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Cheryl Posner

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There’s nothing nicer than relaxing in the sunshine and sipping a glass of sparkling wine – apart from transforming it with the right ingredients into a sparkling wine cocktail.  And while you can make a cocktail with almost any sparkling wine, some do a better job than others based on the sweetness and flavours in them.  So how do you choose the best sparkling wine for cocktails?

Sweetness level

One of the most important things to understand when making sparkling wine cocktails is the sweetness levels of the wine.  This can have a dramatic and sometimes unpleasant effect on the drink.  Wines range from dry to sweet and usually cocktails will use a wine that is quite dry as the other ingredients added to the mix might be sweeter.

When you are looking at prices for sparkling wine offers, to understand why the wine is priced the way it is you must first look at what the different terms mean on the bottle of wine. They are graded from the very driest to the sweetest using the following terms:

  • Extra Brut
  • Brut
  • Extra Dry Sec
  • Demi-Sec
  • Doux

Quality of Wine

Is the more expensive wine always better. The short answer is yes but with some caveats. There are plenty of fancy looking bottles of sparkling wine that may look like they taste good. However, what good is buying an expensive bottle of wine without doing your research first. The most efficient way is to search the web for sparkling wine offers to keep costs down, especially when the plan is to make cocktails. As long as that research is done, the more expensive bottles are almost always better.

Types of sparkling wine

If you want to go for a bottle of the finest sparkling wine, champagne, for your cocktails then there’s no reason not to.  But if you are looking for a little more budget friendly option, then there are lots of great sparkling wines from around the world that are a little less expensive and make superb cocktails.

Prosecco is very on-trend at the moment in terms of drinking on its own and adding to cocktails.  It is the Italian version of Champagne but doesn’t take as long to make and this is why the price is a lot more affordable.  If you want a sweet sparkling wine, then Moscato d’Asti is a sweet, Italian wine made in the Asti region of north-west Italy.

Cava is the Spanish sparkling wine that is available in white and also rose versions and is used for special events such as weddings and baptisms.  It also works well in cocktails.

Cremant is the name for champagne that comes from anywhere in France other than the Champagne region and uses much the same process.  It also tends to be more budget friendly.

Both the US and Australia also produce several good quality sparkling wines that work well in cocktails with Californian wines being particularly notable.

Cocktail ideas

One of the very easiest champagne cocktails to try is the Kir Royale.  It uses sparkling wine and crème de cassis, a black currant liqueur that gives the drink a soft pink colour.  You only need around 1 tablespoon of spirit to a champagne flute for a perfect drink.  You can also substitute the crème de cassis for any number of other spirits including Chambord (called a Kir Imperial) or calvados (known as Cider Royale).

How One Powerful Tool Can Help You Simplify Everything from Birthday Invites to Marketing Emails

To quote a wise man named Ferris Bueller: life moves pretty fast. Whether you’re a stay-at-home mama, an entrepreneur, or are climbing the corporate ladder, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. With so many things demanding our attention all the time– from families and friends to emails to trying to squeeze in a bit of personal time– finding little ways to simplify your life is incredibly valuable.

This short, sweet little guide will give you all of the tools you need to streamline your life with mail merge:

  • What mail merge is + our favorite mail merge tool
  • Professional applications for mail merge
  • How to use mail merge to make mommy tasks easier

Life is too jam-packed to waste time on tasks that can easily be automated. Mail merge makes sending emails simple and painless, whether they’re going to coworkers, potential customers, or your family and friends.

Mail Merge is a Tool that Makes Sending Mass Emails Simple

Whether you love it or hate it, email is pretty much the bread and butter of digital communication. Even though it’s an essential tool, it can be a pain sometimes. For example, sending the same email to lots of different people (with minor tweaks, of course) is time-consuming, not to mention boring. There has to be a better way, right?

Right! That’s mail merge. Mail merge allows you to use information from a database (don’t worry– your mail merge database can be as simple as an Excel sheet) to fill in the blanks in a template email you create. It’s like mad libs, but instead of ending up with a crazy story it just saves you from copying and pasting the same email message to Aunt Susie, and Aunt Cathy, and Aunt Jen, and Aunt…

There are plenty of inexpensive mail merge tools out there. For example, the mail merge tool Gmass integrates with Google Chrome and Gmail, which billions of people rely upon to communicate every day.

Mail merge is a favorite of email marketers everywhere because it allows them to quickly and easily reach as many people as they need to. Gmass simplifies the process even further by integrating with your favorite email platform– Gmail.

Using Mail Merge in the Professional World

It’s a fact of life that– whether you work for a large corporation, a small business, or even for yourself– there comes a time in every professional’s life that sending lots of emails at once becomes a necessity. Mail merge is used widely in email marketing because it allows marketers to quickly send personalized messages to their entire mailing list.

However, there are plenty of other professional applications of mail merge as well:

  • Sending resumes to prospective employers
  • Distributing personalized instructions to different members of a team
  • Following up with potential customers at all phases of the conversion funnel
  • Getting quotes on products or services from different vendors
  • Etc.

Instead of spending all of your time copying and pasting party details to everyone on your guest list, you can simplify the process with mail merge. That allows you to spend less time emailing and more time planning your party!

Using Mail Merge to Streamline Your Personal Life

Today, mail merge is such an affordable and accessible tool that it’s a great option for organizing your personal life as well as your professional life. Just a few ideas:

  • Sending invitations for a child’s birthday party
  • Sending thank-you messages after the holidays
  • Staying in touch with friends and loved ones
  • Etc.

Time is valuable, and mail merge is a simple but powerful tool that can help you get more out of yours.

No matter who you are, finding ways to streamline the boring and tedious tasks in your life is extremely valuable. When it comes to email, there’s no reason to waste time copying and pasting the same message over and over if you only have to make minor tweaks to it. Mail merge saves busy ladies time and energy by automating the process.

What do you think about mail merge? Have you ever taken advantage of this personal and professional tool to tackle a big project? Share your story in the comments below!

When it comes to road-tripping, especially in wine country, your car may be the most important part of your trip. Here are some surprisingly awesome road trip cars that you should keep on your list and consider before you plan your next big adventure. There’s something special about each of them that makes them perfect for long drives into the unknown.

GMC Canyon Diesel

This powerful pickup truck is perhaps the most surprising on this list of surprisingly awesome road trip cars. You may not think of a pickup as being a good vehicle for a long drive due to space restrictions and bad gas mileage, but this 4-door diesel gets about 30 mpg on the highway and up to 600 miles on one tank. The turbocharged engine pulls the truck along with the ease of a sedan but allows you to tow up to 7,000 pounds of road trip toys. Convert the truck’s bed into a pool for portable road trip swimming!

Ford Flex

Ford Flex 03.jpg
By resedabearFlickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

On a road trip, traveling around in a box may be a good thing when it comes to space. This SUV has three rows, which means you have so much room for all of your passengers and cargo as well. If you aren’t using all the seats, put them down and you’ll have plenty of space for pretty much anything you would want to bring on a road trip, from mountain bikes to paddleboards. The square shape means lots of extra headroom which makes the Flex feel so spacious and makes even the longest road trips extra enjoyable.

Toyota RAV4

Toyota Rav4 2016.jpg
By RL GNZLZ from Chile – Toyota Rav4 2016, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

The RAV4 might seem just just another SUV, but this compact adventure-mobile is actually pretty special. For starters, it can tow up to 1,500 pounds and has Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, which will really transform your long road trip. This cruise control lets you set a speed and then uses radar to adjust if there are cars in front of you. An interior with reduced noise and vibration helps keep everyone more comfortable on your drive. Four-wheel drive lets you explore anywhere you want, while an average 30 mpg on the highway makes it the perfect cruiser as well.

Kia Sedona

The Sedona is an affordable but luxurious minivan that’s makes you forget you’re driving a van. Tri-zone climate control helps keep everyone on your road trip so comfortable, while the captain’s chairs in the center row offer reclining footrests so your passengers can really relax on the drive. A super sleek and stylish exterior looks more like a hatchback than a van. You’ll get about 25 mpg on the highway with this room-for-8 van that can also tow about 3,500 of road trip toys.

Chevy Impala

This full-sized sedan is truly comfort on wheels when it comes to road-tripping. The trunk is surprisingly roomy, and the seats for the driver and all passengers are designed for comfort. The Impala’s suspension gives the sedan’s ride a floating feeling that minimizes all feelings of being on the road. If you’re looking for a great basic sedan with a well-above average ride and cargo space, the Impala is a surprisingly awesome road trip car.

Mercedes-Benz S550 Coupe

The S550 Coupe lets you look good while you travel, and gives you a good way to view the road with its huge sunroof and pillarless glass windows. You’ll get to see all of your surroundings from the comfort of this luxury ride. Nice little features like a multimedia system help keep your passengers entertained on long drives, while the Intelligent Drive safety and convenient features like radar systems, brake assistance and active blind spot assist will make the drive less stressful for the driver and more safe for everyone.

Toyota FJ Cruiser

Even though they stopped making this awesome SUV in 2014, a used one is still a great choice for a road trip vehicle, especially if you want to do any off-roading road trips. The boxy, rugged-looking exterior has little touches like 3 windshield wipers and rear-opening back passenger doors. The inside is covered with a washable rubber material to let you clean up fast after a fun day of adventuring in the sand, mud or water. They’re so fun to adventure in!

Spring break is the perfect time to go on a vacation to get away from the cold, but in order to have the perfect spring vacation it’s important to know where you’ll be going and to plan appropriately. It’s important to choose the right destination for your spring break getaway — you’ve quite possibly spent the last few months dealing with dark and dreary winter weather and need a break from it all. Spring break vacations mean fun times in the sun and sand, and who doesn’t dream of that every March!

Choosing a destination can often be harder than it sounds, however. If you’re just tired of the cold and want to go to someplace with a beach, you still have a lot of thinking and planning to do before you can get tickets, let alone leave. Think about what other things you want to do on vacation, what sort of attractions that you might want to see, and if you’ll be bringing along a few friends or going with a romantic partner. Another important consideration is the budget for your trip — some places will be more expensive to get to but might be less expensive to stay in, whereas others will be closer and more accessible but possibly more expensive. If you’re going abroad, you’ll need a passport and possibly also apply for a visa – so keep these processes in mind and give yourself ample time. You’ll have to keep all of this in mind if you want your spring break getaway to go off without a hitch.
Presuming that your destination involves a beach and warm weather, a swimsuit (or several) will be necessary to bring along on your spring getaway. Even if there’s no beach you might still find a hotel pool or hot tub. Finding curve-flattering swimwear can be a difficult task, but don’t let this hold you back from going to a beach and enjoying the sun this spring.

It’s difficult to find great looking plus sized swimsuits in a mall, and even plus size model Ashley Graham has mused in the past that she had to resort to mixing tops and bottoms from different stores a few years ago because great plus size looks are so hard to find. This is one reason Graham started her own fashion line in partnership with online swimwear retailer swimsuitsforall.

Simply click here to peruse Ashley Graham’s line of curve-flattering swimwear in sizes up to 32 including fantastic new styles and cuts, from sexy one-pieces to bikinis, skirtinis, and swimdresses. If you’re busy making plans for your spring getaway and also have to go to work or college, it’s really convenient to be able to go online and find some great designs that will look fantastic on your body and be shipped to your door. On their site, you’ll find real plus size models showing off the cuts, and there’s even a personalized body type calculator to help you better understand the designs that will work best for you.

Plus size women get a lot of criticism for not fitting into a particular (and ridiculous) societal norm, and it’s time to move beyond this criticism and find something you truly love that fits your unique — and uniquely beautiful — body.

I just have to tell you–I am going to be doing a wonderful giveaway soon from Sheer Beauty. I know you’re probably asking what is Sheer Beauty? Let me tell you…

Sheer Beauty is a fabulous shop where you can find items ranging from mineral makeup–which is awesome and a lot of times really expensive–, to jewelry, handbags, scarves and more! Their prices are inexpensive and their products are wonderful.

Take a look around her shop and let me know, what would you like to see me giveaway? You never know–it could be the item that you want!

I love finding great wine glass accessories–who doesn’t like to pretty up their glass of wine? You can match your glass to your mood, your personality or to match your favorite sports team. I like to think that life is too short to have a boring wine glass. Why not pretty it up a little bit and make yours stand out from the crowd with a glass of wine in your left hand and a Moscow Mule in the right.

Meet Woozie. Woozie is a wine glass insulator that both insulates your wine glass as well as feels great. What is a Woozie? It’s a wine glass insulator! How many times have you picked up your wine glass to find that it’s already warm? This has happened to me on many occasions and I never would have thought of having an insulator for my glass. Both genius and cute.

The Woozie is a drawstring wine glass sleeve that is made from top quality neoprene. This not only keeps your wine cool, but makes it soft as well. You can order your Woozie either on a card cutout or have it arrive on an actual wine glass.

With holiday season rapidly approaching–and not to forget the many birthdays during the year–giving someone a Woozie will definitely make me smile. Gifting a Woozie is great for Secret Santas, stocking stuffers or to give a hostess to thank them for the fabulous holiday party that they threw.

Woozie offers so many different styles that you can surely find one that will make the perfect gift. Not only do they offer the Original Woozie, but they also offer Bottle Stoppers, Bottle Bags, Coasters–and many, many more options that are all equally cute.

Be sure and keep up with them on their Woozie Facebook page to keep in the know with all things Woozie!