Another month another update

Highly recommend this chapter book
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Hello my loyal readers,

You have to be loyal if you are reading this blog still. I feel I have no words, when ever I want to write my mind gets overwhelmed with how much work I have to do, how many papers I have to write and how many books I have to read. So actually I have a lot of words.

I am surprised it is November, I can't believe that people are listening to Christmas music and  must admit that as I made my Christmas travel plans I too wanted to watch Christmas movies. However, for most of my life my family has not watched Christmas movies till after Thanksgiving. So I would feel just wrong watching a Christmas movie until then. So I'm awaiting that time.

But in the mean time... here is what is going on my life. My semester is winding down (as I only have a month left). Winding down makes it sound as if it is relaxing... I wish I have 3 more projects due in my Children's Lit Class. I know Children's Lit is not in my degree of archiving. But after last semester (where I wanted to drop out of school) I decided to try something completely new and fortunately my advisor was okay with it. We started with reading picture books, then easy reader, and now we are in chapter books. I am always impressed with my classmates, they truly have a passion for this. People might be shocked by this but I wasn't always a big reader, at least not when I was a kid, I only remember reading a book called Third Grade Detectives, and Matilda. I did not really like reading until 6th or 7th grade and I read  Ella Enchanted and something inside me clicked. Anyway I feel I am spending a lot of time doing catch up....

with my Harvard ID

My other class is my internship class, where I get to work at Harvard Art Museum Archives. Everyone thinks it is cool I get Harvard next to my name (which it is), however I liked the job of being a reference person more so. I really like interacting with people and doing research, so I feel reference will be a good spot for me. Sadly the museum is closed as it is under renovations, so I am getting more interactions with emails than in person people. However, I'm loving doing research and touching documents that are close to a 100 years old. One thing I am surprised about is though I am working in an art museum archives, so little of my research actually is about art, it is mostly about the history of the museum.  I am sad to say with the number of hours I have to complete I will only be at this internship till Thanksgiving.

An aerial shot of the Fogg museum
The brick part was built in 1927
The glass is to add more more natural light
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my stack of books on my desk

Other than my classes... I am happy to say my semester is busy but it is going well. I am not feeling too overwhelmed or feeling the anxiety that I felt semester. I am also happy to say I turned in my thesis proposal, I haven't heard back from them if it was approved or not, but just doing my thesis proposal feels quite accomplished. Last semester I was so burnt out from taking 2 history classes (yeah not a good idea) that writing my thesis proposal was a big struggle, and then I had a little break down where I thought of dropping out of school... I was talked off that ledge. Through some encouragement I went ahead and pursued my ideas, found sources, and I felt more confident writing my thesis proposal.  I hope to write on working women at the turn of the twentieth century and how they used fashion to liberate themselves (before they had the vote). It is interesting I spend some time reading books about clothes then I spend other time reading books about working women. I will also be using letters and diaries.

The look below is an example of women wearing the shirtwaist style (comparative to a modern day blouse) and a dark skirt, very popular for working women. Though this look might look restrictive... it was actually more freeing than past styles. The shirtwaist was worn by all spheres of society, it was the working women who really used this style to liberate themselves and potentially move up in the world. 

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Okay loyal readers, I feel this post is long enough and while it has been fun to get some writing some in, I have to begin my day. 

Hopefully will post before next month.

Changes are a comin'

Hello loyal readers,

The Old North Church
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I think only my loyal readers will recognize some changes are happening. This summer I have tried to post on Monday, Wednesday, Friday as those were my lighter days. Well now I have taken a second job working at the Old North Church gift shop (at least until the end of October) and now working 6 days a week not giving much time to write or notify my lovely Facebook followers that I have blogged.* So I am still going to post but now my post might be on Tuesdays and Thursdays as those are my late days.

Then everything is going to change again come September when I start classes. So changes are a coming for better or worse I am just trying to roll with the punches.

One change coming is I am moving... not far just another apartment. But it feels like a big change I will have 2 roommates and additional pets (I hope Darcy is okay with this transition). Another change I will be doing an internship over the fall semester. I have filled out my student profile and now waiting for placement from my school. I am also taking a children's librarian class. It is totally not in my track as I am a History/Archives, but a lot people have told me I should work with children, so I thought this would be interesting. I am seriously hoping that the internship and the children's librarian class will help give me more insight in what I want to do with my life... after last semester I am completely drained and feel somewhat passionless for library science.

I will keep you posted on any other life changes.


*-In case you are worried for me. I am making ends meet by working my current job, I am just trying to save more money. Also I want a job somewhat related to my interest. 

Girl Power in film

I am bringing you some empowering women first Coco Before Chanel

Okay guys I am back to the period dramas... I think minus all the convinces of electricity I much rather live in the past... too many sentimental ideals.

Why I watched- I don't know much about Coco Chanel minus her awesome quotes that pop up on Pinterest and the perfume I wear. I actually didn't know much about her life and actually but I love the Edwardian time period or as in French called La Belle Epoque era. And so in some Pinterest searching I saw this...


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it had the quote... 

Audrey Tautou in Coco Avant Chanel. Chanel pioneered a change in fashion away from La Belle Époque era. She criticized women for wearing excessive lace, jewelry and feathers and admired men's clothing for its simplicity and elegance. Many of her designs were inspired by her lovers' wardrobes.

So I was intrigued to watch the film. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel and her sister were left at an orphanage when they were children, so she had a hard life and that made her a little tough. But then through a twist of fate she meets Balsan and lives a "grand" life but is not in love or very happy till she meets Arthur 'Boy' Capel. (He was the only actor I recognized as Henry Crawford from Mansfield Park (1999). They have a passionate love story. However, the story has an ending kind of like Becoming Jane where she is successful but she does not have a romantic ending... I guess that is real life.


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What I love- It was beautiful all the costuming was wonderful and there were so many extras it was all very elaborate and beautiful. Everything looked like the pins I have posted on my Edwardian Eloquence board. So for this Edwardian lover it was perfect.  For example the picture from above was from a scene at the races and it reminded me of this picture...

What I didn't like- It was hard to like Coco because she was harsh but I guess that was Coco so I guess Audrey Tautou played it well.

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Over all- I think I liked the costuming more than the plot. The movie was all in French so some times it was hard to follow. Because it was in French with English subtitles it is a film you have to pay attention to....it is worth it though.

Coco and Boy dancing
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Now for an independent modern day woman Ellen Page playing Bliss in Whip It... with the subtitle "be your own hero" (as a librarian you learn to love subtitles).

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Why I watched- It was another film I wanted to watch when it came out but didn't get around to it. It has a great cast (Ellen Page, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, and Jimmy Fallon). Bliss is from a small but is dying to get out and she finds Roller Derby to be her ticket out.

What I liked- She follows her dreams. There is a part of the story where she is being selfish because she thinks her parents just don't understand her. But then she wises up and even though she is not pageant girl she agrees to do a pageant because it is what her mom wants. But her mom lets her follow her dream.

What I didn't like- I thought the story was good and I was glad it based off a book but I don't feel like there is a depth. I like Bliss but I didn't fall in love with her and I wish I had.

Overall- good for a girls night but probably not a must run out and buy.

Blogging break

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Hello my loyal readers,

I feel like I just got back in the swing in of blogging and now I have to take a hiatus because it is Finals month. I don't have any test to study for just a lot of work to finish off this semester and work to start preparing for my thesis, I will be writing next semester. So I kind of have to take a break from blogging. Sorry.

I know there is a lot going on but if you could pray for my stress level. As much as school should be my only my focus, I feel I have a lot on my plate for one I have to find a new place to live for the fall and some other personal stuff I am trying to juggle.  Also pray for my focus to finish this semester hopefully with no all nighters.

As busy as I am, I am eagerly looking forward to going to Denver to see my sister, H and E.

Love you guys and I will be back in May.

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My Day in New York City

Our view of the city coming in from train

My mom has been visiting Boston and on Wednesday we took a day trip to New York. We went to go see a matinee of a play my mom wanted to see but we also got to see a little bit of the big city. We mostly stayed in Midtown so this map should help as I talk about different locations.

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We started our morning very early in the morning taking a 7AM train down to New York City. It is amazing how much you can do in a day when it starts at 5AM. We arrived in New York (Penn Station) close to 11 AM and the show was not until 2 so we had some time to kill. First thing we had to do was just get our barings. I know New York is on a grid so it is easy to find your way but I haven't been to New York in almost 5 years so I got turned around bit. 

At the theater in front of the sign

The first thing we did was find the theater. It was located between 6th and 7th Avenue and on 44th Street. Then we went on search to find something to eat. We weren't hungry yet but we wanted to know where to go. And our search for food gave us a little time to wonder around. We saw Grand Central Station. Mom told me how in the 60s the city thought about tearing it down because no one really used it but how Jackie Onassis helped save it... good job Jackie because this building is beautiful and deserves to be preserved. 

Then after lunch we had enough time to go to the New York Public Library. 

A man and his lion

I am sad to say as a future librarian, I had never been to this library, which is a true beauty. I have now seen the famous lions and the beautiful lobby. Now on my next trip to New York I hope to explore the stacks a bit. Then we went to the play. 

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End of the Rainbow is about Judy Garland staying London while she is doing a five week show at the Talk of the Town. It is to be her big come back tour. However she struggles with her drug addictions. With her is her new fiance, Mickey Dean, lets just get it out in the open is a big jerk, and her loyal pianist friend Anthony. 

Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland
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Okay that is the most basic plot line. So here are some of my reactions to the play. First if a play could be rated R, this play would be because they use the F word A LOT. That was hard for me to stomach because I have grown up idealizing Judy Garland from some of the movies I love most, Easter Parade and Meet Me in St. Louis. So to learn she was addicted to pills and alcohol, it kind of hurt. But Tracie Bennett who played Judy Garland played the character so sympathetically I felt sorry seeing one of my childhood heroes so fallen.

Judy Garland in Easter Parade... one of my favorites
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My mom and other people in the audience, I was probably the youngest, kept mentioning how the actress had the characteristics of Judy Garland down so well it was almost as if Judy Garland was on stage. The play ends in New York in September but then goes on tour, if you go see it prepare yourself because you leave the theater saddened but also amazed at powerful-ness of the story. Here is a link to the New York Times review of End of the Rainbow if you want more of a critical view of this play. 

But I will not end this post on a sad note. After the play we still had some time to walk around so we walked to Rockefeller Center.

Then as we walking back to Penn Station we walked through Times Square. There were all these cartoon characters out there and I got my picture with Elmo. My mom took this picture with her phone and we sent it to my sister and niece as my niece loves Elmo. 

Then we got back on the train and headed home. I know I didn't see much of the city but I felt like I saw a lot for one day. So thanks New York City for the great day. 

Getting me through Finals

I am happy to announce I am done with this semester.

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Though other semesters have been rough I feel like this semester I have spent more time in the library working on papers. I have grown accustom to spending almost the whole day in the library, learning the different schedules of when it was busy versus when it was quiet and finding it conquest when I left the library around 11PM.

While finals were tiring I have learned a few things to get me through this time.

1. My 5 PM coffee was great... though now I have to wean off it (this will be hard).

2. Learning to deal with distraction. While I work better at the library it is still hard to stay focused all the time. But it is good sometimes to be distracted. Here is a video from "Easy A."

3. Get out of the library. Back in February my friend invited me to two concerts and if I had taken a look at my schedule I would have seen that these concerts were in the middle of finals time and probably would have turned them down. But because I didn't do this I had preset times that I couldn't be in the library. 

4. Find something that is calming. I love kids, I work in my church nursery and last Sunday I went in even when I wasn't on the schedule. This little boy was very tired and kept leaning on me and pushing on my belly with his head so finally I gave in and laid down with him. I didn't actually fall asleep but my friend took a picture of me as if I was sleeping. Eventually I had to wake the boy up but after that he was very clingy and it was wonderful for me to feel so wanted. 

5. Keep telling yourself "it will get done," every semester I get stressed and I think I will never get this done I have to tell myself it will be done even if some nights I don't sleep that well. 

For all my friends going through finals, this song is for you...

Song: Be Calm

By: Fun. 

Roaming around Cambridge.

Today's photo was to take a picture of the sun. Well I decided to take a photo of my shadow in the sun. I am in my winter coat with my school bag on my side (that is the weird lump on my side). Today I went I took a little trip to Cambridge. While it is only across  the river from me... I hardly go which is a shame because today I remember why I love Cambridge, well at least the Harvard Square area. Tons of brick buildings and old colonial homes.

Map of Boston

But I went to Cambridge to go to the Schlesinger library, it is part of the old Radcliffe College now Radcliffe Institute as it is a part of Harvard. (Side Note: If you love Julia Child her papers are there). Any way the picture above is when I got I got on Radcliffe's campus. I am glad I took the picture then because when I left the library it was cloudy.

This is the campus

Agassiz

I went to the library for my Intro to Archiving class, we had to visit the an archive and write a report on it. I want to research more into Women's Education at the turn of the 20th century. And so I went to the library to look at Elizabeth Cary Agassiz's papers, she was the first President of Radcliffe.

I guess I didn't have to do real research on her, but I maybe I will later. She traveled with her husband, who was a professor, to Brazil together and wrote a book about it. She raised money for the Perkins Kindergarten for the Blind but students ranged in age.

An example of her papers.

I know I am really geeky because I found reading her papers really fun and while I pushed myself to read the late 19th century hand writing some times I was happy to that some one had transcribed her papers (as seen above). 

But while I was at the library I got an email letting me know where I was placed at for my internship (part of my Intro into Archiving class). It is also in Cambridge, so I decided to walk to it. (Side note: I guess I will get lots of reading done while I am on the T). Any way while I was walking around Cambridge I took some other pictures.

I saw these post its just stuck on to an empty store front. I was surprised they weren't on the inside but they were on the out side just flapping in the wind.

I loved this one

But this was my favorite photo...

I took an adventure around Harvard's campus on the way back to the T station and I ended up in part of Harvard I had never seen before. I didn't see a sign for this building but I found it random to see a status of a rhinoceros standing around Harvard, even more odd it is a set. But I didn't take a picture of the second one because a guy was standing in front of it and was blocking the head. 

On your mark, get set... go!

Go the Distance- from the movie Hercules

Good motivation for the start of new semester. 

Today was my first semester of my spring semester and my first semester being a full time grad student. Now I won't usually post about every day in school... I don't want to bore you guys. But I want to celebrate this small accomplishment of going full time. As much stress as it causes me my grad school is a big BLESSING for me. I have wanted to go to grad school since I was in undergrad but I took a year off so I could claim independent financial status. But then due to personal reasons I had to make a year off a year and a half off. I have also been going to school part time for the last year and working full time so to have the stability now where I can go to school full time feels AWESOME. Last night I was thanking God that he has allowed me to go to grad school and he has kept this door open. I am also lucky/blessed that I get to go to school in a city I love so much. 

Let me start off on a good note. Today with the weather you would not know it was the end of January. If you remember on Sunday I posted pictures of the snow around Boston. Well today the high got up to the 50s. I grabbed an ice coffee after my second class to enjoy while I am doing homework. I even saw people sitting outside during my lunch break... it does not feel like winter. 

Snow mostly melted from Simmons Campus

I also caught up with a friend in the cafeteria, and we had lunch together and I saw my roommate twice in on campus. Last semester I never saw her I guess, not that I will be on campus more I will see more people.  That will be nice not to be running into class after work or running to work after class. But I sadly think that is where the good news ends. 

After my first class I was doing to many things at once and dropped my traveler mug in just the right place where the handle broke off.  It can still hold coffee... but I won't be using it on the T any more. 

Also I did have a Legally Blonde moment today where I was not prepared for my management class. It wasn't as bad for me as it was for Elle Woods because most of the class wasn't prepared... due to a miss-communication about where to find the syllabus. Which means instead of doing one week's assignment I now have to do two weeks.

I don't know if this is good or bad but I am thankful that I don't have a Valentine this year because both my Tuesday classes have assignments due that day and it looks like I will spend the weekend before Valentines Day and probably Valentines Day in the library doing homework. 

My Calendar for Valentines Day 

I know you probably don't need to see a picture of my calendar but I did make a blogging goal to take more pictures of life and I thought it was funny. 

Again I don't think you need a picture of my desk but in my blogging goals to take more pictures of my life I thought I would share that right now my desk is pretty organized but I am sure in a few weeks it will be covered in papers. (I will keep you posted). 

Well now I should hit the books at least until Parenthood tonight. 

Have a good day!

Turning over a new leaf

For the last year I have been going working full time as Membership Processor for a gym in Boston and I have also been going to school part time. While I have enjoyed the job it is not in the field I want to be in and it has been exhausting juggling both school and work. But tomorrow will be my last day as a full time worker as I prepare to be a full time student.

I know I will still be busy being a full time student and a part time worker but I am so excited to be in school full time. I am working on getting my dual masters in both Library Science and History in hopes to be a Historical Archivist. It is a 54 credit program and so far I have completerd 17 credits and if I keep going full time I will be done with classes in about 2 years. I like saying "in about 2 years" then saying "I don't know" when people ask me how much longer I will be in school.

Found at College Financial Aid

Study Break





Hey guys,

While I have some down time I just wanted to inform you I will be taking the next few days off as I finish everything off for the end of the semester but please don't worry when I come back I will have plenty to write about. (I have so many ideas.) I have also written a lot last week so if you are not caught up...here is some wonderful time to do so.

Yes my desk does look a little like this.

Probably what I look like when I am searching through the

Library Congress Subject Headings.

(Really big books)

 More big books.

Can't wait till winter break when I can read and write for fun.