This past winter, my husband and I packed up all of our ski gear and headed to the mountains for a couple of weeks. It was very exciting for us, as it is the first trip we have taken together without the kids, since becoming parents over five years ago. We were ready for some powder and a glass of wine in the hot tub afterwards.

My husband had wanted this trip to be very special. He booked us romantic lodge in which we could ski right up to our back door. He went all out on this. There was an amazing fireplace, we had our own hot tub and we slept in pure silk bedding. I was in heaven and I never wanted to leave.

It was amazing that I still remembered how to ski. We hit the slopes everyday that we were there and went into town for dinner a few times. We managed to get in some shopping time, so we could grab some souvenirs for the kids. All in all, it was wonderful and I can’t wait to do it again.

It seems that most of the drinks we usually consume now days are not too healthy for us.  A good example that applies to my own life is the amount of pop that I drink - I drink way too much.  Devoid of nutritional value, by drinking pop, I am not making a smart choice for my body.

So, I thought that it was about time that I take responsibility for my actions and actually try something that would be healthy for me.  I decided that I would do some research online for a drink that was really healthy and contained little or no preservatives and pesticides.  I figured that with all the emphasis on health over the past years, there had to be a company that offered something that would fit what I was looking for.

After a bit of looking around, I found myself reading about the Amalaki fruit health benefits.  It seems that drinks based upon this fruit would help one prevent disease, healing of any illnesses, and would rejuvenate the body.  That seemed to be just what I was looking for, so I placed an order and I will wait to try it when it gets here.  But from the reviews that I have read so far, it seems to be the thing to drink if you are looking for something healthy.

I woke up this morning to my usual routine.  Get up, get dressed, and sit down to have breakfast.  When I am sitting at the table eating my breakfast, I like to look at the paper.

I am kind of a methodical paper reader - I have my own system of how I read it.  First off, I skim the first page to see if any of the headlines are remotely interesting.  If there are some that catch my eye, I read them.

After finishing with the front page stories, I take a peek through the Long Island classifieds.  Usually I am looking for a good deal on a vehicle, or really anything that catches my eye.  Over the years I have found a number of great deals by just taking the time to look through the classifieds, so I make sure that I take the time each day.

Next, I take a look at the Long Island personals.  No, I am not actively looking for anyone, rather I take a look to see if I can find funny listings.  Once in awhile, I find a listing that makes me laugh like a crazy man - and that sure makes the rest of the day go by smoothly.

After the laughing (or lack of laughing if I don’t find anything that is funny), I take a quick look through the Long Island real estate listings.  I have invested in properties in the past, and I take a look as I might find a good investment property.

After I am done reading the paper it is recycled, and I make the trek to work.  But I do quite enjoy that half an hour with the paper each day.

I am looking for some books on scrapbooking page layouts, that I can use to teach scrapbooking classes. I was doing an online search for scrapbooking supplies Canada, in hopes that they would have what I was looking for. I wanted something that taught simple pages that would also look nice.

There were a few places that sold scrapbook supplies Canada that had some books available, but did not show any samples as to what kinds of pages the book contained. It worried me that I would buy the book and not like the pages or that they would be too difficult to create, so I decided not to purchase them.

In the end, I went to a Canadian scrapbook supplies store, where I could actually page through the books and find what I was looking for. I found a couple of really great books and they have helped me so much in deciding how to teach my classes. Who knows, maybe someday I will make my own book and sell it.

While reading a computer blog online, I found myself reading an article about deleted data recovery.  In the article, they were talking about how the file systems worked in Windows, and how when you delete something, it really isn’t deleted from your computer until something is written over it.

The article got me really worried about the used computer I sold six months ago - could the new owner have access to the information that I had on there?

That had me worried.  You know, you store your financial information on your computer, only to have someone use some data recovery software to get it off the hard drive - it hardly seemed fair.  I figured there must be some way to delete information for good and protect my privacy and sensitive information.

After a couple of searched I found my answer.  I found some software that worked as a data eraser effectively removing any trace of those files that you deleted.  Interestingly enough, the software I was looking at was similar to what is used by the government - and that must mean that it works well.  I think in the future, I will make sure to erase my data completely before giving away or selling a computer - it is the safest thing to do.

With my fond memories of playing baseball as a child, I thought it would be a good idea to put our son into baseball when he was old enough to play.  Sure it took a few years for him to get good at the game, but eventually he did.

It was at that point that I joined his team as the coach.  Okay, maybe I am making it sound a little more glorified than it was, but I wanted to help out in any way that I could.

My first big task as coach was to find a place that would let us design your own T shirt, so that we could make the jerseys.

Many of the places that we found that would allow you to make custom T shirts, either wanted you to purchase a huge number of shirts, or had prices that were outside of our budget.

Just as I was about to give up, we managed to find a company that would let us make your own T shirt and order in whatever quantity that you needed.  Price wise, they fit our budget perfectly.

Now, when my son puts on his jersey, I can see in his eyes that he is proud of his team, proud of his team, and proud of his father.  That is just what I wanted him to feel.

I am a goal setting person.  What I try to do is make a list and follow it - and reward myself if I accomplish my goals.  This method has always worked for me and by getting those little rewards, I have some incentive to get things done.

For the longest time it has been my dream to go to a store, look at the bathroom suites and pick out what I want - without worrying about the price.  Alright, I might worry a little bit, but I would have sufficient money set aside for my spending spree.

Without fail, I have been saving money from every paycheck in hopes of attaining my dream.  I am happy to report that today is the day that my dreams came true.  I finally had enough money saved to buy one of those whirlpool baths I have always wanted.  I also picked up shower baths for our other two bathrooms in the house.

And how did that feel?

Don’t ask me yet.  Ask me when the new baths are installed and I am sitting in a tub full of bubbles.

I have talked in the past about using web directories to promote both this site and other sites that I own.  Not only have they been very effective, but it is one of my secret weapons in my Internet marketing arsenal.

One of my biggest challenges is to keep up with the new web directories that are coming out all the time.  It seems that there are many new ones that come out everyday, and I need to know about them - they are places just screaming to advertise my website.

I used to check out a web directory list that I had found online, but it was getting updated less regularly than I would have liked.  While I was looking for a new resource for new web directories, I found a web directory blog - which added new content each day.

Thanks to the blog, I am able to find new places to advertise my website each and every day.  By keeping up with this regular promotion, I have found that my traffic and income have been steadily increasing - which is just what I wanted.

I never cease to be amazed at the new devices and gadgets that are always coming out.  While I try to keep up with everything new, it is just not something that is possible.  Lately, I have been following the latest iPhone news on many different sites, and the more I read about it, the more the technology behind it amazes me.

For example, I find that the number of iPhone accessories that were available.  Just like with the iPod accessories, you can find something that will let you do just about anything with your iPhone.  Whether it is charging it in the car, or a set of speakers which will let you listen to music wherever you are, chances are there is an accessory available for whatever task you wish to accomplish.

I have also been following the games that are available for mobile devices and watching their evolution.  From the simple puzzle games such as Sudoku, to the newer, action based shooters, the available iPhone games are a great way to spend those couple of free minutes that you have on the bus, or on the plane.

I am very interested in what new things that are going to come out for the iPhone – I am simply amazed so far.

For most people that are starting out with a website, setting up the site can be a challenge.  Not only are websites in a different language than regular English, but when you try something new it may be difficult.  Most people do manage to get something setup for their website and then expect the visitors to come.

But they don’t.

One of the most overlooked aspects of website creation is the marketing of a website.  If making the site is hard, most people don’t really have an idea of where to start when it comes to marketing.  Sure, you could go to a forum and read how to do it, but in most cases that still doesn’t help.

An increasingly popular option instead of doing the link building yourself, would be to hire a company that offers SEO services like SubmitEdge.com.  What they do for you is take care of the marketing of your site so that you can focus on building your business and making the money.

They can help you out by building back links through their directory submission service, or help you to establish yourself as an expert in the online community through their article submission services.  No matter what service you do use, they will help you develop a presence online, get traffic to your site, and generate as sales - which should be your goal right?