Took-took, Grammar/Spelling, and a military engagement

Cravings: secret family words, flawless spelling, and an amazing love story

WARNING: RANDOM POST!

Does anybody have any words or phrases that their family uses, that are special to their family? We even had a whistle - if we were in a public place and my dad wanted to find us he had a whistle we all recognized! This sounds so Von-Trap family but it was an easy way to find each other without yelling - this was before cell phone obviously.

My dad is Israeli and always says "fah-chu-chu". For the longest time I thought it was something like "balderdash" until I realized he was saying "facetious" but didn't feel like saying a complicated word.

Charlie and I, and my parents, use TiVo service instead of the dvr through the cable company. It makes a distinctive clicking sound when you fast forward, and so a few years ago my mom and I started saying "took-took" when we wanted the other to fast forward during commercial. Charlie now uses it as well, as does my good friend Katy.

*Question* What silly words do you and your loved ones use?

On to grammar/spelling.
It's not a joke that when I was meeting men before Charlie, I would not continue contact if they had an obvious spelling mistake, such as there/their/they're, or you/your/you're, etc. I know people use shorthand while texting, but UGH. When Charlie and I were texting he made a grammatical error, and my heart sank, but he immediately corrected himself! Few...  I mean.... phew.

To show you how serious I am, here is a text I got from a stranger telemarketing something or other:


I don't know why but this just makes me laugh and laugh.


My friend Jessi has been dating her boyfriend Joe for a few years.

We all knew Jessi and Joe were on the path to engagement and marriage, but we didn't know when or how. Well, Joe was in Afghanistan and was coming back on Memorial Day weekend. From Afghanistan, he arranged with his airline to have someone bring them the ring, and a flight attendant walked it onto the plane before he came out. He proposed to Jessi in the airport in front of everyone! Tell me you wouldnt' cry and cheer if you were there!

I had lunch with Jessi the other day to hear all the juicy details on Tuesday. She suggested a place by her office called The Coffee Pub, which I LOVED - it is totally hidden and it has an ambiance not typical of Vegas. I am excited to go back.


Here is Jessi with her new bling:


She intricately designed her diamond, and it still exceeded her expectations!

I can't wait to wedding-plan with you!

Perfect Saturday

We woke up early compared to our schedule lately, at around 715 and went to hike at Red Rock. We met one of the spouses Nikki and her pit/lab mix. We did a bit over an hour hike. I HATE going downhill especially when it's climbing. Im such a baby. I also had a runny nose because of the weather and didn't bring tissues. I felt so high maintenance, but then Charlie did point out that I sounded like I have a cold (I don't, just wind/allergies etc). I was so proud of myself hiking w/no breaks. I know it's not nearly as intense as Masada but that was a wake up call to start stair climbing and it helped!

We went over to my parent's house to hang out for a bit and decided to go to brunch. My dad goes to sweet tomatoes every weekend and really wanted to go but I was starving from the hike and wanted breakfast as did Charlie so we convinced him. We told him we'd go tomorrow. We went to the griddle in the vons shopping center and it was eh. Not totally impressed w/the menu. I would have rather gone to babycakes!

We noticed a new boba shop so my mom and I went in and when we came out this is how we found our men:

Twins! So cute.

Mom and I went to my house while the boys did boy stuff (probably broke something on the computer) and we discussed some details for the summer (she'll be visiting etc etc) and spoke about some other mommy/daughter stuff and then made a menu for tonight. The Sals are moving so we invited them for dinner along with Adina and Rick and my parents' 80 year old Japanese neighbor whose husband passed at NINETY-EIGHT! Amazing. What amazing people that my parents think to invite her. My mom said she was so pleased and asked what she could bring, and my mom said anything she wants, she doesn't have to, so she's bringing sushi! Note: invite her to my house too, it's a mitzvah.

I baked my famous Ilana Shapiro cookies (well my cookies now since I only make that recipe!) and took a batch over to Sheila at the front gate. Mom is giving one to someone and I am bringing the others to Jaren's tonight - she and Jessi and I are making posters for Roger and Joe's return. Roger comes home on Wednesday and I think Joe has about 3 weeks (hopefully!). Here are some of the cookies:


If you haven't made these before, please reference this recipe. They are perfection. Big and chewy and just yum. The secret is a, you have to have bread flour, and b, you have to refrigerate them for at least an hour before you pop them in the oven!

Dad dropped Charlie off and took the dogs to their house (he missed them) and then sent me this picture of Odgie cuddling with "squirrel". Squirrel is actually a stuffed dog (that is totally disgusting) that Odge has had since I was in college or something like that. The picture was really unclear and dark so I didn't instagram it, I DOUBLE instagrammed it. That's right!


Okay Jessi is here and I'm being totally rude and finishing this. Plus I need to wake up Charlie and make my pizza from the pizza dough I made. Reports on that later, and the recipe I made up if it's a success.

Pre-risen