LUV THAT » Luv

Supercool vid of Whistler Blackcomb ski resort

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:50:12 +0000

Cool video of the Whistler Blackcomb village and ski resort area done in a tilt shift photography way to make it all look like a cute miniature town.

Tilt shift photography is done using selective focus to simulate a shallow depth of field that creates a miniature look. This can be done with digital processing or optically with a tilt-shift lens.

When winter gives you ice, make sculptures

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 15:30:15 +0000

Sapporo Snow Festival

Head out to Sapporo, Japan this February for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Northern Japan like much of the US and Europe at this time of year is coated in snow and ice; fortunately the artsy locals in Sapporo have turned this normally dreary time of year into something to celebrate by turning everything into a gallery of snow and ice sculptures from fun characters to giant castles many large enough to walk through. The tradition began in 1950 when six local high school students built several snow statues in Odori Park and was cemented as a yearly thing in 1955 when the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculpture. Music and parties now abound this time of year because of the ever increasing number of visitors for the ice sculptures.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Sapporo-Snow-Festival

Sapporo Snow Festival

La Lanterne bed & breakfast in Sarlat France

admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:03:35 +0000

You’ve probably never heard of Sarlat before, but that’s a good thing in this case! Most of the medieval town is protected from change by historical architecture rulings. The area is known locally as the Golden triangle stretching from the Dordogne to the Vezere River to the Capital, Perigueux and Sarlat sits right in the middle! With more local markets, castles, and other attractions than you’ll know what to do with, Sarlat will keep you entertained.

La Lanterne bed and breakfast – Sarlat, France

Dating back to 1503 this stone built property with its shady courtyard nestles in the heart of the Medieval town. The most centrally situated Bed & Breakfast or Chambres d’Hotes in Sarlat, La Lanterne is a quiet oasis in the jumbled weave of alleys and passageways that gives Sarlat its world famous charm. Sarlat boasts of the highest concentration of medieval buildings in the whole of Europe

La Lanterne B&B, Sarlat, France | Rooms €79/night

Beautiful Chateau overlooking the Dordogne valley, France

admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 14:51:56 +0000

A beautiful Dordogne Chateau is an old noble den, restored during the 19th century enjoying a dominant position overlooking the Dordogne valley, it is set on 20 hectares (~50 acres) of land with many outbuildings and majestic views. Accessed via its own private lane of 900 meters, this unique Castle is situated in the heart of the Perigord Noir approx. 15km from Sarlat.

Amazing Dordogne Chateau, France

The main house has 10 bedrooms and 6 baths in addition to the dining room, living room, kitchen, boiler room, library, and domestic room.

Various out buildings:
A detached guest house of 170 sq.m entirely restored in 2004 with 5 bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 bathroom and a terrace. 3 garages, another detached house with 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen, horse stables, and coolest of all old roman ruins situated on the top of the hill!

The nearby medieval town of Sarlat is over 1000 years old, first becoming a city in the 8th century. Amazingly preserved, it is a great place to visit for it’s stone architecture and French small town and country atmosphere.

The best thing about this chateau is that it’s for sale! Unfortunately, they want just under 5 million Euros for it. It’s apparently also for rent for 4000-5000 Euro per week. Uuggghh… probably not in the budget. But this is a really nice example of a castle I would want! Towers galore, plenty of space for the fam to come visit.. with various out buildings to keep the in-laws or hired help and 50 acres surrounding the property to insure your privacy. And it’s not so huge that you need a staff just to keep it vacuumed; though, if you can afford to buy it, the relatively low cost of some staff is probably not your biggest concern.

The Chateau

More info.

Cool new resort hotel – Marina Bay Sands

admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:52:19 +0000

Marina Bay Sands Resort at Night

One of the coolest buildings completed recently is the new Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The SkyPark is a must see destination for your bucket list. At about 60 floors up ..650 feet high (200m) the view of downtown Singapore is perfect from your poolside lounge chair along the 500 foot (150m) long sky high infinity pool …while enjoying the live music and entertainment every Thursday through Monday nights.

marina bay sands pool at night

Marina Bay Sands pool high above the city

Besides the amazing roof-top sky park that is obviously the main claim-to-fame for the Marina Bay Sands, there is so much more to have fun and explore inside the hotel! Restaurants with world class celebrity chefs, a night club, a casino, multi-floor mall in a huge atrium and even an ice skating rink for family fun.

Marina-Bay-Sands Mall

Marina-Bay-Sands Casino

Marina-Bay-Sands Hotel Interior

Don’t forget the amazing Godiva chocolate bar! …indulge while overlooking Singapore.

marina bay sands chocolate bar

Offering 18 types of rooms and suites the Sands has something for your budget and for what you want if you don’t have a budget. lol.

inside marina bay sands club room

See more of the hotel and book your stay at their official site. | marinabaysands.com

Not staying at the Sands? You can still check out the Sands SkyPark Observation Deck. Tickets can only be purchased on location on the day you use them.

Sweet looking Rainbow Colored Flowers.

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:49:31 +0000

Rainbows used to be reserved for chasing pots of gold on a lazy sunday afternoon. But this cool discovery by flower growers River Flowers and FJ Zandbergen & Zn from the Netherlands allows us to have a rainbow spilled onto the petals of any flowering plant! The petals are not painted or directly died by the artist; instead the stem is injected with the color, a special extract, which is strictly controlled and surgically injected exactly to produce the exact color desired and on how many petals the color will affect. The flowers absorb the injected color and become unusually bright and vibrant colors. The new designer flowers will likely start popping up in all sorts of places in the near future. Although it’s still expensive, wouldn’t you like to get your favorite flower in your favorite color… even if that’s not the way nature designed it?

Amazing Rainbow Colored Rose

Amazing Rainbow Colored Daisy

Die Injected Flower Petal

Multi-colored Unique Rose Petals

Amazing multicolored died Iris?

Colored Flower Close Up

Bouquet of Colored Roses

Bouquet of flowers

Rainbow Bouquet of flowers

Rainbow colored rose closeup

Lifeguard with a sense of humor.. pees in pool!

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:23:38 +0000

check out the video of this lifeguard with a great sense of humor! bawahahahahaha!

funny pool amusements

ZORB Fail.

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:24:43 +0000

Zorb Epic Fail… You’ve probably seen an ad or two for ZORB. A weird giant blow-up ball that you get inside of and roll down a hill. Sounds like lots of fun unless you happen to be talking about Zorb when you get hit by a giant ball.. bwahahahah. Watch the video……..

Zorb Epic Fail … Bet you cant guess what's gonna happen!

Vacation Rental Properties

admin — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:35:12 +0000

Just like everyone else I love a good vacation… I also enjoy a great vacation where I don’t have to deal with hotels and annoying people, so a rental property that is secluded and private fits me great, sometimes. Find your vacation rental on Vaykay.

Vaykay is a new start-up business quickly moving up the ranks in search engine results for all things travel related thanks to the vaykay blog and their vacation rental property search. As a special pre-launch offer they are accepting the first 1000 property listings free of charge for one year! So if you own a rental property get on over there and sign up now while you can get in free.

Even if you miss the free offer it’s only $12.95 per month. Which is less than half of what other companies like vrbo and HomeAway are charging.

Vaykay Blog

If you are a vacation goer and avid adventurer be sure to check out the vaykay blog and their great articles on kitesurfing and other superb adventures in various parts of the world.

As they are just getting started, the majority of the properties listed on vaykay seem to be cabin rentals in the Smoky mountains area of East Tennessee; but I’m sure that will change shortly.

A sample of one of their cabin rental listings:

Gatlinburg Cabin Rental on Vaykay

Castles. Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

admin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:48:39 +0000

Disney’s Cinderella Castle. Obviously this should be mentioned..

I like the general style. Don’t like that there’s a lot of fake elements and that even as a child in the magic kingdom I was not inspired by it. It’s simply not big enough to have a real castle feel.

Cinderellas Castle

Cinderellas Castle by Kinkade

Kinkades impression of the castle is more inspiring than actually seeing it in person.

Read my first castle post.