This morning at Motivators was an exciting one!  We had a visit from John Cudahy, a representative from one of our warehouses.  He brought in many interesting promotional products that will sure be a hit with our customers.  We saw new promotional flashlights, promotional cutlery and many diffrent types of promotional drinkware.  The one item that really stood out was the hand blown glass pilsner mugs.  They were extremely light and gave the liquid inside them a "floating" look.  These are sure to be a poplular seller for a wide array of our customers.  I also think our whole team is looking forward to getting a few samples for the office! 

It's official!  Andrea Strem is a licensed driver!  My 17 year old passed her test today to her great releif.  She was so nervous that she could not sleep.  Her Dad gave her "advice" all the way to the test, I'm sure that did not help.  She got 20 points off, and they still passed her!  You have to get 30 off to fail.  So she got to take the van back to school to show off her accomplishment.  While I am very happy for her and proud of her I'm a nervous wreck!  With so many distractions like cell phones, loud music and loud friends, it is scary to let them out on the road.  The insurance is in it's promotional insurance wallet, the promotional auto safety kit is under the seat, and the blue tooth is on the visor. So out she goes onto the road and soon out into the world.  OK now I'm getting tears!  My babies are all grown up.  So when you are out driving try to have patience with other drivers, they might still be kind of new at it!!

This past Thursday January 26th, Ken, Laura, Samantha and myself attended the SAAGNY winter showcase 2012.  The plethora of trade show items were amazing.  Any promotional product you could think of was there.  Any item you may want imprinted they had on display.  It really makes you think about how many of these items you come in contact with every single day.  We all had a great time walking the show and are looking forward to selling many of these item to our customers!

My wifes family has an ongoing joke that unfortunately is based on true life events.  ".. Hold the Dang Flashlight.. ", this is the PG version of a statement that her Dad has been using for years.  Ever kid growing up had the pleasure of working with Dad on a project.  One brother was always working on the car or getting the boat ready to go bird hunting at 5 am or Suzy had the pleasure of trying to retrieve a favorite pair of earings from the drain.  These projects always required the helper to hold the flashlight.  If you have ever have been in this situation you would know that the beam of light is never in the right spot or if you are too young to help you may find yourself making shadow puppets or using it as a light saber when it was the exact time that the light was needed.  So it was really frustrated for Pop to get anything done.  For his 70th surprise birthday party we had some imprinted promotional tools made up as favors.  One of the favorites was a custom Garrity 3 L.E.D. Lithium Headlamp that was custom imprinted on the band to say " HOLD YOUR OWN DANG LIGHT " 

I will start by saying no one got hurt!  That's the good news.  The bad news is that my teenage daughter came home from college and within 12 hours of her arrival, got into an accident in the family minivan.  Thank goodness for the promotional insurance wallet that we keep in the glove compartment.  Although she was shaken, she easily found what she needed and used our promotional blanket to keep warm while standing waiting for the police to arrive. Stay alert out there!  Any one want a minivan?

In all my life, I never recall it snowing in the northeast BEFORE Halloween, but this year it did!! This past weekend, we had snow, wind, and ice - not your regular little snow storm (but an actual Nor'easter). Luckily, being in the eastern end of Long Island, we did not get hit as bad as some other areas. As of today, according to the news, over 1.5 million people are still without power. It is even being said that this weekend's snow storm was more destructive than Hurricane Irene, which hit us back in August. Being that the trees are still heavy with all of the leaves on them, plus with the ice and snow packed on top, it caused a lot of trees to come down and widespread power outages. For the past 3-4 days now, many people have been without power and heat (and obviously in the winter, power and heat are just as essential as food and water). As unexpected as it may be, it is always good to be prepared for the worst, so next time a snow storm hits, make sure you have your emergency kit ready with your promotional emergency products, promotional fleece and custom flashlights.

Our car has gone through a change...it is now filled with baby stuff. It used to just carry Bill, myself and our custom auto accessories, but now we have a car seat, a car toy, an elephant mirror, a stroller and of course a diaper bag at all times. All of these extra supplies made trunk space very tight, so I decided to invest in an auto organizer for all of our custom auto accessories that were strewn about the car. The life in motion primary cargo box is the best thing I could have bought. It keeps everything in a neat concentrated location, and still easy to get to. We have our custom imprinted umbrella, imprinted ice scraper, customized tools (incase of an emergency), and imprinted sweatshirts in the auto organizer  and still have space! Even Bill was impressed with how much space we gained. So if you are looking for a useful and creative gift for someone (the holidays are close) why not get them a custom auto accessory?!

For the last few days, I haven't been feeling well. I have a bruised sternum and lung and it is the most excrutiating pain I have ever felt. 

My doctor has given me medicine for it all and advised that besides work, I take it easy and relax. I heeded his advice (except for an ill-fated trip to New York City after seeing a concert and nearly collapsing) and have done nothing more than going to work. Because it's been one week, I have had a bit of a tradition once getting home.

I change out of my work clothes and I put on the most comfortable promotional sweatpants I can find. I also pour myself orange juice or ginger ale in a promotional water bottle. And because standing hurts me quite a bit, I find myself watching Arrested Development or reading a custom imprinted book. 

It's honestly one of the best feelings to be in such a comfort zone and I have some of my promotional products to thank.

While those of us in the rain-soaked Northeast have been packing our promotional bags daily with umbrellas and ponchos, the Southwest United States, and more specifically Texas, has been dealing with an entirely different form of threatening weather conditions.  According to MSNBC, "Texas just finished the hottest June through August on record for any state in the U.S."  But Texas' record-breaking three-month daily average temperature of 86.8 degrees has not come without severe consequences. 

Reuters reports that nearly 1,500 homes were destroyed by a wildfire located near Austin, Texas, making it one of the most devastating fires in Texas history.  Even worse is the fact that this number is "likely to increase."  Reuters paints a disturbing portrait of the fire's impact:  "...the flames have turned entire neighborhoods into blackened moonscapes of burned out vehicles and crusts that used to be homes."

As residents anxiously wait in shelters for a chance to return to their homes, many have taken the opportunity to help spread awareness about fire safety.  Through distributing items such as fire prevention promotional products, we can all help prevent destructive wildfires from starting and spreading.

Unfortunately, the Texas fires have taken several lives already.  According to Reuters, "...four people have died in fires [that] broke out across the state over the Labor Day weekend, including a mother and infant daughter who died in northeast Texas on Sunday."  We can only hope that Texas' inhabitants remain educated on how to prevent and escape these disastrous fires.  Our thoughts are with you; stay safe!

Despite Hurricane Irene's best efforts to ruin everyone's weekend plans, my family made its way down to South Carolina today.  At first I was a little bummed out that I couldn't join in on our annual trip, but after all the trouble my mom and stepdad have been through rescheduling flights, changing hotel rooms, and securing a rental car, I'm relieved to be able to just sit at home. In fact, this will be the first time I've have the house to myself in quite some time, and I'm definitely looking forward to some peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, however, power has not yet been restored in my small Long Island town.  So when I say "peace and quiet", I really mean it.  I know I'm going to be heavily relying on my promotional flashlights as I rummage through the house every morning getting ready for work. 

Hopefully power will soon be restored, because there's only so much silence I can bear!  When I finally do have electricity in my house again, you can bet I'll be loading up my promotional flash drives with my favorite movies and music.  You never know when the power will go out again, and I want to make sure I'll be entertained!  For now, I'll stay in my promotional candle-lit room and curl up each night with a good book.