This is one of my favorite sites! You never know what you’ll find.

Recycled products, handmade jewelry, kid’s stuff, lamps…I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Browse through their site and see for yourself…I bet you’ll find something you just can’t live without.

You may have seen her on Ellen, Late Night with Conan O’Brien or maybe you were one of the lucky ones to see her live at the SXSW music festival…but if you haven’t heard her, you’re really missing something special.

Her live performances have been referred to as a "one-woman band". Her voice is absolutely beautiful and the entire CD is fantastic.

This is her first US release, and I’d be willing to be it’s the first of many more to come. 

Living in the Atlanta area I’m fortunate to be exposed to a really strong and talented music community. There are so many local bands that provide a huge range of musical offerings. No matter what type of music you like, you can find it here in Atlanta.

I was fortunate to catch one of Jen Foster’s first Atlanta shows and she just blew me away! She opened for Sophie B. Hawkins but honestly she was the highlight of the show. All of my friends and I picked up Jen’s CD at the show, but passed on Sophie B’s…Jen was that good.

None of us had even heard of her so it was a great surprise to hear such an amazing voice, coupled with great songwriting and a powerful stage presence. Jen is originally from Texas but lives in Nashville now. She plays in Atlanta often enough for most of us to consider her a "local" musician.

She has been compared to Sheryl Crow, Joan Osbourne, Bonnie Raitt and she has opened for K’s Choice, Crash Test Dummies, Lisa Loeb, Allison Moorer, The Samples and more.

Her latest release is just as powerful as "Ordinary Girl" which received great reviews. To learn more about Jen, visit her web site.

To listen to samples of her work, check her out on iTunes. 

HostGator

I know that many people use the free web site/blog hosting services that are available. Although that is great for small personal sites/blogs, if you are trying to get a regular following and/or expect to eventually get a lot of traffic on your blog, then paid professional hosting is the way to go. It really is not an expensive endeavor to use a professional web host, in fact if you have friends with blogs you can even split the cost of hosting.

I use HostGator.com, and get Unlimited Domain Hosting Only $9.95 a Month. The great thing is that I can use my server space for as many web sites/blogs as I have room for…and the space alottment from HostGator is very generous! 

I am currently hosting my blog and the blog of a friend, and haven’t even begun to come close to using the limits for my $9.95 per month plan. What’s even better is that with HostGator hosting they provide an application called "Fantastico" which allows you to install Wordpress and other cool blogs and/or applications simply by clicking a button.

Of course to use a paid hosting service you will need your own domain name, but again that will only help you when publicizing your web site or blog. An expensive domain seller is GoDaddy.com, but there are several others out there as well.

Once you see all of the extras available with Fantastico (blogs, photo galleries. FAQ, Help Desks, etc…) how quickly the servers deliver your content, how reliable their servers are (99.9% guaranteed uptime, can your free hosting deliver that?) and how blazing fast their customer support is if you have any questions, you’ll be encouraging every blogger you know to take the next step and use a professional hosting service.

iPowerWeb

For another option, check out iPowerWeb, here’s a special they’re running now:  Introducing $7.95 Hosting, Free Setup and $75 Marketing Rebate

With iPowerWeb, they provide a lot of marketing including $30 in free Google AdWords, you can host up to six different domain names and if you pay for a year of hosting in advance you get a free domain name…quite a good deal! Although I don’t host my blog with iPowerWeb, I have used them for clients and have never run into any problems at all with their service.

HostGator Reseller Program

The main reason I went with HostGator is because they offered unlimited domains with each package and they offer a great reseller program as well. Their reseller packages start at $24 per month, and allow unlimited domains with it as well.  If you are a reseller, I highly recommend this…it’s a hard offer to beat!

The cheapest way to get more speed out of your computer is to upgrade your RAM. RAM stands for "Random Access Memory". A friend of mine in sales often refers to it as "short term memory" when explaining how it works to anyone not familiar with computers.

RAM is the memory your computer relies on to run programs. It empties itself when the program closes or when the computer is turned off. The more RAM you have the more programs you can run simultaneously.

Although upgrading RAM is the least expensive and the easiest way to boost the speed on your computer, people are often intimidated at the thought of trying to do it themselves. Honestly, with most computers RAM is easily accessible and as long as you practice some safety precautions you can usually upgrade your RAM yourself. PCWorld.com has a tutorial which is quite a few years old, but will explain safety precautions and the installation procedure itself really hasn’t changed that much.

The first thing you need to do is find out how much RAM your computer can hold and what type of RAM you  need. The Crucial Memory Advisor Tool takes the guesswork out of upgrading. It walks you right through the process …all you need to know is the brand and model of your computer, Crucial’s memory advisor tool does the rest.

If you have the owner’s manual that came with your computer, it will usually give you instructions on how to replace the RAM. If you no longer have it, or feel more comfortable having someone else install it, you can still order your RAM from Crucial.com and pay to have a local computer geek install it for you. By purchasing the RAM yourself you usually save quite a bit of money.

I’ve used Crucial.com every time I’ve upgraded my computers and I can’t say enough good things about them. Their site is easy to use, their shipping times are wicked fast and the products are top-rate! Check out the Crucial Featured Specials, and keep them in mind the next time you’re waiting for a frozen program to close…a little more RAM can make a big difference.

P!nk

I like Pink a lot…Mizzundastood lived in my CD player pretty much the entire month I bought it. I just downloaded her new CD from iTunes and I absolutely love it!

Even if you’re not a big Pink fan, check this out: Pink & Indigo Girls - Dear Mr. President (USA). Not the typical Pink song you hear on the radio, definitely worth a listen.

It’s loaded on my iPod Shuffle and will be on there for quite some time…really a great song!  Give it a chance, you can listen to a sample for free on iTunes.

Keen - Bronx (Black) - Women’s

These are the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned! If you have never owned a pair of Keen shoes, you should treat yourself and try on a pair. Since I got my Keens I never want to wear any other brand of shoes!

The cool thing is, not only are they comfortable but they’re really well made and they look great!  I have the all black leather Bronx style and I get compliments on them on a regular basis.

Here’s what Zappos.com has to say about them:

Zappos.com is proud to offer the Keen - Bronx (Black) - Women’s: The Bronx has old school styling, with a blucher toe and a classic sneaker appeal. Built on Keen’s anatomical last and using an EVA midsole, they offer broken in comfort out of the box. With classic lace-to-toe and Keen’s patent pending toe protection and multi lug outsole, they are the perfect hybrid for the urban outdoors man, blending style and function. Non marking outsole rubber compound for superior coefficient of friction for all environments. Compression molded EVA midsole is contoured for superior comfort and support of the foot structure. Toe guard allows you to worry about the activity, not your toes. Waterproof leather upper resists weather and stains, staying soft and supple. Blucher style, lace-to-toe classic style that provides a secure fit. Removable pig leather footbed adds cushioning and comfort under foot.

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