Mish-mash of life

I know, it's been like ten days of eerie quiet from me. I've been trying to get into a groove with everything and October is whizzing by. There were the Jewish High Holy Days, lots of food shopping & cooking, I had to work in my store, Yo Gabba Gabba Live, and even caught a movie. I know where the time went but it just went by faster than I could write about. Plus, none of it was really "informational" for the rest of you. I haven't been anywhere new- I've just been getting settled in the old and new-ish.

So, this is just going to be a mishmash of all things Tara for the past ten days. From TV to live children's shows, supermarkets, movies and more.

First were the holidays- we went to the Rosh Hashana "Apples & Honey" service at the Glen Rock Jewish Center. It's a really nice service for the kids, open to the public (ie, non-members), and it makes services a little more fun. Unfortunately Ethan was not all that interested, was making noise and wanted to climb on chairs so we had to peace out rather quickly. But, for anyone looking for a nice temple, the Rabbi is young and very welcoming, it's a young(er) congregation, and they try to have a lot of activities to keep the kids interested. Hey, 2.5 is a hard age for religious stuff though. We'll try again next year.

I went supermarket crazy because I make a sick brisket http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisket and a very fattening noodle kugel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kugel for every holiday, Jewish or not. Those two dishes are two things that could always be counted on for any holiday I had growing up so I'm continuing the tradition. BUT- where to find a giant brisket?? I literally need like a 5-6lb brisket and believe it or not, they are not easy to come by. Unless, I guess, if you go to an actual butcher (my parents used a butcher- they had a meat delivery every few months). I've only used a butcher once and it cost me a FORTUNE. So, I try to stick to the supermarket for that. Brisket ain't cheap. Interestingly enough, I've gotten it at the butcher, Kings, Shop Rite and Stop & Shop. And the winner of the best? SHOP RITE. The Kings brisket for whatever reason has always ended up being really fatty. I'd get a 5lb piece and end up with almost nothing because it was all fat. It's not just "any" Shop Rite though. It's Oakland. I've asked them to cut me a giant one and they have done it on the spot. I can never even find someone to ask in Paramus. Usually all any supermarket has out is 2-3.5 lbs.

They shrink for those of you not in the brisket-know-how. AND, I make it ON the stove, in a pot. A pot like you'd use for spaghetti. Imagine how difficult it is to stuff a 6.15 lb brisket into a 5.5 qt pot? Not easy. But, since it shrinks, but the time it's halfway finished, it fits fine.

Anyway, though, I've found a new Shop Rite to love. Ramsey. I never went there because it seemed too far and I didn't know it was re-done. But, I was looking for these Foodles- http://www.crunchpak.com/disney/foodles/ that E loves. They're flat, plastic, Mickey Mouse heads with cheese in one ear, grapes or pretzels in the other, and apple slices in the middle part. It's PERFECT for a lunch on the go. I pair it with a Horizon milk box and a Jammy Sammy and we're good to go. My friend Jenn told me Ramsey Shop Rite had the Foodles and all the organic stuff I like so I figured I'd go after his dance class. I'm in love. Well, I'm not in love with the bizarre places they have things. There is a real lack of order in there. I found stuff randomly. But, they did have almost everything, including my Pepperidge Farm Carb Style whole wheat bread, which, if you eat that, you know it's pretty much nowhere to be found. Ramsey Shop Rite is HUGE like Oakland, but have WAY more of the puree pouches E eats, and just other random brand stuff I have to have. I'd say the only real edge Oakland has is its impeccable customer service. They will keep your cart so you can bring your car around to load. There is parking underneath and an elevator for when it's raining, and they do the "Shop at Home" pick up service.

That takes care of food. Well, except for the fact that I am now seriously addicted to A la Cupcakes. http://www.alacupcakes.com/. I've now gotten the vanilla with the strawberry preserves almost every day they're open (no Sundays or Mondays). I think I skipped a few when I saw my favorite Entenmann's Holiday cupcakes in store (Halloween) and bought them. But, truth be told, I only ate four (no, not in one day) and threw the rest away because I needed my special cupcake from A la. I don't care if it sounds like I'm kissing ass to them because I am. But, it's twofold- I'm sure they're doing fine- almost everytime I go in there, Pam or her husband is out on delivery. When I went in one day, my strawberry one wasn't there- so I got red velvet. It was great too, but I LOVE my strawberry one more. AND, I also just want to help insure they'll stay in business there because that cupcake has become like crack to me. B jokes that when I drop E off at my store to go there that I'm going to my "drug dealer". Whatever. And thanks to Pam for dropping off sprinkle cookies for E since they weren't made yet for the day the last time I took him in there.

We got to go out two nights in a row after the holidays. We actually found two babysitters- brother and sister, so one came one night and one came the next. I wish we'd found them sooner. We hadn't been to a movie since Sex and The City 2, I think.  I picked the movie based on what time we could have the sitter that night. The only movie short enough and playing at a time we could get there was 50/50. I had heard the writer and Seth Rogan on Stern talking about it- it was the writer's true story of his battle with cancer but LIVING. B hates TV shows or movies about cancer. But, I swear, nothing else was playing that we'd be able to get to in time. So, I glossed over the cancer part when I told him. So, I spent half the movie handing him tissues. I couldn't even let out a good cry myself because I was too busy laughing inside. I just knew I was going to hear it about the cancer after. Hey- it was a good movie. I liked it. Well written, well acted, and it ended on a happy note! I got to eat movie popcorn- I was thrilled.

The next night we went to the Eric Alt NJ Fashion Week "Carnivale" Fashion Show. I'll only say a very few short things about that. One, I got a great dress. Event wasn't worth the money I spent on the dress, but I'm glad to have the dress and will be wearing it to my friend's wedding cocktail reception in a few weeks. Two, Johnny Weir is SUPER pretty in person. I'm not even doing him justice saying "pretty" but I don't know what else to call him. He was also really accommodating- I asked for a photo with him & while it came out blurry, he still said yes. I'd read his book and while it's clear he LOVES his fans, I just didn't know how he'd be with photos. Three, Kim G from RHoNJ looked spectacular in person. They gave her a really long, "I Dream of Jeannie" platinum ponytail and it looked fab. Lastly, I got our money back for the tickets and I am not a grudge holder so I'm not angry anymore that we paid $50 for a babysitter to go to that hot mess of an event.

Moving on....Let's talk TV for a minute. I was LOVING X-Factor. LOVING. Like, so annoyed that baseball has interrupted it twice, I was irrationally upset for hours. Yes, I get that the outside auditions were weird and in a lot of the acts, the autotune or back up tracks were drowning the singers out. That portion of it was WEIRD. And I was loving all the back stories. I think I used half a box of tissues per episode. But, without ruining it for anyone, I have to say, I'm really disappointed in one of the picks in boy category, one in the girl category, and one in the groups. The only section I think they got right was the Over 30 category. I think, one of them, could've gone home for someone else, but I didn't LOVE anyone else that did go home so I'm cool with it. So, I'm disappointed in a few that went home that I was really looking forward to watching go further. I'm going to watch, of course, but some of the acts that went through are really boring to me.

Real Housewives of NJ reunion? OMG. Seriously- I don't even know what to say. I tried to follow twitter and watch at the same time and it was information overload. No one looked good. Teresa looked like she lost her mind and was doing a lot of backtracking but I don't like when someone is ganged up on. I'm always for the underdog so I have to say, I did feel bad for her. Twitter was crazier. I'm the first one to say that I don't miss an episode and I have opinions on it, but it IS, after all, just a show and I'm fully aware that reality and TV are not really one and the same. There are people on twitter who are OBSESSED. I had to unfollow a RHoNJ tweeter because my whole feed was her opinions and re-tweets of Housewives tweets. It sounded insane.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is crazy too! I actually feel bad for Brandi Glanville. I was ready to hate her before she was even on the show for a second but I'm finding her funny and refreshing. Better than that kiss-ass Dana Wilkey label-whoring her way around town. Game Night was awful and Kim & Kyle were literally like teenage girls. I know Kyle's sort of apologized for her behavior that night- but Kim HIDING Brandi's crutches??? Who DOES that???? I'm also not enjoying Lisa so much this season. I REALLY enjoyed her in the first season but she's become a total bitchy nightmare. Adrienne always keeps herself looking good- the only one that never ends up acting like an ass. Smart woman. The only one to figure out how to keep it classy and mostly out of the drama on a Real Housewives show. She must be the real deal.

"Real" TV- Parenthood. I think it's my favorite show right now. Another box of tissues needed. SO good. I cry AND laugh EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. If you're not watching you should be. Every single actor on there gets to shine.

Ok- Yo Gabba Gabba Live- http://yogabbagabba.com/ - We went last year too. E was going to be DJ Lance for Halloween so I had him wear the costume to the Live show too. I hate Halloween. Really dislike it, hardcore. I never liked it growing up either- I never wanted to be anyone but me. I could never think of a good costume after like 4th grade and it was a pain. I liked the candy part, but the dressing up just never did it for me. Anyway, E doesn't care what I put him in yet. He loves YGG and when I said he could be Muno this year, he was thrilled. I knew we were going to YGG Live again so I figure he can at least get more than one or two uses out of it. Last year it was at Radio City on Oct 2. I think it was nice enough out last year but Radio City isn't in an awesome spot to walk around in comparison to the Beacon- http://www.beacontheatre.com, where it was this time. I have to say, I was SO happy with the Beacon! It happened to be a beautiful day out. When we'd bought the tickets and I saw it was later in October, I was a little worried it would be cold. It couldn't have been a nicer weather day. We met Tadd and Christine there (my friends who are responsible for the push to write this blog- Second shout out, lol!) with their son Grant. We didn't have seats together because we bought the tickets at different times but we met them for breakfast before the show.

The Beacon is on Broadway between W 74th & 75th streets. That is a VERY cool area to walk around, not to mention SO close to the GW Bridge. It took us only about 30 minutes to get into the city on a Sunday morning from Glen Rock. There is a park very close by- I think it was on Amsterdam & 78th street. It's across the street from Crumbs http://www.crumbs.com/ and Giggle www.giggle.com. Very nice park, clean, bathrooms open and available, benches to sit, and lots of stuff to climb on for both a toddler and a bit of an older child. It was a gorgeous day and there were definitely people in the park but it wasn't overcrowded at all. The show ended after around an hour and a half so Tadd & Christine had a little time to hang with us at the park. Christine and I were able to catch up while the husbands so graciously watched (and chased after) the boys. Unfortunately, the Beacon garage lot was not as wonderful as the rest of the day. T, C & G left to get their cars about 45 minutes before we did. We went to Crumbs, then for pizza, and then to the car. They were STILL waiting for their car! It was mayhem down there with a LOT of angry people. Luckily by the time we got down there, it was a bit less hairy and I think we got our car in 20 minutes or so.

And that's it. I'm getting to go away for the weekend, down to LBI, with friends, for the first time since E was born. I'm supposed to be packing but like always, I'll be doing that last minute tomorrow morning. Eighteen girls and gay guy in a rented house- so I should have plenty to write about when I get back from that!