It was a rare opportunity, one that I knew would probably never come up again as long as I lived, and one that I knew I could not say no to.  I was offered the chance to travel with a professor of anthropology, to Africa for a year to study one of the tribes there that very little was known about.

It was not a tough decision as it was something that I had wanted to do ever since the day that I decided I was going to become an anthropologist.  It wasn’t something that I expected to do at my young age and I felt very blessed to have the opportunity to do so.  It was a one in a million chance of a lifetime and I knew that my life would be very fulfilled because of it.

Shortly after the offer, all of my belongings were in public storage Philadelphia and I was ready to embark on the most incredible journey that I knew I would ever take in my lifetime.  I was not disappointed and I know that it is an experience I will never forget as they both made me grow as an anthropologist and as a person.

A friend of mine is considering an overseas move. But he is completely clueless how to go about this in a methodical way. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a genius at selling anything. He could sell "coals to Newcastle." In fact he suggested that half seriously when he first told me about this idea.

He came to me because he’s still learning his way around the Internet. (I know. He’s a throw-back.) So to shortcut this whole process for him, I did a search for sales recruitment firms in the UK. That clued me in to the term sales recruitment consultant.

Now we’re talking! He needs a consultant – someone he can talk to, who can walk him through this process and help him negotiate this unfamiliar territory, both figuratively and literally.

He’s now got three interviews set up for next week. Glad I got my passport updated, because to thank me for my help, he’s invited me along. Big Ben, here I come! Pip-pip, cheerio and all that rot.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was invited to attend a citywide Welcome Wagon baby shower.  I was told that I would receive several gifts for being in attendance and I was a little bit disappointed that the gifts were all promotional products and samples.

The whole thing was just a way for companies to advertise their products without actually having to give anything away.  I came away with a whole bag full of stuff and 90% of it was just papers and flyers advertising what the company had to offer.  The few promotional items that I received were samples that had just cost pennies.

In fact, the only real gifts that people received were because they had won him by having their name pulled out of a draw and even these were corporate gifts with the company’s advertising on them.  I felt a little bit disappointed that it did not turn out at all as we were promised.

I feel sorry for my daughter’s best friend. She emailed me today that she’s landed her dream job as an IT consultant at a major search engine. The problem is, she’s not allowed to tell which search engine. I can just hear the conversation she had with her mother.

“Ma, I got the job!!”

“Now can you tell us who it is?”

“Uh, no. They made me sign this paper that says no one is allowed to know.”

“Not even your own mother?”

“They said especially not mothers — family members. They didn’t actually single out mothers.”

“I would hope not! What kind of place is this that they make you keep secrets from your relatives?”

“A very big and powerful company, Ma. The kind that influences millions of people daily.”

“But what if you got married?”

“Ma! Enough harping about–”

“I’m not harping. When I’m harping, believe me, you’ll know. I’m thinking if a person were married, that piece of paper would put them in a difficult position.”

“I signed the not-in-a-relationship form. People with significant others signed a different disclosure.”

“Then you should get married so you can know what’s in that other paper.”

“You’re the one who wants to know!”

“Aren’t you the least little bit curious?”

“Well, maybe a little, but the point is–”

“The point is, you should be married! Your cousin Emma is married.”

“Emma’s married to a…look, there is one other thing. I’m not allowed to talk to you at work.”

“I never heard of such a thing, not talking to family members at work!”

“Not family members. Mothers.”

“They can do that?”

“This is a search engine giant. They can do whatever they want, Ma.”

“If I promise not to mention your cousin Emma can you talk to me?”

“Only if you also don’t mention her for the next six months.”

“Not even at home?”

“Especially then!”

“Well…I guess I can adjust to not talking to you at work. Now, I think I hear your boss calling you. Besides, I have to call your Aunt Martha and tell her my daughter got a job with a secret, fancy-schmancy company while her daughter is only married to a jerk.”

The other day I was thinking about natural disasters and what would happen to me and my family if we were ever to be caught in the midst of one. I decided that day that I was going to be prepared in case it ever happened and I started making lists of things that we need and evacuation plans just in case.

I packed a list of things that we could buy like bottled water and canned goods that would enable us to survive for seventy-two hours. I thought that it was vital for the whole family to know the plans so we had a family meeting to discuss the emergency procedures.

The family all seems to understand the plans and I am very glad that we will be prepared for anything that comes our way in the future. It makes me feel good to know that my family will be alright and I think it is a good idea to be organized for once.

What do you get for a man who has everything?

I found myself in this boat recently.  You see, my husband and I have run our own business for a number of years, and we have reached the point where we don’t need to worry about money so much anymore.

This period in our life has been good for money and we have finally reached the point where we could buy pretty much whatever we wanted.  Once we reached that point, we went a little crazy and bought pretty much whatever we wanted.

But now, when I want to buy him a gift, I just don’t know what to get him.  I am going to get him some mens jewelry because he doesn’t have any.  There are a few rings that I have seen while on trips to the store, so I think that I will get him one of those. I just hope that he will like it (and wear it).

A couple of months ago my husband started his own SEO company and we thought that it would be great.  In fact, I find it really annoying and I think that his company is actually becoming a wedge between the two of us.

When I try to find some time to just be a couple again all I hear about is SEO this and SEO that.  It is very tiring when I just want to have a conversation with him about the kids or the house or anything besides his work and he can not tune out his job long enough to become a husband again.

I was really proud of him when he became an SEO consultant because I knew that this had always been his dream and he was finally doing what he loved.  Never once did I suspect that it would have such an impact and that it would become his life.

Recipes are a family fascination. Mother has three file drawers filled with cookbooks and she hasn’t cooked in years. Some recipes are complicated, some are simple — kind of like life.

For about half of the first nine years of school, I instructed my daughter at home off and on. The other half she attended public school. Our PTA in Maryland did something I wish school systems around here would adopt. They implemented a uniform policy. The requirements were simple:

• Pants, skirts or jumpers in navy blue
• White shirts of any kind except those without collars

During warm weather, navy shorts were acceptable and on cold winter days, navy blue sweats were the norm. Simple? You bet.

Every fall I stocked up on white golf shirts, a couple of pairs of shorts, a week’s worth of navy blue leggings and slacks, a couple of skirts and two sets of navy sweats. She was set for the year. See? Simple. Like life.

I have always thought that the design of your website was the way that your e-business makes their first impression to your customer.  If your website looks like it was made by a 12-year old, then you probably won’t sell a $2,000 product.

That is why I had this site designed by a professional web design firm.  Honestly, I tried to make my own website design, but after hours of frustrations, I realized maybe I wasn’t the best artist.  When I showed my design to my wife, she started to cry because she was laughing so much.

So, for me, it makes more sense to outsource the design to another firm and let them do what they do best.  This way, I can have beautiful websites and spend my time focusing on making the money instead of fooling around.  This has increased our bottom line and has allowed us to focus on more projects – and make more money.

I have always had problems getting into a deep sleep.  I don’t know why, but even as a child, I would wake up at the slightest noise and that would be the end of my rest.  So, I have been going through life with very little sleep and have tried almost everything including the many sleeping pills on the market.

But recently a friend of mine introduced me to white noise generators that effectively cancel out the noise in your immediate area and allow you to have a good night sleep.  I asked him why he bought one and it turns out that he bought it because his wife snores during the night (don’t tell anyone that he said that).

I took his advice and purchased one online to give it a try.  It was easy to setup and I thought that I would try it out for my first night.  Since then I have not looked back as every night with it gives me a more restful sleep than I have ever had in my life.  They are definitely better than taking sleeping pills.