BzzAgent Campaign: Glade Expressions Collection

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you'll know that I've gotten involved in something pretty cool, which is a company called BzzAgent. You take surveys, and BzzAgent matches you up with 'Campaigns' for new and upcoming products. You get a BzzKit of either the product itself or a coupon to go and get the product at a local store, and they give you several tasks and you complete them to earn points for more campaigns. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's fun! This is my first BzzAgent blog post - and I will say that I received the item at no charge due to the aforementioned facts.

With the times changing and everything modernizing, of course Glade Plug-Ins aren't going to be around forever. As with everything else, Glade needed to figure out new products. They did just that with the Glade Expressions Collection. The Collection is one of two different things, a refillable spray or an oil diffuser. 

The sprays come in handy in situations like around a litter box or in a bathroom, but the oil diffusers look wonderful on a bookshelf or somewhere in plain sight - it looks stylish and beautiful, and goes with any decor. It doesn't even look like an air freshener, and I think that's the part I like the most about it. That, and their scents are wonderful.

The Glade Expressions Collection comes in Cotton & Italian Mandarin, Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice, Lavender & Juniper Berry and Pineapple & Mangosteen. All hip, new scents to go with a great new product!

To make a long story short, I would definitely recommend the Glade Expressions Collection for use in your home as I've used it in mine. 'Like' An Epic Liz on Facebook to get some coupons for the items that I'll be posting shortly!

These Damn Winter Blues

As most of you know, I live in Wisconsin. It's cold here about five months a year - okay, I get it. I'm not one to complain about the fact that it's cold, or it's snowing, or be one of those. After about four months of that bitter cold, though, something in me just snaps. I don't want to do anything. Don't want to write, don't want to communicate or do much of anything. I just want to get home from work every day, microwave a bunch of pizza rolls, sit on my couch and do absolutely nothing but eat, hang out with my cats, and watch episode after episode of Law and Order: SVU on Netflix.

That isn't bad, though, right? Every once and awhile we all have to let go and just let life pass us by - not that we have to like it. It happens to everybody. Everybody gets bummed out and depressed at one time or another. For me, it is something that comes and goes. Sometimes, I am fairly certain it has everything to do with the weather. If we could all go full-boar all year long, and never have an emotional hiccup or trip up along the way, we would, first off, be much more productive and efficient, but we wouldn't be human.

We got our first 'big' snow of the year last week in Milwaukee, which was around five or six inches. I had to plow snow and spend the rest of the next day downing soda and candy like it was going out of style just to stay awake, but it was different. It wasn't just bitterly cold outside; it was a change of scenery.

Last night, for example, I decided to take a break from eating nothing but pizza rolls for dinner, and go to the bar where I host trivia on Thursdays for their Monday night taco special - $1.75 for beef and $2.25 for chicken tacos. This went hand in hand with their domestic tap beer special, which was all of $1.50 a pint. Their tacos are so good for something so simple! I decided to call up one of my work buddies and for about $6.50, I did something I wouldn't have usually, if not for wanting to do something different. And it felt good!

If I could attempt to have a change of scenery every day, and be better at just being human and accepting these feelings I get every year, I might just make it through these damn winter blues.

Have you ever dealt with these kinds of feelings? What are your surefire ways to combat them?

A little bit of housekeeping, and an announcement!

Now I don't make these posts very often, but just wanted to take a second and let you guys know a few things!

First of all, thank you for reading. I know that as something gets familiar, it gets boring, so I have been working for the past couple of days on the first step of my revamp of An Epic Liz for the new year, that being my About page, which you can see here! I have been working on this blog for over a year now, and have come to realize something: I am not really all that personal in my writing, and I intend to change that. How can I expect readers to want to get to know me if I don't let anybody know who I am, how I feel, and how I spend my life? So, first, there's that.

Have you found An Epic Liz on Facebook and Twitter yet? Just in case you haven't, check out those links!

I know you were reading holding your breath waiting for my announcement, and here it is: I have decided to write my first e-book! A couple of weeks ago, I was planning to do a How To Tuesday on starting a handmade business to do craft shows, but it quickly overtook my comfort level for length on a blog post, and definitely wandered into e-book territory. I am shooting to release it at the beginning of March, so keep your eyes peeled!

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging!

Book Club Monday #17: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

After reading Gone Girl, I knew I had to check out the rest of Gillian Flynn's novels. Luckily, I got both Sharp Objects and Dark Places for Christmas from my sister! I opted to take the plunge and go for the longer one first, that being Dark Places. 

The book had the same familiar, haunting tone that Gone Girl did, and the same intriguing voice. One voice being that of Libby Day in the present, and the other being of Ben Day, her brother, and her mother, Patty Day. They switched off, very similar to the way Gone Girl was written.

Libby Day is the only survivor of a massacre in her family's home when she was a child, which took the lives of her mother and two sisters. As an adult, she lives a troubled, sheltered life mostly by herself.  Her brother, Ben, who was fifteen at the time, was sent to prison on Libby's own testimony of his guilt. The murders were called "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas" by the media, as two members of the family had been killed via axe, and one had been strangled. Libby had been living alone for many years, on a fund created by a book she wrote as a child. A group called the Kill Club found her twenty-five years later. The Kill Club is a true crime enthusiasts' group, who finds Libby and who, after meeting her and purchasing both memorabilia and time from her, start to convince her to follow the truth behind that night - the night she referred to as 'darkplace'.

This being the second book I've read by Gillian Flynn, I can say that I really and truly enjoy her writing style. I enjoy the varying viewpoints, with the story coming from two different angles and continuing to move and build up. Dark Places and Gone Girl both used the same writing style, but both told completely different stories. As the end of the story grew closer and closer, it was easier to see what the truth behind the murders was, but it was not one hundred percent obvious until the last hundred pages of the book, at least. One thing I absolutely love about Flynn's style is her way to maintain interest and not let a story get drab or old. Her writing style haunts, much like her stories, and it's a rare quality to find in a lot of authors - a quality I admire about her books most of all.

Sunday Social: Week 34

It's been a long weekend, but not long enough to forget the Sunday Social. Here are this week's questions!
What is your ideal way to relax? Reading a book or sitting in a bath for as long as I feel like. Best ways for me to decompress.
Where is your favorite place to be? My apartment with my cat kids. Sometimes on a ride in the car - depends on the day!
Who do you consider your biggest role model? My parents. They did the best they could to reach and raise me the best they could (even though I was a bit of a jerk growing up), and they did it the right way. I feel very lucky.
What does your life look like in 3 years? Great! I'm hoping to stay in my current job, which I love, and have a more successful business!
If you could go back and change one decision, what would it be? Not be a financial moron between the ages of 18 and 21.
What is your biggest accomplishment in life so far? Never giving up.
More questions next week!