No time to plan an awesome work event? In celebration of their debut on Condé Nast Traveler Gold List and U.S. News & World Report’s Best U.S. Hotels Rankings for 2012, The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain has introduced a Last-Minute Meeting Package, a planner-friendly bundle for groups needing an easy, worry-free way to book their meetings between March 1 and April 8, 2012. With more than 44,000 square-feet of indoor and outdoor function space, the Package lets meeting organizers focus on creating program agendas and taking care of participants, rather than on researching pricing and rushed planning logistics. Not only does the Resort also have three ballrooms of 9,000, 5,000, and 2,100 sq. feet for businesses to work with, but the hotel also boasts numerous outdoor meeting spaces with lush lawns and dramatic desert surroundings. Additional gathering options are available at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, its restaurant and clubhouse and COPRA Golf Academy, home to a variety of group golf clinics and corporate outings.

The Package is $389 per attendee and includes the following: hotel service charge, deluxe accommodations, daily hot buffet breakfast, morning coffee break, hot buffet or plated luncheon and an afternoon refreshment break. Optional team building activities are also available to group guests and feature fun activities such as guacamole and chili cooking challenges, margarita mixology classes, evening glow golf, custom cowboy boot and Stetson hat fitting, wine-blending, group ranch adventures, evening stargazing and more.

For more information, call 520-572-3100 or click here.

Southwest artist Diana Madaras of Madaras Gallery, Inc., will participate in The Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain’s Sunday Market Brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, February 19 at CORE Kitchen & Wine Bar. Madaras, who was voted Tucson’s Best Visual Artist of 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009, will celebrate her first appearance at the Market Brunch by signing any purchase made of her work during the event. A complimentary signed 2012 Southwest Art Calendar, featuring images of 25 of her paintings including “Sunset at Dove Mountain,” will also be included with each purchase.

Madaras is one of the most influential and widely-recognized artists in the Southwest and participates in CORE’s Market Brunch alongside other artists such as Linda Allyn of Fire Ranch Glassworks, Pat Kennedy of PK Designs, Beverly Garland of Sun of the West Jewelry, local potter Catherine Guibert-Orrantia and Marilyn Mack of Marilyn Mack Jewelry Design.

Market Brunch at CORE is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday. Cost is $48 per person, including a morning mimosa, or $60 per person with unlimited mimosas. The experience includes breakfast and midday buffet selections and pastries along with cooking stations featuring hand-rolled sushi, seafood and roasted meats. The resort’s Orchard Mixologist is available every Sunday to create morning libations featuring fruit from the restaurant’s 42-tree citrus grove.

To make reservations or for more information, call The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain at (520) 572-3000 or click here.

Forgoing labor this Labor Day, we’ll be chillin’ and grillin’ up a barbecue feast poolside next Monday. If you’re staycationing like we are this weekend, check back through Friday, September 2nd as we unveil a saucy barbecue dish, side or tip daily to help make your Labor Day fete a finger-licking success.

Chipotle Barbecue Sauce from The Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Tucson.

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While you we were out slamming shots of tequila on Cinco de Mayo, a certain Arizona resort was hosting an extraordinary gathering of the world’s richest people. We’re talking mega-billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett—all partying at a super-secret conference hosted at the crazy-posh Miraval Resort outside of Tucson. You know, the place Oprah stays when she’s doing the desert hideaway thing.

So what were these jet-setting titans of industry up to? Plotting world domination, no doubt. Or, even more diabolically, rigging the vote to get Casey Abrams voted off American Idol? Nope, they we’re discussing the best way to give away their billions to charity.

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While you we were out slamming shots of tequila on Cinco de Mayo, a certain Arizona resort was hosting an extraordinary gathering of the world’s richest people. We’re talking mega-billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett—all partying at a super-secret conference hosted at the crazy-posh Miraval Resort outside of Tucson. You know, the place Oprah stays when she’s doing the desert hideaway thing.

So what were these jet-setting titans of industry up to? Plotting world domination, no doubt. Or, even more diabolically, rigging the vote to get Casey Abrams voted off American Idol? Nope, they we’re discussing the best way to give away their billions to charity.

»READ MORE