My Amazing Weekend Part 1

What an amazing weekend! Every weekend is amazing to me these days but this one was especially action packed. I went from doing the Shabbos thing to going out and partying with my girlfriends to hanging out with the bf. This weekend has left me completely exhausted even though i supposedly got enough sleep. I think I'm ready to call it a night.

But first, a summation of things that happened. Friday night i was wiped out from playing boss at work, but I still managed to get myself over to the Goodmans for Friday night dinner (it was Shabbos after all, I hadnt seen them in a long time and of course, it was Lauren's b-day.) Lauren was there, of course and also Riva and Dina. We had sushi and the Rebbetzin's award winning strawberry salad and topic of conversation ranged from Gush Katif to the Alumni Gathering. And of course, we all learned about Tu B'av, another holiday I really didn't know anything about. I was truly enlightened by the concept of it, a day to be happy after weeks and weeks of mourning and sadness. A day where Jewish singles meet each other in honor of the maidens who courted the men at the Beit Hamikdash (and of course other assorted happy occasions.) At the same time, I'm no longer a Jewish single so this doesn't exactly apply to me, although it would have been nice to know about this holiday when I used to be a Jewish single so that I could have hit up a few Jewish singles events at the time.

Anyway, enough of my babbling! I slept at Riva's house and Saturday I actually got myself up to daven at Ohav Emeth in Highland Park. So what if I only made it in time for Mussaf, I still said the Shemonai Esrai and felt great about doing it. Afterwards I walked to Hamlin Rd. to my friend Sharona's house. The house was beautiful and the food was excellent (in no way did it seem like it was Shabbos food to me, it was like it had just been prepared...there was freshly baked warm chicken, meat and sweet potato, shepards pie, caesar salad, the list just goes on and on and on. I was so amazed.) Not to mention how amazed I am by Sharona and her family. Her mother is modern orthodox, but doesn't cover her hair and wears short sleeves, Sharona, on the other hand, wears only tznius clothing. Her father loves learning Torah and her brother wears black and white and has a hundred Jewish books in his collection. Her grandmother is a Czech Holocaust survivor having been in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, but completely comfortable with talking about the entire incident. In fact, I know her whole story because she told it to me that afternoon.

You'll just have to wait till the next entry to hear it.