Leave the kid-project prepping to the experts, and let the enrichment come to your doorstep monthly with today’s Save from BabbaCo.

BabbaCo Today’s Save:$45 for a three-month membership to kid-project expert BabbaCo — plus free shipping! If you didn’t spend so much time researching, planning and shopping for projects to do with your kids… you’d actually have more time to do projects with your kids. Leave the prepping to the experts, and let the enrichment come to your doorstep monthly with today’s Save from BabbaCo. Here’s the deal: $45 for three months of BabbaBoxes (one/month), filled with crafts, activities, books and downloads to enrich kid’s learning and development ENDS Wednesday!

LeapFrog: Celebrate Earth Day with Free Shipping on select books & games!

Free Shipping on Accessories for LeapPad, Leapster Explorer, Tag and more! Excludes accessory bundles, batteries and battery recharger packs. Not valid for App Center purchases. Use promo code ACCESSORY.

Celebrate Earth Day with Free Shipping on select books & games! Use promo code GOGREEN. 

Offer valid April 17th through April 23rd! 

Sesame Street 10-piece set! EXPIRES TODAY!

Twin Sisters Productions Save and learn:$23 for a 10-piece set of Sesame Street flashcards, wipe-clean books and CDs, shipping included EXPIRES TODAY!!!!!!

LeapFrog Easter Sale PLUS Free Shipping!

Easter gifts for little learners- Free Shipping & 10% off books and games. Use promo code EASTER10. Offer valid March 21st through April 4th.

Yes, you read that right!  The LeapFrog Easter Sale is now ON!!!!!  You can save 10% on books and games along with FREE shipping!  Use code EASTER10.  

ALSO, you can save on exclusive LeapPad bundles plus Tag Readers that are on sale NOW! 

Leap Frog: Free Shipping & 10% off books and games

Easter gifts for little learners- Free Shipping & 10% off books and games. Use promo code EASTER10. Offer valid March 21st through April 4th.

Pay only $9 for $18 worth of new and used books!

Better World Books Today’s Save:$9 for $18 worth of new and used books that benefit global literacy + free shipping! Expires TODAY (March 11th)!

The best books let us escape our daily troubles in favor of a dance with Mr. Darcy or a chance to rebel with Katniss Everdeen. But what if our favorite pages gave us both a glimpse of a new world and a chance for a better one? Better World Books gets it — which is why today’s Save helps you enjoy a good read that serves the greater good.

Amazon: Easter Event Going on NOW!

Shop Amazon – Easter Event – Clothing and Shoes, Books, Décor, Grocery, Movies and Toys

Best of all…. shop for it all while still in your pajamas!

Ask Shelby, Book Recommendations

Here is June’s installment of “Ask Shelby” from Chester County’s own Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Shelby Riley.

Dear Shelby,

Can you recommend some good books my husband and I can read together to help us improve our relationship? Thanks!

Signed, Headed to the Library

Dear Headed to the Library,

Books are great resources, and I often recommend books to individuals, couples, and families to compliment and enhance the work we are doing in therapy. The following is a list of books I often recommend. I’ve started with marriage books, and then added some other of my favorites, just in case any speak to you.

*Why Marriages Succeed or Fail by John Gottman
*The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman
*Extraordinary Relationships by Roberta Gilbert
*True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh
*Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
*Rekindling Desire by Barry and Emily McCarthy
*After the Affair by Janice Spring
*ScreamFree Marriage by Hal Runkel
*ScreamFree Parenting by Hal Runkel
*Redirecting Children’s Behavior by Kathryn Kvols
*The Anxiety Book by Jonathon Davidson and Henry Dreher
*Darkness Visible by William Styron (about depression)
*A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

I hope some of these books are as transformative for you as they have been for me and my clients,

Shelby

Remember to check out Shelby’s website http://www.shelbyrileymft.com for useful information about therapy for individuals, couples, and families.

Want to learn more about Alaska…Get a FREE Book from Coolest the State!!

I am totally obsessed with all things Alaska! I watched Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC and fell in love with the beautiful scenery and all that there is to do in Alaska.

Once Palin’s Alaska ended I still needed more Alaska, so I started researching Alaska vacations, then stumbled across this guide book and thought I would share.

If you have ever visited Alaska or have any travel tips, I would love top hear about it.

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Exactly how "fat" are your assets?

If you are like most women in America, you’ve tried at least one diet in your lifetime. We all know the standard dieting patterns… the commitment to lose weight, new food and exercise patterns, tracking and weighing in and finally results.

Well, I just finished reading the book Does This Make My Assets Look Fat? by Susan Hirshman. In this book, Ms. Hirshman makes the likens investing and managing your financial “shape” to dieting. All the same commitment, goal setting, new patterns, and tracking you give to a diet, you can give to getting financial results as well.

As a married thirty-something who already works with a Financial Planner on a regular basis to manage our investment portfolio, I started reading this book as a way to understand more about the conversations that my husband and the financial planner have.

I am a somewhat intelligent woman with an MBA, armed with Finance and Accounting courses from both college and grad school. However, even with that background, I still don’t find investment jargon to be particularly easy to understand. I wanted to understand these investment concepts at a more-than-basic level, but I needed it explained to me in a creative way. Susan does such an excellent job making comparisons to everyday scenarios in this book, particularly relating many chapters to the all-to-familiar dieting concepts. Its a really effective way of relating the topics in an easy to understand way.

Thanks to Julie, founder of The Bloggers Book Club, I had the unique opportunity to meet Susan Hirshman for dinner last week with several other area bloggers. The first thing that struck me about Susan is just how approachable and FUNNY she is! So funny. She has so many great stories from her own life to share about how she came to be in the finance industry, how she came to write a book, and how she learned in her 20’s to manage her money and credit cards!

I think the part I was most pleased with after talking with Susan (and reading the book) is that it seems like my husband and I are right on track and doing all of the things we should be doing. And, thanks to us having done all of those things for the last few years, when we got word a few weeks ago that my husband was being laid off, we didn’t have to go into panic mode (*knocking wood*) because we had a smart investment plan to fall back on. That investment plan included a “rainy day fund” that had X months of salary in it squirreled away. So, now that our “rainy day” has arrived, we can live somewhat comfortably while he looks for a new job for a few months. I feel really grateful that we had the commitment to saving to that fund for all of these years, when spending that “extra” money would have been much more fun!

How about you? Do you feel like your financial life could use some more attention? Do you have a financial plan with goals that you are saving for? Tell us what “rainy day” plan is.

You can also get more information from Susan Hirshman on her Facebook page.

As a member of The Bloggers Book Club, I received a copy of this book.

~Shannon