Sunday, December 11, 2011

Taylor Swift





Born on December 13, 1989 in Pennsylvania and named Taylor Alison Swift, this beautiful young lady started performing in her hometown of Reading at the age of 10. She would sing at fairs, festivals and at karaoke contests. By the time she was 12, she started writing songs and her parents got her a guitar. She loved the country music style of music; especially admiring those had gone before like Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton.

Taylor's mother and father traveled to Nashville and through her determination, Taylor was the youngest songwriter to sign with Sony/ATV. Her parents then moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee to support her with her music. A talent scout, Brochetta, discovered her at the Bluebird Café and her career was born.

The song "Our Song" was written by Taylor for a talent show in the ninth grade. She humbly admits she never thought it would be such a success.

Her MySpace page gained a huge following early in her career. She would personally connect with her fans until she surpassed over 40 million streams and became the No. 1 Country artist online. She has always been so good to her fans, even letting them pose with the CMT Video award that she won in 2007.

She now plays a 12-string guitar and has a passion that shows through in her songs, one of which is a Top 20 hit. Most of the songs she has written are taken from her personal life experiences. Her first album has sold over 3 million copies.

Upon winning the CMA Horizon Award, Taylor Swift was quoted as saying "This has definitely been the highlight of my senior year!"

Taylor gives tribute to her grandmother, who was an opera singer, Garth Brooks, LeAnn Rimes, and Tim McGraw. She says that Garth Brooks was the inspiration of how she should treat her fans.

Taylor is a self-proclaimed tomboy, but she is beautiful, has style and even has a doll designed in her likeness. Designers have created doll clothes that match the ones Taylor has worn on tour and on stage. She has been featured on magazine covers (InStyle and Rolling Stone) and has been on several television talk shows. She was spotted with Twilight's Taylor Lautner, but claims that he is just a friend.




Bill Gates





Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington. Bill was an ambitious boy from childhood. He was very intelligent and fiercely competitive. Without a doubt, these qualities have played a role in where he is now. He was always good with mathematics and science. His father was an influential lawyer and his parents had planned a law career for him but as we all know, destiny had other plans.

He showed his interest when he was young. At school he wrote a program to play tic-tac-toe against a computer. He used the programming language called BASIC. Thus began his fascination with the world of computers. Gates was skilled in computers and even got banned from Computer Centre Corporation for exploiting bugs in the system and obtaining free computer time. His close friend and eventual business partner Paul Allen was banned along with him. After this ban, the four students offered to discover and eliminate bugs in return for computer time. As can be seen, Bill shared a true passion for his work and showed enterprise.

Seeing his proficiency, his school hired him to write a program to schedule students. He wrote the code such that he could be in the class with the most female students. At 17, Gates and his friend Paul Allen started a venture called Traf-O-Data. This program helped record and regulate traffic and it helped them earn around $20,000.

Graduating out of high school, he joined Harvard. Here he met Steve Ballmer, a future business partner. He was confused in college, just like a lot of other people. He chose pre-law, but he stuck with his love for computers. He would spend long hours in front of the computer all night and sleep in class next day. He stayed in constant touch with Paul Allen and they both got jobs in Honeywell. Finally he decided to drop out of college and start his own firm.

This firm was Microsoft, started with the vision "A computer on every desk and Microsoft software on every computer". Bill Gates has since achieved remarkable success. He is the richest man on earth and his company has achieved goals and set benchmarks for other companies time and again. Bill Gates was an ordinary man who believed in the power of intelligence and hard work now.




Friday, December 9, 2011

Wishing Others Merry Christmas





Merry Christmas - Christmas is celebrated each year in December by many thousands of people worldwide. Coming up to this special day on December 25th, it is common for people to greet others by saying "Merry Christmas". This is done to wish them a safe and happy holiday.

Looking back on the history of Christmas takes us all the way back, just over 2,000 years, to the birth of Jesus Christ. The celebration of Christmas day was initially to join with others in remembering the birth of the Savior of the world.

The actual word 'Christmas' means literally "Mass of Christ". Although Jesus birth occurred over two millennia ago, Christmas itself was not celebrated for many years. Historically, a fourth-century saint, Saint Nicholas, gained a reputation as a secret gift-giver. It is told that Saint Nicholas used to place coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him.

Since the times of Saint Nicholas, Christmas has continued to prosper and become popular with people of different faiths. Although beginning with Christians, Christmas is now celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Although the ways that people celebrate Christmas may differ, depending on their faith, it is true to say that Christmas is a time of goodwill, kindness and wishing "Merry Christmas" to others, more than any other time of year. Gift giving still continues, even as the folklore and traditions that came from Saint Nicholas back in the 4th century demonstrated.

There are many that say that Christmas has in fact become too commercialized and that it now focuses more on receiving rather than on giving. Either way though, Christmas is here to stay and the giving and receiving of gifts and wishing "Merry Christmas" is a big part of it.

The holiday greeting of 'Merry Christmas' was first used in 1565, written in the Hereford Municipal Manuscript. Since that date it has continued to be used around the world during the weeks leading up to Christmas day each year. The initial meaning of the word 'merry', as used in this holiday greeting, meant 'pleasant' or 'agreeable'. These days 'merry', as used in merry Christmas, tends to mean 'jolly', 'joyous' or 'happy' more than 'pleasant'. Today many families give gifts to each other on Christmas Eve and then have a big family celebration and meal together on Christmas day.

Another holiday tradition is the hanging of a Christmas stocking, up above the fireplace on the mantel, for each family member. Gifts are then placed into every stocking so that each family member receives something special. It is even possible to get specially made stockings. Many families purchase individual and unique stockings, each with a family member's name on it. Not only are the stockings useful for small gifts, but they also form part of the Christmas decorations used to liven up the home with bright colors.

There are many other Christmas holiday traditions, some which are celebrated widely by many people and then other family traditions that have developed over the years in certain homes. One thing remains true and that is Christmas is a time to remember family and those we love; a time of giving and receiving gifts; a time to remember those less fortunate and a time to wish each other a very Merry Christmas!




Signature Style - Retro Darling





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