Picture of the Day: Umbrellas and Motorcycles in Ciudad del Esta

Ciudad del Esta, Paraguay
05.30.2007

Picture of the Day: Chinese New Year Decorations in Singapore (Year of the Ox)

Singapore
12.25.2008 

Happy New Year's Eve From Florida!

Frank and I are back in Florida. We were on Amelia Island just three weeks ago for Cindy's wedding and now we are in the Tampa Bay area (Treasure Island) to see Michigan play in the Outback Bowl. 

Our trip down here was fraught with delays. Our original game plan was to leave Friday morning at 7:00 a.m., pick up some friends in Columbus and then get to Treasure Island around 1:00 a.m. That did not exactly work out to plan.

First, our friends in Columbus had their holiday flight cancelled and had to be rebooked so we couldn't pick them up at the original time so we had to delay our departure time to 11:00 a.m. We were then plagued with a traffic jam that kept us a dead standstill which turned a normally three hour drive to Columbus into a five hour journey. After picking up our friends we then were hit with terrible weather and more traffic jams. After reaching Georgia at 1:00 in the morning it was raining with strong wind and near zero visibility so we decided to get a hotel and continue the next day.

On Saturday the weather was better but we had such bad traffic that we didn't get to Treasure Island until 6:00 that night despite leaving at 8:00 in the morning. All in all, what should have taken 18 hours of driving turned into 24 hours. Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we arrived and ended up sleeping in and relaxing all day yesterday. We spent some time reading and napping on the beach, ate some good food, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The weather here was a little chilly for Florida yesterday, but absolutely lovely today and no matter what I am glad to not be dealing with the snow back home right now. Tonight we are changing hotels to be closer to the stadium for the bowl game and then hopefully Michigan beats South Carolina tomorrow.

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely last day of 2012. What are you doing to ring in the New Year?

Picture of the Day: New Year's Fireworks in New Orleans

New Orleans, Louisiana
1.01.2012 

Picture of the Day: Riding Wiener Riesenrad

Wiener Riesenrad (Vienna Ferris Wheel)
Vienna, Austria
05.31.2006

Picture of the Day: Red Door in Charlotte Amalie

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
U.S. Virgin Islands
11.25.2006 

Picture of the Day: View of Ruins of St. Paul's From Fortaleza do Monte

Macau, China
11.14.2006 

Picture of the Day: CN Tower Illuminated for Christmas

Toronto, Canada
12.19.2012

Holiday Decorations in Toronto

Frank and I arrived back from our short trip to Toronto last night. Due to me not feeling well and being out of town a lot I didn't do much decorating in my home this year for the holidays but I thought I would share a few pictures of the decorations in Toronto that inspired me.

The first thing that you notice wandering around town is the way that all of the outdoor planters are done up for the holidays. The basic theme was to have tall birch logs in the center of the planter for height with an arrangement of greens around the base. I saw tons of variations on this with curly willow, magnolia leaves, seed pods, pinecones and ornaments included in the mix. They were all really pretty and looked quite festive.

My favorite variation that I saw was swapping out the birch logs for bamboo painted a bright, cheery red color. It was so striking to look at.

Moving indoors, I thought that this line-up of Christmas trees each decorated in its own color scheme was really fun and pretty.

Our hotel lobby was beautiful with all of the decorations done in white and silver to complement the dusky blue color scheme of the furniture.

The part I loved best were the flower arrangements.  They had huge bouquets of white football mums in glass vases with a few silver pinecones tucked in to make it festive. It was so simple yet so elegant and beautiful.

Have you been inspired by any decorations that you have seen this year? Do you do any decorating around your home for the holidays?

Picture of the Day: Franz Josef Glacier

Westland Tai Poutini National Park
South Island, New Zealand
9.15.2005