Piano Dresses

My daughter took a piano test today and it was nice seeing all the beautiful girl's dresses many of the girl's taking the piano test were wearing.

Major Photo Project

I am going through all my Girl's Chinese Dresses, Flower Girl Dresses, and Vietnamese Dresses seeing which pictures need work, which product descriptions can be better.

I have finished with the Girl's Chinese Dresses and the pages are so much better. The Flower Girl Dresses I need to retake some pictures. Taking a picture of an all black dress has challenges on getting a focus, I guess how the camera works. And of course there is the color correction, to make sure the picture looks the right color. There is so much into color including the monitor issue (each monitor displays color a little bit differently unless calibrated).

New Clearances Girl's Dresses

I"ll have pictures tomorrow

New blue dresses

I have some new blue dresses, only need to take picture

Clearance does work!

I sold the the last of three different styles of dresses today in my Girl's Dress Clearance Section!

This gives me more room for new girl's dresses!

First Communion

What is First Communion?

Some facts I have picked up:

• Happens usually around ages 7-8 (based on the ability to have reached an age of discretion - in other words understand what is happening). Per the church if children are observed to assist at Mass with devotion and attention it is a sign that they are come to this discretion.
• Roman Catholic, and some Protestant (Lutheran).
• Not practiced in the Eastern Catholic Church
  
• Girl's First Communion Dresses can cost $200 and more (very extravagant).
• Veils are often worn.
• For both Boys and Girls
• Clothes are usually white to symbolize purity.
• First confession is traditionally made a week before First Communion.
• Defined by the 4th Lateran Council and Council of Trent.
• Often occurs during Pascal Time - From Easter and extends 50 days.
• Often a large family party is hosted after the First Communion.
  

References:

• CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Communion of Children

• First Communion - Wikipedia

• What is First Communion?

Wishing you a Happy Vallentines Day!

Valentines Day Background

Red for Valentines Day symbolizes. The heart was seen as the center of all human emotions, so the giving of hearts was seen as giving everything to one you loved. Ribbons and laces were associated with love since the days of Knights who wore at tournaments a scarf of his lady. Red is associated with strong emotions. There are three different stories about St. Valentine, the one I grew up with was he wrote a note to his love signed your Valentine...

• American Color Symbolism including holidays and seasons
  
• Chinese Symbol and Color meanings
• Vietnamese color and symbolic meanings

Red Girl's Dresses

In honor of Valentine's Day - a listing of all my Red Dresses, all 11 of them plus one in Burgundy. Girl's beautiful burgundy sleeveless formal dress

Average Man spends $118 on Valentines Day!

Per an article in the WSJ, the average man spends $118.30 on Valentine's Day. Nice dinner out, night on the town, flowers, chocolates, etc.

For a Valentines Dress, I like this one:

				Girl's beautiful burgundy sleeveless formal dress
				List Price: $48.00 Our Price: $29.99 You Save $18.01!
				The dress features burgundy satin top and burgundy chiffon skirts. Burgundy chiffon ribbon in back to create a beautiful bow. Two layers of skirts: burgundy chiffon over burgundy satin.

Coloring Contest

I got the nicest E-Mail today!

We received the certificate of appreciation and Good Luck bauble from you guys for the "Honorable Mention" for the coloring contest. My daughter was very appreciative even though she asked, "So did everyone who lost get one of these?" (She's 5.) It did make her smile.

The contest was a good experience for her since she got to experience not winning, and also see what the winning entries looked like.

It was a lot of work to create individual certificates for everyone who mailed in an entry for the coloring contest, but this E-Mail shows why it was the right way to do things.

woman designs black wedding dress

woman designs black wedding dress - And I have some cute black flower girl dresses that would go great at her wedding!

Engagement Contest

Wedding Paper Divas is doing an engagement story contest, looking for the best story. They already have great stories submitted. The company does beautiful wedding invitations.

Contests are nice, but they are a lot of work for the company running the contest, such as my coloring page contest.

Families by China adoptions celebrate New Year together

Families by China adoptions celebrate New Year together - Brain Tree Forum.

Wow! Eighty kids in Chinese Girl's Dresses!

The picture in the article is really cute!

Black Flower Girl Dress

				Girl's beautiful Black sleeveless formal dress
				List Price: $48.00 Our Price: $29.99 You Save $18.01!
				The dress features Black satin top and black chiffon skirts. Black chiffon ribbon in back to create a beautiful bow. Two layers of skirts: Black chiffon over Black satin.

The customer would like to have red flowers, since the off white flowers are removable.

Psychology of Colors

Reinvent Wheel? Blue Room. Defusing a Bomb? Red Room. - NY Times. I hope they do some cross cultural studies to see the impact of coloring. Fascinating article!

Related articles about Color Symbolism

• American Color Symbolism including holidays and seasons
• Chinese Symbol and Color meanings
• Vietnamese color and symbolic meanings

$500 QiPao in HK and other shopping tips

‘Shanghai Tang for Chinese people’ and other shopping tips - International Herald Tribune, France - Jan 12, 2009

I have only been to Hong Kong once and that was only for a couple of hours. The article makes is sound so great for shopping. Of course $500 for a QiPao, that is getting into the area of getting a custom dress made. And for kids, of course Chinese Cheongsam Qipao cost a bit less than than the cost of a trip to Hong Kong from the US.

Miss Ao Dai Northern California

Dinh Kieu Hanh crowned Miss Ao Dai North California - Vietnamnet.vn

The Ao Dai's in the pictures are beautiful!

Mine Ao Dai Cuoi Vietnamese Girls Dresses are a bit more traditional and made for kids.

Ao Dai

For some reason I got a bunch of Ao Dia Vietnamese Dress Sales today. Not sure why since most Tet Celebrations were last week.

Huntington Gardens Chinese New Year Event

The Huntington Library had a Chinese New Year Celebration today. The parking was so bad there were a number of people parking on the street. My husband got the job of parking after dropping off my parents, my daughter, and myself. Inside there were a few kids wearing Chinese Cheongsam/Qipao. Very cute! My feeling was the the staff expected a crowd about 1/3rd the size they got. The crafts tables were just overwhelmed, but the gardens were really nice to have a walk in!