• 16 Mar

    I Went To The International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago!

    Author: Elizabeth

    Holy cow, it’s been a long time since I posted!  I have a good reason though, I’ve been out of town having quite an adventure!  Last Saturday morning, I packed up and drove 4 hours to Oak Lawn, Illinois, where my friend Lisa lives. The next morning, we drove together into Chicago to attend the International Home + Housewares Show at McCormick Place downtown.

    Me and Lisa

    We spent eight hours Sunday walking up and down the aisles of one and a half buildings, visiting probably 300 vendors displaying everything from cleaning products to coffeemakers.  When our feet couldn’t take another step, we went back to her house to collapse, then got up Monday morning and went back! After another half a day of walking, networking, shaking hands, passing out business cards, accepting free samples, and pitching my services as a review blogger, I got back in my car and drove the four hours home.

    And left my laptop in Lisa’s living room. Oh yes I did.  Try to imagine the panic I felt last night in the few minutes between realizing I didn’t know where it was and waiting for Lisa to get back to her house so she could call me and tell me if it was there or not. The good news? It was there, and she’s overnighting it to me today.

    So, anyway, I got to visit my friend and her family AND attend an absolutely fabulous event! Imagine a building the size of the average Wal-Mart, except there are SIX HUNDRED individual booths to visit. And now multiply that by THREE buildings.  I didn’t visit all the  exhibitors, but I walked past probably two-thirds of all the booths.  I would guesstimate that I talked to somewhere around 300 individuals and handed out close to 150 business cards (most booths had more than one person).  I brought home two huge bags full of literature and samples, plus shipped home a small box!

    Who did I see that you might be familiar with? Well, how about MR. CLEAN?

    I’ve got more photos up on Flickr, and I”ll keep adding them as I go through them. It was an amazing experience, and I’m so grateful to Jay Kelly from the media relations team for the show for inviting me! He and his team did an incredible job putting everything together. I plan to attend next year for sure!

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    7 Comments » Filed under: Born to Blog
  • 11 Mar

    People Come, People Go

    Author: Elizabeth
    The destiny of friendship
    Image by aftab. via Flickr

    Have you ever heard the saying “People come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime”? It’s something people say especially when someone has passed on or when a relationship ends. Another saying I’ve heard is  “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.”

    In our lives, there are always people who leave their mark on us. Whatever kind of mark they leave, whether they are good or bad, these people seem to affect our lives in one way or another. People come into our lives for a reason. Sometimes, it could be that they are here to help us solve a problem or they are here to teach us a lesson. People come into our lives for a season. These are people who stay with us only for a length of time and then for some reason, they leave. They either pass away or our relationship with this person just falls apart. This is not necessarily a bad thing. This person has already fulfilled their purpose and it’s time for them to move on. Some people come into our lives for a lifetime. These are the people who grow with us and continue to inspire us and make our lives more interesting.

    I’ve had friends throughout my life that came, and went, some for a year or two, some longer. It’s always hard to realize that you’ve grown apart from a friend. It happened to me a lot more often when I was younger. I had “best friends” whose friendship lasted a school year or two, but I’m still grateful that they were in my life, because I learned something new about myself with each friendship. Now that I’m older, I think I’m better at choosing friends that might not share all my interests, but that have enough in common with me to provide regular friendship.

    Regardless of how long people stay in our lives, it’s not uncommon for us to question why they were in our lives in the first place. My friendships when I was younger would fall into the “for a reason” category I suppose, since they did teach me lessons on how to be a better friend. Have you ever had someone come into your life and then leave it, whether “for a reason” or “for a season”? I’m curious to know if anyone else has had a similar experience. Leave me a comment!

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    13 Comments » Filed under: Stuff I think about