Picture of the Day: Budding Branches Over the Spokane River

Spokane, Washington, United States
3.29.2004

Picture of the Day: Looking Over Taal Caldera to Taal Lake

Taal Lake, Luzon, Philippines
1.2009 

DIY Monogrammed Cocktail Picks

Tomorrow I am attending a wedding and me being me, I just finished up making the gift today. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

For the bride's wedding shower gift I had purchased some bar related items from the couple's wedding registry and then made white and navy drink coasters to go along. I thought it would be fun to coordinate the shower gift with the wedding gift so I bought a set of martini glasses that they had registered for and then made these navy monogrammed cocktail picks for them.

To make the cocktail picks I started by purchasing some plain, inexpensive stainless steel cocktail picks to use as my base. I cut eight small equal size pieces from some navy clay and then rolled each piece into a ball between my palms. I pushed a cocktail pick into each ball and then reshaped them to make them into flat discs. I finished them off by stamping an initial into them and then baking them in the oven per the clay manufacturer's instructions.

The cocktail picks were easy to make, but it did take me awhile to be able to stamp the clay in the center evenly. I had several at the beginning that were off kilter and that I had to reform and restamp. If you are going to try this at home, make sure to use a clay that is safe around food.

I think the picks turned out cute and I hope that the soon to be Mr. & Mrs. H enjoy them!

Picture of the Day: Koalas at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
Currumbin, Queensland, Australia
03.2009

My Favorite Shrine in Kyoto: Fushimi Inari Taisha

Kyoto is an amazing place full of Japanese shrines and temples. With roughly 2000 to chose from you could spend years and not see it all.

On my first trip to Japan back in 2006 I had a Sunday to myself that I spent in Kyoto. As I was planning my day off a Japanese colleague asked me what I was planning to see. I said that I was trying to narrow down to a few temples and shrines to visit since there was no way to see it all. "Yes," he replied, "as you Americans say don't even think about it."

Not only did he do a nice job of working an English colloquialism into the conversation (he loved picking them up from watching American TV) but he was also right that if you go to Kyoto and try to see everything you'll end up seeing nothing.

I've been to Kyoto many times over the years during business trips to Japan and while I was living over there and when I've gone I usually focus on visiting just a handful of places. With all the amazing places to see in Kyoto I have a special fondness for Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社). It is south of town and a little bit out of the way but so worth visiting.

Fushimi Inari is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the kami (神), Japanese shinto spirit, Inari (稲荷). Inari has many depictions sometimes represented as male, female or androgynous and sometimes as a collection of three or five individual kami. There are many Inari shrines in Japan but Fushimi Inari is the head Inari shrine and dates back to 711 AD.

The entrance to Fushimi Inari has a typical layout. On the sando (参道), or shrine approach, two large red sacred gates, torii, mark the main entrance to the shrine's grounds. Passing under the second torii, on the left is a temizuya (手水舎) which is a basin filled with water for purification before entering the shrine. Continuing along the sando is the romon (楼門), or tower gate, which you pass under to enter the main area of the shrine.

Inside the shrine the go-honden (御本殿), main shrine, is a beautiful building located at the base of Mount Inari and is the heart of the shrine complex.

Inari is associated with white kitsune (狐), or foxes, that act as his/her messengers. A typical Inari shrine has very stylized fox statues flanking gates and Fushimi Inari is no exception. The ema (絵馬), Shinto wooden wishing plaques, at Fushimi Inari are even in the shape of a fox. You can buy one at the shrine, write your prayer or wish on it, and then leave it at the shrine for Inari to receive.

The thing that I absolutely love about visiting Fushimi Inari is wandering through the torii (gates). Inari is the patron kami (spirit) of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry and worldly success. Because of the two later items companies in Japan will have torii erected at Inari shrines with their company name written on them.

The rows of torii create paths that wind through the forest and up the mountainside. Although there are generally a good number of people near the entrance to the shrine you can quickly find yourself alone as you explore deeper along the paths. It is a really peaceful and beautiful experience and if you should ever find yourself in Kyoto, be sure to make a trip to Fushimi Inari Shrine.

To reach Fushimi Inari Taisha, you can take the JR Nara Line from Kyoto Station and get off at Inari Station. The train ride is about five minutes and then the walk to the shrine from Inari station is about three minutes. 

Picture of the Day: Hiking the Great Wall From from Jinshanling to Simatai

Miyun County, Beijing, China
11.2008 

Pink Bachelorette Dinner

In May several years back I hosted a bachelorette sleepover at my house for a friend. It was a lot of fun and I had a great time setting the table for our dinner.

I decided to go with a pink theme and put out my white china with a white tablecloth and pink napkins. For placecards I made up tent cards on the computer that had all the ladies' names in white script against a pink background.  Right before everyone arrived I clipped some dogwood blossoms from my tree to decorate the placecards.  I made a little slit in the upper right corner and then just tucked the stem in. The blossoms held up surprisingly well and luckily didn't wilt until the next day.  

I also made a pink and white candy buffet for us to snack on over the evening. I put the various candies, like Good & Plenty, white malted milk balls, chocolate truffles dusted in pink, in ice cream sundae glasses along my buffet. I was a little desperate to find pink and white candies so I resorted to buying a large bag of Ice Cream Treat Skittles and sorting out the strawberry flavor (pink) and vanilla flavor (cream). It was a bit tedious, but it looked really cute.

As I was in Target shopping for the pink and white candies I couldn't resist stopping by the Target One Spot where I spotted some cute pink bookmarks. They were sold in two packs for a dollar so I grabbed a bunch. They had a photo opening at the top and I printed out hot pink script monongram initials for each lady and slipped them in the photo opening.  I thought they made an easy and inexpensive little favor.

Picture of the Day: Ferry Returning From Ellis Island

New York, United States
5.27.2009 

Giveaway to Celebrate Six Months

Six months ago I decided to start up this blog to motivate me to finally write down and share some of my travel stories and pictures as well as get projects done around my house. It has definitely provided me with that motivation and I am also lucky to have had people actually reading what I have been writing. 

As a thank you I want to send a matted enlargement of one of my travel pictures to six people. All you have to do to enter is look through the photos I've posted under Picture of the Day and then comment on this post telling me which one of my photos you would like if you won.

You can submit additional entries with separate posts doing one of the following:
- Like my page on Facebook (Post what name you liked me under)
- Follow me on Pinterest (Post what name you followed me under)
- Pin one of my posts to Pinterest (Post a link to your pin)

Only posts on my blog (not on facebook) will count as entries and you can have a maximum of five total entries.

Some Rules:
- To be eligible you must be 18 years of age or older and a resident of the US or Canada 
- Entries will close on Wednesday May 30, 2012 at 12:00 Noon EST
- The six winners will be chosen by a random number generator based on the posts
- I will notify the winners by email and they will have 72 hours to confirm with a valid US or Canadian address  and verify the picture that they want otherwise an alternate winner will be chosen 
- The photos are being provided by Home and Away With Lisa and I am not being compensated in any way for this giveaway

Update: The winners are (in alphabetical order): Cindy, Ethylene, Kathy, Mary-Lou, Rene and Veronique. Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments about my photographs. It is truly kind of you and I really appreciate it. 

Picture of the Day: Equestrian Statue of King Louis XIV Outside the Louvre

Musee du Louvre
Paris, France
3.17.2012