In a recent conversation with my son (who left the nest last year and is dating ‘Adorable Girlfriend’), he revealed that he and A.G. have a weekly date night. When I asked what he had planned he commented that money is tight since he’d just paid bills and was in between paychecks, so he was going to suggest they take advantage of the fresh rains and enjoy an evening of puddle jumping followed by hot chocolate.

His realizations impressed me:

1. Take care of important things first when it comes to budgeting your money
2. Let the lack of funds spur creativity
3. Important relationships deserve the investment of time

That conversation inspired this list of gifts designed to foster meaningful relationships for the newly independent adults that are juggling school, part-time jobs, and dating.

• A cool picnic back pack loaded with everything necessary for an outing: Map or tour guide featuring the local hiking trails, sunscreen, trail mix, granola bars, salami, cheese, crackers, and sport’s drinks…exploring all the trails in the tour guide will promote good health and provide activity for future dates at a relatively low cost over time
• Gift card to the movie theater
• “Movie Madness’ gift box that’s stocked with popcorn, candy bars, nutty snack mix, soft drinks, and a gift card to the local video store (Or, why not purchase a plan where you can have 3 movies out at a time and give him carte blanche to use one of the three at all times?)
• A plant to grow & nurture, as does the relationship, with a Tree-in-a-Bag or a windowsill garden
• Gift cards to the local coffee shop or smoothie joint (In support of local businesses, I like to choose the ‘mom & pop’ joints over the big chains, which as an extra perk, often have free wi-fi & live evening music or art exhibitions making for a cool date)
• Gift card to the grocery store so they can shop together and then cook dinner together
• Gift card to a restaurant that can be used for a date (I’ve done this in the past for him. He told me they found a way to make it last by ordering from the appetizer menu that was 1/2 price during happy hour rather than ordering entrees.)
• Passes to the local miniature golf/amusement park

What’s your suggestion for these ‘newly independent daters’?

Everyone knows chocolate and romance go hand in hand, but here’s five reasons why you should indulge in chocolate:

1. Cocoa contains cancer fighting antioxidants in higher amounts than even green tea and red wine
2. Dark chocolate has been shown to lower blood pressure (not white or milk) and help prevent heart disease
3. Dark chocolate decreases bad cholesterol
4. Chocolate can be a mood enhancer or aphrodisiac since it raises serotonin levels and releases endorphins in the brain
5. High in magnesium, chocolate can help alleviate PMS

Tip: the darker the chocolate the better for you since milk reduces the antioxidant properties and is higher in fat

According to human resources, finance executives, and marketing professionals, here’s what business and organizations can expect:

• Monday: most common day to call in sick (heard of the “Monday Blues?”), and for those that do show up, many don’t want to be there; yet as the “catch up” day after the weekend with e-mail and meetings, Monday is considered the 2nd most productive day of the week
• Tuesday: full of momentum, this is the busiest and most productive day of the week
• Wednesday: known as “hump day,” this mid-way point has employees looking forward to the weekend and has greater incidences of errors
• Thursday: can go either way
• Fridays: 2nd most common day for absenteeism and generally less productive as people are feeling TGIF and are anxious to begin the weekend, often leaving work early

Tip: Reduce absenteeism by making Mondays or Fridays a part of your employee incentive program, perhaps offering free lunch, hosting employee bbqs, allowing a casual dress day, or having a weekly zany shirt competition

Did you know that appliances that are turned off still suck electricity? Apparently, 75% of energy used by appliances occurs while they are turned off. Prevent this by plugging them into a power strip that actually cuts off the energy flow when you flip the switch to off.

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and love is in the air! Have you decided on the perfect gift for your significant other yet? Give a gift from your heart and whip up a batch of chocolate covered strawberries - it’s quite simple with this recipe:

1lb stawberries

12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

white chocolate for drizzling

1 tablespoon of oil

1. Leaving tops on, wash strawberries and then dry each of them thoroughly (very important since any water will ruin the chocolate).
2. In a small saucepan, add oil and chocolate chips and melt over very low flame, stirring constantly until smooth.
3. One by one, dip berry, gently shake and swirl the dripping chocolate as you lift upward, then turn tip upward to fill gaps.
4. Place on waxed paper, drizzle with white chocolate, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Your mate never needs to know just how simple this was.