Home For The Holidays

Starting my Christmas season in California was a little strange. Growing up, always associating the Christmas season with cold weather, snow flurries, snow plows, warm fire places, hot cocoa, and more, it felt like people in California were celebrating this

special holiday at the wrong time of year.

Luckily, after being home for only a few days now,

I have already been blessed with a beautiful snow blizzard!

Last night I joined others from Central Square Cong. Church

to Christmas Carol around town. Afterwards we gathered at my

parent's for refreshments and snacks.

Here are a few of the photos I took.

Caroling

"We fish you a merry kiss moose, you fish you a

merry kiss moose, and a flappy new year!"

Youngest Wii Players World Record

Dad relaxing

Warm up by the fire :)

Delicious December

Hi there!

Today is December 12th, 2009.

It is a very rainy day in Montrose, California.

This video can tell you more!

The garden has been thriving despite some cold weather. At night, it has gotten down into the 30's and I have had to cover the plants with sheets occasionally.

The strawberries are starting to grow and all other plants are healthy too. Andrew and I are excited to see fruit growing on our Avocado and Key-Lime trees come next spring and summer.

Here are the Freesia bulbs and the Cilantro.

I have met some great people at UCLA. Here are some pictures of a few of the outings my division (SSCE: Social Science and Comparative Education) at UCLA has taken together. Many of them are Ph. D. students and other are Masters like me. A lot of them live on campus, which makes me wish I lived closer to campus sometimes. But, I really like this area that the apartment is in despite the distance from friends and school.

On another note....

I have started to go running occasionally at the Rose Bowl.

There is a golf course around the stadium with a bike and running track surrounding it. The only downside is that you need to watch out for golf balls as you run haha. It is a great 3 mile route with nice scenery. The Rose Bowl Parade (Or, as I have seen it more commonly referred to on TV: The Roses Parade) is happening soon. I won't be here for it, but hopefully I will see it one year that I am out here. I hear that families camp overnight to get a good spot to watch it.

They bring tents and grills and the works!

That's all for now. Farewell until my next post! Thank you for reading :)

Happy Holidays Everyone!

UCLA

Greeting from UCLA!

Here are some shot of the campus taken in September

when my mom and I were checking out things.

Moore Hall is the Education building where the majority of my classes take place.

Another entrance to Moore Hall.

Yet another view of Moore Hall.

Powell Library.

Kerkhoff Patio and the backside of Moore Hall.

Royce Hall.

Royce Hall.

Today is December 12th and I am done with my first quarter. Just winter and spring quarter left! It was an interesting semester. UCLA certainly has a different personality that Wheelock College does. I am looking forward to my winter courses.

Moving To California!

Hi Folks!

Recently, a very large transition took place in my life, although, I am not sure if it has hit me yet. I flew out to California on September 4th to move to Montrose, CA. It is beautiful here and I start classes on September 28th. I will be getting my Master's in Education. It is a program called Cultural Studies in Education. Anyway, back to my last week... It is has been fun setting up the apartment and experiencing some

fun activities with my fiance Andrew while he was here with me.

Here are some shots of the fun times we had and such.

Here are some maps I put together to to you where I am :)

When you drive around this area, there are beautiful mountains around every corner I have found. They call them the Foothills. I am hoping that we don't have any mudslides. Unfortunately, there are fires blazing nearby however. Luckily, there are contained and are no threat to me.... so I hear. Specifically, this is a photo of the mountains as I was exciting a carwash driveway.

Lucky for me, you can see the beautiful foothills from my/our apartment's balcony. Also, if you stand all the way to the left of the balcony you can see LA's tallest buildings.

Do you like the blue patio set? I love it and I also love the price! Only $25 on craiglist from a nice lady in Alhambra, CA. Thanks!

The apartment has come together very nicely! Pictures have been hung, cleaning supplies have been stocked up, and not to mention... it is clean! Below you can see that I have hung the paintings that I purchased when I was in Ghana.

You can't foget Mr. Speckles. This is the salamander that became me and my fiance Andrew's pet in Fall of 2006 when we were in MA. He is healthy and hungry for more crickets!

One of my favorite spots out here so far is Santa Monica. Andrew and I went out there recently. We started the day off by renting bikes and riding them from Santa Monica beach to Venice beach. Here I am on the bike road looking at the ocean.

Here's a great shot of Andrew with his rented bike.

And another one of me...

Later that night, Andrew and I took advantage of the rollercoasters, live music, burritos, and other nightlife happening on the pier.

More to come later as I continue to explore CA!

Oh ya.. Arnold Schwarzenegger is my govenor now.... intersting huh? Exciting stuff!

Arts For Youth

Bridgewater State College Multi-Arts Camp

Looking back at...Puppetry Class, Session 2, 2008

Hi Everyone!

This summer I am working at Arts for Youth,

a day camp run by Bridgewater
State College that lasts for 6 weeks. This will be my

4th summer working there and my
3rd year lead teaching. This summer I will be lead

teaching the puppetry class as well
as the creative computing class. In addition,

I will be leading various workshops in
drama, visual arts, and music. I will also be

assisting in scrapbooking! Here are a few

highlights from the many fun times
at Arts for Youth!

-Jill

Here is a snapshot of 1st Session's

scrapbooking class 2009.

It is Arts Fest day, so we are all wearing

our Arts For Youth T-shirts.

Leah was the lead teacher of this class this

year and she did a fabulous job!

Below, you can see the bulliten board that I created for my 2nd period computer class "Creative Computing: Creative Columns". In this class, the campers write articles that create a new newsletter for the whole camp to recieve each day. There were about 15 campers in the class. (2009)

Here, you can see a class picture of my 1st period puppetry class on Wacky Wednesday during Session 1. This was a large class of 16 campers. We are standing in front of our ocean scenary for our puppetry performance "Fishy Swimming Free". They were a great group! (2009)

Would you like to see the puppetry performance "Fishy Swimming Free!"?

Just click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfR2o3eC8QA

Below is an image of puppeteers from my session 2 puppetry class. They have created spoon puppets as well as a home or store for each them. Then, they created mini-performaces to share with each other. Also, a great group I loved teaching! (2009)

I worked with so many great people over the last 4 years at Arts for Youth! Here is a snapshot of some of my fellow teachers and some interns too! (2009)

Nick(music), Anna(multi-talented intern), Meaghan (Dance), Neil (music), Devin (drama and music)

Here you can see a puppet made by a camper and the puppet's store, a doctor's office. (2009)

So cute!

Finally, here is another great piece of work of another spoon puppet with a bakery. (2009)

Very nice!

~The End~

Wheelock College Graduation 2009

Chelsea, Emily, Jill (me), and Kim

Hurray! I graduated from Wheelock College with a Bachelor of the Arts (American Studies) degree with honors on May 15, 2009. I also now have an initial license to teach elementary education in Massachusetts. In addition, I completed a minor in Community Arts.

The ceremony was beautiful in Temple Israel.

Both my parents and my fiance Andrew were able to attend.

Me,Mom, & Dad

Me & Andrew

Now I am home for the summer to work at Arts for Youth at Bridgewater State College from June 26-August 7. I will be teaching puppetry, creative computing, drama workshops and visual arts workshops, as well as assisting in scrapbooking.

Then, it will be time for the big move to Cali! UCLA's convocation isn't until September 19th, so that makes things a little easier. The master's program I will be completing in 1 year at UCLA is called Cultural Studies in Education within the Social Science and Comparative Education Division found at their School of Education and Information Studies. Quite the mouthful right? Here is the website if you are interested in checking out my program.

Andew and I are working on planning our wedding and it is very exciting.

We expect it will be in July 2010.

Me & Mom

Me & Dad

Me & Marci

Thanks for checking out this post :)

Comments encouraged!