Day 04 - Ten Places you want to visit

1.  Vina Del Mar, Chile
2.  San Sebastian, Spain
3.  New York City
4.  Mexico City
5.  Washington D.C. (again)
6.  Buenos Aires, Argentina (again)
7.  Cuyo, Argentina (again)
8.  Costa Rica
9.  Somewhere that I can swim in completely clear water (maybe Hawaii or the Carribean)
10.  The place in Russia where my German ancestors emigrated from (was called Bessarabia, no idea where it is located present-day)

A map of where Bessarabia was located (the dark Orange)

Vina Del Mar, Chile

Mexico City, D.F.---I may want to go here most of all (3rd largest city in the world)

Buenos Aires is HUGE.  I could go 1 million times and still not see everything.  (17th largest in the world)

NYC (4th largest city in the world)

Day 03 - Hometown location and facts

Well, I will share 5 about the area where I technically grew up and 5 about the place that I claim I'm from (because Oak Grove is not an actual town and Milwaukie is).


OAK GROVE

1.  Oak Grove is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States.  So it's not my hometown but my home community.  
2.  Oak Grove was named at the suggestion of Edward W. Cornell, a member of the surveying party that platted the townsite in the 1890s. The company that was developing the property had not been able to come up with a good name for the place and Cornell suggested Oak Grove after a crew ate lunch in a stand of oak trees in the northwestern part of the tract.
3.  This community began to grow in the early 1900's.  A trolley was built through the area and took people to downtown Portland.  We used to play on the trolley tracks where they were still visible.  I think they've been paved over or taken out in many places.  There are some amazing victorian/farmhouses in the area.
4.  The community grew again in the 1950's and 1960's and many more houses were built in this era.  My home is one of them.
5.  I moved one time that I can remember.  We moved less than a mile away from our old home, we were still in Oak Grove but I had to go to Riverside Elementary instead of Oak Grove Elementary; Rowe Jr. High instead of Milwaukie Jr. High.




Milwaukie

1.  Founded in 1848 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city was incorporated in 1903.  The city is now a suburb of Portland and also adjoins the unincorporated areas of Clackamas and Oak Grove.


2.  The Bing cherry, among other varieties, was developed in Milwaukie by another pioneer orchardist, Seth Lewelling, who settled in the area with his brother Henderson Luelling.  Milwaukie is noted as the birthplace of the Bing cherry.


3.  Milwaukie was founded in 1848 as a rival to the upriver Oregon City by Lot Whitcomb, who named it for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, the Wisconsin city was also frequently spelled "Milwaukie" before the current spelling was adopted.  Some accounts also state that the Oregon town elected to use an alternate spelling to prevent confusion at the post office.


4.  Bob's Red Mill is a modern-day gristmill and natural foods company based in Milwaukie.


5.  Milwaukie is the home of Dark Horse Comics. Dark Horse is known for publishing works including Sin City and the original graphic novel 300, adapted into a motion picture by the same title released March 9, 2007. The total office space of Dark Horse Comics occupies three of the city blocks in downtown Milwaukie, sporting numerous display windows visible to transit riders.


BONUS FACT:  Tonya Harding (the ice skater who hurt Nancy Carrigan) grew up about 1-2 miles from me.  She went to my Elementary, Jr. High and High School.    I used to think it was funny when my middle school teachers would tell us what she was like.


Thanks Wikipedia for the facts!

Day 02 - How you got your Blogger name

I'm not really sure I get today's topic.  My name on this blog is Amanda.  I got my blogger name from my given name.  I guess my mom and dad liked it...THE END.

I finished Harry Potter!

I finished Harry Potter last Saturday.  I read the whole series in a few months.  I get what all the hype was about now.  Maybe I wouldn't have appreciated them back in High School or College.  Anyone have any other series that I would enjoy?  I started off the school reading Hunger Games and then moved on to Harry Potter and now I'm in a lull.

Day 01 - Photo of you & 10 Facts

Fact 1:  I can't stand to watch people eat cookie dough.  I don't get freaked out by the raw egg, I just don't think cookie dough tastes good, I prefer my cookies cooked.

Fact 2:  My strongest sense is my sense of smell, I smell things others can't.  I'm not super-touchy feely, I'm near sighted and don't hear very well (too many concerts I guess).

Fact 3:  I don't like mornings.  Don't talk to me before 9 am.

Fact 4:  I can slide though the backs of metal folding chairs (the church chairs).

Fact 5:  I hadn't ever read or seen Harry Potter until November when Harry Potter 7 came out.

Fact 6:  I have a hard time sharing a Hymn Book with another person if we are both trying to hold it.

Fact 7:  I miss jumping on a trampoline.  I think rather than letting my kids get a pet, I will have to convince them to settle for a trampoline.

Fact 8:  On top of working more than full time (teaching 7 classes, no prep period) I am currently enrolled in 20 credit hours worth of classes for my ESL endorsement and some technology training.

Fact 9:  I love to sing on the top of my lungs in my car when I'm alone.  The past few days I have been singing "Killing Me Softly" by Lauryn Hill/The Fugees.  Over and over again.

Fact 10:  The people I'm with is more important that the nature of the activity we are doing.  In other words, I can be happy doing just about anything as long as I'm doing it with people I love.

My Goal For The Rest Of The Year

I know that the idea is to post for 60 days straight, but I know I won't do it.  A more attainable goal for me would be to post 60 times by December 2011.  That's 1 or 2 times a week, which is way more than I'm posting now.  So here goes nothin'.

Today Skyler told me that last night his dad helped him shave his upper lip for the FIRST TIME.  Oh to be a 14 year old boy and find things like that exciting.