Zodiac Room Popovers

Had lunch at the famous Zodiac Room in Neiman Marcus for the first
time. The meal starts with a complimentary popover (yum), strawberry
butter and chicken consommé in a small coffee cup.

Hello Kitty Happy Meal

I could not resist getting a hamburger Happy Meal when I saw the Hello
Kitty poster at McDonald's today. Plan to get all three watches if I
can. Love Hello Kitty - always brings a smile to my face.

1-800-FLOWERS Event

Yesterday I had the chance to learn more about the 1-800-FLOWERS
family of brands at a blogger event hosted at their Melrose Park,
Illinois location. We bloggers got to make our own basket, see the
design center (photos to come later), meet celebrity event planner
Shawn Rabideau (Bravo's "Bethenny's Getting Married"), speak to brand
leaders, and sample delicious cheese, chocolates and wine. They were
very, very generous with their gifts. From left to right: J cuvee 20
sparkling wine from Winetasting.com, 3 boxes of Cheryl's cookies
(including buttercream frosted triple chocolate and Milk Pretzel
Joys), a popcorn ball decorating kit from The Popcorn Factory (think
my daughter Emma will enjoy this), the 1-800baskets.com gift basket
that I made, a box of Fannie May Meltaways, recipe cards from Shawn, a
red vase, and Wintry Wonder snack assortment (includes holiday kettle
corn and white cheddar popcorn and more) & a cute Wintry Wonder
lunchbox (includes cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn, Jelly Belly beans
and more) from The Popcorn Factory. Lots of good eating.
Disclosure: I received gift bags containing the pictured items from 1-800-FLOWERS
.

Shawn Rabideau

Met event planner Shawn Rabideau at the 1-800-FLOWERS blogger event at
their Melrose Park office today. Shawn appears on Bravo's "Bethenny
Getting Married". He gave us lots of decorating tips for the holidays
including edible decor.

Disclosure: I received gift bags from 1-800-Flowers.

Child's Play Communications Gifts

Here's what I received from the sponsors at the holiday blogger brunch
hosted by Child's Play Communications two Saturdays ago at Chicago's
Navy Pier. Following/during the brunch we bloggers got a chance to
meet the sponsors.
Disclosure: received gifts and gift cards from sponsors.

Family Dollar Gift Bag

Here are the contents of the gift bag I received at the Family Dollar
blogger event in Chicago two Thursdays ago. Not pictured are two gift
cards worth a total of $50. They were promoting $5 toys at this event
so they included Hot Wheels cars and a coffeemaker in the bag.

Nordstrom Fragrance Quiz

Nordstrom Oakbrook offered a fragrance quiz to attendees of last
Saturday's fragrance festival. I took a 4 question quiz and the
results show that I like oriental fragrances. Attendees picked from
floral, fresh, oriental and woodsy and received a fabric bracelet
scented with a fragrance of their choice. New fragrances highlighted
at the table included Yves Saint Laurent Belle D'Opium, an oriental.