GIFT Toilet Papers - in Photos - (Part III, of III)

Posted May 13, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Art, Bathroom Decor, Culture, Designer Toilet Papers, Friends, Fun, Men, Women

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In this final post of my three-part series on Luxury Toilet Papers, I will show you some unusual and unique “gift” ideas for special friends and acquaintances.

Channel No. 5 - The Ultimate in Perfumed Toilet Papers!

Channel No. 5 Toilet Paper

For your “royal” friends, or for anyone you want to make “feel” like royalty:

Toilet Paper Fit for Royalty

or,

Monogramed Toilet Paper

For Stock Brokers and Investors:

Stock Market Quotation (Ticker Tape) Toilet Paper

For Football Fans, and Golfers:

Football Toilet PaperGolf Toilet Paper

For Your Gambling Friends:

Gambler\'s Toilet Paper

For Detectives, and CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) Fans:

Crime Scene - Do Not Cross- Toilet Paper

For campers, hunters, or military enthusiasts:

Camoflage Toilet Paper

For Your Intelligent Friends, Puzzle Toilet Paper:

Puzzle Toilet Paper

For those who want to teach their children to read in the bathroom:

Rhymed Toilet Paper for Children

For those who want to entertain their kids while in the bathroom:

Winter Cartoon Toilet Paper

Or, read your cartoons in Chinese:

Chinese Cartoon Toilet Paper

Chinese Toilet Paper

For small business owners::

Advertising Toilet Paper

For your other miscellaneous friends:

Custom Printed Toilet Paper

and

More Designer Toilet Papers

Lastly, here are a few for your ENEMIES:

Self-Cleaning Toilet Paper:

Self-Cleaning Toilet Paper

Or, better yet,

Barbed-Wire Toilet Paper:

Barbed-Wire Toilet Paper

Or even, “Is This for Real?” Toilet Paper: OUCH!

OUCH - Is This For Real Toilet Paper

Madame Monet

Luxury, HOLIDAY Toilet Papers - in Photos - (Part II, of III)

Posted May 11, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Art, Bathroom Decor, Culture, Designer Toilet Papers, Friends, Fun, Home Decorating, Life, Luxury Toilet Papers, Men, Parties, Philosophy of Life, Women

Continuing my three-part series on Luxury Toilet Papers, in this post, I will show readers photos of what many people decorate their bathrooms with at holiday time, or for special occasions.

For Valentine’s Day:

Red Heart Toilet Paper, for Valentine\'s Day

For Halloween:

Orange Pumpkin Toilet Paper, for Halloween

For Weddings, Featuring the Bride and Groom:

The MOST popular papers with the greatest selection available, seem to be for the Christmas holidays.

Below, we see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Santa Claus:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -Christmas Holiday Toilet paperSanta Claus Toilet Paper, for Christmas HolidaysMore Santa Clauses on Toilet Paper, for the Christmas Holidays

Here are some other Christmas papers:

\

Multi-Pack Winter Season Toilet Paper - Stars, Christmas trees, and Snowmen

The next and last post in this three-part series will show some great “gift” toilet papers, for all types of friends and acquantances!

Madame Monet

Luxury, Designer, and Unusual Toilet Papers - in Photos - An Introduction (Part I, of III)

Posted May 8, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Art, Bathroom Decor, Culture, Designer Toilet Papers, Friends, Fun, Life, Luxury Toilet Papers, Men, Music, People, Philosophy of Life, Women

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Believe it or not, a few days ago I had several people come to my blog using the search terms “toilet paper.” I don’t know how this got them to my blog, but this gave me the idea to do a post on unusual and luxury toilet papers! As I began this post, I didn’t realize how many unusual and entertaining papers there are, so I’m now going to do a three-part post.

First, my personal favorite–musical toilet paper!

Also for musicians:

I think these money rolls are great:

I love this next one, but somehow it looks like real money, and I’m not sure it’s really toilet paper:

These look interesting. Some people like to rotate colors for the holidays: Red for Valentine’s Day; green for St. Patrick’s Day; black and orange for Halloween; and green and red for Christmas:

Even better, color coordinate with your wall colors:

I guess some people, instead of reading a magazine while on the toilet, prefer to play their favorite games, as in their Sudoku toilet paper:

or work crossword puzzles:

Some people prefer to trash their least favorite people while on the toilet:

I had heard about these next two for a long time, but never saw them myself until now:

The next post will focus on special Holiday toilet papers!

Madame Monet

Photos from a Moroccan Rock Concert near Marrakesh, Morocco

Posted May 7, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Activities with Friends, African Music, Electric Guitar in Arab Music, Electric Guitar in Morocco, Famous People in Morocco, Friends, Fun, Hoba Hoba Spirit, Marrakech, Marrakesh, Marrakesh Artists, Moroccan Culture, Moroccan Dress, Moroccan Music, Moroccan Musicians, Moroccan Rock Bands, Morocco, Music, North African Culture, Parties, People, Tourism in Morocco, Traditional Moroccan Dress, Travel, musicians

Moroccan rock band \Crowd goes wild for \

Crowd Goes Wild for “Hoba Hoba Spirit,” a Moroccan Rock Band.

Over the May Labor Day weekend, I attended one day of a four-day-long rock festival held at the Lalla Takerkoust Reservoir, nearby Marrakesh, Morocco.  The photos were taken while a Moroccan rock group called Hoba Hoba Spirit played.

I took some photos of a few interesting people in the crowd (using my newly-acquired digital camera):

 

Modern Moroccan man in traditional desert headgearSeductive Islamic Dress, at a Moroccan Rock ConcertMoroccan countryside girl in traditional Moroccan clothingMen in both traditional and modern dress in Morocco

Madame Monet

 

 

 

Photos of Bouganvilla, Hibiscus, and Orange Trees in Marrakesh

Posted May 1, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Bouganvilla, Hibiscus, Marrakech, Marrakech Plants, Marrakesh, Marrakesh Plants, Marrakesh in Springtime, Orange Trees, Uncategorized

Marrakesh is a really colorful place to live, in every season. If the people back home could see these photos, they’d understand one of the things I love about living here! These are colorful springtime photos of the plants I see every day.

Bouganvilla in Marrakesh:

These bouganvilla photos (above) were taken at the school where I work, but different colors of bouganvilla are typically growing around nearly every house and apartment in Marrakesh.

Hibiscus in Marrakesh (I have several of these growing in my yard):

Tall, Yellow-Flowered Bush in Marrakesh:


Orange Tree in my yard in Marrakesh, laden with fruit, in March:

Madame Monet

Six Classic Affairs

Posted April 30, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Friends, Fun, Humor, Jokes, Men, People, Women

Tags: ,

A friend forwarded the following joke to me:

The 1st Affair:

A married man was having an affair with his secretary.

One day they went her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell
asleep and woke up at 8 PM.

The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub
them in the grass and dirt. He put on his shoes and drove home.

‘Where have you been?’ his wife demanded. ‘I can’t lie to you,’ he replied,
‘I’m having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon’

‘You lying bastard! You’ve been playing golf!’

The 2nd Affair:

A middle-aged couple had two beautiful daughters but always talked about having
a son.

They decided to try one last time for the son they always wanted.

The wife got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy.

The joyful father rushed to the nursery to see his new son.

He w! as horrifi ed at the ugliest child he had ever seen.

He told his wife, ‘There’s no way I can be the father of this baby. Look at the
two beautiful daughters I fathered! Have you been fooling around behind my
back?’

The wife smiled sweetly and replied, ‘Not this time!’

The 3rd Affair:

A mortician was working late one night.

He examined the body of Mr. Schwartz, about to be cremated, and made a
startling discovery. Schwartz had the largest private part he had ever seen!

‘I’m sorry Mr. Schwartz,’ the mortician commented, ‘I can’t allow you to be
cremated with such an impressive private part. It must be saved for posterity.’

So, he removed it, stuffed it into his briefcase, and took it home.

‘I have to show you something you won’t believe,’ he said to his wife, opening
his briefcase.
‘My God!’ the wife exclaimed, ‘Schwartz is dead?’

The 4th Affair:
< BR>A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front
door.

‘Hurry,’ she said, ’stand in the corner.’

She rubbed baby oil all over him, and then dusted him with talcum powder.

‘Don’t move until I tell you,’ she said. ‘Pretend you’re a statue.’

‘What’s this?’ the husband inquired as he entered the room.

‘Oh it’s a statue.’ she replied. ‘The Smith’s bought one and I liked it so much
I got one for us, too.’

No more was said, not even when they went to bed.

Around 2 AM the husband got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a
sandwich and a beer.

‘Here,’ he said to the statue, ‘have this. I stood like that for two days at
the Smith’s and nobody offered me a damned thing.’



The 5th Affair:

A man walked into a cafe, went to the bar and ordered a beer.

‘Certainly, Sir, that’ll be one cent.’

‘One cent?’ the man thought.

H! e glanced at the menu and asked, ‘How much for a nice juicy steak and a bottle
of wine?’

‘A nickel,’ the barman replied.

‘A nickel?’ exclaimed the man. ‘Where’s the guy who owns this place?’

The bartender replied, ‘Upstairs, with my wife.’

The man asked, ‘What’s he doing upstairs with your wife?’

The bartender replied,

‘The same thing I’m doing to his business down here.’

The 6th Affair:

Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside.

He looked up and said weakly, ‘I have something I must confess.’

‘There’s no need to,’ his wife replied.

‘No,’ he insisted, ‘I want to die in peace. I slept with your sister, your best
friend, her best friend, and your mother!’

‘I know, I know,’ she replied. ‘Now just rest and let the poison work.’

My First African Painting - Mary Mimouna, Marrakesh Artist

Posted April 24, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Activities with Friends, Africa, African Animals, African Art, African Oil Paintings, Art, Black Africa, Fun, Marrakech, Marrakesh, Marrakesh Artists, Mary Mimouna, Morocco, Oil Painting, Painter, Painting, People, Women, artists

Tags:

This is the first painting I ever finished after taking up oils. It was my first attempt to paint an animal. I used a photo I had taken either in South Africa or Kenya (can no longer recall which). I finally unpacked some of my paintings which had been packed away for a long time through several moves. Even though the elephant is far from perfect, I really like the painting, and have hung it on my living room wall.

In the photo I used, the real elephant was walking sideways and did not look very dramatic. So eventually I found a front-facing picture of an elephant, and used that as a guide to the elephant in this picture. My original photo is below.

My painting ambitions are to be a realistic landscape (various, from around-the-word) and African landscape/animal-artist painter. Just unpacking my paintings has gotten me really excited about painting again. I have several paintings going in various stages, that I’ve had to set aside for a number of years since becoming a mother, moving to a new country, and working full time! But now, I think I can pick it up again–if I can only remember what I used to know about painting! I’ve forgotten a lot in the last fifteen years, and this is giving me some trouble.

Comments?

Madame Monet

My Roman Dog Mosaic Now Finished - Here’s a Photo

Posted April 23, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Art, Friends, Fun, Uncategorized

Tags:

I finished my first try at a mosaic. I just decided to do only the dog–it was enough for my learning purposes.


Here is the original photo (from a book) that I used to copy from:

Roman Mosaic

If you want to see my original post on what I learned by doing this, here it is:

http://winewriter.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/making-a-mosaic-my-first-try/

Comments, anyone?

Madame Monet

World-Class Electric Violin Player Linzi Stoppard Encourages Kids to Take Up the Violin

Posted April 20, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Activities with Friends, Adagio for Strings, American Composer, Britain, Culture, Designer Clothes, Electric Violin, Friends, Fun, Learning the Violin, Linzi Stoppard, Modeling, Music, People, Samuel Barber, Think Outside the Box, Violin, Women, by Samuel Barber, musicians

At age twenty-nine, British electric violinist Linzi Stoppard gives electrifying performances of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, which seems to be her signature piece at most performances. Even more amazing, this beautiful woman prances around the stage, rock concert style, wearing high heels and classy designer costumes. When I looked up information on her, I found she is also a professional model. Videos on YouTube feature her performances in the music capitals of Europe. If Samuel Barber were alive today, I’d love to see his reaction to her interpretation.

In this performance, she rocks Adagio for Strings on the electric violin, in London (2:56):

Here is how audiences react to her, this performance filmed at the Alexandra Palace, also in London (just like a rock concert):

Linzi also performs for schoolchildren, at their elementary schools, and inspires them to take up the violin. Here is her advice:

“The electric violin can be a real alternative to the commonplace guitar. “

She recommends five steps for young people interested in the electric violin. “My five steps are:

1.) Buy yourself a starter electric violin and amp combo from Ebay. check that it works, if you can.

2.) Learn the basics, such as scales, and bowing techniques, from a couple of How to Play the Violin books, and DVD’s.

3.) Sign up through a local college for some group violin lessons, and mix with like-minded people.

4.) Use your musical influences to experiment and develop your own sounds.

5.) Never stop believing in yourself, and take every opportunity to get out thee, and play live. If I can do it, you can!”

Here is a quick, but very impressive sequence of clips in just over one minute:

Is there anyone reading this blog who either knows of her, or who has seen her? I didn’t know about her until today, but I’ve been watching all her performances on YouTube, over and over, completely mesmerized!

Madame Monet

Feng Shui Solutions to Life Problems

Posted April 19, 2008 by Madame Monet
Categories: Activities with Friends, Art, British Columbia, Feng Shui, Feng Shui Club, Feng Shui Organization, Friends, Fun, Landscape Paintings, Landscapes, Men, Painter, Painting, People, Sai Hoi Ho, Sai Hoy Ho, Vancouver, Women, artists, eng Shui Activities

Tags:

This is the painting I will hang in my foyer, but on a very pale, silver-blue wall. Our Feng Shui Club helped me decide which of my paintings to choose for this location. The painting is by Sai Hoi Ho, purchased in the early 1980’s in Vancouver, British Columbia, at Stanley Park.

Today our Feng Shui Club met. Today we worked on Feng Shui solutions to some current situations in our life. Topics included an in-law problem, a future career path decision, and a decision about which painting to hang in an entranceway.

Solutions to the in-law problem focused upon improving areas of the home in the relationship and family baguas. The group helped me decide which painting, between two, I should hang in my entrance way. We discussed a future career path, but ran short of time to propose solutions.

After the meeting, I unpacked a number of paintings with my daughter, and we made decisions about where to hang several of them. Today’s meeting was really helpful to me, because I had been “stuck” with no family participation on where to hang these paintings. My 14-year-old daughter really enjoyed helping me decide which themes were most appropriate for each room.

Madame Monet