Have a sweet New Year!

From our family.... to yours!

In case you were wondering, our family now includes this cute little stuffed dog, who I got at Build a Bear for my birthday. Her name is Clarissa Doggie, and she's basically an estrogen explosion.

Note the close-up:
Hee!

We tried the same dress on a stuffed woolly mammoth, but it just didn't suit. Too much hair.


See what I mean?

But I digress. In other news, tonight is Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. A few things on my mind this time of year:

1. Sweet things. Challah with cinnamon sugar, cranberry crunch and rhubarb crumble, apples and honey tarts and madelbrot (an old Yiddish version of biscotti that other people sometimes find boring and I find awesome), oatmeal cookies and brownies and more.

2. New things. It's a custom to try a new food on rosh Hashana. Unfortunately, I just remembered this custom, which means that my poor husband will probably spend 2 hours tomorrow trying to find a pomegranate and/or starfruit and miss his shower. Oy.

3. Growth. The Jewish new year is like tax day for the soul--how have I been doing? Am I in the red or the black? Am I better person than I was last year? How can I be better next year? I am humbled by realizing all the areas where I need to grow, but gratified that I HAVE changed certain aspects of myself for the better.

4. Change. Every year at this time, I marvel at everything that's changed since I last stood before G-d listening to the shofar. In 2007, I prayed for clarity, as I held onto a dying relationship like a raft. And in 2008, I prayed for my upcoming marriage to a different man, who gave me all the things I had been missing.

Since I don't use the computer on the holiday (which goes from Wednesday at sundown to Saturday night), I'm going to fall off the face of the earth for a while, but I hope you all have a wonderful week!