A 25th Wedding Celebration is an Occasion to Raise a Glass Too

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Twenty five years of wedded bliss is an occasion to celebrate. Even if those twenty five years weren’t all bliss, it is still an occasion to celebrate. It is heartwarming to see a couple celebrate their silver anniversary and such a wonderful milestone.

Don’t know where to begin planning a 25th wedding celebration? Here are a few ideas for the 25th wedding celebration. The celebration can be planned by the children, brothers and sisters, wedding party or friends of the couple. The first thing to discuss is the budget and how much money will be available for the party. It is not necessary to go crazy with cost. Then decide on a guest list. It might be just family or it may include friends. If it is just family, how far into the family will the guest list go. Will it include nieces and nephews or include great nieces and nephews. If either of the couple is from a big family, you could be talking big numbers.

After the guest list is decided, plan a menu. Will you have the event catered or will one or two folks be responsible for supplying the food. Perhaps each family will bring one dish or guests will offer to bring something. You should have an idea of what you would like to serve so when offers come in you can assign a specific dish. Otherwise you might end up with one bowl of potato salad and 25 bags of Frito’s and chips, or 11 apple pies and no ice cream. And I’m not saying 11 apple pies are bad for a 25th wedding celebration.

Once the invitations have been sent gifts can be discussed. Will the couple even want gifts? If you have known the couple for a few years you will know what their gift preferences might be. Perhaps they would appreciate a donation to their favorite charity or something as simple as movie or theater tickets. A great gift from the kids might be to clear out of the house for a weekend and give their parents the run of the place. An added bonus would be for the kids to pick up their rooms and tidy up the house before they left. A nice gift might be a nice name sign for the front door or a bench built for two for the backyard. Gift cards to a favorite store or restaurant are always nice. No matter what it is, it will make the 25th wedding celebration very special.

Decorations are next on the list. How about a picture board starting with photos from the couple’s wedding right through the next 25 years? If the couple has a wedding video, establish a viewing time or have the video running in the corner of the room during the party. If you have music at the party, mix in music from the year they were married. Favors might include miniature versions of their wedding invitation in a frame, silver pen with their wedding date inscribed on it or a refrigerator magnet with the couple’s wedding date on it.

The Top Most Cost Effective Beauty Products for 2012

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The market is flooded with beauty and cosmetic products that claim to perform that ultimate miracle. Claims such as eliminating forehead wrinkles, eye wrinkles etc. The question is, which products actually work and which are just bogus products. There is far more to cosmetic and beauty items that claim to solve instantly your skin, makeup or hair woes. For instance, a healthy we balanced diet is vital if you want to maintain healthy skin and hair. Looking well and feeling beautiful, works internally and externally. If you want your skin to look and feel good, then you need to follow a daily skin maintenance protocol.

If you suffer from cracked feet and hands, dry skin, chapped lips or eczema beauty products are best suited during the winter months. There are several products which are favored for the spring such as a new chic collection from Paul & Joe inspired by designer Sophie bronze and eye colors for a natural look. These cosmetics offer contrasting textures from shiny, allowing you to create your own unique beautiful look. To protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays, a SPF 40 facial moisturizer such as SPF 40 comes to the rescue. This moisturizer provides anti-ageing benefits, reduces wrinkles and increases collagen production and leaves your skin looking more youthful. For those that are particular about fragrances, Demeter has recently introduced a wide selection of new exotic fragrances with a twist that will leave you smell and feeling absolutely fabulous. There is a designer fragrance to suit all tastes such as Salt Air, passion fruit, lemon, orange liquor and more. A facial cream that is designed to restore the skin and replenish moisture from winter that composes natural herbs such as peony, Chinese angelica and foxglove that stimulates purifies and strengthens the skin texture.

The skin protects us from any harmful substances entering the body, and regulates the body’s temperature, which in turn lessons the strain on the kidneys and liver when filtering out toxins from the body. Skin is porous and breathes and plays a vital role in our immune system. Taking care of your skin is very important, not just for external beauty, but also for maintaining your confidence level and inner health. It is important to make use of quality products which can be obtained at affordable prices and eat a well balanced and recommended diet composing of fresh fruit and vegetables daily.

Handmade Gifts and Other Gifts for Women in Your Life

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It is always important to show our loved us that we appreciate them. This not only makes them feel appreciated but it also shows love and affection. Handmade gifts always bring joy to the recipient. Gift giving is a tradition that has withstood the test of time. You will either be giving gifts or receiving them.. This could be housewarming gifts when people move or a simple gift to celebrate a new member of the family.

It is every woman’s dream to get a gift of a Korea tour or Asia tour. This is great especially when someone needs a vacation. For you to find that perfect gift, you need to purchase a gift that is unique. Something that has been made by hand has more value than one which has been made by a machine. This is why you need to consider handmade gift ideas. When you give someone such a gift, he or she will value it for a long time. What puts a smile on someone’s face after opening your gift? Here are some special gifts that you should consider for your loved ones:

• Gifts are also given on special occasions. It is difficult to celebrate mothers on mother’s day without presenting mothers day handmade gifts. This special day to celebrate your mother will be even more special when she receives a gift. When choosing a mother’s day gift, it is important to pay attention to what your mother wants the most in her life at that particular moment. Is she a fan of reading and always sits by the bed with a book before she sleeps every night? This is the time to get her a special incandescent bedside lamp. That way, every time she reads a book before she sleeps, she will remember your gift anytime she looks at it. Whether it is a paper lamp or a decorative lamp, you can be sure that it will be very much appreciated.

• Women love jewelry. You can never have enough necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets. Giving your mother a mother of pearl jewelry for Christmas, birthday or an anniversary is definitely a gift that she will appreciate forever. The best thing about this jewelry is the fact that they are unique and nature inspired. One of the most famous pieces is the mother of pearl orchid necklace that is surrounded by a pearl chain. This is definitely a gift that she will love. With all the jewelry in our bedrooms, we always need a jewelry box that is convenient to properly store all our jewelry and attractive enough to bring a smile to our faces anytime we use it. This is a gift that all women will love.

• The most important feature in a woman is her face. Indeed the makeup industry is one of the most lucrative industries because it caters for the most beautiful and celebrated feature in a woman. You will constantly find women looking at their faces on shop windows, utensils, bathroom windows and anywhere else that they can find a mirror. This is why one of the best gifts you can give any woman is a compact mirror. Depending on their personal style, you can choose a mirror with a phoenix design or one that is specially decorated to suit her taste.

• The professional woman will always need a business card holder or a letter opener to store all her clients and open her documents respectively.

The next time you think of purchasing a gift for a woman, put some thought to it. This way, you will be sure that it is the perfect gift for your loved one.

6 Tips For Choosing The Perfect Shopping Cart

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OK – Just What Is A Shopping Cart Supposed to Do?

Shopping carts are more commonly used as a way to display physical products, products like televisions, groceries, electronic equipment, clothes, and memorabilia, etc, NOT digital products. Shopping carts make it easy to cross-sell and up-sell your customers once they arrive at your store. Shopping carts typically handle the shipping and handling calculation, taxes and credit card processing. A good shopping cart handles all of these efficiently and securely.

Dynamic Operation

A good shopping cart program also creates dynamic order forms on the fly as the order takes place. The shopping cart should be totally dynamic; meaning it only executes code and retrieves products, images, and product descriptions from your database when your customers request it. During the checkout process it should also calculate shipping/handling and taxes for you.

Real-Time Credit Card Processing

Powerful CGI, PHP, CFM, ASP, etc, scripting, processes commands for you on secure servers when your customers place their orders. Don’t get this confused with credit card processing. What I’m speaking of here is the passing of your customers’ order information from a secure form, to your merchant or payment processor, using one of the scripting languages above. Your payment processor or merchant, like PayPal, 2CheckOut, or Authorize.Net will then process the credit card. If you don’t currently have a merchant or payment processor, and you are going to be selling online, then you NEED one.

Usability

You can choose what options you want your customer to see. For instance, you can choose to display a search form on your shopping cart. A search form allows your customers to search your store for items by keyword or product name, etc. You can choose to display options like color, size and quantity, and even adjust the price based on the customer’s selection. These are called options. Your shopping cart should also allow you to upload images of your products as well.

Stand-Alone -vs- Hosted Shopping Carts

However, you CAN purchase standalone shopping cart software or services. The stand alone software, of course, requires skill and expertise to install it on your web host or on your own server. Some of the shopping cart services, although it may not seem like it at first, limit you as to what you can and cannot do. These services are most commonly offered by web hosts as a way to entice you to host your site with them. When using these types of services, remember, you’re locked into using that web host when you opt to use their shopping cart service. Your business is not portable and becomes a part of that web host. Make sure there is a simple export process that allows you to easily download your website and shopping cart if you no longer wish to use their services. In my opinion, the best option is to use a shopping cart that runs from your own website, independent of your web host. Both Prowebware and stand-alone shopping cart applications run from YOUR website, giving you both control and flexibility.

So, Which Is The Right System For You?

Choosing a shopping cart boils down to 4 things:

1 Your Budget – Is FREE your only option or are you
serious about your business?

2 Your Skill-level – Do you have the expertise to
edit & install scripts on your server?

3 Desired Functionality – Want a professional results
oriented system or a display case?

4 Time – Have time to take away from your business to
shape and mold a new program?

Whatever you decide, your cart should also permit you to follow-up with your customers automatically and even instantly auto-subscribe them to your mailing list.

To implement most out-of-the-box applications, you will need to know how to edit PHP, HTML, or ASP code and how to set up a MySQL database on your server for dynamic operation. Then, with some, all you need to know is how to copy/paste some simple code to your existing web pages or the template you’re using. The system should also include some type of easy help or instructions, like an HTML file or contextual help menus that walk you through setting up your new cart.

If either of these fits you, a “Copy/Past” system, or a boxed program, then, why not try one of them today? Try it out and see if the system is right for you.

Much Success To You!