Shana Tova Greetings from Susanne

Dear Friends, Fam, and Followers,
I wanted to write you this year to make sure you have wonderful Rosh Hashanah and a meaningful Yom Kippur. At this time, as we are beginning a new year, we must take time out of our busy schedules for a bit of introspection. With each new year we must grasp this clean slate and ask ourselves, what can we do this year to be a better friend, a better parent, a better spouse? Let's fill this year's slate with Torah, and Mitzvos, and most importantly Love. This is the Season of Love (those noticing the Rent reference, nice work). Let's commit ourselves to loving not only our friends, parents, and spouses, but Klal Yisroel as a whole. Only then can we actually see ourselves coming closer to the ultimate redemption, the coming of Moshiach. This year has been a busy one for me. This year I met Evan, my future Rabbi Hubby. For all of you who always insisted that I'd end up a Rebbitzen since our days at Darchei Binah, well, you won that bet. I've learned a lot from Evan. He is one of the most selfless people I have ever met. Always there to lend a helping hand to a friend. This makes me want to help others even more. Whether its helping them find somewhere for Shabbos, deal with the big issues, or my new hobby, finding them a shidduch (if you haven't yet, send me what you're looking for!). I just want to be a better person. I've tried hard not to push away my friends because of a relationship. I've lost many friends who have gotten so wrapped up in their relationships and weddings that I promised myself for years that I would not do the same. Hopefully I didn't sleight anyone since I've been so overwhelmingly busy this past year. With this in mind, I hope that you can somehow find it in yourself to forgive me for any of the transgressions that I have committed, whether I did them knowingly or unknowingly. I will of course do the same for you. May all of our relationships with our families, our friends, and our fellow man be stronger this year than ever before. I hope this coming year will be filled with nothing but Simchas for us to share together! I hope for a year of blessings and prosperity for us all. Gmar Chasima Tova!
Love,
Susanne

PS If anyone's emails were left out, please know it was done unintentionally. Hopefully all of my loved ones will receive this message somehow through my Twitter page (www.twitter.com/susqhb) or my Facebook (http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=502647624&ref=name) or my blog www.susqhb.blogspot.com.

Had I known...I'd have been a Rabbi

I just spoke to a lovely rabbi in the Greater Philly area. When I went to her shul site to double check the address I saw that the other rabbi in her shul had the same last name. Its not the most common name, so my guess is that they are married. It comes up pretty often when I find that two rabbis at a congregation are married to one another. Obviously I'm not referring to Orthodox institutions since they do not ordain women. I guess in the Reform and Convervative movements when a couple meets in Rabbinical school, they have a good heads up that their suitor is like minded in terms of their connection to Judaism, making it a good match from the get-go. Of course, there was one time when I called a congregation and asked for Rabbi X and the receptionist asked, which one, and I said Rabbi XX, and asked, oh, are they married? She said, um, they're divorced. Awkward! But anyhoo, point is, had I known how easy it was to meet my match had I gone to Rabbinical school I would have gone years ago. Well, it took some time, but at least I did in fact find my Rabbi. The question now is, when they announce us for the first time as husband and wife, do they say "Rabbi and Rebbitzen", or "Rabbi and Reverend"? :D

Am I a Stern Girl?

This morning, for the first time ever, someone asked me if I was on my way to Stern on the train. She needed directions I presume. I was wearing the same exact thing I've worn pretty much everyday for 10 years. Denim skirt, polo shirt, and zip sweater. What could possibly have been different today that made her query me and not the girl next to me also wearing a skirt and long sleeves? Must be the engagement ring....

Wedding Music

We booked whats supposed to be the most excellent Jewy band in LA/Orange County for the wedding. I was just sent a website where you can view all the songs that the band can cover. First thing I noticed. Not nearly enough Tim McGraw tunage. Or any for that matter. I think more Orthos need to play Tim at their nuptials. I was just going through the wedding band's song list and....Oooh Beatles, lets see what songs are listed here.....OMG.....Do they really get requests for Eleanor Rigby from couples?! Isn't it about chick who died alone? Really?!! Some people seriously need to rethink what songs are really about. Yup pretty song. Not exactly appropriate sentiment though. Like I'd LOVE to walk down to the opening bit of a Rascal Flatts song. Its a beautiful string piece....but its a song called I'm Moving On. Again, not sure the right kind of appropriate for that moment.

Spin

It seems as though every other post I'm apologizing for not writing more. And here I go again. Sorry loyal readers. My life is hectic. Be patient.

So heres the story. I'm packing and throughout I've been throwing clothes in the laundry bag to be washed. Tonight was when I got through the four loads that needed to get done. I then proceeded to fold the laundry (this alone took all night, its now 2 am). When I finished I counted 43 freshly laundered pairs of underwear. This can be seen two ways depending on how you spin it. I'm not completely sure its natural to own that many. But I'm a sucker for buying undies in bulk. As many of you know, my favorite store is Costco and when I make a trip I usually pick up another package. If its a cute design, two packages. Thats one way to see it. I just have an undie fetish and own so many that I have to wash a ton whenever I do the laundry. The other is, How the hell long has it been since I've done laundry? Don't think about this too long. Might make you gag a little. Anyhoo, this is what happens when you can't sleep and decide to blog in the middle of the night. You write embarrassing things. Good night all.

Our Wedding Monogram

One of my bestest most talented buds put this together for us. I think its amazing. My only goal was to have all of our Hebrew initials incorporated somehow, and bonus points if I had to do some detective work to make out some of the letters. Can you find them all? Shin, Mem, Aleph, and Yud. And of course a Resh for Rosenhouse. :)

Dear Anonymous

Dear guy who has way too much time on his hands,

You know who you are. You spend all day on my site driving up my sitemeter, thereby directing more traffic to my site and more ad money to my pocket. For that, I thank you. I originally just planned to ignore your ridiculousness, but instead think you deserve a thank you. Feel free to keep posting inappropriate comments to my various blog posts. Calling me whatever names you'd like. I really don't mind as long as my numbers keep going up. After all, you've figured out that I'm not posting them. I'm not even reading them. Everytime I get an email saying "Anonymous" has posted again, I laugh to myself. Its a shame that this wuss who won't even identify himself is hiding behind his sense of invisibility. Hiding behind the AOL account that he uses to connect to the internet. Why don't you spend your time more wisely. Throw the ball around with a buddy. Take someone on a date. Call up an old friend who you've lost touch with. Anything must be better than reading my blog. But while I still keep you busy, knock yourself out.

New Potter Trailer

Positively frightening. And they didn't even show the really scary stuff (like the inferi in the lake ""shutter""), just Dumbledore's visit to the orphanage to visit the young Tom Riddle. Now everyone says that it wasn't until HP 4 that Rowling got really dark, and while thats kinda true, it wasn't until this book, HP6 that I was chilled to the bone. One of my faves of the series and the one that I think fleshed out the Dark Wizard's backstory and really because of their duality, in essence, Harry Potter's. I remember the first time I saw the first trailer for Sorcerer's Stone. I was in DC for the summer. And we went to see that horrible movie AI just for the trailer. Just seeing the trailer was an event in itself. So enjoy!




If above video is not available, try clicking here. Movie is being released in the US on November 21st. Go see it!

BREAKING NEWS! SavvyAuntie.com Launches!

Back in March I briefly offered a shout out to a site that I heard was in development entitled Savvy Auntie. The particular post was on the book The Panic Years: A Guide to Surviving Smug Married Friends, Bad Taffeta, and Life on the Wrong Side of 25 without a Ring by Doree Lewak. The book and the elongated title explains, touches on relationships with your friends who are married (while you are not) as well as those who have kids. I remember thinking in Stern after my first close friend Alissa got married, wow looks like shes winning in this race called life. Then a year later her first son was born and I thought, damn, not only is she winning, she's lapped me. That was in 2001. She just delivered her THIRD child b"H in May, one week after I got engaged to my fiance Evan. So I guess I may have gained ground in this race, although, it'll be years (if ever) for me to catch up to her and her bountiful fam.

For a long time I just accepted the fact that there was a good chance I'd be an old maid. Its widely believed that there is a "singles crisis" (their words, not mine) in the young frum world. So anyone who doesn't fit into the teeny tiny box of whats an ideal man or woman in the frum world just might be single for a while. For a woman, you can generally read that as thin, because thats pretty much all frum guys are looking for. Although, not always true, I have some incredibly hot, professional friends who remain single (gentlemen, contact me for their numbers). Guys in the frum world are just generally stupid, so thats why they let these lovely ladies slip through their fingers. For men, they must have a six figure salary. Bald, fat, and toothless are not factors. Those guys still have no problem finding wives. As long as they take home 100K.

Since there are so many women getting married later and later in life, many are putting off having children. That doesn't neccesarily mean that they aren't actively involved in childrens' lives. A large majority of my girlfriends have extremely close connections to their nieces and nephews. They take them to the circus (as my bud DJ did last week), they act as confidants, and they get to be another adult that loves the children unconditionally and spoils them rotten. Every kid needs more than two adults to fill that last role. When I was little, I needed like 20 aunts and uncles to yield the amount of attention my precoious younger self required.

Right now SavvyAuntie.com is being launched like literally as I type this blog. This website can act as an online community (the first of its kind) for hip aunts, great aunts, godmothers, and my own personal coined term quasi-aunts, to communicate with one another on all the important things it means to be an aunt. Biological or not. For instance, two weeks ago I went to my quasi-niece's first birthday. Being a woman in my late 20's with pretty much no experience around little ones (I've changed like 5 diapers in my 28 years) I had no idea what to get her for a gift. Had I had this community to turn to for advice, I would have had a much easier time of gift buying. I would have known a Playstation wasn't a good idea (just kidding, I found like some ball thingy, for ages 1-3).

All that said, yes, I plan to, God willing, one day have a family. Not neccesarily anytime so soon. I'd like to enjoy married life for a little while before popping out a little one. For now, I'm content doting over my two nephews who live in Las Vegas (when I see them, which is usually once a year if that) and my brand new nephew (Evan's brother's son), as well as my countless other quasi-nieces and nephews, children of my close friends. They're awesome little tykes. And I'm their Aunt Susanne! If you fit this category, visit SavvyAuntie.com today!

Mormons are cool!

Okay, so this is my 301st post. No fanfare needed. I keep getting these funny ideas to write about and when I get to my desk at work or my laptop I become so busy with other stuff I never get around to articulating the humor to y'all. So since its been awhile I thought I'd come on here and punch in a couple quickies.

This morning on the subway two young Mormon elders got on the train. A man in his 30's initiated a conversation with them and he chatted about faith, family, and spirituality with these young missionaries from 175 to 59th street. I give the Mormon faith major props. Not that I'm in favor of any religion proselytizing (Jews actually turn away prospective converts), but making people explore life's positive attributes, even if its a 30 minute conversation that doesn't translate to anything, is a great thing. I mentioned before that I grew up in the Mormon stronghold of Orange County, California. My high holiday services (since the synagogue wasn't large enough to hold all of us once a year Jews) were held at the local Mormon temple each year. They had seating for 1000! The Mormon faith puts a strong emphasis on family and moral values. My father is a district commissioner for Eagle Scouts in the area and a large majority of the young men he meets with come from the community. Our next door neighbors growing up with a large LDS family. I remember when the mom first came to my mom after we moved in and started talking up the religion, my mom said straight out, "listen, you don't try to convert us, we won't try to convert you. We'll have a better friendship that way". Religion was never really mentioned again. We had a great relationship with this family for many years. Thats all I really wanted to say. So the next time you see an elder or a young Mormon lady (not sure what their title is) be sure to say hello. You can usually recognize them by their big lapel name badges, their bicycles, and their backpacks. Good times!

300

This is my 300th blog post. The End.

P.S. Today's a Woot-Off!
Will this be my lucky day where I finally win a bag of crap?! Woot= One Day, One Deal. A Woot-Off is when they continiously throughout the day post new products at dirt cheap prices. The "bag of crap" is life's most coveted possessions. If you Woot, you know that I'm talking about. Oh yeah.

RIP Tim Russert

Tim Russert died this afternoon in DC at the age of 58. Honestly I'd never known who he was until the 2000 election. When the state of Florida toggled back and forth between Al Gore and George W, Tim remained our constant. I was like, who is this guy? All the other networks had expensive FX on the screen with a map of the United States and a ton of blue and red numbers. But there on NBC was this guy Tim Russert and a whiteboard that was probably picked up at Staples before he got to the studio. I watched him until 4 AM as he explained the electoral college math and what it would take for each candidate to become President of the United States. I was fascinated. Of course, the state of Florida eventually landed in President Bush's hands, but for those few hours in the middle of the night it could have gone either way. And Mr. Russert was the one who helped us understand. I went on to do my thesis paper on the electoral college. And Tim Russert had a lot to do with that. I'll always remember Tim...and his whiteboard. Thanks Tim for making politics make sense.

10 Years

10 years ago yesterday, on June 11th, 1998 I graduated from Edison High School in Huntington Beach, CA. I've mentioned before in my blog, but I'll happily say it again, I LOVED high school. I made some good friends, went to some great parties (mostly at the Nadler hacienda), hit a lot of softballs, won a lot of gavels (from Model UN), was Student of the Month (in a school of 1,600, thats pretty impressive), and was almost named Prom Queen. I like to say I was runner up because we didn't have a runner up but if we did I'm sure it would have been me. :) I never got great grades because I was lazy as shit but I stayed above 3.0 throughout my time there. I was supposed to graduate with honors but was one Spanish class shy of the requirement. I hated Spanish. Spent 2 1/2 years in remedial Spanish and can say "Yo Hablo Susanne". Thats about it. I wish I could have foreseen living in the barrio affectionately known as Washington Heights where Spanish would have been infinitely helpful.

And then we graduated. We wore our green robes and sat in the heat in the Edison Bowl. What I regret is that I didn't really appreciate the impact of that day. There were people there that I saw every day for 4 years. Now I haven't seen them in 10! I wish I took more pictures. I wish email was more widely used back then. I wish Facebook existed. I wish we had Myspace. I wish I'd stayed in touch with my peeps. I wish I still had my old 1982 Honda Accord Hatchback. I wish I had applied myself more.

We have our 10 Year Reunion coming up this November. I can tell you I am so excited to see all my old friends. But I can't help but think, what if I could go back 10 years and do things differently. Would I be a lawyer like I'd always planned? Would I be the observant Jew that I am today? These are questions that we cannot even think about. We need to love the life we live. And thats what I'm doing.

Happy 10th Anniversary Edison High School Class of 1998!

Happy Birthday Evan!

Wishing a Happy Birthday to my main man, Evan "Tex" Rosenhouse AKA The Rabbi AKA the BF AKA The Fiance (depending on which previous shout out you've read). Love you babe!

I think its over...

EphShap just forwarded me an RSVP link for an Election Night Rally for Senator Hillary Clinton...at Baruch College in New York City. She's coming home. Instead of hosting a victory or concession speech in the last two primary voting states, South Dakota and Montana, she is hosting a rally here, in her home state of New York. I had planned to try to get Broadway tickets to Cry-Baby the new John Waters musical based on the Johnny Depp movie, but gosh, I think I really want to be there with one of my heroes, Hillary Clinton, in what I fear may be shaping up to be a real concession speech. Like the real deal. Supposedly shes started letting campaign workers go. It saddens me that I wasn't able to personally share my memories of the Senator with more people. Find her more supporters. Her compassion and realness really touched me. When I spoke to her, she listened. I understand the inevitablity that she will not be the Democratic nominee. I've accepted that for weeks now. But seeing this campaign really begin to close up is really sad for me. Tomorrow night might not be the moment she throws her support behind Senator Obama, but I do believe it will be the first step towards that.

To RSVP for tomorrow's rally at the Baruch College Athletic Center, visit:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/events/ticketed/20080603NewYork

RIP King Kong

Above picture taken during my last trip to visit King Kong before his untimely death, Passover 2007

Yesterday I went to the Israel Day Parade where I'd hoped to bump into old friends who got married, had babies, and never called me again. True story. It was fun. Walked up and down the street people watching the day away. When I got home that evening I was greeted by this unfortunate news story. There was a major fire at Universal Studios Hollywood which destroyed many famous sets and backlots. Most notably (in my mind at least) the King Kong set. I really enjoy Universal Studios. Been there like 10-15 at least. The backlot tour is amazing! The take you up and down the hills in the backlot showing you where Psycho and Jaws and the new War of the Worlds was made. And then they drive you through sound stages. The tram driver alerts you that you are about to enter a stage with a calm NYC street. Nothing out of the ordinary. There is a helicopter overhead (just like in New York) and you see televisions on in the apartment windows (just like in New York). Then out of nowhere the helicopter crashes just beside the tram. And then theres a roar! And then King Kong appears just to the left of the car. And everyone screams. Women. Children. Most of the men. Its beyond exciting to be inches away from this gigantic beast. I've always gotten a kick out of this. Then at 4:30 on Sunday morning, Kong was wiped out by a fire. So sad. Also gone, the clock tower from all three Back to the Future movies. That was actually really nifty to see because you had you remember that even though it was the same exact set, it was doctored up to look like 1985, 1955, 2015, and 1885. It really showed a person like me how magical filmmaking could be. How something so ordinary (a gigantic beige sound stage) could become extraordinary. At least I have my memories. RIP King Kong.

Bearcats 1-1

We won our game yesterday. It was like 16-7. I was on base 2 of 3 times. We played literally under the Queensborough bridge at York and 59th streets. If your hit connects with the bridge (about 300 feet above the field) it can be played by the fielders. If it drops its designated a foul ball. My team hit two balls off of the bridge. Seriously New York City Parks department, are there no other real fields on which we can play? I'm paying like $200 for this league and I risk being struck by rivets from an old bridge. Seriously?!

I made one awesome put out at first which I was really proud of. Our third baseman made a wild throw and I had to come off the base a few feet to stop it. Instead of hurrying back to the bag I instinctively threw my glove hand at the batter as he ran up the baseline toward first, tagging him out. The umps reaction when I came to bat in the next inning was, "Wow, looks like you've played this game before." The human body really is an amazing thing. When anyone has spent a significant amount of time doing any particular thing it can be done absolutley and completely without thinking. I find it so incredible. Not to say I'm like a pro or anything, cuz I'm not, but I have played this game for 23 years and some things just sink in in that amount of time.

Quote of the game: Overheard chick on the other team say, "Wow, I've only ever played this sport on my Wii." She hit 2-3 so I guess that game system really works.

Thanks Mom

Today is the 37th day of the Omer. And it took this long for my mom to mail me the bra I left in Cali over Pesach. Thanks for being so on top of this Mom! Although, USPS Flat Rate boxes do have a good thing going for them. Since my bra doesn't quite fill a box the box, mom filled it with several Easter eggs. Most notably some new contact lens solution that just entered the marketplace and a copy of my Bat Mitzvah reception video. Get ready to see Susanne just months shy of her 13th birthday...and dealing with the worst bout of stomach flu in the history of man. But don't you worry, I made it through the Shabbat morning service and layning just fine. Ever see a black tie Bat Mitzvah reception (with a life size replica of Pop Tate's Choklit Shoppe!) where the lucky girl is completely missing from the festivities? Nows your chance! Viewings daily!!!

Krups Heineken BeerTender

I will be registering for this. Oh yes, I will be registering for this.

Oh right! I'm engaged.

After spending most of my 28 years as a single, its hard to transform from available hotty into spoken-for woman. Oooohh the Bangitout Lager B'Omer party is tonight! Oh right, I'm not on the prowl anymore, nix that from my calendar. Oooohh, theres a SawYouAtSinai Shabbaton at the end of the summer! Oh wait, I'm going home for my bridal shower that weekend. But this week I've spent a lot of time looking at pictures. We took over 200 at my engagement party last week. And let me be frank, I looked good! I wore a cute dress. Put on a bunch of makeup. I even let Reif comb my hair. So being the narcissist that I am, I've been staring at my pictures non-stop. And they're everywhere! FACEBOOK! ONLYSIMCHAS! MYSPACE! I'm so vain I can't get enough of them. But the worst is this. Throughout the week I've caught myself riffling through pictures thinking, damn, I look good. And when I come to one of my more striking pictures, the first thought that comes to my mind is wow, this will make an incredible Frumster headshot. Doh! When will my brain realize I'm single no more?