A bissel about us

Every once in a while, we get visitors to our blog who don't know us very well so I thought this would be a GREAT time to tell you a bissel (Yiddish: little) about us!

Hillary: Other names include - Hillanu (by the grandparents); Harley (by the parents); Hilly (by the nieces and nephews); HillyG (by the bloggers and karaoke crowd)

I grew up in Metro-Detroit and come from a family of a lot of siblings. Some full. Some step. All are 100% my family. I wasn't a very good student - in fact, I didn't take the SATs until I was 25. I probably could have used SAT tutoring in high school but college wasn't on my radar at the time. I wanted to do HAIR! I started traveling to Israel at 17 years old and from my first trip, I fell in love... with the country, not a guy. By age 24, I knew it was time to pack up and give another lifestyle a try and that's what I did. I moved to Israel at age 25. It wasn't without its heartaches and heartbreaks. It's definitely not easy to leave your family behind.

My first year in Israel was hard but much easier than I thought it would be. At first, my favorite part about the country was...well, boys. I was REALLY boy crazy! I started University and lived with three roommates all under the age of 20. It was difficult at first but they are three of the most amazing people I've ever known. By 2007, I was back in the U.S. - my grandfather's health wasn't great and my mom became ill. I stayed at home for a year - which drove me INSANE! By 2008, I was back in Israel, living with two of my best girlfriends. That wasn't easy either but we had a lot of good times.

After I returned to the holy land, I dated... A LOT. It was exhausting. One Saturday, my friend Tali told me to come meet her at her boyfriend's house (who happened to live in my city). I did. I was unshowered. Had no make up on. But I came with baked goods. Then I met my husband. I thought he was 18 when I first met him and I kinda insulted him when he told me how old he was. About a month or two later, we started dating! Four months after that, we got engaged!

The rest, as they say, is history! I have some of the best friends in the world - and they actually live all over the world! I'm a lucky girl.

Craig:

Full birth name is Craig Ralph Glaser; I dont really like the name Ralph but its there, I do how ever fancy that my initials 'CRG' are an abbreviation for my first name.

I was born in the deep dark jungles of Johannesburg South Africa. I grew up in the suburb of Sandton with my two younger brothers. When I was, 12 my mother passed away; thats a bit of a long story and will be told another time. My father re-married to an amazing woman who took on the challenge of raising three boys that were not her own and did an amazing job.

I lived in South Africa 'til the age of 19 when, due to the crime and general down fall of South Africa, I decided to make Aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. Note that I had never actually been to Israel, though I had attended a private Jewish day school and hence had heard just a bit about Israel.

I was in Israel for two years before I was drafted into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). When I went for the physical and the weighin's I actually had 10 Kg (22lbs) weights on each ankle so that I would weigh more and be eligible for a combat unit because, at the time, I only weighed about 40kilo (around 88lbs). Yeah, I was a really small guy.

Thankfully, I was enlisted into the unit of my choice, the Combat Engineers. The IDF's Combat Engineers are very different from the U.S. version, as not only do we specialize in explosives and such but we are also both Urban and Field units. In the IDF, the Combat Engineers are always the first unit to enter any zone so that it may be cleared of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and booby-traps for armor and infantry units.

I completed commanders course with the unit and went on to being a commander with the permanent forces in Ramalla and along the Lebanon border and commanded a unit of 8 soldiers.

I served for a period of two and a half years and both loved it and hated , but for the most part loved it. I complete with the rank of Staff Sergeant. I still have 30 days of reserve duty every year until age 45, which drives Hillary crazy. (Hillary: yes it does! I hate it!)

One weekend, while I was visiting a good friend of mine I met this cute American who thought that I was very very baby faced and actually thought that I was 17 years old and not 24 like I was at the time. Anyways, she brought baked goods along with her and I knew she was a keeper and that was that. Found the love of my life so decided to never let her go and married her.

Currently I am studying for my BA in Communications with a major in New and Interactive Media, I am in my second semester of my second year of a 3 year degree.

I also work close to full-time as a Fraud Analyst for the consumer side of LivePerson, its an amazing job with an even more amazing company.

Needless to say studying full-time and working pretty much full-time ain't easy but it gets done.

I have always considered my-self rather lucky with regard to how things have always fallen in place and not for even one second do I not count my self lucky and appreciate what I have and whom I share it with.