Fire and Ice

Millions of words have already been written and, no doubt, million more will be written about the sudden death of Michael Jackson . He touched so many lives (not always in a good way) and he was simply the most famous person on Earth. He was also a part of my life in many ways. When I was a teenager I idolized the man, like mostly everyone else did in the 80s. One of my first scrapbooks was all about Michael Jackson! My dream then was to see him in concert and I would have done except for my inability to get good grades in Math (long story...) When my family finally got satellite TV and I discovered MTV, the very first video I saw was Thriller and I was amazed. It set the bar very high for all other videos and I remember at the time being very disappointed that other videos weren't 15 minutes long and had movie-style credits at the end. And the dancing: WOW. I loved the whole thing and of course bought the Thriller album, like millions of people did. His connections to Disney are w...

It will soon be the end of the school year and time to get creative and put together something nice for my son's teachers... and this year I am trying to be organized so I've done them already! I always try to make something (rather than just buy it) and also try to get my son to participate or at least to have some sort of input into what we're doing. This year I had the idea to make photo note cards but I thought that using a photo of my son would not make these note cards incredibly useful to the recipient. I mean, my son is cute but why would any of his teachers want his smiling face on a note card? So instead I scanned a picture he made in school, which had his name written on the front, and used that as the artwork in the note cards. To make my life simple, I simply uploaded the image to the Kodak Gallery and ordered the note cards there , as I bought quite a few they were very reasonable. But I could have also simply ordered prints and then glued a photo to the front...

Last week I was in the shopping center and when I went to one of my favorite stores, I was amazed to find an incredible amount of neon clothes - just like I remembered from the 80s! They had the lot: the legwarmers, fingerless gloves, bangles, head bands... everything in bright pink or orange or yellow. It sure took me back to my younger days. I know that the 80s are big right now (and I'm not looking forward to shoulder pads again, but apparently they're on the way back) and like all fashions, it will eventually give way to another revival and that will go and another take its place... and so on. In fashion everything old is new again, eventually. In the scrapbooking world it is often the same thing: trends come and go but somehow the 80s never really come back. I know not many scrappers remember those heady days when we cut photos into shapes, used bright patterned paper for everything and put together paper piecings. Sure, the trend for brighter colors seems to be making hea...

It appears that the latest marketing trend is to look back nostalgically at the 'good old days'. For example, Sainsbury's latest TV ad is all about heritage and history. The theme is "Trying something new for 140 years" and takes the viewer on a visual journey across the company's main milestones in these years. Marks & Spencer, a competitor, have a very similar campaign out there also, celebrating 125 years. In this TV ad they have Twiggy going back in time on a visual journey across the company's milestones in these years... sound familiar? I wonder what the marketing teams in both companies think about these very, very similar campaigns!! I also note that both commercials include the mention of avocados and the claim of having 'introduced' them to the UK... The ads are so similar that I wonder what happened there - coincidence or something more sinister? Which one do you like best?

I’ve already taken you around World Showcase twice: Italy and France . In my long-awaited continuation of this series, we will go a little further away into the amazing country that is Japan. As a pavilion, Japan has quite a few things going for it. First of all, it looks absolutely stunning, especially at dusk. It has a wide open courtyard and is surrounded by a pagoda and a large building housing the shops and restaurants that make up most of the pavilion. The open courtyard gives the pavilion a very airy feel, but it also has some secrets. At the far end of the courtyard is a replica of a castle or fortress and inside there is a gallery. Currently I seem to remember there is an exhibit on tin toys (a must, and almost always quiet!) but it has housed other exhibits in the past. Another quiet spot is the garden in front of the Yakitori House (incidentally, probably my favorite fast food restaurant in all of WDW). This garden is a lovely Japanese garden, full of gorgeous plan...

As I've said before , I have now discovered running skirts and this is probably the best thing to have happened to my running. Not only are they very practical, they make me look cute (at least I think so), come in great colors and are something a little bit different and more modest than running shorts. I love wearing them so much that sometimes I go out on runs even when I don't feel like it, just so that I can wear one of my lovely skirts! So I am a total convert and would urge anyone who hasn't tried them to do so. I actually only have five running skirts (well, six really but more on that later) and I love them all for different reasons. Lots of people have been asking me about my running skirts lately so here is the quick guide to all my skirts and the different reasons I love them. One of the first skirts I bought was this navy/aqua from runningskirts.com : Runningskirts.com have athletic skirts and running skirts - the difference being that athletic skirts have com...

I've done this before but it's time to play the game again: who does Jessica look like? Because I'm biased and I think she looks like her brother, here is my evidence. This is what Jessica looks like right now, at 3 months: And this is what Samuel used to look like at the same age: Very similar, don't you think? The same chin, same mouth, same nose and very similar eyes but Jessica does have bigger cheeks and her eyes look a bit more scrunched up. Also Samuel had bright blue eyes by this age whereas Jessica's are already turning sort of hazel (but they look brown on this shot). And of course Samuel was growing new, blonde hair by 3 months while Jessica still has her mop of brown curls. Unfortunately there isn't a photo of me at that age (not that I know of anyway) but trust me on this one - Jessica looks like her brother! Or what do you think?