Authentically Nita

Located at 15th & Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA. Across the street from City Hall.

The photo above is the Independence Visitor's Center located across the street from the Liberty Bell Center. The Visitor center is located at 6th and Market Streets and they are open 363 days a year from 8:30am to 5pm. The Liberty Bell Center is located on Market Street between 5th and 6th Streets. The photos below begin with the outside of the center. Exhibits outside of the Liberty Bell Center Inside the Center: The Bell was first called the "Liberty Bell" by a group trying to outlaw slavery. In the 1800s, the Liberty Bell traveled around the country to expositions and fairs to help heal the divisions of the Civil War. The actual Bell No one knows what caused the bell to crack. The first bell cracked not long after it arrived in Philadelphia from London. In 1753 a new bell was cast using the metal from the English bell. By 1846 another crack had began to affect the bell's sound. The bell was repaired in 1846 and it was rung for George Washington's birthday cele

This park is home to many squirrels and a great place to walk your dog. But me, I like to come here when I'm in a bad mood. On days like today, I can just sit under a tree and enjoy the breeze. It's serene. Sent from my Cricket mobile device

If you've read my previous blog post about FDR Park in South Philadelphia, then you already know how wonderful this park is. It's a great place for leisure and family fun. The park's playground has recently recieved a serious upgrade! The old playground here: Has been transformed into this super fun playgroud below! My children love, LOVE this new playground. I personally think the old one was fine, and my favorite activity is still, feeding the ducks :) To read my previous blog post click here: FDR Park aka The Lakes

Are you ecologically friendly? The Global Footprint Network has a great way for you to find out just how green your routine really is. *Click here to take a quiz and see how eco-friendly you really are* The above link will take you to Global Footprint Network's website where you can take a quiz to determine your ecological footprint. I thought that I was doing pretty good before I took this quiz back in January. I found out that if everyone lived like I do, we would need three planet Earths to sustain us! Sounds crazy right? Well, what's even crazier is that right now, our country's ecological footprint is even higher than that. It would take over 5 planets to sustain us if everyone lived like the average US citizen. Since January, I've been making big steps to change my ecological footprint. I'll be sharing those steps in upcoming blog posts.

My mother gave me a flash back yesterday. She called me to come from out of my comfortable position on the couch, walk all the way upstairs and turn off her lamp. Wow! I thought to myself. It reminded me of a story my dad used to tell me. Well, perhaps it was more of a lecture than a story. It went something like this: "Juanita, I know you're not whining because I told you to get the remote off the top of the TV. Back when I was a kid my mom would call me from upstairs. I would have to stop playing and walk all the way downstairs to change the channel for her. Then, I had to stand there, and keep turning the knob until I found something she liked." Now, when my dad was a kid, remote controls and color TVs did exist. But he says that he was so poor that they had a black & white TV and no remote. (He was a black kid in North Philadelphia, from the projects, with no father in his life, so he's probably telling the truth). Well anyway, I broke the news to my children

I went to the Wissahickon on April 9th, 2011 and planted trees with the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers and students from the University of Pennsylvania. There were 35 trees that needed to be planted. There were flags marking where the trees were to be planted. Our group picked the spot where we would plant our first tree. We had to do a little invasive plant removal to clear away three feet around where the tree would be planted. Most of it had been removed already and the dead vines of the plants were everywhere. We also had to dig up the root of the invasive plant that was in the spot where the tree would go. Once the invasive was removed and the hole was dug. We planted the tree. The first tree we planted was a Hackberry Tree. The Hackberry Tree produces berries and it’s a good food and shelter tree for wildlife. The second tree we planted was a White Oak Tree. The White Oak is going to grow big and also provide shelter and food for wildlife. After we planted the trees we then

I just tried this online activity to see how much energy is being wasted in my household. Check it out and get your results: Calculate Energy Loss – Vampire Power Tips

Who can forget ALF? The TV Show about an extraterrestrial who crash-lands himself into a life with the Tanner family. ALF's real name is Gordon Shumway, and he's the last survivor from the planet Melmac. Willie Tanner gives him the nickname ALF, which is short for Alien Life Form. The Tanner's are nice enough to take ALF into their home and hide him from the Military's Alian Task Force, but during his time there ALF drives them crazy. He breaks things and tries to eat their cat. His behavior doesn't stop the Tanner's from making him a permanent member of their family. It was a really funny Sitcom from the late 80s. Check out some these short YouTube videos:

I think they may be the second largest family in America. With 18 children and counting, the Bateses are being labeled as the Duggars rivals. However, the Bateses and Duggars are actually acquaintances. Check out the video as Brian Owens of ABC News meets the family:

Nadya Suleman visited Oprah for the second time around and this time it was to ask for financial help to keep herself and her fourteen children off of the street. Nadya insisted to Oprah that she was both "financially destitute" and "emotionally depleted." Oprah arranged for Nadya to meet with Suze Orman to help with her financial crisis. Although Orman seemed to have been reluctant to work with Nadya at first, she did step in and help the single mother of fourteen. Orman probably gave Nadya the best advice there could ever possibly be; to pray and let go of her pride. She told Nadya to stop refusing to get an agent. She has to support those children. Nadya was very much concerned with how people would depict her if she hired an agent or accepted government funded help. She even said she thought people would hate her. Suze's response was; "Everybody thinks you’re crazy for having eight kids. You know it" After that, Orman pretty much told the single ma

Has your sign really changed? Probably not according to Claudine Zap's article, "Has Your Horoscope Changed." The article explains that there are different branches of astrology. A popular Eastern form of astrology looks to the background stars as its guide. Whereas Western astrology uses the zodiac and is fixed to the seasons. The Zodiac signs are guided by star signs, and the zodiac is based on our relationship to the sun, not the stars. Claudine states that "Most Westerners, and all those horoscope pages we eagerly check, go by the zodiac. These signs follow what early astrologers called star signs, whose reference points are the tropics that form a ring around the earth. The zodiac is based on our relationship to the sun, not the stars." So here's the issue: Around 2,000 years ago the astrological signs and the astronomical ones were the same, but they're not anymore. The locations of the signs are based on the sun's location on the first day o

Children have enjoyed playing Super Mario Brothers on the Gameboy, DS, Super Nintendo, GameCube, Nintendo 64 and Wii. When I was a kid, we played Mario on this: The original Nintendo Duck Hunt was one of my favorite games. It was a simple game, just shoot the ducks. The dog laughs at you when you lose and then you try again. On ScrewAttack.com, BillyTheGardenGnome lists the laughing dog (shown above) as number 12 in his article titled, "Top 50 Useless Video Game Characters of All Time: 25-11." I disagree. If he wasn't there, who would hold the ducks up by their necks when you win??? Check out this Fun House below. It was built as a tribute to Nintendo