Okay, I have to admit my weakness to artistic diversions of various musical and colorful persuasions. In simple english, I have become throroughly addicted to Rock Band! I can honestly blame my musically inclined daughter, who loves to sing. She talked me into challenging my musical talents, and now we are totally hooked!

Yep, when I got my first ‘flawless’ on Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive’, it was all over. Next thing we knew, we had earned a new manager, and started getting popular enough to go on tour, hire some roadies, compete for a new tour bus, and we even played our booties off for our very own jet plane! Now we were travelling in style… yeah baby!

I think I started gaining the most enjoyment once we moved out of easy mode, into medium difficulty. By then, speaking for myself, I was much more comfortable, and it seemed much easier to kick back and enjoy playing the guitar without stressing over hitting the correct keys. I was totally comfortable enough to let my fingers fly and have loads of fun with the songs. Some songs are really fun to play, and sound totally rockin’ when we hit the notes just right.

What I love most is that I can do really well singing the songs. I really like to challenge my voice to make each song my own, while keeping the essence of the song intact. Some songs kick me in the butt, and I struggle to match the tones, and I sometimes give up and just hum… LOL

But hey, I did get that ‘flawless’ score in singing ‘Wanted, Dead or Alive’ by Bon Jovi… one of my most favourite songs ever! Although ‘Orange Crush’ by R.E.M. nearly killed me… again, and again… hehehe. I really think all this singin’ action has placed a bit of stress on the mic. I am thinking the Rock Band Official Microphone (PS3, Wii, Xbox360) seems the best option, and I am certain it is the standard mic already in use. I would totally appreciate any feedback on this particular mic, or a preferable option.

Speaking of Rock Band, I think it is just about time for a rock break! Enjoy…

I am truly a simple woman, with a taste for fine wines. Whether relaxing after a busy day, or enjoying the view of a gorgeous sunset on a lovely beach, I simply cannot resist a glass of wine to add to the moment. And since wine is usually my drink of choice upon most occasions, especially when dining out or celebrating those special events in our Life, I must admit to being rather picky when it comes to the flavor of my wine, and I found the following little gadget quite interesting. Totally sweet and created with the finest in modern technologies, the Vino-Air Wine Aerator and Pourer is exactly what I need!

What is the Vino-Air Wine Aerator and Pourer?

Ingenious construction complemented with optimal convenience, this on-bottle wine aerator does it all serves up a perfect pour, eliminates drips, and fully aerates and oxidates your wine for maximum flavor and quality.

Using innovative technology, this wine aerator has a specially designed, dual venturi chamber that pulls twice the vacuum as the leading venturi aerators to more fully oxygenate your wine (unlocking premium flavors and aromas), while the sleek, compact size makes for effortless portability. Simply place aerator on the mouth of your wine bottle, smoothly pour yourself a glass, and voil perfectly oxygenated wine in seconds! Works with both red and white wines. Wine aerator measures 7″ long.

Well then, I am quite impressed with this totally cool Vino-Air Wine Aerator and Pourer, and I simply must have it! And just think what a great gift this would be for the wine connoisseur in your Virtual Realm.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Allison Maslan, author of “Blast Off!”. All opinions are 100% mine.

One aspect of my personality that seems to attract others is my positive attitude. I am always going out of my way to help others. I have made it a personal goal of mine to look for ways to improve upon myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My path seems to lead me to just what I am looking for, right when I need it.

Someone like me still needs a bit of inspiration from time to time. When it comes to living our Dreams, nothing can stand in our way of achieving our goals, as long as we learn how to do this in a good way. Sometimes we despair about our Life situation, and just need a little boost to get us going again. I have a great desire to live my Dreams to the fullest, and let the pain of the past stay right where it is; in the past.

I have discovered a great coaching tool in the form of a book called Blast Off! written by leading Life and Career Coach, Allison Maslan. I am truly ready to take my Life to the next level and wholly realize my greatest desires and make my Dreams a reality. Allison reveals her failures, as well as her successes in this eye opening book, designed to help others gain the personal and professional happiness that she herself has achieved.

Hear what others have to say about Blast Off!

“How sweet is this! A beautifully crafted book, jam-packed full of bright wisdom, heartwarming stories, and brilliant ideas. Let it be your personal coach and you cannot go wrong. It will guide, advise, encourage, and even cheer you on at each and every step of your way, as you craft a vision, breathe life into your dreams, and make them come true.”
Miranda Castro, FSHom, CCH, homeopath and author, The Complete Homeopathy Handbook; Homeopathy for Pregnancy, Birth, and Your Baby’s First Years; and A Homeopathic Guide to Stress

“Allison Maslan is amazing. My dreams have come true after working closely with her program. Blast Off! is completely unique and led me to my road of success. Years of dreaming are now manifesting as a speaker and writer due solely to her program. Thank you, Allison!”
Jeanne Stryker, M.D.

These are just a couple of the wonderful comments people have on this amazing book. Are you ready to take your Life into your own hands and create a Path to make your Dreams a reality? Take a chance and focus on what it is you want out of Life. This is definately on the top of my ‘must have’ list, and what a great deal for only $24! Blast Off! has officially launched as of January 19th, 2010 and is available on Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble websites. It will also be available in all other major bookstores!

My daughter thinks it would be a great idea to pay particular attention to the education of my grandson, since we will be spending a lot of time with him while his mother goes to school. Mom wants to jumpstart her career options, so why not give the little guy a head start as well? Since I am totally into the home taught thing, my daughter and I can get pretty creative when it comes to teaching, as well as learning.

So I decided to find some great tools to help get us started. Of course, I am already a fan of LeapFrog, so it was an easy guess that I would find something quite simple to get us going. When I saw the LeapFrog Scribble and Write, I knew I was on the right track. Let me just post a couple of reviews to let people see how others have responded to this cool little gadget.

BoysMommy says…

This was an Amazon gift from the grandparents to my 4 year old. He LOVES this! It teaches your child the proper way to make their letters. (My 8 year old needs one LOL!)He loves tracing the dots and sliding the eraser. It cheers the kids on after they push the paw print. He will sneak to play with it when he is suppose to be sleeping. It is currently at show and tell at his pre-k, he loves it that much. One week of use and he is going all over the house writing the first letter of his name. He has shown off his letter writing skills at the Drs. office. He now writes his letters better than his big brother in 3rd grade!

Daddy B Me writes…

My 3 year old is starting to write and draw and this is really helping with her learning to write her ABC’s and shapes. She really loves the dog Scout and the cute audio. The size of it is right on the money and is easy to take along in the car. Every letter brings out some cute responses too.

Mother of 2 Boys tells us…

My 3 1/2 year old son got this scribble and write for Christmas. He loves following the dots to draw, does great with the letters, still a little slow with the picture part but is so proud when he writes the letter properly. And the best thing of all, he enjoys using it (and he’s learning without even knowing!!)

Well then, I am definately of a mind that this is a great gift, as well as a sweet little learning toy. For the price, it is worth checking out… what a wonderful addition to our travel toys to keep those little ones occupied on the road as well!

How do I feel about Facebook? I will happily admit that I find it a wondrous thing to touch upon the glimpses of my family and friends whenever I wish; to bring their worlds a bit closer to mine, as I journey through time on this beautiful planet. I think it is pretty cool to touch base with people whom I would otherwise only see upon occasion, as they live so far away. I feel it brings us all that much closer, visiting in the virtual realms.

Surely there is simply not enough time each day to catch up on everything, yet it truly does not matter. Just a little peek here and there is enough… and more than enough most days! This is just how it is with Social Networks of this type. Especially if one is divided between business and pleasure.

The only downfall that I can see at this time, is that other people can find back doors into our private lives, wall posts, and even our pictures if we do not look through every aspect of the privacy settings. Not sure why, but Facebook makes it pretty tricky for those who are unaware of how to set everything within their account to keep their privacy within each of our own personal bounds. I would suggest looking through account settings very carefully to be certain that you are very clear on which information you wish to be seen, and by whom. It is not simply cut and dry, so do not be fooled into a false sense of security. Either pay close attention, or be very careful about the information you put forth to be viewed by others on the internet. It is nearly impossible to retrieve that which may become viral, in a short amount of time.

With that said, I am still happy to visit my peeps as often as time permits. Life is simply too short, and it is really nice to catch up with friends and family, giving us less separation and more of a sense of being part of the bigger world. Speaking of which, I would like to take a few moments to hop on over to my own Facebook and see how everyone is doing today.. Enjoy!

Oh yes, I am pretty sure I am not alone on this one. One of my greatest passions is music, and I love to bring my music with me when I am traveling around on my many adventures. So, in order to fulfill my greatest desire to listen to my favourite tunes as I travel, I am in avid pursuit of a new toy! Hmmm… this one is a no brainer, since I am pretty good at finding exactly what my sweet little heart desires! Of course, I do like to take advantage of getting the latest opinions from my family and friends, so I will post my current choice and see what my people have to say.

At the moment I am swaying heavily towards the Apple iPod touch 8 GB (3rd Generation). This just so happens to be the newest model, and comes with a price tag which is within my budget.

Technical Details

* NOTE: This is the 3rd generation 8 GB iPod touch that comes installed with iPhone OS 3.1 Software

* IMPORTANT: To get started using your iPod, charge your player using the USB cable for at least 2 hours

* 8 GB capacity for 1,750 songs, 10,000 photos, or 10 hours of video

* Up to 30 hours of music playback or 6 hours of video playback when fully charged

* 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display with 480 x 320 pixel resolution

* Supports AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV audio formats; H.264 and MPEG-4 video formats; JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF

* One-year limited warranty with single incident of complimentary telephone technical support

* Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.

Apple iPod touch is a great iPod, a great pocket computer, and a great portable game player. Listen to a mix of songs automatically put together by the new Genius Mixes feature. Watch a movie. Surf the web. View rich HTML email. Find your location and get directions with Google Maps. Discover games and apps you’re sure to love with new Genius recommendations for apps. And since iPod touch now comes with the latest 3.1 software already installed, you can start using fun, convenient features right out of the box.

Yep, it is about time I stepped out of a Virtual Reality that was dragging me down. This Life is as virtual as realities can be, and we can create a journey of our choice, whether we know it or not. I have decided not to let circumstances cloud my focus, so I may place my feet on the best Path to move forward in a positive way. I have been totally distracted, and therefor my forward progress came nearly to a complete stop. I know how to turn this around, so that I do not become my own worst enemy.

Does this make sense? If you have ever found yourself so far off base from where you thought you would be in this time of your Life on this planet, then you know what I am talking about. And we all know how Life can knock us for a loop when we least expect it. I simply refuse to stay down, or get turned around, no matter how messed up some things appear to be in any given moment.

My blogs have suffered, and therefor my creative nature has been curbed to the point where I am ready to burst free, and let go of the things that are holding me back. Change my way of thinking, and my world will evolve accordingly. I have been doing this all my Life, so I am no novice when it comes to placing a positive spin on any situation. I have always been given what I need to survive and thrive in this World.

Sometimes I just slip a little and forget how to find my way. I remember again, so I am ready to give this Journey all I’ve got, and bring my best self forward.

Okay, today I am going to treat my visitors to a little rant. I love to roleplay online. It is fun, challenges my intellect, and gives me the opportunity to morph into a different persona for a little while. Let’s just call it one of my favourite little escapes from a real world which can sometimes drive a girl just a little insane. This is how I balance out my Life, and I love it! My adventurous nature positively thrives on seeking new ways to add excitement to my lessons and teachings on this planet.

Well then, my greatest pet peeve in this area is when I run into non-roleplayers. Perhaps I should explain my distress… My current fantasy escape is Warhammer Online, as mentioned before on this blog. I chose a roleplaying server so I can enjoy what I love to do best with this sort of MMORPG. There are rules pertaining to the roleplaying server, so I feel people should abide by these rules and take their fun elsewhere if they either have NO IDEA what roleplaying is, or if they are just hanging around to bug the serious roleplayers. We pay good money to enjoy our experience!

Life tends to bring along some seriously messed up fools to make our paths just a bit tricky. Humans seem to believe their world is the ONLY world that matters, and it just feels good to mess up someone elses day. Luckily for me I am good at ignoring fools, and I know how to react in most situations while I go trekking along my merry way. It just bugs me upon occasion, and I would like to extent a heartfelt request out into the Universe asking the freaking non-roleplayers to find another server to goof off on!

Whew! Now that I have that off my chest, I am off to haunt the lands of Warhammer Online with my graceful, yet fierce persona. I have more than one role to play, so it is quite interesting to discover new aspects of my own nature as I travel through lands blighted with evil, and surrounded by deadly foes. I am a true roleplayer, and I hope to run across those of like mind upon my journeys.

Cheers!

I am really excited to be stepping forth into the Year of 2009. I attained so many goals in 2008, and experienced many new Adventures. I am always setting new goals, as this is not just something I do when the calender rolls over into a new year. I have a lot of personal expectations, and one of them is to explore as many Virtual Worlds as possible and to enjoy my journey into the fantastic and technologically advancing future!

It is amazing to note how many people are turning to the Virtual realms for many things; business and pleasure. Although I imagined 2009 as being a little more advanced, when I was young and the future world in the year 2000 and beyond seemed so far away, I am not disappointed with what seems to be unfolding at a rapid rate with advancing technologies. The world is now catching up to my younger expectations, and I know we will be very busy indeed this year.

I am still on ‘vacation’, so to speak (even though I work from home, and work is not really ‘work’ and is more like ‘play’), so I am totally into my gaming zone. I am currently enjoying a journey into the many adventures and quests to be found in Warhammer Online. My daughter and I (and my son, nephew and various friends) are having so much fun exploring the realms of Dark and Light, and this is serving to be an exciting way to share the moments when Mother Nature and Father Storm rage outside dropping various degrees of rain, hail, and snow.

Personally I hope it drops a foot of snow again, as I love to balance my indoor adventures with a lot of outdoor activities, preferrably of the white fluffy kind. Even though I love to splash through the rain, as I love all Seasons, I do not always enjoy getting soaked to the bone every time I venture forth into the great outdoors. Dancing in the rain is something I enjoy once a week at best!

I will have more time to dedicate to exploring the Virtual Realms online to find new Worlds to reveal and share with fellow virtual lovers. Until then I wish everyone a safe and fun filled adventure into the future as each moment unfolds. May you find many true friends to help Light your Path and journey with you into great Adventures, as Life should always be.