Spring officially starts this Saturday, March 20th. It is the day many of us have been waiting for. After a treacherous winter, we all need a dose of sunlight, birds’ singing and flowers’ blooming. It is not only a time for us to enjoy ourselves in the warmer weather, but also a great time to pamper our cars. After a cold and wet winter, this weekend may just be the perfect time to take out the hose, bucket, and wash sponge and give the car a nice wash-down. Get rid of all the snow marks and give it a nice shine! We can all finally get rid of the winter survival cold weather kit, and whip out the auto cleaning kit instead. I never thought I would be this excited to wash my car, but since this is the first sign of Spring, I am more than happy to do it!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Tampa, Florida - to meet some great people, get some sun and sand, and see LOTS of promotional products. We spent Saturday at the Florida Aquarium, enjoying the company of our aquatic friends. We even took a boat tour to see the dolphins out in the open. Of course, going to the aquarium, I could not resist and I had to stop by the gift shop. As soon as I walked in, I was welcomed by a wide assortment of promotional goodies. Of course, no gift shop would be complete without the drawstring sport packs, travel bottles, and aluminum bottles. My husband and I went promo-happy and started grabbing everything in sight. Then I realized, this is all of the promotional items we sell at Motivators.com. Being in the promotional products industry, you would think that I would have had enough of promotional items by now, but to the contrary, I seem to love them more and more everyday!

I am sick and tired about blogging about how horrible this winter is, and how much I hate winter, the cold and snow. I want to start blogging about how much I love the summer, the heat and humidity, the beach and sand, and being outdoors. Of course, just as the winter comes with the price of ice scrapers, knit caps, and hand warmers; the summer also comes with a price of beach balls, sun screen, beach towels – which I am willing to pay!! Now that we are in March, you would expect that the weather would start getting better and warming up, but unfortunately, that is not the case. They are forecasting snow AGAIN for tomorrow. Though it is not just here in the Northeast that the weather is abnormal. It seems to be all over. Just this past weekend, the news was mainly focused on all of the disastrous weather conditions (floods and blizzards) and natural disasters (earthquakes and tsunamis) that occurred all of the world. I am not sure what it is – if it is just a bad season, or if this is just one of the side effects of global warming kicking in (hopefully not!).

Since all the years of damage we have done to our environment seems to be irreparable, the thing we need to focus on at this point is making sure that it does not get worse. We need to realize that all of the actions we take, will have an effect on our planet, whether it is positive or negative. We all need to start thinking more environmentally friendly and start practicing what we preach  - use products that are easily biodegradable, made from recycled material, or just energy friendly. Motivators has taken a step towards being more environmentally aware by providing more eco-friendly promotional products to our customers. And with every eco-friendly purchase made, Motivators is also planting a tree – so you get double the eco-friendly benefits.

One promotional product which you can never have enough of is promotional pens. Everyone has their favorite pen, and mine is undoubtedly the Uni-ball Gel RT Ink Rollerball Pen. Without it, I feel as if can’t even spell properly. It is what makes my day go by more smoothly, and without it I feel lost. Being a lefty, most pens leave smears and marks all over the paper and my left hand, but with this pen that is never an issue. I love this pen and recommend it to anyone who is looking to purchase a great promotional pen that everyone will love.

This winter has definitely been an exceptional one. I do not recall when the last time was that it snowed as much as it did this year. Usually every year we get a few inches, but nothing to brag about. I don't know if it is the side effects of global warming or what, but this year though, we have been hit hard and it has been quite a challenge getting around. My top promotional pick for this season has to be the deluxe snowbrush to get all that snow and ice off my car in the mornings (so I can get to work) and the let it snow bridge cards (for those days when we are snowed in and need something fun to do). Luckily the winter is almost over and we can look forward to the 90+ degree weather ahead of us, filled with 100% humidity and bad hair days.

For all of those LOST fans out there, the day we have all been waiting for finally arrived last Tuesday. This being the final season of LOST, I am extremely saddened, but at the same time, extremely excited knowing that I am finally going to get answers to some major questions I have about the show. Last week, I made sure that my entire night was devoted to LOST, and that I paid 1000% attention to every single detail in the 2 hour premier. The finale of the show is scheduled to air on May 23, 2010, and already I am counting down the days. Even though I am more confused than ever before, watching the show, at least I know that I will eventually understand. Being an obsessive compulsive fan of LOST, I am also completely in love with Motivators' LOST series, starring our very own Anthony Zuaro, promotional Sonic Rocks and Survival Compass.

LOST is not just a show about being deserted on a "unique" island, or weird theories about physics and time travel. It also shows how promotional items come are an important part of our everyday lives.  For instance, the very first episode showed how usefully a promotional sewing kit and a promotional pen are when you are stranded on an island, and need to "stitch" something up. It would have probably been better to have a first aid kit available, but sometimes you just have to do with what you have. Also, another important promotional product that everyone of the islanders tends to carry around with them is a promotional backpack, which they use to store their belongings. Yes, you have to find (or hunt for) your own food and protect yourself from the OTHERS - and that is when the promotional pocket knife comes in handy. In many of the episodes, you can see many of the characters with their pocket knives, and wonder if everyone who fell on this island just so happened to have a Swiss Army knife in their back pocket - just in case...

After this season, it is said that every piece of prop used on the show is going to be auctioned off. Hopefully, it will not cost an arm and a leg and I can afford to maybe purchase one of the promotional products used on the set. Who knows, maybe I can purchase the golf clubs they used on their first days on the island to "relieve" stress (which they would not have needed if they had some promotional stress balls). 

Who would have thought that a promotional pen would be the building blocks of a relationship. In "He's Just Not That Into You" (2009), one of the main characters, Gigi, goes out on a date with Conor, a real estate agent. However, after the date, Conor fails to call Gigi, so she decides to "drop by" a local bar Conor goes to frequently to see if she might "run into him" (or in laymen terms - stalk him). There she meets Alex, who is a friend of Conor's who works at the bar, and tells Alex she is there waiting for Conor so she can return his promotional pen.  Alex realizes the promotional pen is NOT the reason for her being there and tells her upfront that Conor is not interested in her. After the painful truth is told, Alex goes on to explain the signs men give and what they really mean, and pretty much Alex and Gigi develop a unique friendship that is extremely open, honest and straight-forward. As time goes by, Gigi realizes that every guy she meets just seems to give off the wrong sign, and that the real signs are coming from Alex. When she confronts Alex about her feelings, she yet again gets hit with the painful truth that he's just not that into her - or is he?? As time goes by, Alex realizes that maybe he is "into" Gigi and needs to find a way to talk to her and make her forgive him for hurting her feelings. So one night, right after Gigi comes home from a date with another guy named Bill.....

Gigi: [opens the door, thinking it's Bill, her date who just dropped her off] Did you forget something?
Alex: Yeah...
Gigi: Really? What did you forget?
Alex: [pulls out a promotional pen from his pocket] This.
Gigi: So you came all the way here at 11 o' clock in the night to give me a promotional pen?
Alex: Yeah...Yeah, I did. I thought I would come up with some really great excuse to get over here. That's how it's done, right?
Gigi: [smiles] Sometimes.
Alex: Look, I can't stop thinking about you. I... It's a problem. I drive by your place; I call and hang up; I've turned into...
Gigi: Me.
Alex: Yeah.
Gigi: A wise person once told me that if a guy wants to be with a girl, he will make it happen, no matter what.
Alex: That's true.

And there you have it - if you ever find it difficualt to talk to someone and need a good excuse, just whip out your promotional pen and the rest will come naturally. I happened to watch this movie on DVD this past weekend and realized how much insight it gives about friendship, relationships and promotional products. Gigi and Alex were just one of many interconnected,  twenty- and thirtysomethings in this movie, who are all just trying to read the signs of the opposite sex. I highly recommend this movie to everyone, guys and girls, who need some insight about what the oppsite sex really means when they say or do something.