Happy 5769!

Wishing you all a good, sweet Jewish New Year. L'shanah Tovah Tikateivu!

With love,
Marci
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Heads or Tails Tuesday - Recipe

Welcome back to Heads or Tails Tuesday! If you want to participate, check out the weekly theme and then have fun - you can free associate, be very literal, or anything in between.

Today's Theme? Recipe

I feel like focusing on the word "Recipe," particularly in regards to the Jewish New Year, Rosh HaShanah, coming up on Monday night, September 29. Here goes:

What is the recipe for a good year? What encourages God to write our names in the Book of Life for the coming year? Though we should be aiming for goodness, honesty, and compassion all year, the High Holy Days really remind us the importance of owning up to our mistakes and trying harder the next time. Here is our yearly opportunity to remember the past year, reflect on our actions, and promise ourselves, our friends, and God, that we will do better in the coming year.

The prayerbook tells us that three things can temper God's severe decree: Tzedakah (charity), T'shuvah (repentance) and Tefilah (prayer). Adding more of these three acts into our lives can make our days more meaningful, and can truly aid in the repair of the world. Yet, these are not the only ingredients, I would like to suggest, for our recipe for being a good person.

New ingredients for a good life:

1. Staying involved and informed in local, state, and national politics (and voting!!)
2. Donating time, in addition to money, to important causes
3. Making sure to do "the little things:" giving up a seat on the bus/subway to someone who needs it more than you, allowing someone with a few items to pass in front of you in line at the grocery store, etc.
4. Recycling
5. Finding a good therapist
6. Meditation and Prayer
7. Being silly as often as possible
8. Exercising your brain in a hearty debate
9. Exercising your body whatever way feels good

What would you add? What is your recipe for being a good person and living a good life?

Kitty Cat Love

Figured I would share some recent pics of my calico, Precious, and my sister's cat, Caramel :)

Caramel, looking out the window in my new bedroom. Ah, the streets of Queens....

Caramel, posing provocatively....

Precious, about to expound on her "theory of everything"....

The girls hanging out together, resting after a difficult day of sleeping, eating, and pooping...

Wordless Wednesday: Only 13 days until the concert....

(You, too, can participate in Wordless Wednesday!)

The Gays of our Lives

(Lindsay, Justin, Michael, Me)

"Like sands through the hourglass...."

Two of my dearest friends, Justin and Michael, came to town to visit last weekend. Michael is a friend from college - we did tons of theatre together over the years at Brandeis. During my senior year, he met Justin, and the two have been a couple ever since. They celebrated nine years together recently, and they are getting married in two weeks!! Though neither of them are Jewish, they have asked me to bless them during the wedding (though I am not officiating at the actual ceremony). I am so honored, and I am still working on what I am going to say. I just hope that I can get through it without crying!! No matter what, I will be sure to report on the wedding shortly thereafter.

In this picture, one of their friends, Luciano, joins Justin in making art. We call this one, "How do I love thee? Let me count the gays...."

In this shot, I was getting ready to complete my grandest aria yet! They inspire me, I tell you.

Hope all is well with you guys!!

A Post Worth Reading...

If you have time, and I hope you do, please visit my friend, Zilla's, page, for her excellent post, "Anti-choice doesn't work." I couldn't have said any of this better.

Zilla, you rock.

Seeing the Rachael Ray Show - Live!!

Lindsay and I had a chance to see a live taping of the Rachael Ray show last week. I must have submitted the ticket request about six months ago, and then totally forgot about it. All of the sudden, I got an email saying that I had been selected to receive tickets, and the show was coming up! So, we took the morning off of work and went down to the studio (in Midtown Manhattan). The picture above is us waiting for over an hour in line....

The very bright, very inviting awning that signals the studio's entrance.

After waiting for over an hour, we were finally told that we were, in fact, going to be able to get in (nothing is ever confirmed until you are actually sitting in your seat in the studio audience). Here, Lindsay holds our tickets!!

After the taping (which was pretty mediocre, by the way - Valerie Bertinelli was the guest and all she did was talk about how unhappy women are with their weight. Bleh), we went out for a delicious, fancy-shmancy lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. Can't you tell how happy we are?

All in all, a very fun time. We got to see behind-the-scenes at a morning talkshow, meet some other nice people in line, and get some yummy snacks along the way. Watch out for our episode over the next few weeks - I wonder if we'll be on camera!!!