Thank You Brandcation #Gulfcoast Sponors

This past weekend I went to my first blogging conference.  I went to Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal.  It was hosted by Brandfluential  and Momdot. It was in Pensacola Florida.  I am not sure if I had ever been to Pensacola before and it was absolutely beautiful.  The scenery was nothing compared to all the wonderful women I met. I had spent almost three years chatting with these women so having the opportunity to meet them was so exciting. We spent time bonding together and learning about brands and going on adventures.  It was definitely the experience of a lifetime.   We had some amazing sponsors that made this whole thing possible, without costing a fortune to attend.  

I want to take a little time to thank all the sponsors:

Adventures Unlimited  invited us out to go zip lining and tubing.

Portofino Island Resort  was our accommodations in beautiful condos.

Dunkin Donuts Thanks for the bagels and coffee. An Everything bagel hit the spot after a long trip in.

Jambu sponsored the wacky Blog Olympics where we had to do all kinds of silly things. They also provided us with awesome tote bags for our swag.

Hotel Coupons  for sponsored our Murder Mystery Night. They have awesome coupons to help you save on travel.

Circle PR made it possible to go on the Dolphin Cruise

Dole  provided us with some healthy condo snacks.

Stargazing with Dewey was such an experience.

The Swag Sponsors:

Mogo Charm sells adorable magnetic charms for kids that Noah loves.

The Tervis Water Bottle  was one of my favorite swag items because it is a great water bottle that is pretty much leak proof. They also sell glasses that contain patches of different things like sports logos and even monograms.

Capsul Cases are hard wallets so you don’t have to worry about your cards getting all bent up.

The Village company  makes Mr. Bubble products and other luxurious bath items.

Hasbro provided us with The Game of Life zapped for iPad and you play with both a game board and your iPad. 

Noah is so excited to listen to the Kidz Bop CD I received.

Carex  sells all kinds of cool products. We all received a Pediatric medical kit complete with a thermometer and different items to dispense medicine. We also received a detachable pill box that some of the proceeds go to Breast Cancer awareness. My favorite item from Carex is the Neck Buddy pillow. You heat it up and it is heavenly.  I have it on my back right now after having it on my neck.

Lush Gourmet Foods makes delicious gourmet nuts and I was lucky enough to try some.

Nivea provided everyone with a sample of fifteen lip care products, Sun Kissed Lotion and body wash and a men’s product to try out. I love Nivea!

Lady Fortunes makes beautiful cookies and treats with your company’s logo on them. 

I don’t know how many times I have had to lug my purse somewhere because I had no pockets for my phone.  I am so excited that I received Pami Pocket because now I don’t have to worry about carrying my purse with me, which weighs a ton.

Island Def Jam Records provided us with some music to jam to long after Brandcation is over.

Ayala’s Herbal Water provided beverages for all the ladies to drink during the conference.

Wikki Stix is one of Noah’s favorite items I received. He loves shaping them in fish and sting rays and other assorted sea life.

Phone Fetcher will definitely be a life saver.  I am always losing my phone in my purse. I really need to clean it out.  I am so glad that I don’t have to spend time looking for my phone because I can attach it to my purse.

Page Stationery makes really cute personalized stationary and cards.

Cereusart provided everyone with a wine charm. I love that mine was a starfish.

Annemarie Gianni Skin Care provided everyone with a sample of their organic, wild crafted and natural  skincare products.

Veri Peri Sauces makes sauces with a kick of spice and they had me at Garlic!

Twin Cottage Industries  makes really cool bungee bookmarks. They hire mentally disabled people to make the bookmarks which are absolutely awesome.

Kids Gear provided me with kid friendly headphones. If you know me I am always breaking head phones and these are well made and will survive the headphone curse!

Smart Mouth makes Activated Mouthwash that uses patented Smart-Zinc Technology.

Sacs of Life  gave me my favorite swag item so far. They gave everyone a brown diaper bag that doesn’t look like a diaper bag and makes a great bag for a mom on the go.

Bright Star Kids provided me with a really cute cupcake bag tag. They must have known I love cupcakes!

KleenSlate makes dry erase paddles for classrooms so children no longer have to shout out the answer and it helps shy children participate too.

EAD Designs provided everyone with an owl decal and a blogging geek car decal.

Wahmies Eats makes reusable casserole covers which is awesome because I am always fighting with plastic wrap and losing.

Blue Orange Games provided everyone with a game to share with their families.

DVO Enterprises  makes the Cook’n Recipe software. I have so many random recipes that are written on paper, from the newspaper or printed out. I tend to lose them sometimes and with this software I can keep them all safe digitally and access them on my laptop and tablet.

When I was in school I was always forgetting my locker combination.  I wish they had Wordlock when I was in school because I could remember a word to unlock my locker.

Our Giveaway Sponsors:

Rubbermaid provided the prizes for the Blog Olympics teams.

Etching Expressions makes really cool etched wine labels and personalized plaques.

Belkin makes all kinds of fun tech things. I received a tablet holder for when I am cooking in the kitchen and don’t want to spill anything on my tablet. The coolest thing is it does not use screws so it won’t ruin your cabinets.

Velvet Pepper makes beautiful purses and bags.  I really need a new purse.

Frangelico is Hazelnut Liqueur and everyone received a bottle and hand crafted Frangelico chocolates.  

Tiny Love provided the Musical Stack & Ball Elephant as a giveaway prize. I know one of the other bloggers would have done anything for her son to get one.

Atlantic Luggage makes great luggage that is lightweight. My mom has a suitcase that weighs 17 pounds which is a pain when you have a weight limit of fifty pounds. I will look in to purchasing her some new luggage.

Drama Queen Bows makes really sweet bows for little girls.

I also wanted to thank our wonderful hosts who spent 5 months organizing and planning:

Trisha

Kim

Lynsey

Blondie

I plan to go in to more detail about our adventures and some of the awesome sponsors and swag items we received. Noah has already gotten in to and ran off with quite a few of my swag items.

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Sometimes You Just Have to Let Them Go.....

One of the hardest things is letting go. It is important to let go those that have hurt us repeatedly. Those people who do not have your best interest at heart, those that think of only themselves.  Unfortunately, I have a big heart. I say unfortunately because as I am aware it is a great thing, it is also a curse at the same time.  I look for the good in people as I have mentioned before, but sometimes you can’t find good in everyone. There are bad people in this world that want to hurt you, that don’t really care about you and it sucks.  Sometimes you just hit your complete breaking point and you have to just cut your losses, cut ties and hopefully learn something in the process.  Losing someone is never easy; you end up mourning the loss of a friendship or a loss of a relationship with a family member.  You go through a grieving period and it hurts. I will always care about those people, but my heart can’t take the pain that they caused. It is really hard for me to stop caring about someone.

 Sometimes I wonder if I gave too many chances, maybe I would see a difference, maybe they would change. The truth is you have to accept someone for who they are, not for what you see them to be. I really need to stop looking at a person’s potential and see them for what they really are. I guess I expect more in people, and when I find out I was wrong, I become disappointed in them.  I don’t expect much, I expect someone to be caring, compassionate, loving, and kind. It is so hard to know what kind of person someone is. You don’t want to push everyone away because people have hurt you in the past, but there is no way of really knowing.  It would be a lot easier if I had an eggdacator like in Willy Wonka, that would tell me if they were a bad egg or not.  If only I could line everyone up and have them step on the machine and see what happens.  If they were a bad egg, like Veruca Salt, down the garbage chute they would go.  I have learned there is not good in everyone. Something must have happened to make them this way.  Some people are just bitter jerks.  It has taken me a long time to learn this.

The worst feeling in the world is when you find out a family member is this way.  Especially when you have given your all to make things work, devoted so much time and energy to be there and when you find out who they really are, it is just like a slap in the face. Maybe I had hoped you changed, and it didn’t happen. There is just so much pain you can take before it eats you alive and you just can’t allow that person to hurt you anymore.  I guess you get to a point where the emotional pain is normal; it really messes with your other relationships and human dynamics.  Hope is a funny thing, it is good to have hope, but sometimes too much hope can distort your reality and make you hurt in the long run.  Some say you are in control of how you feel, and that you only allow someone make you feel a certain way, that is true, but there are a couple exceptions to the rules, one being when it comes to family. You spend your whole life looking up to someone, loving them, trying as hard as you can to have that relationship and bond with them and then one day you come to find out that they never cared and it was all a sham.  One of the quotes from Fools Rush In that I think about is “Love is a gift, not an obligation.” That basically means if it is a gift to love someone and be loved, not something you do because you have to.  I just feel like they were obligated and all those words and memories were a lie, because actions speak louder than words.

 I am not sure I can remember a time where I thought wow, he really loves me, I am sure there was one but it is just weird I can’t remember it.  I think that is the hardest truth to understand.  Now, it is time to let go of all of the pain and the hurt and the sorrow.  It’s time to live a happy life full of laughter and love, and put all that suffering behind me and leave those who have hurt me behind, no matter how hard that might be.  I am at peace with my decision, it probably is something I should have done a long time ago, but that little imp called Hope was playing a trick on me again. It’s good to hope, just don’t hope yourself in to a bad situation, see people for who they are, not what you potentially see in them, use caution and set a limit and once the limit exists be brave enough to just let them go.

I will instead of becoming a bitter person, and giving up hope on humanity, and losing my faith in those kind people, I will still take those chances and open my heart up; I will be a little more guarded about who I associate with.