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I'm not a big TV person. I don't even have cable at the moment. But my family does have netflix, and whenever we feel TV deprived, that's what we go to. Right now we've been watching Roseanne. I love it because a) it's hilarious and never fails to put me in a better mood, and b) the outfits the girls in it wear are fantastic. Especially Darlene. She's my favorite, and she just gets cooler as the seasons go on. 

Influential Neighbors

Ramona, Alice, and Jade

Ellen 

Before we moved back to Virginia, my family and I lived extremely close to 91 year old Alice. She lives there by herself, aside from the frequent visit from her daughter, Ellen. My family became very close with the two of them, and saw them nearly everyday. We didn't expect to at first, but Alice's constant smiling and laughing made her so enjoyable to be around, and Ellen is so intelligent, yet she talked to my brother and me as if we were adults. 
Alice and my brother developed a special relationship, one that most 11 year olds don't get to experience. He provided her with her first ever Squash Blossom, from his garden, and she taught him simple but important things in life. She also was very close with our dog, Ramona. 
We played long scrabble games at night with Ellen, working to expand our vocabulary. But new words weren't the only things we learned from our summer with Alice and Ellen. 
It was one of those situations where Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people," came into play quite often, and the great minds part applied to us. My brother and I were both very influenced by each time we spent with Ellen and Alice, hearing stories from their lives, and making plans for our own. Sitting with my friends, on our phones, and discussing what so-and-so was wearing wasn't at all appealing to me, even less than it used to be. We wanted to learn, we were eager to learn. And just to live, and experience things. 
Ellen and Alice were the hardest part to leave in Pittsburgh, but we've been corresponding by email, and we're visiting them at their cousin's house tomorrow, which we are all highly looking forward too.  
I hope one day I can influence people in my life the way that they were able to influence me. 

To Live is To Fly

After one crazy, exciting, new, sad, fun, and frustrating year of living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, my family is heading back to our familiar home in Virginia. I know that over the past year, I have posted many negative things about the place that I lived, but there are many great things that have happened that need to be highlighted too. 

This post timelines my "stay" in Pittsburgh, and at the end you will find the playlist that I listened to on the ride back home, to Virginia. 

This is the first picture I took in the new house, before we had filled it with our many belongings. 

My families first trip up to Mt. Washington to see the city at night. 

First time at the Point.

First high school football game with new friends, where I discovered that high school football games weren't nearly as fun in real life as they appeared in indie teenage movies.

When my friend Maya and I accidentally twinned.

The Zenith on the South Side: a quirky but cool veg restaurant. 

The first week we had this amazing little puppy.

The first time we went to Spak Brothers: a tiny take out place in a sketchy part of town, with greasy vegan food made by hipsters. It grew to be our favorite place to eat, and we made sure to get tired of it before the move. 

Another one of my favorite places, though quite the opposite of Spak. This is Dobra, a Prague-based tea house in Squirrel Hill, that is the best place to just chill, and have a cup of tea. 

Another great thing that happened was being able to spend every saturday at the Carnegie Museum of Art, for almost the entire school year. This happened because my school art teacher recommended me as a candidate for a free scholarship to the classes, and I was selected to take them. 

At the Duane Michaels exhibit at the CMOA, where we actually saw Duane Michaels himself.

On the last day of 2014, my parents, brother and I walked across this bridge in the bitter cold.

Pittsburgh has many cute little Asian markets, this being one of them. 

Another amazing thing that happened was being able to spend every Wednesday after school at the Andy Warhol Museum, with a small group of cool teens. 

I was accepted into the Warhol's Teen Advisory Board, which met for about ten weeks to plan a gigantic teen event at the museum called Youth Invasion. Youth Invasion happens every year there, and consists of many live performances from local bands, dance groups, and musicians. There's also art making, food, and cool teen interaction, pretty much. It was a blast, and I had the best time being able to help plan it. I was the youngest out of 14 teenagers, but that didn't stop me from being just as much a part of it. I even designed the poster, which was screen printed and then plastered all over the city!