When Do You Get Your Great Ideas?

Having a difficult time finding a solution to a problem or making a decision? Try following the age old advice and "sleep on it". Okay, so there's no scientific evidence to prove that "sleeping on it" will help solve a problem or make the right decision, but it works for me.

Anyone who owns their own business will tell you they never stop looking for solutions to problems or making decisions about something or other. I've spent many sleepless nights trying to solve some problem that had come up during the day. On other nights, especially just before a holiday when I need to come up with several new gift basket designs for Valentines Day or Easter or Christmas, I would fall asleep thinking about creating these custom designs. Often on those nights, I'd wake up and a design idea would be crystal clear. I'd get all excited about starting the project the next day and fall back to sleep. The problem was that when I woke up the next morning, I'd remember that I'd had a great idea, but couldn't remember what it was.

Now, I keep a note pad and pen on my night stand and jot down a word or two to trigger my memory. This method works great although, because I write my messages in the dark, trying to read them the next morning can be a challenge.

I also get ideas for new gift basket designs while I'm vacuuming. I think the repetitive motion and the monotonous sound of the vacuum helps dull my conscious mind and allows my creative subconscious to work. I can achieve this same kind of zoning out during my step aerobic class or while walking the dogs. More than once I've left my aerobic class, written a cryptic note on a piece of paper towel, tucked it into my sock and jumped right back into the routine. I've been working out with Sue for about 14 years now, so she's gotten used to this behavior. My dogs love walking in the woods near our home, so they're happy to help me walk and think.

So, I'll continue taking step aerobic classes, walking the dogs, and "sleeping on it", in order to keep my creative mind open for new gift basket design ideas. Check out some of my best ideas at http://www.laurelmtbasket.com/.

Back To School

It's back to school time. We live in an area where there are dozens of colleges and universities, including Smith College, one of the oldest and most prestigious women's colleges in the country.

I grew up in the town where Sophia Smith, the founder, lived and I attended another school she founded, Smith Academy (photo is of the original Smith Academy building). Although I had the opportunity to attend Smith College, I didn't want to go to college close to home so I went all the way up to New Hampshire and attended Franklin Pierce College instead.

Sophia Smith was the daughter of a farmer. She was the last of her immediately family, and upon her death at age 65, her inheritance was close to $400,000, a huge sum for 1870. She took the responsibility of her position very seriously and consulted with her pastor and advisers.

Sophia was very interested in education and education for women in particular. By the time she was 40, she was deaf and considered establishing a deaf-mute institution in Hatfield. However, when the Clarke School for the Deaf opened in Northampton in 1868 she put all of her energy into planning for a college for women.

She died in 1870 and Smith College admitted its first students, fourteen women, in 1875. Today, Smith has an endowment of approximately $800 million and the student body has grown to approximately 2,500 students per year.

Quite an accomplishment for the daughter of a farmer.

If you have a student attending Smith College, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire or any of the other fine area schools, let me know. My company, Laurel Mountain Basket Company, has a line of gifts especially designed for students.

Marie

Storm Warning

Only last week a woman came into my studio to ask if I had a gift basket with an emergency kit theme. I showed her one I had designed for one of my realtor clients that contains, among other things, a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit. She was thinking more along the lines of a gift basket with items a person would need if they were in a bad storm or flood. That may seem like an odd request, but it happens. Ask anyone from New Orleans or Florida.

Or Whately, MA, my home town. On Saturday evening, Whately was hit by a Microburst. I'm sure there is a difference between a Tornado and a Microburst, but I don't think my neighbors with the crushed cars or houses really care.

I was getting ready to go to a friends' house for a Girls' Night Out party. It was raining, hard, and there was lots of thunder and lightening and one point, the power went out. The storm only lasted about 20 minutes then the sky cleared, and the sun was shining brightly, so I left to drive to my friend's house. Twice, within a half mile from my house, I had to drive around large branches that had fallen and were blocking part of the road. I didn't think much about the situation until I came upon a tree that had fallen across the entire road. More importantly, it had taken the power lines down with it. I guessed I had found the cause of our power outage.

But again, I didn't put any real significance to what I was seeing. I turned the car around and headed for one of the other roads that would take me out of town. I didn't get far. As soon as I turned onto the second road. I saw another large tree had fallen across the road, and farther up the road, three or four more very large trees had either been uprooted or had split.

There went Girls' Night Out! I returned home and told my husband about what I had seen. He went out to see if he could help with clearing some of the roads. One thing about small New England towns, almost everyone has a chain saw. Within a couple of hours, most of the roads were passable.

The next day, I decided to take the dogs and spend some time at the studio where we would have air conditioning, a microwave, and computer access. When I got home that afternoon, we took a drive to see the damage and take photos. The damage from the storm was amazing! Houses, cars, boats, garages, barns, fences, were crushed and there had to be hundreds of beautiful old trees down. Incredibly, no one was injured. Among all the devastation, the atmosphere was actually kind of festive. It seemed that everybody was outside. Probably because there was no power for the tv or computer! When I'd stop to take photos, I'd get into conversations with the home owners or other people from the area who came to take photos and share their stories of the storm. Even the police officer stationed at a dangerous intersection told me how the road had been burned when the power lines fell. The horizontal line in the lower right corner of the photo above is burned asphalt.

This storm taught me a few things. My dogs hate storms, they shake and hide under the bed. I call them my "early warning system". Well, from now on, I am going to take their "warnings" a little more seriously. I am also going to continue to make sure we are prepared. Lots of batteries, gallons of drinking water, a non-electric can opener and I'm going to buy a camp lamp that runs on a 9 volt battery. Reading by flashlight is not as fun as it once was.

The Many Colors of Green

If you found this blog posting because you are interest in the growing trend towards environmental responsibility, sorry. It's not that I don't believe in conserving energy and working with natural materials. I do.

When we built our house over twenty years ago, we incorporated many of what now is being called "green" concepts into the construction.
At work as well as at home we recycle everything, paper, glass, plastic, and we compost. We use recycled and biodegradable office and cleaning supplies.

At Laurel Mountain Gift Baskets we purchase many of the items we use in our gift baskets from local vendors which means we use less fuel in transport, as well as support our local community. We use paper rather than floral foam or Styrofoam as a base in our gift baskets because paper is biodegradable and we use raffia or paper ribbon in many of our bows for the same reason.

But no, when I refer to the many colors of green in this blog, I really am talking about the color. Color is so important to good gift basket design. A beautifully crafted gift basket just isn't finished until it is topped with a fanciful bow using several contrasting colors or several shades from the same color family. For Spring and Summer the greens come in soft sea foam, apple and hot lime, for Fall and Winter there's new moss, hunter, and emerald and celadon is a perfect year round green. Even the names are beautiful!

When blue and green are used together, they echo nature and the effect is very calming. When I want to be wild and make a bold statement, deep purple and hot lime green still works for me!

Green is the color of life and renewal. It signifies growth and health as well as balance and harmony. In Feng Shui, it is important to use several different shades of green in order to maximize the energy effort.

Gardeners get it when they plant lots of natural greens among the colorful flowers to keep everything in balance. So the next time you hear someone talking about going green, shut your eyes and imagine a burst of energizing color! But don't forget to shut off your computer and the lights when you leave the room. That's important too.

Home Town 4th of July

I live in a small New England town. Our current police station consists of a couple of rooms in the basement of what used to be a school house. Luckily, we have a great group of officers, little serious crime and the State Police barracks only a few miles up the road. Still, the town needed a new facility and one was appropriated. Unfortunately, there was little money left over to furnish and supply the space.
The problem was solved in true small town fashion... have a bake sale... well, actually the bake sale was a small part of the event that took place in Whately, MA on the Sunday after the 4th of July. A small group of town folk conceived an idea for a fund raiser. A triathlon. The First Annual Whately Police Triathlon. My company Laurel Mountain Gift Basket Company was proud to be a sponsor and my husband and I volunteered to help work the event. It was a blast!
I try to stay in shape. I work out three of four times a week, but I could never do what these 120 plus individuals did. Start out by swimming 1/2 mile, then run or walk the bike to the starting point to ride for 14 miles, up and down several hills, then run or walk the bike from the end of the bike course to the starting point to change shoes and run for three miles! I got tired just watching!
The participants were amazing but what was really amazing was that a group of people came together to accomplish so much. Two women, got an idea and rallied hundreds to their cause. The participants who registered and paid an entry fee. The volunteers who woke at dawn in order to be at the town beach at 5:45 a.m. to help get the courses and participants ready. I overheard more than one volunteer laugh about how little they slept the night before, afraid they would sleep thru the alarm. Most of the volunteers had never even seen a triathlon before that Sunday, never mind participate in one, yet the event went without a hitch.
As in any USAT sanctioned event, safety is the number one priority. Which made another group of individuals that needed to be recruited. The town ambulance with emergency personnel was standing by, the regional dive team was on site, and those police officers not competing were stationed along the route to insure the safety of the bikers and runners. Again, it was the efforts of the organizers and volunteers that brought this all together.
I am so proud of the people in my small town. I can't think of a better way to celebrate the 4th of July than working with my neighbors to make my little corner of the world a better place to live. See you all again next 4th of July for the Second Annual Whately Police Triathlon.
Marie

Super Heros

Become a Super Hero!

A headline in the local paper caught my attention, it said " At Area Shelters, Discarded Pets a Sign of the Times". At Laurel Mountain Basket Company, we are pet friendly. Proceeds from our Cat Napping cat nip pillows and Spoiled Rotten Dog Gift Baskets benefit local rescue services. I've decided that until the end of this year, we will donate 10% from the sale of any of our pet products to area shelters. Check out our selection gifts for pets and the people who love and become a Super Hero!

From This Day Forward

Planning a wedding? It may be only a single wedding, but there are basically three separate events to plan for. The ceremony, the reception and the honeymoon.

Today, I want to talk about the reception. This is probably the most overwhelming of the three because there are so many details involved. Where to have it, who to invite, and how much you are willing to spend are at the top of the list.

Where to have it is really contingent on who will attend and how much your are willing to spend. You will want a venue that is large enough to accommodate your guests comfortably, but not so large that it feels empty. The type of wedding (outdoors and casual or up town and chic) and what a particular venue includes in the price will also be considered in your choice. A venue that caters to events may include items like the cake and other amenities in the cost where as another venue choice may mean you will need to provide everything from decorations to linens to hiring a clean up crew. Once you have decided on where you will have your reception, you will want to reserve your date and time. This is especially important if the venue is very popular and/or it is a very busy season.

When considering who to invite, remember that, although it is the bride's day, the comfort and conveniences of the guests should be a major consideration. Some guest may be coming from out of town and they may need overnight accommodations. If the reception is being held in the banquet facility of a hotel, often times rooms can be reserved right on the premises. Otherwise, a block of rooms can be reserved at a nearby hotel. A really nice touch is to have a gift basket of treats placed in each room for your guest to enjoy.

How much will it cost? Know exactly what you are willing to spend before starting to plan the wedding. Make a budget and stick to it! Start by making a list of what you need and affix a price to each item. By having an idea of what you want and how much you are willing to spend, the planning process will go much more smoothly.