Have you ever heard of Vessi Footwear? They’re a Canadian company that sell some pretty snazzy shoes, worldwide. Vessi’s main selling point is the waterproof element of their shoes. I hail from the depths of Scotland and one thing we have lots of, is rain. One thing we Scots need is waterproof gear! It doesn’t matter if you’re an avid hiker or simply an urban millennial like me, you need to waterproof yourself to beat the weather.

Vessi claims to have designed the ‘perfect waterproof knit sneaker.’ Now personally, I’ve never had a pair of sneakers that are waterproof. If I want that type of gear, I normally stick to my trusty wellies. But how cool would it be, I though, if I could have the lovechild of the two things? Comfortable running shoes that I can use in any weather? Apparently, the material is made up of ‘nano-sized pores’ that are too small for water drops, but large enough for sweat and heat to pass through. Personally, sweaty feet don’t plague my life. But for someone who has this issue, a breathable shoe could be very important. You don’t want your shoes stinking to high heaven, after all.

So if Vessi is really all they claim to be, surely it will withstand the gruelling Scottish climate? I had my doubts about this. I mean, have you ever been to Scotland before?  The shoes I chose retail at $135 USD, or £104.24. This is a little hefty for me – normally I stick under the £20 region, or $25 USD. But if the shoes lasted the distance, the initial cost wouldn’t matter in the long-term.

So I took the plunge and ordered the Women’s Skyline in Stone Grey. It does state that they run a ½ size big, so I made sure to order a smaller size. The shoes arrived way earlier than anticipated, which was fantastic. Luckily, it was pouring it down when they arrived, giving me a chance to test them out. They were insanely comfortable, with springy soles that provided plenty of support. The colour was a lovely shade of grey and the material on the shoes was of really good quality. After a thorough jog in the rain (and lots of puddle jumps) I can vouch for their waterproof-ness. For anyone who loves to explore the outdoors, I absolutely recommend these sneakers. Well worth the cost, Vessi Footwear!

Professional Ocean Lifeguards from around the world can agree that rip currents (also referred to as rip tides, undertows and rips), are the primary causes of drowning along populated beaches. A rip current is defined as an area in the surf zone where ocean currents turn and move away from shore, heading out to sea. These rips can become very dangerous for swimmers; if they are to become trapped, it will slowly pull them out to sea. This guide offers instructions on how to safely exit and identify rip currents.
To insure a safe and fun day of swimming at the beach, a beachgoer must learn to quickly identify rip currents. Surfers will regularly locate rip currents so that they can use the pull of the rip as a faster way to get through the waves. There are certain indicators to look for in order to locate a rip.

The first thing to look for is churning and brown water. A rip current is usually as wide as a swimming pool, so the part that is flowing out to sea is churning up the sand on the way out, making it brown. The brown, sandy water will look different when compared to an area with no rip current.

The second indicator of a rip current is that it is far deeper in a rip than in other spots of the ocean. This is because the fast water that is flowing out to sea in the rip, is creating a deep underwater trench. There is no way to look through the water and physically see that it is deeper in one area than another. The way surfers and lifeguards determine where deep spots are is by watching the oncoming waves. When a wave enters a spot where the rip current is, it will enter the deep water and as a result the wave will flatten out and not break.

The third indicator of a rip current can be objects such as piers, jetties, cliffs, and out-coves, that are build along beaches. Whenever a person comes along one of theses objects, they can assume that directly next to it, on either side, is a rip current. The reason for this is that ocean currents will generally move sideways down a beach. Meaning, that when you jump in the water you will end up down the beach a ways. When the current moves along the beach and then it abruptly runs into a jetty or pier, the current bounces off of the object and heads straight out to sea. Swimming next to jetties and piers is almost always discouraged.

Now that we are prepared with the knowledge to locate a rip current, here are some instructions on how to safely exit a rip current. When stuck in a rip current it is important not to swim to shore against the flow of the rip. In identifying tip number two, it is stated that most rip currents are no wider than a swimming pool, so swimming consistently parallel to shore can be the best way to exit the rip current. When informing others of the dangers of rips, I often compare a rip current to an escalator that is going downstairs. If you try and go the wrong way on the escalator, you will keep on walking until you get tired and give up, never making any progress. It is also important to understand that the water in a rip current is typically deeper than in the surrounding areas, so attempting to jump off the bottom can often be worse than simply swimming sideways, and then in.

Rip currents can be our enemies and our friends. A surfer does not simply get pummeled on his/her way through the surf line. Rather, they dive under the waves and paddle in rip currents to assist them to where they need to go. Understanding these dangerous currents can change the entire way that one views the ocean.

Up next on my blog: Review on tactical flashlight amazon. Please watch out for the post’s release next week!

 

I’m one of the millions of people who come to visit or live in Bangkok, Thailand who, up until recently, hadn’t been to Koh Pha Ngan. Koh Pha Ngan is one of Thailand’s most popular backpacker islands and budget destinations but, as Koh Pha Ngan itself doesn’t have an airport, it’s a huge hassle to get there from Bangkok so I’ve never bothered. But, a couple of months ago, I learned about Nok Air’s new travel package of all-inclusive Flight plus Hi-speed Catamaran in partnership with The PNW, which gets you to Koh Pha Ngan in just a few hours and I was sold.
Who is Nok Air? – For those not familiar with Thailand’s low-cost carriers, Nok Air is a small but reputable low-budget carrier that flies to various destinations all over Thailand. Its flights are basic but extremely cheap and their service is good.

What is the Nok Air to Koh Pha Ngan Travel Package? – Until Nok Air started doing the Koh Pha Ngan travel package, getting to Koh Pha Ngan required taking a flight to Surat Thani, then finding a local bus to take you to the ferry for Koh Pha Ngan. From there, you had to rustle up your own ferry or local boat and, with ferry times not always convenient by the time you got there, getting from Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngan could be all day of a job.

Recently however, Nok Air instituted their own Koh Pha Ngan travel package. As inexpensive as just about every other Nok Air flight, it consists of a flight from Don Muang Airport in Bangkok to Surat Thani in Southern Thailand. From Surat Thani, you’re put on a private air-conditioned coach that drives you to Tong Sala Pier.

At Tong Sala Pier, you board a high-speed catamaran (one of those cool two-hulled boats with a gap underneath it) and after a few minutes wait you’re whisked away on a 45 minute high-speed boat ride that drops you off at Koh Pha Ngan. From start to finish, Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngan the entire trip, depending on which flight you take, takes from six to seven and a half hours. A far cry from the 12-15 hours by doing it yourself. Nok Air does two flights a day – a 7:15 am flight and one at 11:40 am.

How Much is the Nok Air Travel Package? – Like anything else Nok Air does, their prices are always budget. Currently on most days, the Nok Air Bangkok to Koh Pha Ngan travel package costs between 2,690 baht ($91) and 3,300 baht ($104) one-way, depending on which level of ticket you buy. This includes the flight from Don Muang airport to Surat Thani, the air conditioned bus and the high-speed catamaran.

The higher priced ticket is the Nok Plus level, where you can change your flights as many times as you want – perfect if you get to Koh Pha Ngan and love it so much you want to stay longer.

Don’t forget, Nok Air is one of the few airlines that still flies out of Bangkok’s old airport, Don Muang, and not the new airport, Suvarnabhumi. So don’t book your flight then head off to Suvarnabhmi to catch it. The two airports are an hour and a half to two hours apart. You’d never catch your flight.

More Information:

Nok Air

I self-publish and love doing so, but self-publishing is not for everyone. It is a lot of hard work, but than again, so is being traditionally published. My advice? I say to try for both!

If you self-publish via POD than you have printed up this book’s “first edition” and when you finally find an agent and the agent finally finds you a traditional publisher, you will only be able to offer “second edition” (also known as “reprint”) rights. Generally, unless the book as sold over 10,000 copies a publisher will not buy second rights.

The average book sells just 500 copies. (at the average 4% royalty of wholesale price that averages out to: $1,000 – $1,500 total pay for you the author for the entire life of the book)

Rarely does a first book make over $2,000 for its author.

The average life of a book is 3 months. (meaning the publisher pulls it off the shelves and stops selling it just 3 months after it went to print)

In order to keep you book in print past those 3 months it must become a “bestseller”.

In order to become a bestseller, you must sell an astronomical 10,000 copies in that 3 months time.

Most publishers DO NOT promote your book. The books that become bestsellers had an author that put a lot of their time and money into marketing the book themselves. Most books, regardless of publisher, sell only as many books as THE AUTHOR promotes. This is true wither you publish via Scholastic Books (with it’s 100 new titles each month, including Harry Potter) or Twighlight Manor Press and its 10 books every other year.

Basically, all a book publisher does is list your book in their catalog and hope that bookstores choose to stock it on their shelves.

Books (such as Harry Potter – traditional published- and Eragon -self-published-) get famous, not from the publisher’s promotion, but from THE AUTHOR’S having gone out there and told everyone under the sun how great their book was and paying large amounts of their own money for advertising in such newspapers as The New York Times. In the case of such authors as J.K.Rowlings, Christopher Paolini, Steven King, etc., we are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of the author’s private pocket money, (money they already had BEFORE book’s release.) Eragon, a self published book, became an over night best seller because of a single one day full page ad in The New York Times, that cost Paolini’s parents over $14,000! Within a few weeks, he had big name book publishers begging to sell the reprint editions.

So you see. What you the author are willing (or can afford) to pay for a marketing campaign is going to determine how many book you sell, not who you choose for a publisher. Keep in mind that when you see ads for book, either in newspapers or on TV, those ads were paid for by the author him-herself, NOT the publisher.

Most writers, once hit in the face with the harsh reality of these facts, never attempt to write a second book, which is why there are so many one-book authors out there.

On the other hand a self-published POD book never goes out of print and you earn 100% of the profits off the retail price.

If you are willing to promote and market your book hard enough, you’ll make more money in the long run by self-publishing, because you can keep selling your book for the next 10 or 20 years.

If you want to do both POD self publish AND traditional publish, than you MUST do it the other way around. Traditional publish first and POD later.

Your best bet is to hold off on the POD right now, and focus on finding that agent. Let the traditional publisher buy the first edition rights, get paid your advance and your royalties, let them sell the first edition, than next year after the book has gone out of print, you bring it back out as a POD reprint and continue to sell it for the rest of your life. (Many authors do this and after writing four or five books, they have a pretty steady monthly income coming in.)

If you want to have a bestselling book and boost it in the internet, try getting web hosting services. I defnitely recommend you read Canadian web hosting reviews to learn more.

The very idea of decorating a dining room says something about us. We don’t eat to survive. To us dining is a social activity that adds color and beauty to life. In our decorated dining rooms, we celebrate anniversaries, holidays, birthdays. To inspire your decorating, here are my favorite glamorous dining room decorating ideas. I hope they add sparkle and grace to your family’s special moments.
#1. Elegant Rug

Begin your glamorous dining room decorating from the bottom up. Invest in a beautiful rug that extends 2 feet outside the perimeter of your dining room table and leaves at least 2 feet of space from the wall. If you have a round table, look for a round rug, and avoid buying a rug that’s too long for your table. Like a picture that you fit in a frame, your dining room table should fit perfectly in the rug.

#2. Glamorous Table

The right table for your glamorous dining room with nice wooden dinnerware decorating depends very much on the size of the room. For smaller rooms, a glass table is ideal, as the view of the stunning dining room rug through the table will grant an illusion of space. A simply carved wood table will add glamour to a mid-sized dining room. And an ornate wood table or stone table will complete the beauty of a large dining room.

#3. Complimentary Wall Prints

Wall art plays a vital role in glamorous dining room decorating. Look for prints or art that will repeat the patterns and colors present in your dining room rug. Then frame your art to match the style of your dining room table.

#4. Painted Chair Rail Pattern

This glamorous dining room decorating idea works both for dining rooms with chair rail molding or without. Use a long fern leaf (either fresh or silk) to stamp a horizontal pattern midway up the walls all around the dining room. Use latex paint in a color to match your dining room decor, brush paint on the leaf, then press it on the wall, repeating the process as you work in a line. Be sure to tilt one leaf print a little up, then weave the next one as if in a garland just below with a downward tilt.

#5. Chandelier

Light plays an important role in glamorous dining room decorating. The light fixture should hang low over your dining room table, to create intimate light. Choose a light fixture that matches the style of your dining room table. An imitation glass chandelier (or crystal if you can afford it) should hang over a glass table. A vintage or mission style light will match a wood table. And a Victorian chandelier will best fit an ornate or stone dining room table.

#6. Corner Candelabras

This is my favorite glamorous dining room decorating idea. Using swag hooks, which you can find at a garden center, to ang four candelabras from the ceiling at each corner of your dining room. You can buy chandelier candelabras or you can make them, following these simple instructions.

#7. Glamorous Mirrors

To increase the pools of flickering light in the room, add a glamorous mirror to your dining room decorating, but do not spend a fortune on an expensive giant mirror. Instead look for small mirrors to match the style of your dining room decor. Hang them in a cluster to form a large square, rectangle or circle.

#8. Drapery

Perhaps the greatest impact in glamour dining room decorating will come from adding matching drapery at the entrance or entrances to the room and over the window. I recommend buying the fabric yourself at a fabric store and hemming it all around. The top hem should be widest and you can thread an ornate wood poll through it and suspend the drapery from ornate shelf brackets. Be sure to look for glamorous tasseled curtain tie-backs at the fabric store.

#9. Centerpiece

The center of any dining room decorating project is, of course, the centerpiece ornamenting the dining room table. I especially love the feral forest arrangements from Martha Stewart. You can plant moss and mushrooms in an elegant bowl that matches your dining room decor, or you can glue the bark of a tree around a simple bowl, as if your centerpiece is growing out of a stump of wood.

#10. Cadenza

If you wish to add a cadenza to your glamorous dining room decorating, move your dining room table further away from the wall by a measurement equal to the depth of the cadenza. In this way, your table will still appear centered in the room. In addition, be sure to move your overhead lighting to hang exactly at the center of the table. Use a lighting chain to conceal the electrical cord, and hang the lamp by a swag hook.

For more dining room decorating ideas, see my 10 dramatic dining room decorating ideas. And for all around inspiration here are 63 home decorating ideas and projects.