This early morning I received a text message from a girlfriend of mine that said: “I need some tips on Valentine’s Day gifts, so, shall we do lunch tomorrow?” She thinks that I am some kind of expert in gifts, not because I AM an expert but because I have a motto in purchasing and giving gifts:
ALWAYS GIVE YOUR LOVE ONES A PROPER GIFT, OTHERWISE IS JUST INSULTING!
A gift should send a message that you actually care about the person you give a gift to, so show

Welcome to 2010! I assume that you all had a wonderful and unforgetable New Year’s Eve party. I, myself was absolutely amazed by those incredible and colorful fireworks. Even the weather was very kind and friendly to welcome the New Year. I hope that all of our wishes, dreams and resolutions for 2010 will come true. I think that you would agree with me that you and I are too tired to do something heavy today. So, I am going to spend the rest of the evening with Oliver

First of all, let me take this last day of 2009 to recap some highlights of my 2009:
In January I realized that I have started to feel quite comfortable remembering and talking about Jezebel. After 4 long years of my active mourning I have finally found ease in loving Jezebel in her death. Jezebel, my soul and my truth …
When I heard the news about my mother’s death in February 2007 my world fell apart. I was totally in shock and all I could do at that time

I remember when one of fellow community members on Dooce asked a question: “Do you celebrate Christmas even you are not a Christian?”
I believe that Christians all over the world have been ceberating Christmas but where I come from, celebrating Christmas is all about being together with my (our) loved ones, whether you are a Christian or not. Although there are some people who are actually going to church on Christmas Eve, even when they normally aren’t. Well, as long as I don’t have to come along with

My weekend has started now already and I am enjoying each minute of it tremendously. It is cold outside but the sun shines like a new penny (well, once in a while anyway! SMILE). The strangest thing that I have noticed about today is that my To-Do list does not seem to recognize day-offs or weekends.
The To-Do List remains long and full.
I need to figure out what I am going to do first!
I see … number 1. Write season’s greetings
In the name of holidays and all

I was busy having my Thursday’s routine when I received a text message from a friend that said: “have you already decorated your Christmas tree?”
Hmmm… it was a short and simple question. My answer is that I haven’t got any tree at all. But that text message has got me thinking about the impact of Christmas trees to these upcoming holidays.
Are they so essential that we simply cannot celebrate holidays without them? Or do we really need them just to put some presents underneath? What do they

It is Sinterklaas! It is one of so many fun traditions that is very difficult to be ignored. But to be very honest, I am too old for celebrating Sinterklaas. And having my sister who is now being hospitalized has made me absolutely not in the mood for any celebration at all.
But my little nieces and nephews have been looking forward to celebrating this day for the whole year. This day is a special day for them to be shamelessly pampered and spoiled with gifts and Sinterklaas-poems. Yeah, I am
