Ogunquit, Maine - A Favorite Vacation Destination

The town of Ogunquit calls itself “a beautiful place by the sea,” and indeed it is. Nestled on the southern coast of Maine, this town has it all—rock beaches, sand beaches, an old fashioned trolley, shops, art galleries, and of course plenty of fresh seafood. Ogunquit is a favorite seasonal vacation spot for families and couples that keep returning year after year.

Image (cc) Jay Woodworth/Flickr

By the sea

The sandy, white Ogunquit beach is a peninsula stretching 3 1/2 miles between the Atlantic Ocean and Ogunquit River. It's a perfect spot for walking, collecting shells, swimming and building sand castles. The beach is pristine—picture perfect—and a wonderful place to layout in the sun and rejuvenate.

The Marginal Way is a paved one-mile walking path that highlights rock beaches and stunning views. The path starts in the center of Ogunquit and leads along rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean. Along its curves, walkers take in picturesque views of Ogunquit while breathing salty air and spotting lobster boats. The path ends in Perkins Cove where visitors can take a boat ride, shop, and eat, then return to Ogunquit on the trolley.

Ogunquit Museum of American Art

 Around Town

Ogunquit is a well known art colony and the town is full of quirky and lovely art galleries to suit any interest. It is also home to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, which is the only museum in Maine to exclusively exhibit American art. Their pieces date back to the late 1800s with several collections from early Ogunquit art colony artists.

The Ogunquit Playhouse is known as “America’s Foremost Summer Theater” for their high quality Broadway at the Beach musicals. They produce five different musicals each season and have showcased stars from Broadway and television.

No Maine coastal vacation is complete without fresh seafood, and lots of it. Ogunquit is bursting with seafood restaurants ranging from the classic Maine lobster shack to 5-star affairs. And of course, most of these establishments offer seating with spectacular ocean views.

Close By

Ogunquit is only about half an hour up the coast from Kittery, New Hampshire, which is well known for outlet shopping. It is also only a short jaunt away from Freeport where visitors can shop the outlets and visit L.L. Bean. Visitors can take these day trips along the scenic Route 1 following the coastline and stopping at small shops and lobster shacks all along the way.

Ogunquit is a picturesque town full of natural beauty, artistic expression, and vacation fun for everyone. It caters to vacationers looking to rent a simple cottage as well as those who prefer a luxury hotel. If you're looking for online resources, Ogunquit stay packages are a great way to discover Ogunquit and plan your next vacation. Remember, book ahead because this "beautiful place by the sea" is hugely popular and everything books up fast!

5 Tips to Help Your Small Business Impress Clients

No business is going to succeed unless it has satisfied customers. Without their money, there is no way that a company is going to generate enough revenue to keep its doors open. With that in mind, what are some ways that a small business can keep its clients happy at all times?

Image (cc) cooldesign/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Always Act Like a Professional

Even if you are just one person running a business as a side project or a hobby, you should always act like a professional around your clients. It is important to project an image as someone who is knowledgeable about what he or she is doing at all times. This will cause the client to see you as a viable partner now and in the future. If you're a home based business a meeting room hire is a great idea if you need to meet with clients, and is a sure way to help inspire confidence.

Be There At All Times

It is critical that you are there when your clients need you. Regardless of what time it is or how many hours you have worked during a given day, you need to be there when a client needs you the most. While you are entitled to charge more for responding to an emergency situation, you can't ignore the needs of your clients. If you do, you will find that you don't have many clients paying for your services.

Be Ready With Ideas to Help Your Clients

Take the time to come up with new ideas that can help your clients expand their business. For example, if you hear about a new technology or a new best practice that could help your clients increase page views to their blog, you should be ready and willing to share that information with your clients.

Understand the Needs of Your Clients

People come to you because you have a special skill or knowledge about a specific field that your client needs to tap into. However, you need to understand why your clients have chosen to work with you. Determine early on how you can best use your skills to make it easier for your clients to get the best value for their money.

Develop a Good Working Relationship with Your Clients

Although you never want to mix business and pleasure, there is nothing wrong with developing a good working relationship with your clients. In other words, you should get to know the names of their kids, what they like to do for fun and what cars that they like to drive. This can help you gain the trust of your client and cement a long-term business relationship.

Implementing some or all of these strategies will help you win over your clients and make it easier for them to give you more business. In time, your clients will tell others about your good work and refer new clients to your business. This will help you go from a small business to a well-known company before you know it.

5 Ideas for Your Guest Room

Having guests stay over is a lovely way to be able to spend time with your friends or family and share your home with them. Once you’ve got a nice space set up as your guest room, hosting your loved ones becomes easy and pleasant for both parties. Here are a few great ideas to help you do just that. 

Colours and Pleasant Perfumes

To leave a good impression and ensure your guests feel comfortable in their temporary room, the space should be welcoming and pleasant. Neutral shades accented with splashes of warmer colours or striking bright textiles will help to create a space that is neither too dull nor too bold.
Make sure it’s a nice space for sleeping and for spending a little down time during the day – it should be well lit but able to be kept cool, dark and quiet at night. Subtle, soothing aromas are a homely touch that also create a calm and inviting space.

Creature Comforts

When your guests are staying with you they’ll want a little time to themselves. In order to create a space in which they can feel comfortable they should be provided with a few creature comforts that can be enjoyed in their room.

A mirror in the room means guests can ready themselves without having to wait for the bathroom, it helps guests feel a little more self contained. This can be complimented with a nice dresser where they can keep cosmetics and toiletries rather than in their travel bag.

A tray with tea cups, tea bags and a kettle is another lovely touch. Some spare towels and blankets should also be accessible – if your guests get up earlier than you for a shower, or are cold during the night, they won’t want to wake you up to ask for a towel or blanket.

Books and Magazines

A few recent magazines or simple, short books by the bed give guests something to pass the time when they need to escape for a few hours and just relax, or to wind down at night. Try opting for gender neutral magazines and books that make for an easy read.

Towels and Toiletries

A dresser for toiletries, towel hooks, a small desk for the laptop and a chair in the corner are all nice ideas for furnishings. Necessary items like towels and face washers should also be placed in the room. You might also like to provide a small cake of soap and some travel-sized shampoo, conditioner and body wash, so that your guests don’t have to share the family supply. They’ll feel as though they’re at a five star resort.

Futons and Foldaways

If you’re a little stuck for space in your home, why not combine purposes for your spare rooms? When there’s only one room to spare, have your office space or games room double as a guest room when you have people come to stay.

The easiest way to do this is by having furniture than can easily be stowed away, moved or transformed. You might like to have your room as primarily an office space or a play room for the kids, with a stylish futon or fold-out sofa bed included in the room so that when guests come to stay you can simply convert the seating to bedding. You could also use a desk that folds away and can be stored in a small space. Make sure there’s plenty of spare cupboard space so any office items, toys or electronics can be neatly tucked away while your guests are present.

If your guest room is mostly used by your children’s friends or younger family members, you could search for any bunk beds for sale to include in your spare room, maximising sleeping space while leaving plenty of room for an office desk or a play space.

By following these basic tips you’ll create a lovely in-home respite for your guests to sleep, relax, and recharge for all the day’s activities. They’ll be back in no time!

5 Tips for Living Without a Credit Card

For many people, credit cards symbolise a trap which continues to keep them in debt. While they can be very handy, credit cards often cause more harm than good. If you’re looking to shake your debt for good, here are 5 top tips for living without a credit card.

Get Your Finances Sorted

To ensure that you can really get the best start on living without a credit card, you should take a good look at your financial standing first. Without a solid foundation, you may end up having to revert to credit once more just to get you out of a difficult financial situation. If you are experiencing difficulty paying your bills, meeting your loan repayments and balancing your credit cards, it might be a good option to seek professional help.

Professional debt solutions specialists such as Fox Symes provide a range of support and advice to help you to consolidate and eliminate your debt, as well as alleviate financial strain. Fox Symes is one of Australia’s leading debt solutions specialists, and their team of professionals can help you to regain control over your finances for good. With this sorted, you can focus on living life without your credit card debt and take charge of your finances.

Update Your Budget

If you’ve been living off your credit card, chances are your budget will need a serious adjustment before you can get rid of your card for good. Sit down and work out exactly what your weekly expenses are, and weigh them against your income. Focus as much of your leftover funds into paying off your credit card as soon as possible. Once the card is paid off, allocate the money you were using into a separate savings account. Now instead of using your card, you can work with your own savings and stay debt free for good.

Resisting Temptation

The simple thing to remember about living without your credit card is this: if you have to use credit, you can’t afford to buy it. Don’t let the temptation of bargains or a special deal ruin all of the hard work you have put in to becoming debt free.

Cut Up Your Card

The reason so many people advocate cutting up your card is that it is a simple and effective way to remove the temptation of using credit without actually harming your credit rating. If you cancel your card, you run the risk of damaging your credit rating and undoing all the hard work you’re currently putting in. When you cut up the card, it is a physical as well as psychological commitment to living without credit.

Use Debit Instead

The majority of debit cards issued by banks can be used just like a credit card. They are designed to work with internet transactions as well as over the phone, so you can use your own money to pay bills and buy online rather than putting it on credit.

Breaking the cycle of credit card debt isn’t easy, but it can be achieved with a bit of hard work and determination. Credit is designed to be easy to access and hard to pay off, so you need to put all the odds in your favour if you are going to get rid of your card for good. Remember to seek professional help if you feel like you’re struggling with your finances, and find a reputable company such as Fox Symes who will work with you to eradicate your debt. Following these top tips will have you well on your way to enjoying life without the financial stress of credit card debt.

Feeding the Bookworm in You on a Budget

It is no secret that I am a voracious reader. My desk is a happy mess of piles of books that I’ve just read and about to read (or read again). I probably spend more on books than on clothes and shoes. Even my bag is never without a pocketbook that I read whenever I’m out. I definitely am a bookworm through and through. Books aren’t the only thing that feed my insatiable hunger for written words. Magazines also dominate a good part of my desk and bookshelf.

Reading a dozen different magazines a month takes a hefty chunk of the budget though. With my little girl starting school and our new home still under construction, I had to find a way to sustain my love for reading books and magazines without having to spend too much. Not wanting to sacrifice my reading pleasure, here are several ways through which I now feed the bookworm in me:

1. Find A Local Library. You are lucky if you have a local library that’s well stocked with the latest publications and book titles. You can simply go there to spend your free time poring over your favorite magazines and books. Most libraries are open to the public, while some charge a minimal fee that allows you to borrow books for a limited time. This small expense is nowhere near the amount of money you will spend buying magazines and books from newsstands and bookstores.

2. Second-Hand Book Shops. You will be surprised to find treasures in these quaint shops. Some books are a little tattered, but most of the stocks in these shops are still in great condition. Be patient in scouring through the shelves for your favorite titles and authors. It’s really just like going through the library shelves. Your book budget will go a long way with the great discounts on these second-hand books.

3. Magazine Subscriptions. Subscribing to your fave magazines would save you more than 10% from newsstand prices. If you search hard enough, you may even get to save up to 90% on your magazine expenses from sites such as Subscription Addict. If you think about it, that’s like getting 10 magazines for the price of one. Even if you have the same budget, wouldn’t you want to get more magazines for your money?

4. Magazine or Book Swap. Favorite books deserve a permanent place in our book shelves but others can be passed to other book lovers or traded for a different book. There are magazine or book swag groups online and offline. Joining these groups will allow you to get new titles without spending any money. At the same time, you can also get rid of some of the old reading materials overflowing from your shelves.

It is not impossible to indulge in a reading frenzy even if your funds are limited. While I have found ways to save on my expenses for books and magazines, there is also a way to earn more funds to spend for your reading materials. If you have more than enough magazines and books lying around, sort through them and pick out those that you are already willing to part with. You might want to think about the fact that magazines may lose their novelty over time. But, there are still those who find use for old magazines. You may want to make some money out of your old ones by selling them. Have your own book sale to build your “reading fund.”

5 Cleaning Tips For The Time Conscience Mum

If you are a single mum, stay-at-home mum or a mum who works outside the home, you probably feel as if you never have enough time in a day to properly clean your home. Many mums become overwhelmed by the sheer number of obligations in their life and trying to accomplish everything in one day. The first step is to relax and enact the following five cleaning tips.

Short Spurts:

Do not try to clean the entire house in one fell swoop. Take 10 or 15 minutes and either dust, vacuum or clean one room at a time. You can accomplish a great deal in 15 minutes, including cleaning up a bathroom or unloading and loading the dishwasher. If you spread your cleaning throughout your day into easier and more manageable segments, it will help you get your house clean without you feeling overwhelmed.

Enlist Help From Your Children:

Little kids love being a helper to mum. The possibilities are endless when assigning each child a few age appropriate chores. The key here is to acknowledge your child's standards for cleanliness are different from your own; however, they will improve with age and practice.

• Children are able to put their books and toys away properly.

• They can make their bed.

• Children can learn to load a dishwasher or place dishes in the sink.

• Older children can be assigned the chore of vacuuming or sweeping the floor.

Pick Up Clutter Throughout The Day:

Clutter in a home with children is a given but will make a home seem messier. Make it a habit to pick up any stray belongings and put them away as you walk through a room. Never leave a room empty handed. Create solutions for everyday clutter. Designate a spot for mail and school papers, so they are not strewn about your home. Place a laundry basket in every bedroom, this way you only need to retrieve the basket and not spend time gathering dirty clothes off the floor.

Divide and Conquer:

Make a schedule and divide cleaning tasks to a different day of the week. Create a rotating schedule to accomplish all of the chores needing to be done in weekly increments, such as every Monday is clean the bathroom day, Tuesday is dusting day and so on. A set schedule will keep you on track and your home will be clean.

Simplify Recylcing

Simplifying recycling helps you maintain a clean home while teaching your children about social responsibility. Designate different recycling bins for different items. Have one bin each for paper, glass and cans. These bins will help eliminate clutter from your home. If you do not have recycling pickup at your home, plan bi-monthly trips to the recycling center to avoid accumulating too many items to recycle at one time.

 

 



And for that little extra help investing in good quality house hold appliances such as robot vacuum cleaners would strike a chore off your list and give you that little bit of extra time.

 

Tom is a tech head and is currently studying computer engineering. He loves everything to do with technology and writes these blogs hoping that it will help those who are not to savvy when it comes to basic tech knowledge.

[Infographic] Home Improvement in 10 minutes or less

Having the security of a house is one of our basic necessities. But having just a roof in our head is not enough to make it a home. A home provides comfort, security and overall peace of mind, especially at night time. Making our homes not just liveable is not enough. It's important that it's also pleasing to the senses so we can fully relax and rest when the night comes. That's why home improvement is very important to every home owners. 

Here's a helpful infographic that shows you how to improve your home in 10 minutes or less.

This infographic is brought to you by QuickQuid.

Common Flooring Problems and How To Care Of It

Uneven flooring is truly a strain on the eye. The moment you see it, you’d probably want to immediately set an appointment with a construction worker and have it fixed. You know for a fact that it should not look that way it is for so long because later on it will cause you bigger problems.

Common flooring problem that can occur is what we call “peaking”. It happens when the flooring changes its shape due to humidity, weather and any other factors. It bulges in some way and becomes a disturbing obstruction. You adjust your walls so that your flooring can expand freely. It happens when you’re having wood flooring. More information can be obtained about flooring when you check www.southeastflooringamerica.com.

Another common flooring problem would be cracks. It most likely happens to those tile and ceramic flooring. When this happens, immediately change the cracked portion before anyone gets hurt. A single crack left unattended can destroy the entire flooring in the long run. Tiled flooring is commonly placed by pieces, so you won’t be replacing everything, just the portion with the crack. These common flooring problems are inevitable but there would always be solutions to it. Just be observant most of the time.

Keep Your Flooring Materials In Mint Condition

Among all the other parts of your house, you rely mostly to the condition of your flooring. It serves as the base and holds everything up right. The strength of your house is fully dependent on the strength of your flooring.

All flooring materials have their strengths and weaknesses but as long as it is well taken care of, it would surely last a lifetime. The moment you decide to start building your dream house, start it by looking for the right flooring materials.

You may check for flower mound flooring installation services or any other companies nearby. No matter how hard your flooring is, bear in mind that with reach it threshold when abused. As much as possible, avoid dropping heavy objects on it. Keep it clean most of the time and for those flooring that are made of wood, keep it dry. During cold seasons, wood flooring may not be able to bear the moisture and the best thing to do is to keep it dry by placing carpets or any other similar fabrics. For those tile and marble ones, be observant for cracks and any other marking as this may start possible problems in the future. Take good care of your flooring as it would take good care of your house as well.

Decorating the Baby's Room: What to Get for the Woodlands Look

If you're looking to create the woodlands look for your new baby boy or girl, then you have so many options available to you, including camo bedding, animal prints, murals, plants and more. Remember that the crib bedding you choose must put your child's safety first, as the bedding cannot be too soft. You can also buy decorative wall sconces, provide a few stuffed animals and make the color scheme match.

Camo flannel bedding is always a good option, if it matches the rest of the bedroom decor. Luxury crib bedding is worth the money spent on it. All bedding must be breathable and made of the right materials, in order to prevent suffocation and entanglement. Do not get so innovative with the design of the crib and bedding that you forget about the necessary safety features that must be included. How about having some murals done on the walls, or maybe you could put up some animal prints? Think about uniquely-themed lighting or lamps that can add to the room's decor. As you are purchasing chair pads, wall hooks, pictures and all other types of furniture, you are sure to find choices that benefit your woodlands theme.

The woodlands theme for a baby's room is popular and can provide a very soothing nature scene for your child. Imagine a deer painted on a wall standing beside a tree, or perhaps you've found the perfect rug? Welcome your little one into the world by showing him or her about life outside the boring ol' bedroom.