The Top Ten of Break!

To my wonderful blog readers, thanks so much for your patience… it’s taken me a little while to come back down to earth from my amazing winter break at home and settle back into life here in Jerusalem. I suppose it’s only fair to describe my three weeks in the States, even though I saw so many of you along the way. In order to do this as briefly as possible, we’ll do the top 10, in no particular order, (with as many song lyric titles as possible)…

1. Reunited and it feels so good...

My reunions with my family and Sean were nothing short of wonderful.

Sean greeted me at the airport in Columbus, carried all of my luggage, got me lunch from my favorite Chinese restaurant, provided the means to a hot shower in a full size bathtub that did not require advanced heating and had a showerhead in the correct location, and of course, let me watch any TV show I wanted, and provided couch space for Michael and I to catch up in… all in the first four hours of my being home. More on his “greeting” later.

Besides Michael, I didn’t see the rest of my family until the next morning, when Sean and I drove down to Cincinnati for a welcome back brunch. My parents, Grandma and Sam, Auntie and Uncle Ed, Uncle Steve, and Adam were all there to welcome me home with WONDERFUL, home cooked, AMERICAN breakfast! It was an amazing feeling to walk into my house after being gone for seven months.

2. Marry Me!

After a few hours of getting acclimated to freezing cold Ohio, Sean had the nerve to take me back out into the cold! He asked if we could make a quick stop before our dinner at Martinis (my favorite place in Columbus)- he wanted to take a picture of the two of us in front of Ohio Stadium to frame as a gift for my mom’s upcoming birthday. In spite of the cold, I agreed, so we went over the stadium and posed for Sean’s camera (on a timer, of course). After a few resets of the timer, Sean told me we’d take one more, and without my knowledge, turned the camera to “video.” While my cheesy self kept posing for the next picture, Sean turned to me, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him! I of course said YES! After some fumbling with the ring and some ecstatic first moments, we went to Martinis to celebrate.

moments before our engagement at the Shoe

3. Celebrate good times, come on!

I was supposed to return to Jerusalem by January 25th in order to start classes, but I finagled an extra week at home to attend a wedding with Sean AND celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday!! My grandma, aunt, cousin Melissa, my mom’s best friend Vicki, and I threw my mom a big birthday brunch party at our house. Tons of her friends and our family turned out for French toast, birthday cake, and of course, a slideshow! I was SO happy to be home with Mom for her birthday. As a gift to herself, she booked her ticket to come visit me in Israel in April, along with Vicki!

4. And in a thousand years after a thousand tears, I will find my original crew…

Rachel and Rachel flew/drove home for a weekend just to say hi! We also, of course, went ring-setting shopping, search for lots of houses with Sean, my parents, and me, ate at my favorite places, and catch up! We missed Amy a lot, but we had a wonderful time together after being apart for close to a year.

celebrating the engagement with Rachel and Rachel!

5. I wish I could go back to college…

After a few days in Cincinnati, I headed back to Columbus for a long weekend. I got spend some time with Emily and Elle (even though they had been in Israel visiting just a few weeks before) at Brennan’s, one of our favorite coffee places, which is of course right around the corner from Hillel (don’t worry, I stopped in).

I also got to catch up with my college roommates, Amanda and Jessica, during a few coffee dates and my Mad Mex Marg Night (more on that soon). It’s been strange living without them after two years in the same apartment together!

A few nights before I left, I was back in Columbus and got to have dinner at my favorite Columbus Mexican restaurant with Naomi, Paul, and Sara, good friends from OSU. Sara and I had last seen each other during her Birthright trip in July, and I had to catch up with Naomi and Paul on their wedding plans!

6. Wastin’ away here in Margaritaville…

With the intention of catching up with as many friends as possible during my short visits to Columbus, I organized a little bar night at Mad Mex, a bar at OSU with famous “Big Ass” Margaritas. I was joined by over twenty friends that evening, some driving in from the suburbs, some walking from campus in sub-freezing temperatures, and some stopping by just for a few moments to say a quick hello before getting back to work and school. It was really great to catch up with some many friends.

7. They say it’s your birthday…

Sean’s 25th birthday fell during my break at home, which was a great opportunity for us to celebrate more together! I spent most of dinnertime of his birthday in the car on the phone with him, as I drove the last 6 miles to his house in a snowstorm! We ended up going just down the street to a burger place for dinner and relaxing in front of the fire since there was so much snow. We spent the next morning picking out the setting for my ring (he gave me a BEATIFUL ring but let me choose my setting!), and then set off for Cleveland. With a windchill of 20 below zero, we watched the Cavs stay undefeated at home from our cool VIP seats! Sean was wonderful enough to spend the rest of the weekend with me visiting friends and family in Cleveland before heading back to Columbus to spend MLK day together.

celebrating Sean's 25th at the Cavs game

8. If I had a million dollars I would buy you a house…

Well, we don’t exactly have a million dollars, but Sean figured we ought to buy our first house this summer! With that in mind, we started our house search during my time at home… and ended up finishing it! We found a wonderful house in Cincinnati while I was home, put in an offer for it, and closed on the house a few weeks after I returned to Jerusalem. Sean moves in next week!

our new house!

9. MeshugaNotes, we are a catch…

Yes, I got to catch up with my wonderful Shugs (my college acapella group). I was able to spend time with some of my best friends from the group, go to a rehearsal, and even catch one of their out-of-town performances when Sean and I were visiting Cleveland! MeshugaNotes was my favorite college activity, and the place I met most of my best friends, and it’s definitely been hard doing without it this year. I was SO happy to get to spend time with great friends and see how well they’re doing!

10. Food, glorious food…

It wouldn’t be a trip to the U.S. of A. without some good old American food. And by that, I mean any food that’s not overpriced, covered in hummus, or served by terrible wait staff. I think I enjoyed every bite of food I ate in the States, and was honestly surprised every time I had a good service experience! Here’s just a partial list of the wonderful restaurants I frequented during my trip… Rusty Bucket, Brennan’s, Starbucks, Ruby Tuesday, Martinis, Tai’s Asian Bistro, El Vaquero, Mad Mex, some benihana-type chop chop place, Corky and Lenny’s, Tumbleweed, LaRosa’s, Montgomery Inn, Old Bag of Nails, Applebee’s, Mimi’s Café, Qdoba, etc etc etc. YUM!

And that’s the Top Ten of break!! Check back soon for an entry on my first month and half back in Jerusalem.

See you back Stateside at the end of May!

The future Rabbi Meredith Faye Kahan Flowers :)