Que Rica Costa Rica!

So we're all set to go to Costa Rica at the end of the year. Matthew is going too and we'll be staying with our cousin Andy who is there on business for the next few months.

I can't wait. I've always wanted to go, but now knowing we will be with Matthew and Andy it makes this trip so much better. The country looks absolutely beautiful with rainforests, active volcanoes, amazing beaches and wildlife not found anywhere else.

Woohooo!!

Second Day

A little better than the first. Basically sat in training with the 'co-worker who knows all' all day. Things are starting to make sense a little more but still somewhat confusing. I hope it gets better. Everyone tells me it will.

LOVING the kitchen. Had three different types of tea today-Green Tips Green Tea, AWAKE! black tea and then finished it off with some afternoon Chai Tea. They also have one of those individual coffee makers where you drop in the single serving ground coffee pod and brew away. Tons of flavors to choose from. I feel like I'm working at Starbucks!

The benefits there are so much better too. Medical, Dental AND Vision, all which start day one. THREE, count it THREE weeks of vacation your first year. The option to work at home if I need to. And the best thing of all, leaving at 5pm. I don't think I've ever had an 8 hour work day. It's always been 9 hours with 1 hour for lunch. And let me tell you that one hour less a day makes a WORLD of difference.

Can you hear the theme music now..."working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living...". No? Damn, I'm old.

First day

First day is over. Phew. My head is still spinning from all the new stuff I'm trying to learn, all the new faces, places, just everything. Everything I've done in previous jobs does not apply to this new position. So much to learn, so little time! (But I am liking the kitchen fully stocked with a wide array of teas and coffees!)

David surprised me and took me out for dinner at Chantarelle. Beautiful French restaurant down in TriBeCa. We had the chef's tasting menu. Four delicious courses followed by a selection of cheeses then an amazing trio of pears dessert. So tasty. And so thoughtful of him to surprise me in honor of my new job. I really married a wonderful man. :)

Mini Wars

Eug sent me this. Pretty funny.

Wilma

Woke up this morning to this image on the TV. I can't believe that entire hurricane is now over South Florida. And my family. Called my Mom/Brother and they are fine. They said the sounds of the winds is very frightening. Their power is out but they have a portable battery operated TV.

Hopefully this will be the last storm this season.

Back in Black

Feeling like a change. So I'm trying this black background. I think it will be nice n' dark for the Winter as I hibernate in my apt and eat fried chicken.

One day until the new job starts. Feeling a bit on edge. Nothing that some Tylenol PM the night before can't take care of.

Spent today lounging around and being lazy. I did manage to clean one of my closets (yes, with the new apt I have 2). But I still have a ways to go. Damn, there's nothing on TV on Sundays.

Hurricane's hitting my family tomorrow. I'm so glad it's a Cat 2 now. I expect trees down and some minor power outages. My Brother is staying with my Mom so that's good. I must admit, I do kind of wish I was there for the storm. But I know once the damage is done I'll be glad I'm far away.

L-O-L-A Lola

Introducing Lola. Our Godchild

Angel
Arrrrrrr!
"Help us Obi Wan, you're our only hope"



We rented a car and drove all the way out to exit 5 off the NJ Turnpike to visit our friend Jason & Donna and see their latest edition, Lola.

Unfortunatley only us and our friend Sean showed up. Everyone else had one excuse or another so it wasn't the big Halloween get together we anticipated. But the main reason we went was to see them so I was happy.

Her brother Angel is only 2 but looks like he's 4. What are they feeding kids these days?

Had a great time eating, chatting and watching TV together.

YEY LAST DAY!

I'm in a drunken happiness now. It was a plain old day. I was taken to lunch by my boss and another friend. Then when 5 o'clock rolled around people came over to say their goodbyes. That's when the tears started rolling. I was a freakin' mess. It's sad to leave but I'm happy about the whole thing.

Went over to free happy hour at a friends bar. Good times with vodka shots and vodka tonics. Woohooo! Mee-sa like-sa to drinky-a!

Last Day :-/

Today is my last day at work. I've been here over four years so it's going to be hard saying goodbye. But I am excited about the new place.

Two of my co-workers took me out for Korean yesterday and then when we came back everyone gathered around my desk and we had awesome cake from Buttercup Bake Shop. It was really, really sweet and I had to hold back the tears. I work with some really great people. Worked with. I'll have to get used to saying that.

I finally got my welcome package last night. It was full of scary legal stuff and rules and such. As well as a drug test. Damn, this place is hard core. I hope I'm the hard core type they're looking for.

Out Of Control

Chicken. I can't stop. Last night we ordered the 8 piece and I had 4 pieces of chicken. I was actually basking in chicken glow all night! As I told my co-workers about this they all decided to run out and buy Popeye's for lunch. They asked me if I wanted any. I said no. Then I changed my mind. Now I am waiting for a 2 piece meal. What is wrong with me? I used to be a pillar of self control for all who knew me. Now I'm off the wagon. Or on. Or whatever the hell it is.

I did run 4x last week and twice so far this wk. But still, I don't think I'm running enough miles to cancel out 4 + 2 pieces of fried chicken. I need to get with the program.

That's it. NO MORE CHICKEN.

On a happier note...we may be going to Costa Rica for New Years. But more on that later. Oh yeah baby!

Smallville

We're getting back into our Smallville DVDs after a brief hiatus (we lost a Netflix DVD and decided to just move on and skip those episodes). And hot damn we just saw the best episode last night. For you fans out there, if there are any, it was the one with Dr. Swan. Finally an episode to write home about. Great drama, Superman music playing in the background for the first time, secrets revealed. A real doosie of a show.

'bout time.

Speaking of chicken...

What's with all this bird flu talk? They're scaring the hell out of me. As it stands now they're making us think all the chickens around the world will be killed and then we will all get this mutation of the flu and also die.

Hm, better get some fried chicken before it's too late.

Checklist

Things I need to get in order:

Mac
*I feel like I don't use my Mac like I should. I should buy an external harddrive so I can hold all my music. Or should I? Maybe having it on iPod is enough. But what if I lose everything? Yikes!
*I should burn all my photos onto cd's so I have free room to put more stuff on.
*I should make it wireless.
*I should be able to play my itunes through the stereo.
*I should just use it for more than the internet.

Closet
*I should clean out Summer crap and make room for Fall/Winter crap. Oh wait, I don't have much Fall/Winter crap. Which leads me to...

Buy new clothes
*I have a new job. New start. Need new clothes to prove it. I started yesterday with some new boots which I secretly bought between Yom Kippur services (shhhh, a big no-no to shop on such a solemn holiday).

Me
*I lost 12 lbs over Summer running my ass off. Gained back 9 due to Spain trip and loss of baby which then lead to minor depression and major fried chicken. I started back running this week and will continue to do so until back to original weight.

Try again
*Getting pregnant again. This is first and foremost on my list but per Dr's orders I have to wait for cycle to be regular. Damn cycle. So until then I wait...


Must...resist...chicken...

Damn Yankees

What a sad sight last night's game was. So close. Yet so far. Those bumbling clowns in the outfield really screwed up the game and I hold them fully responsible. At least my Jeter didn't screw up. What's doubly dissapointing is David and I are only playoff fans. We just don't have the time or patience to watch the games during the regular season so we usually wait until now to watch. And since the Yankees are always so good there has always been something to watch. Not anymore. Oh well, Real World is on tonight.

Depeche Mode

Either Depeche Mode isn't popular anymore or I'm just really lucky but I just got floor seats! Woohoo for me. Although I didn't care for the last 2 albums I have never seen them in concert so what the hell.

Uno. Dos. Tres...

(photo found here)

David and I went to see U2 last night at MSG. We actually almost forgot to go because we bought the tickets so long ago. But my spidey sense was tingling on Friday and I thought I better check when the date is. Good thing, because it was the next night!

They were awesome. The light show was very impressive. They had the open stage w/ large chandelier type lights hanging overhead. A huge oval walkway went out over the crowd and was filled in the middle with lucky general admission people. We were not one of those. But we did have great seats (first row of 300 section on the side near the stage). The oval (see photo) was lined with lights that would flash, change color, or move around to the music. They also had what looked like those beaded curtains (see photo) come down and also light up different colors to the music or they would even project images onto them. It was really beautiful. Describing it is difficult so I'm not sure if this sounds hokey or not. But it was stunning. Reminded me of billboards in Tokyo or Times Square. Kudos to the lighting guys who created this.

The setlist was a perfect mix of old and new. More old than new, which is what I prefer. What is so amazing about U2 concerts is the audience participation. The entire stadium was singing along. It was really moving. Mary J. Blige came out and sang "One" with Bono which was a nice treat. A few songs hit me hard and actually made me a little weepy they were so beautiful-All I Want is You, Sunday Bloody Sunday and I Will Follow. I can imagine it must be difficult to sing with emotion night after night, month after month. But they always pull it off. The Edge is pure genius. I said to David "he IS U2". Bono is great. But The Edge's guitar are what make the U2 sound purely theirs. So beautiful.

Nothing could compare with the Oct 2001 Elevation tour. The timing (1 mth after Sept 11th) and the emotion of that show was unlike anything I've ever experienced. But they never fail to impress me.

For now, the last lyrics we heard as they left the stage one by one ring in my head-"How long, to sing this song..."


Setlist

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will Follow
All I want is You
Beautiful Day
Miracle Drug
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Human Rights
Pride in the Name of Love
Where the Streets have no Name
One

First Time
Wild Horses
With or Without You

All Because of You
Fast Cars
Original
“40”

Our Spain trip (finally!)

It's a rainy day here today so I guess I'll finally make seperate posts on each city we visited in Spain. We had a great time, but in all I think the country dissapointed us a little. The food was not as amazing as we had thought it would be. The people weren't rude, but they weren't warm and friendly either. But we did see some beautiful things and were able to appreciate the way the Spaniards live.

Spain-Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia

Park Guell

Me and some friends

La Manzana Street

Meat market

Park Guell
Gaudi rooftop

Las Ramblas
Barcelona was great. Definitely our favorite part of the trip. Huge bustling city. Tons of young people partying every night. No one would eat dinner until at least 10pm every night! Great art all around. We've never seen anything like Gaudi's stuff. He was so original. The tapas here were good, not outstanding though. But there was some damn good ice cream that we were eating about twice a day. This is a town we could definitely return to and that we highly recommend.

Took a day trip to Figures were Dali was born and they have a great Dali museum. It didn't really have much of his paintings though. More of his sculpture and other bizarre things that we never knew existed. Very unusual.

Spain-Seville

Cathedral

Outside the catherdral

Cathedral again

Park

Taking a break from the heat
Seville was the quintessential Spain. Beautiful winding streets. Amazing entryways with Spanish tile and plants. Flower boxes in every windowsill spilling over with roses. Squares lined with orange trees. Really pretty. And definitely a much slower place that Barcelona. This is a town for strolling about slowly (probably because it was REALLY hot) and taking it easy. We did just that. Strolled around for a couple of days. Saw the main cathedral where Christopher Columbus' tomb is. Not too impressive but it was a nice getaway from the heat. They also have a few impressive parks where you can relax under canopies of trees and have an ice cream.

Spain-Ronda

We took the bus to Ronda from Seville. It took about 3 hours of winding roads before we got there. It's crazy how many stops the bus makes before you reach your final destination. Yet they call it a 'direct express bus'. Ah, the Spaniards.

Ronda was breathtaking. High up on a gorge overlooking farmland and rolling hills down below. It was unexpectedly chilly here. We walked the streets with everyone for their evening paseo (walk). Had a fabulous dinner at a Moorish restaurant at the bottom of the gorge. Not much else to report on here. Just a beautiful little Andalucian white hill town in the middle of nowhere.

Spain-Nerja

We stopped at Nerja for a night. A cute little seaside town overlooking the 'Balcon de Europa' the was completely overrun with British tourists.

The place was too touristy for our liking but the beaches were beautiful. Tons of tiny nooks and crannies for you to find and have your own little mini private beach cove. The water was freezing though so no swimming for us. We were so surprised. We expected the southern coast of Spain to have very warm water.

Spain-Granada

Looking out through Alhambra windows

Generalife Gardens

Alhambra courtyard

Generalife Gardens

backstreets of Granada

Spain-Madrid

Park in Madrid, I look so tiny next to this massive structure

Not sure what this is, but it looks pretty in the light!

Famous 100 yr old Tio Pepe sign, first billboard in Madrid

Bullfight

eating delicious tapas (notice us in the reflection)

Madrid. The capital. Definitely the best food was to be found here. And one of the best museums we've ever experienced-The Prado. I believe we spent almost 5 hours in there! Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" made me weep it was so beautiful. I wanted to put it in my sweater and take it home with me. But unfortunatley all those guards probably would notice.

We were only there about 2 days and 3 nights. Our days would with a cafe con leche and some toast with marmalade & butter at an outdoor table near Plaza del Sol. A couple of hours later we would have some tapas. The best ham was in Madrid. Preferably the Serrano or the Iberico (free roaming pigs fed only on tasty acorns). We would get a serving of ham with maybe a cheese plate. So damn tasty. It was amazing that the Spaniards are drinking beer and eating ham as early as 9am! And smoking. Can't forget the smoking. Lots and lots of that.

Besides eating we found some time to squeeze in a walk in their main park (can't remember the name), explored the streets near Plaza del Sol and caught a bullfight. Big mistake. I knew that the bull dies. I knew the basics of it. But when you see it right in front of you it's horrifying. I really don't get it. I tried to enjoy just the beauty of the bullring, the costumes, the pageantry. But nothing can erase the image of this innocent bull being stabbed to death for the amusement of those watching. It was in no way a 'fight'. It was a bull mutilation. And at the end of it all they hook the dead bull up to horses and drag it around the ring amongst cheers. At one point I turned to Dave and said "when do they bring out the gladiators"? It was that barbaric. Needless to say after the first massacre we left immediatlely. Normally 6 bulls are slaughtered in one evening. One was plenty enough for us.

Towards the end of the second day we kind of ran out of things to do. The city just wasn't as beautiful as I had imagined. And not as exciting. But still interesting nonetheless.

It's official

I got a new job! I start October 25th. I am filled with nervous excitement. I just told my boss who was very understanding in my needs for more money and better opportunities. I've been here for four years so it will be a big change but I feel I need one.


YEY for me!

Argh!

I'm tired of returning stuff. Once again we purchased a new rug and curtains for the bedroom. I lugged them home in a cab last night. My arms are so damn sore from dragging it up the stairs! Anyway, we set it up and we don't like it. So yet again we are returning. I think we've returned about 80% of the items we purchased. Does this happen to everyone? Or are we just really picky? I told David these stores are going to start blacklisting us because we're always returning.

So the search for curtains and a rug continues...

I was nervous going on the subway yesterday. We all were. Everyone eyeing each other suspiciously. I stood on the platform at 14th St and saw a big garbage bag next to the garbage can. So I moved away. Then I thought, they could put a bomb anywhere they want and it seems pretty unlikely we'd know about it. It's all very frightening. But what are we to do? Walk everywhere? Hell no. This is just a reminder of the terrorist risk which is constantly around us. I don't think this week is anymore dangerous than any other week we ride the trains. But it is a wake up call to be more aware. But then again, if we "see something" as we're told to do, wouldn't it most likely be too late to "say something"?

Shame on them

Take a look at this crap!

Other weekend things

Brandon reminded me that I didn't mention the rest of my wknd. I didn't forget. Just didn't have time to write about it while rushing to get ready for Rosh Hashanah services this morning.

Besides the wedding we had lots of quality family time. Saturday we went to my Mom's company picnic on Key Biscayne. They had lots of food and stuff for kids. Highlight was the snow cone man and the mummy contest (see pic). We also had a great brunch at Emeril's on South Beach. Thanks Mum and Fred. BAM that's damn good food. DAMN BAM pricey though. We also got to see my brother's new apartment. His first ever property that he has owned instead of rented. Nice.

Wedding wknd

My good friend since 6th grade Grace got married this weekend in Miami. This was definitely one of the more emotional weddings I've attended. She looked so pretty and he looked so nervous! Grace's triplet sisters were the bridesmaids and I've never seen them look more alike! We had a great time at the wedding and almost everything went perfectly (except for a celloist who screwed up at the ceremony several times). Grace looked like a princess and she was truly glowing the whole night.

In true Rotstein tradition David became ill towards the end of the evening and had to leave the event to sit in the hotel lobby. It couldn't have been the alcohol as he only had a couple of drinks early in the evening. We concluded that it must have been too much cigar smoking. Grace & Mike had a Cuban cigar roller there rolling cigars as souvenirs for everyone. So, as usual, we had to leave early. Or did we? David ended up feeling so ill that we had to actually get a room at the hotel for the night so he could go right to sleep! So after I walked him up and put him to bed I went back down to party! Had a great time dancing with the girls and said a sad goodbye at the end of the night. It was such a special event and it meant so much for me to be there with her.

Now they are off in beautiful Hawaii living it up on their honeymoon. Congratulations!!