Category "Business"

Pumpkin Spice Gift Basket

Princess Diana - October 16, 2019 - Birthday, Business, Family, Food & Drinks, Gift Baskets, Housewarming, Teacher Gifts

For some people, this is their favorite season of the year. They go crazy for it!

I’m not talking about fall y’all. Or about winter, spring or summer.

I’m talking about Pumpkin Spice season! When pumpkin spice everything is available for a limited-time-only.

I myself go crazy over Pumpkin Spice cereal.

I once made a Pumpkin Spice Gift Basket for a client. This particular client had a tradition of hand-delivering appreciation gifts to their most important clients around Thanksgiving.

The Pumpkin Spice Gift Basket came with a decorative tag that read…

“We’re as crazy about you as we are pumpkin spice!”

Say Thank You with Pocket Praise Cards

Princess Diana - September 6, 2019 - Business

We often focus on the big moments in life, when it’s really the little moments that mean the most.

This is definitely true when it comes to appreciation.

Small acts of appreciation mean a lot–such as a handwritten thank you card. They let people know that who they are and what they do matter.

A thank you card takes time to compose. A person has to write several sentences to fill a traditional-sized thank you card.

What if you only had to write one phrase or sentence and it was still meaningful?

That’s the beauty of Pocket Praise cards!

Spread Positivity With Pocket Praise Cards

Pocket Praise cards are small note cards that spread encouragement, gratitude and positivity when handed out in the workplace.

Their small size of 3.5″ x 2″ makes it quick and easy to write a handwritten thank you card. It only takes a minute to recognize someone for a job well done!

Buddha Board Enso Infinite Art

Queen Darlene - April 25, 2019 - Birthday, Business, Christmas, Father's Day, Get Well, Kids, Mother's Day, Retirement

It’s rare to come across something that you’ve never seen before or experienced anything like it. The Buddha Board Enso definitely caught my eye!

Imagine drawing, painting and writing on a board with a water brush and creating images with a rich, inky Japanese look. As the water slowly evaporates, your art will magically disappear allowing you to create a whole new masterpiece.

My BFF, Linda, and I met in 1976 and are complete opposites. She is quiet. I’m loud. She loves to read. I love to dance. She enjoys museums. I enjoy snow skiing. Get the picture?

Rocketbook | Smart Reusable Notebook

Princess Diana - April 17, 2019 - Birthday, Business, Graduation

I had two problems. I wanted to be able to digitize my notes, and I wanted to stop killing trees. I needed a solution.

I’m a person who takes a lot of handwritten notes. I prefer to hand write things because my brain is able to retain the information better. Anyone else like me in that way?

rocketbook-reusable-notebook-graduation-gift

I was speaking at a conference out of state when another speaker shared the perfect solution–The Rocketbook.

Smart, Reusable Notebook

The Rocketbook is a spiral notebook with reusable pages that can be completely erased with a few swipes of a damp cloth. It’s like magic!

It’s also a smart notebook because with the Rocketbook app, you can take a photo (scanning it) of your notes and immediately send it to a specified online folder located on your Google Drive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc. Or you can email it to yourself.

If you send it to Evernote, it makes your notes searchable!

Macarons Gift Boxes & Bouquets

Princess Diana - March 20, 2019 - Birthday, Business, Food & Drinks, Host, Mother's Day, Teacher Gifts, Thank You, Valentine's Day

Is it macarons or macaroons?

I found out recently there IS a difference between the two besides the spelling. A macaroon is coconut based.

For this gift idea, I’m referring to macarons, which are meringue based and come in a wide range of colors and flavors.

There are SO many colors and flavors to choose from which makes it fun to give someone a variety!

If you’ve never had a macaron, it’s a delicate cookie with two thin crusts and a filling made of either ganache, buttercream or fruit jam.

It’s also full of contrasts. A macaron packs huge flavor into a tiny baked goodie, and it’s somehow both rich and light at the same time.

They come in delicious flavors such as mint chocolate, cookies and cream, mojito, honey lavender, lemon tart, and piña colada. Is your mouth watering yet? Because I’m just scratching the surface on the different types of macaron flavors out there.

The ONE Thing | A Life-Changing Book

Princess Diana - February 20, 2019 - Birthday, Business, Graduation

I read a lot books, both fiction and non-fiction. This book in particular stands out as one of the most life-changing I’ve come across.

“The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan makes it crystal clear everything is NOT equal in life. We must spend our time focusing on the things that matter most if we want to achieve the things we want in our professional and personal lives.

This quote from the book says it so well… “Success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right.”

I’ve always been a big to-do list person, but this book made me realize the dark side of to-do lists. Since to-do lists aren’t prioritized by what’s important or what matters, we end up spending our precious time on trivial tasks that don’t get us any closer to achieving our goals.

Instead, the book talks about creating a success list–a list based on creating extraordinary results. To-do lists are long, but success lists are short. Then, it challenges you to pick the ONE thing that goes at the top of your success list.

So how does a person determine what the ONE thing is? By answering this very important question…

How to Determine “The ONE Thing”

“You Are a Gem” Air Plant Gift

Princess Diana - December 12, 2018 - Anniversary, Birthday, Business, Christmas, Congratulations, Host, Mother's Day, Teacher Gifts, Thank You, Valentine's Day

We all know people who are gems because they brighten our lives like a sparkling diamond.

Have you let them know lately how much they mean to you?

This Air Plant Gift tells them “You Are a Gem” with words and a gift.

Air plants get the majority of their nutrients from the air. That means they are extremely low-maintenance and easy to keep alive! They will last for years.

Air plants are also attractive and come in interesting shapes and textures.

A Gift That Makes a Statement

For my mother’s birthday, I gave her a beautiful Amethyst Crystal Air Plant Gift. It came with a gift box and a card that reads “You Are a Gem.”

Reinvent the Box of Chocolates

Queen Darlene - November 21, 2018 - Anniversary, Birthday, Business, Christmas, Congratulations, Father's Day, Food & Drinks, Get Well, Gifts for Him, Host, Mother's Day, Retirement, Teacher Gifts, Thank You, Valentine's Day

Maggie Louise Confections has reinvented the box of chocolates with color, personality and unique customization.

Each box has fun bite-size chocolates to celebrate everyday indulgence.

The gourmet chocolate gift boxes and luxury confections are chocolate look-a-like creations of lipsticks, lips, jewels, precious stones, coffee cups, snowmen, mittens and the list goes on and on.

Before attending a conference, I researched “things to do” in Austin and discovered Maggie Louise Confections, an Austin-based company. Continue Reading

“You Raise the Bar” Meaningful Gift

Princess Diana - October 10, 2018 - Birthday, Business, Congratulations, Gifts for Him, Graduation

There are gifts that make you happy, and there are gifts that feed your soul because they are deeply meaningful.

Queen Darlene gave me the most thoughtful birthday present this year.

She gave me a necklace with a silver bar with my initial “d” cut out of it. It was cute by itself, but let me tell you about the meaningful, heartful part…

In the card, she wrote to me:

You’ve Always Raised the Bar

“Diana, You’ve always raised the bar! And, no one can come close when you set your mind on whatever you choose to do! You are your own kind of incredible and that’s something to celebrate my precious friend!”

Extreme Rock-Paper-Scissors

Queen Darlene - September 19, 2018 - $20 or Less, Birthday, Business, Family

Remember playing rock, paper scissors? How about playing the game in a group setting to the extreme?

My office of 90+ employees meet quarterly for awards, updates and training and just for fun, we incorporate “not your usual” team building activities.

In this game, employees battle it out to see who is the Rock-Paper-Scissors champion of the group, as losers of each mini-round cheer the remaining winners on!

How to Play Extreme Rock-Paper-Scissors

Have each member of the group pair up for the first round of rock, paper, scissors. If there is an odd number, add the odd person out to another pair for a quick knock-out match.
Play 3 games and the best 2 out of 3 will be the winner.
The losers of the first match start cheering the name of the winner for their next game.
All winners pair up and face off against each other while the ones they beat are cheering for them. When one winner beats the other, all the people behind the losing player start cheering for the winning player.
Repeat this process in elimination until there are only two players left. Each should have a large group of people cheering them on from their previous wins. The game is over after one player wins the final match.

Win or lose, everyone participates to the very end. Continue Reading