Archive for July, 2008

10 Quotes of the Day
Thursday, July 24th, 2008

Welcome to our Blog.

Today I have included the “Quote of the Day” from iLifestyleClub over the last 10 days.

I hope that you enjoy these little gems of wisdom!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“If fear is cultivated it will become stronger, if faith is cultivated it will achieve mastery.”

- John Paul Jones

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

- Jim Ryun

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake.”

- Marie Beyon Ray

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”

- Vince Lombardi

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfilment.”

- Earl Nightingale

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.”

- Ben Stein

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

- Aristotle

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.”

- Lily Tomlin

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“The only way to the top is by persistent, intelligent, hard work.”

- A. T. Mercier

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“This one step - choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything.”

- Scott Read

Until next time.

Your Friend in Success

Leanne Annett :)

Filed under: Quotes — Tags: , , — Leanne Annett @ 6:13 am
Property Tip from Chris Gray
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

Today’s success tip comes from Chris Gray.

Financially retired at the age of 31, today Chris is a multi-millionaire, and capital growth property investor. He is also a self-confessed lifestyle junkie.

What do you look for when you’re ’shopping for property’?

Ultimately, I am looking for suburbs that will have high long-term capital growth. That means there has to be a lot of employment in the area from lots of different types of industries, plenty of leisure and recreation for the people that live there and good transport links. However there are other things I look for such as:

* Aspect - I always look at light and heat. I check that the main living areas are facing North. No matter how great the property is, if it is not well lit I am turned-off immediately.

* Rent consideration - Receiving rent for your property is very important because it is the rent that will pay the mortgage. As a general rule, the more capital growth you want for wealth appreciation, the less rent you’ll get. It’s a fine line to find the right balance. I’d rather 10% growth and between four and 5% rent, than 10% rent and four to 5% growth.

* Median price - I recommend buying property around the median price so you’ll always have a tenant, there will be lots of comparisons if you want to get the bank to refinance it and there will be lots of interest if you do want to sell.

* Not pristine - I don’t want to buy property that is perfect because the seller will charge a premium if everything’s already done. I look for places that are livable to rent out straight away but may need some work, such as new carpet or a new kitchen. If you have an eye for improvements you can create additional equity, which is the difference between what you pay and what you can make it worth.

* Equal-size bedrooms - If you’re letting out a two-bedroom apartment to two single people you need two equal size double bedrooms.

* Built-in wardrobes - People don’t want to cart around a wardrobe. I check for built-ins or space to potentially add one to the room.

* Toilets, bathroom and en-suite - An additional toilet is always useful, toilets that are separate from bathrooms are good, so is having one bathroom and an en-suite off the main bedroom.

* Lock-up garage - People who can afford $400-plus rent don’t want to park their car in the street. Some people won’t look at your property if it doesn’t have a garage.

Until next time,

Allan Poole

Chili Tofu Stir-Fry
Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Ingredients:

2 Carrots

1 1/2 Red Onions

3 Bunches of Buk Choy

Vegetable Stock

3 tspns Fresh Chili Paste (In a jar)

3 Medium Cloves of Garlic

2 Cup Full’s of Snow Peas

1 Capsicum

2 Tofu Blocks

1 Cup of Arborio Rice

Peanut Oil

Utensils:

1 Frying Pan

2 Saucepans

1 Wooden Spoon

Chili Tofu Stif-Fry

Step 1:

Marinade the Tofu:

Crush the cloves of garlic, and mix them with a 4 table spoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of freshly chopped chili.

Cut the tofu into strips and place them into a bowl. Pour in the marinade and with your hands, move the tofu around, covering it with thin layer of the marinade. Once the tofu has been covered, cover the bowl with glad wrap and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, pour in the vegetable stock until it covers the tofu, then cover it again with the glad wrap, and place it in the fridge for another hour.

Step 2:

Chop the Veggies:

Firstly give the vegetables a good wash!

Then chop up the onion (fairly roughly, not too fine). Slice the capsicum and carrot into small strips. Cut up the buk choy leaves into thick strips. Chop off the ends of the snowpeas, and your veggies are ready to go.

Step 3:

Cook the Rice:

We use the absorption method the majority of the time, which I would have to say is the easiest way to cook rice.

Bring to the boil 1 cup of rice and 1 ½ cups of water.

Note: The absorption method runs on a 1 ½ cups of water to every cup or rice rule.

When the water begins to boil, leave it to simmer for approximately 20mins. (Or until the rice is light and fluffy, and no water remains in the pot)

Step 4:

Start your Veggies:

Note: Make sure you keep the stir fry moving at all times, hence the name.

Make sure the fry pan is hot. Splash some oil on the pan and chuck in the onion. Once the onion is beginning to lose its colour and become clear (after about 4 minutes of cooking depending on the temperature), toss in the carrot. After this point, veggies should be added approximately every 3 minutes in this order: Capsicum, Buk Choy, Snow Peas. Pour some juice from the tofu over the veggies before serving.

Tip: Add the snow peas right at the end before serving, this will warm them, but keep them nice and crunchy.

Cook the Tofu:

After the you have thrown in the Capsicum, pour the tofu and the marinade into a pot and turn the heat on to about half way.

Note: This is when the tofu will absorb the majority of the flavor.

Filed under: Mains, Vegetarian Mains — Tags: , , — Tehillah Poole @ 2:43 pm
Chili Chicken Stir-Fry
Friday, July 18th, 2008

Ingredients:

2 Carrots

1 1/2 Red Onions

3 Bunches of Buk Choy

Vegetable Stock

3 tspns Fresh Chili Paste (In a jar)

3 Medium Cloves of Garlic

2 Cup Full’s of Snow Peas

1 Capsicum

4 Small Chicken Breasts

1 Cup of Arborio Rice

Peanut Oil

Utensils:

1 Frying Pan

2 Saucepans

1 Wooden Spoon

1 Large stirring Spoon (for the chicken)

Note: It is good to use plastic utensils for raw meat

Chili Chicken Stif-Fry

Step 1:

Marinade the Chicken:

Crush the cloves of garlic, and mix them with a 4 table spoons of oil and 2 teaspoons of freshly chopped chili.

Cut the Chicken into strips and place them into a bowl. Pour in the marinade and with your hands, move the chicken around, covering it with thin layer of the marinade. Once the chicken has been covered, cover the bowl with glad wrap and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, pour in the vegetable stock until it covers the chicken, then cover it again with the glad wrap, and place it in the fridge for another hour.

Step 2:

Chop the Veggies:

Firstly give the vegetables a good wash!

Then chop up the onion (fairly roughly, not too fine). Slice the capsicum and carrot into small strips. Cut up the buk choy leaves into thick strips. Chop off the ends of the snowpeas, and your veggies are ready to go.

Step 3:

Cook the Rice:

We use the absorption method the majority of the time, which I would have to say is the easiest way to cook rice.

Bring to the boil 1 cup of rice and 1 ½ cups of water.

Note: The absorption method runs on a 1 ½ cups of water to every cup or rice rule.

When the water begins to boil, leave it to simmer for approximately 20mins. (Or until the rice is light and fluffy, and no water remains in the pot)

Step 4:

Cook the Chicken:

After the rice has been on for 10 minutes, pour the chicken and the marinade into a pot and turn the heat on to about half way.

Start your Veggies:

Note: Make sure you keep the stir fry moving at all times, hence the name.

Make sure the fry pan is hot. Splash some oil on the pan and chuck in the onion. Once the onion is beginning to lose its colour and become clear (after about 4 minutes of cooking depending on the temperature), toss in the carrot. After this point, veggies should be added approximately every 3 minutes in this order: Capsicum, Buk Choy, Snow Peas. Pour some juice from the chicken over the veggies before serving.

Tip: Add the snow peas right at the end before serving, this will warm them, but keep them nice and crunchy.

Filed under: Mains, Meat Mains — Tags: , — Josh Davis @ 2:27 pm

Welcome to my blog. Today I would like to share with you some tips that I learned from Jamie McIntyre at the 21st Century Academy Lifestyle Conference.

* “Lifestyle has more to do with Planning than it does with money.”
I am sure that you have heard it said before that those who fail to plan plan to fail. This is true in every area of our lives!
In regards to the life that we choose, we must realise that we need to plan ahead. For instance, plan that weekend away with the family. Plan a date-night each week with the one you love. Plan to have a family picnic on the weekend. Plan to spend time with the kids. Plan time to relax!

There are so many things we can do in life that involve little or no money. So remember to not stress if money is tight. Make the most of what you have and plan activities that do not need a lot of money!
If we fail to plan then each week will fly by and before we know it another month is ending … then another year!
So remember that planning is important in every area of our lives!

* “The sign of Intelligence is the ability to entertain a new idea.”
It is easy sometimes to go through life with my own preconceived ideas and not being willing to listen to others, but I am learning, as the years go by, that if I can listen to other people’s opinions and learn from them, then I continue to grow as a person and begin to see outside the box of my own life. I am enjoying expanding my thoughts and learning to look for other ways to do things.

* “The most powerful way to learn is to teach.”
I have found personally that once I learn a new concept or idea that if I am able to share this with others and teach them, then I myself learn the concept more deeply also.

Here is a photo of Greg and I with Jamie at the conference.

Until next time.

To your success and fulfilment in life!

Leanne Annett :-)

Filed under: Personal Dev, Tips for Success — Tags: , , , — Leanne Annett @ 3:47 pm