I've been framed!

After 6 years I finally decided to hang some photos on the wall. I thought I would share the ones I added to a triple 4x6 frame in my bathroom. I thought they might add a little color and beauty to my life as I get ready for work in the morning.

The first photo was taken in Osaka, Japan. It is the plum orchard next to Osaka Castle. I remember how haunting and beautiful the blossoms smelled that day. I wish I could bottle the elusive scent of the plum blossoms to remind me of the loveliness in the world.


This was taken at Man Mo temple in Hong Kong. I love the repetition of pattern and color here and the photo soothes me and reminds me of a lovely day of sightseeing.


This fragile beauty is a hibiscus blossom from Tahiti. I love how delicate and serene this singular flower is. It reminds me to enjoy the beauty around me and to be at peace in the moment.



I hope you enjoyed this small break in your day and the world photo tour I have given you! Enjoy a beautiful day.

Hong Kong Trinkets & Treasures

Colleen Challenged us to blog about the 6th photo in the 6th folder so here is mine. My photo was just awful and blurry (I guess I was in too much of a hurry and now I can't re-take it) so I figured I'd blog about all the items in the small folder.

These are some of the gifts I brought back from Hong Kong. Hong Kong is known for its fabulous shopping and boy did we have fun! I got most of these at the Jade Market, which is a section of the city with some big warehouses that are set up with small kiosks for individual vendors to sell. It is a great place to find some deals on trinkets and haggle for costume jewelry. Oh, how I love me a good haggle!

The Jade earrings on the left were for my mother.

I got these pretty stone and braided bracelets for my cousins. Some of them are jade and I'm not sure what the other stones are. I just liked the work that was done on them. The one with the 5 jade flowers was the most expensive and it cost about $10 American. I could have gotten something similar for cheaper, but I wanted just the right one.



Sometimes you have to pay more if you don't have time to haggle and you have other people with you that are in a hurry, but it's all part of the fun. And we are talking about a few dollars here; not hundreds so there is no big loss.



I found a tiny jade elephant for myself and I had to have it. When I was a girl I collected carved elephants and I wanted one as a remembrance of my old collection. If the trunk is up in the air it means good luck. I bargained that elephant down to about $5. Imagine my chagrin when I went to the next booth and they tried to sell me the same elephant *starting* at $5! So much for my mad haggling skillz! I have the elephant at work. Someday I'll take a picture to show you.



These chopsticks were a gift for my cousin who was getting married the week we got back from vacation. I did not get any sort of bargain on them but I thought they were so beautiful I had to buy them. They were from a very touristy chopstick shop in Big Buddha Village. I ended up spending about what I would have spent buying a wedding gift here in the states.



They are hand-carved rosewood with gold engraved tops. One set has a phoenix to symbolize the wife and the other one has dragon to symbolize the husband. They are a traditional gift for a wedding and I wanted Ruthie & Craig to have something special.



I had to hunt all over town for these earrings. I ended up going to a jewelry store on Stanley Street near our tailor shop. If you look closely you can see that the gold work is much finer than the cheaper ones I got at the jade market. These are jade too; it is called lavender jade. They had similar ones everywhere, but I wanted this shape, color and gold tops. I can't remember what they say, but I think one is "good fortune" and one is "happiness".

Hell Money

Here's another installment of my China Collage Share. This is called "Hell Money". It is traditionally burned at funerals to make sure the deceased has enough to get them through in the afterlife. They use the word "hell" to refer to the underworld; not meaning the same "hell" as we use in Western speech.

Comic Relief

Here's another set of images for our Chinese Collage Share. These came out of a small booklet I bought on Cat Street in Hong Kong. It is some sort of mini comic book with each page telling part of the story. I'm not quite sure what it's about, but I love the illustrations.


Feel free to save these to your hard-drive by clicking on the images to enlarge and then right-clicking to save. Enjoy printing them out to use on your collage. I hope you make something and post a link here to share!


Click on the image share link at the bottom of this post to find the rest of the images I am sharing for our Chinese Collage Swap.

Do you like Stamps?

Well, I happen to love stamps! Both the rubber kind and the postal kind. Here's another image share from my China Collage Swap. Hope you enjoy the stamps! I bought them from a street vendor near the Museum of Macau. I paid wayyyy too much for them (I think about $5, US) but I really loved them.

I also over-paid for a beautiful hand-carved antique ivory skull-head bracelet at the same time. I think I paid $12 for that. I'll post a picture for you all one day. I do love it and actually wear it sometimes, so it was worth the money to me.

Click to see the large image and right-click to save it!

Well, since I am taking so long with my image shares, I figured I would give you the "big whammy" next! Here are some wonderful images for you to print out. If you right-click on the image above you can save it and print an 8.5 x 11" sheet of these lovely ladies.


I got these vintage cards in Hong Kong in a small antique district called "Cat Street". As romantic as that sounds the street was named because it is narrow and long ago was a great place for thieves and cat-purses! Despite the history, if you go to Hong Kong, you must check out this street! They have lots of thrift-shop and vintage finds if you don't want to take a chance on the pricier (and possibly phony) high-end antiques.

Chinese Collage Swap - Play Along!

I have a great group of friends I swap with and we have swapped for a few years together. One of the fun type of swaps we do is called a Collage Swap. The hostess will send each participant a package of similar goodies and then we all make something with it. I decided to hostess this time since I came back with such cool items from my vacation.

If you want to play along at home I will be posting spoilers and some images that you could print to use for your own art. If you make something, I'd love to see what you made. Please post a link! The rules we are following are pretty simple: Use at least three of the items (in whole or part) to make an ATC, but feel free to bend the rules or make anything you want. It is so fun to be inspired by what others did with the same items!

Here's what was in my package:
1. A piece cut from a modern map of Hong Kong
2. An old Chinese coin (the kind that is round with a square hole in the middle)
3. Some pages from a small vintage book that looks like a small comic story
4. An old Chinese postage stamp
5. A printed copy of some old Chinese images—each player got a different image
6. "Hell Money" which is fake money that is traditionally burned at a funeral
7. Decorative papers that are also burned at funerals
8. A page from a beautiful book that was illustrated with three drawings per page
9. Some ATC bases; one glossy base and two vintage playing cards from Las Vegas (obviously not from my trip, ha ha!)

Click the image above to see number 7, which I posted for your first image share. Once you can see the larger image, right-click to save to your computer for printing. This is funeral paper so you can give your loved one a good send off to the afterlife. I can't remember all the characters' meanings, but I do remember that part of it is supposed to mean "smooth sailing" which seems like a nice sentiment for a port city. The original papers are printed on soft paper with a metallic foil finish to the center. These were purchased in a small outdoor market on Taipa Island, Macau.

Macau Casinos

Did you know that Macau is a new gambling capital? It is wilder than Las Vegas and growing even faster. We're not big on gambling, but it is one of the main reasons people go to Macau and one of the few things to do there at night. And since Macau is so small, you can't help but walk through the casino areas on your way to the sites. This first picture is of the Wynn and MGM which we didn't see inside.

We went inside several casinos but unfortunately, they won't let you take pictures. The nice thing is that there's free air-conditioning and free bottled water inside. Well, almost free; I ended up gambling about $75 away while we were there. That ends up to be about $8 American, which is still a lot of money to waste on air-conditioning, ha ha!

My favorite building was the New Lisboa. It is a grand and crazy-looking structure that looks like a stylized Lotus flower, the symbol for the city. It was also explained to me that it was a dragon head; perfectly poised to eat the Wynn Casino! The bridge that connects Macau and Taipa islands serves as the dragon's backbone and his tail is a carved wall that runs up the hill on the side of Taipa Island. I love the symbolism of it all and the crazy-cool modern architectural vision of the building.

Unfortunately, it was my least-favorite casino inside. It was garish and overdone with no style whatsoever. It was covered with shiny things of different sizes, shapes and colors. Nothing matched, except in the contest to be the most gaudy thing ever. But the air was cool and the water was free!

This is the old Casino Lisboa. It is another crazy building that reminds me of old Vegas from the sixties. Wacky, kitchy and a little funky. It had that retro-Vegas feel inside too; full of black marble and gilded mirrors. Stylish with its own old-school fashion. And how could you not love its crazy charm?







The Venetian is on Taipa Island, tucked away from the other casinos, but it's worth looking into. It is the largest casino in the world and the second-largest building in the world. It is 50% bigger than the Venetian in Las Vegas. It was kind of stunning to be inside of it. I was really overwhelmed at how big it was and how *much* of everything there was.

We got lost inside the casino trying to find our way out and back to Matt's parents. I walked for miles it seemed to find the ladies room; past hundreds of slots and a band playing some old 80's tunes. I was distracted by all the lights and sounds and colors and it was a little too much for me.

There is a mall upstairs with top-quality shops and I think it was bigger than South Coast Plaza, our local upscale mall here at home. There is of course; an indoor canal system and it was a little eerie and beautiful to hear them singing as they wound their boats through the system; like bats trying to use sonar to find their way home. I loved the canals, but I was thrilled to leave the casino and head back to our hotel.

Obsessed with Color

Have you ever been obsessed with color? Can you guess the direction of my latest obsession? Photos from my vacation in Macau.

First glimpse of Macau

Here's our second night of vacation. Our first day was spent flying and checking into a room in Hong Kong. The next morning we got up and the guys got fitted for their suits in HK. Then we boarded the ferry for Macau. We got there in time for dinner with friends at the hotel. Here is the awesome view from our room. We actually stayed on the bottom island, Taipa; which is right by the University so we could see across the bay to Macau Island and see the new casinos. Isn't it pretty?

Our whole excuse for this vacation was so my Father-In-Law could guest lecture at the U of Macau and we could all visit with his professor friend, Henry. We got to spend lots of time with Henry and his wife, Miho. They were great hosts and tour guides.

268 Steps - My Motivation

Here's my latest motivation for working out! Yep--268 steps to see the giant Buddha in Hong Kong. I have to see him and oh, I hope those steps don't kill us. We are expecting 80 degree temperatures and 80% humidity! And 268 steps.

So we have been working out three times a week since January to train for this big event. I am just barely starting to see any results--I'm guessing it's because I'm in such bad shape. No, really; I'm probably the worst-shape person you know! I have asthma and have barely exercised in the last 10 years due to some health issues and problems with my feet. But I am ready to get back into shape again (I mean, some shape besides "round", LOL!)

It is hard because just doing the elliptical for a half hour makes all my muscles sore (even my back for some reason, and I don't even use the hand part of the machine) And my feet just ache and I limp the next day from it. But I am doing it anyways. At first when we started I would do it as easy as possible and not push myself at all. I have had trouble in the past with getting sick whenever I try to work out. I guess it just pushes my poor body past its last reserve. (pathetic, huh?) So I kept it easy and kept it up. I was angry at first; really angry every time we had to work out. I mean, I would feel rage about going there and I can't even explain it. I would scowl and sulk, even though it was my choice and I know I need to do this.

After about 4 weeks I stopped feeling angry and after another few weeks I don't even dread going. So after two months, that's my progress--I don't hurt *as* much and I'm not so angry. I still almost died climbing a hill in San Diego 2 weeks ago. I still have not lost even one ounce. My pants are still too tight. We walked on the beach yesterday and I still ached all over. But Matt said he noticed I was breathing a little easier on our walk and I stopped less. So progress is slim and slow but at least there is progress.

So say a prayer for me that I don't have a heart attack or pass out or something when I go to see the big Buddha on our vacation--I gotta get up there for the photo ops!

Macau's a go!

Yahoo! I thought I'd better update since we got our tickets--thank goodness for Frequent Flyer Miles! I will update more soon! We fly into Hong Kong and take a boat over to Macau! We are hoping we can meet Johnny and Manami from Japan in Hong Kong for our last 3 days.
:)

The answer to where...

Well, I know you've been on pins and needles wondering where we're going for our first vacation in three years! I know I have been too. I'll tell you, but it's not finalized yet, so I hope I don't "jinx" it! Are you wondering where in Europe we are going so we can see the remains of that lovely 17th century cathedral? Well, guess again! That cathedral is in China—can you believe it? Well, it's in Macau, to be precise. Macau was a Portugese colony much like Hong Kong belonged to the British for many years. It has reverted back to China, but there is a definite European feel from all I have seen. I know next to nothing about Macau, but it looks fabulous—a wonderful blending of East-Meets-West. Exotic and old-world rolled into one.

The extra exciting part of this destination; to me at least; is that is is just 40 miles west of Hong Kong. Ah, beautiful Hong Kong, home of "Pool-on-the-roof". Yes, whenever times would get tough over the last years, Matt would turn to me and ask where I wanted to stay. Many times my answer was "Pool on the roof!" You see, hotels are reasonable in Hong Kong, and you can get a wonderful skyscraper place with a beautiful pool overlooking Victoria Harbor! You can click the photo to see the hotel.

Doesn't this look like an exciting trip!? I will keep you posted if we get to go--we are going to discuss it with Matt's family in more detail this weekend. The whole reason we will be able to go is if we go with Matt's Dad to visit a professor friend of his. We will use our frequent flyer miles for the plane and then we will know someone in Macau so our trip will be affordable--yahoo! Cross your fingers for me!