First things first, Britt is in Florida for two weeks so I’m filling in for her today.  I haven’t talked much about my time in Florida but here’s a little snippet of my days in the Tampa area.

**  I’m in love with Real Simple magazine.  I have been searching for a more “adult” magazine and I had found a couple recipes online that I wanted to try.  While I was waiting for C’s prescriptions yesterday I picked it up.  It’s perfect.  I know that  I could probably find most of the information online and not waste money buying the magazine but part of me is still old fashioned.  I like holding books and magazines curled up on the couch.

**  C had 3 of his 4 wisdom teeth pulled out yesterday.  *GAG Teeth issues seriously gross me out.  He seems to be doing ok today and he’s barely swollen.  I had my wisdom teeth cut out when I was 16.  I had it done surgically though, so it was the best experience that it possibly could be.  Thank you Mom for loving me enough (and having good insurance to pay for it) to put me asleep for that procedure!  I still remember waking up all dopey and on the car ride home giggling and telling my mom I saw double of everything.  Misplaced Momma said she came to visit me but  I don’t remember that lol.

**  Have a book you’ve read that you’d like to share?  Need something new to read?  Participate in my book swap.

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I think all of you are both sassy and sophisticated and definitely Siletto Woman material.

“Stiletto Woman is for the woman who wants to be in sync with her career, her business, her family, her money, the way she looks, and the way she feels! Whether you’re logging on to our blog community, want to know more about our magazine, or need some introductory coaching, you’re sure to find good content, practical resources, and unwavering support within our network.”

What is Stiletto Woman all about?

Stiletto Woman, Inc. is a sassy, yet sophisticated inspirational new-media communications and empowerment network exclusively for women. Stiletto Woman represents you, me, her—it’s a community—a movement! We realize the modern woman is not just a mother, wife, or single female. She’s everything!

There are four sides to women that we focus on . . . what we call 3P&E (personal, parenting, professional, and entrepreneurial). We approach each of these from a holistic perspective. We believe a woman can’t be defined by just one thing, because more than ever before, she’s become multi-faceted.

In addition to the magazine, we have a regular blogging community, we offer coaching, home business certification, and community seminars.

Soon we will give birth to a new fresh and original idea. It involves helping prepubescent girls gain the empowerment they need to make good decisions as teens and young women.

Ultimately, we represent the female who is in tune with the trends, but creates her own style. She’s a woman who wants to be in sync with her career, her business, her family, her money, the way she looks, and the way she feels. Most importantly, she’s empowered!

Do you accept articles, essays or illustrations for the magazine?

Yes. We are accepting articles and essays for the magazine. Our approach is to reveal women’s lives in authentic ways, so we definitely want your story! We are open to reviewing ideas about columns, and off-topic articles that are timely.

If an artist is interested in submitting work, please don’t hesitate to do so, as we are delighted to consider various forms of artistic expression. We adore good design, graphics, and illustrations. In the new media arena, we are setting new heights, and finding ways to explore our distinctiveness in the abundance of online/offline women magazines, so having superb artwork would be a great way of doing that!

To submit your work to us, log on to stilettowoman.com, and click on the magazine link. From there, you’ll find information about submitting your material. If you have questions you’d like to ask before submitting, please email us at info@stilettowoman.com.

How did you choose the Top 50 women?

We started with over 100 women. Each was diverse and inspiring in her own way. We couldn’t believe the range of talent and level of commitment the women had. We knew it would be a tough task to narrow it down. Therefore, we didn’t review the candidates based on a single idea or site alone. We evaluated them on the following criteria:

1) Idea Innovation. We looked at originality, how imaginative they were, how creative they were in executing their ideas, and communicating the brand.

2) Professional Leadership. We assessed their background, their ability to lead, the ethics they upheld, and sense of character.

3) Supportive Community. We wanted to see their desire to help others. We looked at their social impact, and sense of community.

4) Site Design. Being that we’re looking at women who have a presence online, the web site or blog site had to exhibit professionalism. It needed to be effective in delivery, with good layout and design.

Our panel of eight professional women then used a scoring system to select the top 50! It was important for the magazine to exhibit diversity—not solely in the range of women featured, but also in the types of businesses, web sites, and blog sites showcased. You won’t find many large corporations or illustrious personalities mentioned. We deliberately profiled authentic women you might not hear about every day.

Can readers subscribe to your magazine or purchase single copies?

We launched with our Amazing Women issue this year, which can be purchased as a single copy. However, next year the magazine will be published in the Winter, Spr/Summer, and Fall. Each year two issues will be dedicated to a particular topic, and each summer we’ll release our Amazing Women of the year.

We will begin accepting subscriptions for our 2010 editions later this year. You will be able to purchase single copies as well. So stay tuned to stilettowoman.com to find out when you can get the magazine delivered to your mailbox!

Do you have any free services available for your supporters?

Yes. We have a range of free services available. Some are available online, while others are accessible locally. We encourage all women to take advantage of every opportunity available.

We offer a free complimentary coaching session to all new clients. We have dedicated six-week empowerment programs for small business, personal development, and parenting. We also have an affordable al a carte option and a monthly program for those wanting support in a specific area outside of the dedicated six-week programs. To get an introduction to any of these, or to simply see if our coaching style is right for you, our complimentary coaching session may be a good option.

We offer free reports on various topics. Currently, we have The Brand Report, a quick resource that outlines information on business branding and development. We have the Startup Report, a quick resource that outlines information on how to get a business started in the right direction. We have the Career Image Report, a quick resource that outlines career, resume, and interview information.

On the local level, we are debuting Stiletto Women Connect, where we build women-only Connector groups within communities. These membership-based forums will help women cultivate specific areas of their lives and broaden their network of support. Opportunities to partake in special workshops and events at no cost are available to members.

For fun, we also give away gift cards, as a token of appreciation to our readers and supporters. With these giveaways, there’s not much required. You can easily get a free meal at Red Lobster, grab a free movie from Blockbuster, or get a Target shopping card, etc by simply communicating with us.

So, yes we are always looking for ways to give back to our community of supporters.

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Update: Yeah so tracking calories is WAY TOO tedious for me.  I was just curious how many I was eating lol

Let’s get this out of the way.  I hate numbers (period!).  So counting calories is just not going to work for me.  But I did see a cool website (fitday.com) that trackes calories on Wordperv’s blog so I joined today.  I probably won’t keep up with it but it’s interesting to see the calories, fat, carbs and protein I’m eating on a daily basis.

Maybe if I get the blackberry storm C and I have been looking at I will keep up with entering my food intake.    Anyhow, calorie wise I do pretty well with staying in my range.  I found an article and followed their formula:

Calculate Your BMR

Women:
655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Please note that this formula applies only to adults.

Calculate Activity
Step two: In order to incorporate activity into your daily caloric needs, do the following calculation:

* If you are sedentary : BMR x 20 percent

* If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 percent

* If you are moderately active (You exercise most days a week.): BMR x 40 percent

* If you are very active (You exercise intensely on a daily basis or for prolonged periods.): BMR x 50 percent

* If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training.): BMR x 60 percent

Add this number to your BMR.

The result of this formula will be the number of calories you can eat every day and maintain your current weightt. In order to lose weight, you’ll need to take in fewer calories than this result.

Oh and you guys? 3 more days until we take the train to Chi Town! SQUUUEEEEEE!!!

One last thought of the day.  I’m totally loving Kate Voegele’s album I downloaded over the weekend.  Give her a listen if you haven’t already.  You may or may not like it.  Here’s a snippet of Only Fooling Myself.

It’s like a splash of water to my face
When I suddenly realize
That you could never find a place
For me in your eyes, and I don’t know why I keep thinking

One day I’ll turn around, I’ll see your hand reach out
I’m only fooling myself, oh
But maybe when you smile
It means you’d stay awhile
~Kate Voegele

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(from an email I received)

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.
How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.
This takes just 10 seconds and it’s a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you’s.
Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

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Matt from Delicious Nothings just told me about http://www.lala.com.   It sounds pretty cool.  You can listen to any song once in its entirety for free.  This definitely helps you decide if you want to buy a whole album or not.  Below are the bullet points from the email I received after signing up.  Oh and if you sign up, the first 50 are free

6 million songs are waiting…

• Start listening! Play any song or album once for free. Search or browse to find music you like.
• Keep songs you like. Build an online collection and add web songs for only 10 cents (the first 50 are free!), or download the MP3 for 79 cents more. All MP3s are DRM-free, compatible with iTunes and Windows Media Player.
• Bring all your music to the web. Use Lala’s Music Mover app to quickly match the songs on your computer to our catalog. A free and easy way to play all your music online!

What are you waiting for?  Go check it out!

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I love being exposed to new websites.  Thanks to Confessions of a Jersey Girl for this one: http://welcome.exposaroonie.com/

It’s for photographers of any level.  There are articles, inspiration and challenges.  How cool!!!!

Also, what about I am one of the posts published on 20sb 3rd Edition Blog Carnival!  Yea!!!

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