Rich people are not happy people. Let me rephrase that, rich people aren’t happy because they have money. In fact, if a person is a miserable miser, just because he’s a rich miserable miser doesn’t make him happier. The more you have, the more you have to worry about.

What’s the secret to being happy if money can’t get it for you? And why are we so obsessed with having more money if it isn’t worth having the majority of it?

Even as many people talk about it, most still strive to work toward savings and building wealth. Me too! I still work (part time), but I hope to go beyond simple need for money and use my free time to improve the lives of others and to be a benefit of some sort.

Passion, excitement, drive, creativity. Those make me happy, and I don’t have to buy them. Is money all that much fun? What would you rather be doing?

And why aren’t we chasing fun and fulfillment more when we find a stabability of home and income?

Maybe you can share your favorite activities. Mine? I love spending time with the Cajun, the kids. I love my experimental cooking, inventing, reading, working on my novels, watching incredible fantasy stories and so much more to list. Very few of the things I love cost much more than a few spare dollars a month. Most involve me being creative, more than anything else.

What’s does your happiness look like? Is it experiences or materalistic?

According to reviews bottle tops do indeed perform like they say they do. Reading reviews from sources that actually tested this product there were some pros and a few small cons.

Pros: The people who tested the bottle tops liked the fact that they came in a variety of colors making it easier to give everyone their own color to avoid drinks from getting confused when they were set down. They also liked the fact the bottle tops could easy be rinsed out or run through a dishwasher. Most reviewers did find that the bottle top did keep the carbonation in the soft drink saving them from having to throw flat drinks out.

Cons:While the bottle tops did not spill all over like a beverage can without the top would when tipped over reviews did find that if left on it’s side the bottle top did leak.

Mixed reviews: While some of the reviewers found that the bottle tops were easy to snap on and take off, others felt that they were difficult to get off. All in all the reviews seemed to be positive on this product. If you would like to read some of the reviews you can find them at www.starreviews.com and www.agosa.com.

Included in the book are easy to follow instructions using one basic house template which can be replicated to decorate eight gingerbread houses for you to enjoy creating. If you choose to use one of these designs or use the designs to develop your own ideas, How to Build a Gingerbread House will be a fun and creative experience with a finished house – that you have built yourself!

The writer, Christina Banner won the Grand Prize for the National Gingerbread House Competition in 2004 and has also won the Food Network’s Gingerbread Challenge. She now begins to share her secrets from basics to share from the starting block of the dough through to finishing off the house with the icing.

The book is also beautifully illustrated and has detailed, comprehensive instructions to help construct a dream gingerbread house. Banner’s book is a must for beginners and also an inspiration to aspiring cake decorators.

My favorites about this book:

The shared ideas for gingerbread houses that aren’t just for Christmas
The very thoughtful different candies to use and in what areas to make great effects
Bright photos to help you along
Complete step-by-step instructions

Photo by avanzero

How to Build a Gingerbread House – by Christina Banner

Perfect Paperback: 135 pages
Publisher: Penny Publishing; First edition (June 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0981580602
ISBN-13: 978-0981580609

Here’s the cool thing about hosting parties like this:

• You don’t have to do a thing, just invite people over.
• Someone else sets it up for you.
• You get free stuff.
• You get discounts on cool stuff.
• You get more free stuff and discounts when you have a bigger party.

Even as a consultant, you get to help people set up these parties and give away items. As a hostess, you have it easier, just invite your friends. Friends that come over sometimes get free items with small purchases and special discounts, too.

The PartyLite Margarita Set is available exclusively as a host special in June and July. That means that only people who host a PartyLite parties in June or July will be allowed to purchase this set at a huge discount. (Margarita Trio: $29.95; Pitcher and TSG mix: $19.95 and Set of 4 Glasses $14.95)

Hosting is a cinch. Just invite a few friends over to shop! As the hostess, you get all kinds of things free or at a great discount. In fact, during July, you can order something in the PartyLite catalog at 75% off if you’re the host! It’s easy, and your PartyLite consultant does all the work. Don’t know a PartyLite consultant?  You can find one at their website. Click the link.

The PartyLite company was kind enough to send me a few products to try. I actually love the smell of the candles. Very fragrant without being overpowering. The unique gifts from the catalog are actually very lovely looking and the prices are pretty reasonable. You could easily spend $40 at the website and get a ton of free bonuses.

You could win this margarita gift pack:

Glass Pitcher

Set of Four Margarita Glasses

Three PartyLite Exclusive Scents of Illumination™ Margarita Trio – scent-filled glasses in:

–         Apple Orchard

–         Strawberry Fields

–         Ocean Berry Breeze

Pineapple Passion Fruit Margarita Mix by Two Sisters® Gourmet

($150 value)

That’s a whole lot of margarita goodness.

To Enter:

Step One: Go friend PartyLite on Facebook.

Step Two: Leave a comment here.

That’s all it takes. US Entries only. 18+.  Contest Ends May 14th, 2010.

Don’t forget to visit the PartyLite website. Sign up as a hostess or even join as a consultant to get free products and a lot of discounts.

So I just recently discovered random dungeons. Ok, being new is hard when you’re not in a guild, I suppose. There’s no one there to tell you about all this stuff you can do. Yeah, it’s in the forums, but you have to admit, there’s a lot in the forums and instructions. This stuff is easily missed.

It really breaks up the monotony when you can do an occasional random or dungeon while you’re rolling through solo questing.

Now that I’m learning what DPS means (damage per second) and wondering how to build up my new warrior girl up to start tanking, I’m left with wondering about the fastest way to grind through a few levels quickly on World of Warcraft.

Here’s what I know so far about leveling on your own (mostly):

Level 1 – 10

Getting to level 10 these days should only take two hours, three at most if you’re in an area where there’s a lot of back and forth running involved. Blizzard made getting to level 5 pretty easy. You more than likely won’t leave the ‘newbie’ area until you are level 5 or close to it.

Basically, you want to do all of your intro quests as fast as possible. So you’ll need to pick up more than one at a time, and then look at your map. Check as to where those quests are located. Set a path toward the closest ones, and work your way around and back to the safe tree or building or cave or hut.

So go ahead and grab as many golden “?” as possible in the first part. When you leave the ‘safe zone’, plan on doing more running as it’s more spread out, but it’s very similar. Pick areas where there’s a whole lot of fighting, and avoid ‘errand running’ unless it leads to a fighting quest or some good gear.

Level 15

After getting to level 10 in a hurry, you’ll want to do some exploring and find new places to level up. The easiest place on the alliance side that I’ve found was at the Loch Modan in WoW. There’s an area where the center where the quests are coming from are relatively a shorter distance from all of the enemies you’ll be looking for. Don’t be afraid to swim through that big lake to get to where you need to be.

Randoms and Dungeons

As soon as you are able to do randoms and dungeons of all sorts, use your Dungeon Finder to locate groups for you. Have this running and grind through your dungeons with your groups. These break up the solo questing without joining a guild to help you along.

These dungeons award lots of prizes and you’ll level pretty quickly. Even at 40, I managed to get to 42 in a couple of days (playing just a few hours a day).

20 and Up

Once you’re at twenty, and you have a steed, mount up and travel to different flight masters where it makes sense to go. Flying is the best way to get around until you get faster mounts, and you’ll save time if you just spend an afternoon running to different flight points. From then on if you need to run errands (and you will) you can hearthstone to your chosen town and then fly out from that spot.

That’s how I’ve done it so far, getting to 15 as fast as possible in order to do some randoms and just plugging away at quests where fighting (especially humanoids) was the main request.

Any tips from more seasoned pros? What’s your best leveling tip? If you’d like, I’d post a pic of your ‘toon and your tip in the next blog post I do about World of Warcraft.

Here’s a group of Indian musicians, craftsmen and dancers. In this photo, there’s a costumed guy who had danced with several other festival gatherers at their corner tent.

This band was great, with a sharp fiddle player. Many of the music selections features zydeco, pop, rock, folk, reggae and much more. Many bands came from Canada, France, Ireland and Africa and other global locations.

The festival needs more characters on stilts. Especially pirates.

If you haven’t been to Festival International yet, it’s a great international music and food festival plopped right in the middle of downtown among beautiful parks. It usually starts on Thursday and lasts through Sunday night. Tonight’s the last night, so get on out there tonight. Lots of good music playing, crafts displayed and other entertainment.

I’ve been out at it all weekend. And what a show! The band Givers was amazing, even with some technical malfunctions. We also saw the Dap Kings, another good group. Even if I didn’t catch every show, from what I’ve heard of others, the band selections this year was amazing. I’ve heard nothing but raving comments about events I didn’t catch.

Hurry up and get downtown, or plan on coming next year. You can still support Festival International when it isn’t festival time by visiting the Official Festival International website. Buy a pin or memorabilia (I bought a tank top!) and it supports the free event for everyone. Plan on coming by next year, too. I will be!

I’ve found just the thing to give as a gift for a tailgater, or to buy for yourself if you love to cook out and have your own favorite sports team. Grill Toppers recently sent one my way for me to try out.
Grill Topper is a great device that lets you sear your favorite team logo into your steaks, hamburgers and more.

How ingenious! This is actually something fun, and I swear every single tailgater will want one of these. They are always trying to find the thing that will one up the party next door. Here’s the solution. Branded meat.

This has got to be a best seller among sports fans in the near future if it isn’t already. Easy to use, and reasonably priced, meat can now be branded and displayed. Ultimate fans will have to have this item.

It is pretty easy to use. Just sit atop your grill, and once it is heated, you can sear your meat on the topper. It makes the mark for you, and it seems to work perfectly ever time. There’s a video on how it works and more information at the website.

If only they would make these for high schools, for more teams. I also like that they have some additional more generic symbols, like the fleur de lis. Looking forward to seeing additional logos on these grill toppers.

I can hear your thoughts right now, “A crawfish what?”

Think picnic, think really big pot of boiled crawfish. Think over 150 pounds of crawfish were cooked and eaten in one day (by about 20 some odd people).

Our host was a great chef of crawfish. He loved his spicy, so I had burning lips for most of the day. It was great, though. He threw in lots of hot sauce, spice, whole potatoes, corn, garlic, onions and other ingredients. Letting them boil for about 20 minutes or so, dumping in the crawfish and letting them cook for another 20 minutes and presto.

Next weekend is Festival International. So expect more pictures from me about the event as it is going on.

So do your friends and family have any local traditional cooking experiences? Friendly barbecues or cook outs?

How do you get organized and make a plan?  Maybe you love the sound of your Lynx grill firing up and haven’t thought of the details on how to put it all together. I once was at a cook out and the host had forgotten all about napkins! Barbecue without napkins? So there are ways to be prepared and keep your parties perfect.

1. Location, location… The space where you host your party is very important. You want a clean environment. If there’s grass space, make sure it’s trimmed well and looks good. Seating is super important. Depending on the number of your guests, you should have just as many places to sit, and they should all be comfortable. Expecting guests to stand for hours is simply unkind.
2. Upgrade your grill if you wish. If you’re looking to upgrade your grill with a Twin Eagles grill or similar brands, remember that barbecue grills are like anything else. You should get what you absolutely love and can work with well. If you buy a cheaper model, you may only find all the flaws in your barbecue and never fully enjoy it. So get the one you’ll most enjoy. Save money for a few months if you need to get the one you want.
3. Cook with your grill. Become very familiar with your barbecue grill. Hopefully, you didn’t wait to get the grill you really love, maybe you have the one you like already. Once you have it, use it, and not just at the party. Turn it on and cook a few dinners on your grill. Get to know how to roast a potato or bake a dessert right on the grill. Impressing your friends with how well you cook on your grill comes with experience. Follow some recipes and experiment.
4. Count on your friends. Or rather, count how many friends are coming and imagine they each brought one to two other people with them. Have a handful of extra steaks and chicken breasts on hand. They don’t have to go to waste. Because that brings us to number five…
5. Buy take out containers. Give your friends and family a little extra barbecue love with something they can easily take food home in without having to return a dish to you. Simple takeout boxes can be purchased ahead of time.
6. Themes are alright. Don’t be afraid of sounding a little corny with your theme, because a theme can set the mood for a fun night and it easily gets people in the mood before they come if they know there is a theme.
7. Use time wisely. Do your prep work before the party begins. If beef needs to marinate for an hour, do it before the guests arrive. Guests arrive to a barbecue having not eaten for a little while, and they will quickly get hungry. Fire up that barbecue grill and get cracking.
8. Get the main meal finished quickly. People can linger around and chat and digest their food after they’ve eaten, but you don’t want hungry guests. A short time between prep and finish from when your guests arrive is the key to a successful party.
9. Ensure protection. Don’t be afraid of insisting you’re the only chef for this meal. Protect your guests from raw meat and burnt fingers. Entreat your guests to relax and enjoy themselves and that you are at their service for the evening.
10. Have a clear ending time. Plan a last activity of the night. Guests may linger for several hours after the food has gone, and some may be unsure of a graceful exit. Do the work for them by announcing ahead of time when the party will be over and use a “last moment” activity to indicate this. It may be handing out party favors, the take out boxes, etc.  It gives guests a graceful way to say goodbye without feeling guilty of leaving so soon or staying late.

Photo by chidsey.

It may seem easy at first, but there’s a lot of paperwork to fill out. You must fill out forms for the Social Security office, for bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies, magazine subscriptions, your work place and more. There’s a lot of forms and a lot of paperwork for a new bride to go through to legally change your name after marriage.

One company is making it easier for new brides to fulfill the paperwork after marriage. Danielle Tate shares her tips from her experience as president of MissNowMrs, the premier online name-change service for brides.

Here are a few tips on name change in 2010:

1. Hyphenation is a thing of the past. Most brides are taking their maiden names as new middle names or adding their spouse’s last name to theirs without a hyphen.

2. Did you know that you can start the name-change process prior to your wedding? Using MissNowMrs.com will allow you to complete all of your name-change forms before your wedding so all you have to do after your honeymoon is click Print and mail out or file your forms.

3. We recommend requesting 2-3 copies of your marriage certificate. This will allow you to file multiple forms at the same time and streamline the name-change process.

4. If you are changing your name, let your families and bridesmaids know to avoid mis-monogrammed items as gifts.

5. Be sure to book you honeymoon reservations in your maiden name (since most brides don’t have time to file for a new driver’s license or Passport before the honeymoon). This will help you avoid travel disaster and not being able to board your flight.

MissNowMrs now offers to sponsor a giveaway right here at GGB. (It’s a Geek. It’s a Girl. It’s a Blog.) Know someone getting married soon or getting married soon yourself? Here’s a chance to win one of five gift cards.

You Could Win A Gift Card From MissNowMrs
(A $30 Value)

We have five gift cards to give away, thanks to MissNowMrs. The gift cards are great for yourself if you have or will be getting married, or as a gift to someone else you know.

To win, post a comment to this blog post.

Tell us about the best or worst last name or first and last name combination that you’ve heard about. Helen Church? Funny, sad or just plain crazy, I want to hear about it.

Make sure to register with this site, or post a method of contact for me to be able to reach you. I will contact you by your provided email address if you’ve been selected as a winner, and there will be an additional blog post announcing the winner here. (I don’t keep emails or collect them for any other purpose other than giveaways.)

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Rules and the legal bits: You must be 18 or older to participate and live inside the United States. Five gift cards will be given away in a random drawing from those who have posted in the comments here.

The contest ends April 9th, 2010. Tell your friends, tell your family. Remember to check back to see who wins.

Thank you, MissNowMrs, for being a great service to new brides and for sharing the chance to win a gift card to readers! Be sure to visit the website, the Twitter page or become a fan on Facebook!

Photo from Stock Exchange. Gift card images from MissNowMrs. Used with permission.

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