I have several questions for you first of all. Do you like chocolate? Or does it go further than that? Do you love chocolate are you what is called a chocoholic? And lastly, was that attitude fashioned by store-bought chocolate such as Mars Bars, Galaxy and Snickers?

I asked all those questions because, if you love chocolate and all you have ever tried is store-bought chocolate, you have a real surprise waiting for you one day. A thoroughly pleasant surprise. One day you will taste gourmet chocolate and it will bowl you over. It will make you regret all those days of your life that you had not known it.

Gourmet chocolate is to a Mars Bar what fillet mignon is to a ham sandwich or what champagne is to cheap plonk. It sounds as if I am running Mars Bars down and I suppose I am in a way, but I do believe that they have their position in the hierarchy of the realm of chocolate, it is just not near the top and when you have tasted gourmet chocolate, you will agree with me.

Most people use scent of one variety or another, whether its purpose is to cover up potential body odour or just for fun. When I say ‘fun’, I mean ‘pleasure’ or to be a magnet for admirers, whether you intend to do anything about them or not. There are literally thousands of scents to pick from and they are priced from cheap to exorbitantly expensive. So, when there are so many choices, how do you know which ones are suitable for you?

There are a few rules of thumb that you can use as guidelines to help you choose which is appropriate for you. First of all, you will need to know a little about the basic varieties of scent on hand, before you can find out which brand of scent will suit you the most.

So, you can begin by taking a look at the ingredients on the bottle. From these ingredients you can determine what type of fragrance is in the bottle. The basic types of fragrance are: light musk, natural fragrance, loud heady scent, floral fragrance, warm scent, bright cheerful scent and a few others.

If you are holding a large wedding, that is one with many guests, the cost of wedding favours can be quite considerable, if you do not set a strict budget. One immediate method you could use to cut the cost of your wedding favours is to give one to each couple or single, rather than one to everybody who comes. The first decision to make is how much can you afford in total and then divide that by the number of guests in total and then divide it by the number of couples and singles.

This method will make it easier for you to decide what you are going to do: buy for everybody; buy for couples and singles and keep the rest for something else or give to couples and singles but buy more elaborate gifts. If you still find that there is not a lot of money to go around, you will need to look for lower-priced wedding favours. I will give you a few thoughts below to get you going.

There is a very large number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to pick from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good selection, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is very important that you take your time when choosing one. Maybe the vast assortment of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to suffice, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even choosing not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so plain bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its distinctive two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, standing for eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

My friend has a store that sells glass artwork. My personal favourite glass artwork is paperweights and I have a lot of fun attending art auctions and buying art glass with her. We pay a lot of attention to what our friends and her clients like and dislike.

I usually give people art glass paperweights that I find at art auctions for milestone birthdays and anniversaries. My mother turned seventy last August and I found a magnificent glass paperweight for her.

The art glass paperweight that I found for my mother was made by Baccarat and I was extremely lucky that this was one of the last things auctioned. A lot of people had already left the auction when this item went on the block. My mother really liked the rose motif because the rose is her favourite flower.

I have a Dutch friend from Den Bosch who loves effigies of frogs. She has been able to decorate her abode very stylishly with her favourite frogs. I have been on the lookout for an art glass paperweight for her for years. I eventually found one at an art auction last year. The glass paperweight featured a frog sitting on a lily pad surrounded by blue water. It was very pretty and my friend started using it on her desk immediately.

The Theobroma Cacao or ‘the food of the Gods’ is what we all know as the cocoa tree. It’s origin can be traced back to South America’s rain forests, particularly to Central America, although historians are still debating over certain facts with regard to this tree.

It is suggested that the Mayans first grew the cacao tree in 300 AD, although others point to inadequate evidence that it was grown or at least harvested in around 3,000 BC. The Aztecs also used the cacao, but from about 1100 AD.

The chocolate (drink) that we all know nowadays was called ‘xocoatl’. It was a very exclusive beverage that was made out of cacao, chilies, anise seed, vanilla, corn meal and some other spices. It is said that only royalty were permitted to drink it and then only from golden chalices, which were to be used for the purpose only once.

The cacao tree is very sensitive to its environment and it most often grows in the shade of the rain forest canopy. If only for this reason alone, chocolate lovers should join forces with the environmentalists to save the rain forests so that the cacaos will survive.

There is a commonly-held belief that golf is the pastime and sport of entrepreneurs and businessmen. It also has the reputation of being exclusive and elite and not being available to ordinary blue collared workers. However, this is not really true, since modern technology and globalization have brought this so-called elite sport into the reach of normal people.

This is because you don’t need to acquire expensive equipment to join in. Unlike big game fishing and polo which require a lot of resources – a boat and a horse respectively, golfers just need a set of golf clubs, which are affordable these days. With this in mind, retirement gifts for golfers and aspiring ones are more easily thought of.

Personalized retirement gifts to personalize golfing equipment is quite easy. You could easily make personalized gifts by embroidering such items as golf club pouches or caddy covers. These can be knitted, if you are a knitter or by any similar craft which may use other materials.

A good idea is to think about the fashions of golfing which means to focus on the things worn by golfers. You may even be able to set a new trend in golfing apparel by using your lively imagination and an interesting design for your retiree.

Selecting the best wedding gift for your loved ones can be a difficult task. Guests want to pick the best wedding gift, one that will be useful to the couple and appreciated by the couple. Here are a few creative ideas to think about.

Adding Spice to Their Life

A spice rack full of high quality spices can be a great gift. Try finding a spice rack that has 12 spices, one for each month of their first year. Then compile different recipes using each spice. This will give them something to do together and something yummy to eat.

Remember the Honeymoon

A couples’ honeymoon will be remembered always, but having a coffee table book to flip through will help keep their memories vivid in the couples mind. Buy them a book for their coffee table with colorful pictures, important destination facts, and trivia. The couple will cherish it and always remember who gave them the book.

Newlywed Watercolor Painting

Newlyweds love acquiring new things for their brand new home. There are many companies, online and brick and mortar companies that will convert a regular portrait into a watercolor painting for very affordable prices. This portrait will be cherished and protected above most other gifts.

Everyone loves diamonds and no one looks bad in diamonds, do they? It is not actually within the remit of this piece to suggest whether diamonds are a first-class investment or not, but their supposed worth is enormous. Instead, I want to discuss where the best place to procure a diamond is, because it is more importantant that you acquire your diamond from a respectable merchant with a guarantee than that you think you got a good deal on eBay by purchasing somebody’s grandmother’s engagement ring, which might not be genuine.

Consequently, before you commence browsing for diamonds, consider dealing with a bonded jeweller. Bonded jewellers sell bonded diamonds and there are not many bonded jewellers in the world. In fact, of the jewellers in the world, only about 5% of them are bonded.

Buying a bonded diamond will cost more than buying a non-bonded diamond, but when you consider what you get with the bonded alternative, you will see that it is well worth the additional expenditure.

First, bonded diamonds have a buy-back guarantee for the life of the diamond. No matter how long you keep the diamond, you can take it back to the bonded jeweller and sell it back to him or her, for a 100% refund.

Personalization is the key to giving the ideal retirement present to those elite people in business, who have probably tasted the better things in life. It must be a gift that allows them to remember their legacy in the corporation, where they had worked so hard for decades to get to the position of their dreams.

The present must be something to do with their previous business interests, and which, after their life-time of profitable deals and perfect investments, reminds them of those business-related activities that gave them pleasure and therefore makes them feel happy again. These two things are fundamental and essential to help the former executive remember how they lived their working lives, and of course, the one who thoughtfully gave them the present.

For The Keen Golfer: Nothing says leisure and enthusiasm more than the sport of golf. The number of shops selling golf clubs, gloves, golf-carts and the like has rocketed over the years due to the rise in industries like hedge fund investing and financial advisors in general. A rising number of business people just means more golfers as golf is the sport where lots of them go to do deals and become acquainted. Further evidence of this, is that golf courses are becoming more commonplace in budding countries like India and China, where ‘Mission Hills’ and many other courses are frequently advertised in the sporting press.