Thursday, April 8, 2010

On The Doorposts of Your House

Once I knew my parents were coming out last week there was one I was hoping they would be able to bring, a mezuzah for the house. I'm sure I could have found one myself (most likely on Esty), but I trusted my mom's judgement and thought she'd be able to find a good one. But wait, you might be wondering, what exactly is a mezuzah?
Mezuzah on the new house
Basically, it's a prayer on the outside of the house. In the Torah, one of the mitzvoh or commandments, is to "inscribe these laws on the doorposts of your house." I'm sure part of that is meant to be figuratively, that you will follow the Jewish commandments while living in the house, but it's also taken a figurative approach as well. And once I knew I was buying my first house, I knew I wanted to have a mezuzah out front.

There's all types of mezuzot that exist, some completely over the top and some fairly simple. When I was younger I remember loving mezuzot with little people on them, something similar to a wedding cake top. My new mezuzah is fairly simple, but I love the design, and think it works pretty perfectly for the house.
Close-Up of the Mezuzah
Anyone else out there have a mezuzah on your house or apartment? Or maybe it's your first time hearing about them? Let me know what you think of my new mezuzah, and maybe what type of muzezah you might want to put outside your place.

~Shoshanah

Edit: In case anyone was curious. The mezuzah I have was made by Emily Rosenfeld.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Some Beach, Somewhere

I'm back with another week of Classy in Philadelphia's Where in the World Wednesday. I'm keeping with the beach theme I started last week, and this week I'm at...

Huntington Beach, California.

In general Huntington was where you went if you were looking to get some sort of actual waves. See, there are no waves at Long Beach due to the breakwater that was built to keep waves out of the port. Which means Long Beach really isn't a good beach if you looking for something to actually be beach-y. Luckily, Huntington is just down the road so you're able to have an actual beach experience without a lot of driving. (Unlike where I am in Louisiana now, where a beach experience would require quite a bit of driving.)

As for this picture, it was taken in summer 2004, just after my sophomore year of college.

Be sure to head over to Classy in Philadelphia. Or you can check you where in the world I've been here.

~Shoshanah

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Sookie Stackhouse #4

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
I'm back to reading the Sookie Stackhouse books! This book brings a clan of witches is Bonn Temps. Another one of Sookie's friends goes missing in this book (clearly she needs to start keeping better track of people). Also in this book Eric is dealing with a few problems of his own.

As which each book I've read, I like them more and more. In general the series has gotten better with each book, though I have to think at some point I'll be disappointed. I was glad to read that Alcide, the werewolf from the last novel, was back in this book. (I also read that Alcide will be coming to True Blood this season. I'm excited about that, even though I've never watched an episode. But eventually I do want to start watching it on dvd.) However, my favorite part of this book was the relationship between Sookie and Eric. I thought the way it ended was a little bittersweet, and I can't wait to see how what happens to their relationship now.

This was the 4th book in the series out of a current 9 books. Although I currently only have the first 6. I'm thinking that instead of reading the next two now, I might alternate with more of a chick-lit type book. That way I can draw the series out a little bit longer. I know I still have a lot more of them to read, but I'm not looking forward to them ending.

~Shoshanah

Monday, April 5, 2010

Parental Scheduled Visit

This past week my parents were out in Louisiana visiting. Part of the reason they came out, besides the fact that they wanted to see me, was to drive some furniture and boxes to the new house. This helps me out by furnishing the new house, and it helps them out by started to clear out the 2 decades worth of belongings I still have in California. Its kind of exciting some of the new changes around the house due to their visit, and I can't wait to share it all!

While they could have driven out almost any time, the reason they decided to come out last week was because it was Passover. So while my parents were here, we had the first ever Passover in the new house.
First Seder in the New House
Seder Plate from our Seder
You might have noticed that even though they were here, my entries last week didn't really talk about the fact. The reason being most of the post were actually written the Sunday before they arrived, and scheduled to post throughout the week.

Honestly by having all my posts already written, made things a little less stressful for me. Lately I've been feeling a little stressed trying to blog, and keep up with all the blogs I want to be reading, and of course managing my Farmville farm. But knowing I had a post ready to go most days last week, and that I didn't have to write right when I came home from work was kind of nice.

Based on how successful my schedule posts went last week, I'm thinking I might try it more often. I can't imagine it will happen every week, and it probably won't be every post, but I think it will be a nice change for me.

Anyone else schedule their posts? Or do you always write a post and immediately publish it. And what ideas do you have for staying less stressed while blogging?

And I hope everyone had a happy holiday last week, whether it was Easter or Passover or just April Fools Day.

~Shoshanah

Sunday, April 4, 2010

It's All Greek to Me

Clash of the Titans
Seeing this movie shortly after both reading and watching the movie of Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief, I feel like I've been hearing a lot about of Greek Mythology lately. Based on the order I saw it all, I want to say Clash of the Titans reminded me of Percy Jackson. But really it should be the opposite.

Clash of the Titans tells the story of Perseus, a demi-god who saves the humans from the wrath of the god's. On his journey he deals with gigantic scorpions, ventures to the underworld, and duels with Medusa. Fairly standard Greek mythology. And from what I hear fairly similar to the original Clash of the Titans. Although I've never seen the original so I can't quite compare. But according to the boy, there were all sorts of hidden easter eggs, where the original was somehow referenced.

We decided to see the movie in 2-D. We hadn't heard a lot of good about the 3-D for this movie. Mainly due to the fact that the movie wasn't meant to be seen in 3-D. Instead they just tacked some 3-D effects onto it at the end in order to make some more money. Supposedly they didn't add enough for the extra cost to be really worth it.

Even knowing that we saw the movie in 2-D, I wasn't that impressed with it. The movie wasn't bad, and I did enjoy parts of it. But I think for something that was billed as almost a blockbuster I was expecting a little more.

~Shoshanah

Friday, April 2, 2010

Flashback Friday: Freshmen Year

The past few weeks Amber has been reliving her 4 years of college in honor of her college graduation in a few months. While its been a few years since I graduated college, I can't help start reliving my college years while I read her posts. So I figured my own Friday Flashback of college was in order.

I was paired up pretty randomly with my college roommate. But like all those cliched stories, we really hit it off and stayed friends throughout college. I'd even say I consider her to be one of my closest even know.
As you can tell in this picture I went off to college trying to look as California as possible. I was in going to school in Maryland and wanted to be sure everyone knew I was from California. So there I was with blond hair, trying to be as tanned as possible.

I don't have a lot of pictures from my freshmen year, mainly because that was back in the pre-digital area. But I do have a few to memories to share. First there was the Nick Carter concert that we went to.

Freshmen year also recorded one of the biggest snowfalls Baltimore had seen.
At least it was one of the biggest snowfalls until this past winter.

One big event through my all four of my college years was GIG. It;s pretty much like a college field day. Classes are canceled around 12, and the rest of the day is one big party.
This is me very unsuccessfully riding a mechanical bull at GIG freshmen year.

The other huge part of my college life was being a member of the soccer team.
While we might not have had the most successful year, we still had a lot of fun.
This is me and some of my teammates dressed up for blind date ball. This was another fun school tradition, where you could sign up for a blind date to go to as your date. Being that the school only went co-ed in the 1980s, there's still a relatively high female population. So every year they try to bus in guys from the Naval Academy to use as dates. Although we had a game that morning, so we weren't sure whether we would be going to the dance that night. Which meant none of us actually signed up for a blind date.
And one last picutre of some of the girls on the soccer team.

Because I'm sure you're curious, and I had almost forgotten what it looked like, I'm glad I do have a picture to share of my dorm room.
We actually lucked out and had one of the biggest doubles on campus. But only because originally we were put into a single, and one of the smaller singles. Our original room barely had enough room for two desks, two dressers, and a bunk bed. But luckily a few days into freshmen year they were able to move us into an actual double to share.

I do have one final picture taken of my roommate and I on our very last day of freshmen year.
I'm no longer blond here, and you could barely say I'm tan.

It's actually been a lot of fun going through pictures for this, and I'm just as excited to share my sophomore year of college. But first what was your freshmen year like? I'd love to see your pictures and here your stories!

~Shoshanah

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Life's a Beach

Another Where in the World Wednesday. In case you're new to the game, Classy in Philadelphia's hosting and the point is to share a picture of yourself somewhere in the world. This week I'm back in California at...
At the beach
Hermosa Beach.

This picture was taken over winter break my during my freshmen year of college. And just as a warning, don't be surprised if you start seeing a whole series of beach Where in the World Wednesday. While its slowly starting to be beach weather, living in Louisiana I don't have a lot of beaches to go to. So instead I might just have to live vicariously through my Where in the World Wednesday posts.

If you're looking to see even more Where in the World Wednesdays, head over to Classy in Philadelphia. Or you can check you where in the world I've been here.

~Shoshanah