Gobble?

We aren't in South Jersey anymore Toto. Or are we?

Yesterday on my walk to class I saw one peculiar site.

Yes, those are turkeys. 7 turkeys. In Brookline. Massachusetts.

**That mansion looking building in the background is Wheelock's grad school, um yeah I go to school in a mansion**

Last time I checked Brookline wasn't the country or a turkey farm. But apparently this is a common site in this here neck of the woods.

I also learned, minutes after getting up in the grill of this turkey, that they can be crazy turkeys and chase you down so it's a good idea to not get too close. Oh, well, I'll keep that in mind from now on.

Someone may want to warn them that Thanksgiving is less than two months away...

You have to use it to fall in love with it....

I remember when my uncle and his family got Tivo around five years ago. I had to try it, but was skeptical.

Yes, pausing live tv so you could go grab a snack or answer the phone sounded interesting but I had my questions.

For example:

Of you pause and then un pause the tv how do you ever catch up? right, fast forwarding or that amazing LIVE button....

Then I tried using the Tivo, interesting, but still I was more sold on the old VCR we had at home.

Then my dad got a DVR (so much more amazing than Tivo, in my opinion). and I began to like this amazing machine. Want to see David Beckham's goal again, well why don't you rewind and watch for the 542th time, why yes I will.

Then, my mom and I moved again and one of my compromises, shall we say, was to get a DVR for one of our TVs.

Well, I have never seen my mother so excited about anything related to television!

So now I have my own DVR, seriously how did I ever live without it? I can make sure that Glee, Fringe, Big Bang Theory, and Melissa & Joey are set to record ALL season long. Not home to it record no problem! Man, this thing rocks!

Ok, I really just wrote a blog about DVR... I am going to outline a paper for a class to bring my IQ back up to where it was when I started this post....

Show Us Your Life - Bedroom

Welcome to part 2 of my home tour, which is part of the larger Show Us Your Life being hosted by Kelly over at Kelly's Korner - this week is the master bedroom part of the tour.

Well, I only have one bedroom - master bedroom it is!

I love my room here. I just moved in 3 weeks ago and after a year in a studio apartment I am loving have a room in which I get to sleep. Rather than sleeping, eating, studying, etc all in one room!

This is looking in from the hallway. I am digging the hardwood floors. I have two hall rugs around my bed which are working great now (we'll see what I think in December!).

This is above my bed. I have been collecting postcards of art for ages and love making my own little museum gallery on my walls!
This is my bed. It along with everything except my sheets (no joke) are from IKEA. Truth be told you actually cannot see the bed frame under there but this is the one I have - click here.

This is a really cool class hanging my mom bought in Israel on her last trip. It has different words like "life" and "luck" and "happiness" I love seeing it hanging in my window everyday.

My dresser - of course, it's IKEA. I love it, it's the first time I have a long dresser versus a tall dresser and I am enjoying having more surface space for knicknacks on top of it. Also blue is my color. Above it I have a collection of some of my favorite comics so I always remember to laugh!

These are great - one is a quote from Hellen Keller and the other is an advertisement saying how important art education is.

And there is nothing wrong with waking up to seeing David Beckham's body, right? Or falling asleep looking at it either!

I got funky with my window treatment! It's a shower curtain! And I bought some cute kiddie hooks to place it on a spring loaded rod. Cheap and different!

This is one of my pictures on my dresser. It's my sister and I at her Bat Mitzvah when she was 13 and I was 6. I have my graduation tassel on it since I haven't found another place for it yet.

This is the two of us at my bat mitzvah - this is a classic family pose! We even did it on her wedding day!

This is my beside table. The picture is my mom when she was pregnant with my sister and it's so special to me to have by my bed. The little notebook is my gratitude journal - I write 5 things I am grateful for each night before bed, a great way to end the day with some perspective! And my book, I am reading "Shades of Grey" by Jasper Fforde, one of my favorite authors.

Thanks for joining the tour!

I've been tagged!

I am way to excited to have been "tagged" for the first time on my blog! Shannon at Sincerely Shannon tagged me and I get to answer 8 questions she has come up with and then tag other wonderful bloggers and ask them 8 new questions!

So here we go....

1. Do you like Starbucks? And are you a fan of their seasonal coffees?

-- Eh, yeah, one I am not a huge coffee drinker to begin with. And two, their coffee is so dark and bitter to me. I prefer a smoother brew if I am going to have, aka I am a Dunkin' Donuts coffee person. But...I do like a nice pumpkin spice latte. But in all seriousness I just like those holiday red cups!

2. How do you decorate and prepare for fall?

-- I have never been a fall decorating person, and neither was my family growing up! We'd decorate our sukkah with gords and pumpkins and Indian corn and lots of other fallish type decorations, but once Sukkot is over we take them down. We do have fun things for the Thanksgiving table!

3. Will you participate in your college's homecoming activities?

-- Well, my graduate school is very very small, it has some sports teams, but no homecoming (their freshman undergraduate class is at an all time high of 295 students). And my undergraduate alma mater is also on the smaller side and has no big homecoming per say. No football team at either... So I guess I'll root for Boston U. this year or Harvard or both!

4. What is your favorite fall clothing item of accessory?

-- I love when I can start wearing my North Face fleeces regularly, I am obsessed with them. I also love when I can start wearing scarves, they are just so warm and cosy. I am not an Ugg girl and I have never taken to the boots fad, so fleece and scarves it is!

5. What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

-- I have only Trick-or-Treated once... And I was 19... We didn't celebrate it growing up, we didn't even give out candy. Yes. We were that family and to top it off we lived in the neighborhood to go to for trick-or-treating. But, I never felt like I missed out on anything! I am not a costume fan. When I did go when my friends and I went as Publisher's Clearing House so my "costume" was just slacks and a blouse!

6. Do you like Halloween/Horror movies? Do you have a favorite?

-- Hm, a tough one! Oh, I have to watch "Hocus Pocus" each year! And I am not sure if this counts but I love the "Corpse Bride" too. Horror movies, no thank you! When I was 7, "Home Alone" gave me nightmares and a serious phobia of burglars (no worries I am over that now and find that movie adorable!). But I will go now where near movies like "Saw" and "The Others."

7. What is your favorite fall activity?

-- Fly Eagles Fly! Of course I cannot always get their games on TV since I am not in the immediate Philly area, but go Eagles!! I also love the World Series, fall baseball is so fun, and maybe next year the Red Sox will have a chance! I haven't been apple picking in years but it screams fall! But, probably my favorite is just taking a walk under the beautiful colored leaves and soaking in crisp fall air!

8. What is your favorite fall recipe?

-- Oo - I love cooking, especially fall recipes! My favorite fall soup is a tie between Cream of Carrot soup and Potato Leek soup. I love Molly Katzen's Veggie Stew (cooking that up tonight!) and I love a recipe we have called Cajun Tilapia Stew (oo so good!). And my favorite fall desert is apple and pear crisp! Okay, now I'm hungry!

That was fun! Now it's my turn to come up with 8 questions....

1. What movie coming out soon are you looking forward to seeing?

2. What will you miss most about summer?

3. When do you start your holiday shopping?

4. Favorite exercise/activity?

5. Best book you've read lately?

6. Do you make your bed everyday?

7. If you could choose a personal chef over a personal shopper, which would you choose?

8. And which tv show are you most excited for this fall?

And tag your it to...

Rachel at Moments with My Miracles

Renee at My Special Ks

Katherine at Grass Stains

Carrie at Live, Learn, and Love Together

Kelly at Kelly's Korner

and because I don't know very many bloggers I am stopping there, lame I know!

I Heart Smirks

This weeks theme over at I Heart Faces is smirks. I was up in the air for which picture to choose and decided that I like this smirk the best.

This picture is actually now 2.5 years old. My dad used to do photography professionally and took a series of photos of me as test shots before taking photos for a operetta group one night.

There is just something about my smirk there and my eyes, I am thinking something, and for the life of me cannot remember, but I know that is my deep in thought look!

Cannot believe that was March 2008!

To check out more smirks head on over to I Heart Faces!

There's always time for baseball!

It's a no brainer that a Red Sox game at Fenway Park would be in order upon moving to Boston. So clearly it made perfect sense to go a mere 24 hours after pulling up to my apartment! To say I was excited would have been a slight understatement!

We entered right below the Green Monster! This was also one of the areas around Fenway featured frequently in the movie "Fever Pitch" - you got with in 1 mile of the area and the atmosphere just said "RED SOX!"

Once we got in I set off to take pictures. The Sox were playing Tampa Bay - big rival, especially since the Rays and the Yankees are sorta kinda maybe clobbering the Sox in the standings this year...

John Lester was pitching. I had been to two other Sox games, and never had seen him pitch, so that was pretty neat. He did a great job, after a rocky start.

Hello Wally! Seriously, a cute mascot! I mean, that Philly Phanatic just gives me the creeps.

Warm-up pow wow. Number 60 is Daniel Nava. I was so happy to see him play! In his first majorly game (and game with the Sox), at his first at bat, and at the first ball pitched to him he hit a GRAND SLAM - um yeah, totally has Sox potential!

The ringmaster from the Ringling circus sang the anthem. He did a great rendition but the best was the Rays fan behind us going to his friend, "Wait, why is he singing here in Boston, come on the circus is from Sarasota! Traitors!"

They also honored Luis Tiant who was about to turn 70. He is a famous Sox pitcher. He threw out a ceremonial pitch to David Ortiz. Ortiz had originally come up near the grass (like they tend to do for ceremonial pitches) and Tiant stood on the mound and shooed Ortiz back behind the plate! He proved his arm is in fine shape at 70!

And the game began! The top of the first was rocky for Lester. It was 1-0 by the third out, it took him some time to find his groove...

And then the Sox were at bat, and it took the Rays pitcher so long to find his groove he was removed before the end of the inning! The Sox had back to back homers and it was 3-1 before long!

It was thumbs up by the 4th inning - the Sox had been blasting balls out of the park and it was 11 - 2!

It seriously was a great night. The final score was 12-5 - and it was so amazing to stand there and sing "Sweet Caroline" with the rest of the fans and soak in the atmosphere!

Jonathan Papelbon came into to finish the game. He has a crazy pitching style - he looks to the ground as he lets go of the pitch. So he essentially lets go of the pitch without looking at the target. Pretty neat-o.

Here's to more games at Fenway!!

A Good Kind of Assessment!

Here it is, 2 hours before Yom Kippur comes in. Two hours before we spend 25 hours praying to Hashem to give us a seal for a good year.

With that comes the need to assess ones self. And this got me thinking this year. As a future teacher all I hear about and learn about is how we assess kids, why we assess kids, why we assess kids again, again and again, and again. True, these assessments are good and bad, annoying and productive (at times). And help set goals.

But, what about the self assessment we do on Yom Kippur.

We aren't trying to compare to the others around us, we aren't competing for anything, but we are assessing what we've learned in the past year so we can set goals for the coming year.

This assessment is so important. It's not about filling in the right bubble, but about comprehending who we are as a person and being able to have the ability to analyze one's self and figure out what works, what doesn't and what needs to change.

Yom Kippur has always been a hard day for me. As a child and actually up until recently I took the day so seriously and was a nervous wreck. But now, with this new mind set, I think that Yom Kippur will have so much more meaning. I really hope that over the next 25 hours I can really evaluate myself and set some meaningful goals for the coming year.

May this year be a year of growth for all.

Show Us Your Life - Living Rooms

Welcome to my new (moved in 10 days ago) apartment! After living in a 300 sq foot studio all last year and having an all in one room I am so excited to live in a delightfully spacious one bedroom now as I begin my adventures in graduate school!

I was going to share all the pictures of my apartment at once, but then found out that Kelly at Kelly's Korner was doing her "home tour" again and now with a real apartment I can join in!

This is the living room/office area looking in from the foyer. It gets so much natural light and I cannot wait for the tree outside my window to change colors, it will be so gorgeous!

This is the view from the kitchen doorway. The rug is a lovely oriental that the camp director where I worked this summer gave me so it would have a good home, every time I am looking at the rug I am in awe of her generosity! The couch is also SO comfy! I found it at a place that sells furniture to colleges and universities to furnish their dorms - it was a great deal (and then I had to lug it up two flights of stairs). The rest of the living room furniture is from IKEA, I am in love with their entire store and would buy everything they sell!

The tv/book shelf is a favorite I think. In my room at home growing up I had cube book shelves and loved how I could divide my books by genre and size (OCD much?). Right now most of my books that I wanted to bring are at home since they didn't fit into the car coming up! So for now I am enjoying all the space to display my favorite family pictures!

These are three of my favorite pictures. The one on the left is my Bubbie and Zayda's wedding picture, then my mom and me on my graduation day, and my sister and me on that day too. I also set up my shabbas candles here, amongst those who have inspired me and inspire me the most. And of course some Red Sox pride!

This chair has been in my family for years (IKEA furniture lasts forever!) The pillow is another "family heirloom." My sister made 6/7 of these pillows before her wedding to give to close family members. I inherited my grandparents after they passed away. It's really special since the material she used is from the Chuppah my mom made for their wedding day. So we all have part of that special day with us always! 

This pillow is just so much fun! My mom made it - its rows of funky fabric that were cut into strips and then thrown into the dryer causing the messy shredded look! I so didn't explain that well, but oh well!

Most of my framed pictures are home still and my mom will bring up next month, but these I hung up! I took these pictures and loved them so much I had to frame them!

And this is a very special piece. The quote says it all!

Hope you enjoyed the first part of my apartment, I know I am enjoying it so much!

Thanks for stopping by!

And so it begins.

And so it begins, the new year, grad school, life in Boston, and a new chapter in my life.

I've been here in Brookline for a week now. I'm unpacked and pretty organized. I am in LOVE with my apartment. It is just so right for me in so many ways and I hope to be able to be here for my entire time in grad school and maybe longer (can you say, so don't want to have to move again next summer??).

Mom left to go back to NY last night after shabbas after a nice chag and shabbas together. We went to a minyan 3 blocks from my place for the chaggim and it was really nice. Second day a sweet couple came over to us, introduced themselves, and invited us for lunch. Talk about community!

So, hopefully I am on my way to finding a community to be a part of here. Along those lines I am also working on getting in touch with people I know up in this area from the past. It will be nice to reconnect with old friends, for sure!

Today, my first day alone up here, was productive. I did laundry, worked out, worked on my first grad school assignment, and puttered.

All in all a good start.

A Lot of New

Well, it's that time of year again. There is lots of "new" in the air. New school year, new Jewish year, and for me new city. It's crazy to think that not only is 5771 mere hours away, but in just 18 hours I will be in my first Wheelock class.

But amidst all the new in the air right now there is an ache in my heart tonight. An ache that hasn't been filled in two years. Two years ago on Erev Rosh HaShanah my Bubbe died. Two years ago I watched as my Bubbe took her last breathes and looked into my Zaydas eyes for the last time.

This Rosh HaShanah amidst all the excitement and newness that surrounds me I cannot help but feel that ache in my heart, one that wishes Bubbe and Zayda were here to see me go off to Boston and go off to graduate school. Somehow, even though it's been two years since she left us it doesn't feel right, it still feels weird that they aren't here. I know that is a testament to how much I loved them and how much they loved me, but I just wish she was here to see me following my dreams.

However, tonight on the eve of my beginning down the road of graduate school I find it fitting that I am beginning on Erev Rosh HaShanah. It's all new. A complete and total fresh start. Not only is this a new school year but it's at a new school. It doesn't get more "clean slate" than that, now does it.

While I do have the pre-school year butterflies in my stomach I am trying to take this as an opportunity to really make meaning out of the idea that on Rosh HaShanah it's a fresh start, a clean slate, a new year for a new you.

The past few weeks and months, and year even have been very stressful at times and very rewarding at other times. But, I know at times I haven't been the best I can be as a person and as I go into a new setting and begin to make connections here in Boston I hope I can take this year to work on my soul, my emotions, and me. I really mean this, that I want to spend 5771 working on making Tamar the best Tamar she can be. One who knows who she is and knows how she is percieved, and one who is aware of how she presents herself. I really truly hope that this year is a wonderful start to a new "sweet" chapter in my book of life.

And last but not least. I read this in the novel I just read and found it fitting for Bubbe's yarzheit and the start of the new year.

"We always carry a part of those we loved tucked inside us."

And that is my wish to all this Rosh HaShanah. Whilst we move into the new year and we work on the new "us" let us carry inside us what was good and what we loved from the last year. While we may get a clean slate it is important to remember the past when working on the future.

I know I carry my Bubbe and Zayda inside of me, and their love is helping me become who I am each day, one day at a time.

L'shanah tova u'metuka! To a sweet, healthy, happy, and WONDERFUL new year!