L'Shanah Tovah 5771

I realized it's been exactly a (Jewish) year since I last updated this. And I also felt bad for having neglected it for a year...considering a ton has happened since this time a year ago.

Rosh Hashanah is coming up this Thursday and Friday, and will be observed by some synagogue attendance followed by disgusting (and delicious) amounts of food consumption. My parents are almost done with all of the food preparations, and I look forward to a feast of kreplach, challah, matzoh ball soup, apples and honey, brisket...other food I'm usually too full for by the time I see it, and desserts including honey cake, apple cake, and chocolate cookies, for which I find room in my stomach to eat every year.

A year ago around this time, I worked as a paralegal coding asbestos litigation documents in Rockville, MD, commuting from Arlington, VA and back. In January 2010, I left that position for a different job. Today, I work as a Grants Associate for a grants consulting firm in Washington, DC, and live in DC near Chinatown. Last year...well, I kind of hated my job, and wasn't very happy with my life overall. This year, I love my job, and my life, and my apartment. My new job has a great, flexible working environment, supportive coworkers who don't spend their days under head phones, and an atmosphere that enables me to make whatever I want of my position. This past summer was the most fun I've had over the summer possibly ever - I traveled often, saw a lot of people and places, and had comparable numbers of people visiting me.

As the sky turns bluer and the mornings are almost cool, I look forward to fall, a season of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread, college football, crisp, cool air, beautiful fall foliage, and numerous other things. With the help (or distraction?) of all of that, I'll be studying for and eventually taking the GRE, and continuing the process of applying to grad schools.