Top 20 Restaurants for Proctor Families

Weekly Reflection # 3

2008-05-25T20:39:00.002-04:00

This is it; Senior Project is over and it feels very bittersweet. I am so proud of what Erin and I have accomplished but so sad about leaving this experience behind, however, I know that the memories and knowledge I have gained will remain with me forever. The next step is to meet with the Senior Project committee tomorrow and then present our binder and condensed version at the exhibit on Tuesday night. We are both so excited and ready to finally show everyone what we have been working so hard on for the past three weeks.

This past week was incredibly hectic but somehow still entirely enjoyable! Each day this week was spent working for hours on end at either Erin’s or my house and with each day, our Top 20 Restaurants binder began looking more and more complete. I am so glad that Erin and I were so diligent in our work in the first two weeks, for if we hadn’t been it would have been very hard to complete our project in the given time. However, we both managed our time very wisely and finished right on schedule.

The tasks that this week entailed were very redundant, and I consequently learned that you must treat each task at hand with the same accuracy and effort as you did with the tasks that were most exciting and fun. The both of us were very surprised at how long the very simplest tasks took to complete. Erin and I spent hours and hours just printing, cutting, and pasting material into our binder, and although this process was boring, the final product was stunning and impressive. Without the printing, cutting, and pasting, we would have no Top 20 Restaurants binder! Actually, Erin and I soon learned how to make even the most boring moments of printing, cutting, and pasting come to life by listening to music and engaging in fun conversation; we sort of got into a certain zone after a while!

We met with our sponsor continuously throughout the week. We asked Margaret to read through and edit various parts of our binder. Her input is always greatly appreciated and when she asks us to consider changing something, we always take her suggestions seriously and, almost always, make the change. Margaret found a few grammatical errors in parts of our binder which Erin and I took note of and promptly corrected. Margaret was so proud and pleased with our completed binder. We will miss working with her tremendously.

Overall, the week went exactly as planned. However, Erin and I made the difficult choice to take La Meridiana off our list and were faced with the problem to quickly find a new restaurant to take La Meridiana’s place. However, this dilemma only lasted for about 5 minutes, as we immediately made reservations to visit The Old Courthouse in Newport, as we had heard wonderful things about the restaurant. Our dinner was scrumptious and, in our book, we highly recommend a dim lit and relaxing dinner at The Old Courthouse.

This week’s activities were absolutely mandatory to the completion of our project. I am entirely happy with how Erin and I collaborated to finish our binder and condensed version. We did it! Erin and I managed to create something that will hopefully remain an asset to Proctor Academy for many years to come.

This entire experience was such a wonderful opportunity and I am so glad I took advantage of it. I hope to see you at the Senior Project exhibit! Thanks for reading my blog!

Becca

Week 3, Day 20 (Last day!) of Senior Project!

2008-05-23T22:30:00.002-04:00

How in the world could today have been our last day of Senior Project?! These past three weeks could not have flown by any faster. If I could do every moment all over again, I would without a second thought!

This morning, I woke up and drove over to Erin’s house, arriving at 9:00. From 9:00 – 11:00, I worked on printing out all of my ten reviews. They were all checked multiple times for errors and should be nearly perfect! Everything was going perfectly as I printed out one review after the next; I only had to reformat/resize one review to fit the page constraints. Seeing the reviews in the binder was such a triumphant feeling, for the reviews were the last part to be added to the binder to make it complete!

I also spent time choosing a color, font, and size for the text on the cover of our binder. Our cover is very intricately designed and has specific requirements as to how big the title has to be and where it is located. We also wanted the title to jump out at its readers. After a few trial and errors of printing out the wrong sizes, I finally found the perfect combination and Erin then pasted it on to our cover. Our book looks so good!

We also worked on the condensed version of our binder that we will be presenting to admissions as an example of what they might like to continue to produce in the future. Click Book is such a great and helpful software and has really made this process a lot easier for us. I think the admissions office will be very pleased with our completed condensed version!

At 11:15, Erin and I traveled over to our Sponsor’s house. Margaret read through our binder and made note of any last minute changes we might want to consider. There was very little Margaret said she would like to change. I’m so glad that she feels happy with the final product; she has helped us so much throughout this process and we appreciate everything she has contributed.

At 12:15, we left Margaret’s house. For another hour after that, I pasted the rest of the reviews into the binder.

Everything is complete! I am exhausted from this week and cannot wait to show everyone what we have been spending our time creating. I am confident that all who read or see our binder and condensed versions will be very pleased.

All done!

Becca

Week 3, Day 14 of Senior Project!

2008-05-22T22:08:00.002-04:00

Wow. Today was all work and no play from the moment Erin and I woke up until well after I came home. I worked 8 long hours today! However, it was all worth it for Erin and I got so much important work done. This project has really turned into something a lot bigger than we ever expected it to become!

I spent the night at Erin’s last night, making it much easier to begin work right away when we woke up. Today, work began at 10:00 and ceaselessly continued until 2:30 and then began again from 3:00 until 5:00 and then again from 6:00 - 7:30. At 10:00, I began the process of completely finishing all of my reviews, including the review for the restaurant Erin and I visited last night, The Old Courthouse. It took a little over an hour to finish up my last three reviews and when I did, boy did it feel good! Having all of my reviews squared away definitely took a load of stress off.

After finishing the writing process, I had to finish printing out, cutting, and pasting all of the additional photos. As I wrote in one of my previous blog entries, this process takes a good amount of time to complete. I decided that I was not going to take a lunch break until all of the pictures were pasted into the book! The last step was to upload the pictures taken last night, edit them, print, and paste them. The photos from last night turned out great, which was not a surprise, as the restaurant was very beautiful.

After our lunch break, Erin and I continued working from 3:00 – 5:00. Both of us finally completed our ten reviews each and decided it was the perfect time to peer edit each other’s reviews. First, I spellchecked all the reviews and then I carefully read through each and every one for grammatical errors. After fixing the very few grammatical errors that I found, I then read through all the reviews once more to make sure everything was worded correctly and to make sure there was nothing missing. Erin’s reviews were spot on and really impressed me! I’m so excited that Proctor Families will be able to read through our reviews for many years to come; we worked really hard on them.

In the meantime, while Erin finished editing my reviews, I looked through our binder to make note of any restaurants that didn’t have outside signs, for we use those photographs as the introduction to each new restaurant. Thankfully, there were only a few. In such cases, we just wrote the restaurant’s name in a nice font and color.

I then proceeded to create the word document that will be uploaded to the new software, Click Book. Erin and I decided that in our condensed version of our binder, it would be best to only include the name of the restaurant, the review, contact information, and the directions. Thus, I had to copy all of my reviews, re-locate all of the directions, and then reformat this information to fit the look we are striving to create in our mini Top 20 restaurant book. When I left Erin’s at 5:00, neither of us were finished with this process.

After I arrived home, I began work, once more, at 6:00 and stopped work at 7:30. In this time, I finished formatting the word document for our condensed version and sent it in an attachment over to Erin’s house, for the Click Book software is on her home computer.

Afterwards, I created the cover page for our binder that will introduce our readers to our senior project. I tried to incorporate a clear explanation of our Senior Project and why we felt it would be such an asset for the Admissions office. I am very pleased with the final product and think that it represents our book very well!

Until tomorrow –

Becca

Week 3, Day 13 of Senior Project!

2008-05-21T22:58:00.002-04:00

As I expected, today was a whole lot of pasting… and when I say a “whole lot” I, more precisely, mean 4 ½ hours!!! Erin and I woke up bright and early at 8:30, and began work on our project 9:00 sharp!

At 9:00, I opened up our binder, grabbed the first glue stick and started the long process of pasting each and every piece of paper down to each and every page. I hadn’t realized how long this would take! Not only that, but crouching over a book for 4 ½ hours really starts to take a toll on your lower back! But even with the pain, I marched forward, until, that is, the glue stick I was using ran out! This glue stick was a heavy duty one and I couldn’t believe that I had already used it all up. I ran around my house trying to find another one, and luckily found one buried underneath pens and pencils in my desk’s junk drawer. This glue stick was smaller than the first, and unfortunately, didn’t last very long! So after about 6 more restaurants being pasted down, I had to run around the house, yet again, to find another glue stick. This third glue stick ran out even quicker than the first, and, this time, I was positive that there were no more glue sticks left in my house. Thus, I was forced to resort to using a hot glue gun – which was surprisingly easier and faster! Using a hot glue gun was actually a lot better for gluing all of the business cards, as they are made out of thicker paper or sometimes even plastic. It felt so good when I was finished gluing everything down because it made everything final. Although there are still a few more things to print out and glue, that wont take very long in comparison to this morning! At 2:30, I laid down the hot glue gun, and threw out all of the dead glue sticks!

It was time that Erin and I discuss our options for dealing with the La Meridiana issue. We both came to the conclusion that La Meridiana should be eliminated from our list, which I feel is the best decision for the overall goal of project. Consequently, Erin and I decided that we should visit The Old Courthouse, in Newport, and see if it is worthy of making our Top 20 list. Erin and I made reservations for 7:30 tonight! We were both very excited to try a new restaurant.

At 7:00, Erin and I departed from her house and traveled over to The Old Courthouse. It was very easy to find and is beautifully situated on a small hill. The inside of the restaurant was dimly lit and the atmosphere was very warm. Everyone we talked to was so nice and genuinely interested in our project. The owner of the restaurant even came out to speak with us and told us about how the restaurant was just featured in the New Hampshire magazine!! I can definitely understand why, as each one of my dishes were extremely delicious! For an appetizer, I had Cream of Broccoli soup (which was scrumptious!), for an entrée I had the Salmon Lillian, and for dessert I had the unbelievably rich and yummy Chocolate Gnash! The meal was definitely up to our expectations and both Erin and I felt that The Old Courthouse would be perfect for our binder! We left the restaurant at 9:00 to come home; we arrived home at Erin's house at 9:30.

Until tomorrow -

Becca

Week 2, Day 12 of Senior Project!

2008-05-20T22:15:00.004-04:00

With each day I feel more confident with how our Senior Project is turning out. Even the littlest improvements really make a big difference in the overall image of our binder. With every change we make, our project becomes better and we learn more.

Today at 4:00, Erin and I traveled over to visit our wonderful Sponsor so that she could give us her “two sense” on our work. Erin and I have accomplished a lot since our last visit with Margaret; we were very excited to show her our (almost) finished binder. She couldn’t believe how much work we had done! She thought that it was beautiful. As she flipped through the various pages, she kept saying how impressed she was. Margaret especially liked all of the scrapbook paper we used in our binder. She felt that we chose appropriate paper in relation to each restaurant. This comment was great to hear because Erin and I really tried to pick paper that would compliment the restaurant’s food and atmosphere. Margaret also helped us with ideas for our cover page, which is nearly complete; we just have to add the title and our names. Margaret carefully looked at each and every page and had nothing but great things to say about it!

At 4:45, we left Margaret’s and drove to my house, where we stayed for the rest of the night. From 5:00 – 7:00, and then from 7:30 – 10:15, Erin and I worked up in my room on our binder. While Erin worked on her reviews and other important aspects of our project, I started to paste everything down! This process is not an especially entertaining one, however it really does make everything feel more final and ready. As I pasted everything to each page, I was careful in making sure that everything was straight and centered. Some of the pages were especially difficult to complete; the process was somewhat like a jigsaw puzzle in that I had to move around pictures, menus, and directions to better fit everything to the confinements of the page. During this time, I sporadically stopped to answer Erin’s questions about what my favorite dishes are, as she was gathering this information while I pasted.

Tomorrow is looking like a lot more pasting and printing out of more pictures!

Until then –

Becca

Week 3, Day 11 of Senior Project

2008-05-19T22:01:00.002-04:00

Erin and I only have four days left of senior project! It’s unbelievable to think that we’ve come this far in only two weeks. Our project continues to become better with each moment we work on it.

Today was picture day! At 11:30, Erin picked me up at my house and we drove over to her house where worked the entire afternoon. We started work at 12:00 and stopped at 5:00, when my parents came to pick me up. For those five hours, Erin worked on several of her reviews, while I started printing out all the pictures of each restaurant so that we can add them to our binder. As expected, this task was very time consuming, for I had to resize each picture to fit the confinements of the given page, wait for it to print, and then carefully cut each picture out and neatly rearrange them on the binder pager. On average, each restaurant will display four pictures: the restaurant sign, the outside of the restaurant, the dining room, and the pub.

Upon adding the pictures to binder, we could immediately see how much color and depth the pictues gave the book. The pictures are such an important piece to the project. Without pictures I assume it would be very difficult or families to feel 100% confident about their decision to eat at one of our suggested restaurants. I know that if it were me, I would want to see pictures of the restaurant before dining there in order to gauge if it’s the right pick for my family. We did not finish printing out all of the pictures, but have plenty of time to do so tomorrow, for Erin will be coming over to my house and we will be able to work into the wee hours of the night!

While at Erin’s house, we were also introduced to a new computer software that will help us with creating our condensed version of our Top 20 Restaurants book. The software will allow us to transfer all of our information and material on the computer where it can be resized and reformatted to fit our choice of pamphlets or flip books. We will try and create a book that will serve as an example to admissions for what they might be able to continue producing in the future, if they so wish.

Erin and I also discussed our options for La Meridiana. Although in the past, I have had several wonderfully delicious meals at La Meridiana, our job with this project is to please the readers and present them with a restaurant that will show them an enjoyable time, and La Meridiana seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way. We discussed our options and we might give La Meridiana’s spot on our list to The Old Courthouse in Lebanon. This change would be an easy one, so I am not too worried about this slight dilemma.

After I arrived home at 5:30, I worked from 6:30 to 7:30 on further editing some reviews. Today was a very successful day, as all of our days have been!

Until tomorrow -

Becca

Weekly Reflection #2

2008-05-18T22:20:00.001-04:00

I can’t believe I only have one more week left of Senior Project! Everything seems to speeding up at an accelerating pace. Luckily, our project is looking better than I ever imagined it would and I can’t wait to show it off at the senior project exhibit; this past week has really proven to be the most productive week yet! However, Erin and I definitely need this upcoming week to finish everything and make some last minute changes.

I am entirely content with having spent two weeks on this project and am even more excited to prepare for yet another week. This project is perfect for Erin and I, as it touches on many of our passions and hidden interests. I love writing, always have, and feel that this is a venue of writing that I have never explored. I sincerely hope that when our Proctor families read the reviews that they will feel as though they can make a well educated decision about which restaurant to dine at. I must also say, Erin and I are both quite talented at decorating and both have a keen eye for what colors and designs compliment each other best. Thus, we both love being in our element and have really had fun with the various scrapbook pages. This upcoming week we will be printing out all the pictures I took and pasting them onto the appropriate pages. I can’t wait!

This past week was entirely different than the first. Erin and I were completely finished with visiting the restaurants and collecting their information; all that was left to do was to begin the process of piecing together the binder. We spent the entire week sitting down on each other’s couches and on the floors of our rooms in a jumble of scrapbook paper, paper clippings, glue sticks, tape, scissors, and clear plastic sheets. We also had to print out countless pages of directions and menus. Erin and I were both astounded at how long all of this took. We are very precise in our cuts and measurements, as we both want the binder to look neat and professional. I spent the weekend at Erin’s house and we both decided to put in several extra hours on our project! This week has taught us a lot about personal responsibilities and spending time wisely. We have become so dedicated to this project and want to be absolutely positive everything is finished on time and is exactly what we hoped it would be.

I feel that Erin and I have really made the best use of our time, whether we were together or apart. It is also incredibly helpful to spend time working on our binder at Margaret’s house, for she is right there if we need her assistance. This week, our sponsor really helped give us ideas about how to best organize our binder and what would work best in terms of catching our readers attention and helping them out with traveling around the area. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with Kim Hurlbutt and am looking forward to hearing back from her about the prospect of creating a website about our restaurants.

All of the various steps Erin and I have taken to further this project are really building upon each other and everything is coming together. We are very excited to begin yet another successful week!

Until tomorrow -

Becca

Week 2, Day 10 of Senior Project!

2008-05-16T22:44:00.002-04:00

My internet keeps cutting in and out so I am going to have to make this blog short so that I ensure it will be posted!

Today was a bit hectic, as I was busy all day with other things besides my Senior Project. It was a little crazy at times with me trying to fit in senior project hours with other responsibilities, but I managed to somehow complete everything that needed completing! Everything always seems to work out.

I woke up really early today; I had to drive my dad to work so that I would be able to have the car for the day. I was up at 6:30 and by the time I got home from driving my Dad, it was about 8:00. From 8:00 –9:30, I worked on various restaurant reviews, adding and subtracting elements of the reviews that I wasn’t happy with. Each review is really beginning to articulate the fine points of each restaurant and I think our readers will be very pleased. It’s actually quite difficult to find 20 different ways to say the food is “delicious” and that the atmosphere is “welcoming”!!! My list of vocabulary, especially adjectives, has definitely grown during senior project. Also, I figure that if I edit and try and perfect each review now, it will save a lot of time in the next couple of days.

I wasn’t able to work again until after 3:00. At 3:30, I drove over to Proctor to try and find Michele and drop off my weekly time sheets, but Michele wasn’t there. However, I am sure I will see her again very soon so I have nothing to worry about. I slipped Erin and my own time sheet underneath Michele’s door.

From the time I got home, 4:00, up until 8:00, I worked on writing and editing reviews, finding the additional scrapbook paper we need to complete our binder (I found very little), and finishing the selection of which pictures should and shouldn’t be in the binder. For me, today was mostly a day of tying up loose ends and polishing what I have done on this project thus far. It’s getting down to crunch time, and although I feel a bit stressed, the confidence and time invested in our project overrides all my nerves.

I will be staying the weekend at Erin’s house and we both plan to do a lot of work while together!

Until then –

Becca

Week 2, Day 9 of Senior Project!

2008-05-15T21:59:00.002-04:00

Today was another busy and exciting day. Erin and I went to school at 9:00 so that Erin could practice with the Jazz Band for her performance this Saturday night. For about a half hour, while Erin was singing, I organized a lot of the senior project data that is on my desktop and made folders for each restaurant. Each folder now includes the selected pictures that will go in the binder, the review, and the sample menu. I also researched a few of the restaurants that didn’t seem to have website or business cards to see if there was an alternative website that might have some of the information we need.

After Erin completed her Jazz Band practice, we went to assembly. Assembly was especially special for me today for I was inducted into the National Honors Society; I was so surprised! This is such an honor and I am so gracious to proctor for being the pillar that has helped me succeed in all aspects of my life and that has helped me reach this point.

After assembly and after receiving our yearbooks (!!!), at 11:00, Erin and I went straight over to meet with Kim Hurlbutt about the possibility of creating a webpage of our Top 20 Restaurants. It was a pleasure meeting Kim, as I had never met her before. Erin and I explained the details of our project and what are key goals are for finishing the project. We even brought our binder along to the meeting to show Kim exactly what the finished product will look like. This definitely gave her a better idea of all the various components of our project. Kim loved the idea of adding all our information to a Dining area of the Proctor A-Z website. We explained to her that we only have one more week left of our project, and although we would love to do the website, we will only be able to if it doesn’t jeopardize our main project. Kim completely agreed with this and said she would talk to her colleagues and get back to us about how and when we will be able to work on a website. After our meeting, Kim and one of her colleagues asked if it would be alright if they take pictures of Erin and I to put on the family page. They wanted the photos to be candid, so Erin and I mocked working on our binder; it was fun!

At 11:30, Erin and I left and came back to my house. After lunch, from 12:00 – 5:00, Erin and I worked continuously on our binder. We did the same thing as yesterday; cutting out menus, background paper, and directions. This process is very time consuming, as we are very precise with the cutting. By the end of the five hours, I was covered in scrap paper, pencils, and extra rulers!!! Unfortunately, near the end of our work today, Erin and I both ran out of background paper, so we will have to buy some more tomorrow or this weekend. However, we did not let this stop us, and we continued working on just cutting out the directions and menus so that when we do get the paper, everything will be ready to go! Tomorrow looks like Erin and I might have to work separately and I plan on doing a lot of writing!

Until then –

Becca

Week 2, Day 8 of Senior Project!

2008-05-14T23:06:00.002-04:00

What a long and productive day! Erin and I made a lot of progress on our project and binder today; it’s starting to look how we imagined it would!

Erin and I were able to meet with our very busy sponsor, Margaret, today! Erin and I were over at Margaret’s house working on our project from 2:00 – 5:00 !!! In this time frame, we showed Margaret all of the menus we printed out, all of the directions we printed out, and the rest of the restaurant material she had yet to see. She was very impressed and happy with what we showed her; she’s so excited that we are now able to begin the real construction of our binder. Erin and I had many questions to ask Margaret. Her input is always greatly appreciated and has really opened up new doors for our project. Erin, Margaret, and I decided that it would be most logical to order our Top 20 restaurants in our binder by area. We decided that alphabetical order would be too generic and that if we ordered it by food type it wouldn’t provide a good sense of the other restaurants nearby. Thus, we ordered the restaurants by the corresponding area, beginning with Wilmot, Danbury, New London, Grantham, and then finishing with Hanover, and Lebanon.

I thought that it would be a good idea to create a trial template for what the introductory restaurant page should look like. I wanted Margaret to be able to see it and give some advice on what to change or what to keep. I messed around on Word for a while until I finally came to the perfect format. I took pictures of the individual signs for each restaurant, and decided that those pictures should go at the top of each restaurant page. Under the photo, is where our review will go, and then underneath that will be the restaurant contact information and/or business card. Margaret really liked the layout!

While at Margaret’s, we also had a discussion about what the rest of our week looks like. Margaret is very excited at the prospect of Erin and I creating a website for out Top 20 Restaurants. We can’t wait to meet with Kim tomorrow!

After we left Margaret’s at 5:00, we made our way back to my house for the night. From 6:30 – 10:30, Erin and I worked intensively on our binder!!! I’m so happy that we are finally putting everything together; it already looks so great! Erin and I both collaborated to find attractive and eye catching scrapbook paper to place as a background for our menus, reviews, pictures, directions, etc. We spent the next 4 hours using rulers to precisely cut the directions, menus, and paper to smaller sizes. Every singly page in the binder will be a different design and color! We carefully chose each background paper so that they match the overall vibe of the restaurant. The backgrounds look so great as frames for all the material. Neither Erin nor I can believe how long it takes to cut out things! We spent 4 hours, and only completed 6 restaurants!!! Nevertheless, we feel that we have made a huge dent in our project and can’t wait to do more tomorrow!

Until then –

Becca

Week 2, Day 7 of Senior Project

2008-05-13T22:44:00.002-04:00

Today, Erin and I were once again reunited! After Erin finished her strenuous AP Environmental exam this morning, Erin came over to my house to pick me up so that we could begin a productive day of our Senior Project.

Erin and I arrived at her house at 12:30 and sat down at 1:00 to begin our very long session of senior project work. We spent the next six hours accomplishing many of the tasks that are essential for the completion of our binder. Erin and I decided a while ago that it would be best and most logical to include the exact directions to each restaurant from Proctor Academy. I spent two hours locating the directions, checking them for accuracy, and then printing them out. After I found all the directions and printed them out, I cut each of the 20 Top Restaurant directions into smaller sizes to better fit the binder and to make more room for other important material.

For about an hour, Erin and I also spent time looking through all the various scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, and construction paper in her house that we may be able to use to enhance our binder. We found some really fun and restaurant appropriate paper that will look really great as a frame for menus and pictures. I also called our sponsor Margaret to schedule our next meeting. We set a meeting for tomorrow in the early afternoon.

Erin and I are really interested in how we might go about making a website on the A-Z Proctor page that gives a brief list of our Top 20 Restaurants, their locations, and contact information. To answer our inquiries about such a task, we decided to email Kim Hurlbutt, who is the person Michelle told us to contact for such questions. Erin emailed her and asked if it would be okay if we met with her Thursday morning. Kim promptly responded that that would be fine! I Can’t wait to discuss the options with her!

The next two hours I spent helping Erin locate the rest of the restaurant menus online and then printed them out. It’s difficult when the restaurant does not offer an online menu, but, thankfully, such restaurants usually offer sample menus at their actual restaurant location, and we were smart enough to grab a sample menu at any restaurant that offered them - so I think we are all covered. The online menu for Three Tomatoes Trattoria (one of my all time favorite restaurants in the area, by the way), was not in a printable form but was rather in a scroll box. Thus, I had to copy it out of the scroll box and paste it into a word document; this did not produce the same looking menu as online. Subsequently, I had to spend additional time editing the menu so that I looked presentable and properly formatted.

Later that night, from 7:00 - 8:00, I worked on some more reviews, but had trouble today with the writing process and did not feel 100% confident with what I had written. This week, I will revisit the reviews I attempted to write today and probably rewrite them if need be. Neither Erin nor I were in the writing mood and instead focused on other pressing tasks. I’m sure tomorrow and the rest of the week will yield better results for writing the rest of the restaurant reviews; today just wasn’t an ideal day as we were both tired.

Until Tomorrow-

Becca

Week 2, Day 6 of Senior Project!

2008-05-12T21:45:00.002-04:00

Today was not as exciting and/or fun as it usually is because Erin and I were not able to work together; she had to study all day for her AP Environmental Science test scheduled for tomorrow morning. However, I am glad that she took the time to study and will be fully prepared for the exam. Erin and I will reunite again tomorrow after she has her exam! I know that she is excited to begin this week of Senior Project as it is when we get to start really spending time putting together our binder.

Even though Erin and I were not able to meet with each other today, I had a very productive day! I was an early bird today and woke up at 8:00, at which time I started work on my restaurant reviews. I spent 4 ½ hours (8-12:30) doing this work. Erin and I are all done with our Top 20 List!!! After going back and forth between a few tied restaurants, we feel 100% happy with the list that we have produced. We think that it has great variety and that there is a restaurant on the list that will suit every single family to visit Proctor in the near future. Erin and I thought it would be wise to split the list in two so that each of us would be able to focus on perfecting ten reviews each. The ten restaurants that I have been assigned are: The Millstone, The Lake Sunapee Country Club, Four Corners, La Meridiana, Bistro Nouveau, Lui Lui’s, Yama’s, Koto Japanese Restaurant, and Three Tomatoes Trattoria! I love every single on of these restaurant and am so happy that I will be able to introduce others to the great food and experiences that these restaurants offer.

From 8:00 – 12:30, I also gathered all the various information that will accompany each restaurant review in our binder. This includes the restaurant’s website URL, phone number, URL to the Mapquest directions, estimated mileage from Proctor, estimated time distance from Proctor, and other additional information. I’ve found that I spend a lot of time on each individual review, which I think of as a good thing, because by the time I am finished with the review it is exactly how I feel the restaurant should be described.

From 6:30 – 7:30, I loaded the rest of the pictures I had taken from last week onto my computer and began the editing process for those photos. The pictures are really going to enhance the binder and help give the readers an accurate sense of where they will be traveling to eat

I can’t wait to dive right in to our Senior Project tomorrow!
Until then –

Becca

Weekly Reflection #1

2008-05-11T22:48:00.002-04:00

How surreal it is that a week of Senior Project has already passed! I am in awe at how quickly time flies, especially when we’re having as much fun as Erin and I had this week. Throughout each day, Erin and I were able to remain focused on the overall time consuming goals of our project while also maintaining the right positive attitude. Thus, no matter what we were doing, we enjoyed every minute of it!

I am entirely confident that Erin and I chose the right project to pursue. I felt like a professional as I entered restaurant after restaurant, explaining our project and asking for permission to take photographs and business cards. Erin and I are both very self motivated individuals and we want out project to be the best and most impressive it can be, making this a challenging and great learning experience. Even choosing the perfect Top 20 list took longer than we expected, for we went back and forth between deciding which restaurants were best suited for Proctor families. I am honored to have the opportunity to create such a lasting asset for the Admissions office and want the finished product to be of the best quality.

I love how I am so incredibly focused on this project now that I don’t have to worry about other academics. This allows me to delve deeper into my project and really think through how to schedule my time most wisely. However, even with this lengthy allotted time, there are still aspects of the project that I need help with and that is why having Margaret, as Sponsor is such a blessing. She brings innovative ideas to our discussions and has great input on what should be included in our binder. I’ve already learned so much from her, and in the upcoming weeks there will be even more of an opportunity to really take advantage of her experience because this week is when Erin and I will really work hard on our binder.

I found it surprising and interesting how each restaurant responded differently to our Senior Project. After requesting to take pictures of their dining rooms or pub areas, the hostess would either immediately respond that taking pictures would be fine or the hostess would ask us to wait a moment while they went and asked the manager. Despite this variation in responses, one reaction was always the same; each restaurant we visited was happy and honored to have a place on our list. At a few restaurants the managers would even jokingly say, “Well our restaurant will, of course, be at the number one ranking on your list – correct?”

I am very pleased with how Erin and I chose to spend our time this past week. The both of us make a great team! We worked methodically and logically through the week, choosing to spend the entire 30 hours on visiting restaurants, taking pictures, collecting important information, beginning our reviews, editing the pictures, and discussing all of it with our sponsor. Because we worked the way we did, and took the steps we did, Erin and I are now fully prepared to sit down and put in long hours for our Top 20 Restaurants for Proctor Families binder. We have all the material and information needed for our book so that we don’t have to interrupt our workflow to go find information we would be missing; we have everything we need! Furthermore, all of the visits and gathered information is fresh in my mind, ready to be put to paper. It’s also a wonderful feeling to know that everything gathered this past week is neatly organized, ready to use when we need it.

Week One of Senior Project was a Success! Week two starts tomorrow!
Until then -

Becca

Week 1, Day 5 of Senior Project!

2008-05-09T21:54:00.002-04:00

Well, this is the last day of Week One of our Senior Project, and what a successful week it has been! I was actually wrong about thinking today would be hectic. Although the day did start off in a frantic manner, everything soon slowed down, which I must say I was happy about!

At 11:15, Erin came over to my house. The both of us sat down and talked about my visit to Bistro Nouveau last night. We reviewed our Top 20 list and discussed whether Bistro Nouveau should be on the list or not; I definitely think it is worthy of a spot on our list! I described to Erin, in detail, how my night at the restaurant went and why it is so great for Proctor families. After talking about our Top 20 list (which is 99% in final form), we looked over our blogs to help us fill out our individual time sheets. What help the blogs are! Without the blog I would have had a lot of trouble recording the exact hours spent on each task. Looking over our time sheet really showed the both us how much work we’ve completed; 30 hours!

At 11:45, we left my house and drove to school so that Erin could practice singing with the Jazz band for next weekend’s performance in the wise. From 12:00 – 12:45, while I waited for Erin, I finished editing all the pictures from New London, Hanover, and Lebanon!

After Erin was done practicing, from 12:45 – 1:45, we spent time in a meeting with our mentor Jane and also handed in our weekly time sheets to Michele. Jane was so pleased with all the work we’ve accomplished thus far and complemented our blogs! We told her all about our newest restaurant discoveries and ideas for our project. She wanted to hear all about our encounters with the owners and staff. When we handed in out time sheets to Michelle, we spent a little time talking with her about a couple restaurants we were unsure about. She had a lot of great input that Erin and I took into consideration. We had a very nice chat and are looking forward for when she does a profile of our project! ; )

At 2:00, Erin dropped me off at my house. For the next two hours, from 2:00 – 4:00, I began weeding out the pictures I think are unnecessary for our binder or that do not show the restaurant in that best light. This process is difficult because I took so many great pictures, but we only have a enough room for a few pictures per each restaurant, so I ended up having to delete many pictures that I really liked. I also uploaded the pictures I took yesterday of The Inn at Pleasant Lake and Bistro Nouveau; I’ll edit those photos this upcoming week.

From 4:00 – 4:30, I visited La Meridiana. Erin and I have had our reservations about placing La Meridiana on our Top 20 list because he rarely takes more than a handful of tables every night (he is the only cook) and some find the atmosphere not to their liking. The restaurant is very uniqe and I fully understand why some may feel a certain way about it. However, I know the cook/owner personally and love his food, so Erin and I both definitely thought I should go over there to talk with him and see if he would like to be on our list. When I entered the restaurant, he was already prepping in the kitchen for dinner that night. He was very pleased to see me and responded with a “Yes that would be good!” I then proceeded to take pictures of the restaurant. We’ll see if La Meridiana ends up on our list or not – it’ll be a surprise!

From 5:30 – 6:30, I worked on a few of my reviews from the restaurants in the Hanover/Lebanon area. I had to fill out an important application for a program at the college I’m attending next fall, and was hoping I would be done in time to join Erin, her mother, and Margaret at Carpaccio for dinner, but I wasn’t able to finish! I’m sure they had a wonderful dinner and am looking forward to hearing all about it!

Everything is really coming along. I can’t wait until Monday when Erin and I start really putting the binder together. Until then –

Becca

Week 1, Day 4 of Senior Project!

2008-05-08T21:44:00.004-04:00

Today was another pretty hectic, but very enjoyable, day of our Senior Project! All morning I was in my AP English Exam, which was very little fun and lasted from 8:00 -12:00!!! Afterwards, at 1:30, I had a job interview for this summer! (I got the job!!! yay! ) I also knew that I had the rest of the day to look forward to.

At 2:30, Erin and I visited The Inn at Pleasant Lake. We explained our project to the hostess and, soon thereafter, the head chef. Both were happy to be one of our Top 20 Restaurants and took the project very seriously. After we collected all the necessary information from them and found the business cards, we asked to take pictures. However, the head chef takes great pride in the way the restaurant looks when perfectly set up for dinner and thus asked us if we wouldn’t mind coming back at 5:30 when all the tables would be set up. He was very nice and made a great impression; it’s a great restaurant!

From 3:00 – 4:00, we went back to Erin’s house where I continued the editing process of all the pictures I have taken thus far. I took several photos from each restaurant and, after editing each one, will have to decide which photos are best as propaganda for the restaurant. There are definitely some great photos that really depict the restaurants ambiance. In editing the photos, I have to pay attention to color quality, sharpness, contrast, saturation, and I have to carefully crop many photo’s in order to eliminate extra surroundings.

From 4:30 – 5:30, Erin and I met with Margaret. We talked about what we had accomplished this week and what next week will be focused on. Erin and I are almost finished visiting all our restaurants; just a few more to go and we will be set to start our hard work on our binder! Margaret helped us call some of the restaurants to gather further important information that we forgot or misunderstood. Tomorrow night there are plans for Margaret to accompany us to check out Carpaccio, which looks delicious. Erin and I showed Margaret all the newly gathered information from the past day or so and we told her all about the restaurants we visited yesterday. She can’t wait until we start our binder!

At 5:30, Erin and I left Margaret’s and went back to The Inn At pleasant Lake where we proceeded to take pictures of the dining rooms and restaurant signs. I tried to make sure I captured a picture that included a set table with the view of Pleasant Lake in the background. I took several pictures of this and think I captured the right one.

From 6:00 – 8:00, my family and I ventured to Eastman to eat at the Bistro Nouveau. I had never been to Eastman and loved how pretty and hidden away it was. Bistro Nouveau ended up being fabulous. My family and I had a wonderful time talking in depth with several different servers who were all so friendly and genuinely interested in what we had to say. For an appetizer, we chose the artichoke dip, for my entrée I had a delectable Chicken Fettuccine (that was nothing like I’ve ever tasted before), and for dessert I had a White Chocolate Crème Brulée; I loved every bite of every dish! I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Its surroundings are beautiful, the restaurant itself is luxurious and comfortable at the same time, and the food is yummy!

Tomorrow is looking pretty hectic as well! Until then -

Becca

Week 1, Day 3 of Senior Project!

2008-05-07T21:10:00.006-04:00

Wow! Today was such an eventful and busy day! Yesterday, we both decided that today would be perfect for driving to the Hanover/Lebanon area, so at 11:00, Erin and I left to head up there. From 11:00 – 4:00, Erin and I were driving around to 9 different restaurants, where we took several pictures, explained our project, took notes, and even spoke with the owners! Our car rides are the perfect time to talk about plans for the rest of the week and discuss our ideas for our binder. First we drove to Hanover, where our first stop was Margaritas! Here I am standing in front of the Mexican frogs outside of the restaurant:

After Margarita’s, we stopped at Jesse’s, The Canoe Club, Molly’s, and Mai Thai. For lunch, we ate at the Canoe Club, and I am pleased to say that it absolutely met our expectations. The manager we spoke to was so nice and especially interested in our Senior Project, and the wait staff were friendly and attentive. I had a wonderfully fresh and delicious grilled chicken salad with cranberry’s, baby spinach, and a blue cheese vinaigrette dressing; yum! Check it out below:

While in Hanover, Erin and I also peeked our heads into the restaurant, Carpaccio, which we are planning on eating at this Friday night; it looks very promising. While in Hanover, we also took note of the great surroundings that are available for Proctor Families. The stores in Hanover appeal to both adults, students, and even small children.

Erin and I then left Hanover and traveled to Lebanon. In Lebanon we visited Lui Lui’s, Koto’s Steakhouse, Three Tomatoes, and Yama’s! It’s really fun to see how excited the restaurant managers/owners get when we reveal our Senior Project; they are all so humbled and happy to help us with anything we need.

After bouncing around from place to place for five hours, we had accumulated quite the handful of sample menus, business cards, and other pertinent information. I took over 80 pictures today!

At 4:00, we arrived back at Erins house and at 4:30 I went home

Tonight ended up not being a good night for my family and I to go out to eat, so instead, from 5:30 – 7:30, I loaded all the pictures I took today onto my computer, and I even started the editing process! So far I am very happy with how all the pictures came out and can’t wait to put them inside the binder!

I am pretty tired from today! Until tomorrow –

Becca

Week 1, Day 2 of Senior Project!

2008-05-06T21:30:00.003-04:00

Today was just as great as yesterday! Erin picked me up from my house at 10:45 and we ventured over to Proctor’s campus. From 11:00 to 12:00, Erin and I were in meetings with Michele Koenig and our mentor, Jane Barban. We needed to meet with Michelle to discuss the requirements of hours per week spent with our Project Sponsor, Margaret Wulff. Our project differs from other Senior Projects because Erin and I are not working every day at one specific location. Rather, we are moving from restaurant to restaurant, from town to town, and from house to house. Thus, we are not able to spend 30 hours a week with our project sponsor. In our meeting with Michele, all our worries about not fulfilling the requirements were put to rest and Erin and I were once again on our way to make further progress with our project. In our meeting with Jane, we just touched base about how our project began and what our plans are for the rest of the week. We discussed the restaurant we already visited yesterday and, at the end of our meeting, we scheduled a meeting time with Jane for this Friday.

At 12:00, we left Proctor and drove to my house where Erin and I had a lunch break.

From 1:00 – 200, Erin and I discussed the plan for today and tomorrow, deciding that today’s time should be spent beginning, finishing, and polishing the reviews for the six restaurants we visited yesterday. I didn’t realize how much work writing reviews would be! I think I am already learning how to better develop logical and intriguing paragraphs for each restaurant. Additionally, each restaurant review takes more time that I thought it would take; it’s near impossible to write an excellent and precise review in less than 30 minutes.

At 2:00 we left my house and drove to Margaret’s house, where we stayed from 2:30 – 4:30. We informed Margaret of our meeting with Michelle and Jane and discussed our plans for tomorrow and the rest of the week. It’s so wonderful to have Margaret as a sponsor, and her ideas really open up our eyes to aspects of the project that we didn’t necessarily consider. For instance, both Erin and I figured that in our finished binder of the Top 20 Restaurants for Proctor Families, we would not include full sample menus for each restaurant. However, Margaret made a really great point that when deciding between restaurants, the menu is what really confirms a decision. With Margaret, we verified that each restaurant on our list met our requirements and would be great places to eat for Proctor families. We also came up with some really clever and fun ideas for our binder.

At 4:30, Erin and I left Margaret’s house and went to Erin’s house where we organized all the information we gathered from today. Erin and I decided that tomorrow would be the perfect day to go to Hanover and visit all our chosen restaurants in that area. Tomorrow night, Erin will be going out to dinner with her family to The Inn at Danbury and I am fairly certain that my family and I will be going to dinner at Bistro Nouveau. We will both take thorough notes and share our notes that next day.

At 5:30 I went home and from 6:30 – 7:30, I worked some more on my restaurant reviews. I researched the restaurants on the web, found their online menus, etc.

Tomorrow looks very promising! Until then –
Becca

First Day Of Senior Project!

2008-05-05T19:49:00.002-04:00

I woke up being incredibly excited to begin my Senior Project! I have waited four years for this opportunity and it has finally arrived! I was delighted to look outside and see that it would be a beautiful day. At 12:00, my partner, Erin, came to my house so that we could begin our project. Erin and I sat down and collaborated to create a criteria checklist that we would bring to each restaurant. We brainstormed what the most important factors for each restaurant would be. With such an array of restaurants to visit, it was difficult to pinpoint the common factors that all the restaurants must share in order to make our Top 20 list. Our final checklist includes factors such as the restaurant’s atmosphere, food price, dress code, service, and distance from Proctor Academy.

After completing the checklist, Erin and I talked about the plan for today. From the list of Top 20 restaurants we created, Erin and I decided that we should tackle New London first since the restaurants we chose from that area are all restaurants we have previously visited and eaten at. We decided to visit the following restaurants: The Colonial Inn, The Country Club, The New London Inn, The Milestone, Peter Christian’s, and Four Corners. At each restaurant we collected their restaurant business cards, talked with the owner and/or the staff, informed them of our Senior Project, asked permission to take photographs, and took notes. I was surprised at how friendly and accommodating the owners and staff members were at each restaurant we visited; they were all very interested in our project and thought it was a wonderful idea. I used my camera to take multiple pictures of the outside of the restaurant, the restaurant sign (if they had one), and of the dining rooms.

After Erin and I visited these six delicious restaurants, we drove to our Sponsor, Margaret Wulff’s, house. Once there were touched base with her and discussed the following weeks of our project. She is very excited to begin work with us once we start the decorative process for our finished binder for Admissions; she has great ideas and will help us a great deal to make the book the best and most eye catching it can be. Erin and I made a meeting time with Margaret for tomorrow at 2:30!

After we left our Sponsor’s house, we drove back to Erin’s house and began to organize all the notes and various materials we had accumulated from each restaurant. We found the perfect three ring binder for our project. It has a clear slip in the front for our cover. Erin and I divided the six restaurants we visited into two so that we would each have three restaurants to begin writing our reviews for. We discussed our plans for tomorrow, and then at 5:00, I went home.

At my house, from 5:30 to 6:30, I uploaded all the pictures I had taken of each restaurant. When we divided the restaurants, I got Four Corners, The Country Club, and The Milestone. I began to write a review for these restaurants; it’s harder than I thought it would be! I am aiming to give a precise description of each restaurant so that when a Proctor family reads the review, they will be able to know exactly what the restaurant feels and tastes like. I love writing descriptive essay’s, so this is a blast. I feel that my first day of Senior Project was a success!

Until tomorrow,
Becca