Today marks two anniversaries for me. It was four years ago today that I boarded the plane that took me to my new home in Israel. And it was one month ago that I started dating Itai. This is a time for me to celebrate the two biggest steps in my life toward wholeness and happiness. This past Shabbos was spent with my dear Itai, and was filled with more than enough good memories to appropriately mark this auspicious occasion. I thank G-d for helping me find someone who enriches me so and who so stimulates me to open my heart to shower whatever goodness I possibly can upon him and upon all the world.

Last night I zipped over to Tel Aviv to take my Itai out to dinner. He had been working like the dickens for almost a week to prepare for a presentation he had to give in one of his history classes on a 550-page article written in French. The presentation, of course, had gone off as well as I'd predicted, despite Itai's doubts and nervousness about public speaking. But he sure was worn out and hungry and in need of some good old R&R.

After wandering around town a bit, we finally stumbled on Pizza Meter, which happens to be the most upscale pizza joint I've ever been to. There was a wine bottle on every table. The pizzas themselves were delicious and creative works. We ordered a section with tomato and basil, a section with mushrooms and pesto (with no tomato sauce), and a section with onions and sweet potato. My favorite was the tomato, Itai's was the sweet potato. The music piped in was classy dance music in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, prompting a conversation centered around ballroom dancing. After dinner, we picked out a tub of dulche de leche ice cream from the restaurant's case of Ben and Jerry's to eat at home. This was the first Ben and Jerry's ice cream that either of us had had in years, and we savored it while finishing off the second of the three Wonderfalls DVDs.

Now my sweetie is snoring in bed, catching up on some long-needed sleep, while I tap quietly on the computer keys.

That's right. This January, I'm going to be making my first visit back to the US in over three years. I'll be leaving with my sister and niece on the 4th, and we should be arriving in the Baltimore area late on the 5th, after a short layover in Paris. (It will be my first time in France, so I'm open for suggestions on interesting things that can be seen or done in just a few hours.) After getting to America, the first order of business will be visiting my grandparents in Connecticut to celebrate my Safta's 80th birthday. After that, my plans are pretty free-form. My only goal is to visit as many family members and friends as I can in the three weeks that I'll be there. So if you're in the States and you're reading this, then I hope we can get together.

Becca finally sent me the photographs she snapped two weeks ago when Itai came over for Shabbos. I've added them to this album, and the first one of these new pictures starts here. Enjoy!

It's been unseasonably warm this week, and that might have some relationship with the amazing sunsets we've had the past couple days. This Shabbos both started and ended with the western horizon set aflame with scarlet clouds.

This is my second Shabbos in a row spent without my dear Itai. While seeing him during the week is great, spending Shabbos together is something much more special.