So, on this new food lifestyle, the one thing that I miss is having something crunchy to put stuff on. I have lots of fabulous dips, cheeses, and spreads that are completely okay to eat yet nothing crunchy to put them on. So what am I supposed to do? Eat seven layer dip with a spoon? Not likely! So I set out to make some crunchy snacks that were delicious and nutritious. Here’s what I ended up with:

Kale Chips:  The recipe sounds pretty simple – toss in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake. At first try these seemed really good…and addicting! There was a very fine line between crispy and burnt. Who knew if you burnt them they will catch fire? I ate a few and was quite pleased with the end result but slowly I began to realize that my house smelled like burnt feet.  Another little known fact – as it turns out you have to eat these treats right away. I saved them for the next day and they were AWFUL! All in all I think they were great in the moment but will probably not make them again.
Almond Flour Crackers: These seemed promising. It was super easy to make the batter. Could have made them thinner, the thinner they are spread out the crisper they get. Of course, nobody told me (and I don’t consider this common knowledge) that wax paper should be peeled off BEFORE actually cooking them. I had to throw the first batch out because they were stuck to the wax paper. I will say that they were tasty little things…kind of like nutty flavored wheat thins.

Gluten Free, Carb Free, Sugar Free Bread: Here is where things really got tricky in the kitchen. I did not want to use all of the almond flour I had purchased for bread. (considering that it’s $8.00 for two cups!) So since I had coconut flour on hand I decided  flour was flour right? So I went with a half and half mixture. Again, I do not think this is common knowledge but apparently coconut flour is a SUPER flour and is super absorbent. It soaked up all my eggs and milk like a sponge.

As it turns out (according to chef Google) coconut flour has to be used quite sparingly. For example, a loaf of bread made with almond flour takes 2.5 cups of almond flour.  A loaf of bread with coconut flour takes 1/4 cup of coconut flour! So here I am with my 1.25 cups of coconut flour, and 1.25 cups of almond flour trying to make a “batter”.  I just kept adding eggs, cream, and water and figured I would just see what would happen! I had to cook it twice as long. It smelled good, looked like normal bread, sliced like bread but it was so DENSE, I had to drink a glass of water just to get it down. Tried toasting it and ended up watching it crumble to pieces. I saved the loaf and have decided I will try to make French toast with it  but I am going to have to officially call that one a do over. Gluten Free Carb Free Bread 1, Jamie 0.

All in all here is what I learned:

• That was a lot of experimenting for one night in the kitchen
• I need to think more science project as opposed to math test
• Doing that many dishes really dries my hands out
• Coconut flour has super powers
• Sometimes thing catch fire and it’s truly not my fault (it’s just science)
• I need to purchase a taller bowl suitable for hand whipping
• Cooked Kale smells like dead feet

I am going to try to make crepe lasagna next….maybe….

As business partners, I don’t think Jamie and I every go a day without laughing with each other over something, whether it is personal or business related. Some of our favorite event stories are guaranteed to garner a laugh and you don’t want to get us started on how truly hysterical our personal lives can be from the right point of view.

Being able to laugh with each other over just about anything is one of the things that make us such good partners. We understand the importance of having a sense of humor and that is okay to find the humor in simply being human with all our faults and foibles. So because laughter is such a part of our lives I thought it would be great to give you a few reasons why laughter is good for you too:

• Laughter lowers the levels of cortisol in the body. Cortisol suppresses the immune system. Lowering these levels enhances the work of the immune system and may prevent disease.
• You can stimulate your heart and lungs, elevate your blood pressure and improve breathing capacity by laughing.
• In terms of exercise, you can get the same benefits from laughing 100 times a day, as you can from 10 minutes of rowing.
• 15 minutes of laughter equals the benefit of 2 hours sleep.
• One good belly laugh burns off 3 1/2 calories.
• Laughing for 15 seconds adds 2 days to your life span.

At PEC we believe that laughter is good for the soul and we hope you find reasons every day to laugh.

Creativity (n): the ability to use the imagination to develop new and original ideas or things, especially in an artistic context.

Creativity comes in many forms and one of the things that I love the most is the bizarre and unique holidays that literally fill every day of the year. Everyone knows about, if not celebrates, the common holidays throughout the year but tell me….who has celebrated Toothache Day or Tell a Fairy Tale Day?

What I love about all the crazy and unique days you can celebrate is that it opens up a whole new world of things to get together and enjoy with family, friends and co-workers. Wondering what kind of fun things you could be celebrating? Here are a few examples:

*Cherry Pie Day – who wouldn’t love to eat a slice of pie with friends or co-workers just because?

*Swap Ideas Day – how about arranging a party where the whole focus is swapping creative ideas with your friends?

*No Housework Day – I don’t know about you but I think everyone should celebrate this day.

*National Goof Off Day – Oh yeah, this sounds like a lot of fun

Another thing that I like about these unusual holidays is it also gives people in sales and marketing fun ways to touch base with their clientele. For example, instead of giving notepads, magnets or pens with your contact information on them when you drop by a client’s why not try something like giving a small bag of herbs and spices with a note attached that says “ABC Company can SPICE up your business” and then give it to your clients on August 29^th which is national “More herbs, Less salt” Day. *Make sure you notate somewhere that the date correlates with the Holiday or your clients may not understand why you are giving them such a unique calling card.

At PEC we think that life is meant to be fun, exciting and creative. These are exactly the kinds of things we keep our eye out for and encourage the people in our lives to go about the adding to their lives. We recommend that you browse http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/index.htm and discover ways to add some fun and creativity to your own life. We promise – letting your hair down and having some fun will bring a smile to your face.

by Alfred North Whitehead

The first time I read this quote, I thought, well of course they do. I mean, don’t you remember any great ideas that you have had in the past?

Then I realized that what it was saying, at least to me, was that ideas don’t stay ideas forever. How many times have you told someone about a great idea you had and then a short time later you see that someone else has put the idea into action and next thing you know, they are making money at it instead of you?

Plato is quoted as saying that “necessity is the mother of all invention”. We just happen to work in very creative jobs and get the opportunity to see our ideas put into action. Believe me when I say it is one of the most rewarding things to experience. Coming up with a concept, creating it – making it come alive and then seeing the completion of that idea as an experience for other’s to enjoy. It’s why chef’s cook, musician’s play, painter’s paint, and writer’s write.

Ideas are the fuel of tomorrow’s big hits. If you have an idea, run with it. See where it takes you. You might just be surprised at what happens. We love the creative process and we think once you learn to jump on your ideas, you’ll love it too. It might even be addictive.

Whether you are planning a BBQ for family, a few friends or planning to host a big bash PEC has a few tips for making this time of the year more enjoyable:

• Prepare your grill in advance. Clean it entirely, make sure the grates are clean too…contrary to popular opinion dirty grates do not add to the flavor of BBQ’d food.
• The Spice is Right. Put together a plastic bin with all the spices you will most commonly use to BBQ with. Don’t forget to add in non-stick cooking spray and oil. It makes grilling easy if everything is already gathered together for easy use.
• It’s all about the Tools. Anyone who has done any kind of grilling for any length of time will tell you that the tools you use are just as important as what you food you select. Keep a selection of tongs, spatulas, forks and brushes handy so you can quickly grab what you need.
• Fresh is Best. Whether you are picking vegetables, meat or fish….without a doubt….buying fresh is best. Grilling brings out the natural flavor of the items you’ve selected so make sure you carefully select items before BBQ’ing.
• Simple Sides. Don’t overwhelm yourself with complicated side dishes to go with your main entrée.  Keep a few things in the refrigerator that are quick to toss together for a side dish. Try and keep the assembly/prep time under ten minutes.
• Quick Clean Up. Okay, so if you are eco-conscious you might not want to have a stack of paper plates and plastic utensils at hand and ready to pull out for a quick BBQ dinner outside, that’s okay but try to limit the amount of clean up that will be required. BBQ’ing is more about enjoying the outdoors and a balmy summer evening than it is about washing dishes.

• If you are into decorative things, chances are you might have some left over paint laying around somewhere.  A few empty glass jars can be easily spruced up with some  homespun flourishes of paint creating unique decorative vases.
• Grab some juice glasses and add a few decorative colored stones for an easy solution.  
• Tea cups filled with water and individual blooms floating on the surface.
• Watering cans filled with long stem flowers.
• Water pitchers, tea pots and gravy boats. 
• Tin cans dressed up with colored ribbons or raffia.
• Series of candle votives filled with individual blooms.
• Bowls of fruit with flowers filling the empty spaces.

Take a look aroundyour home for anything that is water proof. Finding and using inexpensive containers that express your own personal style are way more interesting than a plain glass vase. Experiment and you may find you never use a standard vase again.

Get color samples together and see what works best in the environment where you are hosting the party. Play up on the bright colors of summer, but don’t go neon.  Pair fun colors together to create a tropical paradise of color that invites your guests to relax into the beauty of summer.

Flowers and fruits are in abundance now, so use lots of them in your event design. Special touches you can add are tropical themed event invites, fragrant tropical candles, yummy tropical beverages, bowls of sand and seashells, and beach towels as table covers.  You can even provide little sunscreen sampler bottles as guest take away’s when the night is over.

Don’t forget to encourage guests to wear their summer attire. Sunglasses, summer tops, colorful shorts and crazy flip flops all combine to create a summer party atmoshpere that decor can’t replace.

• Take brilliant colored Gerber Daisies in mason jars filled with colored stones  to create a simple but striking centerpiece that delights the eye.
• Want something unusual? Try brightly colored baskets filled with colored grasses and cupcakes topped in fun spring colored frosting’s. You can add in foil wrapped chocolates for something extra. This centerpiece is fun to look at and even better to eat too!   
• Add lots of brightly colored vases filed with greens.
• Find plastic colored bowls that fit inside upturned straw hats and use them as serving bowls. Bunch floral scarves in and around the hats.
• Fill dainty floral patterned tea cups with green floral foam, add carnations and greens. Take hand written seating cards and superglue to floral wire. Add the name card to the miniature floral display’s and set at each seat.
• Use edible flowers as garnishes on food items.
• Use spring colored table runners , napkins and place mats. (Light and bright)
• Stick with fresh, floral scents either with flowers or candles.
• Keep to light foods like salads and finger sandwiches.

Anyway you decide to add little touches to your event…remember to have fun and keep it light and airy like spring.

I started asking them questions about the event, basic logistics questions that I handle every day in the course of my work. They hadn’t thought of the simplest things like linens to cover the tables, how many chairs will sit around each table, plates, silverware, serving dishes for the food they were going to make, how much time it would take them to set everything up. The little details that make an event were just overlooked. They didn’t even know to ask each other the appropriate questions.

So, I just kept asking questions until they walked away with a list of things they needed to address in the six weeks they have until the event.   I offered suggestions for where they could find items, people they could talk to about donations and generally gave them the benefit of my expertise as an event planner. However, I walked away worried about the community event because I could see logistical problems in their plans. It isn’t my event. I’m not part of the non-profit organization, I haven’t been hired to plan it or even to consult on it but I have still spent all afternoon thinking about what they could do different to make it more efficient and turn a better profit.

The biggest thing I walked away from the conversation with was the reminder that people, organizations and yes even planning committees have no idea how important an event planner’s role really is. Even if we don’t plan the event we offer one hour consulting packages that would often resolve the most important issues of an event. I spent thirty minutes with these ladies and they walked away armed with a comprehensive action item list. In another thirty minutes of focused time we could have  resolved timeline issues, set up,tear down and venue logistics as well.

The cost of an hour consultation would have saved them countless planning hours, numerous frustrations and wasted financial expenditures by getting the wrong items or items that could have been found for a better price through a different vendor or even donated. I hope their event is a success and that the non-profit organization truly benefits. I hope the committee learns and grows from this experience and each year goes by it gets better. Who knows, maybe someday they will actually hire an event planner to help them out too.

I came across an excerpt from a recent article titled “IT TAKES A TEAM” by Leslie Krowthem and it reads:  “as companies look to streamline their budgets, a sometimes overlooked yet always beneficial exercise in economics involves management’s refreshed commitment to its company mission statement and to the people that strive to keep this vision viable.  Smart business is the company that invests in their workforce, no matter what the financial forecast is.” 

Introduction:

            Team Dynamics are the unseen forces that operate in a team between different people or groups. Team Dynamics can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs, and the effects of team dynamics are often very complex.

THE STORIES BELOW ARE INCREDIBLE AND TRUE:  READ & BE AMAZED

(Story of Mt St Helens)  

Mount St Helens:

There was a young boy in TX of about 10 yrs old who went to bed in a huff because he didn’t get to finish Magnum P.I. and because his dad wanted to watch the local news.

It was Saturday night the 17^th of May and the year was 1980.  The boy had watched all his favorite shows that day from Kung fu theater to Little house on the prairie and swore he was not tired.  He was asleep within minutes only to be woken up in the morning by the loudest, ugliest yellow wall phone Ma Belle produced sometime in the late 70’s.  You know the one…

It was a call from his Dads friends who had just moved to Boise Idaho the week before saying that a Volcano had erupted in WA that morning and to turn on the news right away.  As the boy watched the news with his dad he thought Volcanoes were cool and had only known of 1 Washington up to that day…The one where the Presidents lived.

ANY UNSEEN FORCES AT WORK?

There was a man by the last name of Miller in a town called Bremerton who, after hearing a series of “boom ba booms” that morning just knew it was Mount St Helens and frantically dialed his sister who lived south near Portland.  He mis-dialed and instead reached a Man living on the Toutle river who hadn’t heard anything at all (later to have been documented as a stratospheric anomaly-why a man over 100 miles away heard the sonic booms bouncing off the stratosphere before a man living on a river near the base of the mountain) needless to say the Man on the river was, thanks to this unknown caller and others, able to get his wife and 3 kids out of harms way the youngest of his daughters was 6 and their house washed into the river 2 days later.

UNSEEN FORCES AT WORK?

About a week after that, a woman in Oklahoma who lived just south of Tulsa was helping her husband clean ash off of all the cars in his used car dealership.  She put some in a small jar to remember how weird it all seemed as if it were a sign that the world maybe coming to an end.  She would later send that small Jar of ash with her son who moved to the California coast to remind him that the world was not a safe place and that he should never get too attached to anything or anyone.

UNFORSEEN FORCES AT WORK!

That boy in California is now, in Real Estate and made his first Million at the age of 27 and says that he thought the Jar of Ash instead, made him realize the value of the dirt we live on, so why not acquire as much land as he could. He bought his mother a house on the Central Coast last year and she is as happy as a lark.

That Girl whose house fell into the river still lives in WA state and is a School Teacher in Issaquah. Her father just retired from a Career in Forestry Engineering that he started in 1981. He holds over 6 patents and has helped the reforestation of tens of thousands of acres in WA state since the devastation left behind by St Helens. I spoke to him last night to confirm this story.

Lastly, I am that boy from Texas and I miss watching Magnum P.I. and still think Volcanoes are pretty cool, that boy from California is what I call a Life Friend and we are currently planning a World Wide Golf Tour upon our retirement.

And by the way did I mention that I married that girl whose house fell into the river?

 UNSEEN FORCES MY FRIENDS

UNSEEN FORCES DEBRIEF:  What were some of the Unseen Forces at Play. Q:

• Sound Anomaly in the Stratosphere – Is your company making enough noise to be heard
• Jet stream that carried Ash to Oklahoma – Are their Negative or Positive attitudes being carried on the Jet stream of communication further than you realize?
• Lava Flow, Shifting of Plates, Enormous Pressure beneath the Earths Surface – What Unseen Pressures are building beneath the surface of your business    

Again: Team Dynamics can strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs, and the effects of team dynamics are often very complex.  It is our goal through the experiential learning activities we produce to uncover what team dynamics are at play and the impact they have on every member of the team. (that’s What I do)

Purpose of the Compelling WHY:  To increase awareness of Unseen Forces in others, self and group. To uncover the Gifts, Talents and Abilities and how they contribute to the overall effectiveness, success or failures of your efforts.   After all, with recent company lay-offs and economic restructuring it is more important than ever for leaders to build morale and place value in the staff that still remains.

- Fred Grenados, Synergy Team Building