May Newsletter - Happy May!

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May is one of my favourite months. Vancouver comes fully alive, the patios open, the air shifts, and there's an optimism in this city that's hard to explain and impossible to miss.

It's also a month full of meaningful moments worth honouring:

• Mother's Day — Sunday, May 11

• Mental Health Awareness Month — all of May

• Victoria Day long weekend — May 19

Helicopter or Not, I Am Your Mother

Helicopter or not. Hovering or hands-off. Texting too much or just enough. No matter the style, a mother's love is unmistakable and this May, we're celebrating all of it.

Let me start with my mom, a true trouper if there ever was one. The woman could handle anything life threw at her without missing a beat. Challenges? She smiled through them. Hard days? She powered through. She made it all look easy, even when it wasn't. I carry her strength with me every single day. My mother also taught me that a gift, wrapped with love, says what words cannot. Thirty years later, I have built a business on that truth.

Then there's my mother-in-law, a woman with more zest and boldness in her pinky finger than most people have in their whole body. Determined, lively, never one to hold back. You always knew when she was around, and you were always glad she was.

when she was around, and you were always glad she was.

And then oh, the sweetest chapter of all becoming Mommy. The giggles, the sticky hands, the bedtime stories that somehow turned into three books, a glass of water, and one more hug. My son gave me a whole new kind of joy the kind that fills up every corner of your heart and then some.

Motherhood is messy and magnificent. Exhausting and exhilarating. No two mothers do it the same way, and that's exactly the beauty of it.

Here's to the troupers, the bold ones, the imperfect ones, and the ones who showed up every single day just doing their best.

You are everything. Happy Mother's Day!

A Note on Showing Up, For Leaders Too

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and it got me thinking about something that applies just as much in the workplace as it does at home: the power of truly showing up for the people around you.

Not in the checkbox sense. Not the annual review, the obligatory team lunch, the card passed around the office. I mean the kind of showing up that someone actually feels.

Recognition doesn't have to be grand. Sometimes it's specific and quiet noticing the person doing steady, reliable work and saying, by name: I see what you're doing and it matters here. Research consistently shows that employees who feel genuinely recognized are more engaged, more loyal, and more willing to bring their whole selves to work.

This month, whether it's for a mother in your life or a colleague on your team, pick one person and acknowledge them. Specifically. For something real.

And if you'd like help finding the right way to say it a wellness gift for your team, a curated appreciation box for a client, something personal for someone who deserves to feel seen  we've been doing this in Vancouver since 1993. We make it easy, beautiful, and memorable.

→ Browse Corporate & Team Appreciation Gifts

→ Wellness & Self-Care Gift Sets — perfect for Mental Health Month

All my best,

P.S. If you missed last month's note on the hidden power of the words we use, it's worth a read.