bittersweet

when a friend gets married i always find it bittersweet. im genuinely happy for them, but sad for the end of an era in our friendship. unless they have a rotten marriage (chas v'shalom) the friendship will change. when a guy friend gets married one gains a friend , unless the wife isnt someone one would want to befriend , then that friendship is totally over. as it should be. some women totally dump their single friends when they marry . when this happens you find out that they were really your situational friend and not a forever friend. and thats okay too. im still glad they have married.
its easy to think that you wont swap your single friends for the smug marrieds when you do get married, but you just might do this. one just never knows. better not to judge others. moving on and evolving friendships are a part of life. life is change. get used to it. (im trying to take my own advice!)

more flatbush folly

well... it seems the infamous sheitle store across the street from chaim berlin has re- opened for business . this time the photos in the storefront are much smaller and the mannequins have shorter collarbones. this is alot of old news, but i found it to be a great photo-op, so im including my fabulous photos. enj0y!

hey jew!!

when i lived in the midwest, i always thought of new york city as this big , tough, anti-semitic town. then i moved here. when i was in college, i was always afraid of having a big anti-semitic incident with some scary new yorker. this was during the pre-disney times square years.
one saturday night when i was in college i was walking down fifth avenue with a group of my friends and we heard someone calling "hey jew!" from a distance. being the brave souls that we were we turned around and started running. at the time i thought that my biggest fears were becoming reality.
alas, it was not so. one of my friends happened to take a second glance at the guys who were calling out "hey jew!" . they were across the street from us waving their yamakas. a moment later they were on our side of the street. my friends and i yelled at them for scaring us.
fortunately for us , sometimes things arent always what they appear to be!!

purim is on the way.

usually people (or at least me) start thinking about pesach in january and begin to dread pesach cleaning or start thinking about making their plans to go away. well , today i was at the farmer's market in union square and purim, not pesach was more on the radar. there is a hydroponic tomato stand that is based in shushan , ny. this stand always makes me think of purim. ive taken pictures of it before, but always the perfectionist, ive never liked how they came out. today's photo was the best ive taken of the shushan farms sign yet.

in the spirit of purim's imminent arrival i tested out a new chocolate cake recipe that i may use for shalach manos.

last year i had searched high and low for a purim costume and couldnt find anything in brooklyn . i gave up. after purim i was near canal street and i happened upon ricky's at 375 broadway between franklin and white street. they have a year round costume store. they have a range of prices and i found a costume there for around twenty dollars.

purim this year is march tenth, which is a tuesday. im ready for it. how about you?

groundhog day

yesterday was groundhog day and punxsutawney phil saw his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter. i know that im alone in saying this , but whoo-hoo!!!!! i love winter.

gu

yes, we all know what gu means......geographically undesirable. someone in new jersey doesnt want to date someone in brooklyn because they are gu. someone in queens doesnt want to date someone in staten island because they are gu. someone who lives on the upper west side in manhattan doesnt want to date someone who lives in midtown manhattan because they are gu. you catch my drift?
but seriously, there is something to this. i live in brooklyn and have dated guys in other boroughs or even new jersey and it can be tough. its so much nicer dating someone who lives closer by. you can see each other more often because they live closer to you.... im not saying i wouldnt date anyone outside of my borough ( because then i would surely never get married) im just saying that when i do its kind of nice.

cellphone-free zone

like most members of the 21st century, i have a cellphone, and am pleased to have one. i do look back nostalgically at the days before cellphones when one could go out with friends and not be interrupted with some bogus "urgent " cellphone call. i also loved the idea that i wasnt always reachable. fortunately new york is so loud that i often do not hear my cellphone ring, this way i get break. i often leave my cellphone off accidentally on purpose so i can have some peace .
chatting with friends in person is much more satisfying than chatting over the phone.