Ok, word association time: tell me the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear “Idaho.” If you’re anything like me, you probably thought about potatoes. Next word: “Boise.” If you’re into college football as much as I am, you might have said, “State,” as in the Boise State Broncos who are going to be playing in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma Sooners tomorrow night.

Those are reasonable answers, but there’s a lot more to Idaho than potatoes and pigskin. In fact, I’ve read that Boise is quickly becoming a top relocation destination for many families because of the relative safety, job availability, and overall quality of life in that city.

Just out of curiosity, I started checking out some Boise homes to see what the real estate market is like out there. I was surprised to see how much value prospective home buyers could get for their money. It sure is very different than the real estate market in Chicago! I looked at some single family homes in Boise and loved how big and spacious some of the properties were.

I don’t think I could ever handle dealing with the weather out there, but if that kind of thing doesn’t bother you, maybe you ought to check into moving west!

We’re staying in for New Year’s this year and will just watch the countdown on TV. I wanted to take a moment here to wish all of you a safe New Year’s Eve and a very happy 2007. Make those resolutions and stick to them because there’s always room for improvement. Have a good one!!!

My previous post about my 2006 highlights got me thinking about Disney theme parks. The last time we went to the one in Orlando, my son wasn’t really old enough to enjoy what the park had to offer, so I definitely want to take him there again. Yes, the major attractions are the same in both Orlando and Tokyo, but the Orlando park is so much bigger and has so much more to offer that I’m sure my son would love it.

If we do go, I’m definitely going to shop around for discount Disney tickets first. The last time we went, we just purchased them at the box office outside the main gate and had to pay full price. That was really expensive, of course, and I later discovered that there were a lot of different deals that we could have taken advantage of. I was a bit upset that we wasted all that money, but you can bet I won’t make that same mistake twice!

Now that we’ve arrived at the end of the year, it’s time to take a look back and review the highlights of 2006. Here are five cool things (in no particular order):

Best Purchase: My Hewlett-Packard iPAQ RX1955 is the coolest thing I bought all year. I cannot believe I waited this long to purchase a Pocket PC; I just love this thing! I also have a 1GB memory card and several great programs for it, so I can watch .avi files, listen to music, play games, and read ebooks. It’s a nice entry-level PDA and was a very good value, too.

Best Trip: We spent a long weekend at Tokyo Disneyland a few months ago. It’s my son’s favorite place and he had an absolutely wonderful time there. It was refreshing to be able to get away from everything for awhile and just enjoy being with my family. I even left my laptop at home for that one and didn’t think about work at all!

Best Accomplishment: I had four articles published in magazines. This wasn’t the first time I’ve had a piece appear in a magazine, but this particular outlet is turning out to be a recurring gig, so I’m very, very happy and excited about that.

Best New Writing Gig: It’s PayPerPost, without a doubt! I can’t believe how much money I’ve made with them in just two months, plus I’ve been able to “meet” a lot of other bloggers along the way. I’ve leared so much about blogging recently, and I’m really looking forward to stepping things up in 2007.

Best Personal Improvement: I’ve become very good about writing out a “To-Do List” before I got to bed and then sticking to the list the next day. What’s more, I’ve learned to stay within my limits and not engage in self-defeating behavior by trying to do too much in one day. In this way, I’ve become much more productive and I can feel good about what I do.

I know that personalizing everyday items with your own pictures is not a new concept. I’ve seen plenty of mousepads, mugs, t-shirts, buttons, and calendars featuring home photos, so I know it can be done. But I have to admit that I’ve never seen photo purses before!

I checked out the Bagettes.com website and was amazed by the quality of the products I saw. In addition to purses, they can customize cosmetic cases, totes, coin purses and accessory bags. From the product images I saw on the site, the results look magnificent! (In fact, I think I just figured out what I’m going to get my mom for Mother’s Day.)

You have the option of putting the same image on both sides of the bag or of using a different image on each side. In addition, you can add a text message to your product for even more personalization.

Very cool!

My husband and I went to see a movie together at a theater today for the first time in ages! Seriously, it’s been at least six months since we’ve been able to coordinate our schedules, find a babysitter, and just enjoy a couple hours watching a movie.

We caught a matinee showing of the latest 007 movie, Casino Royale, at the the local cinema. I really liked that movie and will be posting a full review of it over on my Reviews and More blog, so please check it out over there in a couple of hours!

I have a great cell phone and I love to spend time customizing it. One way I do this is by assigning each person on my contact list their own ringtone so I know who’s calling without even having to check the caller ID screen.

Usually I download ringtones, but I just came across a very cool site that shows users how to create free ringtones of their own! This website has an easy-to-follow tutorial that lays out all the steps in an understandable way. The best part is that you can create ringtones using free software that is readily available online.

SprintUsers.com is a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to customize their cell phones with free ringtones. Check it out!

Well, that was fast…. The AP is reporting that Saddam Hussein was hanged today, just 5 days after the Iraqi equiavalent of the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and ordered him executed within 30 days.

They don’t mess around over there, do they? That’s certainly different from the way things work here at home, where convicted killers can languish on death row for a decade or more before their sentence is carried out.

My husband and I were married in Hawaii nearly six years ago, and we’ve been meaning to go back for a visit ever since. The first time around, we stayed in a hotel for 10 days, but as you can imagine, we ended up with a very, very expensive bill.

So if we ever go back, we’re going to look into Hawaii condos instead. We figure that renting a condo for the duration of our stay would end up being cheaper in the long run because we’d be able to cook our own food and save money that way. Plus, I think a condo would be much more comfortable than a hotel because we’d have more space at our disposal. Could be a good idea!

The Indiana Jones series is one of my favorite movie franchises ever, so I was pretty excited to see this little blurb about how director George Lucas is set to start filming the fourth film in 2007. Unfortunately, the movie isn’t scheduled to be released until 2008, which is still a long way off.

I’m really interested to see how they’ll handle the aging of the main character. Harrison Ford is 62 now, so it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect him to pull off the kinds of stunts that filled the first three installments. From what I read, the newest film is going to be more of a “character piece.” I can’t wait to see how this turns out!

(Photo from thealmightyguru.com)

We’re still not sure where we’re going for our vacations this year. Our international destination is still a toss-up between China and Australia, while Orlando and Outer Banks NC are the frontrunners for our domestic destination. At the rate we’re going here, I’m not sure how we’ll ever arrive at a decision! If any of you have personal experiences with these places, I’d love to hear about it. Maybe that’ll be enough to push us one way or the oth

I don’t go to concerts or sporting events very often, mostly because of the hassle involved with getting tickets. For example, if a really popular band comes to town, there’s virtually no chance that I’ll be able to get through to TicketMaster or the box office in time to get decent seats. Same thing with sports. When the Sox or Bears are winning, there’s not much of a chance to get seats for the big games. So I end up just staying home and watching the events on TV.

Of course, that’s not as much fun, so I’m looking for a better way to get tickets — especially since the Bears have clinched a playoff spot. I never really checked out a ticket broker before because I just assumed their prices would be too high. But after visiting the PremiumSeatsUSA website, I see that’s not the case. I’m going to keep checking that site to see how much playoff tickets are (once they go on sale). Who knows? I could end up with great seats!

I would just like to take a moment here to wish my husband a very happy 34th birthday! We will be celebrating with a nice dinner tonight, and we’ll of course have a birthday cake and everything. There won’t be any presents for him this year, however, because he bought an Xbox 360 a little while ago and said that would be enough for his birthday. I hope he meant it because I took him seriously!!

I mentioned before that I’ve started going to Zap2it.com for my television listings. I just recently switched over, so I’m still getting a feel for the site and its features. Today as I was browsing around, I came across the TV Gal’s picks for Top 10 Characters for 2006. The article is a few weeks old, so you might have seen it already. If not, go check it out.

For those of you who are short on time, here’s a quick run-down of the list:

1. Deputy Chief Johnson on “The Closer”
2. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy”
3. Jim Halpert on “The Office”
4. Logan Echolls on “Veronica Mars”
5. Barney Stinson on “How I Met Your Mother”
6. Jack Bauer on “24″
7. John Locke on “Lost”
8. Lynette Scavo on “Desperate Housewives”
9. Dr. Sara Tancredi on “Prison Break”
10. Abby Lockhart on “ER”

I am only familiar with 6 of the shows on the list, and I pretty much agree with TV Gal’s picks for those — except for Barney on HIMYM. Almost everyone who watches that show thinks he’s the best, but I disagree. I like Lily (and even Ted) so much more!

If you’ve ever worked in sales, then you know how important it is to work with good leads. You want to talk to people who are genuinely interested in your product or service instead of wasting your breath on someone who is just listening out of politeness.

Well, I’ve just heard of a service that can connect loan officers with people interested in securing a mortgage. We’re talking LIVE hot transfer mortgage leads here, which means that the buyers will be routed from a call center directly to your organization after passing through a double verification process. This service is provided by DoublePositive Marketing Group, and you can take advantage of it without any long-term commitments or minimum orders.

This sounds like something that could really boost your sales, so check it out!