Year Of The Horse

Today, January 31 is the beginning of Chinese New Year.

Each year corresponds with one of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs and animals. Each sign is believed to influence the personalities of those born in those years.
In 2014, it will be the year of the Horse.
"People born in the Year of the Horse are talented and popular, strong minded, energetic and sociable. They have good communication skills, but sometimes talk too much. They work hard and are good decision makers..."

Horse: 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014

I was born in the year of the Rat. I wonder what will the year of the Horse bring?!

Rat: Born in 2008, 1996, 1984, 1972, 1960, 1948, 1936, 1924

Chinese New Year lasts two weeks and is traditionally a time to honour ancestors and Chinese gods. The centuries-old celebrations end with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the New Year.

Chinese communities consider Lunar New Year to be the biggest and most important festival, so a huge number of Chinese from across the world go back to their home country to celebrate the New Year. This phenomenon is called the biggest human migration in the world.

via Baidu

What If ...3

"WHAT IF elections focused less on manipulating the negative and more on the emergence of positive new ideas - ideas that are not already society-accepted homilies?"

* reference Shirley MacLaine's book

"Blue Jasmine"

This time I don't really want to write anything about this movie, just to recommend it. Really, go and see it!

I love Cate Blanchett's performance in this drama/comedy. I have to watch it again!

 

 

 

What If... 2

 "WHAT IF our subconscious controls our destiny?"

* reference Shirley MacLaine's book

Candy

Candy is North American expression for what is in the UK, Ireland, South Africa and other commonwealth countries called confectionery...or sweets in UK and Ireland, and lollies in Australia and New Zealand.

*Also refer to Sugar Love post

Jewellery vs Jewelry

The different spellings of jewellery in British and American English can cause confusion.

The British spelling jewellery adds -lery to jewel.
The American spellinɡ jewelry adds -ry.

Silver jewellery from Europe

I never liked gold. I don't know why, but I wouldn't even buy a bag or a jacket that has a golden zip, buttons etc. Until recently...

As I was really looking hard for some nice and quality silver jewellery for a reasonable price here, and couldn't find anything that looks more sophisticated than the silver for kids, I decided to visit Pandora jewellery.

-PANDORA designs, manufactures and markets hand-finished and modern jewelry, and has the headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.-

I knew Pandora before mainly for their charm bracelets, and was resistant to them as I normally like something more original, you see the bracelets everywhere.

So, when I visited my local Pandora store the first time I was nicely surprised, as they were also offering a different silver collection at that time. I was lucky to receive a couple of pieces of that particular one as my birthday present from my husband.
At the same time I had a look at the charms closely, and fell in love with them. So, now I am also a 'Pandora charm collector' :-) You can generally get the charms in silver, gold, glass, wood etc. but also, as I discovered,  in a silver-gold combination. That is when I realized that this Two-Tone style is my favourite . I am still a silver lover, but I opened up to just a bit of gold. I love it!

my recent addition - Love Struck charm - from my husband :-)