A Plethora of Life Updates in the Midst of a Very Busy Month

aka why I haven't written anything in the last two weeks!

If there was ever a season that could take me down, Fall 2022 might be that season. It’s coming for me. I know it’s no longer a flex to claim that you’re “busy” (or so Gen Z tells me on Tiktok), but let’s just say, I’ve got a lot of life going on over here…like a lot of life. I’m just going to go down the list to hit on everything briefly (it’s a stressful list but all good stuff!), and then when I’ve got the time, I’ll give all these topics proper attention in their own post. This is called a “newsletter” after all. If there’s anything you are particularly interested in hearing more about, please let me know in the comments!

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Here’s the update:

1. MAZZY’S BAT MITZVAH

Turns out, planning a Bat Mitzvah involves a hell of a lot of work, even with a super organized party planner. (No, not that party planner. I’ve got someone new.) As you can probably imagine, throwing a big party in Manhattan is quite a chunk of change (even if you try to keep things low key and be smart about where you spend your money), which makes every decision even harder. Also, because of the pandemic, we didn’t go to many in-person Bat Mitzvahs, so we have little to base our decisions on and are kinda flying blind. (I actually like that Mazzy won’t have many other parties to compare her big day, although, to be fair, that’s probably more my issue than hers.) Another problem is that I start weeping every time I try to put together her photo montage (a 10 minute montage is a time honored Bat Mitzvah tradition), partly because OMG she was so little and adorable and partly because I have about 500K photos and videos (not an exaggeration) on various different phones and hard drives from a time when iCloud was not a thing. And so, I keep putting it off, but time marched on, and now, here we are— CRUNCH TIME. Also, when you’ve got so much planning go on, who has time for clothing, hair, nails, shoes, undergarments, etc for three separate people??? So much shopping and grooming is required when it feels like time could be better dedicated to more important things. But nope! You can’t go naked! I’ve narrowed down my dress options, ordered Mazzy’s dress from a place on Long Island (unfortunately that means we have to travel an hour and a half for fittings), finally found a suitable option for Harlow and traversed the city for a strapless bra that’s supportive and safely hidden under my dress. Mike’s got it easy, all he has to do is pick out a tie. Yesterday, I dropped my dress off with the tailor and felt like I was sending a child off to boarding school with the hopes that she would magically return smarter and more well behaved. Fingers crossed!

2. MAZZY’S HIGH SCHOOL APPLICATIONS

Yes, high school applications. And high school entrance exams. High school in NYC is a different kind of beast, with the public schools and private schools both requiring test results as well as extensive applications, that both the student AND THE PARENT have to fill out. I’m straight up writing essays in every second of my spare time, because the “parent statement” is one of the few things I have control over. For private schools, there is one standard application but only a few of the schools use it. So, I spent three weeks writing my general parent statement, only to learn that only two of the ten schools we are applying accept that as part of their application. The others all have their own parent essay questions and each are different. Yes, I said ten schools. The process is very competitive and we were told to cast a wide net. So, that means we’ve got open houses, school tours, information sessions, student interviews, parent interviews, application deadlines, etc. X10!!!! Obviously this process is very good for people who love Excel spreadsheets. And don’t have day jobs. It’s a lot of scheduling. Thankfully, I have Mike for that part. As for Mazzy, she has to study for her tests, write an essay, submit transcripts, submit graded assignments, attend an interview, and more. Which would be a lot even if she didn’t also have the added pressure of memorizing her Haftorah!

3. MIKE’S BIRTHDAY

Mike turns 50 at the end of this month, and he deserves to be celebrated big time (or, big-time-in-a-way-that-Mike-would-appreciate, meaning no giant blowout bash with 100+ people thank god). Plus, he’s gonna need a break from that spreadsheet. Thankfully, for the first time in his adult life, Mike knows exactly what he wants: Cara’s boyfriend to cook him dinner. That’s not nearly as weird as it sounds! Yllan is a highly sought after private French chef (you might follow him on tiktok) and we’re going to throw a small dinner party at our place to take advantage of our new kitchen!

4. CHRISTMAS IN NEW ZEALAND

We are planning to visit Lucy and her family in New Zealand in mid December. We are also tacking on a little bit of time to see Mazzy’s friend Alice in Sydney. Technically, the trip should celebrate the end of a very hard semester. The Bat Mitzvah will be over and high school applications will all be submitted. Nothing to do but wait. HOWEVER, we still have to plan the trip right now. Didn’t really take that into account when we booked the plane tickets! (There was someone who reached out to me on Instagram who plans New Zealand trips and I was cocky and was like, “thanks but we got it handled!” And now, I could really use help but I have no idea where to find her contact info. If you are reading this, kind Kiwi follower, please send me an email!)

5. THE TOY STORE!

I’m hoping most of you have seen my announcement on Instagram. If you haven’t, SURPRISE! We bought a teeny tiny toy stop in the East Village called The March Hare to save it from going out of business. That announcement has been looming over my head for a while and now that it’s out in the world, I feel like I can finally take a breath. I want to tell the whole story in it’s own post, because I know you guys have lots of questions. It’s been one hell of a ride, but there’s a special kind of magic being back on my favorite block in my old hood. (FYI, the photo up top is me locking myself out on the first day I worked at the shop.) We are not really set up for extensive online shopping as of yet, so if you want to help support, I suggest buying one of our adorable t-shirts and following the shop on Instagram! So much more to come on that topic soon.

So as you see, I’ve been busy. It’s not a flex, it’s the truth. Add in my day job, dance, gymnastics, volleyball games, dentist appointments, vet visits (Frankie’s currently limping like she’s geriatric), Jewish holidays and keeping everyone generally fed/happy/alive, and I’m barely keeping my head above water. All this is to say, if I send out less newsletters than usual this month, I’ve got good reason! But then at the end, I’ll hopefully have so many happy things to share.

Have any questions about anything that I mentioned above? Put them in the comments. And just for fun, please tell me in what order you are most interested in hearing more about each topic! I promise, Mike will not be offended if his birthday comes in last.