Mongolia Naadam Festival

The Naadam Festival is the major Mongolian holiday and a wonderful time to experience the culture and people of this amazing land. The festival has its roots in the nomad wedding assemblies and hunting extravaganzas of the Mongol Army. The opening ceremony features marches and music from soldiers, monks and athletes before the real fun begins! In the Naadam Stadium the three sporting passions of Mongolians, horse racing, wrestling and archery, are played out over 2 days. But if you don’t want to watch sport all the time, there’s plenty to see and do outside – food, music, crafts or just people watching.

Emma Watson&3new lingerie photoshoot

You can find Emma Watson's newest photoshoot in VS. magazine. The photoshoot was done by Ellen Von Unwerth who has worked on the photography on singer Britney Spears' comeback album entitled Blackout as well as on Christina Aguilera's album entitled Back To Basics. The photos show a whole new side to Emma and are really, really captivating.

A bit of this and that

First, a cute bike. She's for sale at Bikes Not Bombs, and definitely needs some chrome fenders and a shopping basket. Still, she has good "bones" and a lovely champagne color which caught my eye. But maybe champagne-colored bikes should have cork grips, on principle???

On to other things: Last night was the Boston Bikes Update. I'm happy to report that Nicole did an excellent job and a great deal of progress has been, and will continue to be, made. In discussions after the event, it was suggested that organize our own Tweed Run, so watch this space as details unfold!

Finally, don't forget to snap a photo on your way to your SuperBowl party, or your non-American-football-based Sunday afternoon activity. We're starting to get some entries for the winter photo contest, and they're looking very cute. Just like you!

Carnaval

A carnival parade is a public celebration, combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season. The Carnival Season is a holiday period during the two weeks before the traditional Christian fast of Lent. The origin of the name "Carnival" is unclear as there are two theories. The most commonly known theory states that the name comes from the Italian carne- or carnovale, from Latin carnem (meat) + levare (lighten or raise), literally "to remove the meat" or "stop eating meat". The other theory states that it originates from the Latin carrus navalis, which was some kind of Greek cart carrying a statue of a god in a religious procession at the annual festivities in honour of the god Apollo. Most commonly the season began on Septuagesima Sunday, the third from the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, but in some places it started as early as Twelfth Night, continuing until Lent. This period of celebration and partying had its origin in the need to use up all remaining meat and animal products such as eggs and butter before the fasting season. The celebration of Carnival ends on "Mardi Gras" (French for "Fat Tuesday", meaning Shrove Tuesday), the day before Ash Wednesday, when the rigours of Lent's 40 days of fasting and sacrifice begin. It sometimes lasts until Piñata Weekend, the first Saturday and Sunday of Lent.