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cowboy bedding

Happy Relationships: Change Your Appearance

by discount designer bedding on January 14, 2010

One of the challenges of even the strongest long-term relationship is the difficulty in keeping things fresh and new.

We are creatures of habit, developing routines that work for us without our having to think about it. It allows us to move through fast-paced lives without having to make every little decision on a daily basis. We don’t want to stop and think about which sock to put on first, which way to drive to work, what kind of gas to put in our car, how to stack the dishwasher or fold our clothes.

Habits make life so much more simple that it frees up our energies to confront the big decisions and problems we have to face. However, habits also distance us from what we do because our mind is not engaged, When someone else points out that we “always” do something a certain way, we are amazed because we are unaware. Once we’ve moved beyond the adolescent and young adult experimentation phase, we tend to fall into the rut of wearing our hair a certain way, how we put on our makeup, the kind of television shows we watch, the choice of foods we eat, and the lifestyle we pursue.

That is why the sneaky marketing men aim their message at young age groups who are the ones most likely to try something different. The size and the purchasing power of the baby boomers may be extraordinarily large but they are seldom targeted by major advertising campaigns because they are comfortable with the choices they have made and are unlikely to really hear messages about alternatives in which they have little interest.

Within our lasting relationships, we also fall into habits. They range from unwavering go-to-bed-at-night and get-up-in-the-morning routines to the day of the week we go out, the restaurants we frequent, and the way we communicate (or fail to communicate) with each other. We are so used to being around our partner that, despite the affection we may feel, we stop seeing each other with the wonder and appreciation we felt in those first heady months.

Shaking up our lives by dumping old habits can make us feel younger and alive. Changing our appearance, even a few times a month, makes us look at each other through new eyes and makes us focus on each other in a different way.

Women can more easily and radically change their looks because female hairstyles are so much more varied than those of men. A wig (or several), in a totally different color, with appropriate makeup adjustments, can affect your response to each other. A man can temporarily grow a moustache, a beard, or sideburns, and elicit new attention from his surprised wife. An outrageous new piece of clothing for a special date can transform your interaction with each other.

Many of us love costume parties whether something dramatic at Halloween or an only-black-and-white graphics event or a get together with friends wearing the clothes we loved in high school.

Be creative! If you usually dine out in business attire, get some cowboy gear and go to a western saloon for some line dancing. If your usual night out is at a bowling alley, dress to the nines and have a drink at the most expensive hotel in your area, rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers. Try a latino nightclub, hot dogs on the pier, or drinks with fruit and little umbrellas at a sushi bar. Dress in your skuzziest clothes and visit a luxury car showroom to laugh at the consternation you cause. Use that tux you rented for your niece’s wedding when you visit the local pizza parlor and see the buzz you create.

The city of Las Vegas has a wonderful ad campaign about “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It speaks to our desire to do something totally different and outrageous to escape the paralyzing pastry of our normalcy – but with the assurance that we can return without ill effects, no burned bridges forcing permanent change.

Shaking up our appearance can shake up our partner and our mutual interactions. Do it for the excitement and do it for the fun. As another ad campaign suggests, “Just do it.”

Dr. Bola provides a complimentary copy of “Seven Super Simple Tips: Keep Your Marriage Fresh” from which this article is taken. Steal it at: http://www.dietwithanattitude.com/SuperSimpleTipsMarriage.html

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Six Steps for Pursuing Purpose

by discount designer bedding on January 13, 2010

Each of us has a special purpose or mission, and I have been in search of mine since I was a child. From childhood until my early twenties, I suspected my mission was to go into the ministry. When the other boys were playing cowboys and Indians, I was dressed in long robes building altars, and as a young adult I would lie on my bed for hours praying to God for a sign. One never came.

For most of us, purpose is not something that is revealed through a burning bush. Instead, we stumble onto our life’s purpose. An impulse may lead us to a new place, and that new place leads us towards another, until eventually we find a spot that feels right. This spot is our purpose, and it often turns out to be a place we never considered or envisioned.

There are hundreds of books available on how to “mine” mission, and they tout a wide variety of methods including journaling, art, and creative visualization. But in my experience, it’s hard to extract purpose. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to pursue purpose. It finds us – and only when we are ready.

I now believe purpose unfolds as we unfold and that purpose is intricately tied to living an authentic life, for only when we live authentically can/does purpose reveal itself.

There is no formula for discovering purpose that works for everyone, but these six steps helped me. Perhaps they will help you too.

One: Discover authenticity through self-discovery. I am still searching for authentic self; it’s a lifelong process. Still, at no time in my life have I felt closer to my authentic self than I am now. For example, I am just now beginning to distinguish my wants and needs from parental expectations.

Two: Live an authentic life. Never before has my life so clearly reflected my true Self. I am not as afraid to show people who I am, and I do fewer things to gain others’ approval and more things that bring me pleasure.

Three: Listen. The root of the word vocation is vox (Latin for voice). To find our true vocation, we have to listen to our inner voice. I pay attention to day and nighttime dreams, intuition, energy level, emotions, and my body. Oprah once wrote in her magazine of the same name, “If you pay attention to these cues — to the times you’ve felt most joyous, most fully engaged, most connected to yourself and others – you’ll always be guided to the next best place.”

Four: Act. Inventor, designer, and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller is quoted in Lucia Capacchione’s book Visioning: Ten Steps to Designing the Life of Your Dreams, as saying, “What you actually do within twenty-four hours of having a creative idea will spell the difference between success and failure.” To dream is not enough, we have to do something with the dream. For me, doing starts by putting the idea in writing. Every year, I write a business plan, and I revised it whenever I get a new idea. I add a new goal along with the action steps to implement it.

Five: Remain open. Not only do we have to do something with our dreams, we have to be open and not tied to a particular outcome. We have to surrender, and we have to trust. I have found that finding purpose is often a circuitous route; one path leads to another, and failures often lead to ultimate success.

Six: Be patient. Patience is not one of my virtues. I have to remember the story of Jake McCord, an outsider artist who lives in Thomson, Georgia. After finishing a painting, Jake places it in his front yard to “season.” When eager collectors try to buy one of these pieces from the yard, Jake says firmly, “It ain’t ready yet.” Jake knows not to rush it; when the time is right, it is right. The same is true for purpose; we have to be patient and remember, “It ain’t ready yet.”

Sometimes I feel I am living my mission, and at other times I feel I am not. Five years ago, I wrote a personal philosophy: “To know yourself is to know God, and to share yourself is to serve Him/Her.” Since then, I have strived to live my philosophy through writing, teaching, coaching, and speaking. Still, sometimes something seems to be missing, and I have to ask, “Am I fulfilling my mission right now or still waiting for the burning bush?”

I hope that in this moment I am fulfilling my mission to the best of my ability, and at the same time, I hope I am staying open to all the possibilities.

“The Career Engineer,” Randy Siegel, helps clients electrify their careers and transform their lives by becoming high voltage communicators?. Subscribe to “Stand”>http://www.powerhousecommunications.com/newsletter.htm”>”Stand in Your Power!” his eNewsletter at www.powerhousecommunications.com

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The 2006 Fall Season is Fast Approaching and Fredericksburg, Texas is Ready

by discount designer bedding on January 13, 2010

The days are growing shorter and shorter; the trees will soon be turning shades of red as the 2006 Fall Season is coming to the Lone Star state. Autumn is the season of celebration for Fredericksburg, which will host several festivals during the Fall Season.

There are plenty of preparations to be made still for all of these exciting festivals. The Texas Mesquite Art Festival runs from October 13 through the 15th. The Fredericksburg Food & Wine Fest happens on October 28th, and who could forget the German-Texas Style Oktoberfest on the first weekend in October, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th. Good-natured and contests abound, such as the Oktoberfisch Fly Fishing Festival and Tournament on the 20th through the 22nd of October. The fly fishing tournament is nationally recognized and is ideal for fisherman who delight in Texas fly-fishing while leisurely enjoying one of the finest rivers Texas has to offer. Folks in town will happily welcome in the start of hunting season, too.

With all this excitement, lodgings can be hard to find in the town of Fredericksburg. Hotels are already filling up quickly with bookings, and the charming Bed and Breakfasts’ and Inns in the area are populating just as fast. The solution to this is simple as well as affordable; for a taste of the outdoors as well as a place to hang your cowboy hat, bring your RV. The mild weather of autumn in Fredericksburg means that your RV stay will be a taste of adventure with all the comforts of home. There are plenty of places in the Texas hills in which to camp and enjoy the beautiful scenery and perhaps take advantage of hunting season or good fishing, too. Best of all, you are still only minutes away from the bustle of the Fredericksburg festivities.

The 2006 Fall Season is fast approaching and if you are looking for a Texas Hill Country Perfect Vacation Destination, then the Llano River RV Park (website: http://www.LlanoRiverRVPark.com) and the city of Fredericksburg, Texas awaits you. Just 30 miles north of Fredericksburg, the Llano River RV Park is nestled along the banks of the Llano River at its deepest part. It is a great place to RV and fly fish with the family. See you soon!

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Discover How To Care For Your Cat, So They Are Happy

by discount designer bedding on January 13, 2010

All in all, it is an odd relationship that man has established with cat. Toward no other domestic animal does he show such split feelings of admiration and resentment, which is some kind of a comment on man, for the cat, is constant. She has always been cat.

The cat is different from the dog. She serves no one, knowingly or willingly. Her one accomplishment the hunting of mice, rats and other rodents is self taught. The man does not live who can claim to have trained a cat to perform a task for human benefit. For their own convenience, cats have learned various small maneuvers, like opening doors, but they do not and will not herd sheep, carry messages or run back to the ranch seeking help for jammed up cowboys. There are no police cats, no watch cats, and no sled cats.

The cat does not even come when she is called, unless it suits her.

In 1953 the American Can Company, which produces containers for commercial pet foods and was therefore interested, discovered in a survey that there were 26,700,000 domestic cats in the United States.

By domestic cats is meant cats who, however casual their membership, belong to human families. Most of them 13.2 million were found to be farm cats. Seven million were city cats, and 6.5 million lived somewhere in between.

The South had the most cats, 9.7 million, the Far West the fewest, 3.2 million. The East had the most urban cats, 2.4 million, the Midwest the most farm cats, 5.8 million; no surprises there.

Overall, 29 per cent of the nations families had one or more cats. Farm families had the most cats; nearly half of them owned three or more. The nationwide average was 2.21 cats per cat owning family. Low income families were found to be far more likely to have cats than were the high income families.

Cats are not the least bit uncertain about their ability to take care of themselves. This, however, does not discourage the people with whom they live. By close observation of cats habits and preferences, they learn to do for cat many of the things cat ordinarily would do for herself. This is known as cat care.

Your first duty is to provide your cat with a bed. Her preferences are in accord with universal standards. It should be warm and dry, of comfortable size, bug free and protected from drafts.

The only other article of furniture an indoor cat needs is a pan. There are cats that, by some stroke of fate, have learned to use the human toilet, but yours probably is not one of them. Buy a pan. Enameled metal is best and easiest to keep clean. It should be large enough for the cat to maneuver in comfortably, but the sides should be low. It should be kept in one location, and it may be filled with sand, shredded newspaper or sawdust.

A house trained mother cat will teach her kittens to use the pan, but if you should by chance acquire one that never got the word, it is easy enough to set the kitten straight. First, show it the pan. Second, after each meal traipse the kitten over to the pan and keep it there without using undue force, of course until it performs.

Discover How To Care For
Your Cat, So They Are As
Happy And Healthy As Can Be

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Hello From The Canadian Rockies – Part 2: First Impressions Of Calgary

by discount designer bedding on January 13, 2010

As so many times before, I used my Airmiles to book our flights to Calgary (with the Westjet Airmiles Mastercard you get to fly out west for only 1600 Airmiles instead of having to use 3000 Airmiles in high season with other airlines). As an astute traveller you have to look at every option of cutting your travel costs and Airmiles is one of my favourite tools. A direct flight took us from Toronto to Calgary in about three and a half hours.

We arrived at the Calgary Airport at roughly 11:25 am and the weather was rather overcast on arrival with an outside temperature of -12 degrees Celsius. Because we only had about a day in Calgary, an official tour of the city was going to really give us the lay of the land and Jocelyne Morrison from Time Out For Touring was there to pick us up. Jocelyne herself hails actually from Quebec, but has been living in Calgary for the last 10 years. And it turns out she loves the city and is an absolute expert in it.

The first thing that struck me upon arrival were all the statues and sculptures located at the baggage carousels, all with different themes. Obviously Calgary likes to entertain its visitors while they wait for their luggage at the airport. The next sight that caught my attention was a volunteer dressed up in a bright red vest and cowboy hat who was there to welcome tourists. Jocelyne explained that Calgary actually is a city of volunteers: 7 out of 10 Calgarians volunteer their time for a good cause, and volunteers were some of the main reasons why the Calgary Olympic Games in 1988 were the first Olympic Games in history to actually make (rather than lose) money.

Jocelyne packed us into the touring van and off we went on our very compact exploration of Calgary. The first thing that struck me about Calgary was its topography: it is located in a relatively flat area with a number of long, stretched out low-lying hills. On good days you can actually see the Rocky Mountains to the west, but unfortunately the weather was overcast, so we didn’t get to see the Rockies today.

Calgary is divided north-south by the Bow River, and Centre Street divides the city’s east from the west. As a result the city has 4 quadrants with streets running north-south and avenues running east-west. So in order to find an address you always have to know whether it is in the northwest, northeast, southwest or southeast quadrant in Calgary. Jocelyne explained that many of the streets in Calgary are named after native names, eg. Deerfoot Avenue (apparently named after a native person who was a really fast runner).

Nose Hill is one of the most prominent hills in Calgary; it is a long-stretched out topographical feature without much vegetation. Jocelyne explained that this type of landscape is pretty much typical of Calgary as a prairie city. Much of Calgary’s natural landscape is a mix between grassland and semi-arid forests. When it gets very dry in the summer, there are a lot of grass fires.

Calgary is also a booming city. Cranes are everywhere, and new subdivisions are growing out of the ground like mushrooms. Essentially only the downtown area has highrise buildings, while the residential areas outside of the core mostly consist of single-family homes rather than highrise apartments. Calgary, as the “Energy Capital of Canada” and the centre of Canada’s oil industry, is experiencing rapid economic growth and people from all over Canada are migrating here. The population today is roughly 1 million.

Next we drove by McMahon Stadium, where Calgary’s Stampeders football team is headquartered. This stadium was also used for the opening and closing ceremonies during the 1988 Olympic Games, another reason why Calgary made money on these games: by reusing and refunctioning existing facilities. Prudent financial management at work……

The next big item on the itinerary was “C.O.P.”: Canada Olympic Park, a place so interesting it deserves its own story. After our guided tour through the Olympic facilities we drove on the Sarcee Trail to get into downtown Calgary. Coming into town from the west side we had a very nice view of the cluster of skyscrapers downtown. While driving in through the residential areas, Jocelyne explained that a large number of residential condominium developments are going up downtown. One example of the population explosion was the move of Canadian Pacific’s headquarters from Montreal to Calgary in 1996 when 700 families moved into town at the same time.

Calgary pays a lot of attention to the quality of life of its residents. The city has hundreds of kilometers of walkways and trails, particularly beside the Elbow and Bow Rivers. Doglovers in particular have it good here since the city provides many off-leash areas to its dog-owners. 55 golf courses are located in the immediate vicinity of Calgary and golf is a very popular pastime here.

We entered the downtown core and Jocelyne pointed out the Gulf Canada and Canadian Pacific headhquarters. The last steam locomotive used by the CP Rail is on display outside the CP office tower. The two skyscrapers of Bankers Hall dominate the skyline, one with a silver roof, the other with a golden one. We went up the Calgary Tower, built between 1967 and 1968 originally as the “Husky Tower”. It holds a revolving restaurant and today it was officially closed for a private function, but we had a chance to catch an elevated view of the city.

Just last year the Calgary Tower added a glass-bottomed viewing area. Jocelyne mentioned that for a special occasion a horse was brought up for a photo op, but the horse would resist any efforts of being coaxed onto the glass-bottomed area. I can only understand that too well because when I was standing there looking straight down, it made me feel very squeamish too.

Our driving tour continued towards Fort Calgary, Calgary’s oldest landmark. Fort Calgary was founded in 1875 as a North West Mounted Police Outpost and today it houses an interpretive centre and a museum. Jocelyne explained that the exploration of the west progressed differently here than in the United States in that relations with the native tribes were relatively peaceful. Prime Minister John A. MacDonald founded the North West Mounted Police, which later on became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The police arrived in the west before the settlers and established relations with the natives.

The Inglewood neighbourhood is located adjacent to Fort Calgary at the confluence of the Elbow and the Bow Rivers. It’s an attractive neighbourhood with old trees and established homes and surrounds a nice commercial street with many restaurants and antique shops. Jocelyne then took us into a residential neighbourhood called “Scotsman Hill” which offers a tremendous vista of the Calgary Saddle Dome and the Stampede grounds, set against the backdrop of the downtown skyline. A wonderful view…

She then took us past the grounds of the “Calgary Stampede”, Calgary’s most famous event. What origjnally started as an agricultural fair has evolved in a yearly 10-day citywide celebration of western hospitality and traditions and includes chuckwagon races, rodeos, rides and a Grandstand Show extravaganza. This year’s Stampede will take place from July 7 to 16, 2006.

Back downtown Jocelyne took us through a former industrial area called “Eau Claire” which has been converted into one of Calgary’s most popular downtown residential districts. On our drive through downtown Jocelyne pointed out a typical Calgarian feature: the “+15s”: elevated walkways connecting highrise towers so people can walk between commercial buildings sheltered from the elements. These “+15″ walkways connect various shopping areas and malls and allow you to explore Calgary’s downtown core without ever setting foot outside.

The name came about because these walkways had to be at least 15 feet above the street below. Calgary is build on bedrock, and contrary to Toronto or Montreal which both have a vast network of underground walkways, Calgary has chosen to provide weather shelter through elevated walkways.

From there we crossed the Elbow River and entered the Kensington neighbourhood, one of Calgary’s primary restaurant and shopping areas. Our guide pointed out a store owned by famous Belgian chocolatier Bernard Callebeaut who makes sweet local delicacies. I heard some people say that these are the “best chocolates in the world”….

The next area on our menu was the Uptown 17th Avenue neighbourhood, another area packed with restaurants and shops. Last but not least, after taking us on 4th Street, which also houses lots of eateries and funky stories, Jocelyne took us all the way to our bed and breakfast, the historic Twin Gables B&B, where we got to settle in after our sneak peek at Calgary.

It was a whirlwind 4 hour tour through town and by the end of it my head was spinning with all the information. But Jocelyne did a phenomenal job of acquainting us with her chosen hometown and it was a perfect introduction to Calgary – “The Heart of the New West”.

For the entire article including photos please visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/calgary_first_impressions.htm

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.

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Ecuador: Perhaps the Perfect Family Destination

January 13, 2010

Quito, the second highest Capital city in the world, is connected by daily direct flights to America’s gateway cities of Miami, Houston and Atlanta.

The city of Quito has not only been designated as a United Nations World Heritage Site, but it lies at the foot of South America’s most spectacular–and easy accessible—active volcano. [...]

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