Happy Birthday Ali~

Today is Ali's birthday~ Yes, yes, he only gets a birthday once every 4 years....so that makes today extra special. And it's very fitting for someone like Ali. He is special!
I am so very appreciative for having Ali in my life. He is like another brother...always there to help me...and also protecting all us girls in the group. He is such a wonderful soul....he constantly opens his home to me and others....cooks us amazing food and provides us with friendship and wonderful conversation points...

I am lucky Ali is in my life...he makes my life so rich and wonderful....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Dengue Fever

I am an avid listener of NPR as most of my good friends know....and last night I heard about this new band, Dengue Fever featured on Fresh Air. The story of how the band was created is fascinating!
During the Vietnam war, U.S. popular music filled the air-waves all over the region, which inspired Cambodian pop musicians to re-create pop Cambodian style~
Recently, while traveling through Cambodia, two American guys fell in love with 60's era-Cambodian pop music and have brought it back to the U.S.

Quoting NPR, " Zac and Ethan Holzman — a guitar-playing singer-songwriter and a keyboardist, respectively — discovered that vintage Cambodian pop and decided to create a band inspired by the music. They found a Cambodian singer with a beautiful voice who had recently moved to L.A. and formed a group they called Dengue Fever.The band's catchy, often dark instrumentations — along with singer Chhom Nimol's Khmer-language soprano vocals — are a compelling mix.

Dengue Fever's first record was mostly covers of Cambodian pop. Their new CD, Venus on Earth, is an all-original album."

Happy Birthday Smurfs!

Smurfs near the Bromo Vulcano, originally uploaded by -Er-Au-.

Can you believe these cute little characters turned 50 years old this month!
Well, if you grew up in the 80s, you watched these guys on Saturday mornings dodge a crazy evil man and his cat...and perform magic while enjoying their life in a mushroom house.
I can remember watching this with my sister Jen and loving it!

Well, if you thought you'd never see them again, think again, they are coming back to a theater near you, in 3D!
Check out the story on NPR...

La la laa laa la....

Snowy Wednesday

Last night we were blanketed by a beautiful layer of snow. I took this picture this morning on my way to work. It really is so beautiful. While I am very ready for spring, I am doing my best to enjoy what nature throws our way.

Look-a-like

jessi-fatmanfresh, originally uploaded by hallywoods.

Have you ever been in a place where someone you do not know talks to you like they know you? As if you are someone they know and possible work with. This seems to happen to me all the time...I suppose it's because UB is such a big place.
I suppose it could be because people are just friendly?

I can be funny---and/or uncomfortable...

I just wish those powerful people that talk to me mistakenly gave me a new salary!

Happy Birthday Blog

birthday cake for a 2-year old boy, originally uploaded by o´holysweet!.

Today my Blog is two-years-old! I have sure enjoyed posting wonderful experiences, thoughts and desires into cyberspace. I hope you have enjoyed reading my many posts--and will continue to enjoy my adventures with me.

St Valentine's relics in Rome

St Valentine's relics in Rome, originally uploaded by Lawrence OP.

Today I found this story about the Famous Roman Priest Valentine. It's a wise tale...but an interesting one that that:

The evolving legend

In Legenda Aurea---According to that version, St Valentine was persecuted as a Christian and interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II in person. Claudius was impressed by Valentine and had a discussion with him, attempting to get him to convert to Roman paganism in order to save his life. Valentine refused and tried to convert Claudius to Christianity instead. Because of this, he was executed. Before his execution, he is reported to have performed a miracle by healing the blind daughter of his jailer.

Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

In another apparently modern embellishment, while Valentine was imprisoned, people would leave him little notes, folded up and hidden in cracks in the rocks around his cell. He would find them and offer prayers for them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

Last weekend I gave one of the newest members of the "gang" her valentine's day gift....a sweater knitted by ME! I underestimated her round little figure...so it doesn't close as well as it should, but she looks just so cute with it on.

What will I do to avoid working on my dissertation...

I am trying to do at least 1 hour of work each day on my dissertation. Believe it or not, that's a lot harder than it sounds! So, over the next year I will highlight things I do to avoid my dissertation (this is of course inspired by the Facebook group introduced to me by start-crafter, Rachel).

Check out my recent love, crocheting hats! I have to say I have become good at it! And today, out of the blue, a woman at work asked me, "Do you know how to knit?" I was so excited, "YES YES!" Thanks to Rachel, Rita and Rima...I am a knitter.

So, if you are lucky, you will get a hat like this~