Splendid

it's beginning to look a lot like All Hallow's Eve...

Halloween is hand's down my most favorite holiday!  You get to dress up, eat candy, get to have scary fun, and there's not as much pressure as Christmas or even Easter. And I LOVE some of my Halloween decorations, especially the Lori Mitchell and Bethany Lowe, their vintage-inspired whimsicalness makes me smile.

 

 

 

I made this All Hallow's Eve banner a few weeks ago. I think it was a Making Memories kit...

 
 

As some of you know we are moving to Mexico in a couple months (right after Xmas when my Hub's Visa is complete) and we'll be keeping our house here in Philly, renting an apartment in Mexico. I'm excited to learn Spanish better, and my girls I'm sure will become fluent in the 2 years we'll be there. We'll be coming home (to the west coast) more I think, just because I'm pretty sure I'll be needing a dose of my American roots more than living here on the east coast.  I'll miss my grand ol' house, but we're keeping it and we'll have it to come back to later.

This last weekend I scrapbooked a bit with my mom. I loved it just being the girls hanging out, crafting and laughing. McKaylah was crafting secretly under the table making me a birthday present (it's coming up November 5th, but I'll be excepting presents thereafter as well...) I love having my mom here.  I hope I always have the special bond that I have with my girls now, and the way I always had it and still do with my mom.   

  

here's the two layouts I finished (x3).

The Amish Country, from our trip out to Lancaster a couple weeks ago.

 

Lady Liberty, from our trip up to see the Little Lady a couple weeks ago.  

 

Then Saturday night I went out with Ana and Sarah to a benefit Urban Outfitters hosted again.  An Autumn Carnival theme and it was beautiful!  They had a huge big top and booths like ring toss, darts, skee ball, caricatures, photo booths (yay!), bucking bull rides (go Sarah, she kicks a*# on it!) and the food was so delish!  The pumpkin mousse was divine! Here's some of our photo-booth shenanigans...

Ana walked us through the Free People design offices (Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters are next door.) It's like a girls' dream...pretty freakin' rad! I can't wait to be her personal assistant one day ;)

My mom leaves tomorrow, I'm bummed.  I'll see her in a couple months, but the 4 1/2 weeks she's been here has been AWESOME!  I'm so lucky to have her. But Halloween is this Friday and we'll have a small trick-or-treating shin-dig here with Ana and fam and Sarah and fam, then it's election day (so exciting) and then my b-day (mucho excellante!) and then my BF Lainie comes for a week visit!  Fantastico! (see, I'm practically fully bilingual!) 

That's all folks! Have a tubular week!

Until she met her...

Anyone who knows me knows I think Anne Taintor  is the bees knees, with all my being.  I often judge if I'll be good friends with someone if we can connect on the Anne Taintor factor, sort of like a Litmus Test...Do they appreciate her funky humor and the lovely retro pictures she uses? If not, I know then we will never be friends...This one I did late last night when I should have been sleeping.

(Sarah, Lainie, Rose...here's one for you AT fans...)

 

 

Have a tubular day!

Statue of Liberty

We went last Wednesday to see the Statue of Liberty. What an amazing site!  She's more than I had expected.  We had our good friends Sarah, Chris, Gryphon and Ruby join us. The kids loved her and liked climbing the 300+ stairs up into her base. 

It was surreal to come around the bend of Ellis Island on the ferry and see her standing there, looking out of the New York Harbor.  I thought of all the immigrants that had witnessed her the same way, the sun glinting off her face and crown, their hopes of a new, brighter future laying ahead. 

   

Ava and Ruby, best friends, enjoying the view

the original stained glass torch, now on display inside the museum

Rose in front of her foot, a real life reproduction

The Manhattan skyline behind us, standing on the Statue's look-out deck

 Ava wouldn't pose, but we posed for peace!

Apples

Here's my latest layout I did this morning before school.  These pictures were from our apple picking trip with a group of other homeschool families to New Hope, Pennsylvania.  What a beautiful farm! 

What do Photobooths and the Amish have in common?

Absolutely nothing...

My mom and I went to the photobooth for a snapshot together (not Photobooth Friday, but Photobooth Sunday for us.)

 

 

We went to Lancaster yesterday to finish off a homeschool project we had done on the Amish and cultural diversity. 

While we love to take pictures, be in pictures, scrapbook and in general love photography, the Amish believe it is an abomination to be in a photograph.  They often have only calenders or cloth hangings on their walls. They believe having the likeness of a person is morally wrong and so they'll have animals or landscapes, but not men or women. 

 

at the Amish Village Museum.  They had a tour of an old Amish homestead, a small farm and a couple carriages that the Amish would use today.

the roosters and chickens

We took the tour of an Amish house 200 years ago, and how it's not much different now. The Amish are beautiful in their simplicity.  Simplicity in that they don't get caught up in today's media or trends.  Simple that they work hard, but are simply content in getting done what just must be done, not soccer games, fast dinners thrown in the oven, endless emails and cell phone convos. I think the average day must be pretty labor-intensive for the regular Amish person in their everyday chores.  They don't use electricity, no tv's, computers, radios, etc. They farm most of their food and sell a lot to the community and companies, while keeping a distance personally.  They have old customs they still practice, like the men must shave every day until they are married, then they let their beards grow, the longer the bread, the longer they've been married.  The woman must always cover their hair with a bonnet and there are different outfits they must wear at different stages.  It was really interesting and I hold the highest respect while taking a glimpse into these private, devout peoples' lives.

here's a baker's cabinet, hand quilted potholders, flour sifter, baking tools

the sewing machine even now a days

what would be a child's bedroom.  They use pegs on the walls as they don't want to waste any space on doors or closets. 

a quilting frame

peacocks are the "sirens"or alarms on Amish farms.  When a stranger approaches, they let out a loud scream, alerting the household.

 

getting ready to go on a horse and buggy ride through the farm-side and to an Amish farm with a store open to the public.  The family sold quilts, potholders, children's clothes, jams and jellies in every flavor, vinegared cauliflower and peppers, handmade wooden toys, etc.  I put my camera away when we approached the farm, as like I mentioned, the Amish don't care for photography and find it offensive when "the English" attempt to take their picture.    

another buggy comes our way, these were some "English."

the Amish Farmstead we visited.  We toured their barn where they house their carriages and animals, and then the barn where they painstakingly harvest the tobacco they grow.  It's amazing the amount of work needed by all family members to get the crops harvested correctly.

on the way back.  The girls were so thankful for their experience.  I was too.  What a beautiful farmland, what a beautiful way of life.

Donde esta el bano?

Okay, I don't know how I can do the upside down question mark for my question title above, or add the accent mark above my n.

But I just got back from Mexico City last night.  Wow! Wow! and Wow! I thought Philadelphia was big.  I thought NYC was big.  I felt pretty overwhelmed the first couple days we were there.  So many people, traffic and buildings.  While greener and more lush than I'd expected, it still is a lot to take in.

We be moving down there in a month and a half, but spend the holidays back on the west coast.  We're keeping our 100 year old house in Philly, returning once our trip south of the border is done. I'll miss my house, my yard, our quaint, lovely neighborhood, our friends and neighbors.  I'll miss spending warm summer nights sipping cocktails on my big, ol' porch, hoola hooping with Sarah and discovering new historical places on homeschool trips on the east coast.  I'll miss hearing Matty's jokes with southern twang and swim parties late into the night with Joe and Ana.  I'll miss laughing with our homeschool friends and the beautiful northeast landscape.

We are looking forward to a new adventure though.  While big cities are really not my thing (and hey, let's face it, Mexico City is the biggest city in the world) I know this can be a fantastic time in our lives with the right attitude.  My hubby is already fluent, but I am still a novice in the Spanish language.  But I know with instruction and being immersed in it, I'll pick it up. I think it's a real gift we're giving our girls to learn Spanish and get to travel to areas we would probably never get to see.  While places like Cancun or Cabo sound tropically delightful, what I'm really looking forward to is things such as Casa Azul, the pyramids of Tula and Teotihuacan, northern adobes, Museo National de Antropologia and the floating gardens of Xochimilco, to name just a few on my list.  In the coming months we will have the opportunities to travel to Costa Rica and other parts of Central America.

If anyone out there knows of other good places to see, please drop me a line!

We found a nice apartment in a part of Mexico City called Lomas by Chapultepec Park (like a Central Park.) Security was a factor in choosing where we'd live and I wanted safety to walk the streets if we wanted to.  While I haven't lived in an apartment since college and don't relish the idea, I have to say this apartment complex is just dandy for us.  There's a "backyard" with a huge play structure and treehouse, a basketball court, manicured laws for hoola hooping, a paved rink for riding bikes or rollerskating, a gorgeous swimming pool, a top notch gym, a sauna and steam room, racquetball court, billiards room, a massage room for the weekend massage therpist, a play room for kids 4-12 with 2 young ladies on staff all day to do arts-crafts and play games, a dry cleaning drop-off/pick-up booth, a mini-mart in the basement...yeah, I really wouldn't have to go anywhere if I didn't want to...

the "backyard"

the pool, well, part of it, and a view of the complex. We're at the top; penthouse, baby! 

  a house not too far from our apartment

  even in Mexico, on each corner, they're here...

Dave in Lincoln Park, by his office

Well, chicos y chicas, it's late, and I'm muy consado...

Wordy Wednesday

My friend Sarah and I had been mulling over ideas for improving our aging "mama" brains.  Sometimes I feel anyways, that while I love being at home all day homeschooling my children, my brain lacks adult stimulating conversation. Sometimes I feel like it's snow up there, ya know, like a tv without reception.  I had mentioned to Sarah that my vocabulary in particular could need some sprucing up. We decided to add a new word to our blog every Wednesday, making it "Wordy Wednesday." 

And now, without further adieu, my word is...

sojourn -

"I hope to see Casa Azul next week in my sojourn to Mexico."

The American Heritage College Dictionary has this definition, "to reside temporarily, a brief stay of residence, temporary stay"

Of you'd like to play, add a post called Wordy Wednesday and if you want, links to other players.  It's fun to see what others are saying, or wanting to say...