I love love

1. I can see you!, 2. scenes out of a wedding, 3. Not something you see every day!, 4. Henna Night - Bride, 5. 'push', 6. scenes out of a wedding, 7. Delhi from a rickshaw, 8. Colors of Karva Chauth, 9. IMG_0474, 10. Burkha Shop, 11. bride shop, 12. Catwalk by Construction Workers, 13. A Monk's Life

Happy Valentine's Day, you nutjobs.



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Show Him The Money

Today at work, I spent my valuable time purchasing the following delight:



For the "Looking Good For Jesus" brand Coin-Purse, the ad reads as follows:

"Even Jesus saves. He'll oogle if you're frugal, my child. $3.99"

I am so very happy that my coins will soon be jingling about in the holiest of holy-cow coin-purses. This is just what I needed to save my soul.

Should you wish to Look Good For Jesus in other areas of your life, please enjoy the following:



Looking Good For Jesus Bubble-Bath: Follow in his footsteps.
Take the plunge with a soak in everlasting Citrus and Juniper suds that make you feel like you're walking on water. $11.99.




Looking Good For Jesus Mirror Compact: Please him - for christ's sake - and look your Sunday best. Remember, he sees all! Even your smudgy mascara. $4.99.




Looking Good For Jesus Lip Balm: Returns lips to near virgin quality. Virtuous vanilla flavor protects and preserves. SPF 18. $5.99.




Looking Good For Jesus Shopper: Look your Sunday best and shop till you drop with this King-sized shopper. $11.99. This is classy as hell! I want one!


And the King Product,



Looking Good For Jesus Mini Kit: Redeems you in his eyes and takes the edge off sinning. Contains mirrored Jesus statuette, vanilla nectar lip balm, Easter-Lily hand & body cream (with sparkle!) and a folding mirror compact. $19.99.





Elephants Away!

I Love Snow

1. spring snow on barberry, 2. Snow, 3. Goodnight Snow!, 4. Nubble Light In Snow

Last night the hugest puffiest snowflakes, snowblobs, fell from the sky. I almost slopped a bowl of noodles on the floor when I saw it happening, I was so excited.

"Look! Look, everybody! It's snowing! Oh, WOW! Look at it! It's so pretty! I want to go dance in it, quick, where are my boots?!"

There was nobody else in the house, but that's ok. I'm sure they would have appreciated it anyways. For my part, I enjoyed it from my window as I read my philosophy homework. It's a funny thing, philosophy. My mind wandered away from it, first watching the way the words looked on the page, then giving up entirely and watching the snow. I was considering my upcoming interview for a job that I really really want, and how my majors will undoubtedly come into question during the interview process (being that this is a job as an educator).

How would you respond if asked to teach again the past four years of your life? I know, in my heart of brains, that I will not graduate knowing much about Kant or Hume or Hobbes. I couldn't tell you the major plot points for Plato, or what, exactly, is the definition of "deontology".

Did I waste years of my life, then? When quizzed on the purpose and end results of my education, will I be left stammering and dropping my words like snowblobs? It's an important question for all of us to ask when we're facing the end of our scholastic careers. Hopefully we're gaining skills, if not knowledge to regurgitate.

As for me, it's the ability to sell myself and my experiences. Sell! Sell! It all must go!


Elephants Away!

I Love Snow

★ Arthur Rackham: Man, Dreamer, Wore Glasses, Rode Siberian Tigers, Illustrator.
Genius-Pants.

When the snow falls softly and piles inch-high on every spindly tree-branch, a simply sludgy walk to school is transformed to a fairy-land prance. You don't just slog along the sidewalk, you mountain-goat on the crunchy drifts left by plows. Everything looks OK when you're living in an Arthur Rackham picture, even if creepy stuff is happening.



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I'm A Girl

1. v.day sweethearts .., 2. I Found my Summer Dessert, 3. open the pudding, 4. Heaven or what !?, 5. Sadaharu Aoki - Jardin du Luxembourg, 6. Chocolate cakes from Gaulupeau, Versailles, 7. デザート, 8. Baklava, 9. Pudding-Topped Danish from Crown & Fancy Deli, 10. Stack of Molten Chocolate Cakes and Blue, 11. Tarta de fresa, 12. cupcake heaven, 13. Birthday Girl with a Red Charlotte, 14. Strawberry Macaroon Cupcakes, 15. coated with chocolate

★ Look, I'm a girl. We all know it's true. And let me tell you, in this, the week before St. Valentine was brutally tragically accidentally martyred while minding his own business is the prime time to be knowing what it is that girls like.

And let me tell you this. Girls like chocolate. It's true. No lie. We like sweet things, smooth chocolates, juicy berries, rich cakes, and heavenly whipped creme. If you give us a flower, we'll be wondering why it wasn't dipped in sprinkles. If you give us a slice of German Turtle Cake, we'll be showing up at your door wearing nothing but sprinkles. (Unless, of course, we are sensible to the weather. Some of us are!)

★ See that image in the middle? That is baklava. Baklava is the king of sweets. I married the last person to bring me baklava, no lie. He was an explorer named Sven, and he sailed the Arctic Ocean all the way from Italy to bring me baklava... riding a moose across the Yukon once he crashed into an iceberg, he never faltered, no, not Sven!! Even when dangerous Tundra-Rabbits threatened his very life, he did not stop! No! NOT SVEN! He knew that even if he perished in the task, baklava must be eaten by women! And then he was shot on accident in upstate New York by someone who mistook him for a beaver. So the last bit is a lie, I didn't actually marry him.

But I would have!

★ And don't forget about White Day! If you want to celebrate in a fun and extra way, consider doing as those in Japan and Korea do: Celebrating White Day (March 14), when boys who are accepting the affections of those girls who gave them chocolate on February 14 return the gift in kind. Or, if you want to take the summer route, the Chinese Lunar Calendar places a folk-tale based Valentine's Day on July 7. Have a cool sweet in the dead of summer!

★ This Valentine's Day, I will be going to see Paris, je t'aime for free at my local movie house, snacking on homemade chocolates, and perhaps flinging cake at my loved ones. More to follow on the progress of chocolate exploration!



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I Love Pride & Prejudice

I was turned into a P&P fan by my boyfriend's mother, during one winter I spent in her home. She and I sat and watched the 4 hour mini-series together, and I was hooked! I talk a little bit too much about P&P now, I'm sure most people are sick to death of hearing about it!

★ Pride and Prejudice is one of those Romance stories that makes you feel all romantic and fuzzy down to your toes. And not just because of the oh-so-swoon-worthy Mister Darcy, but because of the gorgeous clothes and hairstyles worn by the actresses. Take a look:





★ The Bennett sisters skip across the screen in beautiful gowns and an ever-changing mix of coats, capes, shawls, and bonnets. The main issue here is the spotless white of their dresses... how hard would that be to keep clean? I suppose they have servants and all, but still... The do look comfortable though. And the coats and little torso-jackets look very smart:



★ Then there are the fancy dresses and the hair:







Jennifer Ehle as Eliza rocks out the cupid-bow lips and dark curls like none else. As has been pointed out to me during my various attempts to dress up Austen-style, "She has a small army of movie stylists to help her!"

Yes, true, but making curls with your fingers can still work out just fine. Plus, we modern girls have lovely hair binders and other 20th century notions to help us put our hair up and fake having the perfect Austen-'do.

★ Last, but certainly not least, is the actual romance!



As I'm writing this, I've just finished disc 1 of the mini-series. For those of you keeping score at home, Elizabeth has just had her big emotional and toe-curling confrontation with Darcy, giving him what-for for being such and meddling jerk, as well as acting ungentlemanly. Tonight I'll be brewing up a big mug of super-rich hot chocolate and burrowing into the last 2 hours.

Let's bring apples for our teachers!


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I Love Colors

★ Colour Lovers is my new favorite time-sink when I'm at work... even though you could argue that it's not really a time-sink, since half the time I'm there I'm rooting through the colour swatches and patterns to aide me in my graphics work. But the blogs are always having my attention as well!

★ This photo is of a creative day I was having while cleaning.
I found a bucket full of crayons... so many weird crayons, some older than me! And I love crayons, but what am I going to do with a whole bucket? Nothing, that's what. Nothing except a GREAT CRAYON MELTING PROJECT!

Let me tell you, I don't know what exactly is in crayons, but it sure is messy. Attractive and colourful, but very very messy. In the end, after all the peeling and sorting and piling and melting and scraping, I had myself a really nice set of crayon-cakes, which I gave to a friend.

★ Blue is my most usual colour... I would say "favorite", but really, it's the colour in which I feel the most comfortable... I feel all blendy and background and safe when I wear it. Meanwhile, my room and my life is a riot of patterns and colous... This month, I refuse to stay solid~!



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The Week~End: Cold Walks

♪This week, I'm listening to J't'emmene au vent by Louis Attaque, a nifty french group with violins and voice-popping! Check it out!


This week was very cold~ it went down to -40 windchill, during the day! Life on the prairie, I tell you.

★ Daytime: I braved the walk! My eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair frosted over and stuck.


★ Nighttime: I couldn't leave school that night until late... it was still so cold.



What do you do, college student? Do you beg a ride, stick out your thumb, brave it out, or just stay home? I had two nice people stop and give me a ride off the street, but you can do that in a small town like this. And it seems like no matter how bundled you are, bits of your tender skin will stick out and freeze.

Thusly, I cannot live without the following:

★ Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm



★ Burt's Shea Butter Hand Repair Creme



Burt's products are pricey but worth it, Burt's Bees are fun and cheaper and so delicious.

★ Happy Groundhog's Day!

The whole of February is ahead of us... that means Seasonal Affective Disorder, which means people are SAD and glum under the gray skies. But look ahead to the TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE!!!!

That's right, on February 20th, starting at 7:43 pm, the moon will begin to eclipse! It will be visible in North America and some other parts of the world, check the NASA Eclipse Site for more info.



Elephants Away!