Ok, so not a novel concept here and I know you’ve heard it a gazillion times, but could it be that the very word Christ in Christmas might indicate that Christmas is about the birth of Christ and not about Santa Claus, elves or presents? (For those of you who didn’t notice, that was sarcasm )  So now for the obviouls answer: Duh! Obvoiusly, Christmas is all about preparing for and celebrating the birth of Christ.  

I love how in Spanish “mas” means “more”, so every time you wish someone Merry Christmas, you’re actually wishing “more” of Christ in their lives… (maybe in a Spanglish sort of way, but either way it works )

So that being the case, why do we get so wrapped up in presents?  Yes, the wise men did bring gifts of frankincense, incense and myrrh and yes, I guess we can view the birth of our Savior as God’s gift to man to allow for the whole redemptive plan of the crucifixion.  BUT, God never intended it to be the sole focus of this season.  The act of giving gifts is not wrong either.  I see it as a way to show our family, loved ones and friends how much we love and appreciate them.  We are supposed to give without expecting in return… but do we really?

Have you ever stopped yourself from buying a Christmas gift from someone because either the year before they didn’t get you one in return?  Or have you ever judged what you were going to get them based on how much they had possibly spent on a gift given to you the year before.  I must admit I have… Obviously, we all have financial limitations, but I find it funny how in terms of gift giving we usually end up giving “an eye for an eye.” 

In terms of receiving gifts, I love receiving them, but don’t like asking for them.  I don’t like giving people “gift-lists” although in some cases I have been forced to    I think that’s because when telling someone what you “want” the whole beautiful suprise element behind receiving a gift is lost.  Maybe that is what makes Christmas mornings so magical, memories of waking up as a kid to wrapped gifts, not knowing what they are going to be… now that was utter  excitement   And it was even more magical if you got what you really wanted   And I think we all continue being kids at heart when it comes time to unwrapping a gift…

As for myself, I usually don’t ask people what they “want” for Christmas.  I find it fun to think really hard until I come up with something I think they either will really enjoy.  I know this has made me a really good gift giver, and my motto has always been ”I give what I would like to get.”      

I guess thought at the end of the day any gift given or received is a good one, as somoene went out of their way to do something nice for someone else.  So we should be thankful for them all.  And gift or no gift, what’s of even more value are people, the difference they make in our lives, the moments we get to enjoy with them, and most importantly the loving relationship we get to enjoy with our Heavenly Father every day.  So let’s focus on that this year and remember to keep “more” of “Chris” in our Christmases! 

Love you all and Merry Christmas!

Dave and Rory are a father and son family business supplying office refit solutions. They wanted a fun image that would catch peoples eyes for an advert. It took some work getting Rory into this filing cabinet and the look on his face says it all when we finally opened the drawer to let him out again!

Sean “P Diddy,Puffy’ Combs is planning something huge. To celebrate his birthday coming up)scorpios run this) Diddy is planning on throwing what he calls “the party of the century”at the plaza hotel in their Grand Ballroom. I hear that Diddy is gonna attempt to have “every single name” that is relevant come to his party.Expect to see Actors,Musicians,Athletes everybody that is somebody ad who isn’t somebody appear at this party.

yes thats right we have officially been in business 1 year!!!  now for many of you who have been in business for quite sometime this may be not as exciting, but over the last year we have worked very hard to get where we are today.

we have met numerous vendors and brides, all of whom have given us wonderful information to continue and better our services for 2010 and beyond.  we are up and running on linkedin, twitter, facebook, weddingwire and our website.  as for 2010 advertising we are still in the final phases of that and will be closing those deals here within the next week or so and will let you know where we will be locating ourselves.

heidi just got back from the ABC conference in Indiana and was quite impressed on what she learned.  we will be getting that recap up online here next week.

warm weather destination wedding season is beginning so for those of you are wanting to get out of the cold for a warm destination give us a call and we will be happy to help out.

sandy morris from extreme home make over has chosen for us to throw her daughter a sweet 16 party this coming spring so stay tuned for that….

EXCITING STUFF HERE!!!  i would like to do something a bit different along with update blogs for 2010.  each week i would like to touch on a specific part of a wedding or event.  it can be just a single word or a phrase pertaining to an event, but requires some assistance.  instead of me just choosing what to write about i would like people to voice their suggestions as we do the events for all of you not for us….SO its important that you let us know what you would like to see written and we will go from there.  either email us directly or just list as a comment and the most for that week will be the topic of choice.  if there are no responses for that week then it will be up to us… between now and the first of the year we will need suggestions for the first topic.  every sunday the post will be updated for the week with a new topic.  hopefully we will be able to generate some conversation revolving around the topics as well but will take it week by week.  if you submit a suggestion, please give your name and email as we will place your name into a drawing that will be held once a month. (january drawing will be held february 1 and winner posted….) the more you suggest the more times your name will be placed.  prizes will differ each month.

enjoy everyone and submit your suggestions.

Katie and Heidi

HEY, why don’t we forget about Ken for a bit and just focus on the REAL STARS here?

Perhaps some of you remember my inital thoughts on Seitokai no Ichizon in the 2009 Fall Anime Season Impressions post. Well I would like to say that this series is the complete opposite from what I thought it would end up being.

 At first I had written(thought) on my fall 2009 early impressions page that Seitokai no Ichizon would be a complete waste of time, and not worth watching in the slightest, I even gave it a -5% chance of watching rating(not the lowest on the list though…).

And after being convinced to watch the series, I decided to give it a go. despite the positive feedback I’d heard about the show I was still skeptical about and wasn’t expecting much at all. However, when I went to watch the first episode I was really shocked at how good it was.

OP

And the OP isn’t bad either.

The girls were cute(Aka-chan, Mayufu) and sexy (Chizuru, and Minatsu), and the male lead of this awkward harem is Ken, who is not at all shy with his feelings toward any of the girls. Ken also seems to be obsessed with playing H games, and in some instances the games’ female characters are the actual girls in the “real world” of the anime, which I find pretty amusing considering he wants all of the girls in actuality, Ken wants “the perfect harem end”. But despite all of these awesome characters, the true star is Kurimu Sakurano/Aka-chan, but I honestly prefer Minatsu over Aka-chan, I think Aka is just a little too underdeveloped for my taste.

-AKA-CHAN-

Aka-chan~! the star of this show!(forget Ken!!!) While most of the charcaters that surround her seem to have an interest in particular aspects of Otaku culture it seems as though Aka-chan is into pretty much every bit of it. Aka-chan is the loli character of this anime in almost every way. She’s cute, acts like a kid, and is super super moe!!! It may be important to mention that Aka-chan apparently has a disorder(?).

-MINATSU- 

Prehaps my personal favorite of all the girls in this anime. She’s the tsundere of Ken’s haremwich probably gives me even more of a reason to love her! also the writers constantly hint at her possibly having a slight-crush on Ken. But unlike the other girls in Ken’s harem Minatsu is a bit of tomboy, which it kind shows in her behaviour and even her voice. Like I mentioned before with Aka, it seems as though everyone in the council has an interest in one particular bit of Otaku culture, for Minatsu it looks like she’s really into Light Novels (she mentions Index and Baka-test at one point too!)

-CHIZURU-

The sadist of the group. She can control pretty much anybody she wants, and seems as though because of this everyone fears her(only the one other character in episode 3). She’s also clearly the most well endowed of Ken’s harem, which isn’t there always the “model like in structure girl” in harem anime, she also seems to be into bondage-like activities as well… for Chizuru I can’t exactly tell what her interest is in Otaku culture, if anything it seems as though she’s into Yuri(girlXgirl)

-MAYUFU-

The yaoi fangirl of the group, but you’d probably never be able to tell just by looking at her, in about episode 4 she get’s Ken to make a Yaoi H game for her. And it seems as though she’s into normal RPGS as well, which was shown a bit in episode 3 when she was being interviewed with the member of the Jounalism club. She’s probably my least favorite of the group though…

So the characters certainly seem different from most of what I’ve seen in a long time. and I think it’ll be pretty fun to continue to watch these characters as the series movie along.

The anime as of now seems to parody many of the popular anime as of recently, such as Strike Witches, Gurren Lagann, Higurashi, Umineko(?), Haruhi Suzumiya, and many others.But prehaps the most famous of them all is the Strike Witches parody, which was actually co-animated by Studio GONZO, which I find rather amusing. The show also parodies H games which was mentioned above.

 Since I’ve mentioned the animation not too long ago, why don’t I just take a stab at it. When I first saw screen caps for the series I didn’t think much of the art or the animation. But once I got around to watching it, it seemed actually pretty good. I actually really like it. And if you take some time into looking at it closely you can see that in some shots there’s actually quite a bit of detail. The uniforms also may deserve some mention just because they seem so different compared to normal uniforms used in anime, the purple and black stripes, and the different/unique boots the female characters wear. It looked kind of wierd to me at first, but I quickly really liked them, they seem sort of punkish in style actually. And the designs of the female characters are very appealing, with the different hairstyle and all, Minatsu’s hair style stood out the most for me without a doubt. However Ken seems the least unique of all the characters, but considering the fact it was meant for males(such as myself) it really doesn’t come as a shock, and since it’s a harem with a predominantly female cast of characters your attention is meant to be directed towards them anyway, and it is generally easier to design a female anime character as opposed to a male one.

 Face it, there is no real story here, it’s just a story about an otaku-centric(?) student council and all of there wierd adventures(?) in the world of otaku-ism and anime/manga related material. Very simple, and I really like it. It seems as though so many series nowadays try to have some epic plot, and in the end fail at the attempt. However episodic series like this with no real story and know it has no story usually are some of the best of the new anime coming out. Examples: K-ON!/Lucky Star/Haruhi(some plot though)/Natsu no Arashi!/Hayate no Gotoku!! and many others are examples of some of the most succesful anime as of recently. And I think it’s because they don’t try to form some epic story, even though quite a bit of these series success has been due to the large amounts of moe. And I think like many of those series(with no real plots), this one will be successful/ should be.

The plot was simple, which was enough for me, but the novels the anime is based off of had gotten some negative feedback, which was the reason why I was planning to avoid it. But then someone convinced me that this was an excellent series.And about the novels, one of the things I thought was entertaining about the series is that they constantly make references to the novel or realize that there in an anime, which is based off of light novels, the characters are fully aware of the fact that they are in an anime. At one point in the first episode the characters even question why their novels got an anime, they also wonder about how the series will be named since each of the individual novels in the series are given different titles(much like the Haruhi novels in a way).

So~! overall this is a surprisingly good series. I certainly am glad I didn’t pass this one up, it would have been a missed jewel for sure, and it seems as though the show is getting more popular as time progresses, which could mean that DVD/BD sales will be up, which if they are we could get a second season(not confirmed). So I think tha pretty much any anime fan would love this series, it’s funny, cute, has a bit of sexy, and overall is just plain fun. While the anime isn’t over(about 6 more episodes left), I really hope it can maintain the energy it has for the past 6 or so episodes. And if this series manages to maintain this amount of amazing quality throughout the rest of it’s run, it may well end up being the anime of the season for, and possibly the comedy of the year. Now on my watch list!!!

Uhuuuy…akhirnya target bulan ini tercapai malah tak disangka point yang dicapai 3 kali lipat dari target yang ditentukan. tengkyuuu to my husban yang tlah membantu, wuaaaahh….moga aja bulan-bulan depannya bisa githu terus dah, amieen…

~optimis mode on~

Waktu ditelpon ma Oriflame Makassar seneng banget, katanya aku bisa mendapat bisnis class bulan depan selain WP2, huhuuuy….itu artinya ntar dapat diskon 50 % dunk ntar di bulan desember apapun produknya

Trus waktu buka FB, leader aku ngeinfo UNTUK SEMUA MEMBER BARU DAN LAMA yang mengumpulkan 75 BP di 2-23 Nov’09, akan mendapatkan RED Purse seharga Rp. 249.000 di bulan Desember hanya dengan melakukan order pertama sebesar min Rp.175.000,-. Mo tau RED Purse tu gimna, plototin (diklik jg boleh) nih gambarnya ;D

Bener-bener awal bulan yang menyenangkan, yuuuk ikutan ngrasain kebahagiaan ini

The great thing about new music is that you never really know what you’re gonna get. Sorta like life. And a box of chocolates (thanks, Forrest!). Sometimes albums totally and completely surprise you. And sometimes they don’t at all. Sometimes surprises are good, and sometimes they’re a huge letdown. Sometimes all you want is your favorite band just the same as always, and sometimes a little change makes them all the better.

This week, I was incredibly surprised by one much-anticipated album in a perfectly awesome way. Another album held zero surprises for me, which I was thrilled about. And a third surprised me because, well, I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

But, as long as someone isn’t popping out from behind a wall to scare the crap out of me, all of these surprises – good and bad – are a-OK with me.

New Moon Soundtrack

This is the freakiest thing ever to me. Yes, freaky. I mean, isn’t Twilight some huge teen sensation thing? I get that practically everyone loves it, but I think it’s main audience is teens who go giddy over Robert Pattinson. OK then, where did this totally amazing soundtrack come from? The New Moon soundtrack is incredibly hipster-ish and indie. And I absolutely love it! I just think it’s kind of crazy; I expected it to be full of pop songs. You know, maybe a little Miley Cyrus. But, no! It has Thom Yorke! Bon Iver! The Killers! Grizzly Bear! The Editors! I can’t stop!  Anyway, this soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks I’ve ever heard. The first single off the album is Death Cab for Cutie’s “Meet me on the Equinox” and it’s the perfect song to get people excited about the soundtrack. Death Cab is indie, while still being very approachable and the song just sounds so Twilight-y. “Meet me on the Equinox /Meet me half way /When the sun is perched at it’s highest peek /In the middle of the day/Oh darling understand /That everything, everything ends.”

And there’s more! I’m a huge Bon Iver fan and was super excited to hear something new from him. “Roslyn” is a beautiful song and exactly what we’ve come to expect from Bon Iver. Another of my favorites off this album is “No Sound But the Wind” from The Editors. The magical thing about this album is that every song just screams Bella and Edward. I have the sudden urge to read New Moon right along to this album. And I think millions of teenagers are suddenly going to become really into some pretty cool indie music. And I guess that’s not really a bad thing. Even if it is because of Twilight.

Kings of Convenience- Declaration of Dependence

Ah, the Kings of Convenience. I honestly don’t know of a group that makes me more peacefully happy than they do. I can’t even describe why, but I just sit back, close my eyes, and smile every time they come on. In fact, when I just heard they were coming out with a new album, I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Then I immediately listened to Riot on an Empty Street a few times in a row. And now that I’ve been able to listen to Declaration of Dependence, I can easily (and happily) say, I’m even deeper in love. Which I didn’t think was possible. The album starts with “24-25,” and was an immediate favorite of mine due to its quiet and beautiful lyrics: “What we build is bigger/Than the sum of two/But somewhere I lost count on my own/And somehow I must find it alone/24 and blooming like the fields of May/25 and yearning for a ticket out/dreams burn but in ashes are gold.” Le swoon.

But then the next song, “Mrs. Cold” came on and I got seriously nervous that the Kings of Convenience were using me in their song: “Hey baby, Mrs. Cold/Acting so tough/Didn’t know you had it in you to be hurt at all…OK I get it/OK I see/You were fronting because/You knew you’d find yourself vulnerable around me/Hey, baby/What’s going on?/You lost control and you lost your tongue/You lost me.” What girl can’t relate a little bit to this song? Feeling vulnerable around a guy and thus acting all cold around him? But honestly, I love all the songs on this album, from “The Power of Not Knowing” to “My Ship Isn’t Pretty.” I’m a very happy girl.

Spiral Stairs- The Real Feel

A friend told me to listen to Spiral Stairs. So, I did. I had never heard of them before but was told I’d probably like them if I liked Atlas Sound, which I do. And then, while listening, I figured out what Spiral Stairs was all about. The group is actually made up of Scott Kannberg of Pavement. I’m a pretty big Pavement fan, so I was thrilled to hear Scott on his own album. But to be honest, it took me a little bit to really get into The Real Feel. The first two songs didn’t do a whole lot for me and didn’t remind me of Pavement much at all (not that they necessarily should have). But by the time I got to “Cold Change,” I was liking them a lot more.  The group describes themselves as a “jam band” and I totally get that vibe from them. Until I listened to “A Mighty Mighty Fall,” which kind of sounded country-western-ish to me. It’s a really nice, easy-going song with a definite twang to it. Then “Stolen Pills” completely jolted me awake and felt a whole lot more like rock-and-roll. And I loved it! One thing is for sure, the Spiral Stairs certainly are a versatile group. So, I haven’t been going totally gaga over this album, but I found it enjoyable and will definitely continue listening to it. I just wish Scott Kannberg still sounded just like Pavement. But I know that’s way too much to ask for.

Today we are going to prepare “El crevette passionnée, sur un lit de riz surpris” or translated into plain English :

Agitated shrimp on a bed of surprised rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup of Tibetan sea shrimp.

1 cup of Basmati rice.

1 cup of mangled carrots.

1 cup of suspicious basil.

First thing to remember is to try and get fresh Tibetan sea shrimp. If they are not available at your local market, you might have to order them online, which will save you the trouble of agitating them yourself. If however you do need to do a manual agitation, use the following fool proof method:

Place shrimp in a clear glass bowl in front of a television. Put on a very dramatic movie like “Born Free”,  shrimp tend to be very emotional. Ten minutes before the end, switch to the Cartoon channel . Leave shrimp to froth madly for ten minutes.

Not many of you will know this, but when shrimp get agitated their brains produce a stress chemical called cortisol. This chemical really brings out the flavor of any seafood dish, and shrimp produce the most cortisol per gram of crustacean. Many believe that Tibetan sea shrimp meditate all day on the fact that there is no sea in Tibet. This is a common myth and has been mostly disproved.

Next up is the rice. I have a special technique I use to surprise Basmati, and it hasn’t failed me yet. First, when you remove the rice packet from the cupboard, pick it up along with a  packet of chips,  as if by mistake. You can even say something like :

“Hmmm, am I in the mood for chips!”

This is to ally any suspicion on the part of the rice . Next,  place both packets on the table. Pick up the chips packet and a pair of scissors. Now comes the crucial part, move as if to snip open the chips packet, then snake out and snip open the rice packet instead. This should generate adequate surprise. If you feel a little adventurous and you want more surprise in your dish, try the following : Place rice in a earthenware pot. Open the microwave door and then shove the pot on the stove. Cook for 20 minutes.

By now your shrimp should be thoroughly agitated. Place the shrimp in a casserole dish. Add the cup of suspicious basil. For best results use naturally suspicious basil from your own garden and not the paranoid kind normally found in your local supermarket. Add the cup of mangled carrots. You can use pre-mangled carrots here, but I prefer to mangle my own carrots to ensure proper chaotic balance. Cover the dish and shake vigorously for one minute. This is to ensure that any shrimp that might have calmed down a bit will now be at the proper level of agitation. Cook with extreme prejudice for 1 hour on 180 degrees, or until your patience runs out.

SEPTEMBER 2009

Theme: Human Emotions-> Amazement/Surprise

Amazed
zhiene

Nathan’s Eye
chuck

Hu-waaat?
leylander

]]> http://clubpenguincheatstop.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/club-penguin-firey-suprise-solved/ Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:03:38 +0000 sporty0920 http://clubpenguincheatstop.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/club-penguin-firey-suprise-solved/

Hey everyone, the big Fiery Suprise that club penguin told us to to go to the cove in our ninja outfits is solved.

You have to stand in the cove and the fire gets bigger!

anywway thats it for now folks.

Cya Sporty0920

…The things I’d do to her….them. Taylor Swift and Kelli Pickler. Well, we should probably keep this PG.

So last night my phone rings and it is LCpl Honda. He tells me,  ”Make a wish and then tell me when you are done.” So I did. Then he tells me, “Guess what? Your dream just came true!”

Huh? Right about that time the phone disconnects and the doorbell rings. I was thinking, “Who the heck is ringing my doorbell at 7:30 in the evening?” As Corvette went to answer the door, I put the phone down and went out in the garage to open the door to let some of the heat out. Since we live in the Desert Southwest it gets incredibly hot out there and I like to let it air out a little at night.  I stayed in the garage for a few minutes and then went back in the house.

Surprise!, Surprise! LCpl Honda was standing in my living room!

He was supposed to be here on Saturday to bring home some of his things before deployment. He was also only supposed to be here overnight. So lucky us!

My nephew Sgt. Red once surprised my sister Crafty in the middle of the night by climbing through the dog door. Thank goodness his dogs knew it was him. I told LCpl Honda not try any middle of the night entries or come in when we are not home (he has a key) because he will set off the alarm and then he will have some explaining to do. To the cops. Marine or no.

Oh, that wasn’t exactly my wish, but I will take it.

ok friends and family.guess what?!IM GOING TO VERMONT,USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!my parents told me this while at that cottage.first of all:were driving there.second of all:im staying in burlington(home of the ben and jerry’s factory……i love ice-cream).To ,my american friends(you know who u r) ill be in the same country as you!YEAH!!!!!!!!!im so excited to go……the u.s.a has such great SHOPPING.and ice cream(lol)

I have a plan. And I’m not telling you it. See this is the problem when people actually read my blog. And when I actually know some of the people reading it. And so then you can’t unfoil awesome suprises in your blog because BAM byebye suprise.

=] But don’t worry. It’s a good plan. Nay. An awesome plan. Well not so much a plan as an idea, but I plan to put the idea into action to get the end result of the idea.

Aww it’s so hard not to say. Purely because it’s gonna be so awesome. I can’t wait to actually be able to reveal it. But it will be so much awesomer if it’s a suprise.

I wanna do it now. Except I’m just ever so slightly TIRED AS FOOK.

But I may make a start, as I can’t sleep.

Headdesk. Notcool.

Overovertired.

Listening to nice quiet emo music.

Baby Blue – Tremolo   Such an awesome song!

“This is not my voice, this is not my choice, this is somebody’s, baby, they don’t know my age, they don’t know my name, they just call me, Baby Blueeee”

Singer has an amazing voice. If I was on the broadband connection I would link a youtube vid. However I am not. So go youtube it yourself.

Doesn’t seem to be working. Switching to Metal. Crazy but I sleep better too it. Not a clue why. Listening to Nile. Annihilation of the Wicked album. Some sick mo’fo riffs, man! To quote Brook. Tis very true though. Chucked them into a playlist with the Hammer Metal Mix cds I got for free. I’m set.

Failing that I’ll try techno.

Failing that I think I’ll go crazy from lack of sleep. And will just put iTunes on shuffle.