When my client Kara Gilligan of www.WakingBeauty.com scheduled a private business coaching intensive with me at The Four Seasons New York, I’m not sure who was looking forward to it more, her or I.

Kara Gilligan of www.WakingBeauty.com and me at her private coaching intensive in NYC.

As a former psychotherapist, now life and success coach, I’ve facilitated many private intensives over the years, and I’ve been the client in many intensives as well.

To be a client in one of these private intensive days, is one of the most profound gifts you can give to yourself as a woman entrepreneur.  Why?  When you consider that most of us spend about 10-12 hours a day, 5-6 days a week working on our businesses and growing our ideas…doesn’t it make sense to take one day out periodically to receive mentoring, support and to develop and create new strategies to make your company more profitable and more enjoyable?

I know what a blessing it is to be the client and receive the guidance and expertise that great coaches have.  I feel more powerful and capable after my coaching intensives.  New ideas about my passion-based business get added to an already great plan.  Plus, “thoughts grow stronger as they are shared” so when one idea is brought up, it can be tweaked, expanded and given an action plan.

As a coach, facilitating private coaching intensives is beyond a joy because I get to use my gifts and talents in a really BIG way, that in turn, serves the client immensely.  These are truly life changing days.  I consider it an honor to do this work in this “live and luxurious way”.

First, I start my day out with a spa treatment to make sure I’m fully relaxed, grounded and centered in my body, mind and spirit so I can deliver the best services I’m capable of.  The Four Seasons New York has a glorious spa, and I experienced the “Acupressure With Back Walking“ massage.

Acupressure With Back Walking Massage Room at The Four Seasons New York Spa

Next, I get ready in a relaxed manner, so that I feel feminine, beautiful and calm before my client arrives.  Part of how I accomplish being stress-free while I’m traveling is to have enough space for my belongings and have them spread out and organized, so I can see everything.  Rumbling through a suitcase and frantically digging into the bottom of a purse to find your lip liner is no way to start a powerful day of coaching.

Organizing your beauty essentials is a “must” for Queenly living.

Next, make sure you choose a high-frequency environment that will literally support your high-frequency day with your client.  My preferences are a luxurious setting, plush furniture, natural lighting, healthy snacks and a box of tissue close by.

The Four Seasons New York provides a fantastic environment for private coaching intensives

I of course can’t share all that happened during the rest of this transformational day, due to confidentiality, however, I can share that in my intensives I cover personal, business, spiritual, and technical topics.  Kara walked away with greater clarity, power, confidence and plan that she is implementing as you’re reading this blog post!

We were both so thrilled with the results that were accomplished we spontaneously did a quick NYC photo shoot.  Check out the powerful, stunning, branding expert, Kara Gilligan:

Branding Expert, Kara Gilligan of www.WakingBeauty.com

Kara Gilligan glowing after her private coaching intensive in NYC

Here’s to your success in hosting your own private intensive days!

For more of my personal tips on how to create your own private intensives, including templates, contracts, welcome packets and wealth consciousness teachings, visit:  www.LiveAndLuxurious.com.

Much love,

Gina DeVee

What a glorious 5 days I’ve had here in NYC.  I flew across the Atlantic Ocean to meet with my Doing Business Like a Queen group at The Four Seasons New York.  I absolutely LOVE these women and our live training days together. 

We do in-depth learning and discovery on so much more than business and we cover smart business strategies too.  You can’t achieve the kind of success these women accomplish without attending to both the feminine and the masculine parts of ourselves.

Doing Business Like a Queen Members at The Four Seasons New York

As women entrepreneurs, it’s important to conduct your affairs in a luxurious environment with total support, full service, nourishing food, natural light and a cool vibration to create businesses that are going to the next level.   Check out our fabulous and plush meeting room for the day.

Luxurious meeting room at The Four Seasons New York

I’ve been writing a “Summer in the City” series while I’ve been here.  You can check out my post on “Tips for Manifesting” here.  And the post on “How to Be Memorable” here. More segments to come.

One of the BIG topics that came up in our women’s entrepreneur group meeting is the concept of  “having it all”.  Can you? Is it wrong? Is it possible to have what you want but not all at once?  Trust me, this topic hit a HOT spot within our group (you should have seen the looks on all of our faces).

So clearly today I feel inspired to speak further on today’s Divine Living Radio Show live from The Four Seasons New York on the concept of:

“Women & Femininity:  Having it All ~ The Way Your Life is Meant to Be”

Divine Living Radio Show Today:

10amLA/1pmNYC/6pmLondon/7pmParis

Listen Online:

http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=27870789

Listen via Phone & Ask Your Question:

Having traveled the world, I’ve enjoyed the good fortune of experiencing many grand hotels and resorts.  Some luxurious, some quaint, and I have very fond memories of my trips.  On my recent New York City stop to come and play, meet up with friends, plus host a private meeting with some of my top clients, I chose The Four Seasons New York.

Upon my arrival, I was impressed with the grand entrance.  After 2 months in Europe and getting off a flight from Paris, it felt fantastic to be back in the United States and welcomed in Four Seasons style.

Lobby Entrance at the Four Seasons New York

My room is fabulous! So perfect for a good night’s sleep after a long flight, with plenty of space to unpack and work. A Queen does need her space after all.

My husband and I were welcomed with a hand-written personalized note.

Absolutely divine strawberry lemonade, strawberry macaroons, and in-season strawberries.

Drum roll please! Now for the “Most Memorable Welcome Ever”: Sugar art with our picture plus chocolates!

The generosity and creativity of Tiffani Cailor and the Four Seasons staff inspired me to think of new ways to be memorable in life and in business.  Any great resort or hotel can have a bottle of Champagne waiting, or the still life picture looking fruit plate.  However, to make the effort to visit my blog, get a picture and create this spectacular welcome piece is a treat and treasure I’ll always remember.  Thank you Four Seasons New York!

Tips for Being Memorable in Business and Life:

1.  Think of what is standard practice in your industry and then…don’t do that.  Think of the Champagne example from above.  As lovely as it is, it’s still ordinary for 5-star hotels, and for those of us business travelers who visit them regularly, it’s almost even expected. Thinking outside the box is a key way to leave a lasting impression.

2.  Personalize…anything.  In our high-tech, fast-paced, Facebook group, email blast, Twitter list era, the personalized touch in Western society is lacking.  Personalizing something for your top client, weekend house guest, or BFF adds an element of sparkle and joy to anyone’s life and will surely be remembered.

3.  The handwritten note.  Whether it’s a thank you note, or a “thinking of you” card, receiving thoughtful sentiments on beautiful stationery is always memorable.

4.  Pick up the phone.  In our age of internet, opt-in boxes,  autoresponders, and texting…actually picking up the phone and calling people creates a connection a bond and has a prospective client or friend or colleague feel special.  We all remember the people who had us feel special.

5.  For no special reason.  Receiving a call, a letter, a gift out of the blue or “just because” is a great way to celebrate life and the people who you care about.  Think of one person right now who you want to do something memorable for, and do it…just because.

Much love,

Gina DeVee

Flying from Paris to NYC and arriving at The Four Seasons is something that used to be a mere dream, and yet as women entrepreneurs, we have the opportunity everyday to manifest our dreams and make them a reality.

Tips for Manifesting Anything You Desire:

1.   Get crystal clear on what you want to achieve and how you want to make a difference in people’s lives.  Do you know that statistically only 1 in 100 people know what they want?  I wasn’t shocked when I heard this considering how few people on the planet seem happy, empowered, or living out their dreams–let’s not fall into this category!

2.  Get really good at visualizing your desires and intending for them to become your reality.  As women, we’re quite supportive of “other people” being able to do what we want:  publish a book, land a TV gig, attract the right man, drop the 10 lbs., etc.  But when it comes time for YOU to receive your dream, do you tend to clam up, play small, feel inferior, or say “one day” it’ll happen? Visualize with great detail, YOU receiving all that you desire.

3.  Get yourself into an environment that is of a high frequency.  Your physical environment greatly impacts the way you create.  It’s important that you love where you are, whether at home, in your car or your hotel suite–surround yourself with beauty, with luxury, and with a high vibration that supports the best in you.

Leave me a comment about which of these tips you’re going to implement and why.

Much love,

Gina DeVee

I’ve had the exquisite blessing of spending the past 20 days at a friend’s home in the countryside just outside of Brussels.  Though I knew the company would be superb, fun times would be had and enjoying the gentleness of the summer air would be divine…the surprise I didn’t anticipate is the gift of Fuji.

Being a bit more of an indoor girl, admittedly walking through forests, dodging spider webs and getting my shoes wet has not been my morning ritual of choice.  That is, until I met Fuji.

With impeccable communication and persuasive abilities the best of politicians could only hope to achieve, here’s a view of how my days in Belgium begin:

Time for a morning walk through the woods

My husband, not entirely pleased, yet rendered equally powerless to Fuji’s persuasion…

The plant kingdom in all her glory…the majesty of this tree reminds me of a curvy, glamorous, full-bodied woman

A little playfulness at the start of the day does a woman good!

Gratitude. Noticing the formerly unnoticed ways all of nature and the Universe works to support  us and create a beautiful habitat.

Enjoying the morning ritual of “being”

Strength + Power + Courage + Love. = Tree Wisdom

No words needed, just: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

The morning walk feels sooooo good to my body.

Back “home”…thanks Fuji!

Morning Rituals with Nature & Animals:

1.  Do something in nature.  Smell the roses on your way to work, take a 15 minute walk around your neighborhood, have lunch in a park.

2.  Animal love.  For those of us who have four-legged friends, this is easy to do.  If there isn’t a tail wagging when you go home, offer to take a friend’s dog for walk, or make time to visit a neighbor with a cat.

3.  Gratitude.  If you feel lost, alone, unsure, or separate from much of humanity…take a look around at all in the Universe that is working for you and your good.

Have suggestions?  Leave a comment below about your favorite morning rituals with nature and/or animals.

Much love,

Gina DeVee

Celebrate or Procrastinate?

Sometimes it’s hard to celebrate life…even when we want to “believe the best” and “think positively” about all things and people.

Many times when we’re determined to chart a new course, or committed to developing new behaviors and actions, “that” curve ball comes in (especially on a Monday morning) and if we’re not careful, can let all of that hope, determination and commitment turn into paralysis and P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N.  Otherwise known as fear.

Champagne tasting at Veuve Clicquot in France

My husband and I went to Reims (the Champagne region) in France on Saturday, and then had a romantically lazy summer Sunday in Paris. 

And though we experienced this slice of heaven over the weekend, returning to growing our business, nurturing our dreams, writing my book and hosting our Divine Living World Tour London stop has not yet landed us in the “we have no issues, no challenges and nothing to work on in our lives” category.

You know the “highs” and “lows” I’m talking about.  All women experience this to some degree…the issue is for each of us, is the roller coaster a rare siting or routine occurrence in our lives?

On today’s Divine Living Radio Show I will discuss how we women can have a greater level of self-mastery in our lives so we can celebrate more and procrastinate less.  You’re invited to join us via phone or internet.

Today’s Divine Living Radio Show:

10amLA/1pmNYC/6pmLondon/7pmParis

http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=27870726

Guest pin code: 013584#

Please leave a comment below about what you celebrate and procrastinate.

When our friends, Zoltan Konrady and Aletta Lukacsy said they wanted to bring us to a traditional Hungarian restaurant–my husband and I immediately said, “Yes”.  When they shared with us that this was the place they were married…we knew it would be a night to remember forever.

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to this legendary establishment when I was in Budapest.

Károly Gundel opened his restaurant in this spot in 1910. The restaurant soon became a meeting place for politicians, prominent members of the business community and the bourgeois middle class. It was fashionable to dine in the Gundel, which boasted many artists, athletes, writers and various celebrities among its regular patrons.

Gundel Restaurant owed its popularity to two things: its inimitable hospitality and its unsurpassable cuisine. The ingenious Károly Gundel, who managed the restaurant in the early part of the 20^th century, had an intuitive knack for bringing the best out of Hungarian cuisine by combining its original, unbridled flavors with the refined approach of French cuisine and applying modern gastronomic technology.

His pioneering work placed Hungary on the world map of gastronomy. According to the New York Times, Gundel Restaurant’s set-up at the 1939 World Fair in New York did more to enhance Hungary’s reputation than a shipload of tourist brochures could have done. Gundel Restaurant proudly upholds its traditions and continues to provide the same standard of gastronomic excellence that has made it Hungary’s most famous restaurant. It is their conviction that Gundel is not a synonym for luxury, but for quality.–Gundel The Restaurant

Glenn and I waited in this “Old Fashioned” Bar for our friends

My view of Zoltan Konrady (left) and my husband, Glenn Sisk (right)

Their view of us…me and my friend Ali Lukacy

Ali and I ordered Champagne for an aperitif…when our flutes arrived, they came with foie gras rolled in black truffles. I. Love. Budapest.

You must understand Hungary = goose liver. This variation is on brioche with caramelized onion and sea salt…divine.

Admittedly, this photo does not begin to express the majesty that this “Hungarian Goulash” deserves. The beef was succulent and tender, the tomato broth quite elegant. Not at all the “stew” Americans think it is.

Love Gundel’s royal style

Hungarian Pike Perch

Flaming chocolate sauce over crepes

Gundel’s decadent farewell gift

What a night. Thank you Zoltan & Ali!

If you’re like me, you have a dream for your life and career, that is bigger, broader and more you than what is currently happening today.  Maybe you see yourself on TV, or as a best-selling author.  Perhaps your dream is to own a clothing line, or all natural make-up products or come up the the latest (and needed) tech gadget.

One of my dreams is to own a specialty foods boutique–shocker I know.  Until I have my own Divine Living (TM) storefront, I’m obsessed with other foodie entrepreneurs who have already made their flagship food stores a reality. 

Meet my friend, Zoltan Konrady of Konrady Foods, and welcome to his specialty food shop in Budapest, Hungary.

Visiting my friend Zoltan Konrady’s specialty food shop in Budapest

Zoltan imports, Joselito products from Spain, what many consider to be, “the most delicious ham in the world” http://www.joselito.com/eng/elalma_espiritu.htm

A view from the case: meats with wine pairings…brilliant!

For those who are in the mood for white meat…

Bring these on a picnic or add them to a charcuterie tray

Now, over to the pantry part of the store…

Salt with Black Truffles

Beautiful egg pasta from Italy

Love this! Just add this peach mix to Champagne and voila…a bellini!

Next, Zoltan took us over to his bakery for breakfast…

I enjoyed this elegant macchiato

Great men waiting for their breakfast.  (My husband on the left, Zoltan on the right)

Breakfast course #1

Breakfast course #2

 And then, the grand finale!

I’d love to hear what your entrepreneurial dreams are.  Please leave a comment below and share you with the world!

Much love,

Gina DeVee

When my friend Zoltan and his wife Ali invited my husband and I to their Hungarian country home, I had NO idea the delight I was in for…especially the part about going back in time.  Now, admittedly horse shows aren’t part of my typical routine these days…and this was a very helpful pattern interrupt!  Changing things up in our lives, doing different things…especially the kind of activities we women entrepreneurs don’t usually participate in adds to a more colorful and interesting life.  And doing new things with friends?  Even better.

Here are some shots of my experience.  You’ll have to scroll all the way down if you want to see a little surprise…

My beautiful friend, Ali on her way to the horse show.

With front row seats the view was amazing…

So stunning.

Ali & Zoltan’s precious children.

A new group decided to join the show…

I was invited to meet the horse…

And then…I was invited to ride the horse.

What new activities do you want to enjoy this summer?  Leave a comment below to let me know…

Much love,

Gina DeVee

My friend, Zoltan Konrady of Konrady Foods gave me the tour of a lifetime in Budapest for bistros and Villany for wine tastings.  As if I wasn’t falling in love with Hungary enough, Zoltan and his beautiful wife Ali, invited us to their country home for the weekend.

The pictures below are how we spent an idyllic summer evening in bliss.

A perfect summer evening at my friend Zoltan’s country home

It all started right before sunset…

“Gin & Tonic” marinated salmon and nori wrapped smoked salmon for appetizers

A crisp sip of Sauska, a delightful Hungarian rose`

Could Zoltan & Ali’s son possibly be any cuter? I think not.

Time for dinner! Delectable Wagyu beef from Zoltan’s specialty food shop.

For the enchanting after dinner conversation…

Zoltan’s exquisite wife, Ali.

The King & I dancing under the stars…

A moment to remember.

So, this…is how we do summer nights in the Hungarian countryside.

I invite you to leave a comment about this summer evening, or share how you love to spend your summer nights.

Much love,

Gina DeVee