Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! It's the first day of the year and I'm reminded yet again that time marches on. In the late-1960s I remember reading George Orwell's classic novel, 1984, and thinking that it would take forever to prove whether Orwell's view of that year would come to pass. It didn't, thankfully, although the year itself seemed to arrive in the blink of an eye. Now we're almost three decades beyond 1984 and, once again, the New Year has arrived distressingly fast.

Despite the speed with which time passes, I've been looking forward to 2012. This is going to be a terrific year for ila and our customers. In a recent holiday e-mail we mentioned that ila has a new look(our redesigned, easy-to-shop website), a new book (our 2012 product catalog), and some fantastic new products to keep your life magnified, amplified, simplified, and always in motion. This is something to celebrate!

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LIONS Really Get Around

Janice Pope, ila's Midwest Account Manager, recently took a well-deserved vacation to St. Maarten. Most people who take a vacation to an idyllic Caribbean island can't wait to put on (very) casual clothes and head to the beach. Not Janice. Janice is an active member of Lions Clubs International. And being a dedicated Lion, the first thing Janice did upon arriving at her resort was to determine if anyone there knew any fellow Lions. Lo and behold, Janice discovered that the resort's marketing director was a personal friend of the President of the Lions Club and that local Lions held their monthly meeting at that very resort. So while on vacation in St. Maarten – with sunshine and palm trees beckoning outdoors – our intrepid ila account manager dressed in her colorful Lions regalia and attended the local Lions Club meeting indoors. That's dedication. And that's Lion Janice Pope.

With sincere best wishes for your active, independent life ...