We have been very busy in the kennels the past few months.  We have completed major renovations in the catteries and they both look beautiful.  The cattery is getting more and more popular so make sure you book early so that you are not disappointed if we can’t fit your booking in.  Both our catteries are very spacious and cat friendly.  We have painted the floors a beautiful blue colour and it really makes the rooms even lighter and spacious.  The new exclusive scratchy poles are cat heaven and definitely passed the “Shaggy” testing trials!     

We are working on renovating the small dog kennels next.  Make sure you keep in touch with our Facebook page and website to see what is happening!  It is very exciting and makes us very proud to see the improvements coming along.

We have had lots of “Events” happening for the owners of our guests!  We have had babies born, weddings occur, overseas holidays and even house renovations!  All of our guests have had a great time staying with us and enjoying the attention and good food, and fun in the exercise yards.

We have extended our personal pets by adopting a stray kitten called Harry.  He is almost all black with a white tummy and he is sooooo friendly!

We also have our toy poodle puppy, called Lola.  She is simply gorgeous and wows everyone with her vast array of designer clothes, toys, bags and jewelled hair accessories and collars!  Of course, these are all available for sale in our main office if you would like some for your baby.

It really is great now that we have so many regular customers and when the pets come in, we know them and they know us.  The routine of the day keeps them happy and they know what to expect and when.  Some of my owners have said, “they love the fact that when they turn onto Fidlers Hill Road, their dogs get so excited, so they know that they have a great time here” at Tea Tree Gully Boarding Kennels & Cattery.

(08) 8389 2287

NEW FACEBOOK TIMELINE

facebook has introduced their new “TIMELINE” format for all pages – personal and Fanpages (now called… you guessed it!!  Timeline!).         

For the personal pages it is a great way to set out your life and the events that have happened to make your life memorable – it’s all about images, and frequent news about your life – what’s happening and where you are.

For business it is a great change.  The feature picture is large enough to really showcase your brand, product or message. The size of the “Cover” is 815 w x 351 h pixels, giving plenty of room to express yourself – but there is a caveat – you may not put any calls to action, pricing or purchase information.  There are many rules around the new pages – and a lot of opportunity too. You can “Pin” a special message – voucher, image to the top of your page and it will stay on top for 7 days.    More information about facebook’s changes can be found here.

Personally I love it – posts show up much more clearly, I found some spam posts easily and deleted them – which I DO recommend, have a look all the way down to the bottom of your Timeline to make sure there aren’t any unwanted posts or images.  Remember your “Timeline” page is your face to the world.

Rather than go over all the points here – they are already detailed in the pdf – more I would like to offer to help – if you need some assistance fixing hit up – or editing changing things – just ask – I am happy to help you out!

So, check it out and have fun with it – sure its different, but change is good – and this change will be a boon for businesses wanting to expand their presence online and reach a wider audience.  Why?  The engagement rate has increased by 46% since the Timeline has been introduced.  That’s a great statistic – and will probably increase as time goes on…

I spent the day with Google today!

I had the most wonderful day today – at a Google Engage Masterclass held at the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane. Sophie, Richard Catherine and Leticia were the hosts from Google.  They are all angels.

The speakers were fantastic – Stasia from Nashville in the US and David from Several places (Cardinal Path) both entertained and informed.  The style of presentation was easy to listen too and absorb.

A lot of new information was delivered; going mobile, Adwords Express, Website Optimser plus Designing for Conversions!  Amazing.

There are ten top tips to enhance your website that can affect conversion rates by 1%. Now 1% doesn’t sound like much – but when you put that in perspective over time and dollars it can be significant. here’s three of them….

• Is your product or service demonstrable?  IN other words, is it something you can demonstrate with a video?  If so, put a video on the site.
• Make sure your product description and call to action are above the fold
• have the person (female or male) looking in the direction of the call to action or whatever point on the page you want the reader to go.

we had several breaks including a sumptuous lunch in the Thyme² Brisbane Restaurant .   The food was fantastic, fresh, so many varieties, Indian everything, Seafood, Salads, Sushi, Chinese noodles,you name it – and let’s not even go to the desserts!!!

I was told by a fellow attendee to try the chocolate fountain…

Ok, Here it is, just what you have been waiting for – $10 off color service voucher – Get your voucher here …. http://bojayhair.com.au/10-off-color-services-voucher-for-march-and-april-2012/

Renata and her team do a fantastic job – they took my hair from Seawitch to Luxurious with their fabulous treatments and color!! Thank you so much Renata and girls – you rock….Phone 07.3890.0766 for Manly and 3286.5066 for Cleveland

A Passion for Collectibles

I had the pleasure of interviewing Marion from Mon Jardin Cottage.  She and her husband Brian have a gorgeous cottage full of antiques in Northern New South Wales.

How do I know?  I found their website and purchased the most amazing stag’s head candelabra from them.  I can’t wait to go back – it’s a great drive through the hills of  Northern NSW.

This is what Marion had to say when I asked her how they got started…

“Our passion for collectibles started 25 years ago which led us to accumulate “one off” pieces we loved for our own home in Sydney. With our move to Northern NSW we took on the challenge to create a wonderful garden and expand our collection. Having the opportunity to travel to great locations such as New York, London and Paris, we continued to add to our stable of gorgeous and unique pieces for the home. Rapidly running out of space to house our treasures, we wanted to continue to collect so we decided to share our beautiful pre-loved linens, lamps, home accessories and old French style furniture with like minded people. To complete this dream we went about converting our “Cozy Corner Cottage” on our property into a gorgeous French Style Store. Come see us and enjoy viewing this unusual assortment of special, one-off items at “Mon Jardin Cottage” and it’s beautiful country garden.”

You may find two primary things to take into account when buying a new coffee machine for your home as well as small office: type of coffee maker as well as features.

Selecting the proper coffeemaker to meet your needs could be achieved by simply analyzing what number of people will be ingesting the coffee, coffee drinking habits and how much money you would like to invest. Somebody who lives on it’s own and tends to make a single pot of coffee to ingest on the drive to work, for instance, can have totally different requirements than the usual small office along with 4 to 5 workers that drink coffee occasionally each day.

You are able to pay very little cash and buy a drip coffee machine for the house that works perfectly fantastic, because they almost all function simply identical – they pour hot water over ground coffee and filter the coffee in a carafe of some type. However, it will not price a lot more to obtain a coffee machine that has a lot of extra functions and can last for many , many years to come. Costs normally have huge variations from a $19.95 special offer on up to more than $200.

You can find basically three main types of coffee brewers – Drip Coffee Makers, Pod Coffee Makers as well as Thermal Carafe Coffee Machines.

The Drip Brewer is the long-standing stand-by – add water within the top and the coffee is provided in a glass carafe that sits on a warmer. The carafe stands on the hotter which helps to keep the coffee warm. Think about a coffee maker with an auto-switch-off if you might be concerned about having its warmer on.

A Thermal Carafe Brewer brews into a thermal carafe rather than a glass decanter. You don’t have a need for a warmer, because the thermal carafe will keep the coffee warm and also saves the taste and aroma for a long time. Another advantage of the thermal carafes is that they can’t break as fast like glass carafes. Different versions of thermal carafe types bring thermal coffee mugs and double thermal carafes.

The Pod Coffee maker, such as a Senseo Coffee Brewer is the hot brand new entrance within coffee making. For each cup you make, you place a packaged coffee pod into the coffee maker. The coffee maker prepares the cup, after that you remove the pod. There is no chaos because the coffee comes in the prepared pod and it is discarded within the prep-packed pod. A disadvantage is that the pods cost a little more than standard coffee along with filters, plus, you are able to only brew one serving at a time.

All coffee machines have different features to perform various needs. Functions which might be included with more expensive coffee makers will include a clock/timer to allow scheduled brewing times, water filtration, stop-and-serve and auto shut-off.

Additionally, a lot of coffee makers might be combi machines which include a fine espresso maker or even a coffee grinder.

Below are a few choices to consider:
Programmable: You can easlily program the coffeemaker to get the coffee brewed before you enter your kitchen.
Size: Choices vary from brewing on a per cup basis to brewing into a dozen-mug carafe.
Speed: Some coffee brewers feature a hot water reservoir that enables the device to brew a carafe of coffee in three hours.
Built-in Grinder: A few coffee brewers have a built-in grinder which grinds the coffee beans and then it puts them to the filter holder. The bonus will be significantly less clutter and fewer work on the side of the operator. A negative aspect would be that there are other components that could break making the entire product unusable.
Water Filtering: Cut down tremendously mineral build-up in the water tank.

To find out more with regards to coffeemakers and also to discover the most useful pod coffee brewer for your preferences, please feel free to head over to Better Coffee Makers.

Were you aware that the earliest cakes baked in America were simple loaves of sweet bread? Take a look how far we have come. But you should not be scared by the elaborate cakes being made today. Through the know-how and some exercise it does not need a pastry chef to make eye-catching cakes. Definitely the suitable equipment moves quite some distance as part of your cake decorating efforts. Here are several cake decorating ideas you would like to try.

Any cake worth merit starts off with an even frosting. The cake is required to cool completely just before they can be iced and decorated. To keep crumbs from ending up in the icing and thus messing up the look of your cake, start out with a light foundation coat of frosting that isn’t quite as hard as the normal layer is going to be. When that layer is on, set the cake inside a refrigerator for twenty minutes. It will fix the icing and all crumbs shall be caught up from this first layer. Now you can spread a regular covering of frosting with no need of concerning about crumbs.

Use an frosting spatula to apply and smooth the second coat of frosting. Once the frosting is on the cake, begin smoothing on the sides by running the spatula across the border of the cake. One trick for the purpose of smoothing the icing is to dip the metallic frosting spatula in cold water, that will aid in smoothing the icing. To be able to smooth the top, dip the spatula in cold water and holding it horizontally over the top of the cake. Get started at the point farthest from you, holding the spatula within both hands, gloss over the top of the frosting with bringing the spatula straight all the way to you.

Simple Cake Decorating Tips

A couple of cake decorators say learning how to even the icing will be the hardest part of cake decorating. Training can make you a pro very fast. When you have it accomplished, display it in public, a good cake without a lot of beautifications that is clean and smooth can make a totally classy offering.

As an alternative to icing, cake surfaces may be dusted with powdered sugar. It is possible to decide to use a stencil to get a more embellished design, or only the powdered sugar for a nice and clean look.

Edible decorations undoubtedly are a charming but basic cake decorating technique. The application of sprinkles, candy, nuts, and additionally coconut pressed into the frosting well before it fixes, is likely to make your cake stand out.

To put on a textured style for your cake decorating, try a small cardboard comb, easily obtainable in baking supply stores.

Piping is carried out employing a pastry bag fitted with a metal tip which is kept on using a coupler. This is the most important device for cake decorating. You can make traces, text, seashells, roses, and plenty of additional styles on top or sides of the cake. Load the bag by using no more than a single cup of frosting at one time, twist the top of the bag and maintain constant pressure when transfering the design and style. Use your other hand to help the end. It’s wise to figure out whatever you can relating to piping before beginning.

Fondant a smooth white substance, is used in puzzling cake decorating. Fondant is kneaded and rolled to cover cakes using a modern even layer of frosting. Furthermore, it is helpful to make artwork that are 3-D. It’s actually less tasty than buttercream, however the cake will appear luxurious and elegant.

To find tips, tricks as well as to get a hold of some encouragement on cake decorating ideas I would suggest to have a look in cake decorating books.

Costume Connections has a fabulous range of costumes for Halloween and throughout the year for fancy dress parties.

Dale has generously donated  this cute black witches – size 8-10 – comes with a hot pink trim and even the hat! All you bring is shoes and stockings!

Follow the link to the Facebook page and enter for your chance to win!

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.
- Barbara de Angelis

As strange as it may seem, some people feel guilty when they are happy. This belief may come from religion, culture or the family you were raised in, but it usually leaves you guilty if you are having fun.

There is a tendency for these individuals to feel the need to take care of everyone one else in the world, putting their own happiness on the back burner. Yet, research continually shows that happy people tend to be more open to helping others.

So, if you have this inclination, you may as well enjoy your life, have fun and be happy while simultaneously helping others.

Happiness inventory
Pause for a moment and take a mental inventory of your happiness. Where are you on your own happiness scale? Using a 1 to 10 rating scale, how would you assess your happiness: 1 being very unhappy, 5 being somewhat happy, and 10 being outrageously happy. Where do you come in on the scale?

If you are unhappy, you can do something about it. Our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, noted, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is within our power. Focus on what you can change: your thoughts, beliefs, expectations and behavior. Don’t waste your time or energy on people or circumstances beyond your control.

Happy people have these in common
For many years I have taught my clients the following simple formula for attaining happiness. There are three things that happy people have in common:

1. Something to DO.  People who are engaged in fulfilling their life purposes, who believe they are here for a reason, are more apt to be happy. This may also include personal growth activities, pleasant hobbies and interests. When you keep busy there is less time to mope or be unhappy.
2. Something to LOVE.  It is no surprise that social relationships have been found to be a big contributor to happiness. We imagine that to mean having a romantic relationship, and yes, that is important. However, according to research, you get more joy spending longer periods of time with a close friend – just hanging out.
3. Something to LOOK FORWARD TO.  Happy people make future plans to do things that they enjoy. There is nothing better than looking forward with anticipation to taking that special vacation, moving into a home of your dreams, or something as simple as flying a kite on a beach.

What would your life look like if it looked the way you wished? What would make you happy? Now is the time to take the initiative and do the work to make it so.

Dr. Judy Ellison, Ph.D. is a psychologist, research scientist, life transformation expert, published author and motivational speaker, who earned her doctoral degree in psychology from Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco, California. She is a leading expert in the mind/body/spirit connection. Merging her experience from twenty-five years of personal counselling along with her education, Dr. Ellison is passionate to lead individuals into personal growth and life transformation.

Dr. Judy also posts uplifting and inspirational blog entries each week at www.drjudy.sonoranbloom.com

Yes, It’s True – We have gone crazy and we are giving away $1,000 worth of advertising services on cOZport!

Choose from five of our services, bundle as many as you need:

• Web site (4 pages) web based and mobile ready valued at $1,000.00

• cOZport.com.au Advertising for one year —the best Local directory in Australia! Includes Mini-Billboard Ad Space + New FBFan Page $500.00

• 6 months worth of Article Marketing $ 500.00

(build the relationship with new customers and existing clients)

• Build a contest to advertise your business on Facebook!    $500.00

• Do you have an idea for a Smart Phone App? 5 Hours of Software Development Consultation time valued at $200.00 per hour! $ 1,000.00

Is one of your target markets Mom’s? Or Students? Talk to me today about mobile marketing to these two HOT HOT sectors of buyers……enter here….. to the right on the win button….. or here …..