Thank-You-Ness in Place of Bus-y-ness

It's Monday. Already. Again. So tough to get in the mood for work, yes?

Experts suggest trying the old "think of three positive things about my work" technique. It puts you in the right frame of mind.

Mmmmm. Rarely works for us either.

But how about the old "think of three colleagues who have made a difference to me" technique. Now that just might work.

In a perfect world, we'd dish out thank yous and compliments quite freely. Truth is, we're often too busy conducting bus-y-ness to tell people we appreciate their talents and effort as often as we'd like. And besides, the whole idea of face to face flattery makes some people get all fidgety.

That's why we love the Thanks a Lot Notepads. For nearly pennies you get 50 pages worth of simple opportunities to pass along a thank you and a compliment – freely, and without a word. No need to get into a long, drawn out conversation, now.

So notepads or not, go pay tribute to an associate's diplomatic words, uncanny instincts or convincing commentary. And the amazing thing is you'll likely get a thank you in return.

And isn't that a great way to start any day.

Good Taste (and Cake) is Always in Style

If you've ever wondered what the secret path is to a VIP's heart, allow us to fork over this suggestion: food.
Not just any food, but something with "wow" and, preferably, sweet.

To that end, meet Florida bakery We Take the Cake. Acquired and deliciously made over by entrepreneur

Lori Karmel, the company does a bang-up job whisking its homemade bundt cakes directly (by 2nd Day FedEx) to the customer or client of your choice.

Here's how it feels to be on the receiving end:

The gold tin arrives with the gift-giver's corporate logo printed on top. You open the cus-tom-designed cake box to find – what's this? A beautiful, personalized hand-written note just for you! How lovely!

Peel back the colorful gift wrap to unleash mouthwatering smells of Florida Key Lime, Triple Chocolate Chip, Southern Red Velvet, Pumpkin Lemon Ginger or some other delectable flavor.

A sweet way to improve customer relations, get in the door with a potential investor, recognize employees or thank a VIP client for being such a treat to work with.

No time like the present to start spreading around a little good taste.

People You Need to Know

Seeking a little intelligent inspiration?

Then you need to know: Wendy Kopp. Alison Malmon. Yanar Mohammed.

And these people are just the beginning.

The three women and many other trailblazers are featured on CNN's online special report, "People You Should Know."

Each week, the site features new profiles, videos and podcasts, effectively shining a light on people who are overhauling society, one virtuous initiative at a time.

For example, Wendy Kopp revolutionized education when she started Teach for America in 1989, which places top college grads in some of the nation's poorest school district in the U.S. Her goal: to level the playing field for all kids, regardless of where they were born.

Meanwhile, Alison Malmon has tried to curb college-student suicide by forming a student group called Active Minds, which raises awareness of mental illness on college campuses.

And Yanar Mohammed founded the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq to protect women from being treated like second-class citizens.

Once you know everyone on CNN's list, tell the network whom you'd like to see featured, by sending a text message or email.

Twinkle, Twinkle Swarovski™

There are days when you want to move through the universe (a.k.a. Starbucks, the bank, the grocery store, etc.) unnoticed.

We get it and have one piece of advice:

Do NOT sport a Sparkle Plenty tee or the going-incognito plan will be a huge bust.

Don't blame the 100 percent cotton tees, embellished with Swarovski™ crystals – it's not their fault they attract stylish eyes wherever they go.

The high-quality shirts, which come in various colors and a range of silhouettes from tanks to long- and short-sleeved numbers, owe their glam factor to the diamond-like sparkling Swarovski™ crystals (or shining rhinestones or rhinestuds) that comprise the images or words swirling across their chests.

A few designs we're particularly sweet on (this week) include: Fleur de Lis, Peace Sign, and the Crystal Zipper. Not exactly work attire, we know. But will definitely zhuzh up a pair of denim for mojitos with your honey or brunch with the girls.

But speaking of work, looking for an elegant way to market your company brand? Mm hmm, Sparkle Plenty specializes in customized and promotional apparel, too.

Now that's one fine way to shine at the office.

Happy Feet

Oh, the lengths to which you go to succeed.

And the fabulous heels you wear to get there.

But, oh, the pain in your soles once you arrive.

Don't worry, angels, you're not doomed to an eternity of painful and tired tootsies. Not with these footsie cushions made especially for those of us who like a little spring (and a lot of height) in our step.

Designed to fit into virtually any shoe in every Imelda's closet – from open and closed styles, slingbacks and strappy numbers to pumps, boots, and slides – it's clear these manufacturers have women at the helm of new product design.

It's about time.

Dr. Scholl's Sole Expressions™:

Comfort is queen with these new inserts, made of soft foam that absorbs shock in your heel and cushions the sensitive ball of the foot. Purchase these inserts at local retailers or online at Amazon.

Insolia™ – the science behind these cushion-y comforts shifts the weight off the ball of your foot onto the heel. So magical, Donna Karan has even designed some of her shoes with Insolia's built right in. Find Insolia's at a local retailer or purchase online.

Tell Me More About Me

When it comes to searching for your hidden talents, aspirations and possible pitfalls, we've just the place: Tickle.com's Career Channel.

It's like having a "Boutique Know Thyself" right at your fingertips. And what self-respecting, sure-footed, destined-for-success woman wouldn't want to shop there?

More insightful than a daily horoscope and cheaper than consulting a career coach, the site is chockful of quizzes that shed light on who you really are.

Some tests fall on the lighter side. You might have fun learning, for example, which hairstyle matches you or what your "superpower" is. Others tests are PhD-certified, and test results are way more detailed and customized. For example, "Are you in the wrong office?" or "How powerful are you?"

We took the Emotional IQ test and received a 15-page report that delved into so much detail, we wondered whether Tickle.com had been talking to our mother.

The catch: The premium quizzes, which come with lengthy reports, must be purchased – most cost around ten dollars.

However, for the price of a couple of venti nonfat lattes, though, we'll gladly pay to have our cup runneth over with self-knowledge.

Scandinavian Eye Candy

Mmm, yes. Organized, comfortable and brimming with urban modernity.

(Or is it modern urbanity?)

That's the workspace you've always dreamed of, and there it is, staring back at you from the Web pages of the most wonderful Scandinavian home furnishings store.

That store would be IKEA. You know, birthplace of affordable shaggy white rugs, curvy lamps and good-anywhere shelving with names like Ivar and Laxvik.

And, ooooh-la-la, how they offer a variety of inspiration for creating spaces that will have you longing to go to work.

Check out IKEA Business, the company's brand new Web offshoot, focusing on small business solutions, and telling us we can have "a better life at work." You'll be treated to an up-close look at some stylishly organized and dreamy workspaces, displays and break rooms. A host of remarkable short videos will also capture your fancy.

And if you still want more on special settings for the creative genius in you, head over to IKEA Workspace. Visual delights abound, what with the numerous chic yet comfortable spaces featured in this section.

Yes, my dear. You'll be sitting pretty in no time.

Be In The International Know

Ever think about how effortless it must be for Christiane Amanpour to make chit-chat at networking events? Ahhh... to be a chief international correspondent, able to talk intelligently about things all worldly and current.

"Mmmm. This English tea is lovely. And such a shame about Stonehenge not making it into the 'Seven Wonders of the World' list."

"These blintzes are divine! Say, what do you think about Moscow's recent whitewash of the Stalin era?"

Being in the know is one thing. Being in the international-know is another thing. Entirely.

To get, and stay, "in-the-international-know", tune in to The Week magazine.

Try visiting the "World at a Glance" page. The dozen or so one-paragraph blurbs cover the big news affecting major cities around the world. In 10 minutes you can come away with enough smarts to hold your own and make newsy conversation.

Why, within a week you'll be practically as well-versed as a globe-trotting correspondent.

Without all the jet lag.

Do A World of Good In Style

Yes, you can see yourself now... (insert whimsical movie music)... dumping this real job to focus on something more noble.

Why, someday (music crescendos here), you may just run off to join the Peace Corps, digging wells for some remote village in Africa.

Oh, p-l-e-a-s-e...

With 20 hours of work to squeeze into the next 5 hours, you can't even imagine having time for lunch, let alone time to plan for some do-gooding.

Wouldn't it be grand if you could keep toiling away, and still be a big-time do-gooder?

Introducing World of Good, founded by Priya Haji, who put her business acumen and social awareness to good use by promoting free-trade products.

You whip out your credit card to buy stylish jewelry, bags, housewares and scarves, most handmade – and the artisans receive fair compensation, enabling them to pursue things like higher education.

World of Good also supports artisan groups directly by building schools, health clinics and, yes, even digging wells.

Now, without picking up a shovel, you can still do a world of good.

Posh (Inde) Pendants

Diamonds may be a girl's BFF, but big bold pendants have a coveted spot in her inner-career psyche.

Dangling from long chains of silver or gold (or something unexpected), these spectacular lookers have grace and gravitas – and they're the perfect companion should you decide to indulge in this fall's sexy and independent menswear-inspired look.

So next time you take a shopping break (real world or virtual), keep your peepers peeled for a posh pendant.

Here's a variety of styles sure to make your décolletage blush.

Juicy Couture's Tortoise Link Long Pendant Necklace (with gold detail) will sass up any outfit with its show-stopping tortoise chain and heart charm. Pair with a white tee or basic button-down for maximum pop factor.

Katie Costello's Large Oval Pendant with 32-inch double gold chain and bubbled pendant is as versatile as they come. Like a piece of wearable art, the classic necklace, which is at home uptown or downtown, will attract admirers wherever she goes.

With its funky, tiered silver links, the Round Locket by Bing Bang is reminiscent of necklaces past and thoroughly modern. This extra-long statement piece is the ideal topper for a tunic or simple knit or tee. Fashion sentimentalists will fall hard.

Enlightenment to Go

From time to time we happily head off to the bookstore, expecting to be enlightened by the latest 'how-to-get-ahead' book.

And what do we find?

An array of new and previously published business titles so big it makes our heads spin.

And then, instead of making the happy acquisition we'd imagined, we stand in the aisle – looking overwhelmed – asking ourselves:

'Exactly how is a smart girl supposed to stay enlightened (not to mention get-ahead-smart) when it's impossible to keep up with all the latest, greatest ideas?'

Enter Soundview Executive Book Summaries.

These handy little quick and easy to read summaries are eight-page rundowns of a book's main points – and read much like a magazine article.

The editors sort through over 1000 business titles each year (so you don't have to) and declare 30 of them to be the best business books of the year. You subscribe and get two summaries per month, in whatever format you'd like – audio, CD-ROM, print or online.

Not only will you be better informed, you'll have more time to shop for more important items.

Like shoes.

Dorothy Goes High Fashion in Three Clicks

Oh, Auntie Em, if only.

If only there were a way to flip through a fashion magazine, spy the patent stilettos/tulip skirt/pea coat of my dreams, click my heels together three times, and wish it into my closet.

Good news, Dorothy: You had the power to click those clothes into your closet all along.

Uber-fashionable Web site Net-a-Porter presents fashion as a magazine would – with photos from the runway, splashy roundups of the "10 must-have items" for the season, etc. – then invites you to click to buy any item you'd like. The looks are the trendiest la-bels from New York to Paris, including Chloe, Jimmy Choo, Nina Ricci and Marc Jacobs.

You'll especially love: A smashing roundup of fall's new arrivals, a couldn't-be-more-current look at what's new this week and four true-blue ways to wear fall's super-chic, wide-legged jeans.

So girlfriends, click your heels (or mouse pads) three times and say, "There's no place like Net-a-Porter. There's no place like Net-a-Porter."

For now we can find first-class, high fashion without ever leaving our very own back-yards.

(Do) Good Eats

Food makes us happy.

And there's nothing more scrumptious than food with a philanthropic flavor.

If someone told you that you could enjoy a homemade dinner with friends, old and new, while helping the lives of the most impoverished women and kids in the poorest-of-the-poor countries, wouldn't you sign on?

OK, here's a pen.

Dining For Women, a nonprofit organization, is catching on with women who are happy to take the money that they would normally spend on a restaurant meal and donate it at a monthly "dinner giving circle."

Everyone whips up a dish and comes together, at someone's home, to enjoy a yummy spread and conversation, while donating about thirty dollars each.

The money is forwarded to Dining for Women where 100 percent of the pooled dollars are given to myriad charitable organizations, all of which strive to empower needy women and children around the globe.

There are DFW chapters around the U.S. If there's not one near you, start one of your own.

Like we said, food makes us happy. Especially when it makes other people's lives better.

Nu Way to Wheel and Deal

You may not be a gadget-girl, but the multi-tasker in you might just go ga-ga over the new Garmin nuvi 680.

This slim little navigator is also something of a personal travel assistant.

Imagine this:

You check the weather forecast (on your nuvi) and it calls for rain.

Fine – you'll simply play hookie for the afternoon and take in that flick you've been dying to see.

You turn your nuvi to the task of conveniently telling you which theater to head for, with door-to-door directions steering you away from traffic congestion.

Since your nuvi got you there early, you decide to squeeze a couple calls to clients – hands-free – since your nuvi navigator integrates nicely with your Bluetooth compatible phone.

You complete your wheeling and dealing with time to spare, and relax by playing with the nuvi's built-in MP3 player, audio book player, JPEG picture view, currency converter, etc.

Yes, this little gem offers just about everything you need from a car companion. Without the backseat driving.

Fall Trend - The Shirt Off His Back

You have nothing to wear in that jam-packed wardrobe of yours – and you're having a fashion freakout.

Step 1. Take a deep breath.

Step 2. Mosey on over to your sweetie's closet for inspiration.

Step 3. Be totally hip this fall by buying a show-stopping menswear-inspired shirt dress.

Yup, just as we suspected – a man's touch was all you needed to go from fashion funk to fashion fabulous.

Here are a few beauties to get you started:

The Lily French Cuff Stretch Sateen Shirtdress is flirty without being frivolous. With its Johnny collar V-neck and full-A-line skirt, it's also very forgiving. It comes in black, brown and red. Be bold and go for the power red (so very vogue this fall). You'll be a standout wherever life takes you.

Lest you think shirt dresses are all work and no play, get a load of this tastefully sexy stunner by Plenty by Tracy Reese. The printed silk shirt dress with bold paisley print has a button-up front, A-line shape and mini length. Slip on for instant glamification

Gap's gone crazy for shirt dresses and offers up several options. We're digging the Solid French-Cuff Shirt Dress in black (also available in blue pinstripes and petite sizes). The high-quality silk/cotton blend features chic French cuffs on its long sleeves and a narrow self-tie belt, hitting mid thigh. This one is sleek and chic, perfectly suited for work and weekend.

Extreme Productivity Makover

Problem: Your brain simply isn't roomy enough to store all the thoughts floating around in there – your to-do lists, notes from today's big meeting, that inspired solution to a vexing problem.

Something is bound to slip through the cracks.

And since you're hustling from one meeting to the next all afternoon, you have zero time to write everything down.

Solution: A personal assistant who follows you from place to place, typing as you dic-tate then sending tidy little notes to you by email.

Marvelous, right? What? No room in the budget for a personal assistant?

Plan B: For a palatable monthly fee, you can sign up for a similar service from Copytalk.com. The standard package will allow you to use your cell phone to dictate unlimited memos, record meeting notes, and listen and dictate email. A scribe takes down each dictation, converts it to text and delivers it via email.

Now your every to-do, thought and inspiration can be captured before they slip away.

Extreme productivity. Now that's a beautiful thing.

Totally Put Together

Back by popular demand!

Business receipts can be so annoying.

Always wanting to mix themselves amongst the receipts for more important purchases like dresses, beauty creams and dinner and drinks with the girls.

And about filing that monthly expense report...what a hassle.

Hassle, meet the made in Italy Moleskine Memo Pocket organizer. The journey from business purchase to paperwork just became hassle free. And considerably more stylish.

This little black book (3.5 x 5.5) with the oil bound moleskine cover allows you to feel totally put together as you put away those receipts. Inside this little gem are six accordion pockets – ideal for keeping your business receipts separate from the pleasure ones, with room left over to sort by project or account.

So next time you're ready to render that expense report, reach for your Moleskine Memo Pocket organizer.

After all, itemizing with receipts right at hand is so much more attractive than dumping the entire contents of your purse onto the conference room table.

After Hurricane Katrina – A Toast to Hope

Today, two years later, we remember the devastating effects Mother Nature hurled upon one of the finest cities in our nation.

Today, we mourn what was lost, yet celebrate what has been reborn.

Today we salute each and every man, woman, and child who stepped up to make a difference where a difference was needed to be made.

Today we honor the thousands of individuals who tirelessly housed the homeless, and worked to rebuild homes and schools, places of work and worship.

Here's to the power of determination, perseverance and hope.

Read the inspiring story of a 10-year old boy who was able to return to his rebuilt school in the Lower Ninth Ward, thanks to the efforts of principal Doris Hicks.

All in a Matter of Time

Of course you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. It's only a matter of time. (And smarts - but of course you have no shortage of that.)

When time is of the essence, you'll want to keep track of it in style. Here's a gathering of a few luxurious timepieces. One may be just the perfect fit for you.

Be at the front of the line to don the sporty Suunto Lumi, available September 1. It easily skips from the board room to mountain trails, thanks to the versatile straps, pendants and tiny jackets used to adapt the watch to any occasion. With an altimeter, barometer, compass and personal day counter, you'll never be left to wander through life.

The G Chrono brings Gucci style to your wrist, where it's not so expected. A G-shaped string of diamonds (54 in all) curves around the pink face of this timepiece, letting the luxury-loving side of you shine through.

Occasionally, a timepiece comes along that is a small-scale work of art. Any one of Piaget's watches are just that. These one-of-a-kind beauties are totally swoon-worthy – and so is their site, Piaget.com. This one is definitely worth your time.

Head over Heels (For These Shoes)

Doesn't matter what your SAT scores were (although we know you're a genius, dahhling). Everyone can get oxford educated this fall.

At least anyone with a high fashion IQ – as oxfords are the newest kicks on the block.

Sort of a hybrid boot/shoe, these heeled lace-ups come in a plethora of colors and mélange of materials (suedes, patents, leathers), with varying heel heights and platforms. They're also versatile and a bit more modern than their ankle-bootie cousins, and rock out with skirts and cropped pants, which just happen to show off their flirty and unexpected silhouette.

Not only are these shoes smart, they are perfectly appropriate for the office and saucy enough for aprs work.

No doubt you'll fall head over heels in love with these babies. And when it comes to love, shoes can be much more exciting than men.

Moschino's dark brown suede oxford with contrasting stitching is power style personified while Max Studio's Cooper classic black platform oxford seduces with its chic detailing and goes-with-almost-everything-ability.

Nine West's Naples, which comes in black and cream satin, feature a fun faux lacing detail and also exude a sophisticated vibe. And serious fashionistas will go gaga for Vince Camuto's Maran Peep-Toe Lace-Up Oxford. The dark gray and red hues are zippy alternatives to ho-hum neutrals.