Ezine Blogs: May 2010

Just Thought...

Just thought y'all might like to know
what's been taking up all my time and energy lately.
Emberjayne is doing fabulously well as you can see.
At just a week or so before five months old, she is
measuring at 26 1/2 inches long and
weighing in at around 18 pounds.
She is rolling over from her back to her tummy,
though hasn't figured out how to get herself back over just yet, so Mom and Dad have to help her out
when she gets too tired or frustrated.
She is very happy and loves to sing, screech, and cackle!
She is still taking anti-seizure medication and we still have a few neurology appointments to get through,
but all in all she is just amazing!

PS In case you are interested, the gorgeous hair bow in the first picture was created by Amy over at LC Creations. If you have a little girl in your life, it's definitely worth checking out! Proceeds on some of her items go to help children and their families battling cancer.

Do you remember the red poppy?

Memorial Day - a way to remember our country's heroes who sacrificed their lives to allow us live a life of freedom. This day is dedicated to the military people who sacrificed their lives for the security of their countrymen.

On this Memorial Day weekend, we hold parades with bands, marching veterans and flags for our children. We come together as family and friends with picnics and cookouts. But let us remember to observe this day by paying homage to those who could not be here because of their sacrifice. Place flags in your yard, visit your local Veteran's services and witness the laying of the wreath. You will not leave without tears and a grateful heart.

If you see any soldier, sailor, airman or marine, stop and thank them for their continued service to you and this Country.

I remember two traditions our family followed. The first was the hanging of my father's World War II flag outside our house. My dad would hoist me on his shoulders while I placed the 48-star flag high on the hooks so it would wave proudly. The second was my mother taking us all to the local VFW to purchase Memorial Day poppies to wear. Some were fresh flowers and other times they were fashioned from brilliant red crepe paper... no matter how they were sold, we always bought them to wear while watching the local parade and attending the wreath laying service.

In 1915, inspired by the poem "In Flanders Fields," Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red

That grows on fields where valor led,

It seems to signal to the skies

That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael and when she returned to France, made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children's League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their "Buddy" Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. I still have some of the red poppies made by the Disabled Vets that I wear every Memorial Day. I don't know if they still sell them, but this would be a wonderful tradition to start with your children and grandchildren. Create your own Red Poppy pin and wear it proudly over the Memorial Day Weekend to honor our fallen soldiers.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free.

And I won't forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me - Lee Greenwood

Have a safe and thankful Memorial Day. Sea Witch

A.I Season 9 Winner : Lee Dewyze

Yes, it's Lee The Wise!!! This is how you pronounce his name!!

Congrats dude! Lee got a long road to go!!

Of course not to forget to mention about runner up, Crystal Bowersox. Well, both of them are great. My choice is Lee but Crystal has a really unique and nice vocal, honestly, her finale performance is better than Lee.

Both of them ald a winner!!!

However, when it comes to finale, both of them are ald the winner. But this finale is different. It's not only all about Lee and Crystal....It is the farewell of Simon Cowell, which is his last season judging American Idol (Awww......we all love how much we sometimes hate and love Simon's cruelty....gonna miss him!!!).

The show start with introducing both of them. I thought that it will be slightly bored than season 8 (Season 8 finale is a BLAST!!!!). They start with the shool girls and boys looks...and suddenly!!! Whoa ....Metal Legend Alice Cooper came out!!! Great! But the singing together with the top 10...(i think so...or top 7), some of their pitch isn't that good and it just seems to be not good enough as a groupwork.

After that, I gotta say that Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly did the opening for How Deep Is Your Love is really GREAT!!! And they sing together with Bee Gees!! Later, Bret Michaels surprise performance with Casey James. This rocker actually facing a severe health problem. He had brain hemorrhage few months ago. Well, I look up to this rocker for still performer spirit! Salute!!! Kris Allen aka our season 8 winner performing The Truth on the finale (My favourite song on his album...) as well as Carrie Underwood performing Undo it which is written by one of the judges Kara Dioguardi. I love the Christina Aguilera appearance, I mean she's STAR and how she outshine as a star from the AI contestant as she start singing at almost the end of Fighter and start her solo singing!! Janet Jackson make a performance too.

After that there are previous contestant that "rejected" by Simon all coming back performing and half way through the performance, someone just grab away the mic and start "talking" to Simon, more or less just like the Kanye grab away Taylor Swift mic case~~~ Someone trying to grab back the mic and smart camera-man move away the camera from the scene and....It's commercial time!!!

The great part is they get General Larry Platts performing on the shows! Haha. No idea who he is? Pants on the ground is his hits!!! Yes, he previously get on the audition and sing the song. And it is feat by William Hung!! That is great!

In this show, of course they did some farewell for Simon thingy video. And how sarcastic are Ryan and the Judge Gang for insulting simon for the first few video. Till the part Ryan introducing Paula Abdul video.....talks about Simon, seriously....Awwwww. and Paula Abdul guest appearance on the show!!! That's so touching. I bet Simon is touched by her and the all previous winner of american idol with some top 2 , 3 , 4 contestant singing for him. This is really HUGE!!! And Simon get pushed by Paula Abdul to the stage to make a speech.

He may be cruel, cool, or sometimes he looks cold blooded to the contestant. But the last night on AI, we saw his soft side during the speech!! We'll miss you!!

And while they showing the video tribute to Simon, I kinda thought that in the end will they just add on a phrase, Simon Cowell, from 2002 to 2010. It's like he leaving us forever, okay it's kinda true he leaving the show forever. But seriously, it will be different without Simon. But as Paula say, the show will still go on. So far, there are rumours saying that Elton john will be the new judge....Hmm what you think about that?

And after all, the annoucement of winner is made by Ryan. It's Lee Dewyze!!!! I think both Lee and Crystal will have a bright future for sure. And no one is loser in the show. They learn along the competition. Great to say that we got a new winner add to the list of american idol. Sad to say that another judges is leaving the show. I will miss Simon a lot!!!

Let's us wait and see how the brand new American idol season 10 will be!!!

Video Games Soundtrack

Or so called music of video games, or I will like to say the soul of a game.

The soundtrack of a video games gives live to the game. Let's imagine, what will happen if a game without any background music or soundtracks? No matter how great that the game is or how great is the storyline or game playing....there will be nothing if without any background music and sound effect.

Here are some of the most popular music composer for game in Japan....Akira Yamaoka, Kaoru Wada and Yoko Shimomura.

Akira Yamaoka

Akira Yamaoka is well known for composing music for the silent hill entire series. Yes, it's silent hill!!! Although it is a freakin creepy game, the music itself might be one of the most beautiful or BEST soundtracks of all the horror game series. I would highly recommend Silent Hill 2 original soundtrack by Akira. The soundtrack is so beautiful, yet a little spooky and some of them might creep you out!!! Promise is one of the most popular soundtrack in Silent Hill 2 where when you listen to it, you kinda feel like you're walking in the town of silent hill and the melody is nice and beautiful. Theme of Laura, Angel's Thanados and Suicidal Dream will be the music involving some rock genre in it, and it sounds really nice (Maybe Akira should make a rock album if he look for something new, I heard that he's quiting the silent hill series, but I thought the game ald come to an end??) The darkness that lurk in our mind and Black Fairy will be something like "Hell no, the pyramid head is behind you!!!" or something like the nurses is coming!!! Yes, those creepy and horrify monster scene will start flashing in your mind!

You never wanna met this guy....The Pyramid Head!!! Wonder how he looks like???

I think Akira really did a good job on this. He really show the personalitites or the feeling of the game character and the game itself in this soundtrack! Can you imagine how hard it is for the music composer to compose music that fit the story.

The next one will be the music composer for Kingdom hearts (My all time favourites!!!) which are Yoko Shimomura and Kaoru Wada!

Yoko Shimomura

Kaoru Wada

I think Kingdom Hearts's soundtracks suits everybody and it fits every scene in Kingdom hearts. And it is a coorperation between Disney and Square Enix. What do you expect when you got the best soundtracks of both animation and games company come together!!! Some of Disney familiar music will be re-composed in this game like Beauty and the Beast, Alladin, Mermaid, Pirates of the Carribean~~~which sound refreshing and fit to the game and new music is composed for the game itself!

This game is awesome!!!

The original music by Kaoru Wada like Dearly Beloved and Showdown in Hollow Bastion are really awesome and whenever I heard of Dearly Beloved, I will think of the continue game or exit game scene....(Emm, haha, okay it's really true that when you "died" in the game, this will be the soundtrack....but there is another scene using this soundtrack too... ) Sunset horizons and Fate of the Unknown are the another music that I really like where it remind me of the fighting scene of chaser in final mix!

Ya, the chaser scene!!! The keyblade is killin' me!!!

The music of Kingdom hearts makes the gamers feel like they're in that place or conditions whenever the music is playing. It's like when they playing A Day In Agrabah then you'll know you're in some places like desert which is the Alladin's world. Well, I love Traverse Town and Twillight Town music theme the most, because it sounds so peaceful. Every world or town in KIngdom hearts has their own theme's music. And this is the role of Yoko Shimomura for composing all the background music in this game!!

Besides that, the character's theme song is totally fit with the character itself. Like when you listen to Riku's theme song, you're like feeling a little sadness but it's like full with memories in the music because it's Riku's character. While for Roxas, it sound a little mystery but totally full of sadness, because he only a "Nobody" in the game which makes you felt what Roxas feel. He don't have a heart and he only a clones of someone. While for Sora, it's very cheerful and something sounds like royal-like, because he's the CHOSEN ONE and he's always full of hopes and brave enough to face any obstacles.

I take a bow and salute to all video game music composer out there because I think they really put more effort than we know and try to complete the game and make it better. They compose the music to make the game more lively which gave the gamers the best to play the game. But honestly, there's still many of the gamers don't know the name of the music composer eventhough they play the game and love the music. Remember, whenever you feel fear, feel challenge or feel like fighting the boss while playing a game and listening to the background music, try to figure out who are the one who compose the music and make you feel like you're in the game!

(PS: Not only music composer, but there are many things else like game director, company, graphics and on and on~~~~Appreciate them!)

Treasure Chest from Canada

After a long day at work and then a swim to decompress, I walk through the door and a box from Canada is addressed to me. I'm thinking, who could be sending me something from Canada? I haven't purchased anything and I have no relative there. Well, I see the return address and it is from Langley Girl...the winner of my "A Sea Witch in Paris Giveaway" a few months ago.

I'm thinking, why would she be sending me a package and what is inside it. Well, this sea witch was left speechless. It was a treasure trove of wonderful things and just because. Yes, just because she wanted to say hello and thank you for all of the things I had sent her in the Sea Witch in Paris box.

Like Christmas, I couldn't wait to tear into it. But I had to take photos so you could enjoy the items as I pulled them out.

A lovely note saying how much she enjoyed my giveaway box and that she wanted to say hello. Well, if this is a "hello" I can only imagine what a "How are you doing" is. Nifty paper trunk with New York icons all over it. I spent many weekend in "the city" as a child so this was like coming home. Let's open it up and see what is in side, shall we?

Lovely linen handkerchief in aqua blue with pretty embroidered flower, a Langley girl creation just for the sea witch...mermaids, sea stars, she shells and words to dream with. Oh, and a handmade fortune cookie with a fortune in it.

A pair of magnets which are of sweet birds on a letter cancellation stamp. Love these.

A huge stack of Eiffel tower tags. I know my french loving visitors will be sea green with envy over these. So many uses, I think I will give them a Christmas in Paris look and use them as gift tags for Christmas gifts this year.

Lovely framed pendent of a Japanese print with a turquoise scarab charm on a beaded chain. Flip the pendent over and you have...

another Japanese print of a koi. Love this side for its fish in a neutral palette. I will be wearing this to work tomorrow.

Now add bead baggies, mini cards, jewelry elements, post its, diner star envelopes, a lovely hand created thank you note, and a pretty ribbon and you have treasure falling everywhere. Speechless, I am speechless by Betty's thoughtfulness and generosity. All so unexpected and such joy she has delivered to my door. Thank you Betty, for thinking of me and sending treasure to my door. More importantly, though, thank you for this marvelous, long distance friendship we have established through blogland. If it hadn't been for this venue, we would never had met, we would never have visited each others blogs and learned a little bit about each other. Such amazing friendships are born from simple blogs. What a ride we are all on. Sea Witch

Why oh why can't it be

a five day weekend and a two day work week? Really, Why can't it!!!! So many things to do and I know you are all just as busy with graduations, school year ending, preparing for the summer, etc. etc etc.

So after the tree that fell was finally removed from my front yard, chipped and hauled away, I made a road trip to Snellville and stopped in at Vintage Village to say hello to friends and dealers. There was also an additional shop that recently opened behind the "Village" ... "Joy's Vintage Thrift". Love it when there is another place to find treasure.

One of the personal touches you find at Vintage Village at this time of the year are fresh flowers throughout.

This lovely bouquet of hydrangea's (a personal favorite) greets you as you enter the shop.

One of my favorite dealers, My Vintage Heart. I keep eyeing the pretty silver plated Art Nouveau flower vase every time I see it. I need to just bite the bullet and buy it as it would look lovely with my footed bowl that looks just like it.

How fun and summery this bright orange water can is.

Speaking of summer, this vintage soft cooler is perfect for Americana holidays, especially when fireworks are involved.

Another favorite dealer, Fox, always finds the coolest stuff. This neat Victorian fold up chair has been over painted with aqua blue and sports a cabbage roses seat. The best part, this nifty piece is only $45.00. I had to force myself to walk away from purchasing it as I just don't have the room in my home. But what a great piece.

Pressed and hammered aluminum pieces. The American staple found in homes throughout the 1950s. Still affordable, these are fast becoming the next hot collectible.

How pretty is this vintage cake topper displayed under this glass dome.

Pretty jars have been repurposed with a little wire and a floral spray for lots of decorating ideas. Use them for starting flowers, seedlings, or fill with sugar water for hummingbirds.

Clever is as clever does. Pretty summer flowers bloom around a bicycle wheel wreath.

Love this shade of aqua, especially during the summer.

A new dealer at VV and I am crazy about the large letters that are for sale.

Eat Cake...words to live by...unless you are Marie Antoinette.

I don't know what it is about a big pair of panties that reduces me to childish giggles...maybe it is Ethel Merman's fault. As a child, I remember her singing, "The Hostess with the Mostest" and a line from that song was "Don't leave your panties in the hall." My baby sister and I would laugh till it hurt over that. There is just something funny about panties.

Made a lot of wonderful purchases and was so busy over the weekend that I forgot to take pictures of them. Loaded up my vehicle and then took a short stroll to Joy's Vintage Thrift. If you are looking for American kitsch, old time candies and a cold soda from a vintage fridge, then Joy's is the place to go. Prices are great for both the collector and for the dealer looking for inventory.

These four chair, sturdy, well made and in excellent condition were $35.00 for all four.

A quick coat of white paint and a pretty fabric change on the pads and you have a new set of dining room chairs on the cheap.

Old fashioned cash register greets you as you walk in.

Joy is a delightful young woman who at 21 has opened her first shop. I love to see young people enter this field, there is such joy in it (no pun intended).

The fridge full of cold soda's. Saw YooHoo and had to buy a bottle. My childhood was calling.

Joy has filled vintage frames with pics of 1950-60s television heroes and stars. How fun.

Shelves are also filled with penny candy of my childhood. When my raviolis come to visit, I must take them here to pic out a cold soda and a penny candy treat from her pretty jars of treats.

And finally a shot of my booth. Brought in more items and filled both the booth and the case as rhinestone jewelry seems to be moving again. My favorite piece in my booth right now is the small, aqua blue ladies trash disposal can. Today's young gals probably don't now what it is, but if you grew up in the 1950-60 and a little of the 1970's, you would find this item nestled between two stalls in school and public restrooms for you to dispose of your personal hygiene items. How fun would it be to put this in a bathroom and fill with your hygiene products. Have a lovely Monday. Sea Witch

2010 MTV movie awards preview

After a whole bunch of freakin kick-X awesome movies, it's time to rewards them who brought us these amazing movie.

It's MTV Movie Awards 2010!!!

This event is going to be HUGE!!! Why? Looks at the presenter and performer list and you'll know why!

Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry will be performing....Adam Sandler, Diddy, Chris Rock, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel, Russel Brand, Zac Afron and more will be presenting the awards. Not huge enough for you!? Don't worry because as we know MTV movie awards always give us more other than being huge (we should leave that for Oscar....)

2010 MTV movie awards will be held on 6th of June, and now you're allowed.....NO!!! I should say you HAVE THE RIGHT to vote for the nominees!!! And here are SOME of the nominees's categories...

Best Kiss:

Well, looks like the Twilight gang are hungry for the best kiss as three of them, Taylor Laurner, Rob Pattison and Kristen Stewart is nominated for this BEST KISS category....

Dakota Fannings and Kristen Stewart get nominated for their "ehem" scene in The Runaways. (What!? Yes you didn't heard me wrong, it's dakota and kristen.....they did this for art~) And again, Kristen is nominated with Rob Pattison for the kissing scene in twillight saga : new moon (Nope, stop screaming!!! Twilight fans...) While the Taylors (Laurner and Swift) nominated for their kissing scene in Valentine's day, well, too bad they didnt last for long. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reydnolds in The Proposals (Hmm, prefer Ryan Reynolds back to the X-Men gang doing his fighting instead of kissing!!! Just my POV!) And last but not least, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington's kissing scene in Avatar is nominated too~

My vote : Avatar kissing scene for sure! We sick of watching human kissing! (This reason is kinda good huh?)

Best Fight:

There're always fighting scene in a movie.....and let's see who's nominated!!!

Beyonce and Ali Larter in Obsessed...(Nah, still prefer Beyonce singing instead of acting...) And Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber versus Ryan Reynolds in X-Men Origins!! Yes, this is what we call a fighting!!

Logan Lermen vs Jake Abel in Percy Jackson, and Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang in Avatar were nominated too. As well as our Holmes aka Robert Downey Jr fighting with Mark Strong in Iron Man......!? I mean in Sherlock Holmes!

My vote : Of course my vote go to my beloved hubby aka robert downey jr's fighting scene in Holmes!!! Okay, I need to be fair, it has to be Wolverine, Sabretooth and Deadpool fighting scene!! I really love that fighting scene!!! Thumbs up for that!

Best Villain :

Christoph Walt in Inglorious Basterd, Helena Bonham Carter in Alice in Wonderland, Ken Jeong in The Hangover, Stephen Lang in Avatar and Tom Felton in Harry Potter.

My vote : Not really sure.....I think I'll go for Stephen Lang in Avatar...He's kinda annoying....in the movie!

Best Female Performance:

Amanda Seyfield in Dear John (I heard this movie is boring, but I'm kinda interested in watching this movie...who knows?), Emma Watson in Harry Potter (Smart girl....ehem should i say woman that can act and study at the same time.), Kristen Stewart in New Moon, Sandra Bullock in The Blindside and Zoe Saldana in Avatar.

My vote : Zoe Saldana!!! Because I'm sick of human.....AGAIN!? No, seriously, it's really hard to interpret as an Navi' and just imagine she has to "learn" their language and act like them and has a thousand visual tiny little device "stick" on her whole body to capture the emotion of the face and the movement of the body. In the end, she shows us that Zoe Saldana is Neytiti, the Navi' in the Avatar.

Best Male Performance :

(Female fans screaming!!!!) Yay, because there're lots of hunks or sweetheart get nominated this year!

Channing Tatum in Dear John, Daniel Racliffe in Harry Potter, Rob Pattison and Taylor Lautner in New Moon and Zac Afron in 17 again.

My Vote : Zac Afron!!! Not a Twihard fans...(Ok, you can BOO me.....)and what I think about Zac Afron is he really putting effort in acting and trying to do more than just Troy Bolton's kinda role.

Global superstar :

Look at the title, we know that it has to be someone who is popular, huge, and everybody loves them!!!

The nominees are.....Daniel Racliffe, Johnny Depp, Taylor Lautner, Rob Pattison and kristen Stewart. Okay, is this a Twilight movie awards??

My vote : I think the answer is clear enough and with no argument, it should be Johnny Depp, Barber, Pirates, Choco Factory Owner, Mad Hatter, Mafia, Bank Robber....none of the character that Johnny Depp can't handle, and Johnny did play the role well too. He's so talented and he deserve to be global superstar. Psss...actually he already is a global superstar.

Best Movie :

Alice in Wonderland, Avatar, New Moon, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and The Hangover are nominated for best movie.

My vote : All the movie are great but Avatar is the only one that you can see that the director, the crews and the actors pay so much efforts in all the elements in the movie, the visual, the storyline, the character, the surroundings.......They deserve that.

And there are much more categories that I didn't mention like Best WTF Moment, Best Badass Star, Best Breakout Star, Best Comedic Performance and Best Scared-As-SXXt Performance.

Don't keep on wondering who will win, because their destiny is on your.......keyboard!!! This is the link to vote for them : http://www.mtv.com/ontv/movieawards/2010/categories.jhtml

We'll see who's the biggest winner on 6th of June!!!

The house began to pitch.

The kitchen took a slitch, well actually it was the computer room. Didn't wake up in Munchkin land but it is that time of the year when we see lots of thunder and lightning storms in the south. Mother Nature will often give up a wonderful show and at night it is like trying to sleep in the middle of a disco between the booms of thunder claps and the disco ball of lightning that goes on for hours all often accompanied by heavy winds. Minus the "twister" action, Dorothy would have been proud.

Sometime during the storm or shortly after, the tree in our front yard split and hit the roof of our home.

It did not break any windows or put a huge hole in the roof. It did take out the gutters but that is an easy fix. Hopefully, the structure did not sustain damage, but that is for an adjuster to determine.

The smaller of the two giant limbs hit the house.

The largest limb crashed between my neighbor's house and mine and missed their bay window by inches. There is alot to be thankful for as this could have produced a lot of damage or potentially hurt someone.

So now I make the third call to my insurance company for a claim in the the last 45 days. What gives, I haven't had a single claim in over 30 years, but now it's the "trifecta", the "hat trick" of homeowners claims and all on the roof. Whatever the message is, I'm trying very hard to read it. Still, I'm thankful that no one was hurt, a hole was NOT put in the roof and my only real concern is "if what is left of the tree can be saved."

Now everybody sing,

The house began to pitch. The kitchen took a stitch.

It landed on the Wicked Witch in the middle of a ditch,

Which was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Witch.

The house began to pitch. The kitchen took a stitch.
It landed on the Wicked Witch in the middle of a ditch,

Which was not a healthy situation for the Wicked Witch.

Who began to twitch and was reduced to just a stitch of what was once the Wicked Witch.

Have a marvelous day full of winged monkeys, munchkins and hopefully a pair of really great red shoes will fall your way. Sea Witch

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