This week, there is a huge promotional products show being held in the Jacob Javits Center in NY. I'm excited to see all of our friends there. Thousands of people come to the show every year to get information and view new items that are released. Whether its is promotional T-shirt or promotional pens, there is just so much to look at. I'll be sure to wear my comfortably shoes, since I will be walking the whole time. Now that the weather is getting warmer, motivators carries a huge variety Outdoor promotions for all of your outdoor events.

This past saturday was a gorgous day. My friends and I took advantage of the weather and had our 1st BBQ of the year. Nothing like hamburgers and hot dogs sizzling on the grill, while you kick back with a cold brew and have a good time. The sun was out pretty much the entire day, and my custom cap came into good use. Our custom MP3 player paired with the travel speaker came in quite handy. This was just a start. I'm hoping there will be a lot of BBQ sessions this year. 

Boy has this March weather been crazy the past few weeks here in New York. Where are the warm, sunny, summer-like days I was bragging about in my previous blog posts? It was only a week ago when I was waking up to temperatures in the low sixties. I wake up this morning and its thirty degrees...THIRTY! "Oh Mother Nature, you be a cruel mistress." For weeks you tease with sublime weather, luring me into a false sense of security into summer-like weather. You keep the warm weather here just long enough for me to put away my jackets, fleeces, and sweaters, just to bring back this cold weather. That's so sneaky of you. All right Mother Nature, I'll play your game... for now. Consider yourself lucky that I keep the promotional outerwear giveaways in my car, just in case...

I am thrilled that spring is finally here. I'm thankful we had such a mild winter with minimal snow fall. Over the past couple of days we've been fortunate enough to have the temperatures in the 60's. If temperatures stay this way, I am predicting for a sizzling hot summer ahead. Spring also marks the time where people are putting away there winter gear. At times like today, I can just walk out of my house with a t-shirt and a promotional Charles River Apparel Men's Soft Vest. We also carry a huge selection promotional outerwear for men, women, and youths.

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! 

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!

           I have a love/hate relationship with rainy days. I don't mind them on days where I am inside. The rhythmic sound of the rain drops constantly hitting the glass windows and aluminum awnings can be very soothing while you are trying toget some work done or even try to sleep. However, I hate having to deal with the rain if I am outside driving in it or walking in it, especially if I am without one of my many promotional umbrellas. So on rainy days like today, I become reminiscent of a day over the summer that didn't have any rain in the forecast.

          One day over the summer, I decide to take my lovely girlfriend into Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where we can have some of her favorite ice cream and do something that she has always wanted to do; walk across the Williamsburg Bridge. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, so we drive in to Brooklyn. We park the car, grab some delicious ice cream from Van Leeuwun, and head toward the bridge. As we walk and eat our ice cream, we discuss what we plan to do on the other side of the bridge. The conclusion was to visit a place notorious for having a wide variety of good donuts. A place called Donut Plant. Perfect! With a walk this long, I deserve the treat at the end.

          The saying goes, you never really know how big something is unless your nose-to-nose with it. Well, now that I am at the beginning of the bridge, I am realizing how long this walk will be. Now to those of you who may know me, I appear to be a physically fit person however, after years of working from behind a desk and computer, the muscle that I once had is now merely an illusion. Regardless, we begin the journey into Manhattan.

          The walk to Manhattan was nice. Long, but nice.  It was nice with the sun beating down while we finished up our ice cream. We got to watch cyclists zip past us, weaving through people who are walking along the bike path. We were even able to listen in on some of the most bizarre conversations. It was quite entertaining at some points. About forty five minutes later, we cross the bridge. Once we clear the crowds at the end of the bridge, we head to the Donut Plant, which is only a few blocks away. When we get there, there's a line forming just outside the door. We wait and chat with the people online, patiently waiting our turn to order. Another twenty minutes pass and finally we are at the counter. We order our donuts, pay the cashier, step outside and take our bites into what ended up being an unappetizing donut. Yes folks, a place called the Donut Plant ended having donuts that taste as bad a Dunkin' Donuts. They had very little toppings and fillings, and the taste was very bland. I was thoroughly disappointed. At this point, it was getting close to dinner, and we wanted to eat back in Brooklyn. So we decide to cut our losses and head back into Brooklyn, bland donuts and all.

          Now I cannot stress this point enough: "THERE WAS NO RAIN IN THE FORECAST. NO WEATHERMAN ON ANY STATION, OR ON MY PHONE, CALLED FOR RAIN THAT DAY!" The skies were blue and the sun was bright that day, even as we were walking back into Brooklyn. We get a third of the way over the bridge, and it starts to get cooler, and the sun seems to disappear. I turn around I see these dark gray clouds coming in over the skyscrapers and following us. We try to hurry across the  bridge, but it was no use. The clouds were faster and it began to rain...HARD. With no overhang on the bridge, and any promotional umbrella or promotional poncho in hand, we just had to suck it up, get soaking wet, and push on. We ended the day in with the heat on full blast, trying to dry enough to enjoy a meal.

          Since this day happened, I now keep a promotional umbrella and poncho in my car and another promotional umbrella in my jacket's inside pocket. That way I am never without protection from the elements.

Despite the fact that snow hasnt even hit the ground and it feels like winter hasnt started, the next wonderful season is spring and usually April showers bring May flowers, unfortunately this year it might be delayed. Luckily you can prepare yourself with promotional umbrellas for the rainy season. Motivators offers various colors, sizes, and styles for you to choose from! It can rain all day but I know that my promotional cloud umbrella would keep my dry. Another cool promotional umbrella is actually not for the rain at all. When the hot summers rays are beaming right on you, why not cover yourself with a non woven promotional sun umbrella. Just dont get the two confused, the sun umbrella is not made for the rainy days!

On Friday night, I had the privilege of getting together with Bari, Motivators' Sales Assistant, and our former morning receptionist, Jess.  Bari gave Jess and I a tour of her new apartment, and it's awesome!  I'm still living at home, so getting to see my friends' places is always an exciting occasion.

As I approach the one-year mark of my employment at Motivators, I'm realizing that I see promotional products all over the place.  Apparently Bari's house is no exception; one of the first things that stood out to me was the promotional magnetic memo board on her refrigerator.  Bari uses the promotional item for jotting down her shopping lists -- smart!

Coming across the memo board got me thinking:  I wonder how many promotional products we use daily without even realizing it.  For example, chances are the umbrella you keep in the back seat of your car in case of a shower is actually a promotional umbrella.  The flash drive you store your important files on is most likely a custom USB device you received from your university or employer.

Look around -- how many promotional products do you see?

Tis the season for traveling for my wife and I.  We love the winter.  Unlike most people in the Northeast that head to the warmer weather climates we head to the pacific northwest in search of BIG POW, aka alot os fluffy snow .  I just pulled our snowboard travel bags from storage to get them ready for our upcoming trip.  Everything was fine but our custom luggage tags.  They were the free paper ones that you get at the check in counter.  This year I planned ahead and got some custom luggage tags guarenteed to be able to spot our luggage and last for many more trips to come.  I was able to get a couple of our promotional explorer Luggage Tags.  These are great hard plastic pieces with a protective cover for the written information.