Sunday, December 12, 2010

Hannukah {and Ellis Island!}

December is a great season, I love seeing all the (tasteful) holiday decorations...candles in people's windows, wreaths, menorahs, etc..
 This year, Hanukkah was pretty low key, we ate latkes, lit the menorah, sang songs, exchanged presents, preformed in The Nutcracker on the Saturday and Sunday ( yes, that was just me...not my parents), we drove off to New York for Monday and Tuesday (my dad went to a conference)...okay, so maybe it wasn't as low key as I made it sound, anyway...
[the famous statue's better side, well...maybe not!]
On Monday, we visited Ellis Island. Though I got museumitis pretty quickly, it was very interesting walking around in the same place that my ancestors had probably walked through. (The cafeteria also had very good food!)

[Who, what, when, where...the only thing this exhibit was missing is 'how'!]

Probably my favorite room in the main museum was the statistics room, I know it sounds sort of boring, but it most certainly was not! In it, there were a bunch of fun looking exhibits, some showing how many people of what origin came to America in which years (above), and some showing how many people of which gender came to America in what year (below).
[ladies first!]

[lined up with a better view]

We also got to take a quick trip to the New Jersey half of the island (no passport required!) that was fairly entertaining, crossing from New York to New Jersey all the while being on the same piece of land (and in the same building!) The story behind that: here!
[One of the hospital buildings, yes, it actually is in New Jersey...I wasn't joking!]

[test: is this the same hospital building as above? Answer: I don't know, all three of them look the same in photographs!]

All in all, my mom and I had a great time, and to add to that: it snowed, and we got to check out some great vintage consignment shops...can't wait to go back!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

NaNoWriMo--DONE!

Today, (at my Thanksgiving destination) I finished my NaNoWriMo novel. I accomplished my word count goal at 10,005 words and am now going to have a very satisfying Thanksgiving.
  As I keep saying, have a wonderful holiday!


PS. Now, lucky reader, I will have more time to blog, and more time to talk about things other than NaNoWriMo and being on google!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

We are on google!

OK, just a quick post to say: this blog is officially what comes up when you search 'home school diaries' on Google. Okay, (to take me off cloud nine) I am the very last result (on the first page), but still. This officially might be one of the most exciting days in my blogging career! (well, it might not be, but I think it is.)

Lets just hope I stay there!

Have the most amazing, and the happiest, Thanksgiving ever!!
(I'll still be hyper about this when I get back!)
(But I do hope you have an awesome Thanksgiving!)

Monday, November 22, 2010

NaNoWriMo {8 days left!}

Wow! NaNoWriMo has only eight days left, and I have exciting news! I am 92.58% done (meaning that I have 742 words left.) My Novel is coming along Super fantastically, and I am very excited because I'm thinking that this is a publishing worthy novel...at least I hope it is!
 All right, because I'm not sure that I'll have time to put up another post before Thanksgiving, I hope that everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday, and that (if you're driving somewhere) you don't get stuck in traffic!

Inspiration {no words, just a scene}



[Imagination is more important than knowledge. Albert Einstein]

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Mediterranean Dinner

One of the reasons that I love my civics curriculum is that it has such interesting, fun projects!
 My most recent (and possibly funnest) project was making a meal out of food brought to America after 1492.
I decided to have a Mediterranean themed meal, and my parents and I spent all afternoon on Saturday making food. The Menu included:
[the table...of course!]
Lubiya (a soup with lots of spices and black eyed peas--not pictured),

Caprese Salad-from Italy (Includes: Tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil with a balsamic dressing)

 

 Mejadarah (an Egyptian dish with lentils, rice and caramelized onions)



Bulgar Pilaf and Noodles (It should be obvious that this dish includes Bulgar. Noodles and LOTS of butter)

We invited a Lebanese guest who told us that the food was marvelous...(yay, we passed the middle-eastern-person-liked-it test)  All in all, I can't wait for another fun opportunity to do something like this again!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Hey, I'm still here {mostly}

Hi, just a quick post to say that I have not forgotten about my blog, but this month with NaNoWriMo its hard for me to blog at all, so expect more next month!