Niner

It's countdown time; only a matter of days now until I leave.

I was talking with my family last night about my flight out and we realized that I am leaving at 9pm on 9/9/09 and I'll be gone exactly 99 days before I fly home for Christmas on December 17th.

Weird, right?

I hope that's a good sign...

Goodbye, Cupcake II- For Real This Time

A while back I wrote this post about the disappointing so-called "grand reopening" of one of my favorite Montclair establishments, Gimme Jimmy's cookies.

What could be worse than going there and finding the sweet treats you love altered in size, presentation and flavor? Going back three months later hoping they've read your blog and come to their senses and instead finding the entire business gone.

That's what happened tonight. I went to dinner with my former roommate, who I guess I can now just call my friend, and we decided to give GJ's another shot. Perhaps they'd gotten feedback from loyal locals who wanted the fun designs and loads of icing back. We walked down Church street and realized early on that something was amiss.

There were no tables and chairs outside; the name wasn't on the awning; there was no gentle light in the windows or sweet, yeasty scent wafting from the open door.

There was, instead, an empty, darkened room with a "For Rent" sign in the window.

Gone.

My own personal baked good heaven, gone.

It is indeed a dark day for frosting lovers of Northeast... or at least Essex County New Jersey...or at least residents of downtown Montclair...really I'm just pretty sad.

Mazel Tov!

A week ago today I was in Pittsburgh helping my best friend from highschool, Beth get ready for her wedding. I've reached that age where all my friends get married and pretty soon I'll reach that age where they all start having babies. While I'm not there myself (my dad observed that I actually flinched away from the bouquet when it was thrown to the single ladies), I do take an immense amount of joy in these major milestones for my friends.


This wedding ceremony took place in the gorgeous Heinz Chapel on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The only drawback of a summer wedding in such an old building is the lack of air conditioning. At one point I thought I might actually pass out when I stood up to do a reading but I yelled at myself to get it together, took a deep breath and was fine.




Since the groom was Jewish they had some of those cool traditions like stomping the glass. I think shouting "Mazel Tov!" after he did that was my favorite part of the ceremony since, honestly, how often do you get to shout in church?


They also did the thing where they lift the bride and groom up on chairs at the reception. That as so fun and I was able to capture some of it on video.

I was so glad that my parents could come, since they've known Beth since we were both super awkward freshmen in high school.

I actually alluded to that in my toast at the reception. We didn't like each other the first day of school, she thought I was snobby and I thought she was weird. By the third day, though, it was like we'd both just accepted that despite our differences, we were destined to be great friends.

The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

I flew to Pittsburgh this past weekend for one of my best friend's weddings (more on that later) and had a few interesting travel experience that I thought were worth sharing.

1) At the Philadelphia airport I was in line for security and in my 7am daze was glancing at everyone around me. My gaze landed on one of the uniformed security personnel, mostly because he was young and handsome, which is a departure from the ornery middle aged women you often see checking IDs and boarding passes in Philly. We briefly made eye contact and then I went back to staring straight ahead. Next thing I knew, he was right in my face, glaring saying "You eyeballing me?" My eyes bugged out and I choked out a "what?" and he said again, "You eyeballing me?!" My mouth hung open and I just stared- and then he laughed good naturedly like it was a great joke and walked away. I was pretty awake after that.

2) Dustin "Screech" Diamond was in front of me in line going through security in Pittsburgh. He was not flying first class and he did not look good.

3) I had a shuttle service pick me up from the hotel to take me back to the airport and was told they would arrive at 3:10. I was climbing into the van at 3:11 (there was a bank across the street with a digital sign, so I know that was definitely the time) and there were already a couple of people in there. I sat next to an old woman with long, stringy grey/blonde hair wearing what looked like a black and yellow plaid caftan with a vest over it. We didn't interact at all through the beginning of the trip and I put my headphones on and listened to my iPod.

When we pulled up to the next hotel and the driver got out to let the new passengers in. The woman looked toward me and said something I couldn't hear except for "20 minutes."

I took out one earbud, "Excuse me?" I said, not sure if she was talking to me or just talking to talk.

"Looks like we won't have to wait here for 20 minutes like we did for you," she spat out.

There was a time in my life when I would have flushed red and stammered out an apology and felt uncomfortable for the rest of the ride. I don't know when the change in me occurred but this time, in this situation, I looked her in the eye and said quietly and calmly that I had been told I was being picked up at 3:10 and that is when I was there and that I was sorry if she had to wait but it was neither my fault nor my problem.

Then I turned away from her and replaced my earbud. She responded by putting on her own headphones and we stayed on our opposite ends of the bench seat for the rest of the trip. I spent the remainder of the ride thinking up come backs for the venom I was sure she was going to spit at me when she exited the van but alas, none came.

I was almost disappointed because I really wanted to say one of the things I'd thought of. I pictured her getting out of the car, turning around and saying something along the lines of "go to hell," or "I hope your plane crashes." To which I'd reply "Send me a post card from obscurity."

Wired

Before I became a (pseudo) grown up, I spent a number of summers working at a coffee shop at the shore called Coffee.Comedy. In case the name doesn't give it away, it is a coffee shop, Internet cafe and comedy club in one. Is your mind blown yet?


Anyway, since I am down the shore again I told them I would help out sometimes if need be, which turned into two, sometimes three nights a week. As it happens, my sister is working there this summer as well and since she is away this week, I am filling in all her shifts. This has allowed me to see many a beach goer in all their morning glory, and today's 7:30am-1:30pm shift featured some of my favorite customer interactions so far this summer. They included:


- A very large man leaning farther than necessary over the counter to order his coffee, then looking at the selection of baked goods on the counter, saying, almost to himself "hmm, should go healthy today," then louder to me, "what's this, pound cake? I'll try one."


- An older, confused-looking man who asked me, "are there any internets available right now?"


- An aggressively jovial, effeminate man who was there with what appeared to be his wife. She approached the counter ahead of him, ordered the coffee and asked if we had honey to put in one of the lattes and I told her we did. He then bounded up beside her a few seconds later, practically hopping from one foot to the other saying "Do they have honey, honey? Honey, is there honey, honey?" to his wife.


Then to me before she had a chance to answer, "Any honey, do you have honey for my coffee?"


"Yes," his wife and I answered in unison.


"Oh, where is it? Where's the honey, honey?"


I replied slowly, enunciating each word, "It is over there, on a shelf" I said pointing. "And I will give it to you shortly, after I make your coffee."


He wife snickered, but he was unperturbed by my sass and skipped down to the end of the bar to wait.

If I'm Not Wearing a Bathing Suit Today I Might As Well Eat Cookies

It's a rainy day at the beach. I had planned to get some work done in the morning and then spend most of the day on the beach; so it's right on par that it would rain all day.

But rainy days can be nice too, here's what we did since we had to stay inside:

Chocolate frosted marshmallow cookies. I saw the recipe a little while ago on Cookie Madness and sent it to my mom right away. I know she loves chocolate and marshmallow so I thought it would be nice for us to make them together sometime. Today was a perfect day for it.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last night I went to a Philadelphia Phillies game with my dad, something I have done every year for the past 20 years. Through awkward adolescence, too cool teens and busy college years, my enjoyment and eager anticipation of this has never wavered.

As we were sitting there I started thinking how comforting it is that, whatever else has changed in our lives, this never has. My dad still talked with the other guys in the row about who should be traded while I dipped my soft pretzel in tepid cheese sauce and thought about whether I wanted ice cream or cotton candy. He still took the time to patiently explain to me why everyone was cheering or booing and still gave me an enthusiastic high five when a Phillie hit a home run.

I love knowing that, however old I am, when we go see the Phillies, I'll be his little girl; from when he would buckle me into the backseat at six to texting me last night about where to park because I was meeting him there in my own car. He'll still give me my pick of games for the season, wait for me outside the ladies' room to guide me back to our seats and buy me ice cream with extra jimmies.

Last night we talked about when I went to a game when I was six and my dad offered to leave halfway through the game and I said no thank you, I wanted to stay the whole time. I mused that it was probably because I figured the longer I was there, the more treats I would get. I still like to stay for the whole game now but it's not for the food anymore- when you're on a date with a great guy, you never want to cut it short.