Make Your Own Pipe Cleaner Wreath

Feeling the pinch this holiday season? Here's a beautiful art project to easily craft. With a lot of pipe cleaners, a pair of scissors and a little patience, you can create your own masterpiece of lightness and design.

Make a wreath of green and red to hang on your door, or in front of a mirror. Try a silver design near a dark painted wall. Or maybe a graphic statement in black pipe cleaners on a white wall.

Many thanks to Kate Pruitt and her DIY projects at Design Sponge.

Interesting Factz

* Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and it doesn't have a moon.
Its atmosphere is so thin that during the day the temperature reaches 750 degrees,
but at night it gets down to -300 degrees.

* Jupiter is the largest planet. If Jupiter were hollow, you could fit 1000 earths
inside! It is made up of gas and is not solid. The most famous feature on Jupiter
is its Red Spot, which is actually an enormous hurricane that has been raging
on Jupiter for hundreds of years! Sixteen moons orbit Jupiter.

* Saturn is a very windy place! Winds can reach up to 1,100 miles per hour.
Saturn is also made of gas. If you could find an ocean large enough, it would float.
This planet is famous for its beautiful rings, and has at least 18 moons.

* Uranus is the third largest planet, and is also made of gas. It's tilted on its
side and spins north-south rather than east-west. Uranus has 15 moons.

* Neptune takes 165 Earth years to get around the sun. It appears blue because
it is made of methane gas. Neptune also has a big Spot like Jupiter. Winds on
Neptune get up to 1,200 mile per hour! Neptune has 8 moons.

* Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun... usually. It has such an unusual
orbit that it is occasionally closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto is made of rock and ice.

* Just about everyone listens to the radio! 99% of homes in the United States
have a least one radio. Most families have several radios.

* Sound is sent from the radio station through the air to your radio by means
of electromagnetic waves. News, music, Bible teaching, baseball games, plays,
advertisements- these sounds are all converted into electromagnetic waves
(radio waves) before they reach your radio and your ears.

Interesting Facts

* A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water.
If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, one will feel thirsty.
If it's reduced by 10%, one will die.

* Along with its length neck, the giraffe has a very long tongue - more than a foot and
a half long. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue

* Ostriches can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. Don't Mess with them.

* An elephant can smell water three miles away

* If you were to remove your skin, it would weigh as much as 5 pounds

* A hippopotamus can run faster than a man

* India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history

* The world's known tallest man is Robert Pershing Wadlow.
The giraffe is 5.49m (18 ft.), the man is 2.55m (8ft. 11.1 in.).

* The world's tallest woman is Sandy Allen. She is 2.35m (7 ft. 7 in.).

* The only 2 animals that can see behind themselves without turning its head are
the rabbit and the parrot.

* The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. The heart of a blue whale is as big
as a car, and its tongue is as long as an elephant.

* The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich.
Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness
of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The average adult male ostrich,
the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

* Every dolphin has its own signature whistle to distinguish it from other dolphins,
much like a human fingerprint

* The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons i.e. 50000 Kg at
birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons i.e. 150000 Kg.

* 90 % of all the ice in the world in on Antarctica

* Antarctica is DRIEST continent. Antarctica is a desert

* Antarctica is COLDEST continent, averaging minus 76 degrees in the winter.

Office Humour

After 2 years of selfless service, a man realized that he has not been Promoted,
no transfer, no salary increment, no commendation.
So, he Decided to walk up to his HR Manager.

His manager looked at him, smiled and asked him to sit down saying:
"My friend you have not worked here for even a single day."

The man was surprised to hear this, but the manager went on to explain.

Manager: How many days are there in a year?
Man: 365 days and sometimes 366.

Manager: How many hours make up a day?
Man: 24 Hours.

Manager: How long do u work in a day?
Man: 10am to 6pm i.e 8 hours a day.

Manager: So, what fraction of the day do u work in hours?
Man: He did some arithmetic and said 8/24 i.e 1/3 (one third).

Manager: This is nice of u! What is 1/3rd of 366 days?
Man: 122(1/3 x 366=122 in days)

Manager: Do u come to work on weekends?
Man: No sir.

Manager: How many days r there in a year that r weekends?
Man: 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays equals to 104 days.

Manager: Thanks for that.
If u remove 104 days from 122 days. How many days does u now have?
Man: 18 days.

Manager: I do give u 2 weeks sick leave every year. Now remove that
14 days from the 18 days left. How many days do u have remaining?
Man: 4 days.

Manager: Do u work on Republic Day?
Man: No sir!

Manager: Do u come to work on Independence Day?
Man: No sir!

Manager: So how many days r left?
Man: 2 days Sir!

Manager: Do u come to work on New Years Day?
Man: No sir!

Manager: So how many days r left?
Man: 1 day sir!

Manager: Does u work on Christmas Day?
Man: No Sir!

Manager: So how many days r left?
Man: None Sir!

Manager: So what r u claiming?
Man: !!!...

Lesson-NEVER GO TO HR FOR HELP!!!

HR = HIGH RISK

Marriage

Three Important Stages of Life:

1. Before Marriage, "MAD 4 EACH OTHER".

2. During Marriage "MADE 4 EACH OTHER".

3. After Marriage "MAD BECAUSE OF EACH OTHER".

What should not be asked?

There are Three Things That Should Not Be Asked.
They are as follows:

1. A Man's WAGE

2. A Woman's AGE and

3. A Student's Percentage.

Wild Girl - Grand-Palais - Paris

Je trouve souvent impressionnant l'esthétisme dépouillé
de certaines jeunes femmes asiatiques ...

Grey fur Bolero Girl - Opéra - Paris

Helena - Rue Montmartre - Paris

I work in Fashion.
I wear Fur Jacket, Bag and Shoes by BARBARA BUI.
Military Pants by NOTIFY.
Scarf by LOUIS VUITTON.
Belt by HERMES.
Jewelry from NEW-YORK.
Perfume: a mix a different by HERMES.
My look is City-Casual-Rock.
I love chocolate. I hate lies.
My message to the world: Always !
If I had 1000€, I would buy Shoes by Azzedine ALAIA

Alice - Rue Tiquetonne - Paris

I work as Shop-Assistant at Kiliwatch Store.
I wear a Duffle coat by MAJE
Jeans by MELTING POT.
Sneakers "Wonder Woman" by SPRING COURT.
Bag by my own brand "Lili fait et rit ..."
Créatrice pour les petites et les grandes ...
lilifaitetrit@gmail.com

Happy Bird Day

I found this posted on the comments section of TheMorningSun.com from Obamanation, one of our regular contributors. With a little editing, I thought it was worth passing along:

During the darkest hours of the Civil War, Abe Lincoln decide to create a holiday, a propaganda holiday, to force a broken nation to overlook its troubles and be thankful for the good times of a Civil War.
Like freeing the slaves, Lincoln couldn’t have cared less, but when the Northerners started to have second thoughts about Lincoln, the war and life in general, one needs diversions.
Freeing the slaves and creating Thanksgiving were just a couple of his best-known tricks. Declaring people free means nothing if they are still treated like slaves, and what kind of nation celebrates a civil war anyway?
Today’s Thanksgiving is a bizarre ritual comprising corny presidential turkey pardons, lame parade coverage, a turkey dinner at noon, badly played football, travel problems, Christmas advertising, and some weird unwritten law that says you can’t talk about anything but what you are thankful for.
There are four kinds of ways people express their thanks on Thanksgiving.
• The Traditional – Friends, family and health. Simple, sweet, and to the point without grandstanding.
• The Modern – A laundry list of things they have. More of a bragging contest than true thanks. Just another way of some jerkball to rub it into others that they are doing better/are better than the next guy.
• The Sarcastic – A loophole in the Thanksgiving pact that allows smart donkeys a way to truly express their bitterness and spite.
• The Innocent – Ask a little kid what they are thankful for and they might reply “cats and monsters.” [Mark’s note: One of the kids once said he was thankful for boogers.]
After careful deliberation I have decided this Thanksgiving I am very thankful that the guy in Elm Hall will be open and selling pizza on Thanksgiving, and that my wife is hot, because after eating dinner at noon, watching the Lions lose, while pretending civil war, and Christmas is not just around the corner, I just might want something that is truly great.

Jabot Dress Girl - Grand Palais - Paris

A day at the Seattle Aquarium

Three Keys to Enjoy Life

CTRL+ALT+DEL









1) ConTRoL Yourself

2) Look for ALTernative Solution

3) DELete the Situation which Gives You tension.

Happy Thanksgiving

If you need a few extra turkeys to put around the table this Thursday, here's a quick and charming idea for DIY place cards.

Thank you for being our guest at 973 Third Avenue. Have a wonderful holiday!

Belief in Yourselves

Two men went fishing.

One was an experienced fisherman,
the other wasn ' t.

Every time the experienced fisherman
caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest
to keep it fresh.

Whenever the inexperienced fisherman
caught a big fish, he threw it back.

The experienced fisherman watched this
go on all day and finally got tired of s
Seeing the man waste good fish.

'Why do you keep throwing back all the
big fish you catch? ' he asked.


The inexperienced fisherman replied, ' I only have a small frying pan'.

Sometimes, like that fisherman, we throwback the big plans, big dreams, big jobs,
big opportunities.

Our faith is too small.

We laugh at that fisherman who didn't figure out that all he needed was a bigger
frying pan, yet how ready are we to increase the size of our faith?

Whether it's a problem or a possibility, God will never give you anything bigger than
you can handle.

That means we can confidently walk into anything God brings our way.

Lesson to Remember:

Stop telling God, You've got Big Problems.
Tell your problems, You've got a Big God!

So, get out there and get a bigger frying pan My dear friends!

Plastic Flat Girl - Paris

Edita Vilkeviciute - Supermodel - Paris

Red Boots Girl - Rivoli - Paris

Japanese Boy - Les Tuileries - Paris

Tugba & Théo - Rue Berger - Paris

Tugba
I am a Fashion Student.
I wear a vintage Jacket DRALON found in Turkey.
Black Plastic Shoes.
Black stretch pants-Legging.
Bag ?
Perfume: "Allure" by CHANEL.
Fashion is a to escape from daily life.
My look is practical and happy.
I love white color. I hate bad faith.
If I had 1000€, I would buy ELIFE sneakers made to measure !
My message to the world: Watch 2012 with maya calendar.

Théo
I work as a Ready to wear corner store assistant.
My shirt is by H&M.
Jeans by D-SQUARED.
Belt & Shoes by D&G.
Watch by AUDEMARS PIGUET.
Perfume: "L'Homme" by YSL.
Fashion is to express yourself.
My look is trendy.
I love Zidane. I don't like hypocrisy.
If I had 1000€. I would buy Sneakers and jeans by
D-SQUARED & D&G !
My message to the world: Love Fashion !

St Mark's in Portland

This Sunday, we went to St Mark's Church in Portland, Oregon (APCK).

The parish left the Diocese of Oregon (TEC) back in the 1990s. It is a wonderful Anglican Missal/1928 Prayer Book catholic parish in the heart of Portland.

We attended the 10am High Mass (not actually a high Mass, but only lacking the solemn vestments for the deacon and subdeacon).

The church was beautiful, an exquisitly ornamented Roman basilica-style church, full of color and images. The incense was pleasant and the minor propers sung by male voices was superb. But what really blew me away was getting to sing the "Amen" at the end of the hymns.

The sanctuary is separated from the nave by a marble screen topped with statues, reminescent of old St Peter's in Rome.

The church is dark and colorful, seating about 150 if you include the side chapel aisles. There were probably about 80-90 people there.

One of the most wonderful things was that the percentage of children in the congregation was probably the highest I've ever encountered.

The people were very nice as was Father Lillegard, the Rector.

It was great to hear the zimbelstern on the organ. The side chapel of the blessed Mother was very tasteful. In all, a great worship experience; a jewel of the pacific northwest. I wish it were closer so that we could visit more often.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was on Sunday this year - it was the only day that fit into everyone's schedules - but we got everyone together and we gave thanks. The family was there, the table was full, and the Lions had even won a football game. It was, indeed, Thanksgiving.

And it was us. Matthew said something, well, politically incorrect.

Andrew expounds on cynical libertarianism, and defines politically incorrect just by being there.

Miranda's getting used to this.

But Jamie, well, Jamie still harbors an element of disbelief about this bunch.


The food was good and the laughter was hearty. We once were wished the gift of laughter, and it was here in full force this year. It's family. It's Thanksgiving, and we have so much to give thanks for.

Photos from Grandma's house

The view out Grandma's (my mother's) front door.

Mount Si in Snoqualmie, Washington.

Grandma's house.

Momma's baking some bread from scratch.