The Stash

I just love housewares. Sometimes when I’m running errands, I’ll pop into Pier 1 or Williams-Sonoma or Bed Bath and Beyond just to poke around. I love scrolling through couples’ bridal registries. When I was in high school, I even created a fictitious registry online at Macy’s. It was a labor of love developed slowly and steadily over a few …

Ma’ariv

Over Pesach at my grandparents’, I read parts of Tuesday at Dawn by Ruth Attias, a short collection of the teachings of Rebbetzin Kanievsky a”h. The rebbetzin was known to advise people in need of a yeshuah to add a new tefillah to their daily line-up.   Well, I’m in need of a yeshuah.   Since high school and seminary, …

Any-Day Cupcakes

This has been our go-to recipe to celebrate every occasion for as long as I can remember. These cupcakes are so delicious. Recipe slightly adapted from The Heimishe Kitchen. Makes 18.   4 eggs 1 ¼ c. sugar 2 c. flour ½ c. orange juice ⅜ c. oil ½ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda 1 T. vanilla sugar chocolate …

100th Date Commemoration

My friend and I went out for lunch after her one-hundredth date. We ordered ourselves a milchig spread and talked for over an hour, about how much we’ve grown over our years of dating, how we’ve learned how to make ourselves happy, how we’ve found teachers and books and learning modalities that have helped us develop. How proud we are …

Homemaking How-To’s

A little while ago, my engaged friend asked me if I knew of any lesson-a-day type emails (think SAT prep or Merriam-Webster word of the day) for homemaking. I thought that was a great idea but neither of us could find anything like that. I did find a few checklists, though. These look helpful. Martha Stewart’s cleaning checklists – including …

Where You Work

So I’ve mentioned before that I work in a school setting, and that I recently changed jobs. Earlier this year, I divided my time between two schools in a nearby district. For the first time, I had no frum coworkers. I figured it wouldn’t be much of an issue. I’m a friendly person and pretty comfortable with anyone. I was …

“Time-Out” Nails It

Ok, did you read “Time-Out,” by Rikki Ehrlich, in last week’s Family First? I thought it was terrific! So creative and different and real and funny. I laughed my head off.   The story is about 31-year-old Shuli, who is invited to a shidduch retreat to take a “brake” from decision-making. She’s seriously dating someone and feeling stuck. The retreat …

How Do You Celebrate Birthdays?

A few friends and I have a tradition of celebrating our birthdays together.    Recently, as our default, we’ve been going out to eat (usually to a steakhouse, with cocktails). For one friend a couple years ago, we did a Strayboots hunt on Fifth Avenue followed by dinner. For another friend, we bought salads and cheesecake and had a picnic in a park …

How Was Yom Tov?

Hello, all, I hope you had a good Yom Tov. My family went away for Pesach for the first time in years. It was the most refreshing change. There’s nothing like a vacation for helping everything come back together. The only downside was that my married siblings and their kids weren’t with us. A few highlights: We spent hours and hours …

Back to Top