THE BIRDS!

THE CROWS.

They roost in the trees outside my room nowadays. Why did they have to move here?!



When you walk under the trees at night, you can't see the crows but you can HEAR THEM. They rustle their feathers and it is no lie the eeriest feeling. Then if you make a noise they all fly up! SCARY!

Weekend update

Alright guys.

I don't seem to have a cold, but I'm definitely asthma-ish. The 3 degree weather is certainly not helping.
My lovely physician at the school clinic gave me Albuterol. Now I'm puffing it like a dork ;) No offense, Mishy.
So anyways, I'm trying to keep a sinus infection at bay.

And as I said before it's ridiculously cold outside. It will be better for the rest of the week but gawd... it was REALLY cold. It hurt, really hurt, if skin was exposed.

But look! My papa sent me the most awesome surprise ever!
2 CDs, courtesy of some awesome person on eBay. Los Hermanos Casto and Lucho Gatica (Who I keep calling Luchito Gatito)!!!!!



If you know who these people are, HOLLER!!! WOO HOO!!!!
For those of you who don't know, these are beautiful singers from Mexico! They're from the 50s I guess. No wonder I like them so much.

And for those relatives of mine looking at this, I know you're laughing at me! But you guys know I love this stuff :)



And check it out. Ready to eat, single portion cookie dough. BRILLIANT.

The gorge. Again.

This was on Thursday, if you scroll down you can see the video I took of the . This what later in the day. See how much more angry the gorge got?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znWu3wHozQs

After the rain...

So what happens to the gorge on North Campus after getting all that rain yesterday?

Here you go! Sorry the video is sideways. Turn your head! ;)

The milonga of the month

This month's milonga was special, in a big venue with lots of food! Everybody dressed up extra nicely :)

Here's a video I took of some folks dancing. No really eye catching moves here because the song is mellow (but beautiful nonetheless).



I got to wear a new black dress and my new tango shoes.

The shoes were worth the money, let me tell you that. They performed very well and helped me execute steps with better posture and balance. Very good!

There was a live band, called the Spring Trio. They were AWESOME! Especially the accordion/violin dude. He was also a very advanced dancer and I had the luck to dance a tanda with him. Too bad I didnt follow him well :(

Anyways, they played some classic tangos that everyone knows, and the waltz from the movie Amelie (my favorite tango waltz so far), and other really great songs. They were a delight to dance to.

Feature adventure of winter break

We went to the Museum of the Earth! A museum of paleontology! My kind of place, huh?

I got together with some science buddies to learn a few things! This museum takes you through Earth's timeline, and has little videos and fossils of flora and fauna from each era. Very awesome stuff! And spectacular fossils in AWESOME condition!

Here I am outside, posing with a dino. I think he liked me :)



Mammoth! With mastodon vs mammoth figurines in front of it.


This bird was FRIGGIN HUGE! It's beak was the size of my head!
I wonder how many omelettes you can make with one of it's eggs.....?

An ammonite. That is really big. They were similar to the modern day nautilus.

It's eyes were tiny but T Rex had really great olfactory senses. And really big.... teeth.
Decorative amber.
A moth trapped in amber! I think it was 420 million years old. Or 4.2 million years old. Either way, it was extremely old. You're looking at a moth from MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO! Isn't that INCREDIBLE!? I liked this museum :)

DEER EVERYWHERE! And a winter break update

Okay, I don't know WHY there are deer everywhere now, but there are!



Deer are always everywhere, but I've seen them much more often nowadays. Pretty close too, like behind the dorms as seen here!
Don't worry, the deer are harmless. But I always wonder where I'll hide if I get chased by one ;)

So guys, this is the kind of hilliness we have on/around campus and Ithaca. Downtown Ithaca is way down in the valley, you can sort of see it.... sort of.

So, yeah. Maybe they are out and about more because they sense that Ithaca is busy! Everybody is returning and there is TRAFFIC! AND PEOPLE! It's soooo busy.

Random animal: A hawk! Looks like a red tail, but then again the picture was taken from far away.

So, how is Cornell during the last week of winter break? Surprisingly busy, for all those who thought I'd be on a deserted campus.



It was Rush Week, where all the students who want to join sororities and frats come back and start joining their houses. Dining halls were open because of this, so nobody starved. Cafes were open too, which is where I normally eat anyway.

What an awesome "fortune"!

Look! A snowflake!!!!!


On an even better note, I have a new roomie!!!
She's a wonderful girl from China. We are getting along superbly and we are really clicking. And I'm just saying that because my roomie last semester was.... quite the opposite and antisocial.
Anyways, the roomie and I speak in chinese. A plus!
My friends and I are currently helping her unpack and utilize the bus routes. Imagine being alone in Ithaca, so far from home?

Alright, classes start tomorrow! We are all mentally prepared to go back. Winter break was very good, and I'm confident that this semester will go by much better now that I know what my mistakes were.

Election

Scott Brown won the election?
Oh how interesting...

All those people that called me asking me to vote for him must be quite pleased!

What do you guys think?

The end of winter break?

Heads up, I'm going home on the Jan 15th.

My bus ticket is for the 23rd, but that gives me only one day to get A LOT of stuff done before my classes start on the 25th.



A friend of a friend is making a trip to Ithaca on the 15th, so I'll hitch a ride with her.

And in case you are worrying, my dorm is open ALL winter break. Dining halls open on the 18th, but there are several cafes on campus that stay open and there are always countless places to eat just off campus.
Remember, there are kids taking winter classes there right now!

So guys, if I don't see you before I leave I will see you in March!

Birds are depending on bird feeders, people!

Just a reminder, birds are depending on your bird feeders to get through the winter.


Juncos, my favorite winter bird! Wanna guess why? ........ Because they are the CHUBBIEST!



You think it's cold outside? Imagine what it's like for these small birds, that have to eat a lot and often to keep their metabolism up. They are outside all the time!



Fun fact: chickadees have a very amazing way of conserving their energy during the winter months. When they sleep, they lower their body temp to a low as 40 degrees! That way, they don't need to use as much energy to keep themselves alive during the night.

Squirrels might be able to take care of themselves. But they're still cute so tossing them some bread every once in a while will make you feel like a better person ;)

I love tea

Okay, so some of you know that I really like asian tea. Loose tea tastes so yummy!

However, green tea makes me sick to my stomach so for all of you that got excited about my tea.... please don't let me drink green tea!



So, how about some oolong tea from Peet's Coffee? GOOD STUFF!



I'm home now and now really excited about it. I'd like to get back to Ithaca as soon as possible to get ahead in classes and textbook buying, but drinking my tea was very comforting.

Lobsters in the new Shaws!

So, I was at Chestnut Hill and I stopped into the newly renovated Shaws.... it seems everybody has been there except me!



A cart escalator! oooohhh.....

AMAZING! Beautiful. I love all the frozen food aisles. It's like.... a yellow brick road of FOOD!
And the aisles are named after different towns! As streets! (Brookline St had frozen food I think...)
Very creative. I'll go there more often just for fun.

And they had the prettiest produce section I've ever seen. And prepared foods section!

Mouth watering.

Can you believe I'm ranting about a supermarket? Haha~

And I saw THIS!


Yeah, they were tiny! Only 1-2 lbs.
But they were looking at me..... and me being a friend of lobsters, I took a picture.

Have a great week everyone!

Tango shoes~

Okay.

I did it.

I bought tango shoes.

They are handmade and imported from Argentina.


A Christmas present from me to me~

They are very pretty! The brand is Darcos. Whoever is reading this might know a thing or two about tango manufacturers....
Anyways, they were purchased from Teddy's Shoes in Central Square. I think it's the only place in Boston where tango shoes are sold. Or, that's what my extensive research has come up with.

Then, we bought my little sister a cute wool coat!

If you're looking for a wool coat yourself, GO TO MACYS NOW. They have a great sale! Last year I bought a Jessica Simpson coat (my red one) that was $300 in season and $100 when I bought it.



Ladies, y'all better get down to Macys before the good coats are gone.

Some girls want diamonds, some want shoes. I want wool coats :)

Happy New Years!

Hi everyone, happy new years!

So, the family and I did nothing special for new years.

My sister and I went to see Avatar (which was great).

Then we checked out the First Night stuff at Boston Common (not really special, sorry to say), and then we were home early.



Hope you all had a great and safe time!