“So how was Israel?”

The most frequently asked question!

A Letter to Myself, In the Spirit of Packing Lists

Dear August 2011 Carlo,

With approximately two weeks left in Israel, I am preparing to leave in the way I know best:  making lists. As I decide what to pack and what to do away with, I find myself revisiting a familiar place in my mind and it’s where you are now, packing and freaking out about leaving for Israel. Now almost ten months wiser about living in this place, I’ve decided to compile a few packing lists for you, my August 2011 self:

• things you’ll be glad you brought
• things you had no idea you needed
• things you need to buy right away
• things you totally don’t need

Every day is my birthday.

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Celebrating New Years (my favorite holiday) is always a let down because there’s a heavy expectation for the day to be perfect. The right party, the right buzz, the right company, the perfect countdown. There’s a similar expectation for other holidays, and the first runner up is birthdays.

If, in my lucid dreaming last night, I somehow died, I will have died happy after a birthday well spent. I spent a normal day surrounded by good people, good food, and good conversation. I spent some time alone at Tmol Shilshom over a milkshake and music editing. I did my regular grocery shopping at Mahane Yehuda. The weather was lovely, too—another warm taste of summer.

I’ve recently been obsessed with the idea that, actually, every day is my birthday. It sounds trite, I think, but it really embodies the feeling of being entitled to do what you want to do with your life and to find joy every day. Now, whether or not that means I can eat chocolate and cake whenever I want is another story, but I digress…

Also, if every day is my birthday, then every day is everyone else’s birthday as well. Food for thought. And speaking of food…

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A huge thank you goes out to my friend and roommate Kyle Georgina Marsh
for preparing a dinner of potato/sweet potato latkes, salad, guacamole, and…

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…this wonderful Vegan Avocado Chocolate birthday cake
with not-so-vegan Avocado Lemon Cream Frosting!

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This Joy the Baker recipe was suggested by The Table Set
on their “Green Beer” podcast! Thank you both for a yummy birthday!

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Thank you to all my friends and family who greeted me online, too.

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Now to eat some of my leftover birthday cake. What’s the upside to having your birthday in Jerusalem with all your friends on vacation or out of the country? I get more of this delicious cake all to myself. If you know about me and my relationship with cake, you’ll also know that I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Happy birthday, indeed!

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