Jane Howard said... "Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

It is around this time of year that family seems to play a bigger role in one's thoughts and activities.

The gathering together around the communal table with specially prepared foods, be they trendy or traditional, time-consuming laborious labors of love or simple one touch can opener delights.

Engagement Rings Over The Internet?

Does buying diamond rings over the Internet remove some of the romance of proposing and shopping for the engagement ring?

What do you think? I'd love your opinion and ideas for creative wedding proposals and whether or not you would buy your fiancee's ring online.

Luxury Homes On The Internet

Shopping for luxury homes? Savvy real estate sellers utilize the power of the blogosphere in their marketing campaign. With well over 70 % of all home property buyers beginning their search online, it makes sense to tap into the full potential of the Internet.

It takes more than just listing on the MLS and on a website with thousands of other advertised properties. You need to make your property stand out. Differentiate your property for sale from all its competition.

This can be done through an effective blitz blogging campaign.

Do Your Homework!

There is nothing quite like the glamour of elegantly positioned outdoor lighting in the home landscape.

Evening lights when done with the right touch can cast a spell of magic in a space and add just the right degree of drama.

When investing in outdoor lighting... do your homework! Study what features to play up, research, research, research and you won't be disappointed.

Relief for Migraines

Botox for migraines? Sure why not!

When the hammering pain of a headache demands quick relief, what do you reach for?

Bayer, Excedrin or perhaps Tylenol?

Or are you like me and massage the temples and whisper petitions of healing to the powers that rule in the Heavens above? This is my first line of defense, but in nagging cases, I also opt for a little help from the medicine cabinet to accompany my prayers.

I hear that Botox works wonders in stopping the drumming and pain of a migraine. Anyone know anything about this cure? Does it work?

Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Getaway

Pigeon Forge cabin rentals are a great idea for Thanksgiving or holiday getaway weekends.

This year I'm in transition from one residence to another. so I don't know that I could really afford the time to leave town. But ah, it would be so nice to escape to a mountaintop getaway far from the maddening crowds of the city.

Did you know that over 70 % of property investors begin their search for real estate online?

That is pretty amazing!

So does knowing that useful tidbit of information impact how you are spending your marketing dollars?

What if you could invest in advertisement that keeps working for you continually 24-7, even after you sell each property?

Savvy promoters of any sort of property, product or service include the dynamic power of the blogosphere into their arsenal of strategies. How do you do this? It could take you years to figure it all out or you could enlist the services of a blogger 4 hire like Kathi Dameron, the creator of the Tallahassee Property Showcase blog.

An Important Function, Indeed

What a numbing thought ricocheted across my imagination yesterday as I signed on to my aol account. The public service message warned users that every word they type online will be forever imprinted in the archives of the Internet.

What would some future sociologists make of all our scattered ramblings? Especially those ramblings written while under a time crunch to get the job done.

Thinks like links to products colon cleanse that I post on my blogs. It's not really any different than the advertising in a newspaper, magazine or any sort of media. Advertising serves an important function. It keeps the publication operating.

Shopping For Real Estate

Shopping for real estate has always been something that I enjoy doing. It is fun to dream about how one's life might unfold in different settings and scenarios. And yet it is so easy to get locked into one lifestyle, whether it works for us or not.

Take me for example, I've stayed in Tallahassee all these years. But the question that people sometimes ask me is,"why?"

Why stay in a place that you don't have family or the type of kindred spirits that really feed your soul on that deep and nurturing level.

That is a good question and perhaps the reason for my restlessness and passion for checking out Scottsdale real estate

Extending Credit?

Accounts receivable problems was not a big issue for me in my business. In my business I operated in a payment up-front or at the very least, payment at the time of the event.

I didn't have time to run down bad debts. It was pay as you go. But the problem was if somehow someone slipped through the cracks, especially during busy, busy times I may have forever forgotten that they still owed me money. That is not good business!

I've never been one to want to open a business and extend thirty or sixty day credit.
Seems like you are just asking for trouble and unless you enlist the services of a commercial collection agency, you could end up with a real accounts receivable headache, when it comes to meeting your own bills of staying in business.

Natural Products

I'm starting a series of cooking classes. But not all my classes are going to cover edible fare. Some of the classes will feature decorative arts and crafts projects for the holidays and other classes will feature how to make your own natural cosmetics, skin care and other beauty products.

I love whipping up homemade skin care products, but I don't always have the time.

That is why I like surfing over to skinceuticals on the Internet.

Shopping For Wedding Bands... Not Me! Thank You Very Much!

I told this guy that there was no way that I was going to marry him. We hadn't even known each other a week and he was going off about going shopping for wedding bands. Imagine that.

Seems to me that you should know someone at least a year before you start talking about spending the rest of your life together.

Any Suggestions?

The question that always plagues me is should I or shouldn't I invest in a new laptop before I invest in a new pc.

If I'm going to spend a good bit of time on the go, then the laptop makes perfect sense. But if the laptop isn't going to be mobile, then why bother?

PC s seem to be easier to work with in a stationary position.

Any suggestions?

A Branson Fall Getaway

When I was attending school at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri I absolutely fell in love with Branson.

My favorite weekend happened each fall when we took our annual school trip to Silver Dollar City.

Another favorite time was when my Pillsbury Dough Beau from back home came to Missouri for a long weekend. (Ssh! Don't tell my parents!) We actually went and stayed in a rustic cabin on a lake in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was a simply dreamy weekend, the autumn colors were at their peak and being with T. all weekend - far, far away from the monastic lifestyle of an all-woman's college of the 1970's was heavenly!

The Venetian

While the city of lost wages often gets a bad rap from moralistic do-gooders who are out to save the world, it might be beneficial to stop and check out the benefits that gaming has delivered to the state of Nevada.

In Florida, perhaps gaming will become a far greater reality. Rather than look at the seedy side of it, I choose to look at the positive benefits derived in bolstering our state's economic engine.

Perhaps I am naive, for I recognize that I often tend to look at life through rosy tinted shades.

No, I'm not a gambler. My jaunts to Vegas were strictly for educational conferences and not the slot machines. But I don't hold any prejudice against others who choose gambling as their choice of entertainment. Live and let live!

If Vegas is on your agenda, I hear the ...Venetian hotel is a swell place to stay.

He Will Help Us If Only We Ask

Just because someone has gone through drug rehab, doesn't mean that they should be disregarded.

Everyone has some sort of problem. No one on this side of Heaven is perfect. Only one was perfect and now he sits at the right hand of the Father.

So whatever your problem is... drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling, overeating, etc, etc, etc... there is one who loves you and cares about you and even though we see a picture of our Savior sitting, he is also very active and involved in this world. He wants the best for each of us... and the best is not for us to be shackled to the broken and inferior things of this world, but instead it is being aligned to HIS divine will for our lives, where by being on mission with HIM we can fulfill our God-given purpose for our time on this earth. How awesome is that?

Only an extraordinary and loving GOD could take all of our mistakes and brokeness and reinvent us in the image of what HE had in mind for us since the beginning of time.

It is ok we messed up... after all we are only human! He will help us if we simply open our hearts to him and ask him to come into our lives and help us.

Prayer Beads

There is something deliciously romantic when your beau places a piece of jewelry on you.

Yesterday the special man in my life placed a long strand of prayer beads around my neck.

Listening and watching him explain how to use the prayer beads was a real turn-on!

There is something very exciting to me about a man who seeks a higher authority for the questions of life.

Tasty Ideas For The 2007 Holiday Season

Homemade edible gifts make some of the best tasting christmas gift ideas.

This holiday season I'll be teaching a class on creating food gifts for the holidays. Don't miss it!

Looking for other great ideas? Canvas On Demand has some cool offerings for the 2007 Holiday Season

Pay For Performance

Let's just pay for performance!

How many times in life do we have to pay for things regardless of whether or not they perform as expected?

What is up with that? It is a rip off! We need a new paradigm. We need a seismic shift in the way we do things and the way we compensate the things that deliver on the big promises.

Then maybe... we will get our money's worth.

Let's Do Business With Businesses That Do Business With Us!

After ten months of writing periodic postings about Orlando vacation homes, is it any wonder that the first name that comes to my mind when contemplating a jaunt to Central Florida is Moremouse?

I say, its just good business sense to do business with companies that do business with us!

Why would we even consider doing business with someone who doesn't give us business when they have the opportunity to do so?