Happy New Year 2012!!!

Wow! Only one more day and 2012 is here. Excited??? Yes. Scared?? Yes..It seems like the older you get, the faster time goes... I'm excited for the New Year to come because I know that every New Year will be a great year.

I already said this, but I 'd like to say it again and thank you all for your wonderful continuing support and your love of my blog. I greatly appreciate it and I hope your support and love continue on into next year.

I wish you and your loved ones a new year full of love, peace, happiness, health, prosperity...and may your wishes come true!!!

Here is a flashback of some of my favorite places where I traveled throughout the past year. Hope you enjoy it. HAPPY 2012!! xo...Hanh :)

Amalfi Coast, Italy.

Mondello, a seaside town in Italy.

Waikiki Beach, US.

Paris, France.

New York, US.

Rome, Italy.

Venice, Italy.

Barcelona, Spain.

Pompeii, Italy.

Punta Mita, Mexico.

Deer Valley Mountain, US.

Lake Tahoe, US.

Corona del Mar beach, US.

La Valletta, Malta.

Monaco.

Florence, Italy.

Lake Saint Cassien, France.

Lake Maggiore, Italy.

Thank you everyone!!! See you next year!! xo....

PS: Don't forget to enter to win $150 Giveaway Gift-New Year Fashion Resolution!

Serbia -- Concern at condition of historic Nis Jewish cemetery

Vandalized tomb in Nis Cemetery, Dec. 22, 2011. Photo courtesy of Jasna Ciric

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

More than seven years after a well-publicized clean-up campaign, the historic Jewish cemetery in Nis, Serbia appears to be once again under threat.


The Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia issued a statement on Wednesday protesting  �catastrophic� conditions in the cemetery and urging authorities to take action.

It said that on a recent inspection visitors found �destroyed and broken monuments, scattered bones, human waste and garbage.� It said that the cemetery was at the mercy of private entrepreneurs who have destroyed one-third of the site by building factories, restaurants and warehouses, while another third of the area is inhabited by Roma families who have built a makeshift village over the graves.

Long abandoned and partially built over and destroyed, the cemetery, which dates back to the 17th century and in 2007 was listed as a national cultural monument, was cleaned up in 2004 in an effort that involved the JDC, Serbian soldiers, and the local Roma community. 

Pictures taken Dec. 22 showed much of the area cleared of undergrowth and the grave markers visible. But Jasna Ciric, the president of the Jewish community in Nis, told me that the situation today was "a horror" and that in some ways was worse than it was in 2004.  "Grave monuments have been smashed with hammers," she said.

She said that on a previous inspection of the cemetery in September, things had been fine and it had been cleaned up.

Now, she said, a telephone line,  sewage drains and water pipes have been introduced in the midst of the cemetery.


"All the established safeguards of the Jewish cemetery in Nis, which under the Law on Cultural Property, have remained only on paper and without respect for the Jewish cemetery or the Jews who are buried there," she said. "Our cemetery is systematically destroyed, all of our long-time efforts and the money invested toward saving  this cemetery are in vain, the city authorities do not understand this issue."

The Federation appealed to the Mayor of Nis, the Ministry of Culture, the Nis Institute for Monuments Protection and other authorities to �once and for all put an end to this vandalism.�

Pictures from Dec. 22, 2011  showing homes and other structures encroaching on the Nis Jewish cemetery. Photos courtesy Jasna Ciric

Giveaway Gift-New Year Fashion Resolution

I can't believe that it's almost 2012! I'd love to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to you all for your wonderful continuing support and your love of my blog. I appreciated it very much and I hope your support and love continue on into next year.

What are your New Year 2012 fashion resolutions? For me, the year 2012, I will: shop less-make more new looks from my existing clothes from my closet, wear matching underwear, and wear a great accessory everyday.

Tell me your fashion resolution to WIN $150. Can't wait to hear what you have planned. For your chance to win it, here are the three rules that you must follow:

1. Tell me your top three fashion resolution of 2012.
2. Follow me on Twitter and re-tweeting the following message (even if you already have followed me, you MUST re-tweeting the following message). Here is the message: Follow @Lifeintravel and RT to win New Year Fashion Resolution Giveaway $150 http://life-in-travel.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-year-fashion-resolution-giveaway.html (doing this rule will give double your chance to win)
3. Follow me on Bloglovin (if you haven't done it yet)

Here are terns and conditions:

• The deadline to enter is January 4th at 12:00 AM (Dallas's time)
• A winner will be randomly picked and announced here on the next day.
• Finally, everyone can enter the giving away.

Thank you for visiting! And Good Luck to you all!!! Happy 2012!!! xo...Hanh :)

Here is the flashback some of my outfits which I wore throughout 2011. Hope you enjoy it!

Winter Time

Hello my fellow readers, I hope you had a wonderful time with your family and friends on Christmas. And thank you everyone for the sweet Christmas wishes!! I truly had an amazing time. I was blessed to be with my family and friends. That's the best present of this Christmas. Now, I'm heading to Utah with my family for a skiing trip and will bring home a lot of beautiful snow photos to share with you. Stay warm and have a lovely day! xo...Hanh :)

Netherlands -- In Amsterdam, the Dutch Queen attends reopening of the Portuguese synagogue after restoration

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended the dedication ceremony in Amsterdam Dec. 20 of the Portuguese Synagogue -- or "Esnoga" -- which was reopened after renovation. She also attended the the first presentation of the synagogue's treasure rooms with many special ceremonial objects.

The synagogue's web site called the occasion "an important moment in the history of this monumental complex."

In January 2010 the current restoration project began. This restoration was necessary because the annexes were in very poor condition and had never previously been restored from the foundations. The aim of the restoration and provision of access was to maintain the Synagogue's authenticity.


Renovation of and rearrangement to ensure easy access to the Portuguese Synagogue is a wonderful and unique addition to the city's cultural features. It will reinforce the cultural and economic infrastructure and make the city and region more attractive for residents and visitors. This heritage is unique, in that it remains a lively building with an equally vibrant community that uses it to this day.


The Esnoga is a pearl for Amsterdam and the Netherlands. In use for centuries, it is now literally opening its doors to the general public. Visitors will be able to view the art treasures, which are maintained according to museum preservation standards, in their natural context. The functional areas will also be made visible and accessible to visitors, who will thus feel like guests in the community. Visiting this historic complex is like taking a stroll through the past and present of a community that has been celebrating its religion and culture for three centuries within these walls.

To see specifics of the restoration, click on the following links:  

Photo from: www.portugesesynagoge.nl

The "Esnoga" and annexes

The main building has undergone quality restoration to the gables, the roofs, the cast-iron windows and the sandstone ornaments. The interior of the synagogue, however, has remained in its original state following the restoration. The building will continue to be lit by nearly one thousand candles in the copper chandeliers.

• Treasure chambers
  
  
  Special climate-controlled spaces will accommodate the valuables of the Portuguese Synagogue. In the future, the concealed treasures will be on public display here.

Jewish and "Jewish" Festivals......Shelly Salamensky's Take

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

My friend Shelley Salamensky muses on three Jewish -- or "Jewish" -- festivals: Krakow, Birobidzhan and Hervas, Spain, in the New York Review of Books blog.

The commercial aspects of Herv�s�s festival�funded by the village�s chamber of commerce as a boon to local business�are hardly unique. Birobidzhan�s cultural renaissance, has, similarly, garnered it development grants from Moscow; while on the fringes of the Krak�w festival, stands sell hook-nosed �Jew� figurines. Yet much more is at stake in both places than profit. In Krak�w, with its rich, traumatic history, the festival is an attempt to confront the still relatively fresh loss of what was once the world�s largest Jewish population, as well as the question of Polish complicity with Nazis in the war, communist suppression of Holocaust history, and continuing European intolerance; it�s also a chance for Poles to reflect on their country�s future as a conservative, culturally monolithic nation in a changing, diversifying Europe. Birobizhan�s Jewish cultural revival appears primarily to enliven an isolated, poor, rather bleak place unremarkable but for its unique history. Despite some silliness and confusion, the more sober efforts to teach Yiddish and Jewish history ensure that important legacies are preserved. And perhaps even theme-park-style memorialization is more salutary than the more common case in places from which vital cultures have more or less vanished: sheer oblivion.

In Hervas, the evocation of a Jewish past is so perfunctory and historically fanciful as to border on the offensive. Stars of David adorn street signs, window grates, and even, for no clear reason, the church. There is a Juder�a Tavern and a Hotel Sinagoga: the former, on inspection, specializing in ham, the latter indistinguishable from a Holiday Inn. On arrival, I was amused by the kitsch; but by my last day, I felt vaguely sick. The empty symbolism cruelly underscored all that Europe has lost.

Happy Holidays!!!

Hello my dear readers! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and an upcoming year filled with love, laughter!

Thank you everyone for the love and continuing support in the past years!! I love you all!!! xo...Hanh :)