Fashion Mode

A boutique shop is one that specialises in elite fashion - but you don't have to be elite to shop at one. Boutique dress shops have become completely affordable for the average girl looking for a nice dress for that special date or the upcoming office party. Beautiful dresses for a price that the shop girl can afford; that's what the boutique has become all about.

Find Your Shop

Every boutique specialises in a unique style, and if you find one that suits you down to the ground, it's practically a guarantee that they'll always have the perfect dress for you hanging on the rack. Look for boutique dress shops that match your sense of style and whose clothes seem to be consistently cut for your figure.

If that shop's dresses are built for girls with a small bust while you're filling out a DD bra, you're never going to find anything that suits you there - and the frustration of staring at all the beautiful clothes that are cut for girls of a different figure will drive you mad. There are boutique dress shops that cater to every shape and size of girl, though, so don't be discouraged - just keep your eyes peeled for your shop.

Check for Quality

Just like any other industry, boutique shops have good and bad apples in the mix. Some will sell high-quality goods but jack the prices so high your head spins just looking at the tag; others will try to pass off cheap fabrics and poor quality as worthwhile. Make sure the quality matches the tag - and that both are what you're looking for.

Things to look out for: turn the clothes inside out to see the quality of the stitching. If it's already pulling loose in places, it's not well made. Double check to be sure the buttons line up properly and the zipper is attached securely; all of these should alert you to a low-quality shop.

Stay in Budget

Boutique dress shops are the number one place for even the most sensible girl to lose her head and whip out her wallet when she knows full well she can't afford the gorgeous frock she just tried on "just for fun."Stick to trying on clothes that fit the price tag you planned for; trying on dresses you can't possibly have will only make you unhappy.

Unless, of course, you've got a birthday or a holiday coming up, and your boyfriend is good at taking suggestions. If that's the case, try it on, be thrilled, and have the sales clerk hold it under his name.

Happy Shopping

Boutique dress shops are one of the best places to spend a weekend afternoon, especially if you've got a little money to burn and a place to wear a pretty new dress. Remember: suit yourself, check for quality, and don't go for broke.

What's in a Name? A LOT if it's Your Resume's Name!

When I began writing resumes for friends and family- many many moons ago, the technology I had was a Brother Word Processor. No computer, no tablet PC... just a word processor. Today, resumes are digital. Word Docs, PDF, online, in the 'cloud'... pretty much everywhere BUT paper. Yes, I know you print out copies to take to interviews, but the days of having a file folder with 200 copies of your resume are over.

That's a good thing, though. Technology has made it easy to share, easy to search, easy to save, easy on the planet. It's all good. But the thing people have FORGOTTEN is that in the attempt for job seekers to keep their resume files organized, they are forgetting that other people read not only the content, but the file name you give your sweet piece of hard work.

What do most people name their resumes?

resume.doc: Really? This company has placed an ad for not only the position you are applying to, but it's quite likely they are hiring for multiple positions. You think you're the ONLY resume.doc? In order to save it, they are going to have to rename it. That's a pain in the rear end. Trust me on this.

2010 resume.doc - I say again - REALLY? Now I know that you haven't updated in at LEAST 2 years. And I will still have to rename it, most likely.

2012 resume.doc - well, at least its recent. But why do you have resumes saved by year? Do you look for a new job every year? Why? As my teenager would say, "you're acting suspect"!

Faecbook_Resume.doc - If you're applying for a job at a company (say, Facebook), and you use that company name in the resume file name, please spell it right!

Resume10_v3.doc - It doesn't really matter to me what version your resume is, and in and of itself, but the whole version thing just annoys me!

So, are you committing any of these Resume Naming Sins? I hope not, but chances are... yes. You are.

So what SHOULD you name your brainchild of a resume? Here's a few (better) options:

Fae, Rukia Resume.doc (Last Name, First name)

ResumeWriterRukiaFae.doc (Job Title and Name)

BeachResumeFae. doc (company name you are applying for and your last name)

Seeing the trend? Include your name in some fashion, and the job title is great as well. Of course, anything is better than the sins listed above...

Another thing to keep in mind... Not every one is working off the same version of Word. Some companies don't even USE Microsoft. This is why I ALWAYS include a PDF version with my resumes. And you should ALWAYS include a PDF version of your resume when you are sending it to a company. This saves a couple of hassles- 1- If they are using a different Word version than you, the formatting you use may come out ALL scrambled on THEIR system. If it looks like garbage or a discombobulated mess, they are NOT going to try and read it!

And 2- If they are not using Microsoft products, a PDF is pretty much a safe bet that they can read it!

PDF files are, for the most part, universal. I always recommend sending the PDF version if at all possible.

Secondary School Certificate (SSC) is a turning point in every student's life. Therefore, it is crucial to give your best and make the most out of this once in a lifetime chance. Based on your SSC results, your future course of a career is decided. Whether you can opt for medicine, engineering, IT, software, media, fashion designing, architecture etc.

Realizing the importance of this exam, parents as well as students are leaving no stone unturned to get the best training and coaching. This has led to the mushrooming of online coaching providers who offer unique and fascinating ways to crack the board exams.

SSC online study classes are a unique mix of fun, and effective learning. Based on SSC syllabus, as laid by Maharashtra, CBSE or ICSE board, these online classes develop interactive course material involving explanation and examples. Most topics are in the PPT format making the use of graphics and live examples to help students understand the subjects completely.

In fact, you can see several SSC Online Learning classes who deliver coaching in 2D Video & Audio format. This visual methodology of teaching helps students register the toughest topic in the simplest manner. It is not uncommon to see many such online coaching providers teaching topics by knitting a story and concept across the topic to explain it in the most effective and easy to understand manner.

Quality guidance and good preparatory course material are necessary to score high in your SSC exams. Common features of SSC Online Learning format include:

• SSC Previous Solved Paper answers for all subjects
• Textbook questions and their answers
• Multiple Choice Questions topic wise to evaluate a student's understanding
• Chapter wise assignment tests to evaluate the performance of students
• Model Answer papers solved by SSC merit students to help students better prepare for exams
• Additional guidance via live chat, webinar, or class on demand.

Many SSC online study providers conduct special sessions before the exams to help students brush up the entire SSC syllabus. They also provide shortened study material that students can refer before appearing for exams.

A number of online training institutes deliver learning through diverse methodologies. Being a parent of an SSC student, it is your duty to first evaluate the best online institute for your ward. Read the reviews and if possible go to their office for a chat. Only once you are satisfied of their services in effectively teaching your kid, can you take the decision of taking their course package. Nowadays, it has become possible to get both SSC Online and offline study packages.

A uniquely high number of professional people, i.e. physicians, nurses, social workers, accountants, engineers, educators and law enforcement executives are entering into the assisted living business as owners. These statistics come from the professionals whom they hire to guide their entry into the business.

Of course, most are not leaving their careers immediately, and many more are planning for their retirement thereby working to create reliable income streams to help maintain a lifestyle after leaving the rat race. Such plans are both workable and admirable. After all businesses that serve the care needs of humans - in some fashion or another - will always be around.

Certain professionals bring a unique blend of organizational, strategic planning, clinical, financial and business experience to a field of business operation where many owners have no professional experience or credential at all. The blend created can be a real boon to an industry which could use more credibility and professional competence.

Of course barriers, or shall we say challenges, exist in every business endeavor. Mindset is often at the core of them all.

For example, a physician may have received numerous accolades for certain accomplishments in his/her field and the very completion of medical school is worth lauding and gives many significant feelings of self-worth.

However, when entering a new business venture when there is much to learn, that medical or superior business education or even past successes in other business models may be viewed rather insignificantly - including by regulatory personnel - who insist you comply with applicable State administrative rules regardless of your alternative thinking. Of course it takes a healthy dose of self-awareness, modesty and humility to position oneself for continued learning.

When hiring a technical advisor/consultant there is also a need to be open-minded when offered advice. Some of the advice may not represent the road you choose to take but be careful dismissing it all without ample thought and research.

Direct care staff are the backbone of the care business, in both in-home delivered services and in assisted living environments. While most of them will not aspire to possess or maintain the business acumen you display and may not have a vocabulary that rivals your wide ranging one, dealing with them condescendingly or heavy-handedly will serve no valuable purpose.

Investing in the appropriate staff development and then providing assistance to help direct care staff comply with the expectations of the business and regulators is the most effective approach. Clear and concise personnel guidelines should govern the work environment and a healthy dose of personal interest, compassion and relationship balance should color the relationship between management and direct care personnel.

Lastly, there is the need to respect the power and logic of investment into progressive, strategically planned and organized marketing and advertising. Most demographics are rather crowded with providers of care in different categories. The winners are obviously going to be those who excel with exceptional services but even these have to tell the world you exist and what sets you apart.

Providers should make healthy, liberal and authorized usage of testimonials, web presence, professional photography and well planned outreach to educate the buying public about what you do and what sets you apart. Newsletters, webcasts, postcards, live presentations, door-to-door information delivery and gathering should all be a part of the process. Professionally designed corporate identities must never be viewed as optional.

Physicians beware. You may have built your practice via referrals from an affiliated hospital but your new assisted living business will not normally work that way. Refusing to invest in the right outreach will scar your efforts and likely cause your investment to become nothing more than a "write-off".

With us please applaud the entry of professionals into the arena of community based care. Let's just be sure those entering acknowledge, address and prepare for the challenges in order to heighten your chances for success.

Thanks for allowing me to share.

When opening a shop, there are many factors that need to be considered for its success. One of the most important factors is the location.

A store should be at a place where there is traffic. However, a lot of traffic can be disadvantageous. The type of product you are selling plays an important role in determining what kind of traffic there should be. If it is for example, a boutique, it should be in an area where there are other boutiques nearby in order to target the similar clientage. Moreover, if you were setting up a small store with snack items, you would it situate for example along a path children take while going to or returning from school or near a family or amusement park.

Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that the store should be visible. When deciding on a location, you should select a location that is visible from the main-road or at least near to the main-road where most of the people go by. The location of the store also sheds light on its reputation. Usually customers judge a store by its location. For example, an expensive antique store should be in an elite neighbor hood where the rich usually come to.

The stores in the neighborhood also play an important role in the success. For example, if you are opening a flower shop, it would be wise to open it next to a gift shop as the products and services sold at both these stores go hand in hand. Similarly, if you open a high-fashion boutique, it is sensible to open it near a salon or a spa where well-off people usually come to. Another factor that should be considered is the safety of the location. Even though all the stores are insured these days, but if the location is not safe it would deter the customers.

Furthermore, if you plan to operate and run the store on your own then you should also keep in mind the proximity of the store to your house. You would not want to waste a lot of time traveling to and from the store. In addition to the proximity of your house from your store, you should also keep in mind how accessible is the shop for the shop assistants and your employees.

Another factor that should be given consideration to is the fact that if it is a store selling raw material that needs to be later manufactured to be brought into its final form then your shop should be near the factories and industries that are in the secondary sector. Because this will save them time and money in transporting the raw material and hence they will prefer your store.

Hence, to build a good clientage and attract customers, you should pay close attention to the location of your shop. As they say, 'Well begun is half done', in this case, it would not be exaggeration to say, 'Well located is half successful'.

Bangalore is the renowned capital city of Indian state, Karnataka best known for its blooming gardens and booming IT parks. The city which is home to several prestigious educational institutes, software companies, tele-communications and defense organizations along with heavy industries as well, Bangalore is ideally called the 'Silicon Valley of India'. Awe-inspiring botanical gardens and inspiring temples add more charm to the city. All these factors influence many youngsters towards the city in search of education and occupations; while for others its gardens and temples are the best attraction. Amidst a fast-paced life the city takes a halt during weekend and people love to explore weekend getaways around Bangalore. To spend a weekend away from work worries and exam pressure people love to pick weekend getaway packages around Bangalore and indulge in their favorite hobby, traveling.

From wildlife destinations to religious sites and beauteous hill stations options for weekend getaways around Bangalore are many. The most popular destinations around the city are:

Tirupati: Situated 250 km east of Bangalore, Tirupati is a significant pilgrimage and cultural site in Chittoor district. Located at the foothills of Eastern Ghats, Tirupati houses richest temple, Venkateswara Swamy Temple and thus is regarded as one of the best choices for weekend getaways around Bangalore. The temple dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara is its main attraction which compels thousands of pilgrims to set on a trip to the region making it one of the busiest pilgrimage centers in the world.

Nagarhole National Park: Situated in Kodagu district in Karnataka state in South India, Nagarhole National Park is declared the seventh Project Tiger Reserve in 1999. Vast expanse of this park is spread across 6000 km in Western Ghats. Rich with natural treasures the park is blooming with rich forest cover, hills, small streams, valleys and waterfalls. The national park is also known for housing a healthy tiger-predator ration with many elephants, Indian bison and tigers living inside and for all these reasons it is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site.

Innovative Film City: A swift drive crossing 50 km from Bangalore will take you to Innovative Film City which is a great amusement park in the region. Situated in Bidai it is a theme park which serves as a great option for weekend getaways around Bangalore for complete family fun. The theme park is laden with a wide range of options for recreational activities. Some of the most famous avenues are wax museum, dinosaur museum and Cartoon City. Other highlights of this place include mini golf, go-karting, horse riding at famous parks namely Aqua Kingdom, Haunted Mansion, Roller Coaster, Fashion Café, Wild Wild West and Amphitheatre etc.

Along with the above mentioned destinations there is also whole lot of other weekend getaways around Bangalore availing great options for a quick holiday away from the melancholic city life. They are situated at a short distance from the city and are well-connected with a network of good roads thereby making traveling even more fun.

Self publishing started for me back in the 1980's and 1990's.

I am published both traditionally and as an indie author and publisher of both paperback and ebooks.

I began offering my own books on my website in the late 1980's and early 1990's, way before it was popular. Way before there was Smashwords or Kindle or any of the current popular places for eBooks for sale. Here's my story.

The eBook revolution. You have to love it! I've been self publishing long before it became fashionable or so explosively growing. There was a little bit of being ostracized in the early years, and eBooks and self publishing in general was frowned upon by authors who were traditionally published. It was almost (and sometimes still is) kind of a snobbish, looking down your nose attitude. It really didn't bother me very much, as I was having fun doing my own thing with ePublishing.

I used to belong to Romance Writers of America and in fact I was traditionally published with Harlequin/Silhouette in 2001. As often happens in the publishing industry, the editor who bought my romance and loved my writing, received a promotion and while she moved up the corporate ladder to work in another department, I was assigned a new editor. The new editor didn't seem to care for my writing. The fact that I had a less than proficient agent also did not help matters along.

My writing experiences began with poetry, then I graduated to essays, and finally to romances, the books I just love to read and write. I've also written under various pen names. A non-fiction memoir about grief and loss, a workbook about handling grief, children's EZ reader picture books when my youngest was in Kindergarten, an internet dating guide when I reentered the dating market after the loss of my husband of twenty years. Nonfiction about buying a pony, and a book about a guardian angel. So much work and love went into all these efforts, but they were all due to life experiences I felt I needed to share.

So now there's the excitement of the new eBook revolution. I intend to track my progress through a series of articles. I hope you'll follow along.

I did a big push with the grief book, blogging every day, sending out press releases, writing about 45 articles on grief and loss, visiting other blogs and forums. I ended up doing about 30 radio interviews. I was ultimately interviewed by US News and World Report and appeared on their website and in their paper edition regarding research on widows and how lifestyle and incomes can change drastically with the loss of a spouse.

Readers began to email and call asking me to write articles on grief and loss. I maintained a WordPress blog and I got quite a good amount of hits. I used Google AdWords for a short while to boost visibility and my books were selling slowly but steadily on Amazon and also through my website. I made some sales, not a great deal, but I got a lot of exposure. I received a lot of mail from other widows and widowers who had also lost loved ones.

I've recently placed this niche book on Kindle. When I placed it in KDP Select free, it hit # 1 in Family Relationships category and the Grief category and stayed there throughout the promotion. It maintained good visibility for about two weeks after the free promotion, and I began playing with the price. I didn't want to price it too high, or too low. Although it has since steadily moved upwards toward the 100,000's, it is still slowly selling at $4.99.

The latest phase of my indie publishing career began in January of 2012. I decided it was time to do something with my backlist of romance stories. I probably have about 20 stories since I've been writing romance, but we won't talk about the other 13.

I had 7 stories languishing on my computer. 4 contemporary romances, 3 time travels. They had all been rejected by every place imaginable, traditional publishers, ePublishers, small houses and large.

An author friend suggested I send one of my romance ebooks to her eBook romance publisher. They were interested in publishing contemporary romance Echoes from the Past, however I would only receive 17% of Kindle sales. I did my homework, researched Kindle and other eBook places and wondered why only 17%. A lot of their ebooks they price at $.99. So they would be splitting the 35% from Amazon sales with me. Was my book worth more than 17% of $.99? I thought so.

Additionally, if I signed a contract with this publisher, they would not publish it for a year to 16 months from contract signing. I would also be tied to them for at least a few years. Did I want to give away that control? Could I do it myself? I knew I wanted something more than 17%.

I found a wonderful illustrator in Australia, Julie McClen of Oak Grove Graphics through my website software forum. I liked her playful but professionally designed websites and hired hire her to revamp my site. She also created my book covers for both series, the Women of Character and Women of Strength time travels.

During this time I continued to research eBook publishing. I found Jakonrath.blogspot.com, thebookdesigner.com, Joel Friedlander, thecreativepenn.com, Joanna Penn, davidgaughran.wordpress.com to name just a few. I've learned so much from their informative posts!

I also discovered Smashwords and read about their distribution channels and how an author could launch their books not only from the popular Kindle platform, but Smashwords also.

In researching eBook formats, I was amazed at the wide diversity available, from the time that I had made my first foray into this field to now. There was not only PDF format, but Mobi, ePub, RTF, PDB, LRF and many other formats and devices to read ebooks on.

My next question became, do I hire someone to format each of my 7 books or do I learn to do it myself? I found out about a program called Calibre. It creates several types of eBook formats. Ultimately, I used Calibre to create my mobi file for Kindle. There's even a forum Mobileread.com with lots of threads and friendly people to help you out if you get stuck trying to convert your files to eBooks.

I personally think there should be one universal format for all reading devices, but that's just me. I played around with Calibre, a free download, for a few days and at first I got a bit frustrated because I had some formatting squiggles in there that I had to delete. I had used the long dash in places and when you convert to mobi, the long dashes came out as fractions. Trust me, that doesn't look great in your manuscript. I had to manually delete each one and replace with a short dash.

I also had an issue with trying to get a Table of Contents to show up on the finished mobi file for Kindle. Apparently, based on the amount of forum posts about TOC, others have had the same issue.

I read posts about inserting HTML into your document so the table of contents would appear. I had played with HTML years ago when I first began creating my websites and I really didn't want to try to learn it again. So I kept looking at my Word document HTML file trying to figure out why the first three chapters showed up in the Table of Contents and nothing after that.

Those three chapters were "Heading" style in my word document. The rest of the document, unless it was italics, was "Normal" Style. So I went and changed all my Chapters to the Heading style and lo and behold, I had a TOC.

Next I saved my document as a HTML document, web page filtered. Then I opened the HTML file in Calibre. I now had a full TOC, but I had way too big paragraph indents. I went through the entire document and made the indents.25 and it looked much better.

Anyone who has been published by traditional publishing houses knows that anywhere you have italics, you underline when submitting your manuscript. So I had to once again go through my manuscript and remove all the underline sections and use italics instead. Italics, the real thing. No more underlining to indicate italics. Way cool.

When I was pretty certain I had cleaned up my formatting I again saved the file as a HTML, web page filtered. Then I uploaded my book and cover into Calibre, plus all the publisher, author, ISBN, tags info etc. Then I converted the book to mobi format. I tested on my kindle reader and it opened nicely.

Now Smashwords conversion is another article.

After a tough long day, a comfortable place is where you need to find your relaxation. Usually, it's the bedroom that people are drawn to after their hectic routine and they turn to their own private space to find some peace and quiet. The bedroom should be a comfortable place for people to rest in. it should be soft to the eyes and should have a good ambiance. The decoration of the room has a major role in the ambiance and the feeling of comfort you feel in the room. In recent fashion and trends, home decoration, especially in bed rooms is done with home textile. It's become common to use fabrics to decorate your room with.

While you have bed linen and curtains, it's usually the wool throws that come handy the most, especially in the chilly, winter seasons. There are a lot of wool throws that are being sold in the market. If you want cotton throws, those are also found in the market. However, wool is considered the most ideal fabric for blankets not only because of its durability, but because of the purity and the softness of the fabric. Wool throws are popular in the winter season specially because they bring warmth and comfort and are the best items to snuggle up in, in your bed and sleep comfortably in.

It's not just the comfort that is the reason why woolen throws are much demanded. There are so many different designs of these blankets which help a great deal in adorning your room, making it look well decorated, beautiful and luxurious. Usually, especially in the eastern culture, woolen blankets are given as gifts on occasions like weddings.

People believe that wool throws cost a lot. They do cost a bit more than the cotton throws that you'll find in the market but the comfort you get from them is incomparable to the comfort from the cotton throws. Besides this, worrying about the cost seems to be a very small matter now because there are a lot of companies who are providing such high quality wool throws in the market at the most affordable prices you can ever find.

Purchase wool throws from reliable sellers because there are some sellers who stock up on cheaper artificial acrylic and sell it as natural wool blankets. Therefore, having a reliable seller is very important.

It's not difficult for people to find themselves some good throws these days, especially those that are made out of wool. Making sure that the quality of the wool, used in making the throws, is the key to getting the best kind of throws you want. Besides that, it's imperative to take good care of your throws by washing them properly and keeping them clean.

Now, more than ever, accounting is becoming a vital tool for developing countries. As governments are centralized the need for budgets and accounting systems to manage them is growing. Countries such as Russia, China, India and Brazil are entering the world scene as the new leaders in the foreign market. This article will attempt to discuss some of the ins and outs of accounting in regards to international markets as well as examining the accounting needs of developing countries.

As U.S. investment in developing countries continues to grow, there ought to be a focus on the accounting and information systems that are being used. Proper budgets must be created and maintained in order for a country to experience stability and prosperity. The World Bank, IMF and IASB have begun pushing for a unification of accounting practices as well. Some of the frequent problems of third world accounting are poor internal controls, inaccurate records and poor management accounting. This can lead to erroneous financial statements and inaccurate budgeting; thus hamstringing the full growth potential of any country.

Updated and proper accounting and auditing practices help companies understand why they may or may not be doing well with particular demographics. Large companies like Procter & Gamble and DuPont were unable to gain a foothold in India after trying to introduce huge quantities of cheap to make products. Through good accounting practices they were able to deduce that they should have been charging a higher price instead of relying on bulk sales being made. Such financial and accounting knowledge can help budding economies that are beginning to industrialize.

However, a roadblock to change is the fact that developing countries do not have a large capitalist class and must rely on their governments for information distribution as well as work opportunities. Unfortunately, not all governments are corruption free nor do they always have their population's best interests in mind. Resources are often limited and this leads to temptation to misallocate these resources by those in power. Political stability and proper use of power is needed to help foster policy change regarding accounting and financial management. While this fact is not within an investor's control, it is important to consider before making any financial investments in companies located abroad.

Good management of a country's wealth is fundamental to its growth and development; resources have to be managed effectively because they are limited. In developing countries, there tend to be dated accounting systems which are not used in appropriate fashion; this is especially true with countries that have been formerly colonized. In his article, Enthoven sites three specific factors that hamper developing countries: (1) adherence to their origin of accounting influence, (2) outdated regulations and inadequate knowledge regarding auditing standards and (3) a lack of teachers at the professional level as accounting research is rarely pursued. A couple suggestions are offered to help deal with each of these issues. Keep in mind, there is a plethora of ideas and possibilities available and there is no one correct method of change.

Firstly, there must be a desire to change current practices and research better methods of accounting. A developing country must realize there is a problem before they attempt to address it as well as a willingness to change the current situation; there has to be an incentive to change. The misuse and misunderstanding of accounting and auditing procedures can often go overlooked and as noted above, this leads to inefficient resource use and flow of cash assets.

Next, developing countries need to reform their currently outdated programs. The easiest way is to simply ask for help from a nearby developed country. Countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Malawi and Uganda have all done this and are seeing marked improvements in their financial management and accounting sectors. This is not an expensive proposition and most developed countries are more than happy to oblige. The U.S. and other developed countries can assist by sending over accounting professionals and teachers to help train accountants in developing countries. There is also the option of having the developing country send groups of students to the U.S. and getting them trained and certified to return to their country to help teach new generations of accountants.

In short, while change is important to foster growth, there is no clear route to success. Several factors may help contribute to a nation's economic growth or decline, but if a developing country is willing to combine and try different paths it is better positioned for growth than it previously was. While accounting practices may not jump to the forefront of any conversation when discussing lesser developed countries, it is a small but intricate piece to the overall picture for prosperity.

Swapping business cards is such a second nature thing to do when you meet someone you want to keep in touch with it has achieved the status of being a social convention, but where did it all start? What got us in to the habit of swapping a small printed card to make sure colleagues and other business contacts could keep in touch with each other?

Early Days

It all started in Europe in the 16th Century, probably in France, when gentlemen used playing cards to write notes on to each other, and such was the acceptance of playing card games as a gentlemanly pursuit that they were accepted as legally binding documents. The note could be an IOU for a debt, a promissory note for money or a business agreement, and were known as Bearer Cards in recognition of the fact that once the card was signed the bearer had a contract in his hand.

In 17th Century France the cards then evolved into visiting cards, where they were used to pass general notes and act as general calling cards when gentlemen were out visiting friends and businesses. This evolved quickly in to a form of social etiquette for the gentry and well to do where, rather than just dropping in unannounced, a card was first presented by a servant to check when it would be convenient to actually call in person. The convention spread quickly throughout Europe and calling cards became firmly established as the way to introduce yourself and arrange meetings.

Trade Cards

Businessmen soon adopted the social convention for their professional needs, and recognised the potential for advertising their wares and services as well as letting people know where they were. At the time newspapers were limited in their circulation and printing techniques, so no other form of mass advertising was available. By printing a basic map of how to find the shop or business on the cards, they also became the earliest from of business directory. As printing techniques improved through the 18th and 19th centuries, so did the sophistication of trade cards, with ever improving colour and graphic designs, and Trade card production became a major printing industry in its own right.

The improvements in printing, however, in turn led to the demise of the trade card. As newspapers and magazines with colours and pictures became cheaper and viable as mass media, they became a much more attractive place for advertising products and services, and by the end of the 19th century trade cards had virtually disappeared. The development of the telephone and changing social attitudes had much the same effect on calling cards with their use also falling out of fashion.

Business Cards Emerge

In the late 19th Century the business card as we see it today began to emerge in the United States, where there was a clear distinction between the visiting card and the business card. Visiting cards were a social nicety, used by the elite and well to do. Business cards also had the name and details of the person handing them out, but were used by shops and businesses much more widely to promote themselves. Using a business card for social purposes was considered to be very bad manners, the implication being they were touting for work. So for the first time the distinctive business card made its appearance.

As calling cards fell out of favour, the business card became the main means of passing your details to someone else. As business card printing has developed, so has the range of designs that can be included, but the basic principle is the same. It serves as a reminder of who you are, what you do, and how someone can get in touch with you, and in that respect seems very much here to stay.

Although basking in the sun is the most inexpensive way of attaining the attractive bronzy complexion, with the availability of easy fake tanning methods the perfect tanned skin can be acquired without the luxury of a beach vacation.

From celebs to high school students, a significant number of fashionable women and macho men craving for sun-kissed skin are making a beeline for the faux tanning facilities. In recent years, spray has revolutionized the tanning industry. It is considered safer than the traditional tanning beds. Now you can get your skin spray tanned at home in a short time without spending hours absorbing the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Why Spray Tan at Home

Sun bathing, the traditional skin tanning method, is time consuming. Moreover, spending hours in the afternoon sun may cause irreversible damage to the skin cells, increasing the risk of melanoma or skin cancer. The traditional faux tanning processes that expose the skin to intense ultraviolet radiations are more hazardous than sun bathing. The lovely bronzy complexion is attained at the cost of increased risk of skin cancer.

Spray tanning is a safer alternative to sun bathing and other traditional tanning methods using sources of ultraviolet radiation. The active ingredient in spray is dihydroxyacetone or DHA. It is a type of simple sugar derived from plants such as sugarcane or by fermenting glycerin. A chemical reaction that occurs when DHA is exposed to the proteins in the dead skin layer on the surface of the skin causes the skin tanning.

Benefits of Spray Tanning at Home

The bronzing effect of DHA-based skin tanners usually last for three or more days. The tanning lasts longer when erythrulose, another type of simple sugar, is added to the tanner. Both DHA and erythrulose are considered safe for cosmetic use. They are non-carcinogenic and non-toxic. Nonetheless, precautions need to be taken while using spray tanning at home. You should wear lip balm, nose and earplugs while tanning. The ingredients in the spray tanner should not be inhaled. Therefore, hold your breath while your face is being tanned. To get the perfect fake tanned skin devoid of side effects, seek the service of a spray tan professional. To maintain their reputation, spray tan professionals use the best quality tanners and take proper precaution for bronzing the skin.

Immediately after the tan, you will be tempted to showoff your fake sun kissed skin to your friends. But before stepping outdoors remember to use sunscreen of appropriate SPF to protect the skin from the sun.

As a proposal manager getting a proposal plan approved, I always found it difficult to get my management to approve a budget that was based on 40-hour weeks for employees and 50, 60, or even 70-hour weeks for consultants. It just didn't look good: a consultant often cost more per hour than an employee, and got paid for every hour worked to boot. Yet, I managed to stay on budget and win. I would like to share how I did it with you.

So, how do you justify hiring the consultants, how do you properly budget for proposals, and how do you save costs without sacrificing quality?

I am going to address each approach that has worked for me. But before I get to the budgeting and savings, I need to address three common patterns around business development expenditures that need to shift before you can think of efficiency and effectiveness in business pursuits. If you are already there, ignore this post, but read on if you recognize these in your organization.

Pattern #1: Keep Business Development Investment Low. I find it surprising how few corporate folks understand the simple truths behind business development. Everyone knows that business development directly feeds company growth, but some companies don't invest nearly enough to grow.

These days, companies have to either grow or die. When they choose to be conservative with funding business development, their growth is slow. Any disaster, such as a stop-work order on a bread-and-butter project or loss of a recompete, could wipe out the company.

I have worked for at least five companies where I observed the decision-making pattern of saving on business development costs when things get tight. This is exactly the approach that makes companies go under. In fact, early in my career I worked for two companies that got sold because they didn't do well financially, and I could directly trace it to the way they approached business development.

It may feel almost counterintuitive, but if the company has not been winning enough and is not doing as well financially, it has to cut costs elsewhere but spend more on beefing up their business development. The right approach is to make business development the company's utmost priority.

Pattern #2: Do Proposals on a Shoestring. Another pattern I wanted to address is the desire to keep individual proposal budgets very low. Sure, I understand what it's like to have a tight overall budget, especially when you are a small company or a small department. I just question the very common penny-pinching logic that usually drives this pattern.

Some people's rule is that they have to save everywhere-just like shopping for clothes that they always buy only on sale. It sure works for consumer goods, save for a few fashion disasters, but doesn't work as well for business development. A pennysaver mentality for proposals leads to cutting out the all-important capture activities, overworking and burning out staff, and deciding to save a few thousand dollars at the end to cut corners on a bid that could have won if the company hadn't scrooged on the last few touches that could have taken the proposal from green to blue.

As you know, a proposal that does not win means money out the window 98% of the time. It does not matter that you saved money producing the proposal, because it is not only the B&P budget that you lost. You also lose the potential revenues from this contract or other pursuits you could have used this money to win.

Pattern #3: Always Use Cheaper In-House People Rather than Hiring Proposal Consultants. Let's be frank here. Proposal managers know that every member of the proposal team is not the same: there are people who are the heavy lifters and can literally carry the proposal, and there are those who will work on a small section, diligently sitting in front of the computer and talking a good game, but not producing much or anything of quality. It all boils down to the 80-20 Pareto principle, where 20% of the people do 80% of the entire proposal work.

So, imagine when 80% of your people are charging their low rates to the proposal, producing only 20% of work with lesser quality. Some employees may be inexpensive, but when several of them charge full-time for doing just a small piece of the effort, your costs get out of control quickly. Besides, for the internal people, you have to count not only the hourly rate of their salary, but also the overhead, the fringe benefits, and any other compensation you may offer.

It may be cheaper to get one or two expensive twenty-percenters who can replace several underperformers and do a better job.

As long as you don't fall into those three common patterns, you are positioned to win more and grow aggressively. You can then focus on how to do it most efficiently and effectively. I will address the specific how-tos in the upcoming posts on how to be smart about the way you are spending the business development money, and by implementing the right controls - so stay tuned.

This biography of Barbra Streisand is a timely release, marking her fiftieth anniversary in show business. While the singer/actress giant is still actively performing (sold out for her tour at age seventy), Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand covers only the first four years of her career in show business. It is a detailed account of how this petite-sized young woman and her "out-sized" personality" took the entertainment industry by storm.

"In these early formative years, Streisand learned how to dazzle, how to connect, and how to get what she wanted." The sixteen-year-old who wrote book reports only on Stanislavsky and acting knew her only ambition was to act. Lest we think she was merely an attention grabber, the book explores in depth her yearning to be loved, her craving for artistic affirmation, and the depths of her vulnerability. She thrived during a time when talent and artistry mattered rather than infamy, and she brilliantly marketed herself as a performer. She strove for excellence and made people admire her quirkiness. She had great instincts in her choices of friends, fashion, songs and roles. Getting to the heart of her character was an ever-present goal.

Here are some tidbits of Streisand's early years to whet your interest:

· Streisand battled tinnitus.
· She answered the phone in different accents to keep her acting alive.
· Adding her own razzmatazz to a song was a great challenge and delight to her.
· At age eighteen, she had never had a singing lesson in her life.
· Singing became a vehicle for acting, her first love.
· She used belligerence as a protective shield in the entertainment industry.
· Elliot Gould felt his wife, Barbra, was the more talented of the two.

Kudos go to William J. Mann for researching the truth and debunking damaging myths. Twenty percent of the book is devoted to archival sources supporting the truth about one of the greatest performers of the twentieth century. Mann doesn't come across as a blind fan, but rather an observer apart who is fondly respectful and in awe of his subject. His writing is honest and to the point. The book is a meaty tome, full of details. For those aspiring to "make it", <i>Hello Gorgeous</i> is first an instruction manual, but more importantly it is an honest assessment of Streisand's unconquerable strength and artistic gifts.

Niagara is a picturesque destination all four seasons of the year but it's particularly beautiful during the summer months when the city is literally in full bloom. If you've considered a retirement community in Niagara, why not spend a week or two visiting, touring around and getting a feel for the community.

The Falls
Horseshoe Falls attracts visitors for the famous photo ops year round and after filling your camera with magnificent shots of the falls, there's still much to see and do.

Tour Queen Victoria Park - the Floral Clock
The face of the time-keeping Floral Clock at Queen Victoria Park in the heart of the city is photographed nearly as much as the falls. Westminster chimes inside the back of the clock toll every quarter hour and its color comes from nearly 16 thousand beautiful viola flowers in spring and four cultivars of alternanthera plus green and grey Santolina Sage in summer and fall.

Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens
A quick drive up the Niagara Parkway leads to the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens where students at the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture are known to love studying. The rose garden alone features more than 2400 roses and the park is home to one of Canada's loveliest collections of ornamental shrubs and trees.

Oakes Garden Theatre
Events and concerts are a summertime routine at the Oakes Garden Theatre stage featuring the falls in the background. If you haven't seen enough of the city's unique parks yet, there's McFarland House and Old Fort Erie both boasting "kitchen" gardens where old fashioned horticultural favorites are grown today, just as they have been for generations.

Laura Secord Homestead and the Mackenzie Printery
Fall and winter at Niagara are breathtaking with the changing leaves and the many choices of hiking trails around the falls. Trails are from a quarter mile in length to two miles through spectacular forest and vantage points. During the cooler months Niagara has many stories to tell between the walls of the historic sites like the Laura Secord homestead and the Mackenzie Printery.

Whether you love exploring alone, with a tour group or with friends and family, you won't run out of options in Niagara.

Niagara is Age-friendly
An inviting reason to retire to Niagara is that it is an age friendly community with the fourth largest percentage of seniors in Canada. Seniors in Niagara are known for giving back to the community by way of volunteerism, staying active in politics, community events and second or even third careers.

Holiday Retirement at Stamford Estates
The Stamford Estates Holiday Retirement community in Niagara Falls, invites guests to set up a tour to include a complimentary dinner if you're considering the option to retire to Niagara. Their amenities include the option to entertain family and friends in the private dining area and community members enjoy craft rooms, fireside lounges, chapel, billiards room, onsite beauty parlor and barbershop. There's no reason to become bored at Stamford; the activity programs are geared to seniors of varying fitness levels and appear to be enjoyable to everyone involved!

After delving into the highlights of the Niagara area, I personally look forward to visiting, not only for the many gardens and parks and the historic stories that the city is built upon but also for the natural beauty of the surrounding areas all seasons of the year; and I particularly love knowing that Niagara is an age-friendly city.

Satchel bags are said to have originated in England, in the 17th century. In the past, these bags were mainly used by students to carry book. We find that even Shakespeare pointed out this fact, in his famous monologue called "All the world's a stage." One of the phrases from this monologue is as follows: "And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel"

Thus, we can assume that these accessories were widely used by school boys for carrying their books. However, because of the elegant, style and ease of use associated with the satchel bags, they are used by people across the globe, men and women alike. These days, the satchel bags are not just used by school going children. Even students studying in colleges and universities, and adults working across industries, use them on a regular basis. They are highly in fashion, in countries across the globe. Given the fact that the satchel bags are highly popular, they are found in places around the world.

How to purchase them?

You can easily approach any store that sells bags in your city and you will be able to find these bags. You will usually get a wide range of options to choose from, and will also get different products made of materials like leather, nylon, cotton etc. Apart from these traditional stores, these products are also found in various online stores and websites that sell all kinds of bags. You will need to do a little bit of research and locate an online store which is genuine, and has a good reputation. Once you find such a store, you can easily buy them.

If you want to save a little bit of money, you can also purchase satchel bags from wholesalers who can offer these products at discounted prices. These wholesalers can even offer you with an option to design your own bag, and you can select its material and color as well. Also, when it comes to buying satchel bags, you should keep in mind that the best option is to buy those products which are made of leather. Satchel bags made of other materials do not look as good as the ones made from leather.

Also, the products made from leather are very elegant, classy and sophisticated, and they last long as well. You can easily carry them along with you, wherever you go. They can be used at workplace, school and also at social gatherings.

These are two tricks - or rules that when employed will lead to a happier, more fulfilling marriage.

TIME

Set aside time every day to spend with your spouse, alone, without any interruptions. You may not be spending time with your significant other because you're spending it with friends or family. It's healthy to have a life that includes many different people, from work colleagues to friends and family. Time, however, is a valuable, scarce commodity and for your marriage to be strong, you need to allocate time on a daily basis to your spouse. From the day you say 'I do' through the first years, the child-bearing years, the post-children, career oriented years, the retirement and twilight years, your spouse needs your time. In some seasons of our lives, we have long working hours or business trips that force us apart. Technology has allowed for us to stay in communication regardless of how far away we are. Take advantage of it. Take time to make communication while you are away a top priority by simply connecting throughout the course of the day wherever you are in the world. Make time to email, sms, Skype, whatever it takes to touch bases with each other so you can stay in touch. It's common for one partner to feel vulnerable while the other is away. Offset insecurities by regular communication. If life is mundane, children are demanding, finances tight and general pressures of life high, that's when it's most crucial to set aside time to connect. Date night, even if it's window shopping or walking in the park, or even putting the kids to bed early and scheduling an intimate evening alone, is essential to keeping the relationship fire going.

TALK

It may surprise you that I'm not referring to talking to each other. Of course, that's good and must be done, but under this title, I'm referring to what is said between you and your friends. It's fine if it's the latest car or fashion talk, but it's absolutely not fine if it's all your spouse's faults or the problems you are having on the home front. All the talking you are doing about your other half, with others, should be done with your partner. He or she needs to know what you are feeling when it comes to them. They need to know if you are irritated by a particular habit. It's really not fair for the whole family to know before your partner does! And it doesn't accomplish anything telling the whole family when you're not prepared to take it up with your spouse. Negative talk about your partner only poisons your mind. Talking with friends adds to the problem if they are going to side with you. They will aggravate your negativity by agreeing with you and telling you how bad your spouse is. Don't let your problems leave the two of you. If your problems are overwhelming, seek professional advice from an independent marriage counsellor who is outside your circle of family and friends. They can be objective and give advice that is unbiased to either of you.

IN CONCLUSION

If your relationship is stale the answer is to get back to basics. Practice being friends. Immediately set aside time on a daily basis to talk about the day's events, the garden, the house, the children, whatever. Just the two of you! You can quickly bring back the early warm fuzzy feelings you had for your spouse by reminding yourself of secrets you shared, the intimacy of whispering and laughing together, to the exclusion of all others. Go walking, even with the children, but hold hands as you go. Act like teenagers and you'll begin to feel like one again!

When someone is picking out their outfit for the day, whether it is for a formal dinner or a day at work, they can put the final touch to their outfit with a nice set of gold earrings. He or she can make themselves look and feel more elegant with the many different types of gold earrings. They can dress their finest in white gold earrings, gold hoop earrings, rose gold earrings or even yellow gold earrings. No matter what style they choose they will always look fabulous in these earrings.

When wearing a light colored outfit, the best match of jewelry is definitely white gold earrings. No matter what your day consists of, these earrings will give them the chance to feel confident in the way they look. It is always hard when trying to find the perfect outfit for your day's activities one thing that may be easier is picking out a pair of earrings to start with. The littlest detail on a person's body can present them in a much classier way. These earrings will shine through a dark room, making you the eye catcher of the day.

In today's society, people see their culture to be a stylish place. One of the major trends in American culture is gold hoop earrings. Hoop earrings come in many sizes and designs. The best thing about hoop earrings is they go well with anything. People can wear hoop earrings while working or dancing at a night club. These earrings are very neutral to all kinds of outfits and can be worn at any time of day. There are many advantages to hoop earrings. They can make a person's head seem smaller and give the illusion of a shorter neck line as well.

If a person's style is unique, authentic rose gold earrings is their best bet. These earrings are designed to show the more majestic side of someone. They can also be worn at anytime of the day, but the rare beauty shows how fashionable someone can really be. Rose gold is a beautiful type of gold that can be very easily matched with all types of clothing. The person wearing this type of earring will have the attention of everyone they pass by. Rose gold earrings are a great item to get for any type of loved one in your life.

Some people do not see the difference in yellow gold and regular gold when it comes to jewelry. When it comes to yellow gold, he or she can see the difference in the way they light up their face. These types of earrings show the true joy someone has in their life. The yellow gold earrings are a glistening type of jewelry that everyone should enjoy. Any of these types of earrings can make a person look amazing in anything they wear. A person can add that final touch with just one set of earrings.

Do not grow old

Life is a process of making your today better than your yesterday. Till the time this process carries on, you keep growing up, no matter how old you are. But, the day this process stops and you stop improving your life, that day you stop growing up and start growing old. People start seeing their end getting nearer and nearer, and that's how life ends before actually ending.

I have seen people who stop themselves from learning new things, increasing their exposure and familiarizing themselves with the new technology, the very day their hair show their first grays. They stop wearing their favorite bright colors, they stop having fun. They do not get their cloths designed to the latest fashion no matter how much it suits them. Taking exercise and keeping their weight under strict observation is a sin for them. All this is done for very ridicules reasons, and their usual excuses are; what will people say, or it is not the age to do this, or what good it will do me now?

If an elderly person has not learnt to do something in young age he most likely, will not try to learn it now, when he might actually find time to do so. What book says that you cannot learn swimming, driving, operating computers, web surfing, using latest mobiles or any other stuff that you missed in your early years? What book says that you cannot choose a different career at the age of 50? What book says that a 50 years old teacher cannot quit his job and join a textile designing college and become a renowned designer at the age of 53 or so?

Why do we encourage old people to stop living a life that they want to? Why do we want them to sit down in a rocking chair read novels and stare outside the window and try to find peace for themselves in last years of their life. Who are we to decide, that what years are going to be the last year of their life?

Most of us discourage our parents and others aged people from planning to start new projects. May be we think that they are disobeying the rules of aging. We, somewhere inside, fear that it is too late for them to start something, and suggest them to rest.

But the question is what is resting? When a person does not feel like pushing himself to do something, when a person respects the wish of his tiered body to feel better and regain its lost or utilized energy, it is the state of resting. It is actually absence of mental and physical fatigue and boredom.

Physical fatigue is caused by hard physical work or may be by a constant use of the body, the muscles and bones.

But how mantel fatigue is caused? One of America's most renowned psychiatrists, Dr. A.A Brill declares that "one hundred percent of the fatigue of the sedentary workers in good health is due to psychological factors, by which we mean emotional factors."

What kind of emotional factors are those? These factors are boredom, resentment, a feeling of not being appreciated, and a feeling of futility, anxiety and worry. These factors produce fatigue and tiredness.

Now the physical fatigue and tiredness may diminish through taking a good sleep. Or, in case of some people, by taking a good long shower or by taking exercise. You can even gain the lost energy by taking a nice cup of tea or coffee. But how to gain back mental energy. Do you believe that sitting idle and thinking of never to jump into a new project or taking any risks is resting? And it will bring back the lost mental energy? Does it seem like a rational idea to you?

Do we expect a person to feel relaxed when he has nothing to look up to, when he has nothing going on in his life which can give him a sense of achievement? Let us suppose a person is retired and sitting at home in his balcony, he has nothing to look up to, has no project to plan, has nowhere to go to, has no important phone calls to make. He just has a window or a balcony to look out from. Is he relaxing?

If a person has nothing going on in his life then obviously he will generate those emotional factors which cause mental fatigue so this is not resting at all.

So, how to get rid of mantel fatigue? Unoccupied brain is not a resting brain; it's a rusting brain and dying equipment. People should do whatever makes them feel good about themselves. If you want to give yourself peace of mind and a satisfactory rest, it is not necessary to find it in a rocking chair. There are people among us who like to do heavy workout in the evening to get rid of the tiredness of a busy day. Some people after getting really tiered do painting and standing for hours and playing with colors, concentrating on the every small details of their piece of art does not make them tiered.

My husband works for a private firm that handles business development projects of multinational companies. He works there as a client and vendor coordinator. So, basically his job is to coordinate among three separate ends; the bosses, the vendors and the actual clients. It is like juggling with three balls all day long and it takes within city travelling as well. Therefore facing traffic is still another task that he has to handle. He comes home and then he has to spend an hour or so with his 4 years old daughter. During that time he takes dinner and then he sets off to the snooker club nearby. He is a remarkable player of snooker. And once he starts playing he loses the track of time. It does not make him tiered or dizzy or sleepy at all. One day he came back home and according to his routine when he decided to go to the club, I told him not to. He agreed to stay home. I went away for 2 minutes and when I came back to living room, he was on the couch with the remote in his hand, the TV was on and he was fast asleep snoring like an old car's engine.

This happens to all of us, when we do something we like to do, when we do something we are actually good at, when we do something that provides us a feeling of achievement, we get all lively and energetic. But if we are not getting all this satisfaction, the tiredness takes over and we feel fatigued in our mind and in our body.

So if we want to provide ourselves with the mantel satisfaction, the sense of achievement and the absence of fatigue. We first of all need to pick a line that we are really good at. Instead of pushing ourselves to live a life that we are not made to live. We should choose a lifestyle that reveals what we are inside and then if we want a feeling of being appreciated and want to provide ourselves with rest and relaxation, we need to live a life with an element of continuous improvement.

Moreover, we have to forget how old we are. We have to ignore that we are retired. That we are at the age which is considered an age when a person is expected to let all their plans of self development projects come to an end. We have to ignore all these thoughts and adopt a lifestyle that makes us feel good about ourselves, a lifestyle that allows us to grow up a little more everyday and avoid getting old and dying before actually dying. Because life does come to an end eventually, but it is better to keep growing up till the last day of our life, than to end our dreams and end our life before the heart stops beating

Novice speakers need to improve their speaker skills. Whether you want to become a professional public speaker, or you speak to advance your career just within your company, you'll want to get better at speaking.

Practice speaking to an audience. If you are just starting out, you will need to practice your presentations and polish them before you speak and present before a live group or audience.

Speak to your family:
Your family doesn't have to be the size of the Duggars family for it to behoove you to practice your speaking skills in front of them. You can practice your speech and presentation in the living room in front of your nieces and nephews or in front of your grandparents. Your family loves you and will encourage you. When you are a novice speaker, you both need lots of practice and loads of encouragement. By practicing your speech in front of your family, you will get both at one time!

Speak at your faith community:
Whatever your philosophy on life or religion is, your faith community has opportunities for you to practice and make a presentation before them. You can find one of the ministry groups to speak in front. Ask them if you could make a 10 minutes presentation to them so you can practice. Because they are your spiritual community family, most of them will say or find a way to say yes to encourage you and help you get better. And isn't that what you're hoping to do after all?

Speak to your friends:
Your friends offer another help non-outside public group of people to whom you can speak and practice polishing your speaker skills. Invite a group of your friends over to your house telling them you want to practice your speaking skills before them. Ask them if they will help you out. Because they are your friends, they are highly likely to agree and comply. Plus you get the added advantage that as your friends they will likely praise your efforts in a similar fashion to your family and community.

These are just 3 simple examples of places and people where you can practice and improve your novice speaker skills to advance your career and capabilities. When you do that, you develop yourself and increase your chances for career and professional advancement. With the current economy, everyone can benefit from developing their business leadership skills and professional abilities themselves. When you take the time to advance your career yourself, management notices and appreciates your doing so. That gives you an edge for your career, whatever industry or field you are in professionally. Keep practicing and you will always get better at speaking.

If you opt to have plastic ear surgery (otoplasty) because of an ear that did not form correctly then you need to locate a facial plastic surgeon that has plenty of experience performing these types of operations throughout his career. Finding the right surgeon will put you on the right path to the enhancements that you are looking for.

How the Procedure Takes Place

The procedure that takes place for plastic ear surgery is relatively simple. The operation will take in the range of an hour and a half to two hours to complete. You will be given a general anesthesia to render you unconscious during the operation. There may be cases however where the surgeon decides that it will be within the best interest of the patient to give them a local anesthesia accompanied by a mild sedative.

The plastic surgeon will then make an incision at the back section of the ear where it attaches to the head. Any excess cartilage or skin that is found there will be removed from the area. The doctor will then shape the ear in an appropriate fashion. If the plastic ear surgery is taking place because of ears that protrude then the surgeon will use sutures of a permanent nature to pin the ears back to the right position. In some cases sutures will not be permanent and will only be used to hold the ear(s) in position until the healing and recovery following the procedure is complete.

The surgeon will talk with you about what you need to do to prepare for the plastic ear surgery. He will also explain to you what you can expect during your recuperation period.

For the first couple of days following the cosmetic operation on your ears you will need to wear soft bandages. They will be taken off at your next visit to the surgeon's office after that. You should be completely healed within about six week's time. At that time you will be able to behold the brand new and improved appearance of your ears. You will be happy to see the final results of the plastic ear surgery!

A patient of this surgery should be able to return to school or his/her place of employment within roughly a week to two weeks. This is something that will have to be discussed with the surgeon before the operation is scheduled to take place.

The best way to figure out if you are a worthwhile candidate for this surgical procedure is to meet with a plastic surgeon that is qualified in his field for a consultation. An eligible candidate for this operation must be in good to excellent mental and physical health. Men, women, teenagers and children are worthy candidates for this type of cosmetic surgery procedure. A child must be over the age of four before he or she can be operated on.

Deciding your first tattoo is a rewarding experience, however it isn't one that should be rushed into on a whim. You must be certain to take time to think about it carefully, since a tattoo should be a lifetime commitment. You must be fully certain that you're getting a tattoo that fits into your life. You need to think about how your tattoo will have an effect on your friends' and family's perception of you, how it will affect your current job position and future career prospects, and most importantly how you, personally, will see yourself.

Deciding On The Body Location

Once you're sure you want to continue forward, the next step is to determine body region where your tattoo should be applied. You have got many options here, as nearly any part of your body makes an acceptable canvas.

Arm tattoos are definitely the most popular choice for your first tattoo. Here you've got many decisions - full arm (also referred to as a sleeve, named for the resemblance to a full-length shirt sleeve), higher-half sleeve from shoulder to elbow, bottom-half sleeve from elbow to wrist, or one-fourth sleeve commonly from mid-upper arm to shoulder. Bigger arm pieces typically mix a number of thematic parts, while the smaller and medium-sized tattoos usually only concentrate on one thing.

The shoulder space is a common spot as well, covering the area from the joint to the rear shoulder blade. The shoulder is a common choice for smaller designs that can be easily covered when necessary.

Back tattoos are for the most bold, since this may be where the biggest tattoo can be inked. Any or all of the back is accessible, from the top of your shoulders to your waist, and around to your love handles beneath your arms. Tattoos on the back are usually made up of one large element, but can often integrate a couple aesthetic elements into a single cohesive scene as well.

The chest area is becoming a more and more well-liked as well as individuals have become more adventurous. Typically a chest tattoo is fairly large and spread full length, or is smaller and limited to the pectoral space over the heart. Like one-fourth sleeve tattoos, back tattoos are often reserved for only one look.

Other body positions such as the stomach, legs, neck, and hands are less popular areas to have work done. It is important to realize that getting body art completed on any of those areas may be troublesome to cover if necessary.

Design Styles

Once a body space and approximate size has been determined, the subsequent step is to search out a design for your tattoo's look. There are several aspects to this, with the most necessary being subject, style, and use of color. Whereas the final choice is up to you, there are several popular and common styles and designs to contemplate.

Tribal pieces are the among most well-liked tattoo designs for men. Typically uncolored, these designs feature thick angular black lines in dramatic patterns representing strength and masculinity. The first tattoos of this kind were from Polynesian, Maori, and Aztec tribes and commonly worn by their fighters, though nowadays the fashion is worn by anyone.

Crosses and other religious symbols are traditional subjects, as they serve as enduring symbols of hope, faith, affection, or remembrance. They are typically thought to provide a relaxing spiritual assurance and a link to divine protection.

Tattoos honoring heritage, such a Celtic knots or alternative Celtic design, are symbols representing one's history, making sure that family roots are never forgotten. Design-wise, they're usually richly coloured and highly detailed.

Skull art designs represent the dark aspect of tattoo culture. they typically signify death and danger and anger and toughness, and evoke stereotypical images of bad dudes in motorcycle gangs whom it is best to steer clear from. Or, additionally, skulls might represent the philosophical symbolism of one's own life and are, in a way, a celebration of life.

Tattoos of pin-up girls, those scantily-clad or naked girls in alluring poses, are usually used to represent an appreciation toward confident and brash females who exude sex appeal. These tattoos were first in style among soldiers away at war, reminding them of who was anticipating them back on the home front.

Asian styles, such as Kanji symbols or dragons or koi fish, celebrate the culture and mysticism of the Orient. These styles symbolize guardianship, empowerment, wisdom, and freedom.

Words, like names, sayings, and quotes are all highly personal designs that have unique meaning the person who wears the art. They are typically meant to bring inspiration, celebrate a milestone life event such as a marriage or the birth of a child, or to honor the memory of a passed love one.

Picking The Designer

So now you've finally made sure that you are ready get a tattoo design, have an idea where you would like it to be placed, and what style of style you want it to be, it is time to go visit your chosen tattoo parlor and talk over with the artist who is liable for adding a permanent and personal piece of art to your body.

Well, perhaps like you, I like to do a little people watching. The other day I was sitting in the mall at the food court having my teriyaki stir fry and listening to the 80s rock version of elevator music and watching all the new fashions walk by when I noted a couple sitting caddy corner from me having a conversation. It looked like a one-way conversation where the husband was going on and on about something to his wife. Perhaps he was telling a story, or explaining some event.

In any case the lady was listening intently at first, but later she began rolling her eyes, and later in the conversation she started using the "turn the page" e-book gesture. I was trying to figure out if she was looking at a personal tech device, but she didn't have anything in her hands, nor was she wearing those really cool Google goggles, so she must have been gesturing to her husband. In other words hurry up, or get on with it. Was she doing it on purpose, or out of habit I wondered? It made me smile when I thought about it.

Then she used the scrolling down gesture to her husband, so I'm guessing by this time he must've been rambling on with no end in sight. Was she making this gesture unconsciously or do her and her husband just use sign language when talking to each other? Was she lip-reading, was she hard of hearing or deaf and using sign language gestures to him? I wondered. But then I saw her speak and say a few things to her husband, and then he went back to giving his monologue.

The music was a little too loud to hear what they were saying, and I didn't want to butt it or eavesdrop anyway. Nevertheless, it seems to me that our personal tech devices are changing the way we interact with each other, and I suppose this is something that might become a new trend. Have you ever watched someone talking on the phone to someone else and they held up their hands as if their hand was talking, somehow saying to you that the person on the other line was yapping, and they couldn't get them to stop their dialogue.

Will these scrolling motions and page flipping gestures become part of our everyday speech? It's hard to say if this will catch on, but I can tell you with that couple it's already beginning. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

In today's complex and technologically sophisticated job market, LinkedIn and social networking has emerged as an essential channel in the multi-faceted job-search initiative.

Whether potential employers proactively seek you out or vice versa, getting your resume in front of employers is critically important. There is no doubt that the resume still remains a vital component for job-seekers and, in fact, is the pivotal document that corporations and recruiters still request from candidates.

Getting lost in the crowd?

To complement social networking, search engines (such as Indeed.com) and job-posting boards are frequently used to seek out potential employment opportunities. Invariably, when responding to an online job posting, you will be asked to submit your resume online.

This process allows companies to electronically scan resumes for a particular position and affords for the efficient storage and retrieval of information. Your personality, expertise, and engaging characteristics will be transformed by technology into a tracking number with an associated score.

It's no surprise that submitting resumes online can be a rather exasperating and futile process, given the volume of candidates and fierce competition. So what additional options do you have to at your disposal to differentiate yourself and improve your chances for an interview?

Consider Snail Mail

Recruiting was revolutionized with the emergence of email, the web and information-technology systems used by human resources departments. The recession and record unemployment fueled the automation used to efficiently process resumes. Consequently, sending resumes by mail became passe.

Today, however, many career experts believe that this path can be a significant differentiator and prove quite fruitful. I am not advocating that you skip the online submission of your resume. A candidate should always apply to the job posting in the manner requested by the employer. However, for highly appealing opportunities (assuming you have the qualifications), you may gain leverage by also sending your resume and cover letter via snail mail (the U.S. Postal Service) to a senior executive within the company.

Even if your resume doesn't receive the personal attention of the busy individual it's mailed to, there's a chance it may be redirected to someone, potentially even the hiring manager, who may give it special treatment - leading to an interview.

Your goal: to get noticed

With all the real-time technology employed today to speed communication, seizing the opportunity to send a tailored cover letter and resume via standard mail service underscores your interest in the job and the company.

Does this technique work all the time? No.

However, it does often work. Perhaps it's simply human nature. Postal mail attracts our attention and is a surefire way of getting noticed. Just ask any collections agency. For positions which are highly appealing, a recommended strategy may very well be to submit your resume both electronically and through old-fashioned regular mail.

There are definite drawbacks to sending a resume via snail mail - it's expensive and time-consuming and isn't environmentally friendly. It may or may not enhance your interview potential. However - it certainly won't hurt. Not only does it afford a level of differentiation, but it also demonstrates that you're the caliber of candidate prepared to go the extra mile, one who is innovative and resourceful.

These attributes are highly appealing to any prospective employer.

Tourism education is a good source for a number of careers, especially if you've got good people skills. Though real industry experience or at least customer service experience is to your benefit, you can increase your chance of snagging these coveted roles through tourism diploma programs that'll finish off your raw talents.

Resort Management

Whether a ski complex at the top of a mountain, a weekend spa retreat or an exclusive tropical get away, resorts need someone to make sure that everything is run to high standards. Guests choose this sort of destination to put every day cares out of the way, either for relaxation or to buckle down and do business without the usual distractions. You'll be like the chatelaine of an old fashioned castle, keeping inventory of your supplies, monitoring the performance of your staff and always watching out to make sure there's tip top hospitality. Resort management speciality programs will focus on anything from food safety in the resort's restaurant kitchen to decorating rooms, making you the master of many skills.

Tourism Guide

At the lowest level, language fluency and local knowledge may be enough to get you a foot in the door. However if you want to advance in your career you might consider some classes at a tourism management school. At this level you could be planning tours and training other tour guides, not just reciting a memorized script. This is not a bad profession for people who have studied the local history, either formally or as a hobby.

Tourism Marketing

Many venues need a graduate of tourism diploma programs to help them decide their specialized marketing campaigns. If you're more about office work that all day interactions with visitors and guests, you can assist the management team of various tourism destinations. You could even learn to market entire regions on behalf of the government or independent tourism boards. Those are established by local businesses who want to capture the extensive tourism dollar.

Hotel Management

If resort management seems like too far a stretch, you can always give hotel a shot. While it's possible to work your way up from an entry level position, again, education matters. Ideally you can sell yourself with a mixture of experience earned while you study, because you'll find there's lots of easy to acquire jobs in hotels, from bellhop to hotel restaurant busboy, but also because many hotels offer internships. This practical experience will help launch you further in your career.

At this point you've probably noticed a pattern in the careers that are available, in the sense that tourism jobs are easy to get, but progressing takes further formal training. Never fear, sometimes you can even use your existing experience to earn credits towards graduation.

Walking into Electric Zoo on day 2 was truly like walking into a zoo of young people hungry for electronic music. Randall's Island was packed like we have never seen it before, and even after an explosive day 1, everyone surrounding us was energetic and ready to rage the day away.

Our first set of day 2 was our man Morgan Page, a classy VT huss who started his EDM career in nightclubs up by the Canadian border. Page is a master at warming up a crowd, and he cleverly started his set off slowly, opening with his "The Longest Road" intro and gliding into Deniz Koyu's track with Tegan and Sara entitled "Bong". The set started getting swanky with his catchy choon "Body Work" and every girl's favorite song off Page's In The Air album: "Addicted". Morgan spiced up the set, effortlessly easing our sore muscles from day 1, with Dada Life's banger "Feed the Dada". Our personal favorite moment was when he dropped his remix of the classic 80s jam "Your Love" by the Outfield, which had all the girls in their high waisted jorts bopping around like they were getting saved by the bell. We loved that Page closed his set up with a little Ministry of Sound with Tonite Only's jam "Go". The set was well thought out and was the perfect balance between club and pop music for the kick start of a day time festival.

After Morgan Page's massive set, we made our way over to main stage for the set of one of our personal favorite producers, Sander Van Doorn. Sander is a technical genius with an incredibly unique sound that makes you want to dance from dusk til Doorn. Wasting no time, he opened his set with Deniz Koyu's remix of Zedd's epic track "Spectrum" feat. Mathew Koma... and we definitely ripped some vocal cords. After that he dropped "Alter Ego" and his tune "Nothing Inside" with Mayaeni. Slipping into the ghoulish Deadmau5 groove "Professional Griefers" and then his classic "Chasin'", there wasn't a person in the crowd that wasn't entranced by his dancing spell. The middle part of Sander's set comprised of a bunch of songs we'd never heard, with a little Pryda and Afrojack mixed in the mystery choons. Doorn appropriately closed his spectacular set with Firebeatz & Schella's "Dear New York", and in true Sander Van Doorn fashion he had the crowd all yelling to each other afterward, "What was that? Trance? Progessive House?... no it was SVD-style."

After Sander, we got our bananas and champagne and geared up for some full-on DADA Life fun. Blasting off immediately with their destructive banger "Kick Out The Epic Motherfucker", the crowd at main stage was going absolutely bonkers - tossing blow up balloons all over the place and womping out harder than we'd seen all day. Dada's remix of Kaskade's gorgeous track "LLOVE" graced the speakers, and the sing along that ensued was oh-so-sweet. The animals at the zoo got ferocious when Dada Life dropped their remix of Duck Sauce's "Big Bad Wolf", and the hard-hitting track by Tiesto & Showtek that followed soon after provided a primo fix to all the hard dance fiends at the festival. Otto Knows' awesome jam "Million Voices" was a nice break in the set before the hardness ensued again with huge tracks like Ralvero's "Rage" and Knife Party's "Rage Valley". Alesso and Ingrosso's chune "Calling" led into the closing track of the set, "Feed the Dada", their original track that the EDM family just can't seem to get enough of!

The most anticipated act of the day was surely Axwell, especially after the recent break up of Swedish House Mafia, who have dominated the realm of House and Progressive across the globe. We were a bit nervous about how the set would go, but we can honestly report that this set was one of the best we've ever witnessed. "Greyhound" never sounded so good, blasting out to us through a 20,000 watt sound system and grooving into a mix mash of Pryda's "Allein" and Gregor Salto's "Azumba". Axwell rolled that into Henrik B. and Rudy's "Leave a Light On", and the result was nothing short of orgasmic. His set led us on a journey through time with Swedish house classics and new upbeat tunes, remembering times of old and revelling in the present progression. The highlight of the set for us was SHM's "Every teardrop is a Waterfall" mixed with his recut club version of "Resurrection", which he blended into "Beating of my Heart in Sweet Disposition" - a mashup of Matisse and Sadko vs. Temper Trap. The way all these tracks complimented each other was brilliant and fluid. The sound was further complimented by the impressive visual scenes, which comprised of some of the trippiest naturistic images we've ever beheld. Axwell wrapped up his mind-blowing set with "Heart Is King" into (you guessed it!) "Save the World"

Above and Beyond, our favorite trance trio, had their work cut out for them following Axwell's genius performance. Matching the energy of his progressive house domination would be quite impossible, but Above and Beyond offers an entirely different musical atmosphere, connecting with their audiences on an emotional and spiritual level. Transitioning from Axwell's upbeat house to A&B's long build ups and euphonic dark drance was exactly what we all needed and wanted. Although some concert goer's (all the newbies) started leaving after the long build ups lost their attention, a heart-wrenching set is classic Above and Beyond, and anyone who is truly devoted to the EDM scene understands the passionate phenomenon that is their musical identity. Axwell perfected new school, and Above and Beyond brought us back to the old school roots. The tracks were so beautifully meshed together it was hard to get excited about one song in particular, but this Group Therapy session took everyone on an emotional roller coaster ride dropping "On My Way to Heaven", "A Thing Called love", and "Sun and Moon". Words can't even express the euphoric feelings buzzing throughout the trance family during Andrew Bayers' "From the Earth". You would almost think you were hearing two completely different DJ acts going from Friday to Saturday night's Above and Beyond set. Thank you Above and Beyond for really connecting us all together, moving us beyond reality and giving us a little slice of heavenly peace with another perfect Group Therapy session.

The social aspect of life has undergone such a rapid evolution that nowadays there is a general tendency which is inclined towards' nuclear families. In their quest for freedom new couples have brought about a decline in 'extended' families. To avoid the pressure and interferences of the 'in-laws' in their daily life, many married persons prefer to live separately under a new roof. Under this system of living most of the time children are left on their own specially when both father and mother are away at work. When they grow up as teenagers, they have already been conditioned to this type of living.

In comparison to the previous generation brought up under the' extended' families the modern teenagers enjoy more freedom. A radical change is noted in their attitudes, their concepts on different matters, their way of visualising things, their views on several topics and their aspirations. Since the very start during school days they tend to manifest and feel an urgent need for change. Many of them fight for freedom and resist parental influence in various aspects of their life. Friendship plays a preponderant role as far as establishing contacts and consolidating relationships are concerned. This bond is strengthened with extensive communication and friendship is expressed even in the outside world. . It is a crucial stage where they have to be properly understood and guided since it determines to a high level the future developments in life. Dialogue is the key to improve their public relations. Parents must counsel and instruct them in the right way without exerting too much pressure and authority.

The adolescents of the previous era had to devote most of their time towards studies and assisting in household activities. Actually they are influenced by many innovations affecting their existence. Alongside with educational activities they are engaged in other aspects of life. In fact, they are enthusiastic about anything related to entertainment such as pop stars, music, football, sports, holiday making, cinema, video game, rambling and outings. With the advent of co-education, there is free communication and dialogue between both sexes. It must be pointed out that it is an important tool to dispose of shyness and to eliminate barriers among teenagers. Time planning is done in such a way that there is an equilibrium between educational and leisure activities. Going out with friends to different places like dancing, eating burgers and fast food in snacks, relaxing in gardens and parks with the opposite sex are activities which they enjoy. Exchanging views on different subjects like for example the TV serial 'Beverly Hills is considered as beneficial impacts on their emancipation.

Nowadays, with the rising up of the generation gap, it becomes difficult to understand them and their targets in life. Many young persons have the impression that they are misunderstood by parents and must overcome difficulties before voicing their opinions on several issues. In fact, according to sociologists, they must be given the opportunity to express their views on any subject concerning them. However,it must be pointed out that the adolescents have to cope with parents on certain matters like the choice of careers. Communication between the young and the old generation can be beneficial to both parties to tackle several problems. It is the responsibility of the parents to inform teenagers about the consequences of freedom abuse. Nowadays, dating with a girl or a boyfriend is a normal practice. If somebody does not follow this trend, then he or she is considered as an outsider. This type of relationship helps to fashion the development of their personality and social life as long as there is no misuse of such situation and they remain within boundaries.

Very often teenagers indulge in sexual activities without realising the consequences which may occur afterwards. At a very young age (13-16 years), they are curious to know more about sex. At this period their bodies undergo physical and physiological changes. They must be provided with proper information about sex education lest they might acquire it in the wrong way. Having learnt about it by negative means, they are eager to experience sex and most of the time blunders are committed. The role of sex educators and parents is of primordial importance. The situation should be handled carefully so that appropriate details are given to teenagers to help them differentiate between good and bad. They should be aware about sexual diseases like HIV affecting our society. In Mauritius the diffusion of sex information is widespread owing to the efforts of organisations like the Mauritius Family Planning Association which attends schools where talks and seminars are carried out by professionals. Even a hot line has been set up for any inquiry. Before involving in sex it is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that the teenagers have gathered adequate information. There must be a constant dialogue between both parties.

The youth of to-day is the leader of to- morrow. This leitmotiv is pronounced by politicians to motivate adolescents to join the fields of politics. Very few of them are really interested in it. Most of them adopt an indifferent attitude towards politics. The main reason for this conjecture is that nowadays there is a complete deviation from the real objective. The principle of serving the electorate is no longer respected. Many politicians are work for their own interest instead of being loyal to the population. Their own benefits are given priority at the detriment of general welfare. This state of affairs has de-motivated teenagers ' interest in politics. Moreover, they are discouraged due to the eruption of several scandals and a high rate of unemployment. The young generation is not keen about politics although the political parties have persuaded it to go ahead. A group of students have been given the opportunity to attend parliamentary sessions. A true sense of patriotism should be inculcated in them based on a fresh approach to convince them to embark in this career.

The young generation has to play its part in the construction and development of the modern society. With the proper advice and assistance of the older generation teenagers can achieve their targets in life They must go hand in hand to promote general welfare and harmony. Adaptation problems can be solved with the participation of both parties. The younger generation should consider the older one as a torch which will shed light in their existence.