 |
||||||||
 |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
 |
Be it love bite, massage oil or bread maker, offer the right gift
© St. Petersburg Times Kudos to William Brown of Port Richey, who will marry fiancee Amanda Williams inside the shark tank at the Florida Aquarium as part of a WWRM-FM 94.9 promotion. In addition to a wedding with real love bites, the couple will receive $3,500 worth of wedding gifts from Home Shopping Network, a six-day ski vacation and a reception at Maestro's Restaurant. So why kudos for the groom? The man is smart enough to get married on Valentine's Day, thus eliminating the need to buy separate Valentine's and anniversary gifts every year. Brilliant. Phoof. There is no other word to describe how Lynn Bayless goes about crafting gift baskets. With creativity, she takes common items and packages them into presents for spouses, friends and corporate associates. Envision a ceramic lady's shoe filled with items for a pedicure, a sauce pot filled with a package of spaghetti, sauce, wine goblets and candles or a chest with ingredients for the perfect martini, shaken or stirred. "I just give it that phoof to make it all happen," Bayless said. Bayless started phoofing and making gift baskets as the client appreciation manager for TransWorld Diversified Services. Soon, clients were requesting her presentations for their customers. TransWorld chief executive and owner A.L. "Skip" Glass saw a business opportunity for Bayless and pushed her to take the plunge by offering space in the company's building on the corner of Lois and Spruce. So since December, Crazy Daisy -- the name came from a Bayless doodle -- has quietly gone about peddling baskets out of the TransWorld building. Her best days have stemmed from receptions like the Tuesday night event featuring Schakolad chocolates and champagne. Word of mouth also has fueled business. Bayless has a degree in design and marketing from Florida State, but relies primarily on art lessons she has taken since she was 3. She proudly proclaims she can't cook, but she does paint and bake glasses in her kitchen. Her Valentine's Day offerings include "naughty" baskets featuring Cooking In The Nude books, clear aprons, massage oil and flavored whipped cream. Or for tamer interests, you can put together your own gifts and let Bayless "phoof it" for you. Today is not only Valentine's Day. Gov. Jeb Bush has also deemed it Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. Children's Heart Foundation volunteers will be at Tropicana Field from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. for an All Children's Hospital party for families of kids with heart defects. Here's another Valentine's idea: For a $500 donation you can honor a special someone with a plaque on the Honor A Woman In Your Life wall at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital. All proceeds go to toward programs and services at the hospital. What am I giving my wife for Valentine's Day? Start with the chance to see me on the runway at the McDonald Training Center's fashion show noon today at the downtown Hyatt. Mayor Dick Greco and wife Linda McClintock, Miss Tampa Jennifer Pierce, county commissioners Kathy Castor and Ken Hagen, and mayoral candidates Pam Iorio, Frank Sanchez and Charlie Miranda will be among more worthy models at the benefit. I also may get Florence another special gift, but I can't decide between a bread maker or the George Foreman grill. Hey, what's wrong with a gift that keeps on giving . . . to me. That's all I'm saying. -- Ernest Hooper can be reached at 226-3406 or hooper@sptimes.com .
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
Times columns today From the Times Metro desks City Times North of Tampa Brandon Times |
