my happy blog

For many years skincare has been the sole preserve of the ladies. After all, men don’t need it, do they?

As I came downstairs to breakfast the other day, my wife stroked my cheek lovingly.

‘Your skin is so soft!’ she said almost wonderingly. ‘I really don’t know how you manage it!’

Now my wife is a dear, dear woman but she thinks that a soft skin is only achievable by using amounts of night cream, day cream, anti-wrinkle cream (not that she has any anyway!), protein cream and just about any other cream that the cosmetic companies can dream up.

She, like many other ladies, is convinced that many men have made a pact with the Prince of Darkness in return for facial skin that is not only soft but free from spots and blemishes. I will probably be marked for use as a bridge support filler or receive a nice pair of concrete overshoes from the League For Excessively Scratchy Chins for revealing the truth but I can contain myself no longer: men really do use skincare products!

There. I’ve said it. What a relief to finally ‘come out’ (about men’s skin, that is). The thing that is different about men’s facial skincare and that used by women is that men don’t pay anywhere near as much for theirs – and that’s because men do something to their faces every day that women never, ever do. They shave.

Now I know women shave their legs and sometimes other unmentionable bits. All we men know that. But they don’t do it every day. So why does that make a difference?

Oh, well, the cat’s out of the bag now so I may as well tell you everything. The act of shaving, when done daily, is an excellent exfoliant. A razor doesn’t only take away the stubble from the chins and cheeks of the average male, it also removes quite a few of the old dermal cells. This tends to leave our homely pans soft and smooth – especially if you use (as an increasing number of today’s guys do) a straight razor.

That’s the reason why – when we’re freshly planed off – the facial skin of your everyday male is as soft as a woman’s that has had enough cream on it to make a raspberry pavlova. The only problem is that it doesn’t last. Hence the tendency in recent years for an increasing number of guys to reach for the bottle.

The skincare-for-men bottle, that is. I’m not convinced that I am the first to have uttered this truth as to the original method of skincare for men – shaving – and doubtless the cosmetic companies’ intelligence task force has been keeping their ear well and truly stuck to the floor over the years. So what do we have now? You got it in one – cream for men.

Oh, they don’t call it ‘cream’. Far too girly. It’s called ‘rejuvenating facial cream’ or something equally crafty – it simply wouldn’t do to call it ‘day cream’ or ‘cool night cream’, would it? It’s done like this. After we men have carefully eradicated all traces of stubble, in proper manly fashion with some horribly sharp steel, we are smiled at from some webpage by an incredible hunk with biceps like footballs and a six-pack made of very large ballbearings who suggests that it would be a good idea to – moisturise our skin!

And do you know what the worst thing about it is? Yep. It works. Guess what I got for Christmas last year? Worse still, guess what I bought recently? Resistance, as has been said, was futile.

The male skincare culture steamroller is gathering momentum. We poor males, hapless victims of our own primitive but effective skincare method, have been sucked into mainstream skincare by forces we can hardly comprehend. What happened to the good old days when the only perfume men wore was good, honest sweat and we all changed our socks once a week even if they were reasonably pong-free? When boxer shorts were things boxers wore and after-shave lotion was considered only fit for wearing on a hot date?

Don’t know about you but I sure thank my lucky stars they’re firmly in the past! Now where’s my anti-aging wrinkle-destroying masculine protein emollient?

Steve Dempster is a recent and happy convert to modern men’s skincare and doesn’t mind anymore who knows it. Learn more here about shaving and skincare products for men.

titleChoosing Athletic Shoes – Tips and Tricks/titlepNo matter what your sport is, your athletic shoes are one of the most important pieces of equipment. From tennis to running, basketball to soccer, choosing the right athletic shoes for the right reasons can make a huge difference in keeping your feet and body healthy. Below you will find some of the things you need to consider when choosing shoes for your sport./ppbStyle Is Not Everything/b/ppJust about every day, someone asks me about their shoes. Questions vary from sport to sport, but the fact remains that the majority of people choose athletic shoes based on brand names and styles, rather than what is best for their own feet./ppI know that it can be hard to pass up those awesome looking shoes that match your uniform perfectly, but in the long run, the most important thing is that the athletic shoe serves its function…to support and protect your feet. So, lets take a closer look at what makes a good athletic shoe./ppbThe Heel Box/b/ppWhen I explain shoes to my patients, I always start with the heel box. This is where most people are similar in their needs. A sturdy heel box is essential to help control your rear-foot during athletic activities. The heel box is essentially the back third of the shoe, that surrounds your heel. Most athletic shoes have a heel box made up of leather, and some type of plastic or rubber reinforcement. However, not all athletic shoes are created equal. To test the heel box, try bending it over, or squeezing it in, and see how much resistance you encounter. If you can easily fold over the heel box, then chances are you will not get much support./ppbThe Upper/b/ppThis is the area where most people make the mistake that causes injury. The Upper is the portion of the shoe that surrounds the foot. It is the upper portion of the shoe, from the heel box to the toe box. Uppers can be fashioned from all kinds of different materials, from mesh to leather, and other types of fabrics. Depending on your foot type, you may need more or less support from the upper./ppThis portion of the shoe helps to control the mid and forefoot. Too much motion in these areas will allow for excessive stress through the meta-tarsals and tarsals, and can result in stress fractures, tendonitis, and other problems. To determine what type of foot you have, grab ahold of your foot with both hands, and move it around. Try moving individual bones around…do you find lots of motion, with little resistance, or is your foot very rigid, with little movement. You do not have to be an expert to tell if you have a flexible or rigid foot. Your athletic shoe should be opposite of your foot type. For rigid feet, you can get by with mesh or other light materials for the upper, as you need less support for your foot. For a flexible foot, you should lean more toward a rigid upper, that will control excessive motion and reduce stress./ppbThe Arch/b/ppArch support is essential for good athletic shoes. Even people with good arches, or great feet mechanics should have sufficient arch support. But, arch support is more than just the arch. It is the way that the sole of the athletic shoe is created and constructed that determines the overall characteristics of the arch. And as far as those cushy insoles that they try to upsell you at the shoe store – pass on those as they just add comfort, not support./ppWhen choosing shoes, look closely at the sole of the shoe. A good arch support will be evident by the shape of the shoe. Notice the outline of the sole. There should be a minimal amount of change in width between the toe and the heel. The wider the athletic shoe is at the middle (where your arch is), the more surface area there is to support your foot. So, avoid shoes that start out wide at the toe, narrow way down in the middle, and then flare out again at the heel./ppbChange is Good/b/ppEven the perfect athletic shoe will wear out over time. I have seen quite a few injuries due to old or worn out shoes. Just like any other equipment, you should monitor your shoes, and replace them when they wear out. If you are a runner, monitor your mileage, and replace them as appropriate./ppHow do you know when to buy new shoes? Well, holes, or pieces falling off are generally good indicators…But if it is not that obvious, look for all of the qualities that you used to choose the athletic shoe in the first place. Is the heel box still sturdy? Is the upper as rigid as it needs to be to control your foot? Is the arch still in good shape, or have you worn down one side of the sole? Answer these questions, and inspect your shoes often to keep them protecting your feet./ppbSummary/b/ppGood athletic shoes do not have to be flashy, or expensive to serve their intended purpose. There are lots of shoes out there that will fit both your needs and your budget. Look for all of the right qualities to fit your foot, and you are sure to make a wise decision. And when in doubt? Discuss shoe wear with other athletes, and the sales person at the shoe store. Chances are they have some good insight./ppBarton Anderson is a certified athletic trainer for St. Johns Sports Medicine. He is the creator of a target=_new href=http://www.sports-injury-info.com/ezshoesSports Injury Info/a, and is dedicated to providing sports injury information to his athletes and the public. Barton holds a Masters of Science Degree in Sports Health Care, and is certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association./pbrbr

When you are going on your honeymoon, no doubt you want to make the time as romantic as possible. You’ll want to have a honeymoon that leaves you with wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. Romantic honeymoons are very possible. To have the most romantic getaway possible, here are a few tips and ideas.

Tip #1 – Get the Special Honeymoon Suite – It is well worth it to stay in a honeymoon suite on the first night of your lives as a married couple. Even if you can only afford to book it for one night. Go ahead and spend the money at least for one night because the lavish suite is something you’ll never forget.

Tip #2 – Go Somewhere New – If you want romance, you need to embrace adventure as a couple. This is a definite way to make your honeymoon even more romantic. Going somewhere new and different will bring the two of you closer together.

Tip #3 – Bring Some Music – For romantic honeymoons, taking along some of your favorite romantic music is a great way to breathe a little romance into the air. Romantic music can get the both of you in the mood for walking on a beach at night, slow dancing, or simply having a romantic evening together. It’s a grand way to set the mood.

Those are just a few of some of the many things couples can do to create romantic honeymoons. Keep a journal to record the special moments, use candlelight, and have some strawberries with wine to set the romantic mood. The most important thing is to be sure that you have wonderful and romantic time as a couple.

Want to make your honeymoon unforgettable? Visit Honeymoon Deals and discover how to have a Disney honeymoon or even a New Zealand honeymoon that you will be talking about for years to come.

For many years skincare has been the sole preserve of the ladies. After all, men don’t need it, do they?

As I came downstairs to breakfast the other day, my wife stroked my cheek lovingly.

‘Your skin is so soft!’ she said almost wonderingly. ‘I really don’t know how you manage it!’

Now my wife is a dear, dear woman but she thinks that a soft skin is only achievable by using amounts of night cream, day cream, anti-wrinkle cream (not that she has any anyway!), protein cream and just about any other cream that the cosmetic companies can dream up.

She, like many other ladies, is convinced that many men have made a pact with the Prince of Darkness in return for facial skin that is not only soft but free from spots and blemishes. I will probably be marked for use as a bridge support filler or receive a nice pair of concrete overshoes from the League For Excessively Scratchy Chins for revealing the truth but I can contain myself no longer: men really do use skincare products!

There. I’ve said it. What a relief to finally ‘come out’ (about men’s skin, that is). The thing that is different about men’s facial skincare and that used by women is that men don’t pay anywhere near as much for theirs – and that’s because men do something to their faces every day that women never, ever do. They shave.

Now I know women shave their legs and sometimes other unmentionable bits. All we men know that. But they don’t do it every day. So why does that make a difference?

Oh, well, the cat’s out of the bag now so I may as well tell you everything. The act of shaving, when done daily, is an excellent exfoliant. A razor doesn’t only take away the stubble from the chins and cheeks of the average male, it also removes quite a few of the old dermal cells. This tends to leave our homely pans soft and smooth – especially if you use (as an increasing number of today’s guys do) a straight razor.

That’s the reason why – when we’re freshly planed off – the facial skin of your everyday male is as soft as a woman’s that has had enough cream on it to make a raspberry pavlova. The only problem is that it doesn’t last. Hence the tendency in recent years for an increasing number of guys to reach for the bottle.

The skincare-for-men bottle, that is. I’m not convinced that I am the first to have uttered this truth as to the original method of skincare for men – shaving – and doubtless the cosmetic companies’ intelligence task force has been keeping their ear well and truly stuck to the floor over the years. So what do we have now? You got it in one – cream for men.

Oh, they don’t call it ‘cream’. Far too girly. It’s called ‘rejuvenating facial cream’ or something equally crafty – it simply wouldn’t do to call it ‘day cream’ or ‘cool night cream’, would it? It’s done like this. After we men have carefully eradicated all traces of stubble, in proper manly fashion with some horribly sharp steel, we are smiled at from some webpage by an incredible hunk with biceps like footballs and a six-pack made of very large ballbearings who suggests that it would be a good idea to – moisturise our skin!

And do you know what the worst thing about it is? Yep. It works. Guess what I got for Christmas last year? Worse still, guess what I bought recently? Resistance, as has been said, was futile.

The male skincare culture steamroller is gathering momentum. We poor males, hapless victims of our own primitive but effective skincare method, have been sucked into mainstream skincare by forces we can hardly comprehend. What happened to the good old days when the only perfume men wore was good, honest sweat and we all changed our socks once a week even if they were reasonably pong-free? When boxer shorts were things boxers wore and after-shave lotion was considered only fit for wearing on a hot date?

Don’t know about you but I sure thank my lucky stars they’re firmly in the past! Now where’s my anti-aging wrinkle-destroying masculine protein emollient?

Steve Dempster is a recent and happy convert to modern men’s skincare and doesn’t mind anymore who knows it. Learn more here about shaving and skincare products for men.

If you doubt the effect of language on perception, consider the problems that some people have with visualization or imagination. When they close their eyes to visualize, they only see darkness…or some swirly afterimage of their optic nerves. These folks complain that they can’t visualize. That’s because they are confusing what the word says with what it means–a common problem with English.

When we speak of imagination, IMAGE activity, it sounds like we are talking about seeing pictures. In fact, imagination includes all the senses as well as the sensation of moving through space. In a very real sense (pun intended), all our “knowledge” of the world is our imagination, our interpretation of sensory data that we get from our bodies, our eyes, ears, hands and other organs, even our gut and backbone.

Different people use different sorting methods to create mental representations of their world. Some people use pictures, visual imagery. Others prefer sounds, tunes, rhythms, or speech to recreate their environment, auditory imagery. And a third group uses the sensations of their muscles moving through space, kinesthetic imagery.

To facilitate your creative processes, think about an apple. Do you see the redness and the shape? Do you smell its tart sweetness? Do you feel the solid heaviness and smooth peel of it in your hand? Do you taste the juice or hear the crunch as you bite it? Do you reach up to pick it from the tree? Do you cut it in half to see the star made by the seeds at the core?

If you work at tuning in to all your senses, you can get a handle on each of these channels of information about the non-existent apple. Even visually oriented imagineers benefit from “walking around” in their imaginary place, reaching out physically with their hands to pretend to touch the objects there. Auditory people may start with the sounds that they would hear, or they might even want to talk about what they would want, as hearing the words in their own ears makes the sensations easier to smell, taste, touch and see.

Many people make a visualization board or collage to help them to see the desire that they wish to manifest. If you do so, try making an entire environment. Include textures that you might touch, a recording of sounds or music, things that have a smell that triggers the feeling you want–a spice or leaves or tree bark or even a drop of perfume on a piece of paper. Turn on the music, touch your textures and look at the pictures while you are up dancing your dream. You can close the living room curtains if you feel more comfortable.

Try drawing for the movement of your hand and arm in that space, rather than the representation of the result. Talk aloud to yourself, as if you were telling someone else about the things you would like to experience. Hold your cell phone to your ear if you are in public, and no one will even notice you talking to yourself.

Most importantly, notice what activities are easiest for you to bring into your mind, so that you can take some actions to find reminders of those things more difficult for you to represent mentally. While it is more effort to create a total sensory environment than it is to close your eyes, that effort pays off as you are able to devote more emotional energy to “being there. “

And when you feel good about “Being there,” you will be there.

Want to be your own fairy godmother? Read Wishes Can Come True by Charlotte Babb for stories and tips on how you can leave the old stories behind and manifest what you want in your life.

For many years skincare has been the sole preserve of the ladies. After all, men don’t need it, do they?

As I came downstairs to breakfast the other day, my wife stroked my cheek lovingly.

‘Your skin is so soft!’ she said almost wonderingly. ‘I really don’t know how you manage it!’

Now my wife is a dear, dear woman but she thinks that a soft skin is only achievable by using amounts of night cream, day cream, anti-wrinkle cream (not that she has any anyway!), protein cream and just about any other cream that the cosmetic companies can dream up.

She, like many other ladies, is convinced that many men have made a pact with the Prince of Darkness in return for facial skin that is not only soft but free from spots and blemishes. I will probably be marked for use as a bridge support filler or receive a nice pair of concrete overshoes from the League For Excessively Scratchy Chins for revealing the truth but I can contain myself no longer: men really do use skincare products!

There. I’ve said it. What a relief to finally ‘come out’ (about men’s skin, that is). The thing that is different about men’s facial skincare and that used by women is that men don’t pay anywhere near as much for theirs – and that’s because men do something to their faces every day that women never, ever do. They shave.

Now I know women shave their legs and sometimes other unmentionable bits. All we men know that. But they don’t do it every day. So why does that make a difference?

Oh, well, the cat’s out of the bag now so I may as well tell you everything. The act of shaving, when done daily, is an excellent exfoliant. A razor doesn’t only take away the stubble from the chins and cheeks of the average male, it also removes quite a few of the old dermal cells. This tends to leave our homely pans soft and smooth – especially if you use (as an increasing number of today’s guys do) a straight razor.

That’s the reason why – when we’re freshly planed off – the facial skin of your everyday male is as soft as a woman’s that has had enough cream on it to make a raspberry pavlova. The only problem is that it doesn’t last. Hence the tendency in recent years for an increasing number of guys to reach for the bottle.

The skincare-for-men bottle, that is. I’m not convinced that I am the first to have uttered this truth as to the original method of skincare for men – shaving – and doubtless the cosmetic companies’ intelligence task force has been keeping their ear well and truly stuck to the floor over the years. So what do we have now? You got it in one – cream for men.

Oh, they don’t call it ‘cream’. Far too girly. It’s called ‘rejuvenating facial cream’ or something equally crafty – it simply wouldn’t do to call it ‘day cream’ or ‘cool night cream’, would it? It’s done like this. After we men have carefully eradicated all traces of stubble, in proper manly fashion with some horribly sharp steel, we are smiled at from some webpage by an incredible hunk with biceps like footballs and a six-pack made of very large ballbearings who suggests that it would be a good idea to – moisturise our skin!

And do you know what the worst thing about it is? Yep. It works. Guess what I got for Christmas last year? Worse still, guess what I bought recently? Resistance, as has been said, was futile.

The male skincare culture steamroller is gathering momentum. We poor males, hapless victims of our own primitive but effective skincare method, have been sucked into mainstream skincare by forces we can hardly comprehend. What happened to the good old days when the only perfume men wore was good, honest sweat and we all changed our socks once a week even if they were reasonably pong-free? When boxer shorts were things boxers wore and after-shave lotion was considered only fit for wearing on a hot date?

Don’t know about you but I sure thank my lucky stars they’re firmly in the past! Now where’s my anti-aging wrinkle-destroying masculine protein emollient?

Steve Dempster is a recent and happy convert to modern men’s skincare and doesn’t mind anymore who knows it. Learn more here about shaving and skincare products for men.

The web, or magazines? Lately after the explosion of the World Wide Web all kinds of media started to struggle:TV, radio, magazines, newspapers etc. Being pushed against the wall by the enormous online information resource it is really hard time for them. Fortunately the battle is not over yet because they all got the flexibility of adaptation. And where the competitions is collection can see the innovation Victoria’s Secret development. The consumer is the winner after all because the competition pushes both parties to improve good experience and quality.

The web beats them all in terms of quantity … but the quality has always been the heavier ingredient! For example magazines have this strong effect when you touch the flashy cover and open it, stunning design, overwhelming articles that you enjoy so much and finally the pleasure of collecting them.

Quality is exactly what magazines are chasing because the web is still not well regulated and I really doubt that it could ever be. Tons of chaotic, useless information is spilled all over the online community, and this is what makes it sometimes really unpleasant place to be. All these spammers chasing you with pop ups, viruses trying to compel you to buy an antivirus, annoying redirects, AdSense portals just lose so much of your time and on top of that make you a headache. If you are an experienced online surfer you could dodge these obstacles easily but a lot of people can’t or just like it old school – comfortable swinging chair next to the fire place, a glass of old classy whiskey, a purring cat in your lap and sucking info from the favourite magazine or newspaper.

The web has got more quality than all the medias combined together but the hard part is to find it. You can always subscribe to a magazine and receive a particular info for a particular price, which is nice and is enough for some… but not for all. The open-minded people won’t consider offline media as enough and will chase the rest. Of course they will not underestimate the professional pieces of art of magazines and TV too. They will embrace them all. You will have to find the balance if you want to be really well informed. And this is the world’s secret. Being informed is all the fuss about. It makes you stronger, smarter. You can then communicate more easily and more efficiently with the world. Reading a single article in a magazine can change your life, give you ideas, open new horizons.

The web is structured mostly by people who are not paid for this, little hooligans and all kind of unprofessional writers which in some point is beautifully innocent but highly unprofessional and time consuming. I’d say let’s not underestimate them as these people are the ones that are forming one of the biggest miracles in our world!

So … are you still fond of magazines? Do you want to save them?

The author is fond of PPC and IM. Testing magazine subscription site: http://www.mag-sub.co.uk but practice mainly in the UK financial sector with: http://www.fast-online-loans.com

If you look back through recent years, you could probably identify one defining hair coco chanel quotes for women that summed up a particular decade. A very quick synopsis of the history of hair over the past four decades might go something like this; Twiggy’s bob defined the Sixties, the flowing locks of the Flower Power era was the over-riding influence for the Seventies, the mullet (and other strange apparitions) in the Eighties and that “Rachel from Friends” cut for the Nineties.

However in the ‘Noughties’ it seems as if a more eclectic taste has hit the Brits, and for Spring 2008 particularly it seems that there is no one defining style. In fact, anything goes. This could be because more than ever before, celebrity hairstyles will influence the rest of the nation’s hair, and celebrities tend to change their locks on a regular basis in order to constantly update their image.

This trend for a chameleon-like image for celebrities began with Linda Evangelista, who only seemed to really become one of the original super models after dramatically shearing off her locks and going brunette in the late 1980s. The organisers of the big catwalk shows promptly dropped her, but within months she was appearing on the covers of all the influential magazines.

For this year, the bob is quotes coco chanel on trend – but it is not just one type of bob. Victoria Beckham’s “Pob” could quite arguably have been the style of Autumn 2007 and may continue into 2008 but now will experience competition from the “Kob” – Kylie’s softer, more feminine version. So, the bob is back in force – from razor sharp bobs to soft sculpted bobs – there’s a style to suit every image and every face shape.

There are just some people who can never lose their flowing tresses, so if long hair is your thing but you still want to be en vogue, just add curls for a romantic feel. In addition, a big hit for this season is the sophisticated ‘up-do’ – perfect for long hair. They were on the catwalks everywhere as well as being seen on the red carpets of many a glittering celebrity bash – people everywhere are taking a note of the hairstyles as well as the dresses at the award ceremonies these days. If you’re thinking of an up-do then plaits and french pleats are two of the hot looks for Spring – a la Kate Hudson at the BAFTAs.

And finally, whether your look is sharp and edgy or soft and feminine, fringes are also a key look for this season, whether its blunt bangs or a soft sweeping side-parted fringe.

Whichever shape or cut you coco chanel quotes it seems there is no doubt that you will need your versatile straighteners to the ready – primping, preening, straightening, curling – it’s all going on this Spring. Just make sure you don’t spend so long on your hair that you miss the party!

Victoria Cochrane is a freelance writer for both online and print media. She lives with her husband and son, and enjoys travelling when not writing.

Anna Nicole Smith is a prime example of a fact: It’s often later than you think. In her case, she probably did not realize that she would not live to the age of 40. She probably did not attach great importance to having an updated will or estate plan.

However, the latter stage of life is simply not the best time to plan. The best time to engage in estate planning is when you are young and healthy. Then as age sets in, or as life circumstances change, the plan should then be updated.

Anna Nicole Smith’s death, and her estate “plan,” provides instructive lessons for all of us concerning our own estate plans:

Lesson 1: You never know when…

This is self-evident. Barring the autopsy report concluding that her death was a result of suicide, it is doubtful that Smith knew that she would never see her 40th birthday.

This highlights the fact that the best time to engage in estate and financial planning is when we are healthy. Yet, it’s very easy to wait — and to simply not think about it until we have to. But we never really know when that crisis will occur.

Remember: Planning for the future does not make it happen any sooner, or later.

Lesson 2: Keep it current.

Smith’s will shows that it was prepared before two major events in her life: Before the death of her son, Daniel, and before the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn. But her 2001 will made no provision for Dannielynn.

In fact, Smith’s will apparently disinherits any future children, arguably including Dannielynn. The first Article of the will provides that “I have intentionally omitted to provide for my spouse and other heirs, including future spouses and children and other descendents now living and those hereafter born or adopted…”

Little did Smith realize in July 2001, when she executed her will

(1) that her son Daniel would predecease her (he died in late 2006),

(2) that she would give birth to a daughter Dannielynn,

(3) that she would not survive her daughter, and

(4) that the United States Supreme Court would ultimately revive her claim to her late husband’s estate, estimated in the amount of $474 million.

Again, the lesson: Keep your estate plan current.

Lesson 3: An outdated estate plan will have unintended consequences.

Given the language in her will, including the clauses specifically omitting gifts to those not named in the will, it is possible that daughter Dannielynn will not receive any part of Smith’s estate. However, on the other hand, it is also possible (but not certain) that Dannielynn’s rights to the estate might be established through California’s “Pretermission Statute” [Probate Code Section 21620].

It is highly unlikely that Smith truly wanted to disinherit her future daughter when she prepared her will. Unfortunately, however, disinheritance is one possible outcome given the wording of her will. If nothing else, the unnecessary ambiguity almost guarantees extended litigation.

Failing to plan your estate in a timely manner almost guarantees unintended consequences.

Lesson 4: How about your child’s guardian?

One major purpose for having a will is to nominate a guardian for your children. Smith nominated a guardian for Daniel, but of course did not nominate a guardian for her daughter Dannielynn.

Given the fact that paternity will probably be established (from a bevy of potential dads, I might add), the lack of a named guardian will probably not be a problem in Dannielynn’s case.

However, even if your estate is not worth $474 million — and few are — it is still worthwhile to have a will. Most of us will still need to identify a guardian for our children.

And who knows what else life has in store for you? Again, keep it current.

You can meet your financial and estate planning goals! A licensed attorney, financial planner and owner of the San Gabriel Valley financial planning firm Stratton Financial and Estate Planning, Larry D. Stratton is in a position to coach and advise you, and to help you plan for your future. He is also the senior associate at the law firm of Hausman & Sosa, LLP, located in Tarzana, California. He also blogs on estate and financial planning issues at Planner’s Thoughts.

Larry Stratton is a member of the Financial Planning Association, and speaks on estate and financial planning topics in Southern California.

How Does Clothing Affect Us? Without a doubt, clothing is the most prominent facade of our well being in society. It can camouflage, it can cover-up and it can build as much as it can destroy our image. It tells others what we want, our talents, our needs, our personalities, our dispositions and our destinations. Clothing is silent but very powerful communicator. We’ve all experienced better treatment when we look especially well and what it’s like to be treated badly when we don’t. We can get attention when we enter a room or attract people with the same interest. That is because people relate to the way we wear our clothing. Clothes are said to make “fashion statements.” By overlooking, we’re suitable to convey uncertainty and confusion. By emphasizing we can enhance our look, strength and success. Clothes can create positive aspects of ourselves it sparks self assurance and confidence. It can make people respond and be excited to be in our presence. At times, clothes are the only visible clues to our personalities.

You are what you wear. It’s like a wrap of a beautiful gift. The wrapper represents your clothes and gift represents your body. So, no matter how good looking you are inside if you fail to present yourself outside, your inside would be presumed like your outside. The key is to wear cloths that fit your body and that inspire confidences.

Whether it’s fair or not, a person’s first judgment of other is based on clothing. Clothing is the first clue absorbed by the eye before the brain judges’ first impression. Clothing has become the most important judging factor of first impression. The rest including intellectual appreciation comes only second.

Your image is showing when other people look at you, they make judgments about you based on what they see. Appearance creates a picture of who you are. When other people lack personal information about you, they may use your personal appearance to judge your character. They may judge your ability and disposition by that first impression. By changing any part of your appearance such as hairstyle, grooming, or clothing, you can change the total image others have of you. Appearance can be a powerful and useful tool in controlling the kind of message you send to others.

When you first enter a room, an office, a bus or a business meeting, you only have one free moment, one great instant in which you receive the complete and undivided attention of those around you. In that instant, the people observing decide whether you are a threat or an attraction, whether you are of interest to them or not. If you mess-up that moment, you will have to work awfully hard for the next. When you see a beautiful woman wearing something really odd you’d say “she’s beautiful but…” and when you see a very handsome man wearing wrinkled trousers with dirty white socks, you don’t approach them nor say hi.

Michael is a fashion expert with over eight years of experience, who’s mission is to teach people how look and feel their best! For the latest fashion advice and tips, eco-chic updates and much more visit http://www.Voiceoffashion.com