new blog!!

hey all,
  it's me again! i just wanted to let you know that i have a new blog thats more relevant to my life right now. i hope that all you lovelies will come follow me. thanks for being such supportive followers!

t-straps and tulips is my new blog, check it out and let me know what you think!

 xoxo 

one final word {school}

I haven't written a blog post in such a long time that I almost forgot how fun it is!
Now, I know what you're thinking 'But I thought she wasn't writing on this blog anymore,' and I probably won't after this, but I was just reading some friends' blogs, and I thought to myself,
'Oh, how I miss that!'
So, then I decided to take a look at my blog... just to see...and then I saw that my last entry sort of left off on a not very final note...then I remembered how much I liked writing my blog...and then I signed in...just to see...then I saw my dashboard, and I couldn't resist.
I clicked on write new post.
and here I am, writing a new post on my old blog,
a post that no one will read
(because they've long ago given up the hope that I'll ever write another post here),
but a post that will make me feel better about abandoning ship,
a post that will make my blog feel more complete.

So, let me tell you about school.

• There's A LOT of work, and so many big projects!
• I love my teachers! They're all really funny, wonderful people who make learning super-enjoyable.
• It's a lot of work.
• It's a long commute and I spend close to 10 1/2 hours away from home everyday
• but it's worth it
• but I have to wake up at 5:30 am
• so I'm really tired
• but it's worth it.
• Did I mention there's a lot of work?

...And so my day's go by. Wake up, go to school, have a snack, do homework. Most of the time, I love it, but there are days when I realize that I no longer have the time to do the things that I love (like blogging). Some days I feel like I'm having a midlife crisis* and that I need change something or else I'll go crazy. On those days, I'm brave enough to cut my hair, or get my ears pierced, or throw out all my clothes and start over.
But it's worth it.
I'm always interested in what I'm learning and I like being able to interact with kids. In addition, losing the time to do the things that I like has introduced me to new opportunities. I had to cut out one of my dance classes (I had been taking two 45 min/1 hr dance classes), but found out that I could take half hour private lessons with a teacher who I hadn't previously worked with. So now I'm doing that and learning new techniques...I'll even get a solo in our Spring dance show!
At school, I've joined the newspaper. I write an advice column, and although nobody ever writes in, the staff and I sometimes have fun coming up with situations for me to write about.

My family is all healthy, and I'm thankful for each and every new experience that is thrown my way.
...so that's what new with my life.
Good-bye,
and thank you so much for reading my blog!

Post Script: Come to think of it, I kind of like ending on a not-so-final final note...it keeps us guessing. Will I ever write again? Will I never write again? What will I do with this blog? Will anybody ever read it?
So, I guess I'll write a little normal post, something like what I used to write, it can keep us guessing:

As you know, I love clothing. Especially girly, feminine clothing. So, when one of my teachers whose style is almost exactly like mine, told me about a wonderful vintage inspired online clothing store called Ruche, I had to check it out.  Not surprisingly, I absolutely adore it! It's a bit pricey, but soooooo worth it!

[This is currently my desktop background]

Aren't they gorgeous? I am officially obsessed.

Go check out the website (especially the look-books), and you can be obsessed too.

Signing off for now,

XOXO

All images via.
*Please Note: this may just be spring fever. :P

Oh me, oh my, I really do hate making decisions!

School is getting closer and closer, and as it draws near I am becoming more and more agitated when I think about my poor blog and what I will be doing with it. (oh, yeah...my vacation was wonderful, I ate delicious frozen yogurt and overall had a great time.) My first problem (with my blog) is that I feel very attached to it ... and feel like I would have abandonment issues if I started a new blog, and just forgot about this one. (Which I have been thinking of doing, given that I am no longer home-schooling.) You see, my blog just turned one (on the 8th) and I would feel SO bad leaving it that soon after it's first birthday!
(if you really couldn't care less about my reasons, just skip to the bullet points then  comment and tell me what you think I should do!)

source

On the other hand, I can't continue to have a blog named "homeschool diaries" when I am in fact no longer home schooled...I've never really liked that name and it just wouldn't make sense to keep that name on my blog when I am not home schooled.

So, I could

• rename this blog something else and just keep writing
• keep this blog (though not continue writing) and start another one which I would name differently

or, I could

• do something else (please specify!)

What do you think I should do? Please Comment* and let me know what you think!

In other news, I'm FINALLY getting a cell phone...this is actually very exciting for me...and now I'm going to shut up to keep from further embarrassing myself with all this scatter-brained writing! (trust me, I'm not usually like this!)
XOXO

Oh, one last thing: I want you all to go check out Jocee's post from a few days ago on The Cupcake Dictionary, I really enjoyed reading it, it was very descriptive of how I often feel...thanks Jocee!

*preferably comment on this post...not another one (It would also be really helpful if you could tell me why you think I should do whatever it is that you think I should do) THANKS!

Guess what? I'm creative!

This post is dedicated to stating the fact that I have a creative blog...

Thank you Deirdra  for the award (speaking of creative)!

Also, I am again leaving my house (and my blog), but this time only for a few days. Later today, my parents are going to drive me to my cousins, and I'm going to stay with her and her family for a few days, then I'll be taking the train back...all by myself! (Super excited for that!) So anyhow, that paragraph was just to tell you that I won't be blogging for a while!

                                                ~xoxo~

Come to the Dark Side...we've got rainboots!

For my birthday, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins sent me the Coolest Pair of Rain-Boots Ever! I had seen them in a nearby store, expressed (in front of my Aunt) how much I like them, and promptly forgot about them--the rain boots that is, not the Aunt. So, imagine my delight upon coming home, receiving a birthday package, and opening it to find the Coolest Pair of Rain-Boots Ever! (I was pretty delighted!)

I get mixed reactions on these boots, some people (like Emily Rose, who kindly modeled them for me) thought they were "WHOA-REALLY-AWESOME!!!!!!" (that was almost--but not quite--a direct quote), and others, like my mom, think that they're "really something" and that they're "very funky", but a little "scary". I have to say, all of these reactions are quite fitting... ... ... ... ... ... ...  so... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

... Come to the Dark Side...

we've got rain-boots



pictures of the past...

I decided that as a begining to the end of this blog (I am no longer homeschooling and feel that it would be fitting to start a new blog, one not called homeschool diaries), I have decided to revisit some favorite photos of the past year... ... ...

top tens of spring 

going away

some other post

fun with the fuse box!

winter wonderland!

inspiration...how inspirational!

sunny day

mirror mirror on the wall...which of these is real?

Ellis Island

granola...one of my first and most popular posts!

sigh.

Well, at least on my new blog (which you are all going to follow, right?) I'll have more opportunities to showcase my photography.

xoxo

~me~



hellooo- i'm back!

culture shock is a funny thing. One would never expect that one would experience culture shock coming home after only one month...but one does. Especially when one has just come home from camp, where one is very secluded from the outside world.  ~welcome home! hey look, it's a computer!~
 Camp was a really great experience this summer...last summer it was a little bit eh, but this year I really felt that me and the rest of my kvutsah (age group) grew a lot closer. From showering in the bik (the beit kisay-literally house of chairs-otherwise known as the bathrooms/communal shower...don't worry there was a boys' side and a girls' side) to planning the activity that my mom told you about (getting the entire camp safely into "Palestine" in the middle of the night) to having a sleepover with my kvutsah on the basketball court, the last night of camp...I actually felt very at home this summer.
 That said-I'm also glad to be back, and to be able to sleep in! I have many more stories to share, but there is a time limit on how long I can blog today, so I'll share them with you another time!
xoxo

Another Nighttime Disturbance

As a guest writer and mother of this blogger I felt obligated to report more on the world of summer camp from the perspective of the "outsider".  We had the opportunity to go to summer camp on visitor's day to find our happy and exhausted daughter filled with glorious stories of learning, fun, bonding and leadership that happens at her camp in the normal course of events. 

It is still true that being awakened in the middle of the night for mishchief and fun is partially why these campers are so exhausted.  But in one such case, it was my daughter and her friends who planned the surprise activity to give the younger campers the thrill and sense of finding themselves in an unusual historical drama and then being asked to navigate their way through relying on skills and leaning from prior weeks.  Younger campers were awakened in the middle of the night and told that they needed to illegally escape their home country where they were being persecuted to try to make their way to Palestine and freedom during the British blockade of Palestine. This blockade was in place from the 1930's and continued until after WWII.  [Towards the end of this operation, many of these people would have been Holocaust survivors living in detention camps in Europe.]  Though many campers were caught and "jailed" and had many close brushes with "British soldiers", they were able to escape  and make it through to Palestine (the camp parking lot!!!) and could celebrate with delicious brownies and cookies (which my daughter helped bake) in their new safe Haven and home.  It did impress upon the campers a sense of fear and "not knowingness" that accompanies so many peoples trying to leave their homes to find a better life in a new country.  Whew! 

Despite such intense experiences, there are lots of fun sports and crafts and singing that accompany the campers through their summer as well as the nurturing of sweet life-long friendships !!  I look forward, as I am sure you do, dear readers, to your blogger's return next week!

Night Activities at Camp

Well the Mom is not as clever as the Daughter, however, I said I would give this blogging a try.  The pace at home, especially since homeschooling has ended and summer has begun, has changed without the Daughter here.  Happily, I can report that camp life is busy and filled with new, fun and challenging activities on a daily basis.  My daughter, who loves to dance as you followers would know, is enjoying daily yoga and movement with some folk-dancing thrown in for good measure.  We get letters home detailing interesting tid-bits but we especially love the ones commencing :

"... and then they woke us up in the middle of the night to go into the woods and do ..." 

How fun is that?! 

You just don't do that with the same verve at home!  Here's an example from the camper herself (in the process you'll learn a little bit of camp Hebrew, good luck!!):

"I'm so tired today, last night at 11:30 pm we had an ep-ep (a midnight activity with only our age group).  We were told to put on long pants and hats, then we walked across the foggy field and into the woods, we were led to a wall that was literally a few boards (loft tall) nailed together with a platform on top.  We were told that by using teamwork, we had to get the whole kvutzah (group) over the wall.  We ended up sending three of the strongest people in the kvutzah to stand on top of the platform to drag the people up, and a bunch of people at the bottom to boost everyone up and to help spot.  It was sooooo hard to get a few of the larger people up, but we were able to get them all (except for 1).  The guys at the top, and the people boosting told me that I was the easiest person to get up, bu I was so scared that  I was shaking!!  Then at midnight everybody started shouting Happy Birthday to me, and it was very embarassing (in a good way).  The whole activity was very kvutzah-building...then when we wre done getting everyone up and over the wall...we went to the Chadar Ochel (Dining Hall) where the Madrichim (Counslors) and other campers surprised me ... with cake and song!  So, by the time we got back to the tsrif (bunk), it was 1 in the morning and today all of us are so sore and tired that we've complained all day!!"

Don't let that last sentence concern you; that means fun was had by all!  Happy camping everyone!

My Mother Will be Blogging

While I'm away at Summer Camp, my Mom will be doing some guest posts on the blog, so enjoy her company!

xoxo

summer camp {my silence shall last until the end of July}

Hello again, I'm writing a quick post to say that I'm leaving for camp on Sunday and won't be coming back for almost exactly a month...so you won't be hearing very much from me until August.

(To rephrase that: I will not have access to a computer until August, so you won't hear anything from me.)

I may have time to put up one or two more posts before I leave, but packing is taking up WAY too much of my time. (time? What time?)

Anyhow thanks for being lovely readers and for your patience until the end of summer...as I said before (when I was not high on Tylenol): I love you all!

Excuse the mushiness of that statement, I'm in rare form today!

Happy Father's Day! {and other random stuff}

Teeth are feeling a lot better! (I still can't eat hard things, like carrots...but no big loss there, I don't really like carrots anyway!) Thank you Emily for your kind wishes, the ice cream was wonderful!

I would like to wish a Happy Fathers Day to any fathers who might read my blog, and I'd also like to wish a Happy Father's Day to everybody else's fathers, I hope you're spending the day doing something fun and are actually going to read this post tomorrow (the 20th), because (unlike me) you guys are awesome daughters (or sons) and would never even think of going on the computer on Father's Day... (actually, the computer just happened to be on, and my father was doing some "manly work" somewhere...)
Anyhow, Happy Father's Day!

In other news; Friday was my last day homeschooling, ever! Now I am officially on Summer Break, and next year I won't be homeschooling...I'll be going to "real" high school. (Don't you other Home Schoolers hate when people call public school "real school", as though when you're home schooled you don't actually get an education?) Umm... so my point in saying this was...[scratches head]...oh yeah, that I may have to start a new blog, or at least rename this one (given that I will no longer be homeschooling), what do you think I should do, start a new blog, or rename this one?

Wow, that's a really depressing photo, sorry 'bout that!

I'm not actually packing up all my home school stuff, so don't start worrying about how depressed I am right now...I'm not!

xoxo

~me~

the pain of having straight teeth

braces hurt.

a lot.

On the other hand, at least they give me an excuse to eat ice-cream, however; even gold and purple bands don't feel so special when the person wearing them is in severe pain.

They're even less special feeling if this person wearing them is totally drugged up on Tylenol!
(which I am not)  (at least not yet!)
Anyhow, just to cheer me up out of this painful mood, I decided to share with you what pain I'm in, and I'm really enjoying making my pain sound a lot worse than it actually is... thanks for being today's pain relievers!

 I love you all!

XOXO

THe Sweetie Award {yummy!}

I would like to thank Emily Rose from Mist of the Blossom Rain for passing me the sweetie award...how sweet!! (ha, ha)  ;D  Anyhow, thanks so much, Emily!

What are your favorite sweet things to eat (or drink)?

Ice cream is certainly #1 (ever tried fried ice-cream? yum!) anyhow, various types of chocolate come next along with home-made cakes and chocolate milk, I like gum (which is a definite problem...braces)...

Actually, give my anything sweet and I'll probably eat it (or at least most of it!)

Have you ever dreamed that Candyland was a real place?
No, I'm not that far gone in my sweet obsessions!



If there was a flavored brand of bubbles, what flavor would you get?
Orange citrus, Cozy Vanilla, or Icy Mint; yum, yum, and triple yum!




Have you ever been kicked out of a bakery for smelling something?
Not that I can remember...if people get kicked out for smelling things, I'd be more worried in the gum isle at the supermarket, I LOVE to smell gum (through the packet, of course)...it's kind of a weird obsession.   Anyhow   [cough, cough]



What is your favorite kind of tea?
In the Herbal section, I prefer Mint or Chamomile, in the regular teas I LOVE vanilla or Lady Grey, but when it comes to specialtea drinks (hee hee) I can always go for a chai latte!




Strawberry or red velvet?
If we're talking cakes, home-made strawberry shortcake is where it's at!




Have you ever poured a jar of sprinkles into your mouth?
Ummm, only part of the jar...why do you ask?!?

Admit it: You've eaten icing straight out of a jar, haven't you?

My Mom usually makes the icing for cakes, but everybody buys a jar of icing once in a while, so I guess the answer would have to be yes!

(have you ever tried dipping pretzels into jars of icing and eating them? delish!)

Have you ever drooled while watching a cooking show?

yes, multiple times (though, i prefer not to admit that!)

who hasn't?

Now you lucky ducks get to have "the sweetness passed on!" SO:

1. Sandra from The Barefoot Duchess

2. Julia at Through the Looking Glass

3. Camille at Forever Feminine

Enjoy, Ladies!

Shavuot {the jewish dairy holiday}

Coming up tonight? The Jewish Dairy Holiday, where we stay up all night and eat ice cream while we study.
 (Don't most High School students do that anyway?) ; D
But wait-- Shavuot isn't just about eating dairy and studying, it signifies something greater than that! Shavuot is the Jewish holiday that celebrates our receiving the Torah (otherwise known as the old testament). The story goes that Moses went up to Mount Sinai where G-d gave him the 'Ten' Commandments and the Torah, it is said that Moses spent 40 days on the top of that mountain, learning these commandments by heart, and then G-d dictated to Moses the Five Books of  Moses (or the words written in Torah scrolls). SO, this is why we celebrate Shavuot, to acknowledge the day when we were given the Torah.
  Now, why the dairy? We eat dairy because it is said that 'the Torah nurtures us like a mother's milk nurtures a baby', so to be even more nurtured on the celebratory day, we stay up all night and study Torah (so that the Torah may 'nurture' us) and we also eat lots and lots of dairy (I guess to symbolize that we are being nurtured by the Torah). I feel bad for those Jews who are lactose intolerant!
   Anyhow, looking forward to ice-cream until midnight!
To any Jews: HAPPY SHAVUOT!        To all others: I hope you learned something about Jewish tradition!

{this post has no name}

Let me tell you, there is absolutely NOTHING better than watching Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly for the one hundreth time, after dinner.

Then again, theres nothing worse than how tired one feels after staying up till 10:30, just to watch the best movie ever made.

Given this tiredness, I am quite unable to formulate comprehensive words for this blog post, hence: I might as well shut up while I'm ahead...but seriously, you should watch that movie!

Top Tens of spring

As spring comes to a close, I figured, everybody else always posts lists of some of their favorite things, so why not me? Therefore, dear readers, you are about to learn some of my favorite things about spring.

Top Ten Favorites of Spring

(not in any particular order)

1) The first flowers of the year

2) The smell after a rainstorm

(Unfortunately, people--me included-- don't usually take pictures of others playing in the mud, hence: I have no picture for number 3)

3) Putting one's feet in a nice slick mud puddle or in the dirt of a freshly hoed garden bed or the fresh mowed lawn

4) Having to wash ones feet before bed, due to how dirty one got them while playing outside

5) Actually, just playing outside

6) Lilacs.

7) Changing one's wardrobe from long to short sleeves,

8) Hearing children's laughter, wafting around the neighborhood...laaaaate into the evening,

9) Lying in the grass (or on the sidewalk) watching the birds (especially chimney swifts-not pictured, those are geese!),

10) Smelling the fresh earth and looking forward to summer!

What do you like about Spring? What are you looking forward to in the Summer?

Done, done, and done!

Whew!

That was really annoying to do, but just because I love you, I changed my blog. That said, I would love to hear what you think of it, so if you have any suggestions, any *compliments*, or anything else that you'd like to say, feel absolutely free to tell me (as long as criticism is creative and not harmful*)...I'd especially like feedback on the colors and the text font/size. SO please, please, please let me know if you think I Should change anything (because it wasn't that hard to do).

Thanks I <3 you amazing people

XOXO

*Creative criticism: I love that color of purple, it reminds my of  elephants eating green bananas!
                    Joking! Creative Criticism: I really like ___noun_____/ How you did____noun___.
             However _____noun___is really hard to read/____noun______might look better in __color__
    you get the idea, criticism should be counter parted by a (sincere) compliment...and no, I'm not fishing for compliments, as long as you say it nicely, say whatever you like [see elephant comment above].

new blog format?

For those of you who are slightly sane, please do not take offense at the following post, it seems that I've finally gone crazy!

It's kind of depressing, given that I will soon be needing to create a new blog (because I'm no longer homeschooling), that I am only now thinking of giving my blog a tiny bit of a makeover...but, I figured to heck with it! why not?
And just in case the world 'ends' again sometime in the near future, at least when we're all dead I can tell all the other dead people that I was productive, and I made my blog look nice...of course if I hang out with Vctorian people in heaven, they won't know what a blog is, but at least I can feel superior!

  Okaaay, now I really am starting to write like Edgar Allen Poe, I'm talking about dead people! (I hope i don't have a fever...)
   Nope no fever, anyhow, as long as we don't all die I the near future (which I certainly hope we don't), you can look forward to a possible change in my blog! Yay!

Sorry about that strange post, it seems that I'm feeling slightly out of sorts today...must be the heat!

Reaction Paragraph to "I Write Like"

While on the plane to visit family last week, I wrote a reaction paragraph to my 'I Write Like' experience...It actually came out quite well, so I figured that I'd post it!

    
   When somebody reads my writing, usually, they don't immediately after say, "oh! You write like Edgar Allen Poe!" In fact, people have never told me that I write like Edgar Allen Poe. I don't even want to hear that I write like him. To a happy anti-depression person who hated morbidity, like me, that could even be seen as an insult!
     So when the computer analyzed my writing and told me that I wrote like Edgar Allen Poe, my sensible reaction was: "Ummm, WHAT?!?!" Maybe I was overreacting, but I write like Edgar Allen Poe? I don't think so!
     But then I began to notice a similarity: we both use a lot of adjectives...however on second though, so does Jane Austen.
     Hmmm, Jane Austen, now there's someone who I might enjoy writing like. It's not that I have anything against good ol' Edgar, but--to put it frankly-- he is morbid, I am not!
     I briefly wonder what other authors I might write like. After being told that I write like a famous Canadian blogger and the woman who wrote gone with the wind, I'm still not quite satisfied. I think of long gowns at tea, and immediately I have an idea:

"'It is a fact universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.'
       As I opened the novel by Miss Jane Austen, I felt a thrill tremor through my body. How exciting it was to read a novel by one of the greatest female novelists of all time, and even more exhilarating: to memorize each line that Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and of course Caroline Bingley
     This was in fact my sole reason for reading Pride and Prejudice as many times as I had, I could not get enough of dear, prideful Lizzy, or handsome, prejudiced Mr. Darcy, and of course I treasured reading about their intricate and convoluted relationship.
    Somehow, I could identify with Elizabeth, who wasn't as beautiful as her eldest sister, but would certainly be considered a beauty. She who judged harshly (though not without reason) but who was also a compassionate, loving, and loyal sister. I envied the relationship between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet and how protective they were required to be towards their youngest sisters, and I felt a connection with all of their family, no matter how foolish and unabashed the two youngest sisters and their mother were.
    This is a novel of which I cannot pretend to get enough, and which shall be opened, and treasured, many more times during my life and the course of history"

I click the analyze button and hold my breath...the image that pops up on the screen 1.5 secounds later? "I write like Jane Austen". My sensible reaction? "YESSS! I've always wanted to write like Jane Austen" [my father walks in the room] "guess what?! I write like Jane Austen!"
     He's excited for me, I can tell...not bad being told that you write like one of the best female novelists of all time...it sort of boosts one's self confidence a couple degrees!
   Still if I ever publish a historical novel, what are the chances that someone will tell me, "Oh, you write like Jane Austen!"?
  After reading that last (morbid/depressing) paragraph, Edgar Allen Poe may be more likely.