Chocolate gifts

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gifts

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

Chocolate gift

chocolate gifts

chocolate

chocolate

chocolate

chocolate

chocolate

Chocolate Gifts (It's Administrative Professionals Week!)

This is one of the busiest weeks of the year for us keynote speakers. It's Administrative Professional's Week and there are appreciation luncheons and events galore. This year all my speeches are Motivation by Chocolate! And if any of you are in the Pinehurst area - I speak there tomorrow and near Hickory, NC on Friday - please come! Both events are open to the public and are three hour seminars. Chocolate for three hours - how much fun is THAT going to be? Woohoo!!!

I thought to honor the week - and Mother's Day is coming up and my birthday (and the birthdays of several other chocolate lover's I know - Taureans love their chocolate!) - I thought we'd talk about chocolate gifts. These are all the non-edible kind.

Several of these photos are courtesy of my good friend Diane Fain-Worthen who I don't give nearly enough kudos to. Diane - thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

This is Diane's pic from Cracker Barrel - she turned me on to their cool chocolate stuff - I have dropped a great deal of money here - and the stuff is soooo cute! Diane has also sent me several goodies from here - she is worth her weight in chocolate!!

How great is all that stuff? I love the pink T-shirt - "Put the chocolate in the bag and nobody gets hurt." And they have great lotions and candles with cocoa scent. Diane sent me a gorgeous lip gloss that's chocolate dipped strawberry. Yum! This would be a great place to take Mom or your favorite Administrative Professional or hell, just all your girlfriends! And don't even get me started about their biscuits. Dear God.

This is where I scored my giant Hershey bar - isn't it gorgeous? Thanks for the pics, Di!

Now this isn't from Cracker Barrel. Diane gave me this at Christmas after the hip surgery. It's a custom printed t-shirt - this is the logo on front. How cool is that? It's like I have my own chocolate company! (Diane, you really are the coolest!)

She also sent a pic of this hilarious shirt:

And I snagged this one at The Chocolate Bear - here's the front:

Love the back:

This is a little door hanger from Cracker Barrel:

and I completely agree with that statement.

Although this one cracks me up every time I see it:

Here's a great gift for any chocolate loving woman:

And this is on the inside along the lip of the mug:

My good friend (and fellow speaker and wild woman) Laura Hamilton gave me this cute bowl:

I love it - it sits on my desk and holds all my post-it note pads. And let's face it - chocolate pretty much IS my life. And you know what? I'm okay with that. In fact, I really like that! : )

Harry & David has these adorable kitchen towels:

Perfect for luring small children like Hansel and Gretel into my lair. (Hey - I need SOMEONE to help me eat all the chocolate!)

And I got this guy for $4.97 at Harry & David's after Easter sale. Isn't he the cutest ceramic chocolate bunny candy dish?

And all these magnets are on my fridge (thanks to Diane and Jay Rowe) for some of these babies!

I dropped this one and glued it back together. See the chip? I love it too much to let it go.

Now while this one is a perfect gift for the chocolate lover in your life:

You'll want to be very careful who you give this one to:

I don't think I can ever thank all my friends enough for the wonderful chocolate gifts! Sometimes we don't realize how much a simple gift like a magnet or a t-shirt can really make some one's day. And, unlike chocolate, they LAST! (Although don't get me wrong - I LOVE it when my friends give me chocolate too!)

Happy Administrative Professional's Week! Make some body's day with a little show of your appreciation - I bet it will mean more to them than you can imagine.

I Love My Crazy Friends!

I am really lucky to have some of the friends I do. I'm not sure I deserve them, but I am truly grateful I have them.

Three of these wild ones (all my friends seem to be a little bit crazy - and that's the way I like 'em! If someone isn't a little off center, then they are just too boring.) sent me Christmas presents. There were all out of the blue, completely unexpected, and totally wonderful.

The first one is from my buddy Don Johnson (no, not Miami Vice although Don does ride a mean motorcycle). Don sends me the most hilarious e-mails EVER and is a totally cool guy. Way cooler than the Miami Vice Don Johnson. He sent me this:





Now this is not a giant chocolate bar (although it is designed to look like one). It's a great book!






Loaded with gorgeous pictures like this and information on tasting chocolate, chocolate holidays, how chocolate is made, and 40 recipes - it's fantastic. I wish I just had someone to make all these for me. Looking at the pictures alone makes my mouth water. Don - you're the best!!!

Another friend, Diane Fain Worthen, sent me these:


Diane MADE the cool red scarf surrounding the chocolates. It's a really unusual scarf - the picture doesn't do it justice. How thoughtful is she - she was thinking about me keeping my crazy, messed up neck warm in the winter, and she knows red is THE FireStar color. It just doesn't get any more thoughtful than that! Diane is one of those super women who can tame children, horses and men with one hand and make great things like this with the other!


The chocolates are from Van's Chocolates in Hendersonville, North Carolina. And Diane picked a great assortment and took the time to enclose a guide for me!! No guessing necessary! YAY!

The top row has a caramel (which was good and chewy, I like 'em that way!), a pecan turtle (these were the freshest pecans ever - delish!), a chocolate cream and a vanilla cream (the chocolate cream was wonderful, but VERY rich and the vanilla was a little too sweet for me). The next row had an almond toffee (very good), a peanut butter meltaway, a raspberry meltaway, a peanut cluster (I'm telling you these nuts were so fresh - it was like they were just grown!) and a coconut haystack. Van's were very good - MUCH better than Russell Stover's assortment and the pieces featuring nuts were excellent. I will make sure I stop in next time I'm out in the western part of the state. Thanks, Diane!!! And thanks for the scarf - it's always really nice to get a gift someone went to the trouble to make.


And that brings us to the wild and crazy, Jay Rowe. Jay is hard to describe - here's a guy who went to clown college (so you know he's hilarious) but also teaches etiquette classes. To give you an idea of the many faces of Jay, he sent me this lovely ornament:

Look at her! Isn't she sweet? She's Hallmark's Angel of Chocolate! Russell Stover makes a chocolate Pope, Hallmark makes a chocolate angel. God is smiling. Although I notice the Angel of Chocolate is EATING the chocolate. Shouldn't she be extending it to us, like mercy? Or maybe she is saving us from ourselves. Either way - what a great gift!!

But Jay also sent me this button:

And if you knew him, you would think, "That is SO Jay Rowe!" He is too funny and a terrific friend. The Chocolate Angel and the Chocolate Slut - you saw it here first, Ladies and Gentlemen! Under the big top! Thanks to our Ringmaster - JAY!!!

So - take a few minutes to be grateful for all YOUR crazy friends and all the laughter and joy they bring into your life. And never doubt that taking the time to send someone something means the world to them. I got so much joy out of these gifts! And I knew that all the senders were thinking of me. These gifts all came from the heart and I cherish them as well as the givers.

Don, Diane and Jay - thank you so much!!!! (And no, readers, I am NOT giving up my Chocolate Slut pin! So don't even ask.)