After my last post, i sort of "checked out" for a week or so! I think i needed a break from everything structured and busy. The kids and I enjoyed their last week of break - relaxing, playing board games, getting together with friends, going to the pool, sleeping until after 9 every day, seeing some movies (17 Again was great, although if you're conservative about movies, you might want to skip it because it's somewhat "mature", Hannah Montana was dumb and my kids thought that even more than i did!).
Harrison's birthday was low key after his big weekend, but we did spend the day with some good friends at the pool and then went out to dinner and he got to have a sleepover.
It also took the rest of the week to do a lot of the "post bar mitzvah " tasks, like put the centerpieces away, unload the car, unpack from the weekend, etc.
I gave Harrison a break on his thank you notes and let him enjoy the last week of his very busy spring break. Now, though, he has a goal of a minimum of 5 per day until they're all done. I hate thank you notes that are just one little sentence, so these are "meaty," full of substace and from the heart. Please know that he is working on them (in no particular order other than the order the gifts were openened) and yours will be coming. In the meantime, Marlon and I would like to say thank you so much for your generousity. Harrison has opened up a savings account and deposited all of his Bar Mitzvah money into it and he will be saving it for college. He did use some of the many gift cards and a couple of cash birthday gifts to buy himself a new (and somewhat expensive) DeMarini baseball bat, which is apparently the ultimate in bats. let's hope he hits some homeruns with it! lol
Soon i'll return to posts about the Bar Mitzvah. I've had several requests that i post our speeches, the candlelighting ceremony script and of course pictures, so i'll work on all of that!
Oh, by the way, a brief update on my weight loss/maintenance. I've been on regular foods now for about 3 weeks. I still use their products as part of my intake, but i also eat a wide variety of foods. During the long weekend of the Bar Mitzvah, I didn't really count calories at all, ate whatever i wanted, and enjoyed the delicious foods we had at all of our events. i must admit, i was also not careful at times when i could have been more careful, but i had been strict for so long that i guess i just needed a little break from it. i didn't keep track of anything and didn't exercise, but i didn't miss any of my classes - i went right back tuesday morning, even though i knew i had gained. Sure enough, I had gained 6 pounds (i had anticipated between 2 and 10, so i wasn't surprised by this.)
i got RIGHT back on track last tuesday, still eating regular foods, but counting calories, trying to keep it low, weighing and measuring, writing it all down, back to exercise (although not the gym yet, just swimming and the elpyp at home) and as of today i lost 7.2 pounds so i lost everything i had gained plus an additional 1.2 pounds! yippee!
ok, that's it for now. more later!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Bar Mitzvah Reflections, Part 1
It's going to take many posts, i'm sure, to tell everything about the Bar Mitzvah and weekend. Here's the first one, which is the text of my Kids Konnection article for May that I wrote this morning. It's a good start on my recap!
* * *
Words cannot adequately describe the magnitude of the emotions I am feeling and the thoughts that I want to express as I reflect about the most wonderful weekend of our lives as a family – the Bar Mitzvah of our oldest son. Every aspect was perfect. Each element exceeded our expectations. Being with so many members of both sides of our extended family from near and far was incredible. The pride we felt as Harrison led services and chanted Torah flawlessly, spoke words of wisdom articulately and conducted himself with poise, maturity and personality filled our hearts with great joy. The parties were all perfect with excellent food, beautiful decorations, wonderful “little touches” and everyone having the time of their lives! Here are some details to aid you in planning your own simchas.
1. Invitations. We were thrilled with Jackie Wolf (Jackie@wolfiesprint.com) who orders from the major companies and offers a discount. There is a huge range of styles and prices. Having a traditional invite that incorporated Hebrew was important to us and we spent hours on the wording. We received many compliments and no one knew that we had chosen a style at the low end of the price spectrum!
2. Involve your Child. We were fortunate that Harrison wanted to be involved in ALL of the planning. He helped with everything and was a part of all decisions (except for a couple of “surprises” I thought would be fun for him.) His involvement made it more special and we had so much fun and got so close doing everything together.
3. Service. Thanks to our well-prepared son and wonderful clergy, the service was beautiful and moving. We chose to personalize the service in a few ways and we were very grateful that we were allowed us to do so. It was important to us to “honor” and involve as many of our family members as we could because it was so meaningful to us that they were here to share this special day. So we added extra prayers, a special presentation of the tallit of my father, for whom Harrison is named, an instrumental piece (by Harrison on the trombone and our other children and two of their close friends from temple, all on different instruments) and we have the distinction of having more people for Aliyot than any other family!
4. Meals. Harrison wanted an evening party so we chose to have a luncheon following the service as well as the evening party. It was nice to do this because it gave people a chance to really be together. I did assigned table seating for both events and put a lot of thought and effort into mixing people up so that they weren’t sitting with the same people for both events, which everyone seemed to enjoy. We also had a Shabbat dinner for family on Friday night and a Sunday brunch for family and some close friends on Sunday morning, and we were very blessed that family members generously offered to host all of these “extra” events including the very “upscale” Saturday evening cocktail hour. Our caterers, Nina Varkel and Ruth Gueta of Gourmet Caterers (www.gourmetcaterers.net) were phenomenal in all respects and I highly recommend them. The food was beyond delicious, the presentation of the food was amazing and they were a joy to work with.
5. Venues. We were so pleased with our choice of venues. Having the extended Kiddush luncheon at the synagogue was perfect because everyone went straight from the service into the lunch. We had the evening party at the JCC, which was great. The dance floor was the largest we’ve seen and the set up of the room worked perfectly. There was plenty of space and it felt “right” to have a Jewish event at a “Jewish venue.” I looked at more than fifty places and the cost of the JCC was comparable to most of the other places and we got more space for the money (the use of other parts of the facility for the cocktail hour, buffet stations, etc.)
6. DJ. Mark Fortier of What a Party (www.whataparty.com) was simply amazing. He had the right amount of “energy” (he was “up,” but he wasn’t too hyper) and once we walked into the door of the ballroom, he did his thing and kept things moving along perfectly on schedule. Everyone there danced the night away and had the best night ever!
7. Décor. To keep things “moderate” and not “over the top,” we did all the décor ourselves. The lunch theme was based on Harrison’s mitzvah projects (which involved tutoring Santa Ana kids with their reading) and the centerpieces and baskets on the Bima were wrapped with pretty Star of David cellophane, tied with sparkling blue and silver ribbons, and filled with books that Harrison will be donated so they looked nice but served a useful purpose. The evening’s theme was “Harrison’s World,” with centerpieces made of vases filled with pretty rocks, tied with sparkly silver and blue ribbons, adorned with Stars of David, and each featured a photograph of Harrison doing something important to him (with the table placecards matching the tables.) We made the centerpieces and all the table placecards ourselves, and even though they looked homemade, they were creative and special (it helps that I do calligraphy.) Making the sign-in board and other “photo boards” for décor was easy and fun. Decorating baskets for programs, kippots, etc. made everything festive and beautiful for little cost and effort. Our balloon vendor, Irma Minsky (minskyfam@att.net) was excellent and decorated the room beautifully with arches, balloon trees and a fun “exploding balloon,” while keeping within our strict budget.
8. Little Touches. All the special extra touches added so much: the program booklet at the service that explained everything and mentioned everyone involved, Harrison’s Jewish friends led Havdallah at the party, special presentations to Harrison by his siblings, a candlelighting ceremony honoring close friends and family, a video montage made by Harrison’s uncle, (which was incredible), fun party give-aways, inexpensive party favors (personalized pens at lunch, bags of candy in the evening), etc.
9. The Hotel. I negotiated an amazing rate at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Irvine. We had a block of 25 suites and everyone enjoyed the luxury and comfort of the recently renovated rooms, the complimentary breakfast, the common areas to congregate, the fun sports deck and the fact that they let us use and bring in our own food to their downstairs “ballroom” for a large family seder.
10. Capturing the Day. Our photographer and videographer were fantastic: Mike Perez for photography (jacquelyngp@gmail.com) and Dennis Backer for videography (dbacker@mediabydesign.net).
11. ENJOY EVERYTHING. Most my important advice is to work as hard as you need to (and we worked really hard) to plan everything and then put it all aside. We were able to do this and I can honestly say that we savored and enjoyed every moment of the weekend.. It didn’t “fly by in a blur” as so many big events do, we were calm and relaxed, and we had the time of our lives. A few minor things didn’t go “exactly” as planned (very few, actually, given the number of events and people and all that was involved), but we didn’t worry about it and we just enjoyed each and every second of this wonderful simcha. We achieved our goals of keeping our focus on the importance of the service and Mitzvah projects and having fun celebration events that incorporated all the elements but were not “over the top.” It will be hard to come down from the clouds and return to a reality that doesn’t involve Bar Mitzvah planning and enjoying, but fortunately we have another one to look forward to in 2 ½ years!
* * *
Words cannot adequately describe the magnitude of the emotions I am feeling and the thoughts that I want to express as I reflect about the most wonderful weekend of our lives as a family – the Bar Mitzvah of our oldest son. Every aspect was perfect. Each element exceeded our expectations. Being with so many members of both sides of our extended family from near and far was incredible. The pride we felt as Harrison led services and chanted Torah flawlessly, spoke words of wisdom articulately and conducted himself with poise, maturity and personality filled our hearts with great joy. The parties were all perfect with excellent food, beautiful decorations, wonderful “little touches” and everyone having the time of their lives! Here are some details to aid you in planning your own simchas.
1. Invitations. We were thrilled with Jackie Wolf (Jackie@wolfiesprint.com) who orders from the major companies and offers a discount. There is a huge range of styles and prices. Having a traditional invite that incorporated Hebrew was important to us and we spent hours on the wording. We received many compliments and no one knew that we had chosen a style at the low end of the price spectrum!
2. Involve your Child. We were fortunate that Harrison wanted to be involved in ALL of the planning. He helped with everything and was a part of all decisions (except for a couple of “surprises” I thought would be fun for him.) His involvement made it more special and we had so much fun and got so close doing everything together.
3. Service. Thanks to our well-prepared son and wonderful clergy, the service was beautiful and moving. We chose to personalize the service in a few ways and we were very grateful that we were allowed us to do so. It was important to us to “honor” and involve as many of our family members as we could because it was so meaningful to us that they were here to share this special day. So we added extra prayers, a special presentation of the tallit of my father, for whom Harrison is named, an instrumental piece (by Harrison on the trombone and our other children and two of their close friends from temple, all on different instruments) and we have the distinction of having more people for Aliyot than any other family!
4. Meals. Harrison wanted an evening party so we chose to have a luncheon following the service as well as the evening party. It was nice to do this because it gave people a chance to really be together. I did assigned table seating for both events and put a lot of thought and effort into mixing people up so that they weren’t sitting with the same people for both events, which everyone seemed to enjoy. We also had a Shabbat dinner for family on Friday night and a Sunday brunch for family and some close friends on Sunday morning, and we were very blessed that family members generously offered to host all of these “extra” events including the very “upscale” Saturday evening cocktail hour. Our caterers, Nina Varkel and Ruth Gueta of Gourmet Caterers (www.gourmetcaterers.net) were phenomenal in all respects and I highly recommend them. The food was beyond delicious, the presentation of the food was amazing and they were a joy to work with.
5. Venues. We were so pleased with our choice of venues. Having the extended Kiddush luncheon at the synagogue was perfect because everyone went straight from the service into the lunch. We had the evening party at the JCC, which was great. The dance floor was the largest we’ve seen and the set up of the room worked perfectly. There was plenty of space and it felt “right” to have a Jewish event at a “Jewish venue.” I looked at more than fifty places and the cost of the JCC was comparable to most of the other places and we got more space for the money (the use of other parts of the facility for the cocktail hour, buffet stations, etc.)
6. DJ. Mark Fortier of What a Party (www.whataparty.com) was simply amazing. He had the right amount of “energy” (he was “up,” but he wasn’t too hyper) and once we walked into the door of the ballroom, he did his thing and kept things moving along perfectly on schedule. Everyone there danced the night away and had the best night ever!
7. Décor. To keep things “moderate” and not “over the top,” we did all the décor ourselves. The lunch theme was based on Harrison’s mitzvah projects (which involved tutoring Santa Ana kids with their reading) and the centerpieces and baskets on the Bima were wrapped with pretty Star of David cellophane, tied with sparkling blue and silver ribbons, and filled with books that Harrison will be donated so they looked nice but served a useful purpose. The evening’s theme was “Harrison’s World,” with centerpieces made of vases filled with pretty rocks, tied with sparkly silver and blue ribbons, adorned with Stars of David, and each featured a photograph of Harrison doing something important to him (with the table placecards matching the tables.) We made the centerpieces and all the table placecards ourselves, and even though they looked homemade, they were creative and special (it helps that I do calligraphy.) Making the sign-in board and other “photo boards” for décor was easy and fun. Decorating baskets for programs, kippots, etc. made everything festive and beautiful for little cost and effort. Our balloon vendor, Irma Minsky (minskyfam@att.net) was excellent and decorated the room beautifully with arches, balloon trees and a fun “exploding balloon,” while keeping within our strict budget.
8. Little Touches. All the special extra touches added so much: the program booklet at the service that explained everything and mentioned everyone involved, Harrison’s Jewish friends led Havdallah at the party, special presentations to Harrison by his siblings, a candlelighting ceremony honoring close friends and family, a video montage made by Harrison’s uncle, (which was incredible), fun party give-aways, inexpensive party favors (personalized pens at lunch, bags of candy in the evening), etc.
9. The Hotel. I negotiated an amazing rate at the Residence Inn by Marriott in Irvine. We had a block of 25 suites and everyone enjoyed the luxury and comfort of the recently renovated rooms, the complimentary breakfast, the common areas to congregate, the fun sports deck and the fact that they let us use and bring in our own food to their downstairs “ballroom” for a large family seder.
10. Capturing the Day. Our photographer and videographer were fantastic: Mike Perez for photography (jacquelyngp@gmail.com) and Dennis Backer for videography (dbacker@mediabydesign.net).
11. ENJOY EVERYTHING. Most my important advice is to work as hard as you need to (and we worked really hard) to plan everything and then put it all aside. We were able to do this and I can honestly say that we savored and enjoyed every moment of the weekend.. It didn’t “fly by in a blur” as so many big events do, we were calm and relaxed, and we had the time of our lives. A few minor things didn’t go “exactly” as planned (very few, actually, given the number of events and people and all that was involved), but we didn’t worry about it and we just enjoyed each and every second of this wonderful simcha. We achieved our goals of keeping our focus on the importance of the service and Mitzvah projects and having fun celebration events that incorporated all the elements but were not “over the top.” It will be hard to come down from the clouds and return to a reality that doesn’t involve Bar Mitzvah planning and enjoying, but fortunately we have another one to look forward to in 2 ½ years!
Monday, April 13, 2009
special thank you!
during the time at the party that marlon and i got to say welcome and thank you to our guests for being there to celebrate with us and got to thank the many people who hosted various events and who helped us in so many ways, he accidentally forgot to mention his grandmother, Meme, who co-hosted the family shabbat dinner. so, she got a whole special (and very heartfelt) tribute when i spoke rigth afterwards.
this next tribute is the same. I accidentally forgot to thank someone who helped me a lot (it happens, i guess) and i feel terrible, but this gives me an opportunity to give her her own well deserved little tribute so maybe it was "beshert" (fate.)
one of the many people who came over and helped me with centerpieces who I forgot to mention was my good friend elaine o'connor. she and her son, Fergus, came over twice to help and it was much appreciated. but even more than this centerpiece help, i really want to thank elaine for being the wonderful friend that she is. you have probably read some of her comments here b/c she frequently comments on the blog. she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders and encouragers during my weight loss journey and her support is endless. i know i can always count on her for a smile,a hug, some encouragement or just anything. she has this knack for making me feel so good about myself and is always so sincerely complimentary about our kids.
the week of the bar mitzvah she came over to help and harrison spent an hour showing her everything and telling her about all the plans. she was so excited to hear about everything and was so excited about being at the bar mitzvah service and party that it made harrison feel so incredibly good. she is the most selfless person i know and is the epitomy of a good friend.
elaine, i can't believe i forgot to mention you, but don't worry, everyone who was there reads the blog (and many more) and now they will all know what a wonderful person and friend you are and how much i love you!!!!!!
this next tribute is the same. I accidentally forgot to thank someone who helped me a lot (it happens, i guess) and i feel terrible, but this gives me an opportunity to give her her own well deserved little tribute so maybe it was "beshert" (fate.)
one of the many people who came over and helped me with centerpieces who I forgot to mention was my good friend elaine o'connor. she and her son, Fergus, came over twice to help and it was much appreciated. but even more than this centerpiece help, i really want to thank elaine for being the wonderful friend that she is. you have probably read some of her comments here b/c she frequently comments on the blog. she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders and encouragers during my weight loss journey and her support is endless. i know i can always count on her for a smile,a hug, some encouragement or just anything. she has this knack for making me feel so good about myself and is always so sincerely complimentary about our kids.
the week of the bar mitzvah she came over to help and harrison spent an hour showing her everything and telling her about all the plans. she was so excited to hear about everything and was so excited about being at the bar mitzvah service and party that it made harrison feel so incredibly good. she is the most selfless person i know and is the epitomy of a good friend.
elaine, i can't believe i forgot to mention you, but don't worry, everyone who was there reads the blog (and many more) and now they will all know what a wonderful person and friend you are and how much i love you!!!!!!
First of, I'm sure several, recaps of the big Bar Mitzvah and weekend celebration!
Our big weekend is over and the last of the relatives in town are leaving first thing tomorrow. I will be updating with detailed recaps of the Bar Mitzvah and weekend, but right now i want to get to sleep because as you can imagine, i'm pretty exhausted.
Words cannot even describe how perfect the whole bar mitzvah and weekend was - each and every party was spectular and beyond amazing, harrison did incredible in leading the service and reading from the Torah, and every little detail was just perfect. I had high expectations about everything because i planned it and knew what to expect, but it exceeded even my expectations. Harrison said it best when he told us last night that the day and night of his bar mitzvah was the best day of his life and the whole weekend was the best weekend of his life and he has no idea how anything will ever come close to being as good the rest of his life!
I promise I will write about everything so that those of you who weren't able to come can experience and those of you who were here to celebrate with us can re-live the experience. but i'll save that for another post.
Words cannot even describe how perfect the whole bar mitzvah and weekend was - each and every party was spectular and beyond amazing, harrison did incredible in leading the service and reading from the Torah, and every little detail was just perfect. I had high expectations about everything because i planned it and knew what to expect, but it exceeded even my expectations. Harrison said it best when he told us last night that the day and night of his bar mitzvah was the best day of his life and the whole weekend was the best weekend of his life and he has no idea how anything will ever come close to being as good the rest of his life!
I promise I will write about everything so that those of you who weren't able to come can experience and those of you who were here to celebrate with us can re-live the experience. but i'll save that for another post.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Long Overdue Update
I'm so sorry, faithful blog readers, that I've been so long in updated. I have received so many emails asking me what's wrong because there haven't been any posts in awhile. Many apologies! Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine and great, actually. We've just been busy beyond belief and there simply hasn't been time for anything extra. I'll try to catch you up and do better!
So, here's what's new:
-Weight loss continues to go well and i'm proud to say that i've now lost almost 120 pounds, which is about 5 pounds more than my interim goal. So, i've started back onto regular foods now, having gone through the slow transition of reintroducing things. The timing was just how i planned, just in time for the Bar Mitzvah week and weekend. It has been wonderful to be able to eat real food, but I'm being very careful to keep within my calorie budget. I worked way too hard to lose the weight to let it get out of control. I still look and feel terrific. My plan is to still lose another 30-40 in maintenance by contiuing to keep my calorie intake low, using the plan's shakes and entrees to help me do that (but still eating regular foods as well) and of course continuing the high amounts of exercise. I'm really pleased with how i've done and continue to do. And shopping for Bar Mitzvah clothes was so fun! Now i have new bras, new underwear (too much information?) and 3 new gorgeous dresses. everything else is still kinda big, but i'm not ready for a whole new wardrobe... yet.
-Work is good. i'm really enjoying this project i'm working on. once the bar mitzvah is over, i will be spending some time completing it and then... better sit down for this one b/c it might shock you... i'm planning on trying to work even more to bring me up to almost full time (but still flexible of course.) Believe it or not, this bad economy should be a good one for obtaining independent contracting business because small firms will still have work but might not want people on their regular payroll. Hiring me as an independent contractor is a win-win situation for both of us -- flexible for me (and i can say no to work if i want or need to) and they will have some qualified to do work, but can also avoid paying benefits and can just say they don't have work if they don't.
-kids are doing great. They're on spring break, which is nice. we're trying to intermingle some fun things in with bar mitzvah prep and we'll be doing some fun things with relatives next week. they seem to be having fun helping with decorations, etc. (esp Harrison of course) and Patti and Brian bought them Rockband 2 so they have been playing with that a ton! it's noisy, but keeps them happy. They are still busy with their activities (life doesn't pause just b/c we have a big bar mitzvah coming up!) and Harrison was excited to be selected to go on the middle school honor trip for a week to Catalina in May (it's an educational thing.)
-Of course i saved the biggest thing for last...the bar mitzvah. I can't believe that we are one week away. where does the time go? i remember when we first got the date assigned to us.... almost 3 years ago! Harrison is completely ready from the religious standpoint and we couldn't be more proud. the rest is coming together. So much to be done. it has helped that he is on break and he has been VERY hands on in the planning of this. very, very helpful and he and i have been having a really good time doing everything. we've had a lot of laughs as we do things like listen to itunes to select songs for things and make centerpieces. he isn't worried at all about his hebrew and leading the service... he's just worried about getting it all done. Our event isn't "over the top..." really it isn't... but it will seem like that because of all the little touches that we're doing. It's going to be fabulous. If it was just a matter of planning the actual bar mitzvah party, it would be a piece of cake. What's hard is that we're having two parties (lunch and dinner) plus other events that weekend like a passover seder, brunch at our house, etc. family is being so kind as to host different things, but it's just a matter of coordinating it all. harrison asks me every hour or so if we can cross another thing off the list of things to do! I've had a lot of help here and there from friends and I know it will all get done.
ok, this turned into a far longer post that i intended and i must go. it's 11:30 and I want to get an early start to the day and be very productive, so i need to sleep!
More later.
So, here's what's new:
-Weight loss continues to go well and i'm proud to say that i've now lost almost 120 pounds, which is about 5 pounds more than my interim goal. So, i've started back onto regular foods now, having gone through the slow transition of reintroducing things. The timing was just how i planned, just in time for the Bar Mitzvah week and weekend. It has been wonderful to be able to eat real food, but I'm being very careful to keep within my calorie budget. I worked way too hard to lose the weight to let it get out of control. I still look and feel terrific. My plan is to still lose another 30-40 in maintenance by contiuing to keep my calorie intake low, using the plan's shakes and entrees to help me do that (but still eating regular foods as well) and of course continuing the high amounts of exercise. I'm really pleased with how i've done and continue to do. And shopping for Bar Mitzvah clothes was so fun! Now i have new bras, new underwear (too much information?) and 3 new gorgeous dresses. everything else is still kinda big, but i'm not ready for a whole new wardrobe... yet.
-Work is good. i'm really enjoying this project i'm working on. once the bar mitzvah is over, i will be spending some time completing it and then... better sit down for this one b/c it might shock you... i'm planning on trying to work even more to bring me up to almost full time (but still flexible of course.) Believe it or not, this bad economy should be a good one for obtaining independent contracting business because small firms will still have work but might not want people on their regular payroll. Hiring me as an independent contractor is a win-win situation for both of us -- flexible for me (and i can say no to work if i want or need to) and they will have some qualified to do work, but can also avoid paying benefits and can just say they don't have work if they don't.
-kids are doing great. They're on spring break, which is nice. we're trying to intermingle some fun things in with bar mitzvah prep and we'll be doing some fun things with relatives next week. they seem to be having fun helping with decorations, etc. (esp Harrison of course) and Patti and Brian bought them Rockband 2 so they have been playing with that a ton! it's noisy, but keeps them happy. They are still busy with their activities (life doesn't pause just b/c we have a big bar mitzvah coming up!) and Harrison was excited to be selected to go on the middle school honor trip for a week to Catalina in May (it's an educational thing.)
-Of course i saved the biggest thing for last...the bar mitzvah. I can't believe that we are one week away. where does the time go? i remember when we first got the date assigned to us.... almost 3 years ago! Harrison is completely ready from the religious standpoint and we couldn't be more proud. the rest is coming together. So much to be done. it has helped that he is on break and he has been VERY hands on in the planning of this. very, very helpful and he and i have been having a really good time doing everything. we've had a lot of laughs as we do things like listen to itunes to select songs for things and make centerpieces. he isn't worried at all about his hebrew and leading the service... he's just worried about getting it all done. Our event isn't "over the top..." really it isn't... but it will seem like that because of all the little touches that we're doing. It's going to be fabulous. If it was just a matter of planning the actual bar mitzvah party, it would be a piece of cake. What's hard is that we're having two parties (lunch and dinner) plus other events that weekend like a passover seder, brunch at our house, etc. family is being so kind as to host different things, but it's just a matter of coordinating it all. harrison asks me every hour or so if we can cross another thing off the list of things to do! I've had a lot of help here and there from friends and I know it will all get done.
ok, this turned into a far longer post that i intended and i must go. it's 11:30 and I want to get an early start to the day and be very productive, so i need to sleep!
More later.
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