Happy NEW YEAR!

My Wishes in 2010:

"God gives You…

12 Month of Happiness,

52 Weeks of Fun,

365 Days Success,

8760 Hours Good Health,

52600 Minutes Good Luck,

3153600 Seconds of Joy…

and whatever else your heart desires!"

Have Faith In Yourself

On The Runway of Life

"You're either IN or you're OUT!"

-Heidi Klum, Project Runway

Through YOU

"There are two ways of spreading light;

to be the candle

or

the mirror that reflects it."

-Edith Wharton

No Worries

"Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
But don't worry;
God never blinks." -Regina Brett

Oh So Cuddly

Happiness is


A warm PUPPY!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

"It is good to be children sometimes,

and never better than at Christmas time."

-Charles Dickens

May we all be children on this Christmas morning, with hearts filled with the w0nder and the

joy of this magical season.

Happy Holidays one and All!

"our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at christmas-time."

Song In My Heart

"Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever. "

Snowy Christmas Greeting From Florence

Received this holiday card from Aria and Daniele. It's been snowing alot in Florence. Here they are with their snowman. Cold hands, warm hearts!

Merry Christmas Aria and Daniele!
We will be missing you in Long Beach this year.

Firenze imbiancata 18/19 Dicembre 2009

Saw this on my friend Jerry's blog and it was so nice to see what Aria is experiencing. They built a snowman last week. Looks like powdered sugar got sifted over Florence. Lovely.

Winter Thoughts of Long Ago

image via flickr

“When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow, we hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago, and etched on vacant places are half-forgotten faces of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox quotes (American poet and writer 1850-1919)

Thinking of you ARIA

joy'ful-ness

"And if

you keep it for a day,

why not always?

But you can never keep it alone." - Henry Van Dyke

This quote was on a Christmas card that Aria sent me one year. Inside she wrote:"do you remember this quote from Ally McBeal? I saw this card and I thought about you, because we watched that show together and because the same holds true for the joyfulness in my life. I could never keep it without you. I love you, Merry Christmas, Aria"

Aria: I will miss being with you this Christmas but you will be in our hearts all throughout this joyful season. Love you!

Like Christmas Fudge

"Our family is a little like Christmas fudge,

sweet with a few nuts."

At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year. - Thomas Tusser "The Farmer's Daily Diet"

Jingu Bells Annual Family Christmas Party

Personalize a free scrapbook design

Our Little World

"We go together into town and buy wine and yellow candles.

O this is celebration enough for twenty worlds!"

-Kenneth Patchen

Silent Night, Holy Night

Image by: Harry Callahan

Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be patient and always to be kind. - Helen Steiner Rice

The Heart Is My Home

"The earth is my altar,
the sky is my dome,
the mind is my garden,
the heart is my home
-yea-
I'm always at Om."
-Eden Ahbez

Home for the Holidays

"A home should feel like a warm coat on a winters evening -

it protects you"- Henk Teunissen

Peace on Earth

St. Chapelle, Paris

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on Earth,
Peace,
Good will toward men."
-Luke 2:14


St. Chapelle Paris

Dancing to Our Inner Music

"Watch the dust grains moving

in the light near the window.

Their dance is our dance.

We rarely hear the inward music,

but we're all dancing to it nevertheless,

directed by the one who teaches us,

the pure joy of the sun,

our music master."

-Rumi

translated by Coleman Barks

Cold Outside Warm Inside

The chilly winds of winter

are no match

for a warm heart.

I Believe, I Believe

image Jan Van Hollevan

Wishing you heartfelt joys,

happy memories

and heavenly blessings

for a delightful Christmas

and New Year.

"I'm Singing in the rain", Gene Kelly

Rainy Saturday but I love it. I'm home baking and cooking. Singing in the rain here in California. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Something For Your Tootsies

*You choose

*My choice: Sock Monkeys

I'm As Happy As A Clam

Christmas lights Florence Italy...

I was thinking the other day how I love all the twinkling lights of Christmas...on the tree, on the homes in the neighborhood, everywhere. They make me so happy....then I thought "happy as a clam". When I asked where does that saying come from? My friend Jen sent me the following answer. I'm sharing this little interesting story with you.

"Happy as a clam"

Meaning: Very happy and content.

Why would clams be happy? It has been suggested that open clams give the appearance of smiling. The derivation is more likely to come from the fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators; surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusc world. The phrase originated in the north-eastern states of the USA in the early 19th century. The earliest citation that I can find is from a frontier memoir The Harpe's Head - A Legend of Kentucky, 1833:
"It never occurred to him to be discontented... He was as happy as a clam."

The first record that I can find of the 'high water' version is from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Adams Sentinel, August 1844:
"Crispin was soon hammering and whistling away as happy as a clam at high water."
The expression was well-enough known in the USA by the late 1840s for it to have been included in John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary Of Americanisms - A Glossary Words Aid Phrases Usually Regarded As Peculiar To The United States, 1848:
"As happy as a clam at high water," is a very common expression in those parts of the coast of New England where clams are found.
Also in 1848, the Southern Literary Messenger - Richmond, Virginia expressed the opinion that the phrase "is familiar to everyone".

from: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-happy-as-a-clam.html

The Sum of the Parts

Happiness is when

what you think,

what you say,

and

what you do

are in harmony.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Nice Surprise Message

"The manner of giving
is worth more
than the Gift."
-Pierre Cornielle

Entering The Mind of an Artist

"Instead of being unable to see the forest for the trees" we suddenly see both the forest and the trees."

-Julia Cameron

I Just Called To Say I LOVE YOU

No New Year's Day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day
No April rain
No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the month of June
But what it is,
is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you
I just called to say

"I love you"

-Stevie Wonder

A Clearer Vision

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

-Henry Miller

Sense and Sensibility

"Tasting is a way of life. We taste everything that comes into contact with our senses, be it a work of art, the present moment, the reality of existence; objects, people, the arts, love, life." -Poupon

Feelings In My Heart

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights;
it is a change that goes on,
deep and permanent,
in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

Jingu Bells Family Christmas Celebration

The Annual Family C

Customize a photo album

hristmas Party at Sonya and Tom's home. We all had a great time!

Enlightenment

"To learn to read
is to light a fire;
every syllable
that is spelled out
is a spark."
-Victor Hugo

The Necessity of Friendship

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art....
It has no survival value; rather it is
one of those things that give value to survival.”
―C.S. Lewis