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Why did I bring up this 2 week celebration? Well, I just remembered something, while the number "7" is good luck in western culture, it is also a lucky number in eastern culture. HOWEVER, the number 8 is even more popular with us Chinese people. In our language, the number is also a homonym for "wealth". Often certain numbers are superstitious in our culture. For example, my mom would never order anything in 4's at a restaurant. So for whatever reason, she orders in 7's or 8's! ...

California has a pretty mild climate. It varies a bit from north to south over the 770 miles (1240 km) of the state's coastline. Even where I live in San Francisco, about 420 miles (670 km or so) north of Los Angeles, the weather is still what you might call "cool Mediterranean." Our "winter" temperatures here range from the upper 40s F (about 8.5°C) at night to the 50s F (10-16°C) in the daytime. Sunny days can be even warmer.

So it might not be surprising that ...

fragranceshop.com has proven to not be reputable. I bought 4 bottles of Amarige by Givenchy on Dec.12, received them just before Christmas and my wife opened one up in late January. It was bad. I contacted fragranceshop and they said that I had to eat it since it was beyond the 30 days. They said we could send the unopened ones back if we paid shipping.
fair? Reputable? pay for shipping?
Be careful if you buy from them.

Trussardi for women: a classic and sharp chypre floral.

As I looked again at my post on "Know Your Citrus: A Compendium," I remembered a trip to southern Spain a few years ago during which I visited two famous cathedrals, one in Seville and the other in Córdoba, both of which have breathtaking patios full of bitter orange trees located within the precincts of the cathedral.

Both of these patios are remnants of the main mosque (the Friday mosque, or masjid al-jumʿa) of each of the two cities, which once stood on the sites of ...