a sweet partnership

Aside from the friendships I’ve made from blogging, I’m also very thankful for some of the brand partnerships that have come as a result of blogging.

About three years ago, I was approached by a family company called Dr. Smith’s diaper rash ointment. I tried the product, loved it, and we’ve used it during every diaper change since then.

Dr. Smith’s is a fifty-year old company that is now, finally, available nationwide at Walgreen’s. This is a pretty big deal for their company, and I was delighted when they asked Nina, Molly, and me to come to Chicago as their guest at a celebration event.

We got to Chicago on Thursday afternoon, and because Nina lived there for a while, she was so nice to introduce us to some of her favorite Chicago restaurants.

On Thursday night, we went to Roscoe Village, did a little bit of shopping at Little Threads, and had the most delicious Italian supper at Piazza Bella.  I wish I had a picture of the amazing rigatoni with sausage and mushrooms, but the photo of the flourless chocolate cake will have to do. Holy amazing!

 

On Friday morning, we got up, got dressed (we each had our own hotel rooms, so I slept so soundly. It was glorious) and went to Blowtique to have our hair blown out for the big celebration!

 

Then we made our way to RPM (Bill and Giuliana Rancic’s Chicago restaurant) for the Dr. Smith’s Launch Party!

 

Everything was decorated beautifully. There was a great mix of Dr. Smith’s brand messaging mixed with beautiful, simple decor.

And the food! Oh my goodness! I could have taken home this platter of lobster caprese bites!

 

We met quite a few wonderful Chicago bloggers, including the fabulous Katie from The Land of Nod. It was great to meet her after all these years!

 

And then the guests of honor arrived. Bill and Giuliana Rancic are the proud parents of baby Duke, and fellow Dr. Smith’s product users. They were so kind and gracious. And the girls and I had a great conversation with Bill, who was just so natural and easy to talk to.

 

It was a fantastic event, and we’re so thankful to the Dr. Smith’s team for bringing us to Chicago as their brand ambassadors. And now all of you can find Dr. Smith’s at Walgreens in your area!

 

(Love this picture with Nina, but the unflattering shadows need to go!)

We spent the rest of the day walking around Chicago. We had lunch at Rockit Bar and Grill and had the most delicious Rockit fries and Rockit burger. Seriously. Nina did not steer us in the wrong direction. And then we had supper after a full day of walking at Sunda, where I had the most delicious red dragon sushi.

Back in August, Nina and I flew to San Antonio to participate in a Satellite Media Tour for Dr. Smith’s. I had never done anything like this before, and really didn’t know what a SMP was. We rehearsed on Wednesday, and on Thursday we were live!

 

The Dr. Smith’s team and TV producer, built an adorable nursery set, and Nina and I stood on the set and were interviewed about diaper changing tips and on-the-go diaper changing. We wore little ear pieces so we could hear the person on the other end.

We got to the studio at 5:00 a.m., and we were ready to go! We participated in about 25 radio and TV interviews that lasted between 3 and 5 minutes each. It was really one of the most interesting experiences of my life.

At first, I was absolutely terrified. But once we started the interviews, it was just so easy to talk to them (even though we couldn’t see them) and just talk into the camera about general baby care. We talked to TV stations all over the country… Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Tampa, Seattle… it was so fun to virtually get to hop around the country all morning!

We finished up the morning just after noon, and went back to the hotel to crash. We had dinner that night with my friend Lindsey, which was such a fun treat. And then we headed back home the next morning. It was such a quick trip to San Antonio, but it didn’t end without a trip to Shipley’s Donuts!

 

Many, many thanks to our friends at Dr. Smith’s for two fabulous experiences this year. And seeing Nina and Molly was the icing on the cake!