Happy (Almost) Valentine's Day to Us!

This is the time of year where everyone gets cabin fever. The February blues, if you will. We've had our little crush on the snow, what with the sledding and skiing and spontaneous snowball fights, but now we're writing love letters to spring break and t-shirt weather. We've had enough of staying inside, and the snow has turned all crusty and dirty and lost its glittery shine.

Which is why the Barn dorm parents decided it was time to take things into our own hands. So we organized a break-out of study hours as a surprise for the girls. We gave ourselves a girls' night out at the movies. It wasn't required, of course--but anyone who needed a little uplifting was welcome to come along to bond over a new movie full of good dating advice: "He's Just Not That Into You." The general theme was: if you want to know how a guy feels about you: ignore everything he says and pay attention to his actions! Good advice, I'd say.

It was a good movie--we laughed, we cried, we cheered, we groaned, and we clapped. And, on the bus ride home, you could just feel the good energy on the bus. Yes, we had to come back and finish homework. But we were heartened. And uplifted.

And, then (speaking of judging men by their actions)...after we came home and settled in for the night, there was a knock on the front door of the dorm. And who do you think it was, after in-dorm time? The White Farm Boys--also out for a little V-Day pick me up (albeit a little early). Turns out that they spent the night making AMAZING chocolate covered strawberries for all the girls on campus (including dorm parents--thanks, guys!!!). They were SOOOO good. To be honest, the Barn girls were just a touch suspicious. It was all just too good to be true.

But it WAS true. We were again heartened. And uplifted.

Take that, February.

(Come to think of it, maybe this is WHY Valentine's Day is mid-February. What better reason to create a holiday filled with chocolate, than to break up the February blues?)






(Special thanks to the White Farm boys--and to Tom, since we suspect his culinary talents and thoughtfulness may have had something to do with tonight's treat. YAY White Farm!!)

Happy Birthday, Kandice!!

Today is Kandice's birthday, and even though we're officially celebrating as a dorm on Sunday night, she still had a pretty celebratory day. Barnies left little love notes for her on the white boards all over the dorm...

...and then there was singing and cake at dinner!

Long time, no see....

My apologies...we're a bit behind on the blog posts...it's been a busy week. I haven't made it to the end-of-mod art show yet, but don't worry--I will! I promise there will be some pics from the art show in the next few days, so keep checking back.

Melisa and Michael Make Maki

The Barn girls have just finished a mod, and many of them are off-campus for mod break, getting refreshed for a new mod-full of classes. Michael and I decided to take this chance to head back to school: cooking school, that is. Make no mistake--Michael is the head chef in our house. But we both love sushi, and so we enrolled ourselves in a class that promised to teach us to make our very own ngiri sushi, scallop ceviche, and spicy tuna maki. I have to tell you--I was skeptical of our ability to make maki. And, I have to confess--it did take a ridiculously long time (this explains the slower service in sushi restaurants, perchance)...but being the photo geek that I am (just ask our girls in the dorm) I managed to sneak some evidence of our success...before it got gobbled up!

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Yesterday was Maddie's birthday, and she wasn't here for us to sing to her (lucky her!) so we made her a card instead. Even though we didn't get to sing to her, we're still wishing her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

The Question Board

Outside our apartment door, Michael and I have a "Question Board". It's really just a white board, nothing special. I'll write a question on it, and the girls will all answer anonymously. It's really fun to see what people say, and to see the things we have in common--it's sometimes very surprising, but also kind of reassuring.

This week, I wrote the following phrase: "Since coming to CSW, I..."

Here were some of the answers:
...have begun really living
...become well-rounded
...gained and met new friends
...have loved high school
...learned a lot about people
...have been worried about the future
...have been more confident in the way I dress and act
...have really wanted a boat

Once the board is full, we start over with a new question. Right now, the girls in the dorm are writing anonymous love notes to each other on the board. =)

Happy Sunday from the Barn...

Happy Birthday, Hyeon Jin!

Today is Hyeon Jin's birthday, and we celebrated last night with her request of spanakopita (how sophisticated!). She's giving me this fake smile here because the first photo was blurry and I made her pose again. =)

Hyeon Jin got the best birthday present EVER from Jane, our Head of School--a SNOW DAY!!!!

We.Are.So.Excited.

Jin won!

Our super cool school counselor had this awesome bag that she knew one of the Barnies would like (because we're so awesome, too) and last night a bunch of people threw their names in a hat, and Jin was the lucky (awesome) winner of the awesome bag.

My apologies for my overuse of the word Awesome.

Belated Boy Birthdays =)

Michael and Travis are getting old. ;) hehe. (Just kidding, guys!) Michael's birthday was on January 2, and Travis' was January 22...but we're just getting around to celebrating because our nights have been pretty busy celebrating birthdays this month. This picture is of Travis and Michael getting all shy because everyone is singing to them. We celebrated with apples and peanut butter (the safe kind) and Hagen Daaz ice cream bars, which were a big hit! Happy Birthday, Travis and Michael!

YAY Barnie Basketballers

Our girls JV team (half of which are Barnies) won tonight! Yay!!

Winter Wonderland Dorm Dinner

Tonight was our Winter Wonderland dorm dinner. Half of the Barnies came early to set up (note the awesome table decorations and snowmen) and half of them stayed late to clean up, so it was a real team effort and a big success. There was comfort food...soups, salads, garlic bread and cheesecake with toppings! (Helen was REALLY excited about that part!) =)

And, if I'm not mistaken, we actually pulled off the first dorm dinner of the year, so we've left some big footsteps for the other dorms to follow in. ;)

Katie's Birthday!

Katie's birthday is on Thursday--she's turning 19! We celebrated with singing and cream puffs--with cherries on top. Happy Birthday, Katie!

Juliana's Trip to the ER

Juliana sliced her finger on a rogue fishbowl today (you'd be surprised how dangerous a fishbowl can be!) and needed a quick (or not so quick) trip to the ER to get a few stitches. We rushed her right off (along with Cheyenne, for more moral support) to Newton Wellesley, which we all agreed was pretty much the nicest hospital we've ever seen. We got a pager when we checked in (like you do at chain restaurants when you're waiting for your table) and there were comfy chairs and flatscreen tv's and valet parking. We didn't have time to check out the cafeteria, but I bet it's top-notch.

This is a picture of Juliana waiting for "Dr. Bailey". Seriously, that was supposed to be our doctor. We were pretty excited to see how our Dr. Bailey compared with the one on tv. Sadly, we wound up with Dr. Bailey's assistant. But she was actually really cool. And also really patient. She answered all of Cheyenne's millions of questions (Cheyenne is very curious, you know) and she was really cool about trying to make sure Juliana couldn't feel her stitches. But, you know, it's kind of hard not to notice when someone is stitching up your finger, especially when you can see it happening.

That's Rebecca, explaining the whole process to Juliana.

There she is, injecting the anesthetic and getting ready to stitch.

Juliana was very brave but it still hurt a bit and it was good that Cheyenne was there. Cheyenne was a really good friend and held Juliana's hand and tried to distract her. But she kept sneaking peeks at the stitching. It was a tad fascinating. =) Juliana is pretty sure she never wants to have more stitches, but I'm not sure Cheyenne has the same conviction. Rebecca let us watch Family Feud while she was stitching Juliana up, which was a decent distraction. We're all really good at Family Feud.

We were in the pediatric wing, and this was the registration desk. At first I thought they made a mistake, because, you know...Juliana isn't a little kid.

But it turns out there was no mistake. ;) Cheyenne had a lot of fun with the nautical wheel. =)

The whole ordeal took about 4.5 hours. And if it had just taken a littttttle while longer, we could have gone out for dinner. Sadly, we finished just in time to make it to dinner back at the dining hall. What happened to the days of getting ice cream and lollipops after a visit like that? Juliana deserves some ice cream...she was very brave. (Juliana? You should come get some candy from our candy bowl at least!)

Thanks to Juliana for being willing to share her stories and pictures for our little blog community. It made for a pretty exciting story, didn't it? But we're really glad you're all sewn back together! Feel better soon!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is our dorm sponsored dinner, and Juliana actually headed up the committee to organize and plan for our dinner. It will be in the dining hall, but we will totally transform it into a real winter wonderland. It's gonna be awesome. Stay tuned for pics...

Monopoly Moguls

Hard core monopoly night in the Barn tonight...they've been playing for about four hours. Shari is pretty much out of money, and Asha and Jofia are neck and neck. Notice Helen on the couch...she refuses to play with her sister, who she claims is overzealous when it comes to monopoly. I suspect Shari might agree. ;) But it's all in good fun, and everyone seems to be having fun on this snowy night.

**UPDATE** In case you were left in suspense...Jofia won. =)

Snowy Sunday

We got about 7 inches of snow in Weston today, and everything is covered in a beautiful snowy blanket!

My car was buried under all the snow!

But I braved the snowy roads to go get dorm snacks for Katie's birthday, and decorations for our "winter wonderland" themed dorm dinner on Tuesday. Appropriate for the weather!

9 Barnies attended the Jewbilee Retreat, which is a weekend program for young Jews, friends and allies that strengthens identity, builds community, and enhances the experience of independent school culture. It sounds like they had a really worthwhile experience, and hopefully we'll have pictures (and maybe even a blog entry?!) about it soon.

Until then,
Melisa K.

A Night at theTheater

Tonight was a real treat! First, Cheyenne had the starring role in an adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, which Emily did lights for (they were great, Emily!). Then, Hyeon Jin, Julia, and Hyun Soo played the three wives in The Golden Child. They were so funny! Finally, Juliana directed two plays for "mature audiences" that also got a lot of laughs. Apparently our audience wasn't so mature. =)

We were so proud of all of you...well done!!!

*boisterous clapping and cheering*

PS Sorry some of the videos are sideways. I left the camera at home and had to use the phone. Apparently videotaping vertically doesn't really transfer well to the blog. But, you know, if you tilt your head to the side it works pretty well.

Enjoy,
Melisa K.

Juliana Directs two Plays

Rousing Applause!

Hmmm...just turn your head so this faces the right way..

Sorry this is sideways!

Barnie Actresses!

Hyeon Jin, Hyun Soo and Julia star in The Golden Child

Cheyenne's Tiddly-pum Song

Cheyenne as Winnie-the-Pooh!

Sarah enjoys some strawberry goodness!

Yeah, she's pretty much an expert with the whipped cream. There was a perfect little point on this but my camera phone was too slow to capture it. It was amazing.

Da Hae's Birthday Strawberries....

Da Hae wanted to celebrate her birthday with strawberries and whipped cream. It took a while to track them down (they're not so great in Winter) but we got them! (thanks to Alicia and Travis' persistence!) They put whipped cream on each individual strawberry. It was strawberry birthday goodness.

Briana, Shari and Helen Help Out

Helen helped out at registration for our admissions event tonight. We invited prospective students to campus to participate in workshops in dance, science, and visual arts. Helen was super articulate and personable and outgoing and professional. But then, we already knew that!!

Briana and Shari were student teachers/dancers at the dance workshop too, and they did really well. They were really approachable and not at all intimidating and they made 8th graders feel comfortable learning new dances in hip hop, modern, and African dance. It was so much fun to watch them dance. They were SO good. I actually took a video but couldn't really post it because there were lots of prospective students in it that don't yet go to CSW.

Anyway, I know it's a little cheesy, but I was just so proud tonight watching our girls. They rock.

Our very own gingerbread house...

Jin said she thought the new icicles hanging from the Barn reminded her of the icing on a gingerbread house...and I agree! It practically makes the cold seem cozy. ;)

Happy Birthday, Julia!

We gathered to sing Happy Birthday to Julia and Da Hae at our first dorm meeting after returning from break, but we had to let each of them celebrate with their favorite snacks as well. Tonight, Julia celebrated with brownies and ice cream. Tuesday, we hope to celebrate Da Hae's birthday with strawberries. =)

Holiday Party Movie

End of Mod Art Show

Hopefully I got a picture of at least one thing from each of the Barnies that had stuff in the art show. There was a lot of Barnie art! And, some of our girls had 2-3 different bunches of art in the show. It's amazing that they could create that much good art in one mod! Enjoy!

Juliana's Photo Independent Study (of courtney)

Juliana's Sarah Portrait

Hyun Soo's art!

Jane Art

More from Jane

Hyeon Jin's Metalwork

Hyun Soo's Sculpture

Helen's Sculpture