Even if you have a never-ending to do list, there are ways to take care of yourself while running a small business at the same time.

Small business owners are busy. Most feel like they have to put 110% into their company to keep from falling behind, and as a result they push their wellbeing to the back burner. Even if you have a never-ending to do list, there are ways to take care of yourself while running a small business at the same time.

Three Girls client Rozenhart Family Chiropractic offers a lot of fabulous healthy living tips on their blog and Facebook page small business owners can utilize. Here are a few highlights from their blog:

At-Work Sitting Tips
Sitting all day isn’t good for your body. What can you do to help?

Here are at-work sitting tips you can incorporate into your workday:

1. 50/10 Rule. Don’t sit for more than 50 minutes. Set a timer and take ten when it rings.
2. Take your lunch break. Get up and go somewhere – even if you bring your food from home.
3. Hold meetings on the move. Meet clients on a hiking trail or outdoors.
4. Put a lumbar pillow in your chair.
5. Stand up and surf. Raise your work station or monitor so you can use your computer while standing.

Read 5 more at-work sitting tips here.

Tips To Create Your Best Workstation!

A common question we hear is “What is the best chair for me at work?”  The reality is that there isn’t a chair that will prevent the damage done to our bodies from being sedentary.  No one chair fits everyone and we should only be sitting an hour (maximum!) before we take a break!  Here are tips you can use to make sure you are not hurting yourself at work.

1. Support your arms.  Use a chair with adjustable armrests.  If this is not possible, move your keyboard into your lap so your arms can rest comfortably in your lap on the keyboard.
2. Make sure your monitor is at eye level. Have a co -worker/spouse look at you from the side and confirm that you are not looking down at your monitor.  This will cause undue stress and strain on your neck.
3. Make sure to drop your shoulders when you are sitting and remember to breathe!  When stress hits, our shoulders become earrings and we  breathe very shallowly.  To reduce the effects of stress on our bodies, we need to be mindful of our breathing at all times.

Read additional tips here.

Excessive Sitting Costs America Billions!
It’s not your work that’s killing you. It’s the sitting. Millions of people working from their home and offices spend way too much time in their chairs. A habit that can lead to more than just a numb bum!

Too much sitting sets you up for a host of physical problems including poor circulation, chronic back and nerve pain, depression, osteoporosis, swollen spinal disks, fatigue and many other health problems. Women should be especially alerted as they are more likely than men to hold jobs requiring them to sit the majority of the time.

You can stand strong against workplace “bummers” with these Health Savers:

1. Be a swinger: Stand with hands on your hips and legs slightly more than shoulder width apart. Rotate hips clockwise in a full range of motion ten times. Reverse it. Second, stand next to your desk. Put all your weight on the right leg and gently swing the left leg in front of and behind you 10X. Repeat with other leg.
2. Don’t Be a Crooked Sitter or Sloucher
3. Invest in an ergonomic chair
4. Go To The Gym- But Stay Off the Stationary Bike

Read more Health Savers here.

Keep an eye out for additional tips & tricks you can incorporate into your busy workday at www.rozenhartchiro.com.

Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

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SVOS is an annual event that allows the public to visit Peninsula and South Bay Art Studios for free. During the first three weekends in May, over 300 Silicon Valley artists invite members of the community to experience a wide variety of different artistic media in their studios.

New this year, SVOS will expand their Open Studios for Schools program by hosting students at some of the open studios. This will give art students a chance to get to form relationships with professional artists and see how working artists prepare their studios, as well as display and sell their work.

Over the past 25 years, SVOS has provided an opportunity for the general public, art enthusiasts, art collectors and investors, educators and art students to spend some time in the comfortable setting of artists’ studios, providing an opportunity to discuss the artist’s attitudes and motivations.

Participating artists, including professionals, amateurs and students, work in a variety of fields, such as painting, mixed media, photography, sculpture, jewelry, calligraphy, ceramics, fiber arts, pottery, mosaics, metal work, glass, drawing, printmaking, watercolor, woodworking and more.

Read more about it or register online at www.svos.org.

For Christmas, both Erika and I will be with family. Erika is hosting Christmas Eve dinner at her house with her brothers and their families, and I’m spending the time with extended family in addition to my parents and brother. I’m also excited that I’ll get to see Erika again for the first time in over a year, even though we talk every day! As I’ll be in the Bay Area for a few days, I’ll have a chance to go to lunch with Erika so we can see each other in person.

Thinking about a last-minute getaway for the holidays? Make sure you consider Hotel Valencia Santana Row. They have three current packages you’ll want to take advantage of:

1. Celebrate the Holidays with a Complimentary Night: During the Christmas season, when guests book a two-night stay at the hotel, they will receive a 3rd night free.
2. Enjoy a Winter Escape as a California Local: Take time off and stay close to home this December! Show your California ID and enjoy reduced rates December 22 – 30.
3. Celebrate New Year’s Eve, Valencia Style! A Valencia-style party featuring a band in Valencia Ballroom, DJ in the Vbar, midnight champagne toast, party favors and a late night dessert buffet!

Get the details at Hotel Valencia Santana Row.

If you’re looking for a couple of great reads over the holiday, be sure to check out two client blogs, too: Rozenhart Family Chiropractic and Life By Travel. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Casserole (from Erika)

Ingredients

• 2 29-oz cans of sweet potatoes or yams
• 1 15-oz can of crushed pineapple
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sliced almonds or pecan-halves
• 2 4.5-oz packages of Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows: Gingerbread Spice, Caramel Swirl or Maple Bacon (your choice)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the yams in a baking dish and cover with all of the remaining ingredients except marshmallows.
3. Put in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and cover with the Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows.
5. Put the dish back in the oven for 3-5 minutes until the Plush Puffs Gourmet Marshmallows melt.
6. Serve and enjoy!

Cranberry Freeze Salad (from Emily)

Ingredients

• 1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
• 1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
• lettuce leaves
• pecans garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Combine sauce, pineapple, sour cream and chopped pecans.
2. Mix well.
3. Pour into 8” square pan and freeze until firm.
4. Cut into squares and serve on lettuce.
5. Garnish with pecans.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving recipes?

Photo Credit: Jessicizer

• Your mission
• Your promise
• Your brand

There’s a saying in the copywriting world: Be clear, not clever. This applies to taglines  as well. Considering benefits is important – you’re telling people what’s in it for them and what they get from you.

Once you have your mission and you have your benefits, you have to add some branding. A good tagline should reflect your business image and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Lastly, it should have some personality – some flavor or flair that speaks to your business. Overall, a good message line is memorable, includes your unique selling proposition and differentiates your brand.

For Life by Travel, a full service travel agency based out of Virgina, Three Girls created the tagline “The World at Your Leisure.” What do you think? Give us your thoughts and share the tagline for your business!

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The show’s site has a live stream of Tristan Couvares, the subject, pretty much all day every day. As you watch the live stream, ControlTV puts up a vote so viewers can help decide what Tristan’s going to do – like buying a pet hamster (and what to name his hamster) or who to call for a date (and what to wear on that date). Every day or two the producers post 3-minute recap videos so you can keep up, even if you can’t watch the live stream the whole time.  

One of my favorite parts of ControlTV is that, although it is entertaining, the producers are really trying to help Tristan get control of his life. They have him meet with a wide variety of experts – from a Financial Advisor and Personal Trainer to a Stylist and Life Coach.

The Life Coach, Marni Battista MA.Ed, CPC and Founder of Dating With Dignity (also a Three Girls client and the reason I started watching ControlTV in the first place), regularly works with Tristan to help set him up for the career and relationship he wants in the future. She gives him things to think about, questions to ask himself and another perspective to see his situation through, which ultimately helps him:

• become aware of his needs and learn to articulate them
• learn his needs matter even though he’s in a controlled situation
• be more accountable so that he begins to take himself and career opportunities seriously

I love that ControlTV is really giving Tristan the tools he needs to launch a career and share his life with someone. If you want to check the show out, visit controltv.com for the live stream or controltv.com/category/episodes for the 3-minute recap episodes.

Plush Puffs is one of the delectable treats available from The Munchie Machine. Their handmade, all natural, low-fat intensely flavored marshmallows are the foundation of the gourmet food truck’s s’mores with varieties like caramel, coconut, cinnamon and more! After sampling virtually everything at the Food Fest, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said one of his favorite dishes included a creation from The Munchie Machine and Plush Puffs: “The peanut butter and jelly s’more sandwich is to die for,” he said.

Read the full article at http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_15596993.

What makes this show better than all the others the Bay Area has to offer? As San Jose Theater Arts Examiner David John Chavez explained in his recent preview:

The Andrews Sisters remain one of the most fascinating and recognizable groups in music history. To hear their chippy tunes and their smooth harmonies is to travel back in time to World War II. The dark light in the United States after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 was brightened by the lovely girls from Minnesota; Eldest sister LaVerne (the red-head), middle sister Maxene (the brunette), and youngest sister Patty (the blonde). With the United States reeling from the war, the sisters brought peace, calm and hope to a nation…

With parallels that exist between then and today, with a war making news in daily headlines in 2010, music continues to speak to our consciousness as a nation. It’s a reason why the music of the Andrews Sisters, however specific to a certain time period, remains timeless.

“We are at war again now, and music speaks to us in the same way – soldiers, patriotism, coming home, and love,” said [the show’s Director] Stephen Guggenheim. “Those same themes throughout time have been true. “

Read David’s full preview at http://bit.ly/a09wlR, and check out / buy tickets for Sisters of Swing: The Story of the Andrews Sisters at www.TheRetroDome.com.

Photo Credit: The Retro Dome

Honored at the NSF/NSB 2010 Awards Dinner were (from left to right) Nalini Nadkarni, NSB Public Service Awardee; Rachel Sheinbein, president, the Expanding Your Horizons Network (EYH), NSB Public Service Awardee; NSB Chairman Steven Beering; NSF Director Arden L. Bement; EYH Executive Director Stacey Roberts-Ohr; Subhash Khot, NSF Waterman Awardee. Credit: Sandy Schaeffer for NSF

Three Girls client and nonprofit dedicated to encouraging young women to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers, the EYH Network puts hands-on, interactive conferences together across the country and internationally throughout the year.

President Obama recently called for “a renewed commitment to education in mathematics and science.” The EYH Network knows it’s critical work, as women constitute 45% of the workforce in the U.S., but hold just 12% of science and engineering jobs in business and industry.*

Pictured (from left to right) Teri Perl, EYH Network Past President; Carol Langbort, EYH Network Immediate Past President;  Cherrill Spencer, Board member; Stacey Roberts-Ohr, EYH Network Executive Director; Lenore Blum, EYH Network founder; Rachel Sheinbein, EYH Network President and Aileen DeSoto, EYH Network, Secretary

The EYH Network has served over 775,000 middle and high school girls since their inception in 1974, and has been led by over 5,000 women mathematicians, scientists and engineers.

More about the EYH Network is in this video, and the following release.

Expanding Your Horizons Network Receives 2010 National Science Board Award
EYH Network Recognized for Decades of Service to Young Women in Middle and High School

The Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Network was recently named recipient of the prestigious 2010 National Science Board (NSB) Public Service Award as an organization that has made significant contributions and impact in public understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The award ceremony took place at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. on May 4, 2010.

“We are excited to honor The Expanding Your Horizons Network with the NSB Public Service Award in recognition of its decades-long commitment to the early development of interest in mathematics and science among young girls,” said Dr. Steven Beering, NSB Chairman. “We are thoroughly impressed with The Network’s impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of young women, having grown from a small grassroots activity to a nationwide organization.”

The NSB Public Service Award honors individuals and groups that have made substantial contributions to increasing public understanding of science and engineering in the United States. These contributions may be from a wide variety of areas including mass media, education and/or training programs, entertainment, and non-profit and for-profit corporations.

“The Expanding Your Horizons Network is honored to receive such a prestigious award from the National Science Board,” said Stacey Roberts-Ohr, Executive Director of EYH. “It’s wonderful to be recognized for the extensive work we do on behalf of young women and to be included in such an esteemed group of prior winners. It’s rewarding to know that we have helped hundreds of thousands of young women explore STEM careers. We are grateful to our partners who coordinate EYH conferences both in the United States and globally, and sincerely thank all of our terrific workshop leaders and volunteers.”

Past group recipients of the NSB Public Service Award include: Bayer Corporation’s Making Science Make Sense® program; Numb3rs, the CBS television drama series; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; and NOVA, the PBS television series.

The EYH Network received the NSB Public Service Award at the National Science Board Annual Awards Dinner at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC on May 4, 2010.  Three additional award recipients will also be honored that evening:  Bruce Alberts of the University of California, San Francisco, with the Vannevar Bush Award; Nalini Nadkarni of The Evergreen State College with the individual NSB Public Service Award; and Subhash Khot of New York University with the Alan T. Waterman Award.

About Expanding Your Horizons
The Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging young women to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers. The EYH Network coordinates over 86 hands-on math and science conferences in 33 states, as well as Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Brussels and Geneva each year. These conferences nurture middle and high school girls’ interest in science and math courses, encouraging them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Since 1976, 775,000 young women have participated in EYH conferences.  Participants are now professional women scientists working in chemical and civil engineering at places like the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,  Network Appliances and Elan Pharmaceuticals. www.ExpandingYourHorizons.org.

About the National Science Board
The NSB is the 25-member policymaking body for the National Science Foundation and advisory body to the President and Congress on science and engineering issues. Drawn primarily from universities and industry, and representing a variety of science and engineering disciplines and geographic areas, NSB members are selected for their eminence in research, education, or public service, and records of distinguished service. The NSB has 24 members that serve six-year terms. The 25th member is the NSF Director, an ex officio member of the NSB.  More information is available at: www.nsf.gov/nsb.

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*National Council for Research on Women, Balancing The Equation: Where are Women & Girls in Science, Engineering & Technology? 2001

Los Angeles

Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7pm: Understanding the MANimal Species: Which MANimal are YOU dating, why are you attracted to him, and why is he attracted to YOU?

Local women can join Dignity Dating Expert, Marni Battista, MA.Ed., CPC as she reveals secrets of the MANimal Species. Created to help find long-term love, escape from the fear that it’s “too late,” and take back control of a romantic rut, this workshop will help her determine which MANimal in the Dating With Dignity “MANimal Species” she is dating, why she is attracted to him, and why he is attracted to her.

Joining Marni throughout the workshop will be an All-Star Panel of MANelists, featuring attractive, successful, and relationship-minded men ages 30-60, including Mat Boggs, author of “Project Everlasting,” and the mastermind behind the nationally acclaimed seminar, “6 1/2 Secrets to Cracking the Mancode.”

Location: Blank Spaces, 5405 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 (Parking available behind the building, or free street parking after 7PM)

Tickets are the following prices:
$25 per person
2 for $45 (Two ticket combo – Bring a friend!)
3 for $70 (Triple ticket combo)

For More Info: Visit datingwithdignity.com/events or call 609-694-5855.

San Francisco Bay Area

May 7th, 8th and 9th at 7pm: Mamma Mia Sing-Along

A master-of-ceremonies will introduce the interactive elements of the movie by directing the audience participation of gestures and expressions that tie into the film. All of this entertaining audience involvement adds to the fun of Mamma Mia.

Plus: a Sing-Along Fun Pack is complimentary with every ticket, and includes a variety of goodies to enhance the participation experience.

Location: The Retro Dome – located at 1694 Saratoga Ave in San Jose, Calif. 95129 (at the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Prospect Road).

For More Info: Visit www.TheRetroDome.com.

Saturday and Sunday, May 8th and 9th, May 15th and 16th between 11am and 5pm: Silicon Valley Open Studios

During the first three weekends in May, over 300 Silicon Valley artists invite members of the community to experience a wide variety of different artistic media in their studios for free! With the help of Silicon Valley Open Studios, local families can appreciate the art around them and parents can expose their children to fine art in a casual atmosphere. Families and art enthusiasts alike are even given the opportunity to talk to the artist directly about their work and techniques in a one-on-one setting. Participating artists work in a variety of fields, from paintings and sculpture, to ceramics, glass-making and more!

Locations: Visit www.svos.org for artist studio locations.

Portland

Wednesday, May 12 at 7pm: How to Increase Your Attraction Factor

Dignity Dating Expert Marni Battista, MA.Ed., CPC will guide women through the dating jungle as only she can: with help from a panel of six attractive, successful, and relationship-minded men.

This engaging and fun women-only workshop with Marni Battista will:

• Cover why unconscious beliefs, thoughts and fears impact the way men perceive women.
• Provide MUST-HAVE strategies to broadcast messages alpha-males are attracted to–messages like, “confident,” “independent,” and “feminine.”
• Reveal practical tips and proven-effective scripts to successfully navigate the dating jungle.
• Demystify the chemistry of the male mind, and how men interpret and react to everything women say and do.
• Host a Q & A session with Dating With Dignity Man Panel of six attractive, relationship-minded men ages 28-50.

Location/Cost: River Park Center at 205 SE Spokane – Suite 300, Portland, OR 97202. Tickets are $25.

For More Info: Visit datingwithdignity.com/events.