December is just flying by and before we know it we will be ringing in the New Year! Luckily it hasn't been too cold and I haven't found a need for a heavy winter coat yet.

It would be nice to have a little snow this year, but I can certainly do without the slippery roads, and icy sidewalks. It's been a very rainy winter and my promotional umbrella certainly comes in handy. Don't get caught in the rain without one!

For those of you who know me, know that I LOVE food. And for those who don't, you are about to find out! I like to start my day with breakfast and healthy snack (maybe a fruit). Shortly after, I have lunch before my lunch break. During lunch, of course I have more lunch followed by another snack. Today was especially great, we had tons of promotional cookies, salads and sandwhiches for lunch. On days like this, I am glad to be at work! And I am certain that my co-worker Adam Brown would agree!

Everybody knows what promotional stress relievers are and the fact that they help with with relieving stress in fun styles and shapes. I would like to introduce you the newest addition to the stress relieving category. The mushy monster rubber toy is the perfect stress reliever because of how fun this item is for kids to play and throw around and also great for adults to use as a stress reliever. My mushy monster is sitting on my desk and comes in handy when stress gets the best of me.

While shopping for some essentials at the supermarket on monday, my daughter decides she NEEDS to make cup cakes. Ofcrouse, I gave in and we bought all the necessary ingredients. As promised by my 3 year old, she would help make the cupcakes (I should have known better, lol). Vika was excited to first help me, but that faded quickly and she just sat back eating cake batter while I did all the work. The next time around, I should just buy her some promotional cupcake shaped cases with candy fill and call it a day!

Lately I have been trying to save a few bucks here and there by bringing lunch to work from home, instead of buying everyday. Since I have yet to purchase a lunch/cooler bag for myself, I like to use my customized tote. Depending on what I have for lunch, my tote isnt always the best to carry all foods. For example, a cup of soup and a tote bag is just a disaster waiting to happen, but you have to work with what you got. So until I purchase my very own promotional lunch bag, it will be just me and my elm tote bag.

My typical everyday routine is making myself a cup of coffee, I am useless withouth it. (I'm sure most of you would agree!) With a 3 year old in the house, mornings tend to be very busy, so I'm always on the go and I use styrofoam/paper cups with a lid as a one time deal and throw them away. Shame on me! This is such a bad habit and wastes valuable resources, through this whole time I could have purchased a promotional ceramic mug and reuse it without throwing out 365 paper cups within one year. The cafe ceramic mug is a perfect substitute and looks similar to the plastic cup that I have been throwing out daily. As of this moment, I vow to do better for mother earth!

With yesterday being Valentines Day many treats were going around the office, and ofcourse many are hesistant on eating that 2nd piece of promotional chocolate, trying to hold onto their New Years resolution.  Well not my daughter! She indulged in Valentines Conversation Sweethearts, , chocolate truffles and cupcakes. What was even better is that she wanted to share these things with her little cousin, ( I believe that was partial to me telling her about the dentist and what happens when you dont take care of your teeth). All in all, we had a great day! We learned to share, try delicous treats, and learned about the dentist.

As I had mentioned on this blog earlier, this past weekend, I made the big move. The truth is, the easiest part of moving is actually the big stuff, the furniture. Beds, couches, dressers, all of those things are taken apart and brought to your new home by movers. Everything else, well, thats your responsibility. That's why as soon as many people know they are moving, they begin their hunt for cardboard boxes for all of the small stuff. Not me, I don't do the box method. I use promotional products. Thats right, when I moved this past weekend it was promotional bags that got me from one place to the next. You see over the years I have acquired quite a collection of custom tote bags and promotional duffel bags. It is an ecofriendly way to move because it is not creating more garbage. It eliminates the stress of finding or buying boxes and making sure you have rolls of tape to close them. Not to mention, it looks better and is easier to organize everything once you get everything into your new place. It's just another of the many uses of promotional bags!

During Memorial Day weekend my parents and niece, Victoria woke up early and drove to Jones Beach to see the annual Air Show. From 8am-2pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Air Force put on a show; dazzling the 407,000 spectators that attended. There were Thunderbirds that plunged towards the sand. Warbirds that dropped water balloon “bombs” into the ocean. And even Snowbirds that danced through the sky. While all of this is exciting, my niece came back amused about something else; promotional products.

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I’ve been trying to keep this unhealthy promotional product obsession to myself, but I guess it’s in my genes. When Victoria ran inside, sun kissed and smiling, I asked her, “How was the air show?” She quickly responded in Hannah Montana fashion, “Totally awesome!” I’d usually go in for a hug and tickle her to death but the mounds of promotional giveaways she was cradling made that impossible. “So what was it like?” I said. “Good,” she said nonchalantly, “Look at everything the people there gave me!” she continued with wide eyes. After throwing everything down on the kitchen table she explained each promotional product. There were custom imprinted patriotic items like flags, promotional toys, customized lip balm and even a promotional sports bottle. Unfortunately, there were no promotional printed bags to house all the trinkets she collected.
Because she is such a lovely girl and because I’m such a glorious aunt, she gave me a few of her promotional giveaways. My favorite is the patent pending, Watermiller sports bottle. It’s a leak proof bottle with an attached promotional carabiner and most importantly a built in water purifying system. The creators boasts that you can fill it up at home or on the go and no matter what water source, it’ll be wonderfully purified for your satisfaction. It made our Motivators break room water taste like candy…well maybe not. But it’s a pretty cool product.
Motivators has a ton of promotional mugs and drinkware that would love to befriend this bad boy. Especially its cousin BPA free custom imprinted drinkware. The only downside is that every time I take a sip I feel like a little kid. A straw is built into the cap. It goes through the purifying system and attaches to a rubber mouthpiece. Just like a Sippy-cup. The kind that my youngest nieces use. The Watermiller enthusiasts make this feature attractive by saying “No need to tilt your head back to drink.” You just suck. Well I’ll keep it around. I enjoy feeling like a child anyway. Way to go, you innovative promotional water bottle, you.  

There has been alot of news coverage of this "landing" that took place in the Hudson river about a week ago.  The details, in short, are that an airplane taking off, reached almost 3000 feet, a flock of birds went through the engine and killed it, and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the Hudson river.  The joking nature of the title of my blog as well as the image below is to display how, we as Americans can look back and laugh at things such as this to help lift some spirits and move foward.  Since no one was killed, and there were only a few minor injuries, I think we can look back, congratulate the very talented pilots, and perhaps put some smiles on by making a joke or two.  All kidding aside though, I believe that most people fail to see how impressive this really is.  Many people may imagine hitting water similar to that of someone doing a cannonball.  In fact, hitting the water at that speed is similar to that of hitting a brick wall since water can be displaced only so fast.  So in short, kudos to those pilots!  On to the jokes ...

 Courtesy of callers into Opie and Anthony show ... would you say it is a "crash" or a "landing"?

... It's called a landing for a reason, there was no land involved, it was crash.

... I think if your baggage claim is the local fish marker, it's not a landing

... If scuba divers are needed to check the overhead bins after the flight, it's a crash

... If you take off and land in the same zip code, it's a crash.

Now, whenever a mishap such as this occurs, there is some brand name rebuilding that must take place in order to re-establish an image; images of landing and taking off on runways, a dry flight, things of that nature.  Promotional items are often used to re-build a company image or to build a new one.  For a company in the transportation industry such as US Airways, a Promotional Transportation Stress Ball would make an excellent giveaway to promote their brand.  Free flights to the passengaers and families of the tragic flight might also be a good idea, but that goes beyond promotional items.

If this blog seems to be in bad taste, I assure you that I have a heart, but I like jokes as well.  The accident that happened is one that everyone involved had no control over and, given the situation, the pilots did an excellent job of bringing everyone home safely ... even if it wasn't where the ticket said "destination" would be.  Okay, I'm done now.