easy they make them look. So overall I'm feeling this show.
What I'm not feeling is freaking annoying Mary "Horse Mouth" Murphy!! I know she's got quite the dance history blah blah blah but holy HELL is she annoying! So incredibly annoying. The annoyance level I feel for her is way beyond any of what I feel for Paula on American Idol. I've yelled at the TV more times than I can remember for Paula to just shut up!!! Of course she never listens, but I still yell at her, and Mary Murphy is way beyond that. I'm afraid of her teeth for one, they just go on forever, and it seems at any given moment she could reach over, grab a dancer, and chew their head right off. So the teeth thing is scary, but her screaming, her laugh, her overall being is just so annoying! Everytime she speaks I want to poke sharpened bamboo shards under my fingernails. That is how much I can't stand her. She's almost enough to make me stop watching the show and it's only been 2 weeks into the top 20.
I found a montage of her craziness and although I can't post it in here, I'll link you to it. so Click Here to see her crazy antics.
So my humble request to Simon Fuller and the producers of So You Think You Can Dance is to get Mary's input on each performance via a locked (possbily padded) room and a TTD phone set up and she can phone in her opinions.
What I'm not feeling is freaking annoying Mary "Horse Mouth" Murphy!! I know she's got quite the dance history blah blah blah but holy HELL is she annoying! So incredibly annoying. The annoyance level I feel for her is way beyond any of what I feel for Paula on American Idol. I've yelled at the TV more times than I can remember for Paula to just shut up!!! Of course she never listens, but I still yell at her, and Mary Murphy is way beyond that. I'm afraid of her teeth for one, they just go on forever, and it seems at any given moment she could reach over, grab a dancer, and chew their head right off. So the teeth thing is scary, but her screaming, her laugh, her overall being is just so annoying! Everytime she speaks I want to poke sharpened bamboo shards under my fingernails. That is how much I can't stand her. She's almost enough to make me stop watching the show and it's only been 2 weeks into the top 20.
I found a montage of her craziness and although I can't post it in here, I'll link you to it. so Click Here to see her crazy antics.
So my humble request to Simon Fuller and the producers of So You Think You Can Dance is to get Mary's input on each performance via a locked (possbily padded) room and a TTD phone set up and she can phone in her opinions.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
We're Engaged!
I've started this post so many times but keep getting distracted by phone calls and telling live people about this story. But I think I might have only told a few people all the details of the story. Some know parts, and some know other parts, but only a few know from start to finish, so here is the start to finish of how we got engaged last weekend (6/7/08 as it turned out - a nice way to remember the day).
At the end of May Dave had suggested that we take a weekend getaway trip up north to Duluth to see Lake Superior, which is something we have wanted to do for over a year and had just never done. He said that he would check out hotel options/dates/prices, etc for the weekend of the 20th. But when he started looking into options everything was booked for that weekend, or else rooms were just very expensive! So he looked at the weekend after and it was the same thing. There must be something going on in Duluth, cause everything was booked. So then I suggested that we do it the weekend of the 6th and he was completely ok with that idea. In my mind I thought there might be a chance he might be proposing, but to have bumped up his plans by 2 weeks, and not to be sweating it at all?!? So then I thought maybe he's not, because he wasn't nervous and didn't mind the idea of moving it up, so he must really not be. I checked on priceline and we got a good deal on a room and then the trip was set, cause there's no getting out of priceline :)
We got to Duluth Fri evening, checked in, had dinner and drove around the town to see some sites. And it was a pretty area; we drove over the road of the aerial lift bridge and saw the beach, took pics, etc. We had plans to take a boat ride on Sat at 1:30, but we had also talked about driving up the coast of Lake Superior and wanted to do that earlier, so we called and changed our time to the 11:30 ride so we could get an earlier start. The boat ride was really cool. We got to ride through the harbor, see a lot of the town from the water front view and I took a lot of pictures of the area from the boat. It was really nice. 
Windy, but nice. Then after that we headed up the scenic route of Hwy 61 up to Two Harbors and saw a lighthouse there. There was a small pier that you could walk out to, but we decided not to stay and do that, because we wanted to head up to Gooseberry Falls State Park and see the waterfalls. 
That was really nice, it was pretty and we were able to take the trail to the middle falls, which were just awesome. We were so close to the water falling that we could have reached out and tough it. I wish I had cause it was really amazing.
At one point while we were at the falls, Dave kind of knelt down to tie his shoes and I thought how cool it would be if he pulled out a ring. But he didn't. And at one point I even put my hand in his shorts pocket and he didn't try to stop me, and I didn't feel anything ring like and he didn't seem nervous, so again, I thought there really wasn't a chance. We stayed around Gooseberry Falls for a little while, took a lot of pictures, hiked up a little higher, took more pics, and then decided we wanted to really push and head up to Canada, because we wanted to get a stamp in our passports. We've had passports for 2 years and had yet to use them. But now we have! Over the cou
rse of stopping to see the lighthouse, falls, and then the 2nd town we stopped in, Grand Marais, to see the light house and eat a little dinner, it was getting to be about late in the afternoon but we really wanted to keep going.
By the time we reached the border it was probably about 7 or so, and we waited in line for a bit, and then when it was finally our turn, I asked the guard if he could stamp our passport. He looked at me like really? but then he did have them stamped. He had asked us where we were going and how long we'd be there. I told him that we really just wanted to be there long enough to get our stamps, turn around and head out. Then Dave asked if he had any suggestions to where we should go and the guy said there was
n't anything until Thunder Bay, which would be about 40 miles away. We knew that but I really figured there would have to be something between there and Thunder Bay, so we drove on in. But there really wasn't anything in between. There were no gas stations, small towns, or anything but farmland and houses between the border and Thunder Bay. By the time we got to the outskirts of the town, it had been another 45 minutes or so and I was getting concerned about how long it would take to get back to Duluth, cause we were going to have to turn around and drive it all the way back. So we stopped at the first gas station we came to, used the rest room, and then I started telling Dave my concerns about driving back. I set the navigation up to get back and it was saying 180 miles. Dave asked me if I was really sure I wanted to turn around without seeing Thunder Bay, and although I wanted to, I didn't want to get home super late, because we had had a pretty busy day. So I told him that I thought we should turn around and he said ok. Little did I know that he had put the ring in his pocket back in Grand Marais and was planning on asking me in Canada when we stopped in Thunder Bay.
We headed home around 8 and got our passports stamped again on the US Border, but it took a little justifying as to why we wanted it. I guess there's not a big demand for passports around the Canadian border on that little highway. So during the drive home I kept thinking that if he was going to do it he would have done it in one of the pretty areas we had been, like the waterfalls, or the lighthouse, or somewhere beachy. But what I didn't know was that I had thwarted his plan now more than once. We got back to the hotel around 11:30 or so. I headed up to the room and Dave went to get some stuff from the front desk. I was in our room, got some ice, turned off the a/c and was pouring us some diet pepsis we had brought up with us. I was pouring the second one when I heard Dave come in.
He was behind me and I said something about how cold the room was (it was 60 degrees in the room with the a/c on full blast, thanks housekeeping I'm freezing!) and he says something like, but you turned it off, right? And I said yes, and he was like, alright then. So then I turn around with the soda in one hand and he's down on one knee, holding the ring box open and I'm just looking at him like what is happening? And he says, "Sarah, I love you. Will you marry me?" Those were his exact words. And I was literally looking at him trying to comprehend what was happening. He had this big smile on his face and kind of a little gleam in his eye because he knew I was so surprised. I had had to put the drink back down, and started to go for the ring, but then told him to put it on me and then I said yes as he was doing that. I had kind of forgotten to actually say yes, but I did finally say it. And I had started to cry a little bit but then when I saw the ring on my finger I just couldn't stop crying. And he got up and hugged me and I was just crying.
He asked me if I knew and I said no, but that I really wanted it to happen this weekend. He kind of led me over to the bed after we hugged and I just couldn't stop looking at it. Then all the questions poured out, like how long had he had it, where had it been in our house, where had it been on this trip (I had packed us and had never seen it!) when did he have it on him? All these questions! Then he told me he had actually gotten it when he went to his parents in CT in May. I couldn't believe it! I was actually supposed to go on that trip with him, but I got cheap and didn't want to pay the crazy ticket prices for 2 plane tickets. So I didn't go. But as it turns out the plan was to go into NY and he was going to propose there. So that was thwart #1. Thwart #2 was that he wanted to ask me in Canada, and I didn't give him the chance. Possible thwart #1.5 was at Two Harbors lighthouse, he had asked me if I wanted to walk down the pier. That would have been a pretty cool spot to do it, so I think he had considered it there, but here again, I had wanted to keep on going.
He also told me he had actually called my parents earlier in the week and got their permission and blessing. And he called my sister and told her he was going to do it, and of course made them all promise not to say anything, which no one did. My family is tricksie!!!
In the end, the way he proposed was the absolute best way it could have happened. Because I had pretty much decided it wasn't going to happen after all and that we really were just taking a weekend getaway trip. And I was really ok with that. Because I had been the one putting these ideas in my own head. I had tried to be subtle and ask questions I thought would give me some idea, but his answers were not what I thought they would be if he were going to be proposing. So I had come to terms with it not happening, so when it die it was the absolute best way it could have!
I'll start a wedding website sometime soon with a countdown ticker once we have some more info. I'm so excited. The ring is awesome! it's just beautiful and exactly what I wanted.
So yay for us! Yay that we're engaged. I love him so much and it's exciting to be able to share this with everyone. We've had so many people congratulating us and being excited with us, and it makes this a really great time!!!
At the end of May Dave had suggested that we take a weekend getaway trip up north to Duluth to see Lake Superior, which is something we have wanted to do for over a year and had just never done. He said that he would check out hotel options/dates/prices, etc for the weekend of the 20th. But when he started looking into options everything was booked for that weekend, or else rooms were just very expensive! So he looked at the weekend after and it was the same thing. There must be something going on in Duluth, cause everything was booked. So then I suggested that we do it the weekend of the 6th and he was completely ok with that idea. In my mind I thought there might be a chance he might be proposing, but to have bumped up his plans by 2 weeks, and not to be sweating it at all?!? So then I thought maybe he's not, because he wasn't nervous and didn't mind the idea of moving it up, so he must really not be. I checked on priceline and we got a good deal on a room and then the trip was set, cause there's no getting out of priceline :)
We got to Duluth Fri evening, checked in, had dinner and drove around the town to see some sites. And it was a pretty area; we drove over the road of the aerial lift bridge and saw the beach, took pics, etc. We had plans to take a boat ride on Sat at 1:30, but we had also talked about driving up the coast of Lake Superior and wanted to do that earlier, so we called and changed our time to the 11:30 ride so we could get an earlier start. The boat ride was really cool. We got to ride through the harbor, see a lot of the town from the water front view and I took a lot of pictures of the area from the boat. It was really nice. 
Windy, but nice. Then after that we headed up the scenic route of Hwy 61 up to Two Harbors and saw a lighthouse there. There was a small pier that you could walk out to, but we decided not to stay and do that, because we wanted to head up to Gooseberry Falls State Park and see the waterfalls. 
That was really nice, it was pretty and we were able to take the trail to the middle falls, which were just awesome. We were so close to the water falling that we could have reached out and tough it. I wish I had cause it was really amazing.At one point while we were at the falls, Dave kind of knelt down to tie his shoes and I thought how cool it would be if he pulled out a ring. But he didn't. And at one point I even put my hand in his shorts pocket and he didn't try to stop me, and I didn't feel anything ring like and he didn't seem nervous, so again, I thought there really wasn't a chance. We stayed around Gooseberry Falls for a little while, took a lot of pictures, hiked up a little higher, took more pics, and then decided we wanted to really push and head up to Canada, because we wanted to get a stamp in our passports. We've had passports for 2 years and had yet to use them. But now we have! Over the cou
rse of stopping to see the lighthouse, falls, and then the 2nd town we stopped in, Grand Marais, to see the light house and eat a little dinner, it was getting to be about late in the afternoon but we really wanted to keep going.By the time we reached the border it was probably about 7 or so, and we waited in line for a bit, and then when it was finally our turn, I asked the guard if he could stamp our passport. He looked at me like really? but then he did have them stamped. He had asked us where we were going and how long we'd be there. I told him that we really just wanted to be there long enough to get our stamps, turn around and head out. Then Dave asked if he had any suggestions to where we should go and the guy said there was
n't anything until Thunder Bay, which would be about 40 miles away. We knew that but I really figured there would have to be something between there and Thunder Bay, so we drove on in. But there really wasn't anything in between. There were no gas stations, small towns, or anything but farmland and houses between the border and Thunder Bay. By the time we got to the outskirts of the town, it had been another 45 minutes or so and I was getting concerned about how long it would take to get back to Duluth, cause we were going to have to turn around and drive it all the way back. So we stopped at the first gas station we came to, used the rest room, and then I started telling Dave my concerns about driving back. I set the navigation up to get back and it was saying 180 miles. Dave asked me if I was really sure I wanted to turn around without seeing Thunder Bay, and although I wanted to, I didn't want to get home super late, because we had had a pretty busy day. So I told him that I thought we should turn around and he said ok. Little did I know that he had put the ring in his pocket back in Grand Marais and was planning on asking me in Canada when we stopped in Thunder Bay.
We headed home around 8 and got our passports stamped again on the US Border, but it took a little justifying as to why we wanted it. I guess there's not a big demand for passports around the Canadian border on that little highway. So during the drive home I kept thinking that if he was going to do it he would have done it in one of the pretty areas we had been, like the waterfalls, or the lighthouse, or somewhere beachy. But what I didn't know was that I had thwarted his plan now more than once. We got back to the hotel around 11:30 or so. I headed up to the room and Dave went to get some stuff from the front desk. I was in our room, got some ice, turned off the a/c and was pouring us some diet pepsis we had brought up with us. I was pouring the second one when I heard Dave come in.
He was behind me and I said something about how cold the room was (it was 60 degrees in the room with the a/c on full blast, thanks housekeeping I'm freezing!) and he says something like, but you turned it off, right? And I said yes, and he was like, alright then. So then I turn around with the soda in one hand and he's down on one knee, holding the ring box open and I'm just looking at him like what is happening? And he says, "Sarah, I love you. Will you marry me?" Those were his exact words. And I was literally looking at him trying to comprehend what was happening. He had this big smile on his face and kind of a little gleam in his eye because he knew I was so surprised. I had had to put the drink back down, and started to go for the ring, but then told him to put it on me and then I said yes as he was doing that. I had kind of forgotten to actually say yes, but I did finally say it. And I had started to cry a little bit but then when I saw the ring on my finger I just couldn't stop crying. And he got up and hugged me and I was just crying.
He asked me if I knew and I said no, but that I really wanted it to happen this weekend. He kind of led me over to the bed after we hugged and I just couldn't stop looking at it. Then all the questions poured out, like how long had he had it, where had it been in our house, where had it been on this trip (I had packed us and had never seen it!) when did he have it on him? All these questions! Then he told me he had actually gotten it when he went to his parents in CT in May. I couldn't believe it! I was actually supposed to go on that trip with him, but I got cheap and didn't want to pay the crazy ticket prices for 2 plane tickets. So I didn't go. But as it turns out the plan was to go into NY and he was going to propose there. So that was thwart #1. Thwart #2 was that he wanted to ask me in Canada, and I didn't give him the chance. Possible thwart #1.5 was at Two Harbors lighthouse, he had asked me if I wanted to walk down the pier. That would have been a pretty cool spot to do it, so I think he had considered it there, but here again, I had wanted to keep on going.
He also told me he had actually called my parents earlier in the week and got their permission and blessing. And he called my sister and told her he was going to do it, and of course made them all promise not to say anything, which no one did. My family is tricksie!!!
In the end, the way he proposed was the absolute best way it could have happened. Because I had pretty much decided it wasn't going to happen after all and that we really were just taking a weekend getaway trip. And I was really ok with that. Because I had been the one putting these ideas in my own head. I had tried to be subtle and ask questions I thought would give me some idea, but his answers were not what I thought they would be if he were going to be proposing. So I had come to terms with it not happening, so when it die it was the absolute best way it could have!
I'll start a wedding website sometime soon with a countdown ticker once we have some more info. I'm so excited. The ring is awesome! it's just beautiful and exactly what I wanted.
So yay for us! Yay that we're engaged. I love him so much and it's exciting to be able to share this with everyone. We've had so many people congratulating us and being excited with us, and it makes this a really great time!!!
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