We Love Strawberries!

Nothing says summer like a bright, colorful patch of strawberries. There are several theories on the derivation of their name. One has it that early English children threaded berries onto straws and sold them in the marketplace "by the straw." Another claims the name represents the spreading nature of the plant runners which are strewn, or "strawed," over the ground. 

FUN FACTS ABOUT STRAWBERRIES:

Giant strawberries can be as large as apples, measuring 8-10 centimeters in length. 
Strawberries make muscles work better. 
Strawberries have more Vitamin C per serving than an orange. 
Strawberries at room temperature are sweeter than cold strawberries. 
In California, they grow all year round. 
Strawberries are hand-picked because each fruit ripens at a different time.
Where many fruits have only one seed on the inside strawberries have 200 seeds on the outside. 
Strawberries are the only fruits to have their seeds on the outside.

Dressing up infant for an outing is one of the biggest joys of parenthood and shoes always finish any outfit. CooShoe Collection from Happy Avenue is suitable for babies who don't walk yet. 

CooShoe "Sweet Strawberry" was inspired by fascinating facts about strawberries! Strawberries have been a rich part of our lives for quite some time, and anyone who's ever had one can understand why!

Collection comes in very small sizes, made out of soft flexible fabric and decorated with 3D bold details.
Purpose of CooShoe Collection is to teach parents "how to put shoes on a baby" and show your baby's cuteness. 

CooShoe - Something to Coo About:)

Make a wish on a butterfly's wings!

According to legend, by whisper a wish and giving the butterfly its freedom, the wish will be taken to the heavens and be granted. Since a butterfly can make no sound, the butterfly can not reveal the wish to anyone but the Great Spirit who hears and sees all...

People have been fascinated with butterflies for thousands of years. Butterflies  have been a symbol of beauty and called "flying flowers".


HappyAvenue Team loves butterflies and had gathered some strange Butterfly Facts to share with you. 

• Worldwide, there are over 25,000 species of butterflies.

• Butterflies taste with their feet. Their feet are actually tiny receptors which allow them to "taste" the food that they are standing on.

• Butterfly wings are transparent. A butterfly wing is actually formed by layers.  These layers are so thin you can see right through them. 

• Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.

• Some butterflies, such as the Northern Pearly Eye, will fly at night.

• Butterflies don't have lungs.

• Butterflies live just 2-4 weeks, usually.

• Monarchs can fly a 1000km without stopping.

• Male Monarchs never make the return journey the following spring.

• Butterflies live on an all-liquid diet.
Speaking of butterflies eating, adult butterflies can only feed on liquids, usually nectar.

• Butterflies can attain a flight speed of up to 50 kph.

• Butterflies are cold-blooded and will not fly if the temperature is below 50 degrees.

If you love butterflies you'll love these gorgeous butterfly Scarf Accessories. They would make great gifts for yourself or your loved ones.

Wear this exquisite charms as a reminder of your inner beauty.

We put together a few ideas for wearing Butterfly Charms:

Love Hello Kitty? You’re Not Alone!

There are currently about… 22,000 Hello Kitty products on the market!
This cute mouthless character is a billion-dollar enterprise, the biggest selling brand of the Sanrio Company Ltd, which was founded is 1960 by Shintaro Tsuji.

Well, it all started in the early '70s. Sanrio was trying to develop its own in-house design department. Hello Kitty was "born" November 1st, 1974 and named "Kitty White". The first product released with Kitty image was a small clear vinyl coin purse that retailed for 240 yen in 1975. Kitty was brought to the USA in 1976.

In the mid-1980s kitten-mania swelled and she became one of the most recognizable Japanese characters on Earth. She is part of the Japanese pop culture of "kawaii" (cute).You can found her image on everything from pin badges to computer accessories.

The main designer for most of Hello Kitty's history (Yuko Yamaguchi) said: "She is inspired by fashion, movies and TV in creating new designs".
Hello Kitty was originally marketed only to young girls. However, in the 1990s company start selling products for teenagers.  2009 marked the collaboration between apparel and accessory brand Stussy and Hello Kitty: new collection included T-shirts, keychains, and hoodies. Anyone can wear Hello Kitty accessories, as long as you don’t overdo it.

In 2010, Hello Kitty entered the …WINE  market! White Kitten with a red bow on her left ear and no mouth:) continuing an expansion of products targeted at older audiences.


Some fun facts we've picked about Hello Kitty:
- Although she was created in Japan, Hello Kitty lives in London, England.
- Hello Kitty’s weight is equivalent to three apples.
- Hello Kitty does not have a visible mouth because she speaks from her heart.
 -There is also a Hello Kitty restaurant that may be found in Taipei, Taiwan.
- There are some reports that Bill Gates once offered $5.6 billion for the rights to Kitty.
- In Yuanlin, Taiwan, a new hospital has recently opened that is entirely Hello Kitty themed!
- Celebs who love Hello Kitty: Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Mariah Carey, Heidi Klum, Lindsay Lohan, Mandy Moore, Kelly Osbourne, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Stefani, Steven Tyler, Miley Cyrus and many other celebrities:)

Love Hello Kitty? You’re Not Alone!

Drink of the day: Iced Tea

Iced tea is one of the most common way to satisfy thirst on a hot summer day.
It require's no special equipment:)
Anyone can do that and save money over purchasing bottled tea at store.

We strongly recommend to use loose-leaf teas instead of tea bags (which are full of..."tea-dust" and usually produce a lower quality tea).





Let's start it:

Jasmine Pearls

Use 2 tsp. of Black Tea Peach Flavor per cup and steep it for 4 - 5 minutes. You can also use Black Tea Rose Flavor  or even Jasmine Pearls Tea.  Be sure to have enough leaves, because you need more than usual. Immediately after the hot tea is brewed, pour it into a glass filled almost to the top with ice. The sudden cooling keeps the flavor and scent of the tea intact.
Finish it off with a slice of lemon or sprig of mint for the perfect glass of refreshing and cool iced tea.

Enjoy!
HappyAvenue.net Team

The "Evil Eye"

The “Evil Eye” sounds negative to someone who hears it for the first time. However, it's very ironic since this symbol isn't evil but rather protective and lucky. The Evil Eye, should be viewed as a guardian angel. There is no country in the world people of which are not familiar with the evil eye and where they do not have their own means of Evil Eye protection. The Evil Eye belief is that a person, otherwise not malefic in any way, can harm you, or your kids, your livestock, or even your fruit trees, by simply *looking at them* with envy and praising them. 

For most people, this just means that we were given a nasty look. However, the Evil Eye dates back to ancient times and it is taken very seriously as a curse in some cultures.

In Hebrew it is "ayin ha'ra" (the evil eye); in mainland Italian it is "mall occhio" (the bad eye);  in Spanish "mall ojo" (the bad eye or just the eye);  in Sicily it is "jettatore" (the projection from the eye) and in Farsi it is "bla band" (the eye of evil); in Greece it is "to kako mati" (the bad eye). 

A summary of Evil Eye beliefs:

Perpetrators:

• Envious people 
• Those who praise children 
• Those who suffer from covetousness 
• Those with blue eyes (xenophobia among brown-eyed racial groups) 
• Childless women 
• People born with the unfortunate propensity to inadvertently project the eye

Etiology:

• Overlooking (old British term; means gazing too long upon coveted item or child) 
• Praising without touching or spitting to void the damage 
• Projection from eye (Sicilian term for one who gives mal occhio is jettatura, from the same root-word as ejaculation and projection)

Victims and possible symptoms:

• Nursing infants (they sicken and cry; their mother's milk may dry up) 
• Young children (they sicken and cry; they may vomit or become listless) 
• Milk cows and milk goats (they dry up) 
• Fruit trees (they wither and die or they do not bear fruit) 
• Fathers and sons (orphans or fathers who have lost sons envy them) 
• Adult men (they become impotent)

Some people that are exposed to the influence of the evil eye, may be very vulnerable and moody in the wrong environment which may harm their social functioning. If you and someone you love feel the influence of other people's negativity or their evil eye, the best thing to do is to ward it off with amulet with this symbol on it. This popular symbol is common to see it on almost anything, from babies to walls!  Colorful beads, rings, bracelets, necklaces, talismans and amulets. 

Believe it or not it’s good to have one:)
www.Happyavenue.net

LadyBug Brings Luck:)

Twilight LadyBug Plush Constellation

People have shown a fondness for ladybugs for hundreds & hundreds of years: 

• as an enemy of aphids (aphids are soft bodied insects that suck the juices out of plants),  

• favored insect of the Virgin Mary, 

• bringer of money & good fortune, 

• and a sign of good luck:)

Ladybug European Charm

Some people are fond of ladybugs because of their colorful appearance. They come in all different colors: reds, yellows, orange, pink, gray, brown and even black.  However, garden-lovers and farmers adore them for their … appetite that helps to protect crops.  By the end of its three-to-six-week life, a ladybug may eat up to 5,000 aphids!

How did the ladybug get its name? 

It is believed, during the Middle Ages in Europe, insects were destroying the crops, so the farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon the Ladybugs came. They saved the crops by eating the pests.The farmers began calling the ladybugs "The Beetles of Our Lady", and after awhile they became known as "Lady Beetles". Cute red wings represented the Virgin's cloak and their tiny black spots represented her joys and sorrows. 

While there are many species of "Ladybugs," the Convergent Ladybug Beetle is the most common. They  also popularly known as ladybird beetles in Europe. In America, the name ladybird was replaced by ladybug. Scientists usually prefer the common name lady beetles.

Interesting Facts:

   

Lady Bug Plush Constellation

• A threatened ladybug may both play dead and secrete the unappetizing substance to protect itself.

• In 1999, NASA sent a few ladybugs into space along with aphids just to see how the aphids could escape their predators in zero gravity.

• The spots on a ladybug fade as the ladybug gets older.

• Today people buy ladybugs in smaller amounts to release into their gardens to have healthy plants without having to use pesticides. You can get some from your local nursery or garden center to use in your garden.

Ladybug European Charm

• The old folk ( "Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are alone") legend says that if you capture one of these cute insects and make a wish, it will come true when the ladybug flies away. If you keep one - it will bring you luck and good health:)

www.HappyAvenue.net

Let's take a deeper look on Shamballa bracelets.

The word "Shamballa" (also spelled Shambhala or Shambala) means  “bliss” (in Sanskrit). This kind of bracelet is not ordinary; it is famous because of the hidden meaning and believes. The history of these bracelets goes back to early Buddhists times. They were made by two ancient brothers, known as the Kornerup brothers. Both brothers have accepted the religious philosophy of the Buddhist and Tibetan, and believe that this particular kind of bracelet will fasten the healing effects of the body. It is said that wearing Shamballa bracelet can bring peace and joy in life.

These simple little beaded accessories are taking center stage with celebrities  and gaining momentum in jewelry and clothing stores everywhere. Yes, this item is now sold all over the world! 

They are made from a cord that is tied in special knots based from macramé. Each and every Shamballa bracelet has its basis cord that is braided to continue to keep together the collection of beautiful beads that are made from gems, stones, and  metals. The beads come in all different colors. Depending on the style, color, and shape, each bracelet has built in individual meanings.

Bracelets were always in common and beautiful pieces of jewelry, especially to women.  Shamballa bracelet is one of the few jewelry accessories men can wear. They are comfortable and easy to put on.  They are also a lot less flashy.  The most popular are white and black. However, there is no limit to these items as part of your wardrobe. 

The names of bracelets match the delicate beauty. "Snowball"  Shamballa Crystal bracelet takes its name from the shrub of the honeysuckle family snowball.  "Rose Of Sharon"  takes it's name from a large hibiscus shrub with lovely rose and white flowers. "Threaded Arbutus Flower " bracelet is given romantic name  from the dainty arbutus tree which carries an old Indian tale of warmth & color. 

Find your own personal connection with Shamballa, explore & generate the energy these sparkling crystals emanate & revitalize your soul on the journey.

HappyAvenue.net

P.S Whatever you’re wearing, make sure you don’t go anywhere without a Shamballa bracelet on your wrist.

Shamballa Macrame Technique