Get Organized for Wedding Planning!

 by: Stacey Agin Murray

You’ve had friends to your home for dinner. Maybe you’ve hosted a Super Bowl party or two. But have you ever planned and coordinated an event for 50-300 guests?

If you haven’t, then welcome to the world of wedding planning.

Caterers, florists, and other wedding-related companies will be banging down your door to get your business. Friends and relatives will offer advice, phone numbers, and web sites for you to check out. How will you juggle the multitudes of research and information from those who want your day to be special? The key to smooth and stress-reducing wedding planning is…

Being Organized

Being organized is the art of having the things you need when you need them whether it is a brochure, a phone number, or a picture of your ultimate bridal bouquet. And no one recognizes the need to be organized more than someone who is planning a wedding. A few organizing techniques you can use to help you plan your wedding are the consistent use of a calendar/PDA and making ‘to-do lists.’ But what about all of those wedding-related papers you’ve accumulated? Estimates from caterers, song sheets from bands, and all of those pictures you tore out of magazines–how are you supposed to keep them all organized?

The Wedding Binder

The top tool for organized wedding planning is a ‘Wedding Binder.’ Besides your future spouse, your ‘Wedding Binder’ will be the closest thing to a best friend you’ll have during your engagement period. The wedding binder is essentially a ‘home’ for all wedding-related information. Each topic will have a specific area in the binder allowing for quick referencing and retrieval.

How should you build your wedding binder to work best for you?

The size of your wedding and how many ‘extras’ you incorporate into your wedding day (ex. ice sculptures, doves) will determine the size of your binder. If you are having a small, simple gathering or you’re not doing much research, you may not need more than a 1″ spine. Large gatherings with many ‘extras’ will probably require a binder with upwards of a 3″ spine.

Besides the binder itself, you will need:

• three hole punched, two-sided pocket folders

• extra wide dividers or self adhesive divider tabs for the pocket folders

• three hole punched, zippered pocket for pen/pencils/paper clips (optional)

One, two-sided pocket folder is usually enough room for the paperwork of one vendor. One side of the pocket folder is for ideas and research and the other side is for estimates and contracts. Keeping these different types of information separate will allow you to locate them and retrieve at a moment’s notice.

Examples of some categories for your pocket folders are…

• Catering

• Photography

• Bridal Gown

• Transportation

• Ceremony/Officiant(s)

• Honeymoon

Assemble the pocket folders in order of importance to you. If you are constantly making calls to your caterer, place that folder towards the front of the binder. Already know what favors you want to give out? Place that folder towards the back.

What other information can be stored in your wedding binder?

• Guest lists/gift lists

• E-mail/phone list of bridal party members

• Seating charts

• A print-out of your registry

Benefits to using a wedding binder

• Money-saving benefit: You’re always prepared when a vendor wants to talk about price. If someone quotes you a price in writing and you can’t produce the paper it’s written on, they could try to charge you more money for their services.

• Time-saving benefit: Since all of your information has a ‘home,’ you won’t be wasting your time printing duplicate information off the internet or repeatedly asking for the addresses of your guests.

• Sanity-saving benefit: All of your wedding information is in one place. No need to take apart your living room looking for what you need.

Tips for keeping an organized wedding binder:

• Label the pocket folders clearly

• Place new papers/information in the correct pocket of your binder as soon as you receive them.

• Sort and purge your binder once a month. Toss any information that is no longer relevant in the trash or in a folder for a friend or relative who may need it in the future.

Always bring your wedding binder with you when meeting with your vendors. You’ll have all the information you need to compare prices and make educated decisions. You will be organized, prepared and in control of your special day.

About The Author

Stacey Agin Murray, professional organizer and owner of Organized Artistry, LLC, transforms mess into masterpiece with patience, organizing know-how, and a sense of humor. For a free e-list of ‘Top Ten Tips for Organized Living,’ or to order your copy of ‘7 Steps to an Organized Wedding Thank You Note’ visit http://www.organizedartistry.com.

stacey@organizedartistry.com

Source: http://www.365articles.com

Everyday more and more computers are becoming infected with Spyware and Adware (advertising tracking). No matter where you go on the web, someone is trying to sneak something on your computer. From honest web sites placing simple logon cookies, to paid advertising tracking your movements on the web, to malicious software that is designed to record your keystrokes and discover your passwords, Spyware and Adware have together become the web’s number one problem.

Many of these programs are down right dangerous and seriously threaten your online privacy and identity. But even the simple and supposedly benign Adware programs can cause you serious problems.

Spyware is any program that installs itself onto your computer with the intent to spy on your activity. This can be recording your online searching habits, or whatever you type on your keyboard. Adware is not much better. It is designed to watch what you do online, where you go, which terms you search for and then report this to the ad agency that runs the adware program.

Adware programs may be designed with the best intentions in mind, but even these can cause your computer serious problems.

Here is what happens. Many, if not most, advertisers on the internet will try and place a cookie or other small program on your computer. Many will add code that will track that cookie as it hits different pages. The code may be designed simply to gather anonymous data, or it may be trying to send ads to your browser that the advertising company thinks you will be more likely to respond to.

Whatever the case, the Adware or Spyware is using your computer to do its tracking. This means that part of your computer’s power and CPU cycles are being diverted away from the activity you are trying to perform. Your computer is being used by someone else instead to track your movements. Now, when we multiply this behavior by tens or hundreds of Adware or Spyware programs all trying to use your computer for their work you can begin to see the problem.

These programs can literally slow your computer down to a crawl, or make it crash altogether. They can fill your computer up with trash files, open unwanted popup windows, use up the space in your internet cache and generally just make working on your computer a nightmare.

Luckily there are several easy solutions to the problem. But first let me make one distinction, Spyware and Adware are not the same thing as a computer virus. Although a computer virus can install spyware on a computer, you will need different tools to remove a computer virus and to keep your system clean from Spyware and Adware. You should be using both a high quality commercial anti-virus program and one or more good quality programs for handling the spyware/adware problem.

There are several good Spyware/adware programs on the market. I use two different programs on my network, Ad-aware from Lavasoft and Spy Sweeper from Webroot Software although there are several others. You can easily find both of these by doing an internet search for Ad-aware and Spy Sweeper. Or simply do a search for spyware. Both of these programs will scan your hard drives and registry and present you with a list of spyware/adware programs hiding on your system. You can then quarantine or remove the offending programs. I use both of these programs since neither one seems to catch everything. Plus I will run them 2 or more times in a row, the nastier spyware will not be completely removed on the first pass.

The process is very easy and I recommend running these programs at least once a week and every time you have been doing some extended web surfing. You will be surprised at how many of these spyware/adware programs will sneak onto your system. I run a very clean network and I have yet to scan my system and not come up with at least a few of these hiding on my hard drive.

So be aware of the problem, take reasonable precautions, scan your system frequently, and the spyware/adware curse can be broken.

Copyright 2005 - George Peirson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You’re looking around to join your first online program or just looking to diversify your existing revenue streams.

There are many programs on the net, all claiming to be the best. Some will take you forward and some will take your money. How do you decide which is the best online program for you?

Here are 12 tips to finding the right one:

1. Longevity. Just like the offline world, programs come and go. You will invest a lot to promote your new online program. You need to be sure they will be still be in business in the years to come. Some of the best have been around 20 years or more. There is a reason why they are still there. Look for a program, which has been in business for at least 2 years.

2. Safety in numbers. If many other people have joined of this program, it means a good cross section of the community feels there is something there for them. The larger the member base, the better the chance that you too will be successful.

3. Product Line: A broad product line is very important. Partly because the larger the product range the more people you will be able to sell something to. Secondly, because you will want to grow the number of products you sell over time. Having a broad product range means you don’t have to join another program to add a product to your line.

4. Pricing: The pricing of the program’s products must be in line with its competitors. It is easy to check pricing on the net. Potential customers will do the same before buying your product.

5. Training. The Internet is constantly evolving and we must all constantly retrain to survive. A program with a comprehensive training program will ensure you keep up with the play with a minimum of effort.

6. Induction program. When starting with a new program you have lots of questions about the products, the compensation plan and marketing support. Its important the program has a good induction system to get you up to speed as quickly as possible. It’s also very important that the people you introduce to the organisation are trained quickly and with minimal effort from you. This allows you to focus on growing your downline.

7. Marketing tools. If the program provides you with tools like web pages, auto responders, hit tracking counters, banners, sample promotional copy, downline management systems etc you obviously don’t need to provide your own. This means two things. Firstly it minimises your costs and secondly saves you a lot of time setting them up.

8. Reputation. It’s more profitable to promote a program with a good reputation. Make sure the program is viewed as reputable in the marketplace. One way to do this is to conduct a search using the program’s name and the word “scam”. Do the same for a number of programs and you’ll soon get a feel for their reputation.

9. Profitability. The best online programs make money for their owners and for the people who work in them. Satisfy yourself that the program provides a profit for all.

10. Sales commission. Beware programs that pay very high affiliate commissions. If a program pays very high commissions the product may be over priced (a problem) or the program may not have a viable business model (also a problem)

11. Compensation plan. Ensure there is provision in the compensation plan for you to benefit from your direct sales and from the efforts of those you introduce to the business. Also look for a program, which pays residual income (sell it once, get paid forever) as well some up front payment.

12. Free look. The best online programs will allow you to join for free before signing up. These programs have nothing to hide.

With these 12 tips you can now determine the best online program for you.

Good hunting and here’s to your success!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Discover The Shocking Truth About Russian Women

 by: Marina Smiley

Every agency on the Internet features young, captivating Russian girls on their feature pages. Beautiful to look at, alluring, smiling, just waiting for you to take them as a bride. As you look at these beautiful young women, you ask yourself, will these women be able to love ME, as the agencies promise!!??

Are they as beautiful in person as they are in their photos, which are plastered all over the Internet? Well, the short answer to your question is…..Yes, they are beautiful, just as most young girls, all over the world, are and as all young girls, they dream about a handsome young man, coming to sweep them of their feet.

The key word here is YOUNG, so how can you believe a agency who promises you that these young women will be happy to marry a man much older then they are? What do you think? Is it possible? What about young women in your own country?

You need to understand that this is a business. A business promoting foreign women, willing to leave their country for a husband and new life. Every dating/marriage agency on the web has their share of fairy tales about these May to December marriages How some young thing just adores her old, aging foreign husband. Be very careful when you see these kind of testimonials.

If it was true, you would see a lot of these kinds of marriages in Russia. It is very seldom that you will meet a family or couple, where the husband is more than 3-5 years older. In fact, in Russia, people who are in the midst of trying to marry, are almost the same age, usually no more than a one - three year age difference.

Human nature being what it is, we all want to believe in some for of magic and the advertising business attempts to use our belief in magical things happening to us very much to their advantage. This scenario of young Russian women wanting to meet and marry older men is no different than believing in the advertisements that there are magic pills to make you lose 20 pounds in 2 days, or some scheme to GET RICH in 24 hours.

If you are interested in a Russian woman, at least be wise enough and choose a Russian woman who will match your life interests and your age. Don’t believe these advertisements that tell you that young Russian girls are happy to marry men much, much older than they are.

About The Author

Copyright 2003 International Soulmate

Marina Smiley is the author of “Your Russian Bride-

The Shocking Truth”

This eBook is available through

http://www.truthaboutrussianbrides.com

Get Your Free Report

The 5 Key Tips That You Have To Know About Russian Women

mailto:russianbrides@getresponse.com

Source: http://www.365articles.com

Do you have lots of JavaScript coding in the header section of your web pages? Do you re-list your CSS styles at the top of every page? Do you have JavaScript coding spread throughout your web pages?

If you answered yes to any of these questions your site may be driving away search engine spiders and losing search engine position ranking.

As you can imagine search engine spiders have a lot of pages to get through on the web when they are indexing sites. To improve their speed and efficiency search engines program their spiders to give up easily if they have problems with a page or if they have to wade through too much code to find the relevant content.

This is one of the reasons why it is so important to put your keywords as close to the top of the page as possible. This way the search bot will see the keywords before giving up and moving on to the next page.

But what do you do if you have lots of JavaScript code or CSS styles pushing your keywords down the page in your coding? You need to find a way to cut down on all that code that gets in the way of the search engines properly indexing your page.

We do this by moving the JavaScript and CSS styles off the page and into external files. This is a fairly easy and straight forward process and can have the added benefit of making your pages load faster as well, which the search engines also like.

In many ways CSS styles and JavaScript work in a similar fashion. You set up functions in a script or formatting in a style sheet section, and then refer to that section in your html code. For instance if you have a JavaScript that displays a clock on your page you would have the JavaScript functions for the clock listed in your head section, then you would simply call that function from the place on the page where the clock would be displayed.

Similarly with CSS you set up your styles ahead of time in a Styles section of the page head, then you simply refer to the styles as needed in your html coding. One benefit of this is that it cuts down dramatically on the amount of formatting code needed when compared to using Font tags.

If you want to use the same JavaScript or CSS styles on a different page you could copy all that code onto the new page. But this would cause two distinct problems, first you would be adding a lot of code to each page and second if you wanted to make a change to the JavaScript or CSS styles you would need to do so on every page that the code had been copied onto.

Both of these problems can be solved simply by using external files. You create one external file for your CSS and another file for your JavaScript. These could be named mysite.css for the CSS and mysite.js for the JavaScript. These files can be created in any plain text editor or html code editor, they are nothing more than files that contain most of the CSS or JavaScript code from the web pages.

With JavaScript you have an opening JavaScript tag, then a comment tag, then assorted functions and what not, followed by a closing comment tag and a closing JavaScript tag. Your external file would start with the opening comment tag, contain all the functions and such, and end with the closing comment tag. You would leave both the opening and closing JavaScript tags in the html page. If you have more than one JavaScript on the page you can move all the code into one external js file. Simply copy it into the file in the same order as it exists in the JavaScript tags on the html page. You will only need the one pair of opening and closing comment tags.

Once your JavaScript is moved off the page you will need to tell the web page where to find it. This is done in the JavaScript tag that was left on the page in the head section. Right now this will be an opening JavaScript tag placed right up against the closing JavaScript tag, with no additional code in between. You will place the reference to the external JavaScript code inside the opening JavaScript tag like this:

script language=”JavaScript” type=”text/JavaScript” src=”mysite.js”

Placing CSS styles in an external file is handled in exactly the same manner. Move the styles into the external file, and then refer to that external file with your style tag in the head section of the web page like this:

link href=”mysite.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css”

An added benefit of moving the code into external files is that you can then change the styles of your whole site simply by changing the code in the one external file.

Once you have moved the code into external files you will have greatly simplified the code on each page. This will take you a long way towards making your pages lean and mean, and very search engine friendly.

You can find sample external files for this article on my web site at: www.howtogurus.com/free-articles.html

Copyright 2005 - George Peirson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This Mother’s Day — Give The Gift Of Fitness

 by: Lynn Bode

Do you know a Mom that deserves a special gift this year for Mother’s Day? I’m sure you know at least one, if not more. Sure, flowers can always brighten a Mom’s day and a dinner out is always appreciated. But, doesn’t she deserve something more personal, something that won’t wilt and something that lasts longer than an evening? This year give that special woman a gift that will improve her well being.

I’m talking about the gift of fitness. Improved fitness is a gift that is invaluable to everyone. After all, what woman doesn’t want to look better, have more energy, and be healthier? Plus, all Moms need to take time for themselves, but most are reluctant to schedule that “me” time. So, give them a gift that will help encourage them to enjoy some alone time .

When you give a woman the gift of fitness, you are helping her open a door to better health (both physically and mentally). I can’t think of a more thoughtful gift that shows the recipient how much you care about their well being. By giving the gift of fitness you are providing them with unlimited health benefits. And, it’s a gift that you can truly feel proud to give.

Of course, we all know that exercise can help people stay slim and fit. But, do you also know about all the other great benefits of exercising? Daily physical activity reduces stress and can help you sleep better. Fitness has been linked to reducing the risk of some diseases and to warding off depression. Researchers also believe that strength training can help prevent osteoporosis. Not to mention that exercise also improves self-esteem, increases stamina and ultimately helps you be able to do continuous work for longer.

All Moms would find these fitness benefits incredibly invaluable. If she is like most of us, she’s probably even mentioned how she would like to drop a few pounds or just get in better shape. In fact, experts say that about 62% of Americans are currently on a diet. By giving the gift of fitness you are helping provide her with extra motivation (which is one of the biggest obstacles in getting fit). She may be more motivated to actually get fit because she doesn’t want to feel guilty for ignoring such a thoughtful gift (personal training gift certificates and gym memberships are especially good for helping with motivation).

While fitness gifts are incredibly valuable, they don’t have to be expensive. Gifts can cost as little as $5 or range into the $100s of dollars. Here are a few suggestions in the various price ranges:

Under $15:

• Resistance Band

• Dumbbells

• Jump Rope

• Exercise Mat

$15 - $35

• Fitness Ball

• Online Personal Training Program (custom designed for the gift recipient)

• Home Exercise Video

• Heart Rate Monitor

Over $35

• Full dumbbell and barbell set

• Treadmill

• Bicycle

• Yoga Kit

Giving something that supports health and wellness will be appreciated for years to come and may even turn someone’s life around. The gift of fitness will make her feel special – she’ll know that someone cared enough to give her the opportunity to improve her health. And, giving a gift that will help someone lead a healthier life is also one of the most rewarding gifts you can give. So why spend another Mother’s Day searching for the perfect gift only to end up with the same old things? Surprise her this year and give the gift that comes from the heart and truly keeps on giving throughout summer and beyond.

Want to enjoy the benefits of improved fitness for yourself? There’s no need to wait for someone to give you the gift of fitness. Treat yourself to a special fitness gift – you deserve it!

About The Author

Written by Lynn Bode, founder of WorkoutsForYou.com. Workouts For You provides affordable online exercise programs to help even the busiest of Moms lose weight, tone-up, build muscles, increase stamina and more via the Internet. Get fit either at or away from home. Let our certified trainer guide you one-on-one through your fitness journey. Visit: http://www.workoutsforyou.com for a free sample workout.

info@workoutsforyou.com

Source: http://www.365articles.com

Aromatherapy : A scent away for great relationships

 by: Caroline Therancy

Is it possible that a scent can make you more mellow and increase dramatically the relation with you and your mate? Can you calm the kids down instantly? Do you wish that you would feel and look more in control for the big meeting? Thousands of people around the world have discovered the powerful benefits of Aromatherapy. And you can do it to.

With the stress involve in our way of living today, we get psychological and physiological consequences to our fragile health. We spend more of our hard earned money on over-the-counter medication or on prescriptions to help cure our little and bigger pains.

The power of Aromatherapy could help you lead to a better outlook of life And keep more money in your pocket.

But what is Aromatherapy exactly?

Aromatherapy is the art and practice of using essential oils extracted from aromatic plants and herbs to restore or enhance health, beauty and well being. Aromatic molecules interact with the tops of your nasal cavity and gives the signal to the limbic system (the emotional switchboard of the brain). The limbic system is directly connected to the part that controls the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress level and hormone balance.

And it works. For example, we use Vicks for our colds, sinusitis and sore throat. It contains Eucalyptus. For me, it’s the only treatment that I find effective for Bronchitis, despite antibiotics treatment.

Let’s talk about Lavender. Lavender is multi use oil; it has strong psychological effects and physiological cures.

We find Lavender in the France. That flower has a fresh, sweet, floral scent. It has calming effect; smell it when you are stressed in the traffic, or at work, or right before an exam because Lavender has calming proprieties for panic attacks, stress, anxiety and even depression! It’s a gentle narcotic for mental and physical strain.

Some couples use Lavender base candles during giving birth to have the most calming experience, for the mother and for the new born. Other people burn a candle on a regular basis, after a surgery to help cope with the pain. You can also do it to calm the kids in the house! Or, for an anticipated quiet night at home with you lover…

Lavender is a good antibiotic for the skin. If your child has cuts and burnings, you can apply creams or lotion with enough concentration of the oil to prevent infection. It also reduces scaring.

Another good aromatic oil is Rosewood. It origins from a native tree in Brazil. It has a psychological effect of balancing, uplifting and enliving. You can use it before an interview, or a business meeting, or even before a hot date! If you are feeling down or lack of “joie-de-vivre” this aromatic essence can change your state of mind and make you look like an enjoyable person (save on alcohol or drugs here!).

Rosewood is also good to treat sensitive of aged skin, because it stimulates the regeneration of the skin.

You can use Aromatherapy in different forms; candles, shower gels, soap, bath mousse, diffuser, potpourri, spray for the room, etc… whatever you feel comfortable with. There is a good selection on www.quixtar.com - IBO #3378953 There are 4 lines of products: FloraCalm, PureForest, Vitafruits and AquaSpa.

You can use aromatherapy for different emotional well-being; you can treat anger, anxiety, confidence, depression, burnout, loneliness, concentration, etc…

With all the chemicals that float in the air, in the water and in our food, those can produce chemical imbalance in the brain and change our moods and alter the relation that we have with the people in our lives.

The use of aromatic products is a cheap solutions for better health and an happier life.

All those aromatic products can help you have better relationship with your mate (or the opposite sex), with your business associates, at social events, in your home, etc…. to be able to obtain more out of life because of the uplifting attitude that you’ll get. Be careful of buying too cheap; make sure that you are buying quality products with enough concentration to get the beneficial effects.

Wishing you great moments!

About The Author

Who is Caroline? She is a growing expert on love, relationship, romance because she is reading a lot

on the subject. She is presently in a fulfilling relationship and she is gladly sharing her knowledge and experience. To continue receiving tips on how to get the love life that you want, you can subscribe free to her newsletter at http://everydaybetterliving.netfirms.com and receive a free gift.

Source: http://www.365articles.com

How many ways can you get free web site traffic? Who knows, but here are some to get you started. Hopefully there will be one or two ways here that you haven’t yet tried.

1. Submit your web site to search engines. Don’t wait for them to find you. You can automatically submit to 20 at freewebsubmission.com. You’ll have to submit manually to Google (www.google.com/addurl.html).

2. Directories. Do a search for niche directories for the topic of your website. Just type in “directory + online games,” or whatever your site is about. There are also many general directories that accept submissions for free. The primary value of directories is not direct traffic, however. It is the links that help your ranking (and therefore traffic) with the search engines.

3. Forums. A great source of traffic for some sites. Talk about things of interest to you, and get free traffic to your web site (always sign off with a link). You may want to link to subscription pages for newsletters or e-courses you offer, to get maximum repeat visits from the traffic.

4. Free classifieds. There are many places that you can advertise for free, although few of them seem to be of any value. Test a little, and go with the ones that deliver.

5. Exchange Links. Exchanging links with other web sites can get you free traffic in two ways: traffic from the site, and traffic from the search engines, because the link helps your ranking with them.

7. Give testimonials. Do you love an e-book or other online product? Tell the author, and let her know she can use your testimonial. Mention that you’d appreciate it if she left the link to your site (under your name) active. Good testimonials are valuable, and you’ve probably seen them with a name and link attached.

8. Write articles. A great way to generate free web site traffic. In fact, thats what this article is about, and I have to tell you that there are at least ten more ways to get free traffic in my newsletter. You may want to visit the site and sign up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR