Shopping Gifts For You Or Your Love Ones

Many people find it a challenge to shop for gifts for the holidays not because there is nothing available out there but because there are so much to choose out there and its hard to pinpoint which one you or your love ones would really want to have this christmas.

We always look around to buy gifts for our love ones. We should also condsider buying a gift for ourselves and give ourselves a nice treat for the holiday. I personally would like a new handbag that is both stylish and functional with plenty of compartments to segregate things inside. A new pair of shoes to wear on gatherings and holiday dinners would be great too. One really good thing about buying a pair of shoes or handbags is that I can use it for the rest of the year.

Its not everyday that we give special gifts to our love ones. The spirit of giving is not really about the monetary value of the item but its truly the thoughts that counts. At the same time, giving useful gifts like mens shoes or classic belt for your husband and that other people can really use and enjoy is not only during the holidays but also for the rest of the year. Your wife probably dont need another pondue set especially if there are already two sets hidden in the closet somewhere the house collecting dust.

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The Spirit Of Christmas Is All Around

Last November 30 I hardly see any christmas lights put up yet, maybe little here little there. And then at the evening of December 1 that is when the overnight transformation in houses really visible. Its like clock work, at the strike of the month of December, many people make it a tradition to lit up their homes and joyfully annouce with striking blinking lights that Christmas time is here once again. Driving at night on December 1 really puts you in the spirit of the season. Although, we are a little behind in our decorating this year due to winter storms which unabled us to accesss of christmas decorations yet. But having the decorations put up earlier the better because we have more time to enjoy the decors especially that it only happens once a year.

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On Christmas Day

Its been almost a month since my last post here. Just done eating our Christmas dinner. I tried experimenting my mothers ham recipe, my favorite recipe of hers which I am still trying to experiment and hopefully master and someday will somehow turn out just as good as hers.

We always wanted to watch Alvin And The Chipmuncks movie since it came out on dvd or on the big screen, but we didnt get the chance to buy it. Fortunately, the movie was played on HBO channel today, so we couldnt miss it. It was nice funny movie, a wholesome movie great for both adults and kids.

Just wanna great everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!

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Black Friday Aftermath

We didnt wake up very early and joined the crowd rush trying to fall inline infront of the shopping malls during Black Friday, yesterday, to get awesome deals on things. Years ago, I had my experience of falling inline infront of a department store so that we could get a new telivision set at a really awesome deal. We did get the TV that year, but it was a long cold waiting time of more than an hour, waiting outside in a cold freezing winter day. But it was a memorable experience for me, a once a year shopping crave for everyone as early as four (4) in the morning!

This year, we checked most of the stores printed ads for Black Friday as well as the stores websites to check for special discounted of items that we could really need and want to get this year. With how the economy is, a lot of people were watching how much they spend this Black Friday. But for things that we could really use, it was the best time to buy since we could definitely save tons of money by getting them at highly discounted prices.

One of the most favorite grab item by a lot of people is a new digital TV, specially that analog signal for tv will be considered obsolete next year and all networks will be feeding digital signal by then.

Thank you for visiting www.HonestlyFresh.com today!
Please feel free to visit my other blogs at www.SoCoolSource.com www.DogsCircle.com www.FiftyStatesTravel.com www.Doinge.com www.ExpressInStyle.com www.GardenersLand.com www.DoingE.com

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Historic Election Day In America

Today, November 4, 2008, is a very important day here in the United States of America because it is the Presidential Election Day. Its been busy months for presidential candidates like John McCain and Barack Obama trying to win each of our votes. With this challenging and rough economic times, we the people, cannot afford to waste our votes or just take it for granted by voting without thinking. With our right to vote, today is definitely a great time to exercise this right and let our voices be heard.

I am not here to campaign and take side for any of the candidate, but I would like to encourage everyone to vote wisely. Vote for someone whom you know and feel is most capable for the job, can handle the task at hand, can contribute good things to the society, and can lead each one of us to a better life (like less taxes, less expenses, less crime, more benefits, more peace and safety, more overall success). Vote wisely and God Bless to all of us!

Thank you for stopping by at www.HonestlyFresh.com today!
Please visit my other blogs at www.SoCoolSource.com www.ExpressInStyle.com www.FiftyStatesTravel.com www.DogsCircle.com www.GardenersLand.com www.Doinge.com

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Happy Halloween To All

Trick or treat? It was definitely a treat when we happen to pass by this creative Halloween decoration outside Whole Foods store in Roseville. If you are interested to read more about my The Parade of Pumpkins story, please visit my blog at www.ExpressInStyle.com too. Happy Halloween, be safe, and thank you for your visit here today.

Written and Photography by JazeVox of www.HonestlyFresh.com
Please dont forget to visit my other blogs at  www.SoCoolSource.com www.FiftyStatesTravel.com www.DogsCircle.com www.HonestlyFresh.com www.Doinge.com www.GardernersLand.com

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Our Fourth Of July Celebration

We usually go to fireworks show in the park for the Independence Day (July 4) celebration. But this year, we decided to just check out awesome deals at some stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and Best Buy. Most stores have 10-20 percent discount in most items during Fourth Of July. Although, we didnt buy a lot, nor take advantage of the huge savings we could get, we had a great time window shopping! Instead of going to the park for the firework show in the evening, we decided to just stay home and not travel. Around 8 pm, we headed outside with few snack and drinks in our hands, then checkout the fireworks from the neighbors! To our amazement, we seen a lot of them, mostly fountain or sparkly stuff because those are probably the legal ones to lit in our area...By just staying in our own streets, it was cool that we had the chance to enjoy plenty of great display of fireworks. Most of our neighbors were outside, in the streets, partying, and lighting fireworks. With that, who needs to travel far away to see one? Definitely a great way to save travel gas this year!

Hope you had great Fourth Of July celebration!

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Greetings To All Mothers Out There

Today is Mothers Day here in the USA and probably in other parts of the world as well. Although, it is always great to appreciate our unselfish and caring mothers on a daily basis, it is extremely important as well that we celebrate Mothers Day inorder to give them a special day worth celebrating and let them know that we appreciate their motherhood that much and all the things that they have done for us, all the sacrifices, effort and time that they so willingly share with us.

My mother passed away few years ago, and it is not the same to live in this world without having the chance to see or talk to my mother anymore, there is that part in me that will always be missing because she is no longer alive and it is a terrible feeling. But her presence, love, and kindness will always be remembered and cherished in my heart and in my soul. Same goes with my grandmother who was very close to my heart...

Let your mother know that you love and appreciate them. Dont let this opportunity to let them know that you love and appreciate your mother and grandmother pass you by. Happy Mothers Day to all mothers out there!

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Our Valentines Day

For Valentines Day, we went to an Italian restaurant here in our area and of course I ordered my usual favorite, Fettuccine Presto with Shrimps. The italian restaurant that we went to is new, not even a year old yet, and we been there around 4-5 times already since it opened last year 2007. And everytime we go there, I usually order the same menu, because I kinda like how they cook and prepare the whole recipe, and i always think that white sauce are so yummy. Their complimentary bread and soup are also something to look forward to, and they sure seem to have perfected the taste of the best bread ever.

After our nice italian meal, we went to Walmart and grabbed No Reservations dvd movie, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. We then headed home, and watched the movie comfortably in our sofa and paused when we need or have to, which i like best about watching movie at home! No Reservations is a romantic movie about two head chefs in a restaurant, then they fell in love, and i wont tell you the rest of the story just incase you have plan buying the movie, and I dont want to ruin the thrill of what happened next! Personally, i think it is a great romantic heart-warming movie, so romantic and sweet as well.

After we watched the movie at home, we decided to make a pizza, and we just done eating it few minutes ago. Happy Valentines Day everyone, thanks for visiting my blog today :-)

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Valentines Day Greetings To All

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Snowy January 2008

We live around the Lake Tahoe surrounding neighborhood in northern CA, so we get some snow every year too. But the regular snowfall in the past years had been falling around October to November, but in recent years, our snowy months have been around January to April, which is a huge shift.

We didnt have any snow last Christmas Day, but we did have few inches of snow dustings the following day! It didnt last for hours though, everything just melted off to the warm ground in a matter of few hours and then they were gone!

But these last two (2) days, January 5 and 6, we finally have some great snow fall. We actually accumulated around one foot of snow yesterday and around six (6) inches last night. I hate shoveling snow, but had to clean up the ones on our deck before it files up and the doorway becomes unaccessible. Besides, shoveling and snow blowing is a perfect excuse for me to get outside, enjoy the snow, and actually feel the fresh powder, definitely the type of snow that skiers and snowboarders been waiting and praying for.

Last night, I saw this news on The Weather Channel (TWC) about a tree that fell to a persons house, but not because of snow but due to too much rain that soften the ground and the root-based of the tree was probably not that deep, so the series of rainstorms caused the tree to fell and unfortunately hit their home.

Last night, my hubby heard some weird and loud noise, but he said that he could not figure out the noise. This morning, he went outside to realize that we just lost some of our great old Oak Trees! It is quite amazing how snowflakes, when filed up into inches thick, can get so heavy, can bring down centuries old Oak Trees just like that. The oak trees that fell are probably around two (2) feet more or less in diameter, so they are kinda big trees just snap down like tootpicks.

I was able to let our dogs out, gave them time to play in the snow, and took some pictures. So if you ask me what its like out here today, its a winter wonderland :-) It looks pretty white and glowy outside!

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New Year Good Luck Tradition 2

This is the 2nd time that I got tagged with this meme. This time, PrettyLifeOnline tagged me.

List of New Year Good Luck Traditions:

All member of the family must be together at the strike of midnight (Dec 31) New Years Eve, so that they will always be together for the whole year through! And wearing polka dots, for business good luck! by JAZEVOX

A pleasurable chinese inspired tradition.... that I doggedly believe, a fruit tray containing of 13 different kinds of round fruits, on the table by New Year's Eve. It implies wealthiness for the whole year.... he!he!he! maniwala daw ba!?! by PrettyLifeOnline

Our tradition back home to have 12 different kinds of fruits put in white bowl, my mom wear dotted dress with pocket so she can put her 24 coins to shake when the clock struck at 12 then family gather together around the table with traditional foods and we pray. [i really missed this tradition with my family back home]. Other good luck tradition hung a grapes by the door. by Carlota

My beloved mother told us don’t open the money pouches until a few days have passed. Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck, she said 13 different kinds of fruits is good luck, and family together around tables of traditional foods. by lolli

My mom used to collect some coins and when the new year comes she put the coins in a bowl and shake it to create sounds. She said its good luck for money throughout the year. And also wearing dotted dresses on new year don’t know why. by CC and chalyza and keep

I don’t have any traditionals during New Year. by Juliana

My old folks always told us to avoid spending money on new years day. They said, once you spend on the first day of the year, you like to spend the rest of the year. by Retchel

I grew up believing that if you have some money on your pocket (whatever you’re wearing) come New Year’s eve it will ensure steady flow of income throughout the year. The other belief is that the main door of the house should be wide open come New Year’s eve so that good luck will be ushered in. by Juliana


Let the list of New Year traditions above adds up!

I already tagged Justine, Chant and Roselle thru my previous post (Jan 3 2008), so I am tagging YOU today, if you havent been tagged with this particular meme!

Here is the rule: Copy the person and persons’ names that sent it to you and add your own at the TOP of the LIST. This help build the community.

Simply answer the question: What are some of your new year’s good luck traditions?

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New Year Good Luck Tradition

What are some of your New Year's Good Luck traditions?

1. Stay awake on new years eve so you can be aware and active about evertthing whole year through.

2. Must have food on the table at midnight and round fruits for abundance and goodluck in the coming year.

3. Must wake up very early in the morning,first day of the new year so you would always be waking up early all through out the year, and never become late in school or at work.

4. All member of the family must be together at the strike of midnight (Dec 31) New Years Eve, so that they will always be together for the whole year through! And wearing polka dots, for business good luck!

Let this list of contributors grow!
CC/chalyza/keep, Tey , Del, AngelNoah, JAZEVOX, .....(you next!)


Im tagging: Justine, Roselle, Chant, and also those who have the time and desire to do this tag. Hope you guys can do this too and let the ball rolling! This is a great start for the New Year. lots of good lucks.

To do the tag, simply copy the existing names already in the list, and add your name in the end of the list name. Also add your own New Years Good Luck tradition at the bottom of the list above (number 5). It really helps to build community. Lets start it here!

I got this New Year tag from Ging or AngelNoah. Thanks and Happy New Year!

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Wishing You A Phenomenal Year

When I turned on my computer today (January 2), I ended up reading a web page with someone greeting everyone to have a Phenomenal Year! That was the first time that I ever heard/read a New Year greeting using a adjective word phenomenal! Usually, people use the adjective words: happy, prosperous, successful, or blast. So using the word phenomenal is definitely something I am not used to using to greet on a New Year, which some people probably used it all the time. But then the word phenomenal is a great meaning, relates to something extraordinary and unusual goodness. So I would like to wish you all a Happy and Phenomenal New Year 2008!

This is basically my first post here in this blog since year 2008 started (yesterday), and I noticed that I have due tagboard messages to read. I am quite excited that year 2008 is finally here, specially that year 2007 is not the smoothest and finest year for us, really. I dont want to go into specific details publicly, but me and my family are definitely hoping and praying for a great and wonderful change this year 2008! Hoping and praying that this year will definitely be a wonderful year overall, great things happenings like more fun in the sun, goals and dreams turning into reality, and more blessings pouring our way as well.

Hope that you and your family will also have a Happy and Phenomenal New Year 2008!

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Fireworks For The New Year

All over the globe, in most major cities in the world, every December 31 at the strike of midnight, the once dark sky will transform into a colorful magnificient display of fireworks and all heads up with lots of ohhs and ahhs, and there are others who are just plain speechless as they observed the glittering display of fireworks right in front of them.

In the beginning, I learned/heard that fireworks was not performed every New Years Eve or at the strike of midnight just for the colorful display that it gives. its been told that fireworks creates noise, lots and lots of noise, that is why it is performed on New Years Eve/Day to drive the bad spirit away for the new year, and the whole year through. In the olden times, and in some countries at present, noise are still being performed on New Years Eve/Day in the hopes of driving away the evil spirits that are lurking around. Yes, these traditions for that purpose are still being observed at this time of year, specially in some countries. These countries who still observe these traditions, aside from using fireworks to produce noise, people also use drums, empty cans, and any other noise creating methods are performed for this purpose.

What about you? Do you watch fireworks show/displays every New Years Day? Like some traditions, do you also believe in noise created during New Year Eve/Day drives away bad spirits and misfortunes?

Happy NEW YEAR 2008, everyone! Wishin everyone the BEST YEAR yet!

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Family Traditions On New Year Day

I remember when I was a kid, most of my childhood years, I observed my mother wearing polka dots and circles wardobe during New Years Day. She also tried to make sure that me and my sister would be wearing polka dots dresses that day as well. She said that circles and polka dots symbolizes coins/finance and/or prosperity and financial success. So if we would wear polka dots on New Years Day, more money would be coming to our family for the whole year through. That was what my mother used to tell us, basing on what she also learned from her business-minded Chinese friends, people that they meet and mingle with on a daily basis on a business-sense level. My parents specially my mother, got influenced by them and learned some of their traditions, and she decided to practice some of them within our family. What could we loose, so we wore polka dots, hoping to bring more success in our family business. We also gathered all kinds of different circular fruits and put them all on the table during New Year Day. We also made sure that we prepare more foods that we could actually consumed that day so that we would never run short on food, and ended up being empty-handed on foods for the rest of the year.

My New Year Day memories as a child were surrounded by these traditions that our family practiced. Sometimes things that did not came out true to life as we hoped. Sometimes business did not come out great all the time, there were slow days, and there were great days. But we did manage to live with those traditions and observed them together as a family. Having those traditions helped us came together as a family, looking forward to them, traditions that surely bring us memories and great family times.

What about you, is there any family traditions that you and your family observe every New Years Day? Best wishes for you and your family on New Years Day, 2008!

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Seafood Extravagansa

I never got the chance to post about our special dinner we had few days before Christmas Day, but my Hubby surprised me with an Eat-All-You-Can Seafood Buffet in one of the little-bit-expensive restaurant in our area. He told me that it was gonna be an advance special dinner celebration for us for Christmas. We usually dont go to expensive restaurants on a daily basis because that would definitely kill our budget, but of course once in awhile, we like to go out, explore, and savor the taste of some (overprice) foods, roam around and enjoy the evergrowing neighborhood.

During the night out, the restaurant specialty for the night was Seafood Buffet. And I think my Hubby tried to timing the seafood buffet because he knows how much I love seafoods, but never got the chance to eat as much as I used to anymore since we got married because he does not like seafood, and with that I dont like to prepare two separate meals everyday. So I seldom cook seafood in our household, and maybe that is one of the reason why he brought me to the seafood buffet dinner, and let me enjoy some of my favorites!

There were all kinds of menu in the buffet, probably twenty (20) different variety of seafoods. There were shells, crabs, shrimps, salmon, and other foreign sounding recipes. I tried to grabbed as much as I can with the price that we paid for per person. But there was only so much that I could take and eat in a single meal. I was only able to make two (2) trips and/or two (2) mounting plates of seafood in the serving area. I should have not grabbed the soup and crackers, I would had been able to grab more of the crabs and shrimps!

After having two plates of seafood extravagansa and a glass of cold Sprite softdrink, i went to the dessert area and had pieces of bread pudding, peach and grape fruit cobbler, a lemon gelatin, and a warm cup of coffee. The dinner came out very satisfactory and memorable, and we had a great time.

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Last Minute Gift Wrapping

I woke up at one oclock in the morning, tip-toed to the living room, grabbed all the items that I need to wrap and start packing them nicely as gifts! I know, it is totally last minute, its December 24, and that is the only time I have the chance to wrap without my Hubby getting suspicious and peeking all around, what I am wrapping and all. I just dont want to hand things unwrapped, that would not be meaningful and magical at all. So the best I can, wrapped everything with colorful christmas wrappers, in assorted colors and designed, put some ribbon for added touch and since I could not find the paper tags for labelling the gifts, I used customized cut red ribbons to put the labels (greetings, to and from) and used Sharpie permanent pens to write.

I also pulled out and unpacked the new Selphy CP720 Canon compact printer that came with my digital camera and decided to print some photos during the trips that we made this year and decided to frame it as a gift for my Hubby. I just hope that he will NOT be reading this post until I am done giving him the framed photography of our vacations. But then I think he wont be online today, we have so much things to do in our list for the day. So hopefully my surprise gift for him will not get ruined if he happened to read this post.

Anyways, earlier this year, my hubby and I bought some photo frames that can accomodate two (2) 4x6 each. But the photo papers and ink that came with the new compact printer is only good for five printing. Unfortunately, I made two printing mistakes because its a new printer and i just unpacked and tested it. So I ended up having three photos as I hoped, made two mistakes, overall that made me one photo short to finished my photo project for the gift. I will just explained the whole oppsy surprise gift escapade with one lacking photo as soon as my Hubby open the gift.

As far as the performance of Canon CP720 printer, it is very very satisfactory! I am so happy with the quality of the print, very fast printing speed and yet the quality of the photos are definitely awesome. So nice, I am so glad I decided to keep it instead of selling it on eBay because I already have regular printer and thought that I do not need another one, but seeing the result and the performance of the print, I am definitely happy I kept it.

Merry Christmas To All!

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Our Lighted Christmas Tree

At exactly November 30 morning, we gathered some of our christmas decors from the storage and got them all ready for decorating that same day. We decided to pull out only the outdoor decors this year. That same day, we were able to see some holiday transformation in our yard, we were able to put up three (3) blow-up christmas balloons aroound 7 to 8 feet tall each. We have Winnie The Pook, The Moose Family and the Snowman (as shown in my earlier post at nightime shot).

To date, aside from the blow-up balloons, we also ended up putting up three lighted grapevine deers, one lighted snowwhite christmas tree and a lighted angel. And of course, our old favorite, the icycles in the edge of the roof is there. We like to look around the yard specially in the evening when all the outdoor decors are all lit up, they look so warm even in the cold freezing times. So we thought, that the outdoor decors would be enough for this year, enjoy seeing them outside, viewable in some windows.

Then one day, while talking to a friend, she mentioned about her Christmas tree that they just put up on their living room. Few hours later, while we were sitting in the living room, watching telivision, I realized that we could not really enjoy the christmas lights when we are indoors relaxing. So the following day, I digged up an old christmas tree we had in a box somwhere, and put up this color lighted christmas tree around four (4) and a hlaf feet tall and put it in the living room. Just wanna share a photo of it, see above, took it in the night when it was lighted beautifully in the dark room.

Three (3) days more to go, and its Christmas Day! Hope you all haev a MERRY one! Dont forget to say a prayer for peace and harmony too. Merry Christmas too all.

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Holiday Greetings

Wishing you ALL advance
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
From Our Family To Yours

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