I’m not quite as bold as I used to be when I was younger.

I tend to do my shopping during the day now. I don’t go on nighttime walks in neighborhoods I don’t know very well. In general, I am more leery of strangers. There are just too many incidents of women being attacked, even during the day.

Now that I am a single again, I do most of my errands alone or with my daughter. I am trying to instill in Gigi a sense of WHY I like to get in and out of the car as quickly as possible. Why I like to park near a store doors and under good light. Why we don’t just go meandering off into the dark.

I’m not a gun person. I just as soon not own one. On the other hand, I do want to have something with me that I can use if I need to defend myself. Florida is groovy, in that it is legal to carry certain non-lethal self-defense items like pepper spray, mace and some stun guns. Because of that, I am now the proud owner of a Stun Master ‘Hot Shot’ Stun Gun. It’s a small device that requires direct contact in order to work, but in the event that I am being bodily attacked, I can use it to render the attacker helpless for long enough to get away. I like the idea of leaving the creep sitting on the ground drooling while I have the time to go find help.

Now, I would test it for you, my dear readers, but I’m pretty sure finding a willing subject is going to be impossible. So, I will just show you how easy to carry the stun gun is. It looks like a pager or maybe a garage door opener. Some cell phones fold up to about the size of the Hot Shot, so basically it’s just as convenient to tote around as your phone. We all do that anyway. Here is how it looks in your hand:

It puts off 975,000 volts so if you can make contact for just half a second, you will be able to startle an attacker and maybe even cause some muscle contractions. 1-2 seconds will cause some spasms and a dazed mental state. If you can contact for 3-5 seconds, then the assailant will become confused, disoriented and lose both balance and muscle control. It’s not a permanent state, so the stun gun is pretty much ensuring you can have the time you need to get away. You’re not using deadly force, but you’re probably saving your own life.

The stun gun comes from Security Solutions, an online provider of self defense products. They’ve got pretty much anything you could ask for: stun guns, pepper spray, mace, home protection products, child safety devices, and even a FREE newsletter you can sign up for that provides life-saving tips. Go ahead and sign up for that newsletter first thing when you check out the site, so you don’t forget.

Florida Info:
790.01 Carrying concealed weapons: (4) It is not a violation of this section for a person to carry for purposes of lawful self-defense, in a concealed manner: (b) a nonlethal stun gun or remote stun gun or other nonlethal electric weapon or device which does not fire a dart or projectile and is designed solely for defensive purposes. Section 790.053 Open carrying of weapons (2) a person may openly carry, for purposes of lawful self-defense: (b) a nonlethal stun gun or remote stun gun or other nonlethal electric weapon or device which does not fire a dart or projectile and is designed solely for defensive purposes.  

The Girly Things free hair bows site is getting bigger and bigger. I have been able to make updates almost weekly of late. This past weekend, I uploaded free instructions for Loopy Surround-a-Bows, How to Line a French Barrette, and How to Fluff a Bow. These are fantastic step-by-step tutorials, complete with fantastic color photos. It’s never been so easy to make cute hair accessories.

We’ve got instructions coming down the pike for wipe case covers, braided headbands, and a couple of other exciting designs. Stay Tuned.

I have put together time capsules on several occasions. We did one when I was in elementary school I do not remember who was supposed to open it and I still wonder if the contents are on display at the school, or still buried deep in the group.

My sister and I made one and put it in a hole in the yard of our childhood home. I guess it will only be found if someone decides to dig a garden or plant a new tree.

Along with a group of friends, I put together a time capsule that we put into the side of a hill in Morgantown, WV in 1995. Someone was supposed to have removed it two years back, but I never did hear anything about it. I haven’t lived there for a while now, so I can’t do it.

Time capsules are fun to pout together, but you usually have to have a plan in place so that someone knows when to dig it up and that it’s even there at all. ?

Times are changing, though. Welcome to the age of virtual time capsules! The 100 Year Website has a novel idea.

You gather together all your pictures, video and audio clips, thoughts and writings in a virtual time capsule. You don’t have to be computer savvy; they have a Wizard to take you through the whole process in a simple, step by step process. Once you activate your capsule, you can add content to it for the next 365 days.

Then, the capsule’s contents are ready to be viewed for the next 100 years. You can leave it open for everyone to see, password protect it for your chosen few, or virtually bury it until a date up to 100 years from now. You can even choose an option to have a certificate representing your capsule send to you in an attractive metal tube. That helps if you feel the real need to actually bury something in the dirt in your backyard.

Their unique archiving system at http://www.the100yearwebsite.com/ is what allows them to offer the guarantee that your capsule will be there in 100 years. Your files are kept in duplicate and backed up regularly.

I think this is one of those unique gift ideas that makes a great impression when you have no idea what else to give someone. It’s charming and memorable and completely customizable.

I really enjoy home made ice cream, and if that is not an option I prefer Breyers. It is the closest you can find on the market to plain old-fashioned churned ice cream. When you make a basic batch of ice cream, it will typically be as simple as sugar, vanilla, milk and cream. Or, you can cook a custard base and add the milk. Either way, the ingredients are minimal.

Tonight I took Gigi, along with my sister and nephew, to Baskin Robbins to have a quasi ice cream party. She was not able to attend the ice cream party at school, because it was for the students who met the unreasonably high selling goal for their fundraiser. I still felt like Gigi deserved some ice cream, so we just made our own party.

Even armed with a fistful of half-off coupons, the four of us still spent over $7. That could have bought a couple of gallons of Breyers, especially if it was on sale. In the end, I wish we HAD just grabbed a gallon of the good stuff and stayed at home.

Ice creams that are full of artificial flavor and weird thickeners just taste bad to me. I ate it and afterwards I just felt sick and heavy in my stomach. It was definitely NOT calories well spent.

The basics — that is what ice cream should be about.

I’ve long been a believer that the travel industry has fully moved to the internet. Most people do not walk into boutique travel agencies that have storefronts in the downtown area anymore. You log onto the net and find the agency that can negotiate the best price and the best service – all from the comfort of your office chair.

I am also a total convert when it comes to the concept of renting apartments or villas for vacations instead of boring hotel rooms. Why stay in one cramped room when you can usually find a full condo, apartment or house for about the same price? You just have to know where to look.

You want to find an agency that specializes in villa and apartment vacation rentals, like Holiday-Velvet.com. So, when you are traveling to somewhere like Spain, you can find comfortable, unique Barcelona apartments and spend more time enjoying the infamous sunsets and the slow-cooked decadence of Catalan dishes. Stroll the narrow streets of Barri Gotic and sit down to savor a snack of pa amb tomàquet.

I am well-rested when I have the space and comfort of an apartment. Have you ever come home from a vacation only to find you are more stressed and tired than before you left? It has a lot to do with all of the things you give up when you decide to stay for nights on end in a tiny hotel room. One vacation, I rented a 4-bedroom pool home with two living areas and a fully stocked kitchen, washer/dryer and massive entertainment system for less than a hotel room per night. Now, THAT is a vacation.

When I think of the phrase food porn, I think of the Food Network and some of the more sophisticated shows that have enthusiastic cooks preparing unique dishes with lots of freshly chopped herbs and fragrant sauces. Some of the shows that go through all of the steps of making a cake with fruit fillings and creamy butter frosting also come to mind.

That’s just me, though. I like my food well crafted and carefully balanced when it comes to flavor, freshness and fragrance. I am a foodie and I love to eat, but I don’t eat just for the sake of filling my belly. I want it to be worth it. I want full-on sensuality.

And then there are the massive menu items at places like Hardee’s. Today Hardee’s added the 920-calorie Country Breakfast Burrito (two egg omelets filled with bacon, sausage, diced ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy, all inside a flour tortilla. It comes along with 60 grams of fat.

Yikes.

I suppose it fits right in with Hardee’s 1,420-calorie Monster Thickburger and their 1,100-calorie Chicken Salad (83 grams of fat).

The Center for Science in the Public Interest called the Hardee’s line of Thickburgers “food porn.” For me, it’s that special brand of porn that makes my stomach turn at just the though.

You’re not leaving yourself much to go on for the rest of the day if you are injecting 920 calories first thing in the morning. The Center for Nutritional Policy and Promotion recommends a daily intake ranging from 1,600 calories for sedentary women and older adults to 2,800 calories for teenage boys and active adults.

When I was little, my parents ordered me a book called The Friendly Alligator. It was one of those books you can have personalized. It had my name it in, as well as my address, my sister and my cousin, the name of my city and a couple of other personal facts. I loved that book. In fact, I still have that book and my daughter is fascinated by it. We read it together quite often.

So, it seemed only natural that I would get her a personalized book as well. There are a whole lot more options out there these days. In fact, Personalizedstories.com has so many titles on its websites that it took me days to narrow my decision down to what I thought Gigi would enjoy most. In the end, it came down to a personalized copy of The Little Mermaid.

It was a fantastic choice. The first time we sat together to read the book, Gigi was mesmerized. She was really imagining herself in the ocean, helping the little mermaid rescue her merman daddy. She giggled with glee when the names of her own cousin and best friend were mentioned. She could hardly believe it was all taking place in her very own city!

Here is a picture of Gigi as she first read the book and then a picture that shows the look on her face when she realized her name was in it:

 

Gigi had so many questions about the story in which she was the heroine. The book was our main topic of conversation for the next several days. And, once she had fully ruminated on the story, it was time to read it again.

Personalized childrens books are one of the most precious gifts you can buy a child. Literacy is pivotal in a child’s life and when you place a child right into a story, you have created a kind of engagement that cannot be duplicated with a typical book. Studies show that kids need to be engaged, or sucked into a story, in order to be at a learning level that will help theme learn to read and subsequently read to learn. Fluency is built through frequent re-reading of books and by a child being able to make personal connections to a story. What better way than to show them a book where they are the star?

Back on October 5, Debbie Cole found a bag with $65,000 inside. She was at work when she found it and immediately contacted her supervisor. The police were called and the money was eventually returned to the right people. Turns out it had fallen off of an armored truck from the Loomis armored transport company. I’m sure Loomis is red-faced.

I remember watching the news in the days after this happened and wondering if Cole was going to be rewarded for her honestly. I’m willing to bet a lot of people may NOT have returned the cash. A reward, I remembering pondering, might show people that it is worth it to do the right thing, that people are indeed rewarded for being good citizens.

I am happy to report that Cole has been given both a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando and $5,000. It does indeed go to show that no good deed goes unpaid.

Three cheers for integrity!

Search engine optimization might not be a new concept, but tailoring SEO to the hot trend of video search engines IS. Even big companies like Google are buying out entire video platforms. YouTube is a household name and it’s really not been around that long. There are more than 150 Video Search Sites online and the number is growing all of the time.

It’s a fact that uploading a video on video search engines and video sharing sites can garner you more traffic to your website than you ever imagined. I’ve heard of people driving sales of a single t-shirt design fully based on witty videos they have uploaded to YouTube. It’s a matter of striking while the iron is hot, so to speak and Viral Video Marketing is white hot.

So, how in the world do you make this phenomenon work for you? You’ve got the video, but how do you make sure it gets noticed on a video sharing site and how do you ensure that it will also drive traffic back to your site? There are definitely tried and true techniques when it comes to this medium.

I think this issue is of great importance to many of my regular blog readers. I know a lot of you are small business owners selling crafts. Many of you are using a “How To” tutorial video to entice your customers to spend more time on your site and to drive sales. It’s a great tool, but are people finding your video?

As for my fellow Bloggers, you already know how much buzz a unique video can drive to your blog. I’ve seen your work. Has anyone else? Getting the word out is key.

ReelSeo.com is the only video SEO and video search resource out on the net right now. Talk about striking while the iron is hot. The site fully addresses all of the tips and techniques you should be privy to in the arena of video SEO. It walks you through choosing just the right filename, title, and description. Do you know how to internally encode metadata into your videos? How about optimizing your URLs? It’s all on ReelSeo.com and the content makes the site a must read.

Staying ahead of the SEO game means a constant quest for new information. You can’t do it alone. Sites like this help you to remain ahead of the pack.

I hate to sound cryptic, but I wanted to mention that I am helping to test a new skincare product that is absolutely amazing! I cannot tell you who the company is of what the product does, but I can tell you that AS SOON as it is on the market I will be letting you all know.

I have only been using it about 5 days and I can already see a different in my skin. I’m in my mid-30s and this is absolutely the time in you’re life that your skin takes on a whole new way of “being”. I have to relearn how to clean my skin, moisturizing it, what chemicals irritate it and even what being out in the sun will do to it. I feel like I am learning to live inside of a whole new person.

The product I am using in this test is phenomenal for my age group and my skin type. I can only image that once it hits the market, we are going to be a generation of women with more beautiful skin than ever before.