Discover Your Bliss

Get Cheaper Exercise Shoes and Clothes

Have a specific type of running shoe that you like in a particular size?  Want to know when it goes on sale?  Check out shopittome.com/running

Here, you can sign up for email alerts for sales on your favorite items.  Doesn't cost a thing and could save you a ton of money and time. 

Now you can spend all of your extra time saved by this service exercising.  What bliss (well, for some like me - since I love to exercise). 

How does it feel to have a personal sale shopper?  How do services such as these enhance/detract from your life?

I'd love to hear you comments and discoveries. 

Tuesday Quote to Ponder

"Love is the greatest refreshment in life."  - Pablo Picasso

Oscar Winners, Changes

Thank goodness Kate Winslet won for The Reader - which happens to be my favorite film of 2008.  I love how she asked her dad to whistle during her speech so she could know where he and her mum was.  He whistled and she waved with excitement. 

The Oscars made some fresh changes that I enjoyed.  The acting awards - which are traditionally given by the previous year's winner - were give by five previous winners - each giving a personal commentary on one of the nominees.  It was historical, touching and added a special something to a generic award process.   

Click here to see a top ten list of the Oscars with videos.  Just in case you missed it - my favorites are #10, #8, #6, #5 and #3. 

Did you create your own Oscars?  How did it go? 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.   

Ready, Set, Oscar

Tonight is the Academy Awards and the speculation of who will win what will soon be revealed. 

Will you watch the ceremony?  Do you care? 

How about you create your own Oscars?  What award would you win?  Most likely to support another?  Most creative?  Most cluttered? 

I invite you to create five personalized Oscar categories for yourself that you know you would win.  Remember to make the categories positive. 

If you find that you can only think of negative categories (Worst Driver or Worst Personality), then I invite you to ask for support to come up with five positive categories you know you will win. 

If you have a group of people, you might make this a game and have everyone create a category for each person in group that he/she will win.  This way, if you have 8 people in your group, then you know you will win 8 awards.

Sometimes hearing what others see in you as positive can give you some insight into how you show up in the world. 

I'd love to hear your categories, ideas and discoveries. 

Happy Oscars or Toni's or Patti's or Rachel's or Mary's, etc. 

3 More Ways to Save Money: Grocery Stores & Restaurants

Ready, set...save money.  Sound good?  Read further. 

If you'd like to find more ways to save money at restaurants and grocery stores, then check out these interesting sites:

• restaurant.com  - a great place to find coupons and discounts to restaurants, culinary schools and baby coupons.
• thecouponclippers.com - service offering coupon clippings for a small fee.  The cool thing is, you can shop by product and in the end save up to 40-60% on your grocery bill.  A coupon for $1.50 off Biz costs 15 cents and a $3.00 off coupon for Iams pet food costs 20 cents.  They currently offer 57 coupons just for oral care and 10 coupons for juice.  There's also buy one get one free coupons and rebates.  In the end, you could pay a few dollars to save a bundle on your grocery bill.  And don't forget at some grocery stores you can get double value for coupons $1 and under. 
• mygrocerydeals.com - this site can not only save you money - it can also save you time and headaches.  You know all those weekly ads and circulars you receive for grocery stores and the like?  This site puts them all together then shows you (according to your zip code or city) where the top deals are - pretty cool, huh?  Plus the site is independent, so no ties to a particular store taint the findings.   

Saving money is blissful - especially in today's economic climate.  Who knows - maybe you'll get in the habit of saving money and it will become second nature to you. 

How does saving money feel?  Excited?  Depressing?  Hopeful?  What's one gift you can see (outside of saving money) when you find new ways to save money? 

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

Not Something You See Everyday

One day I looked out my window and this is what I saw:

It's not every day that you see a car on top of a car.

Sometimes a picture is all a person needs to add a little bliss in his/her life. 

How does this photo (or one of your liking) add bliss to your life?  What can you do to add a little bliss to your life?

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries.

Social Networking Insight to Travel

Love social networking like Facebook?  Love to travel?  Why not combine the two for a double-dip of blissfulness. 

The following three takes combine travel via the Internet (aka social networking) and physical travel:

• Matador - love to travel, write and take pictures?  Then this is the place for you.  On this site, you can become an "expert" on an area and advise others.  Best of all, you can get paid for your writing if you pick up an assignment on the site's Bounty Board.  The pay won't buy you a house, yet it can buy you a meal. 
• Geckogo - this site has some interesting features.  Want to know when the best time to ski in Sweden?  Or camp in Brazil?  Geckogo is a goldmine when it comes to matching interests to a supportive environment for those interests.  Maybe you prefer great nightlife - that, too, can be found on this site.  This site also offers visuals with maps to support its users and travelers.
• Tripit - if you want to get organized when you travel, then Tripit is the place to be.  Besides creating an organized schedule of your trip (as a result of forwarded emails from confirmations) , TripIt also provides supplementary information (like weather, maps and restaurant suggestions).  This site is also big on sharing - arranging airport carpools or volunteering to be someone's personal guide while in a location. 

Besides offering travel support, there's also the opportunity to meet others and widen your social circle.  What bliss.

How does the idea of widening your social circle feel?  Overwhelming?  Exciting?  Unsure?  What's the benefit to keeping your social circle small?  What's the benefit of expanding your social circle?

I'd love to hear your comments and discoveries. 

Tuesday Quote to Ponder

"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it."  Jonathan Winters

Want Organic Beauty?

If you're anything like me, you're always on the hunt for eco-friendly and natural products. 

Sometimes finding these products (or at least a grouping of them all in one place) can be a challenge. 

Here are three natural online shops to peruse and discover new beauty products:

• Beautorium.com - combines both hard-to-find European brands and luxury American natural products.  The site has cool symbols so you know if a product has not been tested on animals or how the company works in conjunction with giving back to their communities.  A cool place to explore and a lot of the products I noticed were 50% off. 
• Saffronrouge.com - wow, what an undertaking by one person to put together products that are organic and must meet the owner's approval (Kristin Binder).  One thing I love about this site is the flag code on each product that lets you know where the it was made.  There's a guarantee that you'll love every product or your money back and if you pay attention when you check out, you can select a certain amount of free samples (in relation to how much you spend).  
• MoonValleyHoney.com - What I love about this site is how upfront they are about a product's ingredients - you can click on a tab and the ingredients of each product appears.  True, this site is a bit limited in what products it offers, yet I love how they go to the length to be responsible with the source of their palm oil.  

What's exciting about discovering new eco-friendly products?  Going more "green?"  Overcoming a challenge?  The thrill of the sale?  I invite you to explore what's thrilling about finding a new product and check in with yourself to make sure the thrill is coming from a place of freedom.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and discoveries. 

Sleeping with Scientists

Like to travel?  Want to rub elbows with scientists all over the world?  Then you might want to explore where you can sleep with scientists. 

I came across an interesting article in my Budget Travel magazine - click here for details. 

The feature - volunteer your time to work with scientists and in return you will learn and have hands on access that you might otherwise never have the opportunity to experience. 

Each destination has a different program and the focus and price does vary, yet many places will allow you to exchange your volunteer time with a place to stay (or for a small fee).

If you're near Churchill, Manitoba (Canada), then up to six people can stay for free at the remote Churchill Northern Studies Centre - if you volunteer to plant trees and collect data. 

Remember that anything is possible and travel doesn't have to be expensive and out-of-reach.  Plus - helping another person and connecting can be downright blissful. 

How does helping another appeal to you?  What other opportunities do you see when traveling to connect and help others? 

I'd love to hear your thoughts and discoveries.