I Love My Family

This past Sunday me cousin Jill hosted a family brunch. It is the first time we have all been together since Passover, which is unacceptable. My family means the world to me. I am the person I am today largely due to their influences and their love. My fondest memory so far in my life is of Friday Night Dinners at the grandparents house. Yes, every Friday. Every Friday we gathered in old tradition as many Jewish families do throughout the world. Although we would usually light Shabbat candles, the true motive of our gatherings was the to opportunity to spend time together. I am so lucky to have such a great family. So many families today are split by distance and/or (often stupid) conflict. The distance factor is out (so far) as everyone lives in the Baltimore area and although we disagree on some things and are all very different we appreciate and love one another for who they are.

Grandmom and Grandpop died within 7 months of each other a little under 3 years ago. Wow, I can't believe it was that long ago. I will say though, they were kicking until their last days. Their deaths were a turning point for the family and also myself alone. Our Friday nights slowed in the last few years of their lives and pretty much stopped after Grandmom's death. It was strange after spending every Friday night of my life at their house in Granite, MD. I still miss it. But as a family, we still try to stay in touch. It is always a pleasure to look down at my phone and see a call from them. We gather a few times a year - the more the better, but as we all grow older our lives continue to drift.

Here are some pics I took at Jill's:







I have so many more but I think this is probably enough for one post.

Lazzzzyyy Day

Happy New Year everyone!! I can't believe its January or 2008! Time is FLYING! We are half way through the school year and the basketball season. And I am applying to medical school in 6 months. I can't believe it, I feel like I just got to college. Here are some pics I took at the game on Sunday v. UMBC. ENJOY!

1st Day of Digital!

So I used my new digital camera today for the first time! The Terps were back in town (finally) and I took a lot of photos. So I'm going to share some of the good ones I got. My new lens allows me to get even closer than I could before. Here we go: these are from today's game v. Richmond. Tomorrow we play UMBC. ACC play starts Thursday @ Wake Forest and continues at home next Sunday v. Clemson. I am missing BOTH of the ACC games AND the Duke game!!! Boo I will be out of town. For Clemson I will be visiting a friend and helping him move into a new apartment in SC and I will be in Israel for the Duke game. Everyone better cheer loud for me! Here they are:

Woot - Drey Mingo!

I love a good candid - thanks Laura!

Marah Strickland

Jade has a great smile!

See everyone tomorrow at the UMBC game...2 PM at Comcast - BE THERE!

Break Time!

Done with finals!!!! YESSSSSS!!! Now I can finally post some more pictures! Thank you everyone who has visited my blog! I'm so glad you like my pics - I continue to post them for you all! And I love the feedback! So here are some of the best from my last roll. I find that guards are so much easier to photograph - they move slower haha or at least they usually have the ball for several seconds at a time - and there's often little clutter around them (or they usually have one player around them v. 3 or 4). So a lot of the best pics I get are of KT, Marissa, Marah. Every game I try to get some good ones of the posts but I am usually disappointed - something I need to work on. Hopefully I will be getting a digital camera this holiday season and will be able to shoot MANY MANY pictures and get some good shots inside. I put one shot of Crystal from this roll - since i got a relatively good one of her and I wanted to introduce her to my blog.

#25 Marissa Coleman

#1 Crystal Langhorne

#20 Kristi Toliver

I got a couple more good pics from this roll and may post them tomorrow. Enjoy! Looking forward to listening to the JMU game Thursday - wish I was going. Can't wait til the 29th when the Terps come home! I'm in withdrawl. Until then - xmas shopping, doing nothing and...studying for the MCATS??? What a break haha.

The Future Stars

Here are the future stars of Maryland Women's Basketball. Welcome to College Park - we are thrilled to have you with us. Introducing....

#5 Marah Strickland - the sharpshooting starting freshman guard (replacing Shay Doron) from Mt. Airy Maryland who has made an impact on the floor immediately with her devastating 3-point shooting.

#14 Kat Lyons - determination is the word I would use to describe Kat. She has a lot to live up to, being the point guard behind Kristi Toliver - but when she gets on the floor she stands up to the challenge.


Redshirt freshman, #33 Emery Wallace, who is slowly making her way on the court after having 3 knee surgeries. She has had an impressive start though, fooling everyone who thought she was a post player with her also excellent 3 point shooting - leading the team in scoring v. Loyola.


Drey Mingo - the 6'2" forward from Georgia who also has a great outside shot. Her size and strength make her a very versatile player - she will do great things. Very talented.


We actually have 2 more freshman - Anjale Barrett and Kim Rodgers - both are sidelined with injuries and we look forward to having them on the floor!

The Artist in Me

I am also a photographer. I took photography for 3 years in high school and the first 2 years I really hated it. I hated doing the stupid assignments and all that. Whenever I was given an assignment over the weekend I would always end up doing it right before class on Monday and just take shots of anything I could. Everything always came out very average and stupid. But everyone else did this too. I continued taking photo because it was easy and the teacher was chill. In my 3rd year of photography the photo III students were mixed in with a photo 2 class. There were only a few photo III students and out teacher really let us loose. He didn't really care what we were doing as long as we were working. In this class I discovered a new side of me...the artist in me that I was sure did not exist. I started shooting candid photos of my toddler cousins and, to be honest, they were beautiful. I love it. I loved shooting the photos and developing them in the dark room. Working in the dark room was such an escape for me...it was so peaceful and I could just lose myself in the calm solitary environment (since I was really the only person in the class that loved to be in there). With the arrival and 'take-over' of digital photography this time in the darkroom is lost. Sad. It is really what I love most about photography. After graduation I got out of photography as I really didn't have access to a darkroom. I inherited a sweet Nikon 35mm SLR camera from my grandfather with a handful of lenses and I started playing around with it a little. I took it to the Women's College World Series with me and experimented with sports photography. Unfortunately I could not develop these myself but I got some really great shots still. I have started shooting at Terps games now and am getting some great results also. I will post them. My next step is the move to digital. I am scared and intimidated and am not ready to accept the new artistic style that digital photography is. When it comes to things like this I am a total traditionalist. But I think I'm getting ready to go for it. Before I know it people aren't going to be doing film work at all anymore. ::Sigh::

Out of Jail

FINALLY!! After what seems like forever I have a little 'break' from exams! This semester is kicking my butt and I can't wait until it is over. 35 days and counting. But I got my orgo exam back today, which I swore I failed...I was seriously expecting a 45%..and I got an 84%!!!! Hallelujah!
And BASKETBALL SEASON HAS OFFICIALLY STARTED!!!!! Seriously, that is a true love of mine - well, let's clarify - WOMEN'S basketball. I think because of this it was fate that I ended up at Maryland. I have found a home being a women's basketball fan. And at Maryland I have met a bunch of other people who love it just as much as I do. We call ourselves Brenda's Bullies and we are the most loyal 'student' fans alive. I say 'student' in quotes because the majority of the Bullies are actually alumni...still young...in their mid 20s most of them, but there are really only a few true students that attend. Sad. You would think that arguably the most talented women's basketball team in the country would attract some student fans. Nope. They are all too busy cheering for the men's team - that has sucked big time the since they won the national championship in 2001. WHATEVER. Women's basketball is great because it is so personal. The smaller group makes it more special. And you really feel like you are connected with the team and make a difference. They are a great group of kids and you really fall in love with them. They are your team and you stand by them.
So women's basketball has been my escape in college. When life sucks, school blows, you feel like the stupidest person on the planet and you're never going to be good enough you can go to a game and feel at home again. Feel the love. Go terps!