Where are All of the Lightshows?

As everyone knows it is the holiday season and I am very upset at the fact that there are no places putting on lightshows this season. I used to love taking trips to Jones Beach back in high school with some friends and seeing all of the lights. I was planning on going to the Bronx Zoo this year to see the lights, but instead they want to "Go Green" and are doing day activities. I am all for the effort to conserve electricity to help the environment, but I am very upset at the fact that one of my night activities is not a possibility this year.



Vocabulary:

holiday season- time of year when people of different religions and cultures celebrate their holidays.
lightshows- a beautiful decorated path of lights and different holiday themed displays.
Jones Beach- a beach on Long Island in the state of New York.
Bronx Zoo- a zoo full of animals in New York.
Go Green- an attempt to conserve energy.
environment- our surroundings: the air, water, plants, animals and the Earth.


Cloze Excersize:

1. As soon as Thanksgiving starts is when the ______________________ usually begins; everyone starts to get ready for their upcoming holidays.
2. When driving through Long Island going to the south shore towards the water you will hit __________________.
3. It is so sad that because we have an energy crisis companies and families are tryign to _____________________.
4. There are so many things to do at the ____________________ during the holidays other than seeing the animals.
5. When people recycle we are helping to save our _______________________.
6. During the holidays there used to be drive-thru _______________________ to see different light displays during the evening.


Grammar Point:

It is sometimes easy to tell the mood of someones writing by reading the text. You can tell if the person is angry, happy, excited or trying to persuade you.

Your task: Describe the mood of this passage and give some examples of how you came to your answer.

Upstate New York

We are here camping in the beautiful Catskill Mountains. It is Columbus Day weekend; the rain has finally let up and the sun is shining bright. If you look up, between the treetops, you can see stretched across the sky a striking rainbow. The view from the mountain tops to the valley down below is incredible; the rivers that separate the mountains look like a tiny stream, because we are so high up.


Who needs a wildlife conservatory, when you go camping and get it for free? If you are lucky or unlucky which ever you prefer, you will get to see all sorts of animals. The hungry bears will be eating all your food if you do not hang it from tree limbs. Whatever you do don’t bring it in the tent with you! You can probably see the deer grazing early in the morning in the open fields. The animals you should watch out for unless you enjoy tomato sauce baths are skunks. They may look cute and cuddly, but the stench is very difficult to get rid of.


Taking a nature walk is always one of my favorite things to do when I go up to the mountains. The things that you see are unbelievable; the flowers, the birds, and the secret waterfalls. The wildflowers that grow on the sides of a pond are magnificent. The different types of birds that are seen on the tree branches take your breath away. The hidden waterfalls that are found in the middle of the woods are glorious; it makes you wonder how they got there.



Camping is always my first choice for a vacation, because it is inexpensive and it helps you become one with nature. It truly is an unforgettable experience, and even if a little rain falls, there is usually a rainbow that follows.





Grammar Point:


There are four different types of sentences.


Simple sentences have one subject and one predicate.
Example: We are here camping in the beautiful Catskill Mountains.


Compound sentences include at least two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.
Example: They may look cute and cuddly, but the stench is very difficult to get rid of.


Complex sentences have a simple sentence and one or more dependent clauses.
Example: If you are lucky or unlucky which ever you prefer, you will get to see all sorts of animals.


Compound-complex sentences contain two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
Example: It truly is an unforgettable experience, and even if a little rain falls, there is usually a rainbow that follows.

The Big Day!!! 11/25/09

What a crazy morning! The night before ended in tears nothing but tears. Between friends reuniting and my sister getting married, someone needed to turn off the water-works. There were some more tear the morning of the wedding from the bride over some hair pins, but we got it all figured out in no time.

It truly was a beautiful day after we got through all the crazyness in the morning. The bride looked beautiful and the groom looked very handsome. Of course, I had the hottest date in the whole place (We are so cute!).

We had a cranky ring barrer that did not want to walk down the aisle, and a flower girl that would not let go of her daddy's hand. But the flower girl and the ring barrer made it down the aisle with only a little fight.







Vocabulary:

reuniting- coming together again
water-works - slang for crying
hottest- best looking, most handsome
aisle- the walkway into a church
crazyness- hectic


Cloze exercise:

1. ________________________ with old friends is so much fun, especially talking about all the good times that you used to have.
2. Calming down the bride on her wedding day will truly help calm down all the ____________________ going on everywhere else.
3. The ____________________ guy in the room was the of course my date.
4. The walk down the _______________ seems like a lifetime to the bride and groom.
5. During the wedding ceremony there is usually a lot of _______________.


Grammar Point:

Write about a time that you went through that may have been full of "crazyness," or that could have been a little stressful on you or others.

The Bachelorette Party!

I talked about the planning of the bachelorette party, but I did not tell you all how it went. All the bridesmaids brought over an appetizer, and they were all so delicious. My cousin made a buffalo chicken dip that was out of this world. We all made something to hold us over until DJ Chef got there. Thank goodness we had some food before hand because we were misled by our chef. He was an awesome DJ and that is definatly his thing, but the food was not what anyone expected.


Speaking of the unexpected at 11 o'clock we had a surprise visitor. He was dressed like a cop when he walked in, but soon he wasn't dressed at all. I think you all know what I'm talking about. It didn't end well though because he was very raunchy, so you can say my sister was not happy.

Vocabulary:

raunchy- nasty, not clean
appetizer- snack before a big meal
misled- fooled, given wrong information
bacholorette party- party for the future bride


Cloze excercise:

1. My favorite ______________________ is taco dip, it is a perfect snack before dinner.
2. Everyone thought that they were going to eat so much food from the chef, but they were __________________.
3. The nasty man that came dressed like a cop danced for the bride-to-be, but was extremely ___________________.
4. A _______________________________ is a party for the bride before she gets married.



Grammar Point:

Tell about a time when you were invited to a party and you may have felt uncomfortable or that you saw someone else that was uncomfortable. How did you deal with the situation? Did you try to make that person feel more comfortable?

My Maid of Honor Speech!

First of all I want to say how absolutely gorgeous my sister looks today. You make a stunning bride Michele! Thank you for making me your maid of honor, it has truly been a wonderful experience to be able to spend so much time helping to make your day so special.

As kids, Michele and I were pretty much inseparable; I wanted to do everything she did. I used to idolize the ground she walked on and I still do. When I look back on all the crazy things we did together as kids living upstairs from grandma, I have nothing but fond memories.

When Michele first asked me to be her maid of honor I was delighted. I was also warned that if this speech was long I would get a serious beat down after the reception. So I promise it won’t take me long, ILL JUST TALK REALLY FAST. I just wanted to share something with our bride and groom.

They say that before marriage a man will lay awake thinking about something you said, after marriage he'll fall asleep before you have finished saying it. Now, I'm sure that there are some of you out there that can relate to that.
I would like to offer my own advice for a happy and successful marriage, and just because I'm not married doesn’t mean I can’t offer some suggestions to my new brother-in-law, Shawn.

Shawn, whenever you're wrong, admit it, whenever you right, shut up.
The best way to remember an anniversary is to forget it just once.
Set the ground rules immediately for the new house and then Shawn do everything Michele says.

Never forget the two most important saying, you're right dear and okay buy it.
Lastly, women really do need a pair of shoes for every outfit or in my sister’s case, needs a new outfit for every new pair of shoes. So on that note before I get into any trouble!

TO a very LONG, but HAPPY marriage!!

TO MICHELE AND SHAWN!!!

Vocabulary:

stunning- beautiful
inseparable- always together
fond- great
suggestions- some useful hints
anniversary- a celebration of a certain amount of days, months or years of a special event
outfit- matching clothes


Cloze excercise:

1. I have such ______________________ memories of my childhood with my family.
2. When Jane got dressed up for the wedding she looked absolutly __________________ in her red gown and her hair done.
3. Our ________________ of our first date is on October 12th, 2007.
4. Please leave any _________________ you have for how to improve the house in the box by the door.
5. For the new years party, I have to make sure to buy a matching _________________ to wear with my new shoes.


Grammar Point:

When writing a speech one should try to make it interesting to the people he or she is going to be reading it to.

Look through the speech and find some points that you find interesting. Also find points in the speech that if you were listening would be something to keep you listening.

Help Save Date Night!

Enough about the wedding, for at least this post! This is my new place to vent about everything. Today my issue or complaint, you could say, is the lack of things to do on Friday and Saturday nights on Long Island. I feel like every weekend my boyfriend and I are always doing the same things. It is either a trip to Dave and Busters, dinner-out, the movies, or a night in watching a movie. We are not "bar people" so going to a different bar every weekend is not on our things to do list either. We love to have a good time and go out with our siblings and their significant others, and we also like to spend nights just the two of us going out.

So now I am asking all the readers of my blog to give me some different ideas to do on Long Island at night on the weekends.



Vocabulary-

vent- to discuss or talk about somthing
Long Island- An island in the state of New York
bar people- individuals who like to attend places to drink alcohol
siblings- someones brothers or sisters
significant others- a person that someone is dating


Cloze Exercises-

1. There are not many activities to do on ______________________ at night.
2. People who attend bars on a regular basis are ___________________________.
3. Different people like to _______________________ when they had a bad day or just need to discuss something that is bothering them.
4. Sometimes it is easier to use the term _____________________________ when going out with a group of people and their either boyfriends or girlfriends.
5. Do you and your _______________________ get along?


Grammar Point-


Subject-Verb Agreement - The subject and verb must agree in number: both must be singular, or both must be plural. Problems occur in the present tense because one must add an -s or -es at the end of the verb when the subjects or the entity performing the action is a singular third person: he, she, it, or words for which these pronouns could substitute.

The group of students is going on a field trip.
Subject- group of students
Verb- is

The jury are having an argument.
Subject- jury
Verb- are having

Come up with five examples of sentences where your subjects agree with your verbs.

Maid of Honor Speaks Her Mind

Welcome back! This wedding has my head spinning! Why are brides always in denial when they are being bridezillas. The only person keeping me sane is my boyfriend. Why can’t the events being planned for the bride be as easy as the ones being planned for the groom? The grooms bachelor party has been planned for about three months now. They are going to Atlantic City in a huge party bus and staying over night. That is so easy a little more costly than the women but something the groom wants to do. Why for the bachelorette party does everything need to be so difficult? The men don’t sit and ponder how they are going to dress up the groom to look silly. They just go have some drink, get a lap dance, gamble and go home.

The bridal party feels that they need to plan out what they are going to wear to make them stand out from all the other guests that will be at the party. Also they have to plan out how they are going to make the bride look like a walking billboard for Spencers. As you can tell I am not a girlie girl and I don’t party often, so this whole thing is new to me. I can definitely say that I am getting better at this whole Maid of Honor thing, but there are some traditions I just don’t understand.


Vocabulary-

head spinning- driving someone crazy
bridezilla- a crazy bride who wants things her way without exceptions
gamble- to play games for money
walking billboard for Spencers- expression to mean dressing up in x-rated attire, adult attire
girlie girl- girls that dress formally, wear dresses and nice shoes all the time
traditions- something that is done by everyone on a special occasion



Cloze Exercises-

1. There is a show on tv starring ________________________ that are crazy brides who want a perfect wedding.
2. It is shocking that the bride doesnt leave the groom's __________________________ from all her nagging.
3. Many people like to _____________________ in an attempt to double or even triple their money.
4. Most parents when their children are little like to dress their little baby girls as _____________________(s).
5. There are many different wedding ___________________; this is how the saying of something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue came about.
6. As part of certain traditions the ladies dress up the bride like a __________________________ the night of the bachelorette party.



Grammar Point-

Every sentence has a verb. A verb is a word that expresses action. It tells the reader what the subject of the sentence is doing.

Read through the above post again and pick out the different verbs.