Historical Thursday: the Great Sphinx of Giza

Happy Thursday ladies!

Today I thought I would bring you a site that my family and I were lucky enough to travel to last summer. Egypt! I have loads of pictures from various places around Cairo and I've actually shared some of the Muhammad Ali Mosque a couple of weeks ago. Today I thought I would bring you one of the most well known in Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza. 

To be near it was completely surreal. Not to mention the pyramids but that's for another post :) Although I will mention that the pyramid you can see here is called the Pyramid of Khafre and it is the only one that still retains any of the shiny, white limestone at the top. So on to the Sphinx, I thought it would be a whole heck of a lot larger than it actually was. I mean of course it's this giant stone statue but I thought it would be way taller than what it actually was!

This is unfortunately as close as you can get to the face of the sphinx. You can no longer walk up to the paws like you were able to before. They are doing restoration work on and off and don't want anymore destruction to be done to the body. I was honestly astounded by how much damage some of the blocks of stones on the pyramids had. People had scratched their initials and names into the stones. Seriously, WTF?! It hurts my heart that anybody would think that's ok?!

Via

The picture above gives you an aerial view of what I'm standing in front of. I was in front of that stone in the upper left hand corner. I cannot remember what temple this was that we passed through before getting to the sphinx. Sorry! 

It's head is so tiny compared to the rest of its body. Totally not at all proportional. There is so much dissent between Egyptologists and archaeologists alike as to who built this great statue. Most think that it was Khafre, who I told you was also the builder of the pyramid behind it, but a lot of historians are now starting to believe that it was built before his time. Some are now saying that Khufu, Khafre's father and predecessor, built the statue. There's even a third theory saying that Djedefre, a little know Pharaoh, son to Khufu, and half brother to Khafre built it for Khufu in the likeness of the sun god Ra to restore respect to the dynasty. 

WOOOOO... that was a mouthful! So conclusion no one know for sure who built it! There's no inscriptions on it anywhere either which is not helpful at all.

The stone that the body is made out of is really low quality limestone bedrock and thus is eroding at a rapid pace. The heat, wind, and smog in Egypt do not help the preservation of this beautiful creature at all! As there is dissenting opinions as to who built it there are also dissenting opinions as to what should be done to maintain it. I don't know what the right way of fixing it is but someone needs to figure it out quickly because the integrity of the body is deteriorating rapidly.

Don't know how many of you know this but the sphinx used to have a beard. It has since fallen off and part of it and the headdress are scattered between the Cairo museum and the British museum. The beard though is thought to have been a later addition since its falling did not damage the chin. This picture also depicts a missing nose, duh right? Well when was it destroyed? Have you heard the story that Napoleon's canon fire destroyed it? I have and it's completely false. There is photographic evidence that the nose was already detached before Napoleon's time. It is actually believed to have been destroyed by a Sufi Muslim, Muhammad Sa’im al-Dahr, in rage because the peasants were making ceremonial offerings to control the flooding of the Nile. Even though this story is not 100% verified it is what most believe happened to it.

I hope I didn't completely bore you with all this huge amount of information. I hope you actually learned a little bit! The picture above is me, obviously, and my dad... just thought I would include it because he loves to dress like an extreme tourist everywhere we go. So embarrassing really. 

Y'all have an amazing Easter weekend! I know I will be partaking in some of the Easter fun.

With all my LOVE,

Pati

What I Wore: "Yo Ho"

Hi Gals! I thought I'd do an outfit post with one of my favorite dresses of all time. I mean hello, is has pirate ships on it!

I got this dress last year when it went on sale because I refuse to pay regular price for things. I'm so cheap!

Anyway it's from a store called Sourpuss Clothing and they have super rad dresses all the time. Maybe even still this one..not too sure.

It's super comfy and i love the neckline! Nothing to complain about this dress at all! I actually wore it around town with this little jacket/hoodie thing that I got from Target a couple of years ago. I seriously wish I would've bought like three of them with how much I wear it!

So the pin above is my absolute favorite pin on the face of the planet! It has Disney and Star Wars?! and it's R2!! SCORE OF THE CENTURY! I bought it on our trip to Disneyland last November. I wish I could buy every pin.. they're just so darn expensive.

That necklace is also one that I LOVE! It shows a little wear now because of the frequency of use but who cares?!

I am having a fabulous week already. We get off Friday AND Saturday this week for that religious holiday.. you know the one :) Have a good week ladies!

Dress: Sourpuss Clothing

Jacket: Target

Pin: Disneyland

Necklace: JcPenney

Shoes: Vans

With all my LOVE,

Pati

Happenings around the Abode

Hello Gals!

So today I'm being a lazy potato at home I've had a pretty long weekend. 

Friday night it was one of our best friends thirtieth birthday parties. Where has the time gone? I feel so old sometimes knowing that so many of my friends are thirty or above. Crazy.

We had tons of fun. Maybe too much fun?! I needed a day to rest from work on Saturday, so I played hooky. It was much needed! The kids were with my mom and by the time I got out of work they were in the pool.. YES, you read that correctly. The pool. It was over 90 degrees on Saturday. Disgusting really.

 Thankfully today we're back in the 60s. Pretty glad about that. I can go outside and not have my face melted off. Look at these super cute kitties lounging about the house. I got too close to willow above and she couldn't keep her eyes open with the flash. Ha! I gave her a second chance to show those sparkly green eyes of hers.

 I was pretty productive around the house on Sunday. I cleaned up the Hurricane like destruction all around the house and put up some new blinds, with the help of the boy of course. I also spoiled myself a bit and bought some succulents and cacti. Aren't they cute?!

 I had so many empty containers sitting around my house. They've been begging for some cute little plants. I really do hope these don't die though because I have been called the plant killer.. Bob even hummed the Funeral March as we loaded them up into the car. What a punk! They will survive!

My absolute favorite! I thought this one belong sticking out of my "crystal" skull :)

How was your weekend? Anything exciting? Any tips on how to keep these plants alive?

With all my LOVE,

Pati

"I don't want to live on this planet anymore"

Happy Friday gals!

Don't worry I'm OK. Actually, amazing really... the title of this post refers to one of my super favorite shows of all time, Futurama. If you don't watch it/haven't watched it what in the world are you waiting for? I can re-watch old episodes over and over again. Just thought I'd bring you some fan art and things found around the inter webs. There's so many darn talented people out there!

Via

I die... someone made their cat a nibbler costume. This is great!

 Via

What I would give to have these! They are so well done! Look at all the detail!

 I loved this episode when all the characters started to revert back to their child/primitive forms. Plus Zoidberg is just THE best!

 Via

What a neat idea for Easter! I loveee these!

Via

This is actually for sale on Etsy. Why not Zoidberg?

Screen shot from one of my favorite episodes to date! The Professor is telling the ape that there are in fact many links between human and ape. He goes on and on and on. The whole episode deals with evolution and robots! Called: A clockwork origin.

Via

Phantom of the Opera? Yes, please!

How I constantly feel. Such a good meme.

Via
He's the best.

Via

My favorite character HAS to be Leela though. She's a tough chick and takes shit from no one but still wants to belong somewhere. Love her.

Have a nice weekend!
With all my LOVE.

Pati

Historical Thursday: Venice, Italy

Hello Ladies!

Hope your Thursday is going splendidly I know mine will be awesome because that's the outlook I'm taking on it!

Anyway.. today I wanted to do another historical Thursday, I know I haven't done these in a while but maybe I'll do one every week again if you all dig it. Today's historical site is Venice, Italy. Seriously to die for. It has to be one of my favorite places on Earth hands down. I would love to live there. It's just so marvelously beautiful. We went on a family trip to Italy and then a cruise two summer ago and I cannot complain about that.

You will notice that I am a little chunkier in these pictures and it is why I don't have a lot of me photographed. :| Enjoy the sights anyway.

Here goes!

 Venice, "the floating city", is comprised of several small islands that are joined by bridges and separated by canals. You can walk pretty much anywhere around Venice but sometimes it is much easier to take a gondola and get to point B from A. There is no record of when the city was ACTUALLY founded but historians think it was somewhere around the 400s. It was founded by refugees from Roman cities nearby. It was always a place for art and trade around the Mediterranean after its population started to grow after the 800s. 

I love a city with good history and man does Venice have a long history. 

 So the city itself is built on top of Alder tree piles on which the foundation for the buildings were put.

Via

Something like these pictures above. I seriously tried my hardest to find some type of illustration to show you guys so you could visualize. I hope these two sort of helped. Basically, they lined up the wood and staked it into where the ground was a harder clay. From there they built the foundations on top of these stakes. You would think these wooden stakes would rot but no, since they are not exposed to oxygen they are protected. Another level of protection was made by making all the foundation of the houses marble, which is unaffected by the tides. They only have to worry when the tides go above a certain point and start to slosh against the weak brick. 

EVERYTHING in this city is marvelous. I have to go back sometime in my lifetime. Look at the architecture above! Tons of houses had little pots or window planters full of flowers. The walkways as you can see above weren't very wide at all but somehow everyone managed. Those are all my siblings by the way!

The only thing that I find quite sad is that the lagoon that the whole city sits on top of is polluted. The citizens did not treat the sewage before it was dumped in there, resulting in the condition it is in today. They have started to take measures and clean up their mess but it will take a good while until the water is at a normal level.

It was really neat being in a gondola and our gondolier sang! Not all of them sing like in the movies. I loved it. They also yell as you start to turn into the countless blind corners, so there are no accidents.

Hope you enjoyed the little stroll through Venice :)

With all my LOVE,

Pati

The fun commences!

Happy Tuesday ladies!!

Gueeessss what? I mean aside that I'm still alive and well. Pretty stoked on that. I had tons of fun in Mexico and honestly can't wait to go back. How can you not have loads of fun with good friends?

If you didn't read my post from last week I went to go see the boy and his band play in Mexico.

They took awesome care of us. We had tacos at the end of the night and just enjoyed good company.

We walked across the bridge to get there and back and Sunday morning we were back by 10 AM.

Duh! We had to be back for Dark Lord Day tickets.

It was decided we would take a nap and then wake up to get the tickets.

Well I woke up but since Bob is crazy and stayed up all night it took almost fifteen minutes to get him up... BUTTTTT 

We were victorious!!! I cannot believe that on the first year we try we score tickets. It took about an hour to officially sell out because the site kept crashing and what not. I'm sure most of those were already spoken for within the first minute though. I was super scared we weren't going to get them but WE DID. First time going to Chicago and I seriously don't even know what we're going to see.

Any suggestions? Of course I want to go see the big things..but are they all worth it? Help!

Yesterday I was looking things up and my head was spinning because of all the things that there were to do. It was insane. 

Does anyone have suggestions around where to stay? I want to be kind of within walking distance of things.. going to the DLD on Saturday won't be a problem. 

Via

This is the chaos that awaits us.. AH! I hate being around this many people but for the experience I will go once. There's also all these rare beers that they only tap that one day. I guess I shall try. 

Oh, Three Floyds I'm sure you won't disappoint us.

Please give us suggestions of where to stay? what to do? any piece of tid bit would be helpful. I need to get these things booked! 

With all my LOVE,

Pati

What I Wore: "Tiptoe"

Hiya Gals! Happy Thursday!

So today I wore one of my all time favorite dresses ever. I honestly use to wear it at least once a week. Always with a cardigan but now that I'm super into denim I've been pairing it with different things. What do you think?

I know some of these are out of focus.. but I actually kind of dig it. 

Silly faces!

I've been letting my  hair fade a little bit so I can mess with it again. I'll probably be doing the same colors because it can't be too loud for my job but pastels in my hair? I can't disagree with.

I clearly was having TOO much fun. Haha.. It's been a long couple of days. I needed it. 

I'm stoked for this weekend though! I get to go into Mexico (hoping I come back alive) to watch the boy's band play. I haven't been across in I can't even tell you how long. It's a bit dangerous but we will be with locals the whole time. Plus.. I have a whole bands worth of bodyguards. I know. I'm insane for even going. It's all an adventure!

We're not planning on staying over night because we're trying to get tickets to Dark Lord day in Chicago! Does anyone have any clue  what that is? Well if you don't, it's a beer festival (my life has been revolving around these) commemorating the release of Dark Lord. They only release this beer this one day a year so it's a HUGE deal to beer nerds. I've never been to Chicago and neither has Bob so of course we'll be doing tons of exploring along with the event. I really hope we can snag some tickets because they usually sell out in 30 seconds.. yes, that's right, SECONDS. Wish us luck!

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Denim shirt: Thrifted

Necklace: Forever 21

Pin: Modern Girl Blitz <-- Love this girls' stuff!

With all my love,

Pati