Pictures from the DIA

P.S This is the book background. I like this one just as much as the other map background, so I would appreciate it a lot if you said which you like best.

P.P.S. Here are some pictures of my escapades below

Woman in an Arm Chair by Renoir

Zephyr Dancing with Flora by Giovanni Benzoni

Diego Rivera Mural

The Piazza San Marco, Venice by Canaletto

copy on the left, forgery on the right

Thanksgiving Break and Harry Potter!!!!!!

I can't believe that it's already the fourth day in my Thanksgiving vacation! As you know, this year we get the whole week off for Thanksgiving break, while normally, we would have to go to school today and yesterday. On Friday, my family and my sister's friend went to see the latest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. We came 45 minutes early to ensure our good seats. The show started at 5:45 PM, but my sister and I came straight from school. We stayed after for Green Group, which is the club at our school that does all the recycling. What with it being Thanksgiving break and the Harry Potter movie, there were only about six or seven people. It was also the week for collecting paper (we do it every other week), so that added even more time. I don't know if it was just the lack of people, but there seemed to be a ton more bottles to sort out and paper to collect than usual. It was strange. We were supposed to meet my mom at home, then pick up my sister's friend, but we ended up not having enough time, so we picked up my sister's friend (which we had never been to before, and hadn't had time to look up the address) and drove straight to the theater. We actually got there before my mom, brother and his friend. Let me tell you, the movie was well worth the wait and confusion! It was exciting and almost nothing was left out. Many of the sets were just as I had imagined them when I first read the book (which was when it was first released). And even though I knew when they were going to split the book into two films (I read the spoiler on the Internet), my dad didn't, and it kept him guessing. As my friend put it, I won't be complete until the second part comes out in six months! I can't wait!
On Saturday, we didn't really do anything exciting, but on Sunday, my sister, mom and I went out to see the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art). We had tickets to see this new exhibit about Forgeries and how the museum catches them, which was pretty interesting. It explained the difference between a copy, in the style of (both not meant to deceive), and a forgery (which is meant to deceive). Let's just say that some were better forgeries than others. After that, we walked around and viewed the permanent exhibits. There was a ton of stuff that we didn't have the time to see, but we did see the European art, Impressionism, Modern art, African American art, and the Diego Rivera mural, which is my favorite. I must have been a guard/docent magnet, because was told twice that I wasn't allowed to take picture. Apparently, you can't take pictures on temporary exhibits (although they were all fakes... I mean, really!) or pictures in the permanent exhibits that are on loan to the museum. After my first telling off, I didn't know that I could take pictures of the permanent exhibits (at least what the museum owns, but I didn't know that either, at the time), so I would sneakily take pictures of the ones I liked, making sure that there were no guards around. By the end of our visit, my feet hurt! Even with some unpleasant experiences, I still enjoyed viewing all the art (especially the Impressionists). After we left the museum, we went to this crepe restaurant called Good Girls Go to Paris Crepes. At first, we couldn't find it because the address we had wasn't totally accurate, but once we were there, it was nice. I got the "Liz", which has nutella, blueberries, and strawberries. Yum!
After the excitement of Sunday, Monday was relatively boring. My sister invited a friend over, so that they could work on some AP chem take home test, which they work on for several hours. After she left (and my sister went to work), my parents and I went to the mall. Apparently, they wanted to buy two more place settings from Williams-Sonoma, but I still ended up getting a pair of jeans from Gap. Score! We arrived at home just as my sister was pulling in the driveway. She was none too happy that we went to the mall without her. In the evening, we watched a bunch of episodes of Glee (from the first season) while eating dinner. So, now you are officially caught up until today. This morning, my mom woke us up at around 11 AM. I don't think that I've ever slept that late. Maybe once when I was up until the wee hours of the morning, but I don't remember it. The plan was to go to Ann Arbor to buy some groceries from Whole Foods, drop off our recycling, and get some stuff from Zingerman's, and get back before my sister had to go to work at 3 PM. It didn't really work out that way. All we accomplished in that span of time was shopping at a vintage store called The Getup (which I had weaseled into the plans) and Urban Outfitters (which was right next to the vintage clothing store) and going to Zingerman's (which my parents did while my sister and I were at the vintage store). I ended up getting two vintage dresses from the 50's, a blue and white polka-doted skirt from the 60's and a pair of cat-eyed sun glasses. Although some people without refined tastes (Ahem! my sister and brother) think vintage clothing is weird, I enjoy wearing it. I was quite happy with my finds, and the people at the store were very nice. Once we were able to drag ourselves out of Ann Arbor to get my sister to work, albeit late, my parents dropped me off at home, and went back out to do the grocery shopping and drop off the recycling, which they are still doing. As far as tomorrow and Thanksgiving goes, I'll explain our tradition after the fact, as to not extend this post any longer. Happy almost-Thanksgiving!!!

Harry Potter and Anonymous 4

Today was one of the many days that we have off in the month of November. This time it was for parent-teacher conferences. Both my parents went, and, no surprise, my teachers were glowing about me. My french teach practically loves me; she even said that when I ask questions, I anticipate what she's going to teach. I'm not sure that I remember that, but okay... They all said that I was quiet, too. Is that really a bad thing? Do they really want loud, rambunctious kids? When my dad was talking to me about it he wondered how they thought my sister and I were quite. We just laughed. But even though I had the day off, it seems that I didn't really accomplish anything. I have been working on my honors homework all day (surprise, surprise). We had to answer a bunch of question about our personal concepts of Transcendentalism, like "How do you demonstrate that you are an individual" or "How are you affected by nature?" Very philosophical stuff, which is the kind of stuff that I don't really like. But, what are you going to do?
Last weekend was kind of busy, but interesting, as well. On Saturday, we had the usual Science Olympiad practices all day. After everyone left, my family and I went out to Target and the grocery store. I swear, commercialism has taken over Christmas. Target was fully decked out in their Christmas decorations, and I wanted to scream. I hate all these Christmas songs and decoration even before Thanksgiving. Christmas should stay in December!!! If you haven't already noticed, this is kind of my pet peeve. At Costco, they had Christmas things out before Halloween!!! I know, it's crazy! Anyway, on Sunday, I had piano for the second week in a row so that we were totally free during the Thanksgiving break. Usually, we go every other week, but not this month. We were going to stay in Ann Arbor because we had tickets to see the Anonymous 4 concert in a church in Ann Arbor, but we decided to go home, and then come back later. For those ignorant of what Anonymous 4 (as I was a few weeks ago...), it is a group of four women singing medieval songs/chants. When I described it to my friend, she said it sounded like a cult, but I swear, it isn't! The concert was pretty cool, although it was in Latin and the church pews were really hard - my but hurt afterwards. After the concert, we went to Zingerman's to get some half priced bakery goods, and then walked around a few stores around there that were still open. I got to drive home.
Now that we are done with past events, let's talk Harry Potter! As you probably know, the first half of the last movie is coming out this Friday, and we are going to see it. My dad is taking off work early so we can go right after school gets out. My parents wouldn't allow us to go to the midnight showing, which some of my friends are going to, and I wouldn't really want to anyway. By the time everything is said and done, you only get a few hours of sleep, because we do have school on Friday. If it was over Thanksgiving break, then I might have considered it. As you can tell, I'm super excited!!!! I can't wait - I'll make sure you get all the details of that momentous (too strong a word?) night.

My Ode to "Sherlock"

Last night, we watched the third and last episode (so far??) of Sherlock, on PBS Masterpiece Mystery. For those who don't know what Sherlock is about, can't deduce what it's about, or have been living under a rock for the past month or so and have missed the raving reviews in the newspaper, Sherlock is a modern re-telling of the classic detective story Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock and Dr. Watson live in modern-day London as flatmates at the same address, 22B Baker Street. Because they live together, it is always suggested that they are gay, which they (mostly Dr. Watson) refute every time. Sherlock is the world's first consulting detective, as he calls himself, and helps the police solve crimes using his powers of observation, as well as modern-day technologies, such as cell phones and the Internet. They have only made three episodes, but the ending of the last was such a cliff-hanger that there has to be more episodes!!!! Yes, those four exclamation points were necessary. Sherlock is that good. I would definitely recommend it. The actor who plays Sherlock, Benedict Cumberpatch, was in this other Masterpiece Contemporary show, The Last Enemy, which I thought was stupid, but his acting in both have been superb.
In other news, we had our second Science Olympiad Friday practice/pizza night, where we watched Prince of Persia. It was very interesting, albeit quite inaccurate for the time period, but hey, it's fiction. Spoiler Alert (skip to next paragraph if you don't want to read): The ending was kind of stupid, though. Basically, the whole movie, except for the very beginning, didn't happen because time was wound back, and only the main character knew that. But it was good from the point that the bad guy died before he could have killed all the good people (the main character's brothers, father, and girlfriend), which happened in the course of the movie. We all had a good time watching it, though.
I don't think I've mentioned it before, but we had school off today for the end of the marking period. I love November. It's the only month in the school year where we don't have any full weeks of school, and have more days off than we go to school. We even have a whole week off for Thanksgiving break, which is something that we've never had before. Usually, we get off the day before Thanksgiving, but this year we also have the Monday and Tuesday before that off, as well. My mom, sister and I are driving out to Pittsburgh on Sunday so that my sister can check out the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon. While we're there, we are going to visit my cousin, who attends University of Pittsburgh. My dad and brother are staying home, which is going to be weird. I think we've only traveled once without my dad, and never without my brother. Finally, we'll get some peace and quiet (kidding). And that's pretty much the extent of what I know about these plans. When I know more, you will know more.

P.S. I will be changing the background every so often. Although I like the grass/dandelion one, it seems too summery. I've changed it to a map background for now. There is also a book one and a few others that I might try before coming to my final choice. I would be extremely appreciative it if you would comment or vote on which background you like the best. Thanks.