come on, feel the illinoise: part one

it's birthday season here at crosswords and cupcakes headquarters. and, to be more precise, it's 30th birthday season. and rogray's is just around the corner on monday, june 30th.

it's his golden year!! which means this is slated to be one of the best year's of his life and it's shaping up to be:

1: we are working on our play.

2: he is going to grad school.

3: he gets to marry me.

see? best year evs!

since this is such a special year i decided to go all out for mr. rogray and planned a whole surprise weekend. last thursday i gave rogray an envelope and said "here's your first clue about what we are doing this weekend."

he opened it and saw a picture of an airplane. i had him double check what i had packed and told him we had to wake up at 5 so naturally we stayed up until 1am watching tv. genius!

the next morning on the way to the place that has the planes i gave him another envelope. he opened it and saw a picture of a skyline. but what skyline?

it was a tense car ride while rogray used the power of sleep to figure out what city has that skyline. when we got to the airport i finally let the cat out of the bag that we were going to. . .CHICAGO!!! yay!!!

rogray was a little confused. . .chicago? why chicago? and i was all "we never do things like this" and he was like "yeah, 'cause were poor" and i was all "yeah but we can do stuff like this" and he was all "yeah, 'cause we don't have kids and stuff." it was 5:30 in the morning so cut us some slack.

this is what rogray looked like for most of our flight:




but then i woke him up and he looked like this:



yup. still sleepy.

when we landed i gave him another envelope that were clues as to what we were doing. one was a picture of this:



and of steak. so he knew we were going to the Art Institute and having a steak dinner. but he didn't know everything. . .not even close. . .

we hopped on the el (hip, chicago lingo) and went to our swank hotel compliments of rogray's dad. i told rogray that his dad treated us to the hotel so he wouldn't get suspicious when we walked in and the lobby looked like this:



we settled in and took a quick nap and then i woke him up and told him it was time for a walk and some lunch. so we took a quick stroll and i was texting away and rogray seemed a bit confused as to why i was texting all of my friends on our special trip. as we walked through millenium park and i pointed to the cafe we were going to eat at he was looking around at all the sights which was good because he didn't see his next big surprise right away: his dad and stepmom!

yay surprise parents on our trip! we had a lovely lunch at the restaurant in millenium park and since they had already done the art institute we went by ourselves. but it was being attacked by lions! lions that needed to be stopped!



rogray was very impressed that i was fighting the lions:



the lions that had huge balls:



for some reason the balls came as a surprise to me -- i just never would have thought to put balls on a lion sculpture. props sculptor person!

we went in and had a great time seeing famous paintings and not so famous paintings and i felt like a real nerd when i laughed out loud at this piece:



i'm not really going to go into it but the curtain isn't real and the whole thing is silly. . .ah, the flemish painters.

we went down to the "exploratory" part of the museum and discovered that even with all that armor mid-evil knights could still give someone the finger adequately:



after the museum we took a real walk through millenium park which was awesome as you will now see:







can you spot us:



awwww, yeah:



after all that walking we were beat so we went back to the swank hotel lobby and had a cocktail and i planted another kiss on him:



and then we napped and got ready for dinner at the chicago chophouse where rogray got the t-bone that was as big as his head:



and proceeded to eat the entire thing. don't worry. . .he had room for dessert:



was that all?? oh no. . .that wasn't all. . .tomorrow i will post the real reason that we hauled rogray's behind to chicago.

you smell like one too

today is jk's birthday!!! he's 30!!!

we couldn't celebrate with jk because he's in la at griffith park eating fried chicken, playing capture the flag and wearing a t-shirt with his face on it.

fortunately we were able to hang out with him when he was in nyc a few weeks ago and it involved some of this:



manlove!

a lotta this:



and even more of this:



ms. n and the rockstar joined in:



rogray butchered "your body is a wonderland" by john mayer on a dare:



and i butchered far too many songs to list here:



things started to get a little crazy:







and then the biggest surprise of the night came:



scott wolf from party of five apparently did a karaoke video for the song "the joker."

best karaoke video ev-er!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JK!!! YOU SMELL LIKE AN OLD MAN!

love, love, love

rogray has been just amazing lately -- i mean he's always amazing but lately he's been like fly me over the moon amazing. what? you think i'm lying? you want some proof? fine.

example 1 -- we have a chalkboard next to the door so we can write reminders to ourselves and write down where we last parked the car. sometimes we get creative. let's see how creative rogray got:



i'm holding an "US Weekly" and he's holding an "U.S. History" -- and harper is there!!! gahr! so cute. . .

AND

example 2 -- i came home last week after a particularly rough day and i was very tired and feeeling pushed to every edge and when i opened the door i found rogray in the kitchen finishing dinner, the table set with candles, and this waiting for me:



flowers & wine!! on a tuesday!

boys -- if you want a lesson in how to do it right to your lady then this is lesson numero uno. . .also, this is how you end up getting engaged and doing something like this probably has something to do with making babies but i'm not sure how yet.

and if you want to steal our car that's where it's parked. . .

video killed the radio star

the other night rogray and i got together with a few couples at the critic's house and ate some delicious pork, played some wii (my mii is adorable!) and drank far too much wine. . .which led to the first video i've ever posted to flickr which may mean this blog has just changed forever. . .behold:



and this man thinks he can hold off on getting a dog. . .

2 legit, 2 legit to quit

hey! remember when i penned that love letter to bob schieffer letting him know how i felt about him retiring from his program?

well guess what?

IT WORKED!!!

cry me a river

i am one of those weird people who, at almost 30, doesn't need glasses. some people get really up in arms about this because they are bitter that they have been wearing glasses since they were, like, 2.

every now and again i think about how cool it would beto have glasses -- another accessory! all of those snooty gestures i could use to better make my points in conversation! looking smarter! and older! i could use that last one because just this weekend a waitress thought i had just graduated from college -- at least i'm not getting carded anymore.

last month rogray and i were in atlanta visiting momgo & dadgo, celebrating passover, and planning the wedding. . .yay! we all had some time to kill so we popped into a cookware shop for funzies.

momgo immediately set about buying everything she could get her hands on and i looked at the knives. dadgo and rogray looked at other bits and pieces of cooking gadgets and discovered some onion glasses. rogray decided that we should get them because whenever i cut an onion i have to leave the kitchen at least 10 times because my eyes are gushing rivers.

at first i was all "another gadget that is creating a market where there wasn't one before" but that quickly turned into "a surprise present? i'll take it!! and glasses no less!"

last night we took them for a test run.

here i am ready to start the experiment:



aaaaaand action!:



well? well? WELLLLLLLL?

did it work? could i cut half an onion without turning into a blubbering mess? did these magic glasses somehow make me a mean chopping machine?



YESSSSSS! see? i do need glasses.

don't call it a comeback. . .

i know this isn't much of a triumphant return to the blogosphere but. . .

is it weird that i kind of like jenna bush?



i mean. . .she's kind of cute right? i wouldn't want her to, like, run for prezzies but i'd totes hang with her at a bar.

(and that will be the only picture of he who shall not be named to appear on this blog.)

i'm feeeling like a fool

yesterday rogray and i decided to play april fool's jokes on each other at 11:30 pm.

he went to park the car and called me to tell me he was in an accident.

i bought it and he had the joy of shouting "APRIL FOOL'S!" into my ear.

when he came home i had to think fast so i told him i was late getting my period.

he bought it and i had the joy of shouting "APRIL FOOL'S!" to his face.

we then realized that we chose to play the meanest april fool's jokes on one another.

but who was meaner?

rogray for making me think that our car and possibly he had been damaged or me for making him think that our lives were about to change forever?

i think i may have just answered my own question.

Goin' to the chapel. . .

AND I'M GONNA GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that's right. this man here:



asked this lady here:



to marry him.

and I said YES!



i'm one lucky, lucky lady.

Ten O'Clock Scholar

ladies and gentleman, this is the face of a graduate student.

a graduate student who was accepted into both NYU & the New School.

a graduate student who will be getting a master's degree in political science.

meaning he will be a master of political science.

this is the face of success.

congratulations rogray!

You knock me off of my feet. . .

here's to momgo & dadgo who've been knocking each other off their feet for 31 years!!!! happy anniversary you two.

i was fortunate enough to celebrate their anniversary with them this past weekend when they came for a visit. . .just look at them:



ah, love.

my reaction to their display was this:



yeah, because that's gross what they're doing. ew ew ew ew ew. . .

other than that disgusting pda their trip was great. we ate food. we went to see a play. we had shabbat dinner with some friends where my mom made brisket:



and rogray blessed the bread:



we celebrated a birthday with my long island family:







(now that's an expression of love i can get behind. . .what's all this making out?)

where rogray continued to usurp my position by becoming bff with dadgo:



and where rogray ate pork all classy like:



i'll post pics of our sunday "jew day" tomorrow. . .because i need to recuperate from that first picture.

All By Myself. . .

so yesterday i'm on my way to our last intro to judaism class and i've worked out that the best way to get there is to take an express train to brooklyn which bypasses the stop i need and then transfer to a local train going back towards manhattan. that actually takes less time then taking the local out of manhattan. . .go figure. and yes, i spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the quickest way to get places because i am the master of public transportation.

i made my transfer and stepped into the car on the local train and looked around and realized that i was the only person in the car. and i was amazed because that almost never happens and it certainly never happens at 6:30pm on a weekday. i looked around and was tickled to discover how excited i was by this moment of solitude -- because i think in this massive jumble of a city those moments where you get to be truly alone during your day are very, very rare. so i relished the moment.

as the doors to the train closed i took a deep breath, exhaled and. . .farted.

that's right. i did that. i just let. it. rip. and it felt good. i felt free, calm, truly at one with myself.

and wouldn't you know it, right after my glorious release the doors sprung back open and 8 people jumped in the car right behind me. and were greeted with eau de shaygo.

the moral of the story: you are never as alone as you think you are in new york city.

*picture from NYCDP

bitches & hos

and in this case the bitch is spitzer.

i thought i should share with you momgo's response which is brilliant:

"Holy crapballs. I thought it was going to say he had an affair with a top aide but it was over blah blah blah. This is really awful. He should resign."


um, yeah. my mom said holy crapballs. does your mom say that? i don't think so.


and dadgo followed up with this:


"Spitzer is another man who has his brains in his pecker. Is screwing around with a professional worse than having your winky whacked by an intern? Because I do not recall our wanting Bill to resign over that indiscretion. Oy Veh!!! What a sad state of affairs!"

yeah. equally brilliant. "winky whacked by an intern" -- amazing.


i am really saddened by this because i naively expected more from my governor. i knew there was something kind of smarmy about him but he was a relentless attorney general and he fought the good fight. and even though that all still stands he is going to have a very hard time bouncing back from this one. . .and to be honest i am getting tired of having to forgive these idiots and i don't think i should have to settle into a place where i expect nothing from the people who i elect. so why does this anger me more than bill's penis debacle?


because spitzer PAID for it. he paid a woman a large sum of money and brought her across state lines to have sex with her. this wasn't just an affair. this was paying for sex with a prostitute -- something that spitzer railed against when he was the a.g. and if i find it hypocritical that someone like larry craig gets to solicit men in the bathroom while spouting homophobic rhetoric than i should find it equally hypocritical when someone participates in the very industry that they spent years trying to dismantle as an elected official.


and i will never understand these wives who go to the mea culpa press conference with their douche-bag husbands. if it were me i'd be all "oh, hell no! fuck you, you asshole and your little 'i failed my family press junket' -- you get to go it a. l. o. n. e."


and then i'd throw a plate at his head and then i'd make sure that he had to go to the press conference alone with shards of fine china all over his suit and in his hair so that the public would know that this is one wife who wasn't going to play nice and wear pearls. and i'd tell his p.r. people to get away from me -- so that they way they could all sweat a little bit over what i might do or say.


and then i would buy a first class ticket -- no i would buy first class tickets for me and my friends so we could all go somewhere ridiculous like nice, or cannes, or bali and drink a lot of beverages with alcohol and umbrellas in them and we would stay in the fanciest of hotels and have spa treatments all day every day and then i would come home looking fabulous.


and the press would be like "look at mrs. blah da blee blah -- she looks gorgeous. and she's so smart and funny. he's such an idiot."


only then would i decide what to say and how to say it.


silda, feel free to use my plan of attack as you get through this humiliating debacle. but if you do all i ask is for a seat on that plane. . .i've always wanted to go to bali.

Little Deuce Coupe: An Ode

today is a bittersweet day for rogray and me. today is the day that we sold our car.



that was our 1991 mazda mx-6 GT (that stands for turbo yo) we bought in cali. it is the car that took us through our year there and it is the car that brought us across the country back home:







those last two pictures are what happens when you've been stuck in a car for 6 days straight and you're driving through texas.

this car has taken us camping:



and on day trips. to family and to friends. we didn't have a name for our car but we certainly loved it. so why did we sell it?

well, dadgo and momgo were kind enough to get us a newer used car to take us camping and to family and friends. and on sunday we go and get our new car that has been patiently waiting for us in a garage on long island. our old car is going to our good friend the photog and her husband so they can enjoy day trips and last minute get aways. so it is in swell hands and it will stay in the family.

it's been a great car -- one that got rogray and me through a very particular, interesting and crazy time in our life and we will miss it. so 1991 mazda mx-6 GT with the oscillating a/c vents we salute you and we love you.

thank you little car. thank you.