I want to let you in on a little secret that I’ve been working with now for 2 years…it’s called Sharebuilder. I found out about this investment tool awhile back when I was first getting interested in the stock market. Now believe me, I’m no expert on picking stocks, but at least I now have a foot in the door and am able to put what little bit I can into building assets, rather than spending it on Starbuck’s Frappuccinos. Sharebuilder lets you set up an automatic investing program on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. There is no minimum requirement to start or maintain an account or to make investments, so you can put $10 a week if you want and purchase partial shares of whatever companies you like. I personally am a big fan of Apple, so I’ve been stock-piling away small amounts of Apple shares for the past year. I’ve been very pleased with the results my small investment has made so far. By purchasing in small doses, you also are doing ‘dollar cost averaging’ - or buying at different price points so over the long term, you’re able to profit more despite the fluctuation of the market. Visit www.sharebuilder.com today and get started investing for your future. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how investing a little each month can add up over time.

I also recommend looking into one of the Motley Fool stock advising newsletters. If you don’t know anything about stocks or picking stocks, their website offers tutorials as well as subscription newsletters with their recommendations on what to buy, sell, and hold. I subscribe to the Stock Advisor newsletter and the Million Dollar Portfolio newsletter. Both have been extremely worth the money. Visit www.fool.com and click on the ‘premium services’ tab to check out their newsletters.

I am the proud owner of a brand new Nikon D200 SLR camera. I have been a photographer since I was in high school, and have enjoyed using all of my Nikon cameras (the N2000 - my first ‘real camera’ and more recently the N80). But, I have to tell you that my latest purchase has been soooooo worth the investment…(and believe me it was an investment!) The Nikon D200 is truly a solid camera. It has all the bells and whistles you would expect from a top of the line 10 megapixel digital SLR camera - loads of variations on camera settings, built in flash, long battery life, excellent image quality, etc. I will say that since I have it coupled with a Nikon AF 2.8 28-70mm zoom lens, it is pretty heavy to tote around. But the quality of the photographs I’ve been getting out of it far ‘outweighs’ the heftiness of the camera. Another thing I love about it is that there is absolutely no lag time between when you press the shutter and when the picture is taken. I had previously used the Nikon Coolpix 800 - a very early digital model - and that was a great frustration of mine…constantly missing ‘the moment’ due to the camera’s lag time.

For anyone serious about getting in to digital photography, I highly recommend the Nikon D200. Take the time to read over the lengthy guide book and take out your camera and experiment with all of the different settings. I also suggest you work with it in ‘Manual Mode’ so you can get a better feel for all of the different aperture, shutter, ISO, white balance settings it offers. You can do double-exposures and interval timed shots, too - which not all digital SLRs are capable of.

This is a great camera!

Have you seen the movie “The Secret” yet? If not, I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. It literally has the power to change your life and the way you think about everything. There is certainly a lot of buzz about this DVD. I was pretty sceptical myself upon first hearing of it, but after watching it work first hand, I am a believer. “The Secret” will open your thoughts to infinite possibilities for your business, your relationships, your finances, etc. Basically the DVD states that your thinking governs your experience….so you have to ‘attract’ what you want to have happen in your life by thinking about it. My mother always told me that ‘Nothing ever comes into your experience, until you begin thinking about it.’ So start thinking about all of the good that you want to have in your life….and expect it to happen…and BE GRATEFUL for it (even before you see it)….that’s really key…and you will have it. What a great idea to share with the world!