updatey update

[chanaleh]

Round 1 of the fall Jewish holidays (Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, 10 days) is now over. I did my "usual" -- which is to say, for the 11th year running, good grief! -- choir gig up in Swampscott, which used to be at Temple Israel until it merged into Shirat Hayam. Every year I say this might be the last year... the money is good, and the people are very nice and make much of me, but (a) playing backup choir to the cantor means I never really get much davening done, and (b) given the choice, my HH davening surely would not include choir and piano to back up the cantor, anyway. :-} But, no really, I'm just not sure how next year is going to work around wedding/honeymoon scheduling. Plus the fact that I would like to spend at least one HH season actually attending tremontstshul for more than R"H afternoon(s) and Ne'ilah.

So anyway. Round 2 of holidays (Sukkot through Simchat Torah, 9 days) starts this Wednesday night. This means I had better finally kasher the oven in time to make something for the tremontstshul potluck sukkah dinner that night. >:-) Helped gedalia and crew put up the sukkah this morning afternoon, though, which was good. Since getting home, I've mostly been puttering around on LJ, on which I am woefully behind.

Besides holidays, the biggest timesink of late is that I have started a not-quite-full-time freelance gig for the rest of the year, at a place out in Concord called Dinardo Design that specializes in producing children's textbooks for Houghton Mifflin. I'm working in their office 4 days a week, totalling 30 hours. It's on a freelance (1099) basis, which is going to suck taxwise, but the hourly rate seems to make up for it. And it's a really pleasant office/atmosphere (including the fact that it's lovely to be in Concord Center every day), and the projects are really fun, and so far they seem to like my work, and I am stretching my design muscles and learning to use OSX and a graphics tablet! The "drawback" is that being on the clock (and not on my own computer, I'm floating around on different machines depending on who's in) keeps me from doing any personal crap or even taking phonecalls, so it's good discipline... though occasionally a pain for people trying to reach me in a timely fashion. ;-) Anyway though, I'm liking it a lot -- and I even still have Tuesdays off, to either do other design work from home or go out and do some of the "weekday" errands (and socializing) for which my freelance career has spoiled me.

Wedding news: Basically, we can't finalize a date (or a budget, or a guest list) until we decide and sign on a venue. Also, at least three people have already asked us about gift registries. Thus, these have been the first two hurdles on our list, and we have begun tackling them accordingly. It is absolutely stupid how psychologically difficult this is for both of us, in the "other people are going to be spending craploads of money on us, and for what?" sense. To some extent, of course, we just have to get over it. But with the registries, there's also the dichotomy between "We have to ask now for Everything We Will Ever Own, or miss our chance" and "Gah, I don't WANT to own all this stuff at once anyway! I've been using my crappy Teflon pans for 10 years, why does marriage mean suddenly I should own hard-anodized aluminum cookware?". (Not to mention "OMG we are never going to find more than one pattern of dishes we can agree on, maybe we're not really so compatible after all" ... okay, that last part is mostly my mishugass, but still, it's ridiculously frustrating.) Anyway, the good part is that so far TB has been the one making all the calls to venues for inquiries and appointments. I am duly impressed. But it's my job to start calling caterers for estimates on Tuesday.

Plus, in kicking around honeymoon ideas, we seem to have settled on the idea of Paris and Venice, which... *swoon*. :-) He's been to both places, and initially expressed a preference for someplace that would be new to both of us, but I was all, "Paris? Venice? I THINK I can handle the inequality."

Lastly: How did I not know this? Diesel is planning to open a Union Square branch! I haven't seen any actual evidence of this yet, however.

And now, off to Menschen rehearsal.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

You should register at ThinkGeek.com, Archie McPhee, and places like that.

We only spent an afternoon each in Paris and in Venice, but, based on that one afternoon, I suspect I'd rather spend an extended period of time in Paris.

[magid.livejournal.com]

'Twas good to see you (and TB) last night, however briefly.

Good luck on the wedding planning.
(I wonder if there's an online Boston-Jewish-wedding resource guide out there somewhere? I mean, I know enough couples who've gone through the process...)

[miraclaire.livejournal.com]

One of the nice thing about registries is that they stay up for a while even after the wedding, so when James's mom emailed to ask me what he wants for his birthday and what we want for Christmas, I was able to point her at stuff that we wanted that no one had gotten us for the wedding, which is a lot easier than going "gosh... um. I dunno. Can I get back to you?" and then having no clue what to ask for:)

[42itous.livejournal.com]

You could have a registry that links to stuff you want on lots of different sites, without tying you to one online store. That way you can register for things available at non-chain stores, and art by local artists, and such goodies. Register for books, you can never have too many books!

[points.livejournal.com]

For venues maybe you all should look at the one we're using? Very reasonable. Young Israel in Brookline. We're using Andrew to cater. Feel free to ping if you're like input. :)

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Bit o'wedding planning advice: Do the registries. It severely limits the number of people who buy you truly useless stuff that you genuinely don't want. Folks will do that anyway, but registries gives people who don't know your personal style something easy to go for. The truly creative ones will be creative and get you Neat Stuff all on their ownsie; you don't need to worry about them.

As far as the Union Square neuveaux-Diesel, I saw it last night while driving to Rudy's. It's on Bow Street, a few doors down from the Neighborhood. "Bloc-11" is in a brushed-metal building-width sign over the first story; the building itself is still sheathed in plastic and scaffolding. Looks to be smaller than Diesel, unless they're on multiple floors.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

They've also got a big cleared-out area that looks to become an actual outdoor patio. perfect for a winter opening? ;-)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

The job sounds neat! Also, uh, I'm looking forward to seeing the registries... *is unhelpful*

My understanding about choosing items for the registry is that it is easier when only one person has any opinions about them.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I understand about the registries feeling weird, but it is easier on your guests in the long run (and cuts down on multiple-toaster syndrome).

[elizabear.livejournal.com]

I like the dishes! Maybe the second set should have a solid color stripe on the rim?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Yeah, registries are really helpful. Don't think of it so much as demanding that you get everything on the list - people will still buy you random things that appeal to them. But it means that if someone's decided to buy you a crystal vase, there's a better chance it will be one you'll use, rather than stutter over, hide your horror, and then store in the back of the closet forever. 'Cause people will buy you stuff. And you'll feel a lot better about it if it's stuff you have a prayer of using.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Also: We set up two registries at two different stores, one with everyday things we're likely to use often, kitchen gadgets, and the like (which we told our friends about); and one with the fancy china, silverware and crystal (which we had our parents tell the relatives about). This prevented my grandmother from buying out the entire registry of relatively inexpensive items.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

If you want someone to natter at about wedding planning, or need help in any way, please let me know. I'm a big wedding geek (actually spent part of Saturday fending off a woman who was really excited about the idea of starting a wedding planning business with me) and will happily listen to all the angst.

Regarding registries, I think it's great to register at a funky place or two, for the people on your guest list who'll want to buy you something different. But be sure to register for a lot of things in the china/platter/vase category and in about the $50 range, because that's what people want to give you and about what a lot of people want to spend. I spent half an hour at a recent wedding listening to the guests bitch about the couple not having put enough stuff on their registry--which was rude, but at least I hope they weren't doing it to the couple--and that's not the first time I've heard that class of complaints.

Best of luck!

[drwex]

I agree with the commentary on registries.

I don't know if either of you have mothers or grandmothers you like and trust but these are the kind of resources you want for help in dealing with sites, registries, caterers (though the site will probably have a list of places they work with that they can give you).

You will make yourselves FAR less crazy if you farm out various tasks to relatives you can trust. It gives them a (structured) way to be involved, too.

registries

[musicjill.livejournal.com]

my favorite registries were bed, bath and beyond and amazon.com

the former had lots of great kitchen/bath/bed stuff; and they have a scanning tool so you can walk around the store and build up your registry that way.
and their inventory is pretty stable.

amazon- well, it has *everything*. we got a dvd, cast iron cookware, bread pans, a drill and bits, and such through them.

crate and barrel: not so good. their inventory changes so fast that by the time of the wedding almost everything we picked was out of stock; and the few things we got from there: some of them (half?) arrived cracked and broken (that's our name for the store)

also- if you're interested in any special chuppahs....let me know soon ;)

good luck!

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

May I ask if you recieved my second response to your e-mail, and may I poke you for the corresponding directions, please?

Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center

[(Anonymous)]

Have you checked there? They were booked on our date, but I've heard good things.

--Sara (Rivke)

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Giving up the singing gig would also allow you to attend services w/TB. Glad to hear that freelancing is working out well for you.

25 years ago when Shoshana and I got married neither of us had been to many weddings, and we had no idea what we were supposed to do; Shoshana sewed her own dress and we left the wedding planning to my MIL. Using a registry makes gift giving easier for your guests but deprives them of the opportunity to be creative and surprise you. If you don't like surprises and know exactly what you want a registry may make sense.

[earthling177.livejournal.com]

Speaking of being way behind on the LJ reading, here I am, over 300 posts behind (but not giving up). ;-)

My piece of random advice (because, y'know, you may not have enough of them) is to forgo the "hard"-anodized aluminum pots-n-pans anyway -- get stainless-steel or teflon-coated. Everyone I know that has the hard-anodized aluminum thingies fall in only one of only two categories: the ones that love love love them are the ones that baby the things, wash by hand with a nylon scrubbie etc.; the people who treat them like regular pans hate them with a passion because they are not non-stick as advertised and clean up is a bigger chore than it has to be. I put all my pots and pans in the dishwasher, and if I had to wash them by hand they sure should stand up to some hard scrubbing (the non-stick ones) instead of special treatment. And besides, any regular pot or pan can be babied if that's what you want to do, no need to buy stuff that will degrade as easily as anodized anything. And if anyone gives you grief about it, tell them to come argue with me, so you have more time for more interesting things. :-P

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday, chanaleh!

[randomposting.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! :)

New journal in a catalog

[ubscribe-blog.livejournal.com]

We have listed Your journal: http://blog.ubscribe.com/show.php?flet=c&page=1#chanaleh.
You can check your domain availability inside.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

[melopoeia.livejournal.com]

if you don't want to deal with folks giving you stuff, you could just tell them to give to charity. I know for my birthday I made a rule that the only thing people can give me is food, or donate to a place in my name. Generally they cooperate. Works wonderfully.

Of course, for a wedding, not so well, too much food.

So many Trader Joe's gift cards? Or for that matter, gift cards for one of the wonderful, green, socially responsible businesses listed in the CO-OP America Green Pages? ( :

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

It's not that we object to receiving wedding presents, or even to helping people give us things we actually like and want. It's just that the process is bizarrely much harder, both logistically and emotionally, than I would ever have imagined. :-}

p.s. have we met? It seems possible, though certainly not necessary!