Fresh Inkpot

We finally did it! Heather & I put the finishing touched on our new business website & got it up and running & sent out to friends & family. Check us out at:

http://www.freshinkpot.com/

We're selling 2 types of journals, and also a "letter from Santa" for kids. Kind of fun for the holidays! More to come. :)

Vibe

I've had a hard time explaining what it is about Barack Obama that makes me not only want to vote for him, but believe in him. Of course, I agree with most of his policies. And for those I don't agree with him on, I know that John McCain wouldn't have anything better to offer. But I've felt much more connected in this election than I have in the last two (those I could have voted in).

My friend Maria gave me her Vibe magazine to read, because the editor, Danyel Smith, had once again written her endorsement for Obama, and he had written a letter back to Vibe readers. Her entire letter is here: http://www.vibe.com/magazine/editors_letter/2008/10/the_endorsement_vibe_magazine/

What really struck me though is this one sentence:
"We value freedome and aspire to be better than we are, and to live in a country that will be better than it is."

I think this sums up why Obama appeals to me so much. It's not about what he can get done in Washington, because no President ever has the power to do everything he wants (and honestly, that's a good thing). But his appeal is in what he wants to do, not only for the country, but for the younger generation who are finally seeing someone who gets them.

You Can Vote However You Like

I love this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxlwYP0HNdc

Enjoy!

Goldwater Fights On

I thought this was an interesting and insightful article from CC Goldwater, granddaughter of Barry Goldwater. Basically, she talks about why she will not be supporting McCain, despite the fact that she's a Goldwater and from Arizona.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cc-goldwater/why-mccain-has-lost-our-v_b_137150.html

Hopes & Dreams

I just got a forward, with this picture & title of Barack Obama. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE him. I am definitely pinning my hopes and dreams on his presidency. He just makes me believe in everything good that we are and can be. Sigh. I wish it was November 5 already.

---------------

What must it feel like?
To carry the hopes and dreams of millions in our country on your shoulders?

Home

So I was reading www.wonkette.com (my fav political gossip site) and they had a link to some news spot called "Foreclosure Alley." It's a piece about what happens when a home is forclosed on, the companies that come in to clean them out, the city workers who have to empty the pools, even a guy who comes and spray paints the lawns green to give them more "curb appeal." It's sad. I'm at work, and had to stop the video around the 4:30 mark to give myself a couple of seconds. But it's worth watching, because this is what the economy is doing to people.

http://kcet.org/socal/2008/09/foreclosure-alley.html

Recap

It's been awhile, and I've actually done a ton this summer! Sara & I took a cross country road trip adventure, and blogged all about it at http://backpack-adventures.blogspot.com/. I was home for a few days, which was great, and went to my friend Stephanie's wedding in Malibu. My sister Heather worked on a play called Winter, which was put on at The Culver Studios.

Overall, it was a great summer. But I just can't believe it's already October! I mean, wow.

Cragsmoor, NY

This weekend I went up to Cragsmoor, NY, with my dad & grandpa. It's a small town on a mountain about 90 miles north of NYC, where my grandpa was born & lived until he was 18 and went off to college. My aunt Ann is looking to buy a house there now, so we went to check it out and see the village. We got to meet a bunch of people and see some pretty cool places all around the area.

This is the house my aunt wants to buy. It's got 2 bedrooms, a 1-bedroom cottage on the property and lots of land in the backyard. There's also a view of 2 separate mountain ranges. Oh, and I saw a snake out back when we were walking around - yikes!

The Ellenville Reformed Church, where my grandma and grandpa got married in 1941. The ceremony was actually in the portion of the building on the right of the church. The sign out front declares that the first service held here was in 1841.

We visited Mohonk Mountain House. It's this huge resort built in 1869 up in the mountains on Lake Mohonk. Lot's of activities (golf, hiking, swimming, horse-back riding, etc.) and beautiful views all around.

On Saturday we went to the annual Birdcage party in Cragsmoor. It's a benefit for the Cragsmoor Free Library, and everyone puts their donations in the birdcage hanging from the tree. Everyone brings a dish to set out and share, and it's held at a different home around town each year. This year it was at Tom Gale's house, next to the Stone Church.

When we got back to NY we went to visit Ellis Island. They have a great museum there to explore and learn more about the immigration process throughout the years.

On the boat over to Ellis Island.

Grandpa had the names of our relatives who came through Ellis Island put on the wall, so we spent some time finding them all.

MLK

I know I'm a couple of days behind the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination. But I was reading a comment on Wonkette, and it really reminded me of how much we lost. The commenter (is that a word?) pointed out that:

MLK was 26 when he organized the Montgomery Bus boycott, 34 when he gave his "I Have A Dream" speech, 35 when he won the Nobel Peace Prize and 39 when he was assassinated.

He always seemed older to me, probably because he did so much and was already such a legend.

Elephants on Parade (in NYC)!

I've heard about Elephant Walk for a couple of years now, and this year a bunch of us decided we wanted to go. Even though it's at midnight. On a Tuesday. And they always run late.

Elephant Walk is that magical time of year when Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey's Circus comes into town. In order to get the elephants into town they walk them (and the horses) through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and along 34th Street to Madison Square Garden.

So, back to this year. Sara, Kate, Sean & I were going to go. But then Sara got hurt (sad) and then Sean & Kate couldn't go. So I went on my own! I decided to just take the 6 straight up and stand at 34th & Park, which provided me with a beautiful view of the Empire State Building. Got a couple of good shots of it lit up and thought it would be a great backdrop for the elephants when they came. Yeah, I didn't realize it shuts off at midnight!


The elephants were late (of course) and didn't show up until close to 1 a.m. But it gave me some time to call and chat with my sister (hi Heidi!) and listen to the group next to me who thought it would be fun to discuss, in detail, every single tidbit they had ever heard about elephants. Did you know they can rip up trees with their trunks? And they mourn their dead. And also, their teeth grow in 10 year spurts (or something - I sort of tuned out about then).

Finally. The crowd down the street is going wild, flashes are going off, the elephants are coming! And then....they're gone. It was really just about that fast. My careful staging & planning completely went out the window when I realized it was a quicky elephant train, not a slow, lumbering, sauntering train that would allow me ample time to set up a shot, click off a couple of frames and move on to the next. So no tall building backdrops, no "34th & Park" signs behind the elephants, nothing like that. Just down and dirty quick shooting.


But they were super cute and they really do walk holding the tail of the one in front of them! Yay!

I have to cheer for Princeton now!

I love, love, love this new program Princeton is looking at instituting. They want to send about 10% of their incoming freshman to do a year of service somewhere in the world-before they even get to school! It's basically a gap year, but they would help with financial aid and it would be set up through them. Genious! Why couldn't this have been in place when I went to college? Not that I would have gotten into Princeton, but still. I hope other universities follow suit. It makes so much sense, and could actually do some good-both in the foreign countries and for the kids going.

I do agree with some of the reader comments, though, that some domestic service would be nice as well. Maybe let kids choose?

Read the NY Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/education/19educ.html

Fun Little Game

Thanks to DailyCandy I just came across this fun little game online called Free Rice. It's a vocab game (for all you nerds out there - and yes, I'm including myself in that) and for every word you correctly define the advertisers donate 20 grains of rice. It's kind of addictive and an easy way to give something. Yay!