Friday, March 19, 2010

A Person Can Really Run 9.4 Miles in 43 Minutes?

This weekend there was a big community event in Jacksonville, Florida. It is called the Gate River Run, and it has been happening since 1977. I thought this was just an event for locals to participate in, but apparently it is quite an international event. This year there were 16,000 runners from all over the world. One of the coordinators was quoted as saying that this run is “the most competitive non-marathon road race in America.” That’s really great for Jacksonville. There is $85,000 in prize money available. Lots of people do it just to stay fit and have something to train for year round.

Three people from our office ran in the race on Saturday. Congratulations to them. Their finish times were 1 hour, 30 minutes; 1 hour, 31 minutes; and 1 hour 32 minutes. Pretty evenly matched. The winner finished in 43 minutes – unbelievable!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

What’s the Deal with Women and Shoes?

The joke in our office is that shoes made of chocolate would have to be the ultimate woman’s product. It is pretty crazy how many pairs of shoes we own. I am not really a shoe fanatic, and I probably own 80 pairs. I remember when my husband and I were shopping for a new house a few years ago, the closets were the most interesting areas of the houses. One lady had her shoes in the original shoe boxes with a picture of the shoes taped on the outside of the box. I have never seen anything like it, but it was a great idea. My shoes are not very organized and I end up very frustrated most days when I can only find one of the shoes I want to wear that day.

Anyway, shoes are such a big part of the fashion statement you are making. But one woman has taken it to a new level. There was recently an article about a lady in California who has over 12,000 shoe related items and has set the Guinness Record. Click here to read the article.

The Hamilton Collection has introduced many miniature shoe collections, and the lady in this article has some of our products – you can see them in the picture.

Post pictures of your shoe collections on our Facebook page – either real shoes or miniatures/collectibles. We’d love to see them.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Puppy Love

As a follow up to the blog a few weeks ago about pets, I heard this story on the news today and couldn’t resist posting it! Seems the dogs win out in almost every situation.


Does Your Loved One Miss the Dog More than You?

Have you ever had the feeling that your loved one misses the dog more than you when he or she is away on a business trip? You may be right.

A third of Americans admit to pining for their pooches more than their partners when out of town. But maybe that's because nine out of ten of them feel their pet is more pleased to see them after a hard day at work and is even more likely to notice when they've had a bad day.

Your partner's relationship with your dog may be closer than you thought and it might be going on behind your back. Around one is seven dog owners say they have "shared a look" with their dogs at least once and even more than that claim to be able to read their pet's facial expressions.

And ever wondered what's behind the long gaze into pooch's big brown eyes? Your partner may be one of a third of dog owners who swear it's an entire "conversation" without words.

And it doesn't stop there.

Many Americans turn to their four-legged friends for solace before friends and family. Nearly two thirds believe their dogs are more dependable than their closest comrades and over 70 percent would rather go for a walk with pooch when feeling uptight than hang out with their best buddy.

These are the results of a survey commissioned by dog snack maker Pup-Peroni that questioned over 1000 U.S. dog owners about the feelings they have for the pup in their life. The hold dogs have over their owners' emotions is striking.

Over two thirds say they feel more guilty about leaving their dog behind when traveling than leaving friends or loved ones. A majority say their pooch makes them feel happy, loved and relaxed.

Source: China Daily/Agencies

Friday, March 5, 2010

What’s in Your Curio Cabinet?

We call our blog the curio cabinet because that is where most of our figurines and other collectibles are displayed in people’s homes. Anything really special to me is displayed in my china cabinet, so I thought I would share my cabinet, what’s in it and what it means to me.

I have items from both of my grandmothers and both of my husband’s grandmothers in my china cabinet. My grandmother had lots of figurines and porcelain items that we played with as children—not knowing that they were valuable. I have a very old ceramic bowl with a lid that belonged to my mother’s mother. I have my father’s mother’s china that was bought from a door-to-door salesman when she was newly married. I also keep my cat collection in the cabinet along with some antique books, my grandmother’s rolling pin, some figurines from Hamilton and some sea shells and shark’s teeth. While all these items are just things, they mean the world to me because they were collected by these women that meant so much to me and to my husband. I think that grandparents worry about their legacies. What will happen to their things and will anyone appreciate the items that they valued in life? I certainly do, and even though I don’t know how each of these items was acquired, I love them all the same and hope to pass them to the younger generation in my family someday.

Here are some pictures of my china cabinet:




Also, a lady in the office shared her curio cabinet and collections. She has a lot more than I do, and it looks like she displays her collectibles all over the house.




Please send in your curio cabinet pictures and tell us all about your items that are important enough to keep behind glass.