Savor the Moment.

Here's a great sign I saw on a truck while on a recent road trip... I think it's great - short, sweet and to the point.

Like this blog entry. More tommorow.

When Danielle ended up moving to Seattle (where I live) to go to school, I initially felt she was a lot more animated than I remember her being. (We had been apart for about 4 years - which is REALLY long if you consider that the longest time apart had been clocked in at 2 weeks).

But now that I really think about it, and look back on many photos - I realized that Danielle has always been this way. There are plently of photos from our childhood that support this theory. This being one of them. =)


Here's another from a trip to the beach... Danie's ability to pose on command is impressive.




And here's another one from our living room. Although Danielle and I are twins, it still surprizes me when people can't tell us apart. We're so different in character and interests... Can't you tell?

After being (rightfully) chastised for not blogging more often, I realized I should blog more often. I dedicate this entry to Megan Randazzo, whose constant reminder about my blah-blog inspired me to showcase her front and center. Muhaahahaha.

Seriously - As one of the first people to meet her when she moved to Jakarta (I still love being able to say that) I can say that she's one of the sweetest people I know, and over the years she's only gotten sweeter.

Megan sent out the wonderful news a couple of days ago that she was expecting, and I can't think of someone more patient and loving to be a mommy. Congrats Dan and Megan!

(Sorry for calling you at midnight your time. Secretly I knew the difference, but didn't care... I wanted to talk to you.)

I miss and love you very much.
Riani

PS: The photo was labeled on the back - 1995 Megan at Tamen Safari (Jakarta Indonesia))

So... Male Seahorses are wonderful beings. They take care of their young, are faithful to their mate and to their children. They are gorgeous to behold, and carry a sense of simplistic beauty.This is a Seahorse I fabricated myself (no really I did!) out of Copper during a jewelry fabrication class I took in community college a long time ago. I cut out the pattern, banged the crap out the metal to achieve the texture (by putting different thicknesses of wire behind it). I then applied clear nail polish and torched the thing, to get those amazing colors.My copper seahorse is a symbol of my faith - that deep down inside, I believe there's a great brother, father, boyfriend, husband, friend and uncle (and great uncle) in every man. 

Spring is such a beautiful event in Seattle, as the winter clouds and rain give way to sunshine and picnic opportunities. If you have a chance (and you haven't done so) you should check out the cherry blossoms on the University of Washington campus. Every year in "The Quad", the cherry trees burst into full bloom, accompanied with the mild weather, handsome turn-of-the-century architecture and lawns of lush green grass. This makes a great backdrop for an impromptu photo shoot, a lazy picnic or even just a stroll. I've talked to a couple of current UW students, and the quad is still in bloom. Go spend some time there in the next couple of days if you can (don't forget to bring a camera), you won't regret it.

Check it all out on the UW website:

http://www.washington.edu/uwnews/homepage/cherry/cc2006.html

From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. Much of this was read in British The Independent.

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A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing -concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.
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Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in
1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.
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1826 - Print of Mahomed's Baths in Brighton (British Library Board)

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The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it.
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The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

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"1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World" is a new exhibition which began a nationwide tour in the United Kingdom in early March. It is currently at the Science Museum in Manchester. For more information, go to www.1001inventions.com.

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited

T-shirts has long been a great vehicle for political or cultural statements and expressions. I am a fan of the shirts that make you laugh, make you think, make you the coolest gal at the party.

At work, the subject came up that there were online sites selling such wonderful creations, and ones that allow you to create your own... One-hit-wonders are welcome, as production techniques are now cheap enough for small volume orders.

Here are some of my faves:

You should check out the website for more cool T-shirts and to buy the ones you see above.

http://www.bustedtees.com