I'M ALIVE!!!

It has been almost 4 months since I have last blogged. In other words, I have been ignoring my dear blog for the ENTIRE summer! Naturally I have done a lot since then so here is a list of some them.

Got accepted into an orchestra!- I have been playing the double bass since January 2010, so about a year and 8 months. I auditioned this May for the Junior Repertory Orchestra (one of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras), and I got accepted!

Went to camp for said orchestra!- BYSO has a camp in Maine where young musicians (like myself) go to meet other kids in their orchestra as well as practice the music for the upcoming season. It lasts one or two weeks, depending on what orchestra you're in.

My aunt had twins!- Okay, well this isn't something I did, but it is definitely something worth mentioning.

I met Cat Roberts!- Cat Roberts is an awesome YouTuber and I got to be in one of her videos!!! She is apart of a YouTube collaboration with her 3 siblings, and my sister and I got to introduce one of her videos for that!!!

Oh, and my 12th birthday is coming up! I am really excited because we are going to New York and we are going to see my aunt and cousins and get a cake from this vegan and gluten-free place called Babycakes!!! YAY LATE 2011!!!!

My thoughts... from 2 years ago

Today I found a diary of mine from two years ago (shown right) and I found myself cracking up while reading it. I mean, there's probably not much of a difference between 9 and 11, but I certainly think (or at least hope) I have changed at least somewhat between then and now. Anyways, since I neglected to write anything too personal in it, I thought I would share the first 3 entries. I know, not every girl would post her diary entries on the Internet and probably has a good amount of reasons not to, but like I said, nothing too personal. Also, they are really short.
Oh, and by the way, the print the looks like this is just commentary from now.

3/29/09
Dear Diary,
       Right now I am at the Atrium Mall play-space. I was just at Borders (which no longer exists in the Atrium) and my mom bought this journal and pen [for me] (journal, $6.99, pen, $2.99) (don't ask me why I found it necessary to tell my diary the prices, I don't know either). My brother is obviously very jealous because he punched my mom on the right side of her upper lip.
      I feel a little nervous because Tuesday is MCAS. Last year, we only had ELA and Math, but now we have writing, too. OMG!

Dear Diary,
        I sorta fell in love with this. The way the ink comes out of the pen so smoothly, the whiteness of the paper, but mostly the star hanging (which, as you can see from the picture, is no longer there). I love this!

3/31/09
Dear Diary,
        Today we had MCAS! The prompt [for the Writing section] was easy: a time we helped someone. For dessert [tonight] we had non-dairy mint chip ice cream, because I am vegan (though I am vegan now, I think I stopped being vegan about a week after writing this, then became vegan again earlier this year). So good!

That's all, folks, I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts from good ol' 2009!

Chubby (?)

I maybe, possibly have a slight eating disorder. For those of you who know me, this may come as a shock, and a bit out of the blue, but in a way I think it was sort of bound to happen, though no one would have guessed because I kept my self-conscious feeling to myself. Anyways, here's the story:

I was always a... big kid (though not since I was a newborn, when I was apparently pretty skinny). I don't necessarily mean heavy, because I'm tall, but I've always (or at least since 3rd grade-ish) felt a bit chubby. I was, (and still am) a slow runner and got tired very easily. Of course, my definition of "chubby" is a little distorted due to having skinny friends and, of course, the media, but there was one time a few years ago that I will never forget when the doctor said I was "overweight". Maybe I am making a big deal out of nothing (when I mentioned it to my mom a few weeks ago she didn't remember) but it always stuck out to me.

2 years ago, our family got rid of our car. At first, this was a bit difficult since, like I said, I got tired very easily, but that got better and, in fact, I consider myself a pretty fast walker, so that (the extra exercise) probably did at least a little for my weight.

What's my deal right now? Well, in February I was 112 lbs. and a few weeks ago when I went to the doctor I was 103 lbs. This was probably partly because I was sick, but my eating habits have been... less than prefect. I don't always eat breakfast, and sometimes I am hesitant to eat dinner. I don't know what has caused this, but something has got me, all of the sudden, feeling self-conscious enough to have these behaviors. They are not too bad - I am not purging or taking diet pills - but they are at least some what abnormal. So, my question is, what do I do?

Veganism: Think I Can Handle It?

Okay, here's the story: my parents raised me and my siblings to be vegetarians, so I didn't have to do much work there. Then, my mom started developing an intolerance to dairy, so she became a vegan. I just recently found out that she actually really liked cheese (hey, I was little!). Then, about a year or so ago, my sister became vegan after watching Food Inc, which is a documentary about the food industry, mostly meat but also some agriculture. So there we have 1/3 of my family vegan, the rest vegetarian. Plus, the only non-vegan things in our house are Parmesan and Ricotta cheese. So, you would think that becoming vegan would be a cinch for me, right?

Wrong.

You see, it is not hard to be a vegetarian and still embrace animal products. I mean, you are not eating the animals directly, but you are still eating their milk/eggs, which is only against the rules for veganism. And because it is allowed with vegetarianism, I have quite taken advantage of that fact by eating a lot of animal products, especially cheese.

And sure, there are a lot of vegan cheeses out there, but they are expensive. Besides, you could never as easily just go to a vegan pizza store on your way to some place and quickly grab a slice of pizza. Where I live, that wouldn't just be a stop, that would be the whole trip!

So, if I think it would be so hard, why do I want to become a vegan anyways?

Well, as I was looking around YouTube one day, I came upon this video of Ellen talking about how she came to be vegan. She mentioned this documentary called Earthlings, saying that Food Inc was practically a Disney movie compared to this. A Disney movie? Food Inc? I had to see this.

So, I saw the movie, (on YouTube) and I have to say, she was not exaggerating. I won't explain it too much for those of you who want to keep your food in your stomach, but I will say that they talked about how cows didn't just die for beef, but also for dairy because dairy cows usually only live about 4 years, when they could live up to 20. So you are kind of supporting the death of cows by eating dairy.

This is only my 5th day being vegan, but trust me, I am doing well. This is not the first time I have tried being vegan, and before I only lasted a day or 2. Plus, I am not longing for dairy at all. In fact, I was sick the first few days, but not anymore! Though it may be a challenge, I think I can do this- do you?

The Nam-Kranes + Snow Day = Pumpkin Cookies!

As you know (if you live in or around where I do) yesterday it was snowing like CRAZY! I mean, I absolutely LOVE snow, but the rest of my family doesn't, and my boots are messed up. So, being the Nam-Kranes, we made cookies! Pumpkin cookies, to be exact. I know they look like chocolate chip cookies, but I took this picture with my phone, and we all know how good those things are for taking pictures.

You can find the recipe in "Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar". And yes, they are really vegan! But trust me, they are delicious.


Oh, and Happy 2011! I know it's a little late, but it is my first blog post of the year, no?

Merry Christmas (even though Christmas eve isn't until tonight)

First, I don't get why people say "Merry Christmas" like, 4 days before it is actually Christmas. Which, of course, is why I did basically that (except it's less than 4 days away) and became a total hypocrite. Sigh. I make no sense.

Also, I technically don't celebrate Christmas because I am Jewish, but I get presents for it and hey, that's all anyone really cares about, right? I mean, that's really what Christmas is about. Unless your really religious, when you think of Christmas you probably think of the Christmas tree... and then the presents, which lie under.

I don't know. Maybe I am just being mean and assuming things about Christians (and everyone else who celebrates the holiday) that I really know little about. I am sure there is that person out there who likes Christmas because of the songs, lights, and family time. You know, like the people you see on TV.

Well, I guess you could say that that person is me. Even though I am, like I said, Jewish, Christmas fascinates me. Not because of the presents (although I like getting gifts as much as the next girl) but because of all the lights and songs and stories about Christmas. I mean, who doesn't like walking through a street full of Christmas lights? It's much too pretty not to like.

There is this house that you can see on the way to mine (by car, so I don't see it very often because we don't have a car) that full of Christmas lights. They're outlining the entire frame of the house. There is also a Star of David (the Jewish star) attached to a nearby tree. My parents don't really like it, I think they think it's a waste of energy and money. And I get them, but I can't help but stare at it when we pass by. It's just so... pretty.

Tommorow is Christmas! I am kind of (really) excited!

An Update (a.k.a. a glimpse of my crazy life)

So, as you know I am being homeschooled. Actually, I'm unschooled, but I usually tell anyone who asks that I am homeschooled, because chances are they have no idea what unschooling is.

I know what you are thinking. So, you just sit around, not go to school, or an education at all?! And if it is true that you are thinking this, then you my friend, are wrong. I mean, yes, I don't go to school, but I still get an education and I do not just sit around. I guess you can think of unschooling as being similar to the adult life, except... before college. You kind of live your life as if school didn't exist. I mean, yes, you have to learn how to read and at least your basic math skills, but other than that you just do what you do, say, during the summer. Unschooling is like summer.

So, now that we've gotten over the boring "let me explain what this is because you are probably clueless" part of this post, now I will tell you how it relates to me. I am a part of an unschooling co-op. Well, kind of. I could go into another long explaination of an unschooling co-op, is, but long story short, it's basically child-care for families where both parents work. Other parents watch their kids and in return, they have a day where they watch other parent's kids.

But the thing is, only one of my parents work, so my mom (the parent that doesn't work) doesn't really need the child-care. So for me, it's not really a "yay I am going to someone else's house and will socialize with other kids" kind of thing. And it's also not a "yay my kid is being looked after so I can go to work" kind of thing for my mom. It's more "why am I waking up so early so I can be some place I don't really have to be" for me and "why am I dragging my kid to someone else's house when I could watch her myself" kind of thing for my mom.

Well, at least until now. Instead of going to other people's house, we are only participating on Thursday, the day that my mom has everybody. That way, I have Monday, Friday, and Saturday off, as opposed to just Saturday (Tuesday is Hebrew school, Wednesday is my bass lesson, and Sunday is both).

In other news, Frog Pond's ice skating rink opened recently in the Boston Commons and on Saturday, I went ice skating! We had to wait in a really long line and I ended up being the only in my family on the ice (my brothers and dad went to the movies, my sister got cold, and my mom just didn't want to) but I went from practically worshipping the wall to being practically in the middle! I am hoping to got skating again on Friday.

Okay well, that's all for today! Bye!