Food for Thought on the Holidays:

It always baffled me that the term holiday would inevitable coincide with the words choas, stress, and money loss. Seems to be a bit paradoxical that we all tend to be so caught up in the gifts, that we forget the reason why we're even buying them. It appears oxymoronic when we think about the underlying messages, which each holiday celebrates. Basically, each holiday during this time of year tends to celebrate life, which is to be shared and appreciated with loved ones. While we'd like to think tha

t buying a spouse or child a flat screen television is the way to their heart, it's more like encouragement for their wildest technological dreams. Don't get me wrong, technology is a beautiful thing, as is gift-giving. However, maybe a new years resolution (for myself and others) can revolve around the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Simplify, simplify, simplify." Rather than celebrating life and loved ones one day each year (or twice including their birthday) and blowing the present exc

hange out of proportion on that one day, spread out the love over a period of time. Give that person one gift each month, treat them to coffee a few times, call them and convey your love often, and find an alternative to intense spending and impulse buying. Avoid the temptations of advertisement for buying things that appear practical and useful, but tend to be valuable for a few months and then obtain an even longer shelf life. Drop debt and embracce DIY by putting together some home-made gifts, bake some cookies for your boyfriend instead of buying chocolates, clean the house for you mom or cook her dinner one night, or go out for dinner and a movie with the family rather than spending hundreds of dollars on video games for the kids.

Just a few suggestions for brightening the holidays without breaking the bank. Doesn't seem realistic? Maybe it's because we've been disillusioned as to what the holidays and celebrations are REALLY about.

The way that a camera works has always fasc

inated me. Ever since I

got a camera of my own, I usually don't resort to using photo bucket on my laptop,

but for some reason I found it extensively interesting to see the words flipped.

It brought me even deeper into question as to how the eye flips images.

Thank goodness I'm not some sort of science major because I just don't have

the capacity to handle the mechanical terms

at this present time.

Welcome to a preview of my t-shirt designs. Unfortunatley for me, I had to recreate the designs to a more simplistic version than the original, but I figured that would make it more identifiable for the viewer as well. So less work for myself, the printer, and the person trying to understand what the heck the creator was trying to convey (if it grabs a person's interest in the first place).

Send some e-mails and let me know what you think: chasingmonroe123@aim.com

closing time. MM