I visited the United Kingdom while in high school and enjoyed myself tremendously. If you’re one of my readers that lives in the UK, I’d like to introduce you to NPBS, the Norwich and Peterborough Building Society. I wasn’t familiar with what a building society was until I visited their website. NBPS offers home contents insurance, loans, mortgages, savings and financial advice.

I found the NPBS site colorful and interesting. The site is full of information. There are pages of tips located throughout the site. I found the pages of budgeting tips and insurance tips very helpful. One of the things that I really liked about the site is that they offered the meanings of initials and terms that many people would find confusing. If you’re looking for cheap house insurance, or any other financial or insurance products, check out NPBS.

Noone likes to be stuck in traffic. The phone number 866-698-7232 can be called anytime, from anywhere. It’s the phone number for Traffic.com. When you dial in you can give the name of a major city and get a report of traffic delays. Traffic.com also offers a website that powers the phone number I gave you. Listings keep visitors informed of traffic incidents, events and roadwork and monitor traffic hotspots. The site is easy to use but I think it needs to cover more areas to be truly helpful.

I’ve been checking out a lot of personalized birth announcements lately, with the birth of my niece in the near future. PhotoAffections.com offers holiday photo cards, as well as personalized birth and wedding announcements. All of the photo cards looked terrific but some of the cutest ones of all were the Halloween cards. (I love the one with the cat on the front!) All of the products are created here in the US, with printing done by the in-house professional photo lab.The process is fairly simple. After finding and personalizing the design you want, simply check out and upload the photos you wish to use. Within three days you’ll receive your first of the three email proofs involved in the editing process. Once you’ve made your final approval the finished cards ship out in about two days. The site is very easy to use and there’s a big selection of unique cards. If you’re looking for some colorful and unique cards, check out PhotoAffections.com.

About four years ago I had a heck of a time finding drapes to coordinate with my jade sectional couch. I looked in every store within two counties and checked more websites than I can count. Had I known about FabricWorkroom.com back then my search for the perfect window treatments could have been solved in a day instead of taking more than a month.

You see, FabricWorkroom.com lets visitors shop the site’s designer fabrics and then have products custom made according to their requirements. Some of the products they can make include curtains, drapes, valances, swags, shower curtains, pillows and bedding. Now anyone can have a home that looks like it was done by an interior decorator without the high price of hiring one. Concerned about ordering fabric over the internet? FabricWorkroom.com has an online fabric library and will gladly mail you sample swatches of many of their products.

To order your custom home decorations just select the the product you’re interested in customizing. Then select the fabric that you’ve chosen. Then consult the toolbox, which contains information on measurin, width, care and cleaning. Order the item and check out. That’s it. After you place your order your customized product will be made in a state of the art workroom here in the United States and shipped directly to you. There is no sales tax on US orders shipped to states other than CT. Most finished products shipped within the continental United States are shipped with no charge.

If you’re having a hard time finding just the right things for your home or if you enjoy creating a look, check out FabricWorkshop.com. There’s a fabric there for every taste. Happy window shopping!

Comfortable footwear is a must, no matter if you’re at home or on vacation. With the airlines charging for bags now, people are going to have to pack smarter and lighter than ever before if they’re planning on flying to their destination. One of the ways people can lesson the amount they pack is to pack fewer bottoms and more tops, that way they can mix and match outfits. Another way is to limit the amount of footwear packed. If someone packs shoes like Fit Flops when they travel, they can go with jeans, shorts and skirts.

Just in case you don’t watch Oprah, who recently named Fit Flops one of her favorite things, or don’t read fashion magazines, I’ll explain what they are. FitFlops are a casual thonged sandal that at a quick glance you might confuse with a flip flip. Fit Flops are anything but flip flops. A Fit Flop is made of micro wobbleboard that exercises all of your leg muscles while you’re walking. Fit Flops also help tone the thighs and buttocks.

Fit Flops are sold on the SweatyBetty website for £36 and are available in six colors (red, silver, navy, chocolate, black and gold). Worldwide shipping is available.

Living at the shore I see things that I might not see if I lived elsewhere. Many of these things are related to the beach, the boardwalk and the ocean. While making a trip to Windward Beach last month I saw a beach bicycle. They looked similar to bikes that were out when I was younger, in that they had a big seat and big tires. I used to have a beige Huffy way back when, the big padded seat on that bike was much more comfortable than the hard seats on bikes these days. Wanting to learn more, I hit the internet looking for more information.

One of the places I landed is Beach-Bikes-Shop, a website that carries a number of beach bikes and related products. The site is neatly organized and easy to navigate. The different styles of beach cruisers are separated into different categories so things are easy to find. They also carry accessories such as locks, bells, baskets, pumps and fenders. Electric scooters are also available. All products are accompanied by a brief description and clear, colorful pictures. Easy to understand assembly instructions are available on the site with step by step pictures, so you’ll be able to assemble and enjoy your new bike right away.

Beach-Bikes-Shop carries beach cruisers for women, men and kids, as well as chopper, military and multi-speed beach cruisers. Bicycling is a great way to stay fit and for families to spend time together. They can be ridden at home around town and they can be fun to bring on vacations too. If you’re considering getting a bike to ride in your leisure time, check out Beach-Bikes-Shop.

I was asked to review Alycat’s blog PhotogB-Log. When I agreed, I didn’t realize it was a photo blog. Once I visited the site, I was really glad I did. It reminded me that people ought to take more pictures. Visiting the site also reminded me that some people are very talented with a camera. Alycat is one of those people.

There really isn’t much I can suggest to Alycat as far as this blog goes. The blog contains photos that Alycat has taken from places she’s visited as well as where she lives. Included are pictures of family, animals, places and things. The pictures are gorgeous. They’re all labeled with location so you can view all photos taken from a single place. The only thing that I think might be helpful is if she can reorganize the archive. Since it’s a photo blog and she takes a lot of pictures, I can see that archive list becoming totally huge. I don’t know if there is a clean archives plugin available for Blogger like there is for WordPress, but if there is one it might work nicely here.

You don’t have to be a photographer to enjoy looking at good photos. As we go through our day to day lives, watching our children grow, taking vacations and working on our homes, we should all remember to take more pictures. As Aly’s header says, a picture will last longer. Before we know it time will have passed, as will the opportunity to take that picture. Pictures can be enjoyed, passed on and shared, keeping family memories alive. If you want to see lots of terrific pictures, you’ve got to check out PhtogB-log. When you visit Alycat, please tell her that valmg sent you.

I live in a well established family neighborhood. I also live in an area where public transportation stinks. I live at the seashore, in an area that relies on heavy tourist traffic for the economy. Any time weather permits it’s very common to see kids riding their bikes, people riding their bicycles to work and people riding bicycles on the boardwalks. It’s an economical method of transportation, a great way to stay fit and a good way to have fun. Now that my son’s older he’s always looking for ways to get somewhere faster. A motorized bicycle was something he suggested we consider right before Christmas. Not being terribly familiar with them I went online to learn more.

On the Bicycle Engines website I learned that you can actually add bicycle engines to an existing bicycle. The site is easy to navigate and contains helpful areas such as customer product reviews, maintenance guide and frequently asked questions (where I spent most of my time). The faq section was very informative and worth checking out for those new to motorized bicycles. We thought the video section was neat. If you have any doubt that putting an engine on an existing regular bicycle works, just watch some of the videos. Everything the site sells is nicely organized and easy to find because it is classified as either for a 2 stroke or 4 stroke engine, and then further classified as an engine or a part. Parts are then grouped by what type of part they are into another subcategory.

If you’re considering converting your bicycle to motorized to use around town, to get to work or on vacation, the Bicycle Engines site is worth a look.

This evening I reviewed a blog called New York Traveler, written by Mrs Mecomber.

The first thing that catches my eye when the blog loads on my screen is the header. The header contains three photos of what could be photos of sights the author has seen. And then there’s the golf cart with her family in it. I love it! New York Traveler is currently on a three column theme made up of white, red and green. It takes me 23 clicks to get from the top of the blog’s home page to the bottom.

At the top of the blog there are five tabs where pages would usually be seen. I found out by clicking that three of the tabs take you off to New York sites. One of the tabs takes you to one of Mrs Mecomber’s three other blogs. A little lower down, only inches away, in the left of the two sidebars are links to all of Mrs Mecomber other blogs. Be careful with external sites that aren’t yours in your navigation. You don’t want a visitor clicking on something that will take them somewhere else before they might be done on your site. Think sticky. Navigating between one person’s blogs is usually fairly simple. But navigating back to your blog once someone has left it may be more work than they want to do. I would include a tab for the About page up there.

The sidebars are neatly organized but there sure is a lot over there. The category list is REALLY long. If you ever want to organize it you can either put up a categories page or put the categories in a dropdown. The archive list is long because it shows every post made within the month. It’s pretty huge too. The Snowman for the RSS subscribe up near the top is cute.

Mrs Mecomber has included an About page on New York Traveler and it sure is a good one. She writes mostly about topics pertaining to travel (much within the New York area as you might guess from her blog title) and home. Her writing is original and her posts are of terrific length. She often includes pictures. She usually writes from a personal perspective and her personality comes out in her writing. Her blog is an interesting and informative read.

Take a trip over and say hello to the New York Traveler. And please tell her that valmg sent you.

This afternoon I reviewed the blog New York Renovator, written by Mrs Mecomber

When the blog first loads on my monitor the first thing I notice is the header. It matches the blog’s description which is “taking on the challenges of renovating an 1855 farmhouse in upstate new York”. Currently the blog is on a three column white theme. It takes me 32 clicks to get from the top of the home page to the bottom.

I think Mrs Mecomber and I must think alike, or she knew I was popping in and read my thoughts. Her blog looks great, and I have but one suggestion for her concerning the layout. The labels and the archives lists are both very long and would benefit from being placed into a box with a scrollbar or a dropdown box.

As I read through pages of posts, I found myself thinking it was all very interesting. Mrs Mecomber’s posts are all original content. I am amazed at some of the daunting tasks she’s undertaken. She writes about everything in the renovating process including answers to questions she’s got and helpful resources. She frequently includes numerous pictures, which not only break up the white page and draw attention to certain posts, but they also document her progress working on the home. I do wish Mrs Mecomber had an About page. She does offer a couple of words along with a picture, but I’m nosy and I like to know more. I find myself wondering who the picture is of. Is that her? Is it one of her relatives?

I spent double the time on her site than I typically spend reviewing a site because I kept finding more interesting stuff to read. Her blog posts are sort of like chapters in a book the way they blend together telling the story of her home renovation. I recommend you also take some time to get to know the New York Renovator. And please tell her that valmg sent you.