Gals' Guide

New Site Features:The Gals Have SpokenWhat Say You?

WOW. The Crave Party was amazing last night. We met so many new people, including a good deal of them that want more information from Gals' Guide. Salons, boutiques and other businesses want to host events for us and ladies from other cities want to begin a GG division in their hometowns. 

It was awesome!

In addition to all of the new events and ideas that are appearing, there was a good deal of feedback behind the FEATURES you'd like to see on the site.

Gals' Guide Site Updates:Tell Me What You Think As I Go

Hi Ladies!

How are we all on these cloudy, chilly fall days:)?  I don't know about you, but I'm jamming my 'summer music' as much as I can to wake me up and keep me going after 5 pm (when the sun goes down).

As the seasons change and our daily wardrobe consists of boots, tights and wool, Gals' Guide is getting a slow and useful 'make-over'. Many of the updates were a result of the feedback I received from some Loyola marketing students I met with a week ago. Here are some of the recent updates. Please comment, let me know what you think, suggest, etc.  The main goal of the changes is to make this site easy to navigate, useful and instill more community with everyone. I've held off on some major changes because I was looking for some design partners to assist, but, I realized I can do the majority of this stuff myself.
That's another tip for you - never underestimate your sweat equity and what you can do on your own.

Updates

• The comments section is more robust. Now you can create a profile of yourself when commenting, keep track of who's commenting on your notes and respond back to fellow readers
• Events section. Check out the right hand navigation and click on EVENTS. I will be adding interesting events around town that YOU suggest, but will also be including the next Gals' Guide outings. The Gals' Guide specific events will be labeled GG.
• Ask the Experts. I am reaching out to my vast network of career, money, real estate and overall life experts and adding their skills to Gals' Guide. Until then, you can utilize the 'Ask the Experts' link on the right, submit your question and I'll get it answered as quickly as possible. We will post your question (keeping your name anonymous if you wish), along with the answer.
• White Space. I wanted to make things look more crisp,etc. The pink banner remains, but I removed the pink from the outer edges.

Coming Soon

• Coupons Coupons Coupons - A page dedicated to shopping deals
• Local Spotlight.  Highlighting a local business in Chicagoland, in addition to giving YOU deals on the product or service

Don't forget to save the dates of December 5 and December 9! What are the events? Check out the Events page for details:). 

What's Going on With the Site?Changes in Store for Gals' Guide

Two years ago, I started writing. The intent was to share tips and tricks for you. Simply, starting life after college. The site's morphed into some personal views from me, the writers and a few experts here and there. I realized it's time to rope things in, listen to YOU, the readers, and bring in some research.

On Monday, I will be hearing presentations from a group of marketing students at Loyola. For the last few months, they combed through Gals' Guide, talked to people and researched the landscape of women's sites.

I skimmed through some of the initial reports today and I have to say, I'm excited. Many of the comments and suggestions they presented in their papers are very much similar to what many of you mentioned to me.

Stay tuned for more details. Thank you to everyone for your support, comments and friendship. At the end of the day, this site was meant for YOU. Now I'll have the support and insight to bring you a product that you really need and make it with YOU in mind.

Happy Chilly Saturday,
Blagica-

Gals' Guide Wants to Know

This Sunday the world celebrates Wonder Woman Day.  Tell us about a Wonder Woman in your life.

We throw the Lasso of Truth on the GG writers after the jump...

Remembering Tose Proeski

On this day, one year ago, an amazing singer passed away - Tose Proeski. He hailed from my parents' native Macedonia, but he was a singer loved around the globe and was close to crossing over to the U.S. Tose was killed in a car crash in Croatia - he was asleep in the passenger seat when the driver of his car collided with a truck. Tose is pictured above with my good friend, Dali, when Tose traveled to the states t perform.

It was a shock that stunned everyone and continues to sting today. Tose was an amazing humanitarian who loved kids and often gave free concerts in support of Unicef.

Here is one of the last videos he made...and one of his first songs recorded in English...

Are Women Really Catty?In Certain Situations, I Would Say Yes

I had a recent night out with a girlfriend. We chatted about the typical things in life - guys, dating, shopping, the election, Oprah, etc.  One particular topic stuck out and became the clear winner for our chat that evening - a woman's innate ability to be downright catty.

I'm 32 now and have seen it all. When it comes to the workplace, I silently observed my male counterparts dissect problems and deal with them in a very matter of fact kind of way. In general, they tend to confront the other guy, talk about the issue, get in their face, etc. From there, they discuss, yell, whatever is relevant to the discussion - and it's over.

I honestly believe that if we all were a bit more upfront with each other, we'd all get ahead, leaving the drama behind. Then again, is this the rite of passage for being a woman?

Ladies, what do YOU think?

Quarter-Life-Crisis in the Windy City

My hair isn’t long enough. My body isn’t skinny enough. My GPA in college was too low, in fact, I probably should have gone to a different college, or perhaps chosen a different major all together, or done different internships, or not have moved to Europe, or Chicago. Maybe I should’ve taken up acting. Maybe I should have gone to grad school in neuroscience. Maybe I would have gotten a better job if I’d gone blond. Maybe, I should have finished learning Spanish before moving onto French. How will I ever buy a condo? With what money? Am I ever going to set a date and get married, and how will I even afford kids? Why couldn’t I just snag a rich man? And, why don’t I have a car? And, how did all my girlfriends make it through high school and college avoiding pregnancies and now are all of a sudden ‘accidentally’ getting pregnant? And, even if I were to accidentally get pregnant, I’d need to move to Canada to get a job to allow me a year off. I cannot believe so-and-so is not staying at home with her daughter. 

You're Good Enough, You're Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like You!

I was in the pottery studio last night gettin' my clay on (mostly getting clay on me) when I noticed a woman doing something that made me think about how we gals tend to downplay our accomplishments and intelligence.

From the beginning of the evening to the end, the only words that came out of this woman's mouth were negative comments about herself.  "I'm so awful at this!"  "I'm not at all creative."  "I just can't seem to do it right."  "It's so ugly."  "I don't think I'll ever be able to make anything worthwhile."  But she was doing great!  She even finished a project, which is something that I wasn't able to do on my first night.  So why was she so hard on herself?