Autumn~Everyone Must Take Time To Sit and Watch The Leaves Turn

Well, it’s official. Autumn is here! Summer certainly flew by! Like summer, I have a large list of things I want to do in the next month or so. My list includes~ Photographing, pumpkin picking, visiting a corn maze and several haunted houses,going on a hayride and taking few leisurely long walks to admire the changing leaves. What are some things you’re hoping to do this autumn?

Few Autumn photos I took this past weekend( enjoy) ~~~ ”Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.  ~Stanley Horowitz

Happy Chinese New Year 2011 ~The Year of The Rabbit

February 3 marks the 2011 Chinese New Year (also referred to as the Spring Festival) and will continue for the following fifteen days. For 2011, the New Year ushers in the Year of the Rabbit. It is celebrated after the fall harvest and before the spring planting season. The date of the Chinese New Year is always changing and is dependant on the Chinese calendar. According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2011 is the Year of the Golden Rabbit .

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Today’s Recipe~ Autumn Tea

This blend features flavors we associate with fall – apple, cranberry and pumpkin pie spice. Serve it either warm or cold.

12 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 15 min.
Ingredients

5 individual tea bags
5 cups boiling water
5 cups unsweetened apple juice
2 cups cranberry juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Place the tea bags in a large heat-proof bowl; add boiling water.
Cover and steep for 8 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add the remaining
ingredients to tea; stir until sugar is dissolve. Serve warm or over
ice. Yield: 3 quarts.
Nutrition Facts: One 1-cup serving (prepared with reduced-calorie cranberry juice and sugar substitute) equals 66 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 4 mg sodium, 17 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, trace protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 fruit.

Recipe credits to TasteOfHome

It’s Fall~Time to Layer Up!

The best thing about fall fashion? Layering.When the weather’s teasing you with the occasional cool temp but it’s not quite time to whip out your cold-weather favorites, getting dressed can feel like a standardized test. Instead of fretting in the AM, get inspired by these easy, breezy fall outfit ideas. TIP~Always be yourself when deciding on an outfit. If you like your bright, fun jewellery rather than rhinestone-studded silver, go for it. Do you really want to look like everyone else you see?

  1. Think about wearing earth-tone colors, if they work with your skin type. Celebrate the change of seasons and play up the bright tones of autumn. Leave the neon colors for summer and silvery neutrals for winter.
  2. Blazers are a good way to layer for brisk days. Go for russets, golds, brown, or olive green shades. Tweeds are so classic, denims trendy and casual.Only wear capris if it isn’t too cold. Continue reading

FollowFriday ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 "There’s A Time For Everything"

To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;

A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;

A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and
a time to lose;
a time to keep, and
a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and
a time to sow;
a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;

A time to love, and
a time to hate;
a time of war; and
a time of peace.

Snowpocalypse ~ Is It Global Warming or Global Warning?

As I sit here watching the snow coverage, it becomes clear to me these recent snowstorms are evidence of global warming.This is the worst snowstorm that I have ever seen in my life.It looks like 63% of the country (USA) is blanketed with snow (DC,Philadelphia,New York). The rest is getting either too much rain, mudslides, flooding or nothing at all.Who can forget last year’s floods in the Phillipines and  Tanzania, the unexpected earthquakes in Haiti and last night’s earthquake in Illinois and yet some places like Vancouver, the Canadian city still has not seen any snow, and it is the host city for the Winter 2010 Olympics.

Have we been warned? Is it  global warming? Looks like there have been hints that it was coming. The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years. While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased.That’s in part because of global warming – hotter air can hold more moisture, so when a storm gathers it can unleash massive amounts of snow.Climate models also suggest that while global warming may not make hurricanes more common, it could well intensify the storms that do occur and make them more destructive.

The nor’easter began blanketing the Washington area overnight and strengthened as it continued to move northward through Baltimore, southeast Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, where 10 to 17 inches could fall by evening. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings across the region, warning that wind gusts exceeding 45 mph could prompt dangerous whiteout conditions later in the day and snow drifts of up to 4 feet.

Snow Photos ~ Credits AP and Reuters
 
Jim Rohacik skies in front of the White House
  Snow piled on a bench in a Washington park illustrates perfectly how much has fallen
A woman shields herself from the snow as she walks near Franklin Park
A workers clears snow in front of the National Cathedral
 
 
Pedestrians tread carefully on Wisconsin Avenue in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington,

 
  
The Capitol Building, WA D.C.
  
Hundreds braved the blizzard to take part in a massive snowball fight at Dupont Circle
 
 Beautiful House White..is all white covered with snow..

The 2010 Winter Olympics Return To N.America ( Vancouver,BA)

The 2010 Winter Olympics return to North America on February 12th, when the world of snow sport enthusiasts descend upon one of North America’s most beautiful cities, Vancouver, British Columbia.

The 2010 Winter  games begin Friday, February 12 , ends Sunday Feb 28 ,2010.The 2010 Opening and Closing Ceremonies will take place at BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver. Victory ceremonies will be held at BC Place Stadium and Whistler Village.
The city of Richmond will host the speed skating events at the new Richmond Oval venue (check out Richmond Oval panorama). Freestyle skiing and snowboard events will be held at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver.

All other outdoor events will be held in Whistler including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, bobsleigh, and luge. Check this breathtaking aerial panorama photos of Cypress and Whistler mountains !To view a PDF of the full Olympic Winter Games competition schedule Click Here.   

New Year Celebration Around The World In Photos

People all around the world gathered in groups large and small seven days ago(Wow, I cant believe it has been a week since we welcomed the new year) to usher out the previous year, and welcome the arrival of 2010. Under a rare New Year’s Eve Blue Moon, crowds watched fireworks, cheered, made resolutions, and counted down to midnight. 2010 is the year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac, signifying a year of bravery and courage. Collected here are some photographs of people across the earth as they welcomed the new year in many different ways.

Fireworks from the Space Needle light up downtown Seattle, Washington to bring in the new year, as seen from Kerry Park, Friday, Jan. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/The Seattle Times, Cliff DesPeaux)

Fireworks explode near Malaysia’s landmark Patronas Twin Towers during the New Year 2010 celebrations in Kuala Lumpur on January 1, 2010. (SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Fireworks light up the skies of downtown Beirut to make New Year’s Day on January 1, 2010. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images

People with their faces painted “2010″ pose during the New Year celebrations in the central Indian city of Bhopal January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Raj Patidar) 

Pakistani youth celebrate New Year’s Eve in Lahore, spraying artificial snow in the air on December 31, 2009. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

 
Youths celebrate New Year’s Day with fire crackers in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Noor Khamis)
 

A couple kisses on New Year’s eve in the center of Brussels, Belgium on December 31, 2009. This year, the theme of the celebration was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. (KURT DESPLENTER/AFP/Getty Images)

 

New Year’s Eve crowds line Westminster Bridge before a firework display on December 31, 2009 in England. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

 

Two women toast as fireworks explode during an outside party in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district to celebrate the New Year on January 1, 2010. (TIMUR EMEK/AFP/Getty Images)

 

People watch New Year’s Eve fireworks over Venice’s St. Mark square flooded by high water, early Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Luigi Costantini)

 

Fireworks explode over the Quadriga sculpture on the Brandenburg Gate in celebration of the new year on January 1, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Thousands of revelers descended on the area in front of the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate. (Miguel Villagran/Getty Images)

 

Russians celebrate the New Year on Red Square in Moscow, with the Kremlin in the background, right, and St. Basil’s cathedral in background, left, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. Tens of thousands of people gathered on the Square to celebrate the new year, and view the fireworks as the clock on the Kremlin’s Spassky Tower, right, struck midnight. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

 

Revellers dressed up as San Fermin Festival bull runners celebrate the New Year in Coin, near the southern Spanish town of Malaga, early January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca)

 

400 spotlights illuminate the Eiffel Tower during the New Year’s Eve in Paris, France on Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009. (AP Photo/ Michel Euler)

 

Fireworks explode above downtown Jakarta’s Welcome Monument, in Indonesia, early on Friday, January 1, 2010.(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

 

About two millions people observe fireworks from Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to celebrate the beginning of New Year’s Day early in January 1, 2010. (GABRIEL LOPES/AFP/Getty Images)

Fireworks explode over the statue of President George Washington in the Boston Public Gardens in Massachusetts on Thursday December 31, 2009. (Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe staff)

A couple kiss during New Year celebrations in New York’s Times Square January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi)

 

“Sushi,” portrayed by female impersonator Gary Marion, dangles high above New Year’s Eve revelers in a giant reproduction of a woman’s high heel at the Bourbon Street Pub late Thursday, December 31, 2009 in Key West, Florida. The Red Shoe Drop has become a Key West tradition to herald the arrival of the new year, answering New York’s Times Square ball drop. (ANDY NEWMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

 Fireworks explode in the sky over the ocean as seen from Waikiki beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 1, 2010 soon after the clock ticked mid-night announcing the first day of New Year. (JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)
 

Fireworks light the sky in front of Mayon Volcano during New Year’s celebrations in Legazpi city, Albay province, south of Manila January 1, 2010. Mayon Volcano, known for its near-perfect cone shape in the coconut-growing central Bicol region, has been spewing ash and burning mud and rocks for more than two weeks. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)

A monk stands in front of a fire, burning old items which have been used in temples and shrines, during a New Year’s Eve ceremony at the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo December 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

A long-exposure photo created using sparklers shows children writing out “2010″, celebrating on New Year’s eve in Manila on December 31, 2009. (ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

 

A sanitation worker cleans up garbage from the New Year’s Eve celebration in New York Times Square in the early hours of New Year’s Day Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

 

People admire the moment the sun rises above Mount Fuji, which is known locally as the “Diamond Fuji”, from atop Ryugatake mountain in Fujikawaguchiko town, southwest of Tokyo on New Year’s Day January 1, 2010. Mount Fuji, at 3,776 metres (12,388 ft), is believed to be sacred and is seen as a symbol of good luck, more so during the New Year period. (REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao)

 

A New Year’s reveller runs in for a dip in the icy sea during the Saundersfoot annual charity swim on January 1, 2010 in Saundersfoot near Tenby, Wales. Hundreds of brave swimmers ran in to to the sea to welcome in 2010 and raise cash for charity. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

 

A rescue diver watches as a man leaps from a bridge into the River Dove during a traditional New Year’s Day annual charity event in Mappleton, central England, January 1, 2010. Teams paddle down a half-mile stretch of the river and then jump off a bridge into the River Dove, one of the coldest rivers in the United Kingdom. Contestants then have to run 500 yards to a pub. (REUTERS/Darren Staples)

Fireworks explode beside the London Eye and The Houses of Parliament on the River Thames during New Year celebrations in London January 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)

Workers throw water on people to celebrate the end of the year in Montevideo, Uruguay on December 31, 2009. During the last working day of the year, workers traditionally throw water on people and discard old calendars. (REUTERS/Andres Stapff)

St. Sylvester mummers (Silvesterklausen) perform in the village of Urnaesch in the region of Appenzell, December 31 2009. Three very different groups of mummers distinguished as the beautiful (Schoene), the ugly (Wueschte) and the less ugly (Schoe-Wueschte) dressed up in costumes made of twigs, cones, mosses and dried leaves proceed from house to house in small groups singing and ringing their bells wishing families a prosperous year. (REUTERS/Miro Kuzmanovic)

 

People prepare for carbide-shooting, a tradition on the last day of the year to scare off evil spirits, in Zevenhuizen in the Netherlands on December 31, 2009. (VINCENT JANNINK/AFP/Getty Images)

 

In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009, residents prepare to release a wishing lantern to usher in the new year in Chengdu in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. (AP Photo)

 

New Year’s Eve fireworks based on the theme “Awaken the Spirit” explode over the Sydney Harbour from six barges three hours before midnight on December 31, 2009. Over 1.5 million Sydneysiders and tourists were expected to line the harbour foreshores to watch 120,000 pyrotechnics usher in New Year’s Day. (KRYSTLE WRIGHT/AFP/Getty Images)

Malabon Zoo owner Manny Tangco blows a horn with children outside a Bengal tiger glass enclosure as they celebrate the coming Year of the Tiger in Manila December 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Cheryl Ravelo)

People sprint into the water as they participate in the traditional New Years Dive in The North Sea, in the Hague, on January 1, 2010. This year saw some 8000 participants in the dive, one of 63 dives across the Netherlands. (ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images)

Winter swimmers of the “Berlin Seals” association (“Berliner Seehunde”) take the traditional new year swim in water at a temperature of at one degree celcius in the Orankesee Lake on January 1, 2010 in Berlin. (MICHAEL KAPPELER/AFP/Getty Images) 

Japanese young girls pray at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on New Year’s Day Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
 

Have You Been Tracking Santa? You Are Invited To Follow Santa’s Progress ..Be Ready To See Santa Fly On December 24.

FROM —NORAD Tracks Santa and DOT

I am pleased to report that, just moments ago, FAA chief Randy Babbitt cleared Santa Claus for his traditional round-the-world holiday mission.The public is invited to follow Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve at www.noradsanta.org via NORAD’s famous SantaCams.

During the North Pole International Airport (NPIA) 90-minute check flight, Santa demonstrated precision execution of the pinpoint rooftop landing and takeoff maneuvers his extensive delivery manifest and single-night constraint require.

Babbitt also pronounced the sleigh’s onboard equipment to be in tip-top operating condition, including the following systems:

* Deicing
* Reindeer propulsion
* Navigation
* Grinch/Heat-Miser avoidance system

Critically, Babbitt also verified Santa’s crew manifest to ensure enough elves would be available to relieve Santa for proper pilot rest periods.

New this year, Santa and the North Pole elves have instituted several energy-saving measures.….READ MORE HERE>>>>>>>

‘Woodinville Christmas Wonderland’- Holiday Lighting Obsession

So do you or does anyone you know go crazy with Christmas lights?When it comes to holiday lights,Iam a wimp!I’m obsessed with holiday lights.This weekend, we (my husband,me and our puppy Coco) went for a Christmas lights display in one of the homes in Woodinville Town, right outside Seattle.
“Woodinville Wonderland” is the Christmas lights displays worth going out of your way to see. The house belongs to Mark Zembruski.There are 74,678 Christmas lights on and around his house and still ponders whether his dolphin display “could use another string of lights.Woodnville Wonderland has become one of the area’s top Christmas attractions. A tradition like taking your kids to sit on Santa’s lap at the mall. Or watching the burning Yule Log on public television.

The number of displays with flashing lights coordinated to local radio broadcasts(101.9 FM) have drew a lot of crowd in this neighborhood, particularly in this house.For the last six years, lines of SUVs, minivans and sedans have pulled up along the side of the street.From dogs,kids to adults this place was busy and looked like people were pulling up each second to enjoy the show.Couples with hot chocolate in hand and eyes glued to a Disney-like world the owner(Zembruski) has created: two 20-minute choreographed light shows featuring all those lights, dancing on cue to Christmas classics and the Coke commercial song. About eight miles of extension cords and light strings.

What do you get to see?

• Santa atop the chimney on a Harley made out of wire frame wrapped with lights.

• Giant cedar trunks tied in candy-cane red and white lights.

• A 7,270-light Christmas tree, glowing in red, white, blue and green.

• A 7 ½-foot Bethlehem-style star on top of the two-story house.

• Snowflake-shaped lights that fade to look like it’s snowing down on the house.

• A candy-cane lane.

• A lit peacock.

• A front yard filled with Frosty, angels, reindeers and trains.

• A yard blanketed with fading blue lights to mimic water moving downstream

-My most favorite display: is an interior projector beaming Santa onto a white screen covering a window of the house. From the outside, it appears as if Santa is working in front of the window and saying “ho, ho, ho” to the crowd.Toddlers believe Santa is waving at them. They gawk until their parents pull them away

The House is located at :
23620 NE 183rd St – Woodinville, WA 98077  
Show Hours: Sun-Thurs 5-10:30pm / Fri-Sat 5-11:30pm

 
 
 

Video Below-Credits To The Seattle Times
Woodinville Wonderland 

What’s Under Your Christmas Tree?!

Have you done all your Christmas shopping?I finished my Christmas shopping a while ago. I’m also done wrapping the presents too.Happy Holidays!!


Coco under the Christmas tree!

- Posted From iPhone using Blogpress

I Dream Of A Purple Christmas!

Just wanted to share one of my Polyvore Collection Sets ” I Dream Of A Purple Christmas”…. I love color purple…
Happy Holidays Everyone!

I Dream Of A Purple Christmas!
               I Dream Of A Purple Christmas! by delavie

Display of Christmas Lights- One of my many hobbies is to drive around to see the display of Christmas lights. I find it very soothing and relaxing. Enjoy these few photos,more to come.

It is one of my many hobbies (pastime) during the holiday season to drive or walk around the city esp the downtown area or around neighborhoods in the evening to see the lights displayed on and around homes and buildings. I found it very relaxing and soothing.The view is just breathtakingly beautiful.

As we all know the use of decorative, festive lighting during the Christmas holiday season is a long standing tradition in many Christian cultures, and has been adopted as a secular practice in a number of other non-Christian, or non-predominantly Christian, cultures (notably in Japan).

This is my favorite time of year.I’ll post more photos as we go along.Happy Holidays everyone.

Use Caution with Thanksgiving Cooking.Thanksgiving is one of the most popular days for cooking in the country. It also is the leading day for home cooking fires.

 With pots boiling, ovens baking and skillets sizzling, Thanksgiving can be a hazardous day in the kitchen.
So much so, in fact, that the National Fire Protection Association says that with so many more people cooking on Thanksgiving than on a typical day, Americans are twice as likely to have a home fire on the holiday than any other day of the year.
Thanksgiving kitchens can be filled with inexperienced, busy or distracted chefs, which can spell disaster.
READ MORE >>>>>>