Easy Greek Salad

One bag of prewashed romaine lettuce or 1 head of romaine lettuce, wash well and spin dry (rewash the bagged salad)

I hothouse cucumber peeled, seeded, sliced

1 tomato, sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced, use amount desired

16 Greek Olives, as garnish

Feta Cheese, coarsely crumbled

Salad Dressing:

6 tablespoons of best quality extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons of crumbled feta cheese

1/4 tablespoon of dried oregano

1 small garlic clove finely minced

Kosher salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper to taste

Whisk all the salad dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place salad greens and cucumber in a large salad bowl, drizzle with the salad dressing and toss well, taste and adjust seasonings as desired.  Add the tomatoes and red onion, toss lightly and serve on chilled salad plates. Sprinkle lightly with crumbled feta cheese as desired, garnish with 4 Greek Olives, per serving, placed “in” the salad.  Serves 4

Chewy Chocolate Espresso Cookies

 

6 Tablespoons of all purpose flour sifted

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces of high quality semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

3/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder (Medaglia D’Oro or Ferrara)

2 large eggs

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract (good quality)

1 cup high quality semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking mat such as Silpat.  Mix the flour, baking powder and salt with a fork in a small bowl, set aside.  Melt the 8 ounces of chocolate chips and the butter over low heat.  Remove from the heat.  In a medium bowl add the sugar, espresso powder, vanilla and eggs, using an electric mixer, beat until well blended.  Stir the sugar/egg mixture into the warm chocolate mixture using a spatula or wooden spoon.  Stir in the flour mixture and the 1 cup of chocolate chips, mix well. 

Drop the cookie mixture by the tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies 2 inches apart.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the tops crack but the cookies are still soft.  Cool 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet.  Transfer cookies to a rack for further cooling.  Makes 2 dozen cookies.

5 Things Every Guy Wants From A Woman

“SHE SAYS” by Heather Juma

Here are five things a guy wants from his girl. Want the guy in your life to be blissfully happy? Read on…

He wants to be himself. Why are women always trying to change the men in their lives? He thinks he’s cool the way he is, so accept him for his quirks instead of viewing them as “faults”.

Accept his relationship with his friends. Allow him the space and freedom to hang out with his firends even if you don’t approve of them. They can’t be all bad if he chose them, right?

Don’t expect him to share everything in his life with you. He might not feel the need to share secrets or confidences with others, don’t expect him to. Are you going to share every detail of your best friend’s life with him? Don’t expect the same of him, he’ll share what he wants.

Give him space. If he wants to go out with his friends or visit his parents without you, let him, this shows how much you respect him and trust him. Trust and respect are important.

Support him and his decisions. If he takes a risk and no one else believes in him be there as a confidant and support system. Lend an ear whenever he wants to talk about his hopes and dreams, believe in him and support him.

Follow these 5 simple steps and your guy will love you forever!

Get Sexy! Be Happy!

  Are you feeling kind of blue?  Feeling a little sad and maybe even a bit depressed?  I know just the thing to shake those blues away!

You need a mini-makeover.  A makeover that will make you feel sexy.  If you feel better about how you look you will start to feel better about yourself and your life.

Let’s start with the basics.  Spa Day!  You need to book a day at the spa and pamper yourself from head to toe.  A facial, massage, manicure, pedicure…  you deserve to have it all.  Make sure to book your waxing appointments too.

Next, your crowning glory.  If your hair looks awful, EVERYONE is having a bad day not just you.  So book your favorite stylist and tell them you need to freshen up and update your look.  Maybe a new cut or perhaps a new color, don’t go too extreme though or you may regret it later.

Want to feel luxurious?  Pick a new perfume that makes you feel incredibly sexy, make sure to pick up the bath gel and body lotion in the same scent.

Buy one fabulous outfit that makes you feel like the hottest chick in town.  Make sure to get the shoes, purse, all the accessories you’ll need for a complete, pulled together look.

Lastly, stop by your favorite makeup counter and have your makeup done.  Oftentimes we get into a rut with our makeup, you need to update your look every now and then.  Usually you’ll only need to purchase a few new items to completely update your look.

Now for the fun part.  Grab the guy of your dreams and go on a wild and crazy date totally unlike anything you’ve ever done before.  Be daring and adventurous, take a walk on the wild side for a change.

Once you’re done everything I’ve explained, there’s no going back.  I guarantee you will feel wonderful, sexy, fabulous and beautiful, you’ll feel much happier then you were before, and you’ll know what to do next time you’re feeling a little blue.

Secrets To Fabulous Scrambled Eggs

 

Serves 2

4 large eggs

1/4 cup of half and half

1 tbsp. of unsalted butter

Kosher salt, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Fresh Chives (optional), Crumbled Goat Cheese (optional)

Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the half and half.  Add kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Over low heat, melt the butter in a saute pan, swirl the melted butter in the pan so that the bottom of the pan is covered.  Add the eggs, increase the heat to medium-low and stir the eggs constantly (preferably with a rubber spatula) until the eggs reach desired doneness (do not overcook, the eggs will continue to cook when removed from the heat).  After removing the pan from the heat add a tiny bit of butter, minced chives and or crumbled goat cheese if desired.  Stir the eggs, taste and correct seasonings.  Serve on warmed plates.

Multiple Streams Of Income

 Love her or hate her, Martha Stewart is one smart business woman! Many people talk about building multiple streams of income, (including moi), want to see the best example … let’s look at Martha’s business.

Television shows, satellite radio, syndicated news columns, appearances on the Today show, magazines, catalog business and floral business. Being smart and savvy she knows the power of joint ventures and has licensing deals for furniture with Bernhardt, food with Costco, wine with Gallo, homes with KB Homes, paint products with Sears and Lowes, paper craft products with Michael’s and home accessories with KMart and Macy’s!

Now I know most of you don’t aspire to rule the world like Martha does, but you need to learn the concept. I call it “slice and dice”, it’s easier to build a six-figure income with lots of “mini businesses” under the brand of your primary business.

If you want $10k a month in revenues, is it easier to have four “mini businesses” do $2500/month in sales or struggle to have one business do $10k in sales? Look at your own business and decide how you can implement this powerful strategy.

So my hat goes off to Martha Stewart the “Queen of Streams.”

Who’s Going To Stop You From Being A Success?

Debbi’s business plan was simple: She knew that she loved making cookies and that every time she made them people were happy. Everyone told Debbi she couldn’t do it, aren’t you cookie lovers glad she didn’t listen?

Debbi Fields Rose’s message for women dreaming of having their own business is this; “There are no limitations other than those we impose on ourselves. You do not have to be superhuman to do what you believe in.” Like I said, she’s one smart cookie!

So who’s stopping you? Are the voices in your head telling you you’re not smart enough, good enough, “whatever” enough? Are you friends and family acting as the “dream-stealers” in your life? Who are you going to let stop you from living the life you secretly desire? Why woul d you listen to anyone, including those crazy voices in your head … they’re all wrong.

In my own life I’ve listened to the dream-stealers and the inner voices in my head and I’ve missed so many great opportunities, I felt great pain and remorse as I looked back and saw all that I had lost. That pain helped me to develop my present company, Wealth, Success and Women. As I developed the coaching program, Millionaire Diva Mastermind, I found that many women dream of starting businesses and very, very few of them actually have someone that believes in them. So I developed a program that supports the dreamer in women entrepreneurs and helps the dreamers get together and get those businesses started and making six-figures only 12 months!

So if you have a dream, please don’t give up…ever! And if you need someone to believe in you, just drop me a line, I’ve been there I know what it feels like. We all need someone to believe in us … so who’s the woman in your life who needs you to believe in her and her dreams? There’s another aspiring woman entrepreneur out there who needs your support, when you meet her reach out and give her a hand.. 

Cirque Du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil (French for “Circus of the Sun”) is an entertainment empire based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada founded  by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier in 1984.

Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success in 1984 and after securing a second year of funding Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to recreate it as a “proper circus”. No ring and no animals helped make Cirque du Soleil the modern circus that it is today.

Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world and has its own central theme and storyline which brings the audience into the performance by having no curtains, continuous live music and performers change the props. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created with the direction of Franco Dragone that not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.

Cirque’s creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including Bambi, Rose d’Or, three Gemini Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Cortéo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in North America in 2005. Cortéo, which means “cortège” in Italian, is a festive parade imagined by a clown.

The show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to plunge the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.

The clown pictures his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere, watched over by quietly caring angels. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness, to illustrate the portion of humanity that is within each of us. The music, by turns lyrical and playful, carries Corteo through a timeless celebration in which illusion teases reality.

In September of 2003, Cirque du Soleil unveiled Zumanity. This new production was a resident cabaret-style show at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip). It is the first “adult-themed” Cirque du Soleil show, billed as “The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil”. Created by Dominic Champagne, Zumanity is a departure from the standard Cirque format. Intended to be for mature adult audiences only, this show is centered around erotic song, dance and acrobatics.

Laliberté admits that the biggest reason to produce this show was the chance to create something with riskier subject matter. He was interested in the idea of creating a show that explored human sexuality, something that was at complete odds from the other more family-oriented Cirque shows. “Our previous shows have all been family-oriented and ‘politically correct.’ Laliberté said, “which is great. But we’re human beings, we won’t hide it. We’re a bunch of happy campers. We like to live new experiences. Zumanity deals with some of those experiences.”

Tips For Small Business Startup

Are you acting like a small business owner?

You may have a name, a product, a service, and even a website, but are you really a woman entrepreneur? There are a few things that you will need to do right from the get go to avoid the confusion between your personal self and your business self.

The first thing you must set up, in order to differentiate between who you are and who you are while running your business is to look at the first thing you may have thought of while considering becoming an entrepreneur–Money! Set up a separate checking account for your business. I hear a lot of complaints about this from people because so many banks want a lot of information before they will set up a business account; and some banks charge high fees for business accounts. “Like you can afford that right now” is what you are probably thinking.

However, the process is quite simple.

Go to the bank of your choice and find the best checking account deal you can find. Open an account under your name, put some money in it, and you’re all set! Use this bank account for your business now. This is important because you should not be “co-mingling” your business and personal finances. Also, this makes it a lot easier to keep track of expenses and see how successful your business is over time. Now, I only suggest doing this if you are just getting started and you are starting a small, home-based business. You should also be a solo-entrepreneur, so you shouldn’t be doing this is you are a corporation or LLC.

You will also need a separate credit card. You may not be able to get a credit card in your company’s name yet, so use one of your personal credit cards and designate that card solely for business expenses. Remember, the key here is to keep your personal and business finances separate from now on; so you have one checking account and one credit card for your home-based business and another of each for you, personally.

Hint: Make sure you are using all the tax strategies you can and making everything legally possible a business tax deduction. You may want to read the following book for a quick overview to get you started–Lower Your Taxes Big Time by Sandy Botkin.

Set up your systems from day one. This may seem like a hassle, but do it now and you will save yourself a lot of time and a major headache in the future. Set up a filing system for your business and running with the theme here, keep your business and personal files separate. Use bookkeeping and accounting software right from the start. Again, this may seem like a hassle, but you are going to be busy once your business takes off, so it is best to set all the systems up right from day one.

Take the time now, you will be glad you did! You can also visit TaxMama for tips on tax savings!

7 Low Cost Marketing Tips

As a woman business owner, you have to start looking at marketing as an investment rather than an expense. And remember, no matter what your business is, you’re really in the marketing business.

So here are seven low cost marketing strategies to help you get started bringing in revenue.

1.) Free Advertisements - there are places where you can run free ads offline and online

2.) Speaking - every chance you get give a talk or presentation about what you do, you can do talks in your town and give talks on internet radio and podcasts.

3.) Create FREE reports and leave them wherever you go, hand them out, offer them on your website by using an opt in box to obtain the website visitor’s contact information.

4.) Write a blog, this will generate a little “buzz” about you and attract readers to your site. You’ll build a “following” and get known as an expert, people like to buy from experts.

5.) Write articles and submit them to online article directories. Fax them to radio shows, magazines and television shows that market to your target market.

6.) Put flyers around town on bulletin boards in coffee shops, libraries, community centers, grocery stores, and day spas.

7.) To build your expertise on the internet you can post helpful responses in discussion forums, make sure to include a signature line, avoid apparent self-promotion.

Those are just a few steps to get you started, while they won’t get your phone ringing off the hook, they are good, low cost ways to start any marketing campaign.

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