Why Hello There!

First off let me say Im sooo sorry for cancelling our dinner tonight I felt terrible! But like I said work has been a bit busy my team is getting outsourced to India so slowly one by one we are losing all the experienced people and getting them replaced with inexperienced temps, which means since Ive been there for a while now Ive had to pick up some slack and such. But eh im ok with it for now since I will be finding out about my second rotation soon so I just keep telling myself that change is right around the corner.

So my big news is...-drumroll please-...Im going to Europe! After many failed discussions and attempts of me trying to plan a vacation I had gotten to the point where I gave up all hope and resigned myself to the fact that Im meant to be a wanderer only of the soul but not the body. But then fate smiled upon me when I got dinner with my accounting friend patricia who i hadnt seen in forever and we both discovered that we were looking for people to travel with. So then we planned the whole thing in about two weeks and now Im going to europe! Im going for two weeks to spain, the south of france and italy with this tour company called contiki which is for 18-35 yr olds only so ill be with a group of people my age which is pretty cool. Im so excited and in disbelief since it all came together so fast (im still secretly convinced that only my soul is meant to wander) and also that its coming up so soon since im going aug 2-15. This is also been taking up my days since im trying to get all these appointments in before my trip so I literally feel like I have no time from now until mid-august which is crazy.

So thats pretty much  me...Im also doing a color run more for the color less for the run and ive started to drink smoothies for breakfast but other than that life is pretty much the same. Ive also developed a new love for cottage cheese ( I really never knew it existed until one day I decided to be brave and try it. I did not regret my choice and its been a happy romance ever since).

Sorry again for cancelling our dinner but we will most def reschedule right now I cant next week because all these events are happening for my next rotation but the week after I am free! Preferably on the thursday if you can (let me know how your schedule looks). But I most def want to see you before my trip!

Hope your trip to visit Hannah was wonderful and please feel free to randomly send me pictures as I live for those things. Are you still with chop't and how is that going? I don't actually know if the show is spelt like the salad place. Oh man I also met this woman who moved here from London who works in TV and is now some person (high up I think but not sure) who works on that TLC show Four Weddings (dont know if youve heard of it but 4 brides go to each others weddings then vote on the best one and the winner gets a free honeymoon--yes I know this because Ive watched it. Theres nothing on tv during some days ok gosh.)  and I immediately thought of you! If it was socially acceptable to have asked for her contact info I would have but she just moved here and she wasnt really telling me all this she was telling the person next to me and i happened to be standing behind her and heard her but if I do ever see her again I will be sure to ask! (if youd even like a show on weddings that is).

Love and miss you lots!

Meow

 I dont really know why this post is called meow I just felt like it.

But anyways thats fantastic news about Chopped! Congrads! And im soo sorry I didnt say this earlier work was crazy these past few weeks and I was getting out at 9 and 10 every night so I literally have no idea where March went but hey at least the spring weather is closer now so Im psyched about that. How is work going? I would love to grab dinner now that my busy time is over and wouldnt mind coming down to soho for a night so just text me whenever would be best for you and Ill be there. Fyi tuesdays tend to work best for me but as long as u tell me in advance any other night should work too. And then we can do something besides get sushi in hells kitchen not that I mind since we finally managed to find a good sushi place there only took us a million tries haha.

How is Hanna? Im sure she must be getting big by now..My sister came to visit this weekend with my brother in law so that was nice..I freaked everyone out with the story about the hankercheif you had told me since we all had just watched a ghost movie lol.  But anyways the third and fourth weekend in april dont work for me since im going to miami the third weekend and the 4th weekend I have some family stuff but anytime after that should be good..actually May works out well for me since I have to teach Sunday school every weekend so its not lik I can go anywhere for the whole weekend so a day trip would be perfect! And I have been craving that salad for a while now..it comes to me in my dreams sometimes..ok not really but you get the gist.

Good to hear your promt writing is going well Im sure your german reader appreciates it..my busy weeks have put a slight damper on my article blog but now that I have more time at work Im looking to post more. OH also I dont know if I told you about this already but I found this awesome thing called Skimm which is this daily newsletter you subscribe to which is free and they summarize all the headlines for you every day in a really witty way so thats always a bonus but you should def subscrive to it if youre not because I finally feel like I know a thing or two about a thing or two.

http://www.theskimm.com/

Other than that life is pretty good..im trying to start working out again we will see how well that goes. Sid is good our 6 months is coming up soon so thats crazy and exciting. We're taking a day off work to roam around the city so hopefully the weather is nice that day. Do let me kno if  you have any suggestions for things we can do!

Hope to see you soon..miss you!

Working, as expected, is kind of a mixed bag...

So I have great news! I started working at Chopped last week. I started on Wednesday!It's the same woman I've been working for but she's not going to be in the office until April. I've been working directly with someone that I worked with on the other projects too though, so that's been good. Everyone I've met so far has been really nice and you can feel the difference between a four person team that thrown together and a 20-season operation. It's cool being on a real established show. It's cool being in a real office where other industry folk are (They edit this FX show called The Americans across the hall from me). It cool having a desk and a phone and a work email. But I think the weirdest thing is going to be in a few weeks when interns start. I'm not sure I'm quite prepared for being above interns. Should be interesting.

For the next week or so I'll be getting out of work at 6, so still later than you but most likely as early as it's going to get for me personally, so if we'd like to do dinner again these would be the weeks to do so. I assume you wouldn't want to come down to Soho or The Village (understandably) but if you did, you'd probably get down here by the time I'm out of work and then we could go eat. And it would be my neighborhood, so much to my dismay, I would be obligated to find a place to go. Just some thought for food... (hah!)

I feel like I have much more to say, but since I've seen you recently, the catch-up multi-paragraph format is less relevant. I'm still posting on my writing prompt blog, although working makes it harder, especially on Fridays because I get home JUST before sundown and really have other things to be doing right then. But my German reader doesn't seem to mind yet. We shall see... Oh! I don't think the second weekend in April is going to work because I realized my mom will be cooking for Pesach that week a lot and probably will want Friday/Saturday off. SOOO can we tentatively change it to tentatively the third week in April??? Let me know. Also, are you back on facebook yet? Because if so, I'm going to start bowl-nudging you there again. A whole email seems weird.

I'm off to go enjoy what is left of my Sunday which was mostly eaten by errands.

<3

I miss you more! and yes it is ridiculous

So I go this new keyboard cover and im still getting used to it so i apolgize for the large number of typos this post will surely contain. But really I miss you soo much. Its pretty crazy how fast time flies, I cant believe its been months since Ive seen you! I honestly dont remember the last time, I think it was when we got italian food for your birthday. Yea thats insane. Anyways Im soo happy to hear your doing well, your new job(s) sound amazing and i cant wait to hear more about them in detail. And hannah looks soo cute im so jealous u get to hug her! I want a baby to hug so badly but weirdly my sister is not super accepting to all my not so subtle hints as I thought she would be..strange.

Also on a completely unrelated side note I have this friend Sandra at work, I may have told you about her she lives 5 houses down from me but we didnt discover this until we both started working at Barclays, but anyways her sense of humor is very similar to yours and whenever she makes some jokes/comments Im always like aw thats something Jenna would say and get all nostalgic. I think shes more ironic while youre more sarcastic but still it brings back memories of the good ol days filled with notes to our neighbors. Ah if only to go back to those times.

In other news im doing pretty well. I took my 4th test the beginning of feb, which wouldve been my last one had I passed everything but since I didnt Im not done yet, but Im so absolutely tired of studying that im just about ready to give up. The fact that this was never really something I needed to do, just something at point thought I wanted to do, isnt helping either. But anyways Im not completely throwing in the towel yet, Im going to wait to see if I passed the last one I took and then decide whether or not I want to continue with this madness. Either way for the first time in MONTHS i have some free time. Its  only been a week since I had this newfound freedom but its going really well I would say. I got dinner with a bunch of people I hadnt seen in a while last week so that was nice. And Ive been able to spend more time with Sid too so thats been good too.

And going along with that Sid and I are doing really well. Its been 3.5 months now that we've been dating although I swear it seems longer than that (doesnt it sound like a baby when I quantify it using months?).  The whole distance and time thing isnt really a walk in the park and we always wonder how nice it would be to just be like other couples and do things like watch tv together instead of squishing together in random starbucks after work, but hey we make it work and its kind of nice too knowing that this is our time to do this, and in the future we will have the time and space to do the whole bum out together thing.

Work is pretty good too. I am still supposed to have half a year left at this role and I have really gotten to like the people here so its really not bad at all, the only thing thats absolutely killing me is the commuting. Im hoping to maybe find a place around summer time to put an end to this madness because its really not fun having no time at all. But we will see how that goes as time gets closer. For now I am actually enjoying living at home because after a hectic day of work I get to have a hot dinner on the table, and a room cleaned by someone else. Also its weird my parents ( i think its cuz they are used to having me study all the time) are pretty much good with leaving me alone so while there is a good chance that might change for now it is really really nice being at home. The whole saving money thing doesnt hurt either.

Also i meant to say this in the above paragraph but as much as I dont mind my work I really dont wanna stay in finance so I really need to figure out my life but thats another story.

So yep thats the gist Id say as of now Im ok with everything, obviously things are never perfect but I cant complain. Its funny to think how much life has changed in the past year, like really complete 180 but I guess I saw that coming in some way. I hope we can catch up really really soon and I can see more pictures of Hannah! Im pretty free this week (except thursday going out to dinner for valentines day) and next week except monday cuz its a long weekend cuz of presidents day (whee). Also (and know that I say this knowing that I dont really have a free weekend until late march/april cuz my parents are going to india and whatnot) but I would love to invite myself over for a Shabbos sometime in the spring/summer if you will have me. (just cant get enough of those kashavarnishkas(yea i blame that spelling on the keyboard cover)). Sooo let me know... Cant wait to catch up soon!

Love,
Monisha

I miss you and it's getting ridiculous...

I think the title pretty much covers it. I can't remember the last time we really spoke. I'm thinking it might have been the last time we saw each other, which was also ages ago. It's no ones fault really. You've been crazy with your test and your phone doesn't work and my schedule is just weird and last minute and unpredictable. But I thought in the meantime, Bowl needed a resurgence.

I hope I've seen you or spoken to you since I started working, but if not, here's the gist. I work for this woman named Beth who does casting for TV shows. Seh's really great and she gives me a lot of opportunity to learn and ask questions without feeling dumb. I started working with her around Thanksgiving time. I had been emailing her for a couple of years after I got her name from someone at one of my past internships. I knew she did casting for Chopped (the Food Network show) and had emailed her asking about internships. She always replied that it would be good to work together at some point, so I kept in touch and emailed her every few months just to keep her up to date on my situation.

She emailed me the week before Thanksgiving to say she was swamped on a project and needed help and was wondering if I was available. But then her funding fell through and she said she couldn't pay. I ended up doing it anyway for free. It was a learning experience and a foot in the door and a chance to prove myself and all that yada yada... In the end, she was able to get the money to pay for the days that I had worked which was great. It was about a month or 6 weeks.

We were casting judges for this baking show. It's the American adaptation of this show The Great British Bakeoff (it's pretty good actually; you should check it out) So yeah, we needed to scour the internets for baking experts, get in touch, arrange interviews with them, and then interview them either in person or via skype. I got to sit in on a bunch and take notes on them so that they could go to the editor (a 20-something Rutgers grad who literally lives a block way from my house on Huntington St. in NB with his parents- he grew up there... and he dormed!) The editor whittled the hour-long interviews down to 3 minute packages for the network to see "pitching" the people. It was very cool seeing a new side and learning the process.

I ended up working on that some more in January, along with another project. And now I'm on to a third and she's talking about bringing me on when she goes back to Chopped. It's really great and she's great and understanding about shabbos, which is a huge relief by itself. For the last month I've been mainly working from home, which you'd think I'd love. I did at first, but I miss the social interaction and I never really know when I'm going to be working. It's great not commuting, but I like the people so it would be nice to see them. I mostly talk to Beth through IM, and it can be difficult to convey tone as we know, so sometimes that's a little stressful.


My sister is coming in with Hannah this week. She's so cute and she started crawling! She sits up on her own and is just generally amazing. She's started recognizing my face and my voice through the computer and it's awesome seeing her light up when she sees me on video chat. I can't wait to get to hug her though. You probably want some pictures.

All of the girls at a wedding in November. Remember Dave? Josh Gombo's roommate? He got married and now they live in my neighborhood. 

My sister got her baby-aviators for Chanukah

A screencap from our video chat on New Year's Eve

Her 6 months photo

My mom got them a swim class, so my sister and Hannah have been going weekly. 

The monkey I got her when she was born

Two front teeth if you can make them out on the bottom

I ended up going to see my friend Allison in Washington Heights for New Years. She was planning a movie night with some friends, which sounded fun. Except the movie didn't load and they couldn't hook the computer up to the tv, so we ended up going with a large group of people I didn't know to Central Park where there was like a DJ and Fireworks and a costume competition? It was actually really fun.

I was in Highland Park this weekend by Shua, which was nice, and then I went to Rutgers. Kol Halayla was actually hosting an ICCA quarterfinal, which was just so cool. It was so much fun to watch them up there and see the audience of mostly new-to-KH people reacting to them and loving their songs. Especially after two hours of listening to other A Capella groups. It's also a nice feeling when I see them and they all come and hug me and miss me and write notes on my ticket so that I feel loved when I rush in late because it took longer than expected to clean off my car.

I thought I would get to hang out with them, but they were all really tired, understandable, so I drove home late and didn't go to sleep until after 4am. I know you're thinking that's not weird for me, but it's a lot more exhausting when you're actually out and active through those hours instead of just in bed watching TV. I do really miss being a part of them though. Not the KH part, just the social part. It's like FOMO (Fear of missing out- I'm assuming you know this) all the time because they are always posting pictures from rehearsals and stuff.

Those are all the updates I can think of right now. I do really miss you and want to see you. I was trying not to overwhelm you when you were studying because I know how much you were probably stressing about it. But I think you told me Feb 2 was the last one? How did it go? Do you still have to retake that other part or did you already do that? How is work? How is Sid? What are you doing about Valentine's? I was really happy that you texted me for advice/my opinion :) How is your family? How is your sister? How is living at home post-test?

I'd love to find a time to see you. My sister is going to be in from the 13th to the 19th, so maybe next week might be better. Like I said, my work schedule is weird and I days when I do work, I feel like I then have to be home until 7pm, so I wouldn't get into the city until late, but maybe if I'm not working one day I can come meet you or we can do a weekend or something. In any case, it had simply been too long since I told you about my day (had to wake up waaaay to early considering the late bedtime, because a plumber was coming to make my bathroom a mess...) and even longer probably since I've heard about yours. Love you! Hope it doesn't take too long to read this whole novel!

Nothing I say will be as exciting as that last entry

Seriously though. She is so adorable and everything you said she does I just imagine her doing and I can only imagine how awesome it must be too see. I saw pictures of the adorable outfits and I must say they are so freaking cute you could just eat her up. I'm very jealous of your snuggles. Sometimes all I want to do is snuggle with a baby but theyre hard to come by or something like that...

But on my end work is going well! So I only started at my desk last week (in case I didn't tell you i'll be in the city for this year and my office is 54th and 6th pretty close to Radio City) so yea I havent actually done much yet because I've just been waiting to get set up and stuff but people on my team say I look busy already which I guess is a good skill to have. The people on my team are really awesome and we are actually getting a new person this week so it'll be good to see if shes cool too. I think I actually get to start doing stuff this week so thats awesome and exciting and scary at the same time. I get assinged clients who I have to manage so I'll get to talk to people and whatnot so thats a yay.

Being in the city is also really really good. I think I never realized the scope of opportunity for a social life that working in the city lends itself to. And since I took a part of the CPA last week( which was alright I just really hope I passed and dont have to take it again but I wont find out until end of august which I guess isnt that far away) and am only in the beginning stages of studying for my next part I can actually have a social life for a little while.  Last week I actually did stuff 3 days of the week which was a pretty big deal considering my activities have been consisting of working, studying, sleeping repeat. But yes I would love to see you sometime this week Im open to dinner or happy hour-- I usually get out of work around 5:30.

So thats pretty much me. Tell your mom I said hello and let me know when you're free this week! Miss you! <3

A Message from the Auntie

So I've been in St. Louis for about a week and a half. It's been awesome getting to know Hannah (whom we still call Duckie sometimes). I love holding her. Her toes are adorable her hands and feet are actually proportionally large so maybe she'll be tall! She has monkey length arms too. And she is so cute for the twenty minutes at a time that she is content and awake. She sleeps a lot, which is fine because she is super cute to stare at while sleeping.

She gets the hiccups constantly and they vary from the silent ones that just shake her entire body, to the scary sounding ones that make you just stare at her nervously to make sure she's not choking or anything, to the ones that sound like she has a squeeze-toy in her stomach and you can't help but laugh because it's hilarious. Everything she does is adorable and miniature. Sneezing, coughing. I am of the opinion that she's even cute while crying, but others are of the opinion that this is only because I don't wake up with her in the middle of the night. She sleeps a lot at night though, so they're pretty lucky.

My sister puts her in these adorable headbands when we go out. Half because she wants people to know immediately that she is a girl and half because they are just soooo pretty. We're not supposed to take her out much, so we limit. We went to the zoo today. She slept through the whole thing.

She's also so cute in the bath. She got her first bath while I was here. We put her in this sunflower sink insert and run water on her head and she just sits and coos a little. She doesn't even care that there is water on her head.

I'm coming back on Wednesday night. It'll be nice to be back home and see friends and snuggle with my cats, but I can't imagine not getting to see her and get to know her and her quirks. They'll be in for like ten days in mid-September and then again in November, but considering how she grows so noticeably overnight sometimes, a month or two seems endless. Sigh. I'd love to see you next week! Tell me in detail about how work is going! My mom asked...

Auntie Jenna.

Why Hello Auntie Jenna! I would say Aunt J but then you'd sound like a character from the help so not sure I want that to happen. But Congrads! Mazel Tov!(Hoping its appropriate in this situation) Vazhthukal(this is how you say congrads in tamil in case you were curious..thought id mix it up a bit you kno) I dont blame you for staring at her ever since you sent me the picture Ive been staring at her as well (# confessions).
But I can see why its killing you to not be able to see her in person I would want to just hold her all the time she is so darn cute. And I like Hannah as a name too because you know Jenna...Sabrina...Hannah. Yea. I could rap like this for hours. But anyways do send me more pictures if you have them I would love to see them! And yea birth is really weird man its all like where did she come from and how is she real. yea.
 Well on my end finally got through my first week of work even though it feels like ive been working for about 3 months. Not that the week itself was long it just seems like last weekend was legit forever ago. But its been good so far Im only in training which is practically like school because its just class all day. The first day went really well it was nice seeing/ talking to everyone after a year and I even met some new grads. After that it got a little meh because people went into the whole.. I have my friends now and will only talk them mode really fast. And while I do have friends I feel like im dont belong to any set group and am just testing waters in many. Im sure ill find a group once I know what office im in for the year since Ill have to eat lunch with the grads and whatnot.
And while I would complain about the whole school aspect of it since Im learning all day and then I come home and study i realize its actually better than working for real since theres never any guarentee there. But in terms of who we like..on the first day I saw this new grad who was in my calc class freshman year of college so that was pretty crazy. I dont dislike too many people although I must say that girl Jenna who was an intern..I totally stared at her from across the room today and she made no effort to make eye contact and smile..so yea. Haha anyways tell me more baby stories and Shabbat Shalom!

Auntie Jenna?

Hi!

How is work? I want to hear all the details! Who do we like? Who do we not like? How goes the training?

I finally have an answer to "what's new" because of the adorable little baby girl. Her name is Hannah Sophia. And I'm in love with her. She has this little button nose and I'm so jealous of everyone who gets to touch it and kiss it while I watch through video chat. But at least I have that. She looks so snuggly all cuddled in her multiple blankets (something about regulating temperature). Birth is crazy. Like one minute she's inside a person and now she is a person. Very very weird. Even my sister says it's surreal.

Her new hat with a cute little bow

Her hebrew name, in case you're curious is Sara (pronounced Suh-Ruh) Chaya (pronounced with the 'ch' back of your throat sound) This is what it looks like in hebrew: שרה חיה. Chaya and the 'H' name (Hannah) are after my grandmother and Sophia/Sara are for Max's grandmother. I can't wait to go meet her. I think I'm going in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile I spend all day staring at her. She's just the cutest thing.

How do you feel about Auntie Jenna? I kinda like Auntie J but it seems a little too "stop trying to make 'fetch' happen." People have been calling me Auntie Jenna or Auntie Jen though, which I am happy with. People keep joking about Tanta- which is yiddish for aunt and also disgusting and I will beat them if they call me that. 

What a lovely thumbnail...

The whole video is pretty much this attractive. Stay tuned for the sneeze in the middle. Yay. Miss you.