Earth Hour ~03.28.09~

Angel Sinead was with us...we prayed for our world+gave thanks...

mesmerizing

Voted for Earth Hour 8:30p-9:30p

LIGHTS OFF...1hour by candlelight...

dinner,

laughs,

quiet times....

(photo of me taken by lil' hands of my Shioban)

being with family... papa+grandma came over for dinner and spent some time with us...

time to be with each other+have Mother Earth rest a bit...

= l.o.v.e.

bonne nuit

xoxo jo ;)

She needs us...Earth Hour 2009

thank you so much, Maegan, for sharing this wonderful event + for the heads up!

Today is the day... Saturday, 28 March 2009 it will be EARTH HOUR 2009 in about 8 hours and 30 minutes (my time)...This Beautiful Earth of ours truly needs some deserved REST!

What and how you say?

By simply switching off your lights for ONE hour starting at 8:30 pm until 9:30 pm.

What is EARTH HOUR?

We have an incredible opportunity to do something positive to help save our EARTH. Cities across the world, people like you and me-all races, all ages, all religion, all types-can have a say...We can use our own light switch as a powerful vote - Switching off your lights is a vote to help save Earth-our world for our children. Or people can simply choose to leave them on as a vote for global warming and continue to add a slow-deteriorating process to destroy our Earth.

Who knew?

According to wikipedia.org, Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, where 2.2 million switched off their lights for one hour. Since then many other cities have participated in this worthy cause. With 35 countries around the world participating as official flagship cities and over 400 cities also supporting, Earth Hour 2008 was celebrated on all seven continents. Iconic landmarks all around the world turned off their non-essential lighting for Earth Hour which included the Empire State Building (New York City), Sears Tower (Chicago), Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco), Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta), Sydney Opera House (Sydney, Australia), Table Mountain (Cape Town, South Africa), Wat Arun Buddhist Temple (Bangkok, Thailand), the Colosseum (Rome, Italy), Royal Castle (Stockholm, Sweden), London's City Hall (England), Space Needle (Seattle, USA), the CN Tower (Toronto, Canada) and SM Mall of Asia & SM Science Discovery Center (Manila, Philippines) and Suva (Fiji).


The official website for the event, earthhour.org, received over 6.7 million unique visitors in the week leading up to Earth Hour. Other websites took part in the event, with Google's homepage going "dark" on the day Earth Hour took place. According to a Zogby International online survey 36 million people participated in Earth Hour 2008. The survey also showed there was a 4 percentage point increase in awareness of environmental issues such as climate change, directly after the event.

What are somethings you can do during EARTH HOUR?:

~ Write a live blog post during the night~

~Take a picture of your place where it happen~

~ Take a video of the situation where it happen~

PLEASE...Vote to save our Earth for EARTH HOUR 2009!

Make your vote count!

(I also think that we could help our Mother Earth by using less electricity everyday...think small at first...working towards a bigger goal...because when you add it ALL up...it'll help our Earth's life in the long run...

do it for our CHILDREN!

I AM!!!)

Courtesy of and for more information: http://www.earthhour.org/
For more information: wikipedia.org

Tokens of Appreciation...Follow Your Bliss Ning Network...

i adore illustrators...

3 years ago, i fell in love with Emily Martin's Inside a Black Apple blog + shoppe, you name it...

one day, i hopped over to her shoppe and was swooning with delight...

my lil' fingers did all the talking and well...

i soon found myself with a collection of Black Apple prints, buttons, cards...

you name it!

emily is a sweetheart and because i was such a great customer, she sent a few extra goodies for me...

i just love her button felt pin she sent to me...i wear it a lot!
i created this collage of the above picture to peek just a bit into my Black Apple world...

you see, my sis, Mary Ann, 's ning group called Follow Your Bliss Network...

was created as a forum for creative bloggers who love to swap, create + learn new + exciting things...we have a new group called Membership Appreciation and my sis + i are hosting a Membership Giveaway...(she's also doing a 'Promo-Special in flickr...if your one of the 6 people that made a comment on her flickr-you'll be able to see what i'm talking about and join the Network for 3 months free!) this all started when my sis found another Rachell Ashwell's book called The Gift of Giving...and GAVE me one too!!!!! (she bought about 3 just incase...she's also donating one of her newest artblock creations) it's a very special book and i love reading about what inspires great designers (kindred spirits) and how random acts of kindness can be quite contagious!

this is my very 1st giveaway and i'm donating a few items to show our deepest + heartfelt appreciation to our lovely members!

the first item i'm donating is ONE print from my Emily Martin collection. i think the print is called 'Luna' for a fairy...thought it would be perfect to giveaway during our 1st week into Spring...i am also including a Birdcage Girl button and a postcard sampler of Emily Martin's sweet illustrations...i thought the cards were simply adorable and also perfect to WELCOME SPRING!

this is my second donation: a Pink Easter Bird Card Holder...isn't it adorable?! you could put cards, papers, pencils, lil' flags, lollipops, lil' bags of treats...oh the wonders of this cute

lil' Easter bird holder...but that's not all...

this is part of my 2nd donation: a Lily Waters' purse, Green Cosmetic Bag, bunches of lotions, sprays, soaps, clock + tray...PLUS...

a purplish sign: that says "Meet me in the Garden"...
that purse is made out of oilcloth material for easy cleanups...
i love the colours, dark blue, splashes of colours, and the robin's egg blue polka-dotted purse straps...it's quite roomy inside and i added the Green Cosmetic Bag to help keep the inside of this gorgeous purse somewhat organized, right?!

coconut + lime verbena soap, lotion, rainkissed leaves sprays/splashes, cool citrus basil lotion and the vintagey-inspired clock + tray are all for the lucky #4 receipiant...
sunday night's the deadline: midnight 03.29.09...so far we've about 11 interested kindred spirits
that want to join in the fun...after a day or two, we'll be picking out (via random.org) the lucky 4 winners in our Follow Your Bliss Ning Network...
so exciting...i've never given anything away via the internet...and hope someone in our group will like them...
looking forward to finding out who the lucky hearts are!
bonne chance...
thank you for visiting and stopping by my part of the world...

hmmm. what's up next?
my sweet+new kindred spirit, Dionne, wrote a wonderful question and answer post a couple of days ago...hopefully in a couple of days, i'll be able to post it here...would love to find out more about all of you...
bonne nuit
xoxo jo ;)

Welcome Spring...Virtual Tea Party 2009

Happy Spring!

this past Saturday, March 21, i was able to participate in my sis, Mary Ann's,
~Vintage Tea Room's Virtual Tea Party 2009 ~

i was baking + cooking up a storm early that morning but alas...

please forgive me...as my Spring Tea Party is a wee-bit late...

if i were to wake up in the City of Love...this is what i'd imagine my Paris Spring Breakfast to look+taste like (of course, i'd like to add more like pan de chocolat, croissants, Ladurée baked goodies like their famous macaroons)...

but first i'd have to get a much bigger table...hee-hee...

i don't have too much of a tea cup collection like some of you or my sis, Mary Ann, but my other sis, Bobbie of Bee Line Sweets Co. (website coming soon) + i went shopping and she found a pair of gorgeous cake plates+cake knives (see below pic)

i mean, how pretty is that?! and the price was just right for a mere $2.99...

wow..wish there was a set with tea cups/saucers and the works...now i'll be on the HUNT for this type of pattern...reminds me of Rachel Ashwell...i just love the robin's egg blue, pink + sage colours and the design is really quite pretty!

i just gathered what i had...

added a few flowers to each teacup to keep it sweet + baked my lil' heart out

by the way, i found this adorable white-washed set of table+2 chairs on my last antiquing adventure with my sis, Mary Ann...at a HUGE antique mall up North called ANGELICA's. it's a drop-leaf old farmtable and the chairs have nice spindle+arch design...sorta reminds me of scandanavian furniture...the best part of this is the price...only $72 bucks for the set...wow...i was floored and i bought it for my lil' munchkins' library/study table but when my lil' ones aren't using it...

i like to use if for my lil' photo shoots...lil' tea parties...you know what i mean?!

i made mini banana cakes, blueberry muffins, eggrolls, crabcakes, cinnamon streusal cake and mini waffle fluffernutter and nutella sandwiches all served with chamomile tea, strawberries, blueberries, mints + chocolates...mmm

my mom + pop came over a little later and took half of this cake...the cinnamony aroma drowned out the eggroll/crabcake smell (whew!) and just filled the house with warm cinnamon+carmel scent and everyone was in heaven!

eggrolls are quite messy to cook but the crunchy taste makes up for it and they are absolutely delectable-esp. with Chinatown's sweet+sour sauce...mmmm...the crabcakes were just ok...got it from Sam's Club...bet if it were homemade, it would have been a bit more tastier and crunchier!

i made the eiffel tower and altered cake box last year for Jaime Compton's Marie Antoinette Cake Box Swap...wow...how time flies...

i just though it would go perfectly with my Paris Spring Breakfast theme...

the waffle sandwiches were scrumptious! (i made fluffernutter and nutella waffle heart sandwiches) the lil' ones loved them too! i think my fav would have to be the fluffernutter ones...

(remember when your mom or grandma would make 'fluffernutter' sandwiches???)
yummo!

it's fluffy marshmellow spread+creamy (or crunchy, your choice) peanut butter on bread...but this time, i made heart mini waffles...it simply melts in your mouth!

shioban adored this cinnamon streusal cake...

she loves that carmely, cinnamony taste...and so do i

aren't peonies just the prettiest lil' flowers?

crunchy eggrolls and crabcakes...something different for a Parisian Springtime Breakfast, huh?

they also love mini banana cakes

yummy fluffernutter + nutella mini heart waffle sandwiches...perfect

for lil' hands...

chamomile tea was the choice of the day...

perfect to welcome SPRING!

pretty flowers always perk up things, don't they?

it was truly a sweet teatime and we all enjoyed it...

sending lovely thank you wishes to my sis, Mary Ann, for hosting such a sweet

Springtime Virtual Tea Party...

to see who else is welcoming Spring with delicious teatime, go and check out the
Vintage Tea Room over at flickr and grap a cuppa tea and dream on...
merci beaucoup!

bonne nuit

xoxo jo ;)