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From purchasing the garter to choosing the photographer, brides (and grooms!) are online and as the Internet’s many advantages have begun to permeate most every aspect of wedding planning, a single question has been popping up more and more: can I use the Internet for my wedding invitations? As a wedding website designer I’ve answered numerous emails from brides asking if an email announcement to visit their wedding website can not just supplement their wedding invitation but actually replace it. It’s an interesting idea, one with the potential to save a great deal of time and money. However, one big question remains. Is it acceptable? Considering the potential benefits, it’s certainly a question worth asking, and some compelling arguments can be found on both sides.

First, consider the many purposes of a wedding invitation. Most obvious is the intent that the recipient understands who is invited. Also important is the inclusion of maps and directions, RSVP information, reply cards and essential wedding details. Furthermore, the wedding invitation is an expression of the couple’s personal style and can serve as a memento for friends and family to remember the event. Considering all these essential functions, the question, then, is whether the traditional wedding invitation can be replaced by a simple email invitation to visit the couple’s site online. Certainly, a creative and informative wedding website can serve the majority of the purposes mentioned. In fact, wedding details might be more specific and useful on a website given the amount of space that can be afforded an entire page devoted to each subject. One can easily give details and links to important wedding locations, schedules, maps, etc. Also, if the bride and groom are able to create their own site or find a designer they like, they can certainly express their own unique style and theme on a wedding website. But what about the empty space in grandma’s album just waiting for her granddaughter’s wedding invitation? Here is where an online invitation falls short. One solution, however, could be to purchase or make a wedding CD with the website on it. Technologically hip grandparents can treasure this memento like they would a written invitation (even if it doesn’t go well in an album).

Still can’t decide? Consider some of the pros and cons of the “virtual invitation”:

Pros:

*Save money on wedding invitations (certainly the most compelling argument for many). The cost of an online invitation, including one designed by a reasonably priced professional, should be considerably less than sending written invitations for an average sized wedding when factoring in the cost of the printing, postage, and reply cards.

*Save the time of selecting and sending written invitations, especially if you were going to have a wedding website anyway.

*Make things a little easier for those guests who already do a great deal online.

*Receive RSVP responses via email.

*Include links to maps and directions.

*Have wedding details laid out for guests to avoid the bother of answering the same questions over and over.

*Include important links so guests can find the information they need on such things as local attractions, accommodations, and travel (particularly useful for destination weddings).

Cons:

*Compiling all of your guests’ current email addresses can be a daunting task.

*Not everyone is online. Unless you know for a fact that you can get your email invitation to everyone who should receive one, this is not a good option. You never want to offend family and friends when planning a wedding.

*Etiquette, etiquette, etiquette. If etiquette is particularly important to you or the people who will be receiving your invitations, this is not the right choice for you.

For those who are thinking the whole “virtual invitation” is too drastic a change I suggest a compromise. Many couples are finding that combining the modern with the traditional is the way to go until all their friends and family have caught on to the Internet. The couple’s web address can be included in the traditional invitation so their guests can have two sources for wedding information. Also, written invitations can be sent with instructions to RSVP online thus saving the couple time and money for postage and reply cards (with just a slight bend in tradition).

In the end, whether it’s traditional, modern or modern-traditional, what matters most is that the bride and groom have the wedding they desire. The best advice I can give is don’t worry too much about tradition and etiquette; rather, spend the time planning the wedding of your dreams and maybe make some traditions of your own along the way.

copyright 2003 Tamara Baker and Celebrate Our Lives Wedding Websites

Tamara Baker is the owner of and website designer at Celebrate Our Lives Wedding Websites. She has been hand designing couples’ wedding websites since 2002.

• Treat yourself as well as you would your best friend
• Forget the details and remember: It’s all details
• Breathe and smile (Especially when you don’t feel like it)
• Take walks for no reason other than to take walks
• Let go of old (and new) resentments
• Talk to someone when something is bothering you
• Swing on a swing set when you need to lighten up
• Make silly faces in the mirror when you feel angry
• Live today as if it were your last day
• Practice random acts of kindness
• Remember the greatness you were put here for
• Write a letter of affirmation to your “younger self”
• Eat less than you want to
• Drink more water than you want to
• Dance by yourself (or with your lover)
• Read a children’s book
• Act as if you are fearless and 100% confident
• Always make amends when you are wrong
• Watch the sunrise and the sunset
• Pray and meditate
• Call an old friend that you haven’t talked to in a while
• Give anonymously to others in need

Ken Donaldson has been based in Tampa Bay offering counseling, coaching, and educational programs since 1987. His REALationship Coaching programs empower people to have more successful lives, businesses and relationships by building a powerful relationship with themselves first. Visit his website at http://www.REALationshipCoach.com for more information and sign-up his free e-program Illuminations and Sparks of Brilliance. Ken is also the author of the upcoming book Marry YourSelf First!

If you are scanning for the very best offer on Dishwashers, shopping on the net can be a lovely practice to save cherished time & money. If you’re tired of looking round retail outlet after high-street store surveying the market for your families brand new dishwasher then why not hop on your computer and get on line and start shopping. Shopping around is always a good thing when looking for quality dishwashers on the internet.

You really should consistently purchase from options you very much trust, but nevertheless, when presented with a large range of unknown brands on the internet selecting shall be difficult. A fine tactic to stave off shopping with unsound retailers is to purchase with web retailers who also enjoy a good high street location. You should additionally be sure to read the terms and conditions of any websites you are really mulling over obtaining from.

A further additional tactic to pick out a reputable on-line store When you are looking for dishwashers is to find out whether the website have an impartial and educational buyers handbook. Consulting a shoppers guide will probably additionally highlight a slew of issues you may not have considered if you were merely browsing by yourself. The aforementioned could possibly include; energy consumption, extra features and storage capacity among other things.

Be extremely wary of concealed charges – value added tax and delivery charges that are added on at the checkout may often transmute that first awesome price you found for your families dishwasher into something startlingly unremarkable.

a disturbing number of online stores are also faster than others – if the speed at which you obtain your families dishwasher is simply not a problem then this might not bother you that much. Then again, if you’d rather not be manually washing the pots and pans over X-mas then you will probably want to select a shop which gives you guaranteed home delivery times.

Dishwashers can generally look the part when they are sat in a showroom or on a website but end up disappointed when it reaches your house. So be sure to check the returns policy of the website you are ordering from.

Here are 7 ways you can instantly access your natural creativity and create anything you like.

1. Think Like A Child. As adults we tend to think in a conditioned way aimed at showing how clever we are. Yet, as children, we were simply spontaneous and far more creative in our thinking. To re-capture your childhood curiosity, allow yourself to just wonder at things, to be completely present in the here and now, and to detach yourself from what you thought was real.

2. Make New Connections. To be innovative doesn’t require a university degree; it simply requires making a connection between existing ideas. For instance, did you know that ice cream was invented in 2000 BC yet it took another 3900 years for someone to come up with the idea of a cone? It’s when you take two seemingly unrelated items and use the spark of creativity that genius happens.

3. Be A Little Illogical. It is a peculiarly Western trait to want to tie things up in neat bundles. We prefer solutions to problems, and answers to questions. To be creative, you need to be comfortable with things that don’t fit. The Eastern tradition is more in tune with incongruence. As in this Zen koan, or problem: what is the sound of one hand clapping?

4. Laugh More. Tom Peters says that the creativity of a workplace can be measured by a laughometer, ie how much it laughs. Humour is one of the greatest creative devices. It jolts us out of our normal patterns and puts ideas together that shouldn’t go together. It has been found that after listening to comedy tapes, students’ ability to solve problems rises by 60%.

5. Think Outside Your Limits. Many of the products we take for granted today are the result of people thinking outside their limits. John Lynn recalls attending a computer conference in the 1980’s at a hotel when someone joked that the next thing they’d be thinking of would be computerised doors. When he went back to the same hotel 20 years later, all the doors used computer-programmed key cards.

6. Adopt and Adapt. To be creative doesn’t require blue-sky thinking. You can still be creative by adapting what works elsewhere. An American airline that wanted quicker turnarounds on their flights adopted the techniques of Formula One pit crews. Another source of ideas is nature. Georges de Mestral adapted the way certain seeds stick to clothing and invented Velcro.

7. Remember Your Dreams. Dreaming and day-dreaming can create a rich seam of ideas, because that’s when we relax and let the subconscious mind work by itself. The Roffey Park Management Institute calls this “washing-up creativity” because most flashes of inspiration come when we are walking the dog, sitting Archimedes-like in the bath, or doing the washing up.

Apply these 7 creative thinking techniques and make them part of your daily thinking and I guarantee that new solutions to your problems will open up to you with ease and speed.

© Eric Garner, ManageTrainLearn.com

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What do creativity managers do?

Replace the word management with the word optimisation.

That’s what creativity managers do: they optimise the quality of the idea pool (creativity) and the implementation process (innovation).

There are many methods of optimisation and the creativity leader must be aware of all of them, in other words, he or she must synthesise them for optimal effect.

Areas [within creativity] that need managing include motivation, organisational culture, organisational structure, incremental versus radical effects and processes, knowledge mix, group structures, goals, process and valuation.

Areas [within innovation] that need managing include idea selection, development / prototyping and the art of commercialisation.

It is worth noting that 4000 good ideas result in 4 development programs, which in turn results in 1 winner.

Idea Valuation

Idea valuation is the first step of innovation (idea selection, development and commercialisation).

There are a number of valuation approaches:

What types of ideas have previously been most successful? For example, solution spotting has a higher success rate and a lower failure rate than need spotting.

What is the fit with the firm? Does the firm have the strategic, technical and other competencies to fully bring the idea to the market?

What is the position relative to practical impediments? What is the likelihood of the idea pushing past all development obstacles?

How do we make the go or kill decision to decide between projects? Investing in one good idea robs another of the opportunity of proving itself. Resources are never limitless.

Who is the consumer and how will s/he benefit? Market research has a role to play.

What are the benefits of failure? Failure today may help build the competencies that lead to a winning solution next time. Ridley Scott created a commercial failure with Blade Runner but went on to a commercial success with Gladiator.

Learn more…

Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

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Kal Bishop, MBA

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Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

I know these work. Pick one and try it today! Or maybe do one a week from now on…

1. Do something that you have dreaded and put off for ages because it’s too scary

2. Forget all thoughts of trying to get more money or getting materials things of any kind in order to be happier. You need a better plan than this!

3. Change what you say to yourself in your head – only think positive thoughts about yourself, other people, events, the past and the future.

4. Have something big to work towards.

5. If you’re a nice person (unlike me) you might need to be a bit selfish sometimes in order to please yourself!

6. You spend 5 days a week at work, so maybe it would be good to get more happiness from it. Find ways to enjoy your work.

7. Spend some time with Nature today – trees, water, views, walk, sit, whatever.

8. Don’t bother to get good at anything. Instead, dabble in more things.

9. Get organised – it’s the foundation to build your happiness on, and being disorganised certainly can be annoying!

10. Holidays are good because we have the time to do the things we really enjoy. Get more time in your normal non-holiday life by getting rid of the filler and the bad stuff. This may mean saying No to some things!

11. Get your friends sorted – get rid of the ones who aren’t good enough, and spend more time with the great ones who you neglect

12. Live in the present, take time to smell the roses – hard to do in this speeded up world, but important

13. Do something really childish today. A snowball fight would be good if it snows soon, otherwise what else can you think of? (send me suggestions!)

14. Find out what makes you happy and do more of it. What has made you happy in the last few weeks?

15. Get a happiness buddy with whom you can plan and make sure you actually do these kinds of things

16. Have or get a job where you are learning new things (obviously within your existing organisation!). Volunteer for new things within your current job.

17. Make someone else happy – and it’ll bounce back to you.

18. Do some form of exercise – your body feeling good will make your mind feel good too.

19. Simplify your life, of both people and things and activities.

20. Learning new things, by reading or going on a training course. It feels good, and opens new avenues too.

Chris Croft runs management training courses, mainly in the UK – see http://www.chriscrofttraining.co.uk. This article was one of his free monthly email tips – you can get addded to the free list by going to http://www.free-management-tips.co.uk

With the advancement in the treadmill industry, quality machines could now cost you up to $5,000. So purchasing the wrong equipment could prove costly. And with the huge variety of treadmills in the market today, finding one that suits you best has become even more confusing.

This is the reason why I created these guide questions. It aims to educate people on how to purchase the best treadmill for their needs and avoid some costly mistakes.

So before you start shopping for your new treadmill, answer first the following guide questions below. They will guide you into making the right purchase.

1) Who would use the treadmill?

The treadmill you would be buying would depend on how much you weigh, how tall you are, and how many people would use it.

Most treadmills have a maximum user weight limit, so be sure that your treadmill will be able to support your body weight. For tall people, I suggest you choose machines with lengthy decks, since your strides will be longer than normal.

If the whole family would be using it, it would be better to buy higher quality treadmills (those above $2,000) to make sure that it can handle the workouts of everyone in the family.

2) How often would the treadmill be used?

The quality (and price) of the machine you will be buying would also depend on the number of times the treadmill will be used in a week and for how long. As a guide, a person who weighs less than 200 lbs. and plans to run on it for 30 minutes a day, 7 times a week should get a treadmill in the $1,500 – $2,000 range.

3) Where will the treadmill be used?

The size and weight of the treadmill you will buy is another factor to be considered. If you have limited space at home, then buying a huge treadmill would not be a smart move. Also, an extremely heavy treadmill is recommended to be only on the ground floor of an old house.

For those with limited spaces at home, you might want to choose a treadmill with foldable feature. This allows you to fold the treadmill after use to save space.

4) What features do you need?

You need to determine the features that would be useful to you and be sure that the treadmill you will buy has those features. If you want to workout in your target heart rate then make sure that the machine you will be buying has a heart rate monitor.

5) How much can you afford?

Finally, know how much you can really spend for a treadmill then, considering numbers 1-4, choose the treadmill in that price range that suits you best. If you can’t find your perfect treadmill in that price range, then you might have to look for one with a higher price tag.

If you need a webpage which categorizes the best treadmills by price, you can visit this best buy treadmills page.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully these treadmill buying guide questions was able to enlighten you on the kind of treadmill that you really need.

Aaron Co is an avid treadmill user for more than 6 years now. He is also the founder of TreadmillTips.com. A website that provides unbiased treadmill reviews and buying tips so shoppers can choose the fitness equipment that suits them best.

You have finally found the home of your dreams. You have searched all over and are ready to purchase it. Before you even make your offer you should seek out the financing first. In some cases, it is easier to have a pre-approval in hand before making any financial commitment through a contract. Why get your hopes up after you purchase the home when you can buy with assurance and wait by the settlement table. Before you can buy anything, you will need to get accepted by a reputable lender. There is much you will need to know, as this will be the largest purchase you will ever make. You will need to fill out a mortgage application first.

As with any mortgage application, you will need to provide the necessary information to the lender so they can weigh the option to grant you the loan. This information is based upon your financial picture. It consists of your social security number, date of birth, and where you have worked for the past 3 years. This information will give the lender a good picture about your spending habits through a credit score. Depending on the score itself, the lender will make a financial decision to grant or deny your request. You may also have to explain certain circumstances in your life such as a job loss or credit rating should they not be up to par.

Upon completing the mortgage application review, you will be given an amount in which you can afford. Usually the sales price of the home is based upon 3 times your annual income. It is also equivalent to the percentage of debt to income ration determined by FHA (Federal Housing Authority). Should you meet these guidelines you will be given a green light to go and look for a house in this range. You may be able to afford more should you have a sizeable deposit. There are also programs that you can use to get into a house with only 3% down. Some lenders ask that you fill out the home loan application in person rather than online so that they can answer any questions during the process.

About The Author

Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.cashbazar.com. Visit his website for the latest on personal finance, debt elimination, budgeting, credit cards and real estate.

In the last few years, there has been a tremendous increase in the house prices in the UK. This is because of vibrant economy and low rates of interest. The number of first time buyers has increased. This has created a gap between demand and supply of houses in the UK because of which, there is a rise in the house prices.

You are lucky if you are a homeowner since you are getting richer every day. Besides rising house prices, another thing that can appreciate the value of your house is home improvement loans . When you remodel or renovate your house, you change the way your house looks. You may either go for a slight change such as wall painting, wall papering, flooring, etc. or a complete makeover of your house. Whatever it is, home improvement is bound to make improvements to your house.

There has been an increase in the do-it-yourself home improvement in the last few years. Small do-it-yourself projects can be funded by savings and credit cards. Try to use your savings because credit cards charge very high interest rates. To finance a large home improvement project, you will need to take out a home improvement loan .

There are a variety of loans that can be used to carry out home improvement:

Secured Loans
Secured loans are given against the security of a property. The borrower has to offer his property as collateral. If the borrower defaults in the repayment, the lender may repossess the property. The rates of interest on secured loans are lower than the rates on unsecured loans.

Unsecured Loans
Unsecured loans do not require collateral. The borrower’s property does not run the risk of repossession. Unsecured loans carry high rates of interest.

Both secured and unsecured loans can be fixed or variable. In case of fixed rate loans, the rate of interest remains the same throughout the loan period, whereas the same keeps on fluctuating in case of variable rate loans.

The author is a business writer specializing in finance and credit products and has written authoritative articles on the finance industry. He has done his masters in Business Administration and is currently assisting Shakespeare Finance as a finance specialist.

For more information visit our site http://www.unsecured-home-improvement-loans.co.uk

Housing prices are at record highs. This has made purchasing a new home a very expensive proposition. In response to this mortgage lenders began offering products with lower monthly payments; this allowed people to qualify for larger loan amounts.

The problem with these new loans is that they come with adjustable interest rates. As long as interest rates remain low the monthly payments remain low. The problem comes when interest rates go up and there is a dramatic increase in the monthly mortgage payments. This is a problem inherent to any adjustable rate mortgages. Option mortgages take this problem and build on it in a very bad way; some call these loans the most dangerous mortgage ever.

Option adjustable mortgages are simply adjustable rate mortgages with flexible payment options. Doesn’t sound too bad right? There are four payment choices for homeowners with option mortgages. The first option is a traditional 30 year amortization schedule; by far the safest choice. The second choice utilizes a 15 year amortization schedule. The third choice is an interest only payment; paying interest only will never build equity in your home. Finally, the fourth option is a “minimum payment amount.” This minimum amount does not pay the full amount of interest due. The remaining interest due is simply added on to the mortgage principal.

This concept of “minimum payment” is where negative amortization comes from. Instead of gradually paying down your mortgage loan and paying this minimum amount, your mortgage is actually growing.

If you are a homeowner that continues to pay the minimum amount every month the lender could pull the loan and require you to refinance; your contract would specify this stipulation. If you are unable to refinance the mortgage you could lose your home. The reason for this is that your home may no longer be worth enough to cover the loan that secures it.

Option mortgages are for investors or homeowners that intend to keep the property for a short time. Paying the minimum amount is a dangerous trap many homeowners find it easy to fall into. If you are considering financing your home with an option mortgage your best bet is to reconsider and use a traditional 15 or 30 year fixed rate mortgage.

Albuquerque Mortgage Refinance

Louie Latour has twenty years of experience in the mortgage industry as a mortgage broker. He is the owner of Mortgages Refinance Advisor, a mortgage help site devoted to saving homeowners money with a free guidebook “Mortgage Refinance: What You Need to Know.”

Sign up for your free guide today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com