DPF: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood.


Won't you be mine? Won't you be mine?

I Pinch?

I work in Marketing.

I work with Advertisements.

I LOVE it.

I have ALWAYS loved it.

There are times when I would literally just pay attention to commercials more than the actual show I was watching.

That being said there are some commercials that just stick with you. Still to this day I can sing the Skip-it! jingle or even the Ribbon Dancers song.

Even more so we constantly quote those damn Honda Element commercials. I don't have anything against the Honda Element, other than the fact it looks like a box with wheels. But those commercials with the platypus and crabs were epic.



Without even thinking about it Julibean, Jason, hell even my mother and I will find ourselves saying things like, "I no pinch!" or "I've got some melted butter and some tongs in here..." or even "Where does a platypus learn a word like "hodgepodge"?"

The world is a better place because of marketing and advertisements that become part of the mainstream. I am a firm believer in this.

Plus it's just downright hilarious.

MmmmmMarsden

How 'bout a little Manjoyment to start your day?



(Image borrowed from Coventry Telegraph.)

The Call

Oh hey, I don't think Long Island got the memo. Did...did you get the memo?

Didn't you hear?

Cthulhu was in town last night?

Oh yeah, tornadoes knocking LIRR trains over. Trees falling down willy nilly killing people in cars. Flooding. Lightning strikes. Thunder storms. Stand still traffic on major high ways. Chaos in Penn Station.

THE WORKS.

I'm surprised they didn't call out the National Guard.

I went to a production meeting last night and Mary Ann was telling us how she almost got taken out by a monsoon at the train station and was glad one of her friends stopped by to pick her up. (This from the woman who slept on 34th Street for a night during the Blackout of '03 because she couldn't get home nor could she see three feet in front of her to walk to a hotel or her boss' apartment.)

Penn Station apparently was shut down, they wouldn't let anyone in because it was already over crowded, and they had to cancel all trains and some subway lines too.

CRAZY.

My mother's school is closed today. Apparently they have no power and there are a few trees through some windows. Lovely.

My Dad and I stood out on the porch last night and just watched it rain. We like to do this sometimes. Thunder/lightning storms are pretty cool. The amount of rain that came down in such a short amount of time is really when Long Island suffers.

We're only about 5 feet above sea level so flash floods are a huge possibility when it pours as hard as it did last night.

But me...I think I enjoy the cuddly Cthulhu a little bit more than the scary apocalyptic one.


(First image from Wikipedia. Second from ThinkGeek.)

WW: Guest Lists

It's times like these that I really wish we had just said To Hell With It! and gotten married in Key West with our very close friend and immediate family. It would have been 50 people tops.

Including the A&B Lists our guest list is now like 215 people. Granted almost 30 of those people are B-Listers but still. It makes me sad that our families are just so huge.

A lot of the people on the B-List are people I am friends with. Maybe only 6 of the B-Listers are friends of our parents. All the rest are my friends and Jason's friends who will only make the cut if family declines the invitation.

I plan on organizing the B-Listers by priority and once we get declines sending those invites straight away. There are certain people who I would love to have there but right now only have a chance of even being invited!

Is it a horrible thing to hope lots of people won't want to come to our wedding? I love them, but this is slightly ridiculous. I didn't want a big wedding. I didn't realize how many family members would "have" to be invited. And I didn't realize how painful it would be to put certain friends on the B-List and have to remove other friends completely.

I guess thems the breaks. *sigh*

No!

To Do Before the End of the Year:

• Clean Room
• Vacuum Room
• Clean House
• Vacuum House
• Keep Room Clean
• Keep House Clean
• Redesign personal website
• Publish personal website
  
• Design Wedsite for Jason and I
• Apply to jobs in VA
• Apply to more jobs in VA
• Test paper flower bouquets and centerpieces
• Decorate dress for Halloween Costume
  
• Call Kleinfelds about special sister appointment
• Make special sister appointment at Kleinfelds to try on dresses
• Get pocketfold paper cut down
• Start folding pocketfolds
  
• Design and print Save the Dates
• Mail Save the Dates
• Take mother to David's to show her other options that aren't at Kleinfelds dresses
• Design custom address stamps
• Get stamps created
• Ask girls to be bridesmaids officially
  
• Drop two more pant sizes
  
• Design programs for YOUth Group's Production of Carousel
• Design second logo for Amy
• Call and make appointments with pastor and preist
  
• Recompile music collection onto new hard drive
  
• Meet with Ms Chase
  
• Design two websites for Ms Chase
• Tasting at Hotel w/parents and future in laws
  
• Engagement Session with HBT
• Meet pastor
  
• Book deejay
  
• Book videographer
• Book room design people
  
• Move to Virgina

I really need to learn how to say no to people. I've taken on so many freelance jobs and projects for family friends and the community that I'm thinking from now on I will have to reject freelance work. Especially pro bono work. I can't waste my precious time on things I won't be getting paid for.

NO!

The Cabinette

Today my Dad is bringing home his mother from her cabin up near Monticello. Since before my Dad was born the Shapies have spent every summer in a tiny two bedroom cabin a few miles from Yasgur's Farm and since I was young and mistakenly called it the cabinette, we've dubbed it such.

I love the cabin. It's falling apart. My father and I spent an entire weekend prying, sawing, nailing and reconstructing wobbly boards and old stairs on the decks this summer. The floors are uneven, everything creaks and half the doors don't close properly on the inside due to the shift in the foundation.

But I love the cabin.

I also love my grandma.

Mima is, as Julibean, Dan and I like to call her, a stand up broad. She is constantly giving everything of herself to those around her and never asks or expects anything in return. In fact when Dad and I took to fixing the decks (so she wouldn't trip over a loose board) Mima continued to fuss over how we were doing too much.

I thought it was fun. In fact, I haven't wielded a hammer since my days with Habitat for Humanity and those are some of my fondest memories of high school. And yes, I walked away from the weekend with a sore arm and blisters on my hammering hand but it was worth it and I really do enjoy carpentry.

I'm glad that Mima will be around this week/weekend and I hope she doesn't fuss too much about us wanting to spend time with her. Sometimes she gets overwhelmed by too much attention because she's not used to it. I guess it's difficult for people who have spent their life taking care of others to allow someone to take care of them.

But I'm also glad that we'll be able to spend Rosh Hashanah with her and she won't spend the new year alone. There's nothing this little Catholic girl loves more than some Jewish soul food.

Bring on the brisket!

And to all my actual Hebe friends and relatives: L’shanah tovah tikatevi v’taihatem. May you be sealed for a good year.