www.jonidaniels.com Joni Daniels Presents: This Month's Power Tools for Women Tip

Empowerment in Your Hands
By Joni Daniels

Charge what you’re worth. Your clients will never think they are getting value if you charge the lowest rates, and they will be puzzled if you are starting out in a new industry and charge what those who have been in the field for over 10 years are charging. Invest some time in developing a marketing plan that that identifies your competition, what they charge, and who their clients are. How do you compare to them in terms of experience and value? Take all of that into consideration when you set your fees.

www.royalblueproductions.com RoyalBlue Productions Presents: Tech Tip

Urban Legends

We all receive those emails from well-meaning friends who want to pass along the latest "warning" or request for support for an ailing child. But how do you know if they're true or a hoax? Try checking the stories out at Snopes (www.snopes.com) - the online Urban Legend authority. Just enter the title or topic in the search box, and Snopes will return any entries they have on the subject. Well-researched information is available at your fingertips. This gives you a chance to play 30-second detective, and could help preserve your reputation with those your own contact list.

www.womenandwineevents.com Women's Wine & Dine Presents: TBA - Something Special for the Holidays

Trockenbeerenauslese, is not the German way of saying “To be Announced” – however, this delectable, liquid love kind of wine deserves a special fanfare.

TBA’s translation literally means – “Dried berries harvested late.” It’s a German wine lingo that might as well mean, “we let these berries hang on the vine as long as possible prior to the frost (had they frozen, they’d be Ice Wien) to concentrate the sugar, and this is good stuff!”

TBA, as those in the know call it, is an intensely sweet nectar of the God’s like dessert wine. TBA also has the pedigree and clout to make it in the highest quality category of Prädikatswein - which means “Wines with Predicate” (or for us non-Germanic speakers – VIP vino) – and this applies in both Austria and Germany. TBA wines aren’t your $2 buck chuck, because the berries literally are hand harvested one by one. We are talking individually selected grapes which have been kissed “botrytized” by the proverbial “noble rot” as it were - this is where funky mold is a good thing (kind of like expensive cheese, but not really). They’re made from individually selected grapes affected by noble rot, i.e. "botrytized" grapes.

The raisin-like, shriveled berries have more wrinkles than Madeleine Albright, but they are far sweeter. These wines are redolent with nuances of toasty caramel, honeyed apricot, and of course that funky “noble rot like wine musk” that once you learn to appreciate, you never quite get enough of. TBA’s are made from a few grape varieties - namely Scheurebe, Ortega, Welschriesling, Chardonnay, and Gewürztraminer. However, the Super Duper VIP of them all is that famous German grape…Riesling grape, it is precisely Riesling’s raciness (due to its abundance of acidity even at super ripe status) that allows for extra complexity you just can’t get with the other candidates.

TBA’s are somewhat esoteric and will not abound in most wine & liquor shops, but a good wine monger will order them for you. In Baltimore Swirl, Spirits of Mount Vernon and Bin 604 are all more than capable of tracking them down and I highly suggest you consider adding this new guest to your Thanksgiving table (makes a great gift too!).

tydingslaw.com Tydings & Rosenberg LLP Presents: Common Estate Planning Myths

MYTH: My children have a right to inherit my estate.

TRUTH: If you do not have a Last Will and Testament, your children will be entitled to a portion of your estate. However, you are able to disinherit a child in your Last Will and Testament. You cannot, however, disinherit your spouse. A spouse will always be entitled to at least a one-third share of your estate, barring a valid pre- or post-nuptial agreement to the contrary.

For more information, please contact L. Content McLaughlin, Esq., Tydings & Rosenberg LLP, 100 E. Pratt Street, 26th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. She can also be reached at (410) 752-9755 or cmclaughlin@tydingslaw.com. To view her biography, click here.

www.cabotcheese.com Cabot Creamery Presents: This Month's Recipe

Cappucino Kugel
Serves 6 to 8

www.focusconsulting.com/ Focus Consulting Presents: There's No Such Thing as "Pending"

If you have a pile or a file of “pending” or “waiting for,” then you’re kidding yourself into thinking that everyone who was supposed to get back to you actually will. Remember this: PENDING always turns back into ACTION for YOU. Whether you care or don’t care that someone gets back to you, it’s still an open loop. Open loops are still a burden. You will likely have to address it later. In order to keep everything moving forward, not letting things slip through the cracks, incorporate these inevitable tasks into your to do list (on paper or in the computer) and ask yourself how long you will wait until you will take action again if you DON’T get a call back or whatever you’re waiting for. The date you target to take action is just like any other task on your to do list. All these tasks must be together in one list so you don’t have to look in different places for the things you will do on any one day.

For more tips by Leslie Shreve and other useful information, click here.