Sending a Nice Thank You Card

There’s nothing NICEr than receiving a thank you card in the mail. And today, I ran (or should I say clicked) across fabulousstationary.com. Check out their card above which comes in three different color palettes. Who wouldn’t like getting that as a thank you card? Or better yet, who wouldn’t like buying it?

For as long as I can possibly remember, I have loved paper – in all of its glorious shapes, sizes, textures, colors, and forms. I could peruse a stationary store for hours on end. Today I’m emphasizing the importance of sending thank you cards, along with how much fun you can have in picking just the right card. Here are a few of my favorite online sites:

• Whitney English
• Linda & Harriett
• Peaceable Hill Paperie
• Lily Darby
• Penny People Designs

Nice Quotes

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. ~Author Unknown

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. ~Blaise Pascal

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

When you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel. ~Harold Kushner

Don't be yourself - be someone a little nicer. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Don't wait for people to be friendly, show them how. ~Author Unknown

Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns. ~Author Unknown

The best portion of a good man's life - his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. ~William Wordsworth

Isn't organizing Nice?

If you’re like me, you love to organize. For me, my favorite place to organize is in my office. I love the feeling of sitting at my desk, looking around the room, and noting how everything has a place and everything is in its place. For some, this may seem odd. For others, this is normal everyday living. Either way, one of the NICEst things you can do for yourself is to have an organized office. Taking the time to clear off your desk, create a filing system, establish a storage system and decorate the space you possibly spend over half your life living in, is so worth it.

eHow describes How to Organize Your Workspace. They recommend, “Establish(ing) a filing system, keeping current files in your deep desk drawer or a filing cabinet within reaching distance of your desk. Store papers you need only periodically somewhere else.” I like to keep lots of paper, so I have over 7 filing drawers crammed with organized, color coded files. I have divided the drawers by subject – bills, work, personal – and then alphabetically organize my files within the drawers. Once a year, I clean out the drawers and discard any papers I no longer need to keep.

If your work from home and are fortunate enough to have a space dedicated as your office, eHow also has tips on How to Set Up a Home Office. They recommend choosing “an L-shaped arrangement that provides a secondary surface if space is limited. A parallel arrangement can provide two full-sized working surfaces if they are placed opposite each other.” I have an L-shaped desk and I love it. I am able to swivel back and forth and work on multiple projects at once.

For those who enjoy working in a minimalist setting, Unclutter.com recommends Bluelounge’s SpaceStation to help with desk clutter. The SpaceStation unlcutters your desk by confining and hiding the many cords that come along with a desktop, laptop, mouse, etc. Unclutter.com also recommends a few storage solutions for shredders – the one office item that can be a real eyesore.




One of my favorite things to shop for is my own office. One site I recently found is organize.com. I have about a million business cards in various piles around my office, and this site has some great business card holders, such as the “Business Card Holder Book in Spotted Groove by The Gift Wrap Company”. Another store I love is the Container Store. I like perusing their aisles to find new and innovative ways to organize my office. They have lots of great storage solutions, like the Portofino Office Storage Boxes. One store that I only recently found out about a year ago is See Jane Work. They have a lot of fun items for your office. Gone are the days of plain manila folders and boring black staplers. See Jane Work provides fun and creative office supplies. I particularly like their PepperPot Mouse Pads.

Last but not least, if you love organizing and magazines, you might want to check out Organize. I recently came across this magazine but I haven’t checked it out yet. If you have, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

So do something NICE for yourself today – organize your workspace!

Be Nice to the Earth

If you haven’t heard by now, today is Earth Day. People celebrated Earth Day at a number of events over the weekend across the country, but today is the actual ‘Holiday’. If you are looking for a few ideas on how to be NICE to mother earth, take a look below:

Kaboose has a lot of great ideas on their website today including how to take care of our planet, crafts, coloring pages, and activities. They also have a great story on Toxin Free Cleaning and ten ways to encourage kids to go green. And if you want to know if you are living green, Kaboose has an online quiz for you to find out.

Today, Oprah will be having Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock and Al Gore on her show to talk about ideas on how you can save the planet.

If you are wondering on how much energy your computer generates, Gadgetress had a story in the OC Register yesterday that talks about saving energy with your computer.

If you’re looking for a book on going green, check out The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time on Amazon.

For those Banana Republic lovers out there, shop BR in-store or online between April 22 – 27th and they will donate 1% of their sales, up to $100,000, to the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit dedicated to conserving urban green spaces. Also check out Emili Vesilind’s article in the LA Times from April 6th that discusses Banana Republic’s Green Collection.

Take action today: Find at least 2 changes you can make in your life to ensure our Earth is a NICEr place to live!

Be Nice to your Administrative Professional

This Wednesday, April 23rd, is Administrative Professionals Day, which means it’s time to acknowledge and do something NICE for that special someone (or someones) in your workplace that make your life just a little bit easier. According to Wikipedia, “The International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), the sole official sponsor of Administrative Professionals Week and Administrative Professionals Day, suggests that employers show their support for the holiday, and their staff, by providing training opportunities for their administrative staff, whether through continuing education, self-study materials, or seminars.” But most employers will probably follow the more traditional route of taking their admins to lunch or buying them a small gift to show their appreciation. Here are some nice ideas to show them you care:

~ E-Cards ~ You could start their day by sending them an e-card. One of the e-card services that I use is Hallmark.com, which is providing 15 free Administrative Professionals e-cards online. It takes only about 5 minutes to register and send the e-card. You can even send the same e-card to multiple recipients. If you have a great rapport with your admin, you could send them a funny e-card from someecards.com. However, make sure you both feel that great rapport, because some of these e-cards are racy, and could be considered inappropriate if sent to the wrong person.

~ Paper Cards ~ Another option is to send a real card. Yes, a real card made from paper. Hallmark, of course, carries Administrative Professionals Day cards in their stores. You can also find ‘thank you’ cards at your local grocery store, Papyrus, or Paper Source. You could even create your own card at Kodak Gallery or Snapfish. Of course, it will take time to personally create a card online, but it shows your admin that you really do care about all of the hard work they’ve put in all year long.

~ Flowers ~
One of the most popular gifts you can give your admin is flowers. There is a ton of places to get flowers online. Here are a few: 1800flowers, ProFlowers, FTD, and Virtual Flowers. If you’re in the LA or OC area, here are a few of my favorite flower shops: Standing Ovation in Los Alamitos, Devynn’s Garden in Seal Beach, and KaBloom (which used to have a shop in Irvine). You can also order flowers online from KaBloom and Standing Ovation. If you’re looking for more of a potted plant or unique flower gift, another great place in the OC is Roger’s Gardens.

~ Gifts ~ You could also give your admin(s) a gift along with the card and flowers, or in lieu of. Here are some websites that will make your gift shopping a little bit easier. Gifts.com is great because they have a section dedicated to Administrative Professionals Day, with over 30 great gift ideas. They have gift items such as the “Thanks a Latte Cookie Bouquet” and Starbucks gift sets. If you’re not sure what to get, you could always buy a gift certificate from giftcertificates.com. They have hundreds of gift cards to choose from and they list the top selling gift certificates right on their homepage. But if you know your admin loves a certain something like The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Golden Spoon frozen yogurt, or Nordstrom, wouldn’t it be nice to buy them a gift certificate from one of these places to show them that you really do take an interest in what they have to say?

~ Lunch ~ And last but not least, it is important to take time out on Wednesday for lunch with your team. An easy way to find a restaurant and make reservations online is at OpenTable.com. They feature restaurants all over the country and make it easy to make a reservation through their convenient online reservation system. You even earn points for each dining experience, and after 2,000 points, you can redeem your earnings for a $20 dining certificate good at any opentable.com participating restaurant. Now how easy is that?

So don't procrastinate - start thinking and planning for Wednesday with one of the ideas from above. Or use your own creativity to make Wednesday a NICE day for those who are NICE to you!

Isn't my new blog "Nice"?

Hello! And welcome to my new blog called "Been Nice?". Essentially, this blog will focus on two things:

1. Ideas on how we can all be nice to one another.
   
2. Stories of true random acts of niceness from people just like you.
   

And why do we need a blog such as this? Because in everyday life, we sometimes need ideas on how we can be nice to our family, friends, coworkers, pets, and ourselves. And when you're having one of those days where everyone seems inconsiderate, this blog will be a place for you to read stories about people who are practicing niceness on a daily basis.

Now...have you been nice today?