Romantic Gift Idea With A Vintage Twist

I could swear that I blogged about this before, but I don't see it anywhere on the blog and it recently came to my attention again, so I'm blogging about it - deal with it! Months ago I found this Message In A Bottle on Etsy (a website I love where you can buy and sell handmade items, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, and toys) that you can have customized with your own message and then sent to a loved one. My sister just sent it to her husband for her 1st anniversary and he loved it. The 1st anniversary is paper, so it turned out to be perfect. It's a unique way to say I love you with a bit of vintage charm thrown in for good measure. It could be great for a wedding, anniversary or even Valentine's Day. It's really inexpensive, but so thoughtful that the recipient will surely love it. If you need to get a gift for your significant other or your boss needs an inventive idea, it's perfect. The best part about is how surprised the recipient will be, as they will not have seen anything like it before.

How To Cope With Something All Assistants Experience - Stress!!

I meant to post this back in May, but it got buried in the many draft ideas I have not posted yet. For some reason it really resonated with me tonight, so I thought I'd post it. As an assistant in this town, stress is unavoidable. Even if you work for someone nice, the culture within many companies and the pressure is hard to take sometimes. I feel lucky to have a job right now even if it's not as a writer, because so many talented people I know are looking for work. A few months back Tony Robbins was interviewed about ways to manage stress and it's actually really helpful, so I thought I share it.

The Art of the To Do List

Check out this great article from Lifehacker that gives tips on creating a To Do List in the right way, so that items are manageable, actionable and help you to move tasks forward. This can be helpful with work tasks and creative projects. Lifehacker is a great site, so spend some time checking out all the useful information they post on how to hack your life and become more productive.

Knock It Out Of The Park With This Great Gift For A Baseball Lover

These pens made from salvaged seats from historic ballparks are a truly unique gift to give to the baseball lover in your life. They're a bit pricey, but if budget isn't an issue or you have time to save up for something special, this should really hit it out of the park.

Unique Ideas For People Heading Down The Aisle

If you or your boss doesn't want to do the same old boring wedding gift or something off a registry, there are a few great go to places I often direct people to for unique wedding ideas:

Jonathan Adler - He's best know for his ceramics/pottery, but he also does all sorts of other gifts. His products are modern and whimsical and come in a range of prices. He has a store in Los Angeles, but also you can buy things from his great website.

Etsy -If you want to do something vintage or handmade -- this is the place to buy it. You have to take time to sort through the site and it helps if you have a idea of what you might want, but there is some cool stuff on this site that is very unique.

Nambe - They sell their products made mostly of crystal and silver in department stores and on their website. It's a bit of a wedding staple, but they are always adding new items that often have a modern twist on tradition.

If you like Nambe, but feel that you want to go with something of that ilk that's even more artistic and unique, Michael Aram is a good bet. They also sell items both on their website and in department stores.

All of these are good go to places for general gifts, but they are especially good for engagement and wedding gifts.

Great Gift For Those Who Love To Double Down

I'm guessing that lots of assistants have bosses or clients they work with that love poker or some kind of card related gambling. Here are a few gift ideas it might be fun to give people who are into that sort of thing:

Chocolate Poker Chips - This is a fun snack for a poker party and the recipient of the gift might gain an advantage if they throw off the blood sugar of others. If they are more traditional, but you still want to do a slight twist, get custom poker chips made.

Custom Playing Cards Made With Photos Of Your Choice - If you have a picture of the gift recipient winning the World Series of Poker or some other tournament, by all means put it on playing cards for them and their friends to play with at their weekly game. That definitely has to give them a subtle mental advantage at the very least.

To round out the gift, why not add the always fun to watch DVD of the movie 21 that stars Kevin Spacey and Jim Sturgess or the truly engaging book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich that the movie is based on.

As I have mentioned before, gifts aren't about what you spend on them. None of the gifts above are super pricey. It's more about truly knowing what the person is into and finding something that will surprise them and make them smile a little.

The Thing You Think Makes You Weird Is Often What Makes You Special

Another late night post because it's hard to blog at work during lunch so far. If you haven't already seen writer and comedian/humorist John Hodgman speak at the 2009 Radio & TV Correspondents Dinner go watch it right now. You will crack up and it will improve your day no matter how bad it has been. He's a guy who became more successful later in life and is truly enjoying it. He got where he is not because he's movie star handsome (although his boyish dork thing is kind of adorable in a certain way), but because he has fully embraced who he is and is proud of being a nerd/geek. You likely will recognize John from his role as the PC in the MAC vs. PC commercials, but that's only one part of his career. If you like his speech, check out his book or one of the public radio pieces he has done, like this one. Try your best to follow this example and embrace what about you makes you different because it's likely the thing that makes you special.