Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: The Day After

Sunday, November 22: After sleeping like rocks, we headed down to the hotel breakfast area for brunch. Up in our private area, the hotel staff had put together a lovely display. The nests are lox, the martini glass holds capers, and I like the look of the paprika.
Although those white disks look like baked goods, don't try to grab them! They're cream cheese, molded into shapes that resemble biscuits. I had to stand there and make sure people didn't try to hold them.
I like how they used Saturday's kids' table decorations to display (just a few of the many) leftover cupcakes.
In addition, we had free range of the hot breakfast buffet, a fruit bar, and meats and cheeses. The beef tenderloin made a reappearance, this time under the auspices of "corned beef hash." There was lots of giggling over this. Personally, I wouldn't blame the hotel staff, as we had pretty much harassed them the entire weekend, and they still managed to smile at us.

We rolled out of our rooms and piled into Kim's living room to recap the evening and enjoy being in a real house (we had pretty much spent 36 hours in the hotel). Sheryl and my mom looked through my sign-in book.
Kim has 3 cats. Two keep to themselves, but Gizmo is such a cuddler! Except when he decides to bite.
He had a snuggle with me--I realized how much I miss cuddling with animals in this job. (There are sometimes animals in the office, but only the heads of potentially rabid backyard critters, and they are not good to snuggle with). Gizmo settled down in my lap and rested his face in my leg. After a long time relaxing on me with much purring, he bit me. Kim says it's a love bite. I say he's spending too much time with Kim's friend M.
Eventually, my parents and Claire's family left for the airport, and Alexa went back to South Carolina. I had a mellow evening with the D's and S-H's. Alaina and Molly recorded Alaina's gifts and did some math.
Kim taught me how to style my hair and use a diffuser on a blowdryer. I am indeed impaired when it comes to blow-drying. It was a fun and relaxing evening. Around 7pm we figured we'd all be asleep by 9, but somehow Jill, Molly, Kim and I stayed up late talking. I was so glad to have the extra day to spend quiet time with my extended family.

Overall it was a most excellent weekend! Thanks to the D's for hosting and making it all happen!

Bat Mitzvah Party

Alaina led the service extremely well. Her Torah portion was smooth and her speech heartfelt and meaningful. And was the service ever speedy! One hour exactly, which is quite short for a Torah service. Before the party opened, adults and kids wrote notes to Alaina on my pages.

The adults shmoozed over drinks while the kids played games with the DJ inside. I thought this was a great idea--we didn't have to hear them play "Coke and Pepsi" and other loud bat mitzvah games. My older cousins, Alexa's best friend, and I ordered Shirley Temples from the bar and chatted. When we went inside the ballroom, the desserts were all spread out like this:
Isn't it pretty? There were skewers of chocolate-dipped marshmallows, chocolate caramel apples, chocolate-dipped pretzels and more.

I was seated at the big kids table--my older cousins, 2 of Alexa's friends, and a couple about my age. Molly and I experimented with my camera.
Molly is a camp counselor, and also likes to dance, so she, my mom and I danced quite a bit. Having gone to many a bar/bat mitzvah in my day, I know many line dances, and so does my mom. We rocked out to The Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, and Cotton Eye Joe. We started grooving our heads off to YMCA, then looked over at the 13 year olds to find them standing in a tight pack and boucing slightly. Apparently they only dance during the letter part of that song, omitting the pointing during the "young man" portion. We sat down, a bit embarassed but laughing at ourselves. The DJ played some 80's music and got all of the adults up and dancing. One of Kim's friend and her boyfriend were especially, uh, enthusiastic on the dance floor. All of the 13-year-olds and many of the adults stopped dancing to watch. "It's like the sun," I remarked. "You can't look away, but it hurts to look." "Someone's gonna get pregnant out there," added Lisa.

Elisa or Sheryl wanted some group shots of the Stangers. She took the first few herself.

Then she called on the male half of the dancing couple (who were catching their breath) for assistance with a full group shot. He lined us up, asked if we were ready, and did away with the more typical "Say cheese!" in favor of a graphic and utterly complete crotch-grab. You can tell who saw from this next photo.
As the music shifted back to today's hip-hop, the adults in my family drifted out to "our" couch in the lobby. Most likely Elisa has said something obscene, provoking the reactions from my mom and her sisters. That's my dad on the end.

Temple Photo Shoot

Before the Bat Mitzvah was the obligatory photo shoot, lining up each family grouping with Alaina. I took photos on the sidelines.
Molly (17), Alexa (18) and Kim:

Lindsey (20) joined the 3 of them for a photo. After I got a nice picture, I said, "now make a gross face!" Alaina was the only one who heard me.
The formal photo shoot was a little stiff, and the photographer did little to lighten it up. So my mother took matters into her own hands.
Once you get my mom going with showing off her muscles, it's hard to stop her. Also, Kerri, this photo is for you to see her wearing her beautiful dress.
But eventually she cracked herself up. Love those knees.
Every time I looked at Alexa, her shoes were off.
I like these two.


Poppa and me.
Kim looking over the Bat Mitzvah manual one last time.

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Getting Ready

Alaina, Alexa, and I went to Sheer Bliss, where Kim used to work, to have our hair done for the Bat Mitzvah. Alaina went with a classic look for her hair, while Alexa and I had a chance to catch up. Alexa has become such an interesting person. I wish we lived closer so I knew her a bit better. Alaina after her appointment:
I went with a curly look and I loved how it turned out! The stylist lifted some of it up on top of my head with bobby pins to give it some height and it looked really cool (although it hurt when I lay down for bed later).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch that was the Durham Hilton, party set-up was in full swing. Kim's friend Marti was heading up the decorations committee, with help from Elisa, Casey, Sheryl and Molly.
Marti made the centerpieces, which were made of layered pink and green sand topped with flower arrangements she did herself. It was a good look.
Molly and I rocked our way through the hotel to her ipod (sharing headphones, of course), and set up for the candle-lighting ceremony.
A cupcake tower was part of the dessert extravaganza. Here the baker sets it up.
The finished product. The cupcakes were tasty, but the cake on top was AMAZING. We cut into it on Sunday evening--really chocolatey layer cake.
I made the a sign-in book for guests. I basically designed scrapbook pages without any pictures where guests could write messages to Alaina. I tried to incorperate her interests and favorite colors. It was a challenge for me, because I rarely scrapbook, but I am very happy with the outcome. I layed out the pages on tables to make them accessible.

Alaina really loved the book, which made me extremely happy and proud as well.

With everything in place, we were set to leave the hotel and proceed to the Temple for photos and the main event.

Waffle House

Saturday, November 21:
Somewhere amidst the revelry of Friday night it was decided that we would all breakfast at the Waffle House down the street from our hotel. My dad's students had spoken enthusiastically about its merits, and I think we all pictured a cross between Cracker Barrel, and IHOP, with a focus on fluffy Belgian waffles. That wasn't quite what we walked in to. It was kind of like a fish-fry joint, except breakfast food. We were seated in the "non-smoking" section, which was kind of funny because the whole restaurant was about the size of my apartment minus the bedrooms. The smoking and non-smoking sections were separated only by the griddle. It was highly sanitary (especially when they put Jill's undercooked eggs back on the grill for a little more cooking). The eleven of us squeezed into two booths probably meant for 2-4 people each. Molly was in fact calling my mother on her cell phone at the next booth in this photo.

The best part was that there was a booth in between our two booths, with a family in it. Elisa, Brian and my dad arrived a bit later and it was not immediately apparent if there would be enough space for all of us. So Brian squeezed in with the family in the middle booth. They looked seriously alarmed, probably because they had not been following our conversation, not being English-speakers.

Anyways, we all ordered some combinations of eggs, hash browns, biscuits, etc. Mike was especially excited about his breakfast:
I figured I should get the eponymous dish: a waffle. It was very thin, but quite tasty. The biscuits Jill and Mike had were excellent--I finally found a biscuit I like! I think the key ingredient is a lot of grease. Dad had grits with his chili-cheese omlet. Elisa decided to be adventurous and sample grits for the first time.
Gearing up for her first bite:
Love the look on her face!
Quickly seeking out coffee.
"Interesting," she proclaimed. Sheryl said the same thing about the biscuit with gray sausage gravy on Sunday morning...

Alexa (18) picked me up for a hair do and remarked, "I can't believe you guys went to Waffle House. Waffle House is where you go if it's 3 O'clock in the morning and you've been partying and there's nowhere else to go."

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Friday at Kim's

I have just returned from a long weekend in Durham, North Carolina, where my youngest cousin Alaina was Bat Mitzvah'ed. My mom has 2 younger sisters, and between the 3 of them, they have 5 daughters. We are a heavily female-centric family, and we love it! All of the aunts and cousins were present, along with their husbands (my uncles) and my grandfather Poppa. A special treat was the presence of our other "family," headed by Claire, my grandma Annie's good friend. Claire and her daughters Elisa and Sheryl flew down with Elisa's husband Brian and Sheryl's 15-year-old son Casey. My mom and aunts grew up with Elisa and Sheryl, so there is much talk of the old Albany days, as well as teasing about old boyfriends and behaviors. Claire's family is just as loud and inclined to tease as my family is, so there is an exponential increase in teasing, laughing, shouting and slightly crude humor when all of us are combined. It was a most excellent weekend.

Friday, I drove the 5 easy hours down to Durham--it seriously was the 5 easiest hours I've ever driven. Everyone had lunch in Kim's spacious living room. We had several lengthy discussions about H1N1 flu vaccination.

Molly (17) and Aunt Kim (Alaina's mom)
Poppa catching up with Claire.
Casey and Sheryl in Kim's chair that is just perfect for snuggling.

Friday evening saw us at the hotel, giving the waitstaff a difficult time over dinner. This also was the first appearance of the beef tenderloin, which has apparently been cooked several days earlier and left to dry in the sun. In the end, everyone had plenty to eat and there was much laughter.

Friday night services brought a welcome pause to breathe. The rabbi spoke about Women of the Wall--great d'var. She also spoke about Alaina's Hebrew name: Chana Esther. Alaina is named after my great grandmother Grandma Stanger (whose first name was Ann) and a dear friend of my grandma, Elaine. The rabbi talked about the biblical Chana and Esther (she focused on the strength and courage of each, not on the less savory parts of those stories). A nice connect.

When we returned to the hotel, we found that Kim's Durham friends had been parked at the hotel bar since we left. We joined them and listened to some crazy stories full of double entendres. We learned about "sweet spots" on the head (in terms of hair styling), and saw a reenactment of a story using a chicken finger as a cell phone. Good times, good times.

I have been taking pictures and doing interesting things, but haven't gotten a chance to blog lately. About to start my third day in a row of working late--Monday: clinic, Tuesday: presentation for the members of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association, Wednesday: clinic.

Great weekend, with a small dinner party on Saturday and a relaxing day with Miriam at Tryst on Sunday. Also singing with Daniella and cooking with Rowan.

In short, life is good, busy, and I will try to blog soon.