Christmas Shopping For Yourself

Everyone knows that Christmas is all about giving but most of us are also tempted to shop for ourselves when we are out Christmas shopping for our beloved friends and family members. While some people may be tempted to pass up on purchases for themselves during the holiday season because they feel guilty making these purchases, there are others who feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking advantage of the huge sales which take place during the Christmas season to purchase a few items for themselves.

Still others argue that Christmas time is the best time to shop for yourself in terms of finances because you are shopping at a time when most items are on sale. This article will take a look at the concept of shopping for yourself while Christmas shopping and will offer some advice for doing this without distracting from your regular Christmas shopping.



If you do opt to shop for yourself while you are Christmas shopping, it is important to remember to keep your budget in mind while you do your shopping. If you do plan on shopping for yourself during the Christmas shopping, it is important to budget for these expenditures. Whether you opt to include yourself in the Christmas shopping budget or create a separate budget for your personal shopping, you should make some plan for how you will deal with these additional financial concerns.

One way to do this is to include yourself on your Christmas shopping list and set aside some money for your personal purchases when you are working on your Christmas budget. Another way to deal with the financial concerns is to plan on paying for gifts for everyone else on your Christmas list in cash and to make your purchases for yourself on a credit card. This is helpful because it does not reduce the amount of money you would otherwise spend on your friends and family members.



Another problem which often arises when you opt to shop for yourself when you are doing your regular Christmas shopping is that you may become distracted and not complete your Christmas shopping on time. Consider purchasing a sweater for your sister. You may look through the racks of sweaters and quickly choose one in a color, style and size you think will be appropriate for her. You might spend some time looking at the different colors and styles and trying to decide which size will fit best but in general it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to select a sweater and make your purchase. Now consider purchasing a sweater for yourself during the Christmas season. You may select several different styles you like in one or two sizes and a few different colors. You can take the items to the dressing room and try on each one to determine which style, color and size you like best. You might even try the sweaters on with a few different styles of pants or skirts which you think will match well.



It is easy to see from this comparison how a shopper can easily spend a half hour to an hour buying a sweater for themselves and less than ten minutes purchasing the same sweater for someone else. It is also easy to see from this example, how shopping for yourself while doing your Christmas shopping can prevent you from completing your shopping in a timely manner. For this reason, it is wise to leave your personal shopping until after you have completed all of your Christmas shopping.

A Look At Champagne

Traditionally, Champagne has always a way to celebrate milestones or toast the bride and groom on their marriage. Considered to be a flexible beverage, Champagne can be served with a meal or with dessert. For many years, this truly refreshing and exotic drink has been used as a way of celebration and just enjoying the times that lie ahead.



Champagne comes from the vineyards of the French region. If you get a bottle and notice Champagne imprinted on the label, you can rest assured that the bottle was produced in the vineyards of France. If you don’t get Champagne that was produced in the infamous French regions, you are pretty much just buying the standard sparkling wine. You should also make sure that the bottle is spelled “Champagne”, with a capital C. French manufacturers are very protective of this very name, and therefore are the only ones that are authorized to use it.



Champagne is made using three different types of grape - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay. Noir and Meunier are types of black grapes, while the well known Chardonnay is a type of white grape. The label on the bottle will signify what type of Champagne you are buying, so you’ll know what flavor to expect. There are also types of this wine that are a blend of different grapes, providing quite an exquisite taste to say the least.

Much like sparkling wine, Champagne is very common with celebrations and such. Although it is actually considered to be a type of sparkling wine, Champagne is much better. You have to be careful where you buy it though, as a lot of manufacturers like to use cheaper grapes, which don’t taste the same. If you have ever tasted this wine before - you’ll know first hand what quality tastes like.



A lot of people prefer Champagne because of the bubbles that are known to spew forth once a bottle has been uncorked. The bubbles that spew from this wine are the result of tiny drops of liquid that are disturbed by the carbonic acid gas. Once the liquid is disturbed, the bubbles form and short out of the bottle. This is a natural reaction of the double fermentation process that can only be found with a bottle of Champagne.



The next time you have a celebration and need something to make the celebration a bit more interesting, you should grab a bottle of Champagne. Few things compliment a celebration like the bursting bubbles of a fine bottle. You can find quality Champagne at ABC stores or other stores that sell alcoholic beverages. Even though it may cost you a bit of money - when you pop the top you’ll be glad you bought it.

Invasion of Tiny Creatures

They may look like science-fiction movies' monsters from outer space. But in fact, these tiny creatures inhabit our homes, clothes and even our bodies.



British author and trained zoologist, Tom Jackson brings some of these rather terrifying looking creatures to life, in a book called 'Micro Monsters ' - a title that is self-explanatory once you see the pictures.

He spent three months compiling the images in the book. In order to capture the incredible details, the tiny creatures were coated in gold and froze them in liquid nitrogen. Then a beam of electrons is transmitted through these subjects from a scanning electron microscope. As it streams through, it creates a very high resolution image that can be transferred onto a layer of photographic film, resulting in crystal clear photos.



Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a single dust mite among skin scales in housedust.



This is a Louse holding onto an egg. These creatures that feed off skin and other debris off a host's body. While there are over 3,000 known of such species, only three are known to attack humans, the most common of which is the head lice.



This is the electron micrograph of a Bluebottle fly, the most common fly in the world. Slightly bigger than a housefly, the insects that move in packs, feed off decaying food, garbage or faeces.



This is a yellow dung fly, which as the name indicates are insects that hang around horse and cow dung.



This is an aphid. They leach on to healthy plants and suck out the sap, destroying them completely.

Want to see more? Then get the book 'Micro Monsters '. It not only features about 80 bugs but also, gives a detailed explanation on each of these tiny creatures that surrounded us.

Spiderman on Broadway

As the Spider-man franchise prepares for production of Spiderman Reboot which scheduled for release on July 3, 2012, the superhero swings into a new challenge – Spider-man on Broadway: Spider-man the Musical!! Check out the Spider-man on Broadway preview video below.



Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is a $65 million rock musical production directed by Julie Taymor and featuring music by U2’s Bono and The Edge, based on Spider-Man comics created by Marvel Comics.

After suffered numerous setbacks in recent months due to technical and safety issues, the musical finally began previews on November 28, 2010 at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway, with the official opening night scheduled for January 11, 2011.

Spider-man will be on Broadway until April 17, 2011. For more details about Spider-man the Musical's tickets and dates, you can check it here .