My opinions, updates on my life, all sorts of "randomness"...

Things here in Jerusalem are going well. My husband is wonderful, and I'm loving spending time together in our apartment. He's crazy busy with school, but Chanukah break is coming up soon, and we'll have tons of visitors starting next week! First Yael, then Katie & Yoni, then my parents and Josh...all so exciting!! Katie's bringing me a bag of stuff I ordered online & had shipped to her. Gotta say, I am ridiculously excited for our new Swiffer Wet Jet, lol... Speaking of Chanukah, there was an excellent Chanukah Flash Mob in Jerusalem, check it out!

Went to the Nativ Thanksgiving dinner again this year. Really nice, great to see everyone. Took our "traditional" picture again


Didn't have work today so I've been doing some updating on my photography site, and even set up a Twitter account @BPDesignOnline. Also been working on finishing up a couple albums I've been designing, turned out pretty nice!

I've been staring at my screen, trying to figure out what to say. My grandmother was such a wonderful person, and lived such an amazing life. How do you say goodbye to someone like that? How do you say goodbye when it still doesn't seem real? When I couldn't get a flight back to America, I felt so sad that I wouldn't be able to be at the funeral. Through the wonder of technology me and my 2 cousins here in Israel were able to watch the funeral through skype, and afterwards it was posted online. Felt surreal, watching my family speak...

2 months ago Nanny was able to be at my wedding. Dancing in front of her was amazing, I was so happy. Marc and I went over to say goodbye the night before we went on our honeymoon, took a picture with Nanny & Popop...but I didn't think we were really saying goodbye to her...

Everyone keeps talking about how fitting it was that Nanny died on Simchat Torah, the happiest day of the year, since that was how she lived her life, always full of joy.

I love you Nanny

Wedding Pics

Well, pics are up!

Our wonderful photographer Heather Lahtinen, posted the pics she took at our wedding, check them out, passcode is silberstein

Turns out our DJ, Robert Pfeifer and his wife are also wonderful photographers in addition to outstanding DJs. Some of the pics they took are up on their blog and the rest I uploaded to my website, check them out here.

:)

Yerushalyim is amazing. So nice being back here, settling into our routine again. Shabbat was wonderful. Chillin on our gorgeous roof before Shabbat, meals with friends, just general funness. Still can't get over the fact that I'm married, and covering my hair on Shabbat really added to that. Now I just need to buy more cute hats!!! :)

my camera was passed around during Havdalah of the wedding weekend, and since we finally have internet in our apartment (yay!) I was able to upload them, so here you go. Enjoy! And while we're talking pics, Heather put up more, check them out. She really is AMAZING...

Well, all for now...Honeymoon report and pics coming soon!

Quick Update From Page, AZ!
Wow, where to start? A week ago today Marc and I got married!!! The wedding was perfect, the weekend was tons of fun, and now Marc & I are enjoying our fabulous honeymoon. We've been at the Grand Canyon North Rim since Tuesday, just did a quick hike out to Horseshoe Bend (remind me to tell you about my annoyance with Lonely Planet later..grrrr...) and now we're in Page, AZ at an internet cafe. We're heading to Bryce Canyon National Park in a few minutes, then Zion National Park in a few days, then a couple days in Vegas before we head back to Israel!

There are a few wedding photos taken by our awesome photographer, Heather Lahtinen, up on her website, and I'll be sure to post honeymoon pics once we're back in Israel! Oh and check out our first dance (thanks to Alex Gorosh for filming it!)

Okay, that's enough time in civilization, so we're gonna continue on our trip. That's all for now!!!
:)

Well, I'm in Detroit at Kimmie & Bryan's, 15 days away from getting married! Got to the States a few days ago, spent a couple days in Atlanta before coming here. It's been a crazy trip so far, but fun. Just had a wonderful Shabbas here, Kimmie's kids are absolutely adorable. Ari tried on his wedding tux for me---ridiculously adorable, get excited! At (almost) 6, Shira is already a precocious teenager, pretty amazing to see. They are for sure gonna have their hands full when she's actually a teenager! Joshy came over for Shabbas dinner, so fun, great to see him. The weather was perfect, 70's, a nice breeze...made me want to move here immediately, lol. Tomorrow morning we're going to Ann Arbor for brunch with Yael, then I have Jenny Farber's wedding, can't wait!!

I got 2 new lenses!!! The Canon 10-22mm and the Canon 50mm 1.8. So far both are awesome, great for different things. The 10-22 is a super wide angle angle lens, great for landscapes and shots like this one I took Molly. Sitting right next to her in the car, and still managed to get the shot! Love it...can't wait to see what I can do with it on our honeymoon :) The 50mm is an awesome portrait lenses, great for shots like this one I took of Nathan.

Anyways, I'm off to bed...Oh, side note, check out Roth's blog, amazing post... :)

Last night Marc took me out for my 29th birthday. Can't believe I'm 29!! And in 34 days we'll be married. Wow...

My picture was in an article in the Jerusalem Post--check it out.
:)

53 days until I get married. A long time, and absolutely no time at all rolled up into one. Lots of stuff to do, but I definitely spend more time thinking about (and being overwhelmed by) the stuff I have to do then actually doing it. I'm working all the time, even on my days off like today. I'd love for a day to go by without someone from work emailing/skyping/calling me (and expecting me to reply!)--I definitely do NOT get paid enough to be "on call" always, but I know that part of my personality is never going to let me wait to reply to things that I know really do need to get taken care of asap. For other people at least--my personal sh*t, I could procrastinate forever. :)

Before the wedding (really, before the honeymoon) I'm planning on buying myself a new wide-angle lens. I sold some stock I had that my grandfather bought me when I was kid, so it's like DaDa is buying me the new lens (such a nice thought). Still deciding between a Tamron or Canon lens. Leaning towards the Tamron since it's $250 cheaper...either way, I'll hopefully be able to get some amazing shots with it.

As a wedding gift, Marc and I both got new packs. Soooo amazing, so generous, and we're so excited to try them out! As much as I love my current pack, I've had it for over a decade--it's definitely time for an upgrade!

It's crazy hot out today--soooo appreciating our AC! Not really sure what we'll do next year...but I'm still excited for our awesome new apartment and to stop dealing with all the drama with our current apartment. Our shower's broken AGAIN, and AGAIN our landlord is avoiding our calls instead of dealing with it...

Alright, all for now! Miss you!

Marc & I went to the Jerusalem Light Festival tonight. So cool, all these artists set up light installations around the Old City (and a couple downtown). So much fun, gonna have to go back another night while it's up.

Had a session of our "chosson and kallah" classes tonight (pre-wedding classes) with Rabbi Avi Poupko, the Rabbi who will be marrying us. Really great, can't wait to learn more with him!

And now it's time for bed so I can wake up in time for work, lol

Israel is wonderful. I'm totally loving living here. I've settled into a routine with work, we have some wonderful friends, and I'm just loving everything. I can't believe that it's already June-time has been FLYING!

Andy was away for Shabbas, so Friday night Marc made me a delicious dinner, including this awesome dry rub tofu--I had never ever heard of a dry rub before! Spend Shabbas pouring over our guide books, planning out our honeymoon. Going to be so much fun! Assuming we can figure out how to pay for everything, lol... That's the one downside about living here--I've never been so broke in my life! It's amazing what passes for a "good" salary here, lol...It's all good though, we'll figure it out...So back to honeymon plans...I posted a tentative itinerary on our wedding website www.ShoshAndMarc.com if you want to check it out! The rough plan is Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, then Vegas. I've never been to any of them!!! And I can't wait to go camping again, it's been way too long! (other then festival camping, which really isn't the same thing...)

Best news I've heard in ages? Katie's engaged!!! YAY!!!!! So excited, and can't wait to see her so I can give her a proper hug and shriek over her gorgeous ring :)

One of the best things about living here is getting to see everyone when they come visit (hint, hint, to those of you who haven't come over yet!) Linor is here staffing a Birthright trip (with Lior as the tour guide!) so I joined teh group for their Old City tour the other day. It's amazing that I'm still not sick of that place. I'm in the Old City almost every day, and I still have that "ahhhh" moment when I walk up. And I'm loving having the opportunity to help other people have that experience, especially now that our Travellers' Center is open. I get to hear about people's adventures and help them plan their next one every day! And speaking of adventures, Roth's off a new adventure, spending her summer in Peru! I'm loving reading her blog, and can't wait to see all her pics when she gets home! I'm a little jealous, lol...

Allright, well that's all for now! Sorry I haven't been great about keeping in touch, this time difference thing throws me off!

Love from Jerusalem!!
:)

I know, I know, I'm sorry! I promise I'll be better about posting!
But right now I have to go to work, so that promise will have to wait...
All's good here!
:)

Vote for Josh's organization, Will Work For Food, in the Dell Scocial Innovation Competition!

VOTE HERE!
Vote by 5 pm CST today!!!!!
:)

I know that according to my calendar it's winter, but I've been outside in a t-shirt and jeans the past few days, wishing I was wearing shorts! Crazy, right?


My office is downtown, so everyday after I'm in the Old City I head to Ben Yehudah. It's so fun being right in the middle of everything. They seem to be making progress on the new train, even laying down the tracks, however I'm skeptical that it'll be finished anytime soon. ESPECIALLY since I heard a rumor that the new bridge isn't strong enough to support the trains (at least not with people in them!).


One of my favorite things about being in Israel is how Judaism is just strewn into every day life. I was sitting in my apartment the other day, when I heard this loud music and saw flashing lights. We're talking loud enough that I would have thought it was coming from inside the apartment! So I went to the window, and what did I see? A Torah dedication ceremony heading down the street! There was a truck covered in neon lights blaring music, behind it was people singing and dancing with the Torah, and behind that was a police car, helping out. Amazing...

I've developed a mild addiction to The Knot. I can recognize that it's an addiction, I know I should stop, but I just can't!! lol. Really it just means that I spend way too much time chatting with people on there and getting ideas for/thinking about our wedding. The real thing that keeps me in check in the time difference--imagine how bad I would be if I was always online at the same time as everyone!!! :)

I finally finished designing our Digital Invitations, we ordered the handful of print invites we need, and we're getting ready to send them out! We decided we're going to stagger sending them out so we can deal with RSVPs/questions/just saying hi emails better. We'll see how it goes!

Well, after hours of phone calls & looking up places online, Marc found us a place to watch the Super Bowl! I made us a "terrible towel", we'll be consuming tons of coffee, and we'll try our best to last through the whole game (which starts at 1:30 am!!!!!)

GO STEELERS!!!!!!!