Hey friends! I don’t usually share much of the “behind the scenes” here, but I thought that I would give you a little taste of some of the more fun aspects of blogging that I get to experience. At the end of August I had the amazing opportunity to head to New York City as part of the Swiffer Fanatic Team. We learned some of the newest updates and science behind the Swiffer products and also had the chance to participate in some seriously awesome activities throughout the city.
Our first morning was spent with some of the members from Swiffer’s Research and Development Team. It’s actually kind of amazing to get a glimpse of how much work and time goes into developing {and improving!} a product. It’s just one of those things that you never really think about as you’re using them! Swiffer takes consumer feedback very seriously and they have come up with a new Wet Jet formula as well as new pads to reduce the streaking that can sometimes happen with darker wood floors. Since we have light wood floors in our house, I haven’t actually experienced the problem before myself, but we tested the Swiffer Wet Jet as well as some competitor’s products on some of their dark test floors and it really did make a huge difference. The new pads help to increase the drying time which results in cleaner floors faster and also cuts down on any streaking.
After a morning in the “classroom”, we headed out into the city. Our first stop was the The Good Housekeeping Institute, located in the beautiful, historic Hearst building overlooking Central Park. Can you imagine working with this view every day?
The Good Housekeeping Institute tests a huge variety of products {including beauty products, textiles, toys, food, and household cleaners and appliances} to see if they live up to their claims and deserve their Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. While I had heard of this before, I didn’t actually realize what it was or the amount of testing time that went into it. I also didn’t know that Good Housekeeping actually guarantees every product that receives their seal, meaning that they will actually give you a refund {for up to two years after purchase} on any product that doesn’t meet standards.
They were just getting ready to test some pumpkin spice products when we were there…
We then headed off to the Paul Taylor dance studio and learned a few of the famous Rockette dance moves with 2 Rockette dancers. In case you couldn’t tell the difference, I’m the one in the middle. 😉
While I’ll never cut it as a Rockette, these two girls were a lot of fun to hang out with and it was really interesting to hear all of the training that goes into being a Rockette. Now if I could only get to one of their Christmas shows! If you’d enjoy watching me embarrass myself, check out the video below of our dance moves! 🙂
The next day we headed off bright and early to Carlos’ Bakery – yes, the one from Cake Boss! We had a behind the scenes tour of their main facility where most of their desserts are actually made – they even ship to their Las Vagas location from there! Unfortunately, we didn’t run into Buddy but I did get to meet Mauro…
We participated in a fun Swiffer cake decorating contest {and clean-up!} while we were there and I had my first opportunity to work with fondant. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be and I can’t wait to try it again.
Unfortunately, my team didn’t win but we had lots of fun eating our project afterwards. I think it turned out pretty cute!
Our last stop was Foster Dogs NYC. This wonderful organization unites dogs from all over the east coast with their forever families and they have lots of beautiful dogs available for adoption. The pretty pup with the blue bandana, Abby, was my favorite. She was actually missing her back leg but got around like a trooper and was the sweetest thing ever.
Whew! It was kind of a whirlwind two days – especially since I went directly there after 17 days at Disney World with my family- but so much fun! I look forward to sharing some of the Swiffer products with you over the next year, so let me know if you have any questions about them. Here are a couple of my past Swiffer posts if you just can’t wait!
How to Keep Your House Clean with Dogs
I never realized there were so many uses for swiffer!
Yes, there are lots of fun and effective ways to use them!