We’ve all seen the ads for them on TV. Internet dating sites that promise to help you find the perfect partner. Hearing the stories of happy couples who met each other through one of these sites and are now married or on the way can tug at the heartstrings of anyone who is looking to settle down in just such a relationship. However, many women feel uncomfortable dealing with this type of site. Perhaps they worry about the “caliber” of men that they’ll find when they submit their information. Maybe they worry about posting photos and personal information anywhere on the Internet. Perhaps they’re concerned that the site in question is nothing more than a scam looking to take money from the lonely and the desperate.

Choosing to utilize such a service is of course a personal choice. However, there are people who have had success meeting people through Internet matchmaking. If you’re tired of hitting the bars and have the money to spend, what do you have to lose? You can even find more specialized dating websites such as SoulSingles.com, which caters to the Black singles community.

Before giving your information or money to any dating service, it’s recommended that you do a little bit of research. See what information you can find on the history of the company to make sure they are really legit. Looking for unbiased testimonials or checking with the Better Business Bureau is always a good bet.

For families in the US, often the closer a vacation destination, the better for several reasons—lower priced airline tickets, less time spent on traveling to and from, and less time spent recovering from jetlag! Plus, as anyone who has traveled south of the border knows, you need not go far to experience vibrant culture, delicious food, and exotic beaches! For families who really want to get away, travel to an island like Cancun. There, families can ride horses and visit Aztec ruins by day, while they watch shows or take breezy walks by the ocean at night.

One place that offers excellent family vacations to Cancun and other nearby locations is Occidental Hotels. This establishment offers vacations at various resorts that are both luxurious, entertaining, but also more affordable than the typical resort vacation. These hotels offer entertainment, luxury accommodations, and host small and large events including reunions and weddings—though many simply use them to book relaxing and memorable getaways.

Of particular interest to families are the Kids Club, which is a program for babies to tweens ages 4-12. The Kids Club entertains children with games and activities organized by loving and energetic staff members who are there specifically to provide childcare so parents can have a little time as a couple while children have a blast!

Occidental Hotels also offers the Fun Club program at their resorts. This allows families to select activities from options such as water sports, horseback riding, volleyball, tennis, snorkeling, and diving. At night, they select entertainment as well, which might include a trip to a sports bar, discos, or live show. To learn more about the all inclusive vacation deals, visit the site for Occidental Hotels & Resorts.

I used to think family vacations seemed really boring. Who’d want to go to an amusement park or a crowded beach when you could take your kiddies to Europe and show them capital cities with ruins, relics, and natural wonders of irreplaceable value to modern day world religions, art, history, and modern day politics? Well, a recent conversation clarified the answer to this question for me.

Last week, I was on the phone with a close friend from college. She has been married for several years, and she and her husband have two children. The children are ages three and two. Each time I speak on the phone to her, it sounds like complete chaos in the background. During this particular conversation, over the course of 10 minutes, her two-year-old broke a picture frame, ripped a page out of my friend’s favorite recipe book, and managed to shove a large part of the page into his left nostril. The conversation ended in panic, my friend feeling they may have to go to the emergency room to remove the recipe from the child’s nostril.

After we hung up, it finally dawned on me…This family needs a vacation—but the vacation needs to be a break. It needs to keep those kids having fun and occupied to avoid broken things, ripped up books, and objects in ears and nostrils! Yes, it’s all clear. This year, my friend is thrilled about their upcoming Orlando vacation. The kids will be way too busy with Mickey, Minnie, merry-go-rounds, and miniature golf. They will get to go to restaurants where everyone has children! My friend is especially excited that she (and her three-year-old) will get to pet a live dolphin and maybe even see live starfish. It sounds really fun. My friend and her family deserve it!

I just went to the most beautiful wedding! Weddings are one of those events that I always dread going to, but once there, it never fails to amaze me how reflective I get! As the dainty bride walked down the aisle with her father, I could clearly remember my father at my own wedding. Wedding ceremonies and festivities are so significant for parents—yet I never thought to ask my parents what that day meant to them…I must do that.
Anyway, as usual I ate far too many pieces of wedding cake, but that can’t be helped, as wedding cake is my favorite food! And there were a few additional caloric indulgences, but no need to mar my reflective mood by recounting those.

There was one more moment that struck me. It was when the bride and groom left in the wedding limousine. For some reason, I never stopped to think about why that moment is symbolic! I just always try to stand in a spot that helps me avoid getting pelted with rice being thrown at the newlyweds. Anyway, it hit me that these newlyweds are truly in for a journey! Like a drive to an exciting place, it will start with joy and a thrill of sorts. Then it will slow down, but intermittent laughter and tiffs will spice it up. If the journey is a long one, at some point each passenger will count the hours, maybe even the minutes depending on how they choose to fill the “empty” moments of the trip.

Then all of a sudden, they will arrive at their destination. It may or may not be what they expected—but at this point, the trip has only begun! Each new corner is a step that makes life interesting, if challenging (or even really annoying sometimes). Weddings always remind me of how exhilarating it is to take a leap of faith, embark upon something new, mysterious, and challenging—and how so few things in life are worth the risk, love being one of them. Honestly speaking, I did NOT feel like going to that wedding…But as usual, I am so glad I did!

Dear diary, I haven’t made an entry in a while. I suppose it’s because I don’t see the point. I’m 37. Why does a 37 year old woman need a diary. A 37-year old woman is supposed to have a journal. Diaries are for little girls. Besides, writing in a diary is like speaking to yourself and telling yourself everything you already know. Your mind is far more secure than a diary. You can lose your diary. You can lose your mind too, come to think of it, but it’s still a safer place to store your thoughts, except, sometimes you forget things. That’s where a diary is better than a mind I suppose, because, assuming you haven’t lost your diary, you can go back and read about things your mind has forgotten.

So what’s the point of this? There isn’t one really. I’m still in the same rut, still after the ambition to become a rich woman by making millions of dollars come out of nothing. I suppose it’s high time I realized I’m trying to be some kind of magician. You can’t make millions come out of nothing. For nothing you get exactly what I’m getting every day. You get pennies.

Image: Dear Diary 21/10/06 by kiwanja via Flickr

You can’t be everything. In fact you can’t be other than you are. That’s what I’m telling myself right now as I look at paintings by artist Michelle Torrez.

It’s been a long day but mostly positive. I won’t reduce it to a measure of how much money I made or didn’t make. I’ve accomplished a great deal today and I’m grateful for everything I’ve managed to get done, and for the success I’ve had with keeping my emotions relatively positive.

Images: Michelle Torrez | Shaw Gallery

Dear diary, so far today I’ve made 97 cents. Just 3 cents more and I’ll be in the big leagues. I’ll have made a whole dollar. Yay! Yesterday I made thirty-five cents and the day before that I made fifty-four cents. If this keeps up I’ll be a millionaire by the time I’m, oh, say about 300 years old….

It’s times like these I wish I still had my vagina to fall back on; but you know how it is. A 37 going on 38 year old vagina isn’t worth much out there. Look at Jennifer Aniston.
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I am frustrated and I figure it’s a good time for a “dear diary” post since I haven’t done one in a while. I’m not even going to tell you what my situation is with forex trading. I’ll go ahead and spit out the BS that I need to tell myself because I refuse to accept that I’ve just thrown over $2000 down the drain. I just deposited $100 yesterday to bring my account balance to $159 and guess what? It’s down to $74. I won’t write down the f-words that are in my head right now; but it’s not like it’s anybody’s fault. I’m not going to go around casting blame. I took a chance on something hoping it would pay off. So far it has not paid off. It’s not the forex trading failure that’s bothering me right now though; it’s the failure in general.
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Just having a little fun today. Don’t want to think about forex trading or anything related to trying to make money. I’ve been hearing about second life for years. Today I decided to give it a test drive just for something to do to distract myself from my usual thoughts. I’ve created a character and named her Angelique Lorgsval. The name Angelique Lorgsval should make you think of someone:

• Tall
• Sleek
• Beautiful
• Sophisticated
• Successful
• Rich
• Confident

So I’ve created an account and logged in but there’s a small problem. Angelique appears to be headless.

Yesterday I made 2 cents in total earnings from my business and lost $10 trading forex. I got to a point where I couldn’t hold in my negative self-deprecating thoughts any longer. I started calling myself a worthless loser. I didn’t wake up in much better spirits today.

Just now I stumbled across a blog titled “The Lost Girls”.The lost girls is about:

Three twenty-something New Yorkers who ditched their media jobs to embark on a yearlong, round-the-world journey in search of adventure and inspiration.

I admit I felt an immediate mixture of admiration and envy on seeing pictures of these young girls on their travels around the world, living their lives to the fullest; but I wonder if circumstances don’t enable some people to live freely and happily while making it impossible for others to manage to get through a day without some unpleasant occurrence to remind them of the less pleasant aspects of living.

I want adventure in my own life. I want to feel inspired. Do I just get up and go?  These girls had “media jobs”. That means they were making money. They had money to afford them the  luxury of getting up and going off in search of adventure and inspiration, traipsing around the globe to such regions as Peru, Brazil, India, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bali/Indonesia, New Zealand and Australia. I can’t manage to make more than two cents come out of 17 hours of work. I couldn’t afford to take off in search of adventure and inspiration.

I applaud the three young women though. It seems they are back in New York now and writing a book about their lost girls adventures. Here I am about to turn 38 and the only stories I have to tell are about a living for nearly 4 decades in a state of depression and going nowhere in life but deeper into an abysmal pit of nothingness.

Oops, this was supposed to be a positive post about not sitting around and complaining about life, but taking a lesson from others who go out and live their lives to the fullest.

Definitely let the lost girls inspire you. Don’t wait for freedom to come to you when time decides to yield and allow you to have your freedom.

Visit the lost girls blog