Blessed Thanksgiving

Contrary to popular belief in that Christmas, New Year’s Eve or even St. Patrick’s Day to be the worse days for drivers, it’s really Thanksgiving Day in which the police, hospitals and firefighters get the busiest with an increasing number of accidents often caused by pilots.

Just in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the origins of these mishaps rely on heavy drinking, dense traffic and unprepared long-distance car trips on the driver’s part.

Other reports from this institution also claim that the increase of airline fares have contributed to more people cramming their way with four or more hour trips by car without any rest, and that also involves activities such as drinking and that’s where the problems arise.

Another important factor was also sleepy drivers. Drowsy driving is often the cause of 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and 100,000 crashes a year, according to the latest statistics from the NHTSA. So, long weekends are directly proportional to more traffic, therefore users are more prone to traffic accidents.

And on top of that, investigative reports from York University in Toronto show that confinement in a vehicle during prolonged periods of time, usually on holidays, can lead to aggressive and reckless driving due to a feeling of stress linked with some sort of vengeance.

So, yes, you could say the curse of the long weekend actually exists. Especially when it comes to Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day, given that they always fall near Saturday or Sunday, making it a three or even four day weekend.

With that being said, the latest reports show that the average vehicular deaths in Thanksgiving is 573, followed closely by Independence Day with 505, and Memorial Day and Labor Day with 493 and 488 each.

And given that 30-60% more people die in car accidents on the weekends than during the week on normal days, it makes it more probable that parties or special events that fall on a Friday or a Saturday will run more risks.

You could consider other options, such as train, or someone responsible enough to get you to your destination, but if you have no option but to drive, remember to wear a seatbelt and split your journey into one or two stops to rest a bit, eat, drink water, go to the bathroom and continue. You may not get to your destiny exactly on time, but at least you get to do so safely. Safety and good health should be above anything.

I Went from Paying $600 a month for Car Insurance to only $111 a month!

To do the same Visit Save489.com and Enter your Zip code and within a few minutes you’ll have quotes which will help you save hundreds per month!

One of the biggest and warmest holidays of the United States, Thanksgiving has its history and origin way back in centuries. There are various instances of thanksgiving observances in history, all of which bear resemblance to the modern celebrations of Thanksgiving; but the generally accepted and circulated view is that the modern day American Thanksgiving has its origin in 1621, when the Pilgrims, or the English settlers and the Native Americans celebrated a three-day long feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But quite contrary to this popular belief, the Pilgrims were never the first to have a Thanksgiving feast. Feasts celebrating a good harvest existed well before the Pilgrims or the settlers arrived. Nevertheless, it’s true that these Pilgrims held a Thanksgiving feast (more aptly, a feast to say ‘thanks’) in the first year of their survival in America

Following this Pilgrim’s 1621 Thanksgiving observance, began the Thanksgiving tradition of holding feasts after a good harvest. People usually celebrate Thanksgiving to mark the Autumn harvest and make merry in the plentiful yield. There is, however, a long tradition of celebrating the harvest throughout history. It might interest you to know that even the ancient Greeks and Romans had their respective harvest celebrations with music, parades and feasts quite like today’s Thanksgiving celebrations. People in ancient China also had their harvest festival with families feasting together on ‘moon cakes’ (round yellowish cakes). This was to celebrate the full moon and, as a matter of fact, the Chinese still celebrate this as their Moon Festival with much hype and hoopla ! Then again, there’s the harvest festival of the Jews. The Jewish harvest fest, Sukkot, is celebrated for eight days and is an occasion to catch up with the family on feasts and to be thankful for a good year. The British Isles too has a harvest festival called the Lammas, which marks the beginning of the harvest season.

Now, whatever the history and origin, Thanksgiving today is primarily a day set aside in the most part of North America to show gratitude and be thankful to God. Feasts and family reunions are a regular trend for Thanksgiving in North America. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November every year. But in Canada, the harvest season ends a little earlier in the year. Hence in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The Canadians have a three-day long Thanksgiving weekend and the holiday is not as significantly hyped here as in the United States. The Canadians also do not get enough time for a convenient homecoming. So they reserve the family reunions for the Christmas holiday.

The Thanksgiving holiday has serious religious shades for the Roman Catholic Quebecers, who call it l’Action de Grâce. Thanksgiving has a long-standing history in Europe; it is associated with the harvest festivals held there.

So then, as you see, celebrating harvest is quite old. And so is the thanksgiving act—to thank the Almighty for all the good things He has given us ! And all these harvest festivities, although having cultural differences, are common in spirit to the modern American Thanksgiving.

Sean Carter writes on holidays, thanksgiving and celebrations around the world. He also writes on family, relationships,womens issues birthdays, inspiration, religion, love and friendship. He is a writer with special interest in ecard industry. He writes for 123greetings.com

Beauty is one thing that girls cannot go off. They try everything on their face and body that makes them more beautiful. Beauty and girls as well as skin care products go hand in hand. Skin care as well as cosmetics expert provides beauty tips for girls to change their summer look into the fall/winter.

There are many experts that offer countless beauty products for women but it becomes very hard to choose the best among so many! It is very tough to go in the market and purchase the best make up color for your face. Classically, when you search the color, which work wonders for you, it’s that similar color you grip out from the cosmetic handbag every day.

The season is changing and with the transformation in the seasons, cosmetic expert’s advices that girls should take chance and do experiment with their look. Why don’t you try something bold this season? Make your makeup bold! Try your look this time, instead of putting up sporty, sun kissed, and soft appearance of the summers, you should try some beauty tips that is using more of bold colors and different eye shadows in your make up regime that will carry you in to the fall/winter season.

Make It Daring This Season!

Bold lips or bold eyes are the wonderful accessory for this fall according to experts. Pick up some feature and define it: bold, bright colors such as berry tones, reds and plums are just perfect for your lips as well as deep shades like indigo, charcoal and onyx will make your eyes actually stand out in the crowd. These are a few beauty tips that one should consider for change into your next season.

Bold lips as well as eyes color are simply perfect for this fall seasonal occasions and holiday night parties. Vibrant make up will counterbalance the darker, heavy clothing line frequently found in the fall/winter wardrobes. So, be courageous with color, and be careful about being overboard. This is the cautions that girls have to take before putting on makeup.

Accentuate one trait: Pick your lips or eyes. If you deeply define both the features, it would look unnatural and overwhelming. So avoid heavy makeup on both the features. Look real and gorgeous.

Fall/winter is the time of the year where girls can try latest things during defining their best features. Always be creative as well as have fun and play with different colors. With bold, bright colors, girls can make their own statement.

When you do makeup then there is no need to look heavy and overloaded with makeup with lots of blush on when your eyes or lips are already highlighted. But a light touch of the bronzing powder put on your forehead, cheeks and chin will give you a nice sun kissed look, which is perfect all year round.

You can search different blog reviews from online. There are many health blog reviews which will show you the way of some of the best websites around.

Fall is finally here and it is here to stay. The leaves aren’t “changing”, they have changed. The air is crisp and cool. With Fall, comes the most beautiful colors, including reds, oranges and browns. It’s time to pull out your Fall wardrobe. It is definitely time to add to your Fall wardrobe.

Fall is the perfect time to become fashionable. Fall fashions are everywhere. Follow this fashion preview to become and stay fashionable.

First and foremost, the most stylish clothes this season are the modest ones. In years past, it has been considered “fashionable” to wear less. Or in other words, the less you wore, the more fashionable you were. This is not the case anymore. Women everywhere have begun to crave modesty. A few retailers have become extremely popular due to their niche in modest clothing.

Remember when shorter was better? Not any more. You really can’t find short skirts anymore. Why? Because knee-length skirts are all the rage. This keeps up with the quest for modesty. If you have had trouble finding modest skirts in the past, this is the perfect season to stock up on several knee-length skirts.

Believe it or not, print bottoms are quite popular this Fall. Whether it is a pair of leggings or skinny jeans, as long as it has a print, it is good to go. Animal prints and fancy designs can be found everywhere. Leather is also quite popular. You can wear leather pants to a leather jacket. Anything leather is acceptable!

What colors are popular this Fall season? Any jewel-toned color is hot. Choose a color that suits your complexion and coloring. Burgandies, teals, and especially gold colors are popping up everywhere.

Designers have also begun piecing ensembles created entirely of black and white. This combination hasn’t always been popular, but it is this season. Throw a modest outfit together created solely from black and white and you will be the talk of the town.

This is the perfect time to get fashionable and modest at the same time. Modest clothing is very much “in season.” It’s so nice to be able to be modest and stylish at the exact same time!

Shellie Slade is the owner & designer of the modbod fashion line of modest clothing. Her passion is in creating trendy fashionable modest clothes for the modern body.

Real Estate Agents use Animated Clip Art to Stand out Among the Competition by L Miller

We all know that in today’s economy real estate has taken a huge hit. My challenge as a residential real estate agent is to stand out among the competition, keep my name in front of prospects, generate sales, and yes…keep smiling!

How to convey my important sales and marketing messages in a way that’s unique, grabs the attention of home buyers and sellers, and impacts real estate sales results in a positive way? Traditional postcard mailings and standard emails simply don’t do it anymore. I’ve had to get assertive and creative using strategies that keep my name in the forefront of buyers’ and sellers’ minds… ToonUps Animated Clip Art messages are just what this market needs!

I searched for just the right sales and marketing tool to grab the attention of buyers and sellers, and came across ToonUps animated clip art to make my emails and powerpoint presentations speak to my database with humor and flair, and helps me stand out head and shoulders above the fierce competition all vying for the same market!

As a real estate agent, I strive to consistently build trust and rapport with my prospects and clients. To do this, I frequently communicate via email and postcards to deliver key messages that include special real state customer service offers, announce new neighborhood listings, provide real state market news in our area, and offer value added messages and tips to homeowners. ToonUps Animated and customizable clip art lets me to do this more creatively than my agent competitors, and with such ease! Most importantly, my name and my information are remembered.

ToonUps customizable You Star messages help me supplement all of my communication and marketing methods using my own face and voice, and even use fun clip art co-stars, such as the newsman to deliver breaking news! Here’s where that’s done: http://www.toonups.com/allmedia.aspx?rw=1&t=i.

As a real estate agent, the relationship I develop between my prospects and my customers is critical to my success. This relationship starts with professional and ongoing communication. Using ToonUps clip art to deliver my messages makes all the difference. I have a specific sales territory that I work within to reach out to buyers and sellers. My objective is to always to keep the lines of communication open between myself and homeowners , and ensure that mine is the name they think of when the time is right for them to make a move! I strive to provide top levels of customer service and ensure the best buyer and seller experience. The solution to these objectives are in ToonUps animated clip art. By incorporating ToonUps in my email newsletters, I catch the homeowners attention over and over until the sales process is on its way to close.
I also really enjoy embedding these same messages on my Facebook and Twitter pages to consistently reinforce my key communication to home buyers and sellers! This is how my name and real estate company affiliation is repetitively seen and most importantly, remembered.

Another fun use of Toonups clip art animations is in our monthly real estate sales meetings. I incorporate ToonUps clip art in Power Point presentations using my real estate peer’s images and voices welcoming the team, and acknowledging top sellers for the month. This is always lots of fun and sets the tone for meetings that are fun and interactive for everyone! When economical news is not always good, it’s nice to be able to laugh during our meetings and walk away with a smile! I can even choose my own Powerpoint Anchorman Co-star to help deliver my “real estate news” to my audience:
http://www.toonups.com/animated-powerpoint-templates !

ToonUps Clip Art provides much more than just animated clip art images to use as sales and marketing tools. The full product line includes downloadable high quality cartoon clip art images, innovative PowerPoint backgrounds and templates, and animated clip art to which any user can add their own photos and edit their own audio. To stand out in this uncertain economy in a way that’s so attention grabbing and innovative…it’s a realtors dream!
This year instead of a typical postcard about kicking off the fall season with tips to homeowners as to get their house “listing ready”, I reached out with bulk emails to all prospects and customers using ToonUps as part of these emails. I downloaded the editable clipart images and added my own picture. I used my own talking head to remind my prospects and customers of upcoming events in a fun way!
In addition to this, I am sending homeowners a ToonUps animated eCard as a reminder to prospects and customers about community events such as garage sales that we sponsor, and booths we are running at local festivals to meet and greet buyers and sellers in the area. I’m including the “Keep In Touch” e-cards with fun images such as the “string around the finger” reminder and others found here: http://www.toonups.com/free-keep-in-touch-ecards.5
The holidays are just around the corner. I love the ToonUps animated holiday e-cards to email holiday greetings to homeowners throughout the year. With Toonups holiday e-cards it’s so much fun to wish my prospects and customers a happy holiday with fun sound effects and images! I enjoy the e-cards for my colleagues too. It’s a time saver and fun way to let co-workers and peers in my field know I am thinking about them during the busy year. They are so easy to put together and my prospects and customers enjoy getting them! This link shows you how: http://www.toonups.com/free-holiday-ecards.7
As you can tell, ToonUps animated clip art are a big part of my on-going sales and marketing efforts all year long, and especially during those peak times when real estate heats up…such as in the spring when school year is coming to an end and people are relocating. I feel lucky to have found these great tools. They are easy to use, easy to customize and fun to view. Just a few simple clicks and you can download something that is will change the way you communicate with prospects, customers, and colleagues. For more information and to start animating your clip art presentations, visit www.toonups.com and get started!

L. Miller is author of this article on Real Estate Marketing.
Find more information about Animated Clip Art here.