It’s Groundhog Day!  Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so another six weeks of winter.  Maybe we’ll get more sparkly snow!

Check out the official Groundhog Day website:
http://www.groundhog.org/

Random, traditional holidays are super sparkly ~ (^-^)

The Valentine’s banner is up now!  Is everyone surviving the deep freeze and crazy weather?  We got 15 inches of snow the other day and it was our third major snowfall this winter and we’re in a moderate zone where we usually don’t even get snow.

February Sparkle Scopes are up!

Is it a new decade already?  I welcomed in the new year by seeing Sherlock Holmes last night.  The movie ended with 5 minutes of 2009 remaining.  Good timing (^-^)

It’s my birthday today, so my family came over for cake.  I’m 33 now.

Happy New Year!!

明けましておめでとうございます!

It’s the end of another year already ~ can you believe it?
I had a great travel year. I went to Paris and Tokyo (twice!) You know me, I won’t sit still for too long. ^^

The Happy New Year banner is up for the holiday!

PS: I fixed it so people can leave comments again ~ though I have no idea how long the fix will last, so hurry, hurry! (^-^)

Merry Christmas!!

I had a nice day, I spent it with my family then went to see some friends. Tomorrow I’m going to visit my grandmother in the mountains ~ over the hills and through the woods ~ literally ^^

As always, my sister-in-law puts on a nice holiday spread.

I got back from my whirlwind weekend in New York last night.  I had a great time, but it was a little cold (but warmer than last year when I went).  As most of you know, I like hot chocolate, so on my way to LaGuardia, my friend and I stopped in Queens to warm up.  ^^

I spent the whole weekend meeting up with friends that I didn’t take many pictures!  Can you believe it?  I know.  I always take pictures.  On Saturday night a friend and I saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, it was lovely!  Giant wet snowflakes were falling all evening making for a pretty but blustery night.

And then this is when I flew into New York, it’s the south end of Manhattan.

December is here!!

Sparkle Scopes are up!!  ^^

I’m going to New York City for the weekend, do some shopping, meet with friends, so expect some sparkly pictures soon.  Happy Holidays!!

Here are pics from my happy Trick or Treating Halloween Extravaganza ~

I spent Halloween evening with my family and nephews, it’s the first Halloween I’ve been able to go trick or treating with them, so I was really excited to see their costumes.  My sister-in-law was the Wicked Witch of the West and my eldest nephew was just…I don’t know what he was, but he’s the one with the green glove.   My middle nephew is the ninja (you can see his eyes) and my youngest nephew went as Wolverine, but he didn’t put his costume on until the last minute.  My brother went as an officer from Star Trek ~

兄嫁と甥

I went out in the same costume as last year, a brunette Alice in Wonderland ~ the costume is a little gothic, but a whole lot of fun.

I thought this was super cool ~a house we trick or treated at had these amazing window displays.

Seriously, does anyone know what this costume is?  *laughs*  I will say this, I’m happy to know that Vans are still in style, they were my favorite brand of shoes in high school.  ^^

It’s November! 

Sparkle Scopes are up. ^^

The Halloween banner is resting until next year, but that doesn’t mean the festivity is over, there’s plenty to be had with Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s around the corner ~

Happy Halloween!

This year I am spending it with my nephews.  They are at the perfect age for trick or treating and I can’t wait to see what their costumes are.

As part of the spooky fun, here is a picture of my new friend Mitzie.  Mitzie is a garden spider, Argiope aurantia, that lives on the side of my brother’s house.  You can see how big she is in the second picture in relationship to the doorknob.  Garden spiders are harmless and they tend to hang in the exact center of their web.  They can’t see very well, so it was easy to get up close and snap a picture of her without her scampering away.  Also, the females are much bigger than the males, which is how I determined that she is a female.

For more info about these types of spiders, you can read about them on Wikipedia.   And so you know, the first time I saw her I was trying to get in the door and I almost jumped out of my skin (thinking she was going to fly over and attack me) but after I looked up what kind of spider she was, I have enjoyed her presence greatly as she continues to just hang out. (^-^)

Spiders can be sparkly too!