Much to be thankful for....

The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving were busy. Quite a few assignments were handed out since I last posted. Then the week of Thanksgiving, we had two fairly quiet/easy days before I headed home to NJ. Surprisingly we only received one assignment to do over break, and it wasn't even a photographic assignment. It allowed for a relaxing break, not one consumed with the overwhelming feeling of having to get assignments done.

I got to spend time with my family and see many friends. I had a photoshoot with some friends, ate good food, and even attended my 10-yr. high school reunion. But Sunday came too quickly, and I got on the road to head back to MA.

Thankfully, we had the first 2 hours off this morning; I took the time to sleep in a bit. Then today we had three different lectures (each two hours long): a portrait lecture, location lecture, and commercial lecture. Over the course of the next few days, we will be having studio time to take pictures related to the lectures we had: using the accent light in the portrait lecture, doing aerial photography in Springfield, MA, and doing our first shoot of reflective metal (silverware) - which is a lot harder to photograph than items that are non-reflective. Sidenote: thus far in Commercial Studio, we've been instructed to avoid using products with metal or glass, as these require specific tricks and techniques.

Here are a few pictures of my time at home, celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. My mom had the Thanksgiving day meal at our house, and my grandma (mom's mom) came, as well as my dad's brother and his family. My sister, husband Dave, and 3 boys, my brother Kevin and his fiance Catania, mom, dad, and I were the others, bringing our total to 18 people. We had lots of yummy food and plenty of desserts to go around.

My mom used to always make the lemon meringue pie; I've never made one. But this year, I attempted my first one...and think I succeeded. This picture was taken before we stuck it in the oven. I had fun making the little peaks with the meringue.



This is our 27lb. turkey, carved by dad:






And this is a picture of the table...so pretty:


On Friday, we went to Lancaster for the day. We did our shopping at our favorite stores (Harry Goods, Flower and Craft Warehouse), and ate lunch at Palermo's - this pizza place we go to whenever we're there). We also stopped by Achenbach's, one of THE best bakeries. Oh, so yummy!

Today in class, one of the instructors asked a question of the day as he was taking attendance: "What was the worst part of Thanksgiving?"

My answer: It was too short.

I hear these next few weeks will fly, and with all these new assignments we have, I'm sure I'll be kept busy. This weekend there is an open house I am helping with, so that should be fun. I never got to come to an open house here, but I hear it's quite fun.

Oh, and this week starts the parking ban on the streets. Beginning on Wednesday, we need to find alternate parking for overnight. This should be interesting. I'll be sure to post when our first big snowfall hits!! Yikes!