Oh Friday, we meed yet again!

Dogs dogs dogs. I just don't know what to do. Our doggie, Lady Jane is 4. I purchased her when she was a tiny little puppy with a big girl attitude (see, wasn't she a cutie pie???). She is a Cocker Spaniel, whom I love to pieces. Lately, she seemed so sad and down, because she'd be alone during the day because my mom and I would be at work. So I got the bright idea to look for another dog. We've been going back and forth whether or not to get one - the responsibility, can we afford to take care of yet another animal, will Lady get along with it, etc etc. But Lady just seemed so sad and unhappy, we opted to get little Lola <3

Lola is almost 2 (or so they said) and she is a cute little Chihuahua. She is just perfect. She's still in the accident stage of potty training. She goes outside, but sometimes slips up. Totally understandable. So Lady is so used to being on her own (or with the cats, which kinda really doesn't count, right?) and not having another pup around to play with her toys and her buddies. She is a suuuuper jealous dog it seems. She gets mad when Lola plays with her toys, chases the cats, and so on. I just hate this. They are good together, most of the time, but when Lady's jealousy kicks in, all hell breaks loose. And the thing is, lady is like a T-Rex compared to Lola, a baby sloth. Not cool. I hate yelling at Lady because she's my baby, too. I practically birthed that girl, haha. It just bugs me I guess.

So I'm thinking this whole post shouldn't just be about my pups! I finally got some shots taken of two new products. This is the Lavender Cuticle Oil. I personally like using this on my hands and body. I usually put my favorite lotion on afterward to lock in the great properties of the oil, but of course, it's totally not necessary. One drop seriously goes a looong way, I love that!! This stuff is amazing and smells fantastic! I love that it's soothing, anti-fungal, and moisturizing all at the same time <3 How awesome is that? Very awesome!

This, my friends, is another awesome creation. Now, I can't take full credit for this line...I was hanging out with my friend Liz one day and we were throwing ideas back and forth for my shop. I have this necklace of Wisconsin with a heart punched out over La Crosse, where my dad is buried (so I can be with him always). She seen that and said "Hey, you could totally make a lip balm collection about cities that you're from" (or something to that effect). The idea kept on going. I have a feeling that this balm will be altered into something amazing. I'm not sure how I exactly feel about the label at the moment, but I just love the idea. So thank you Liz :)

B o r e d .

I haven't been bored in quite some time. I'm always rushing somewhere, hanging out with someone, out of town, working, working, working, driving somewhere across Wisconsin or just plain busy. But right now, I'm bored out of my mind. And guess what?? I'm okay with it!! It's unusual for me to feel this way, but I'm happy with it. I slept in past 9 today for once, I laid around and watched movies (we finally have movie channels again, but I'm not a tv person usually, so I feel weird doing this...watching tv that is), played with my doggies, and read blogs. I feel like I didn't even sleep last night. Lola slept with me. This is the second night in a row that we both were woken up during a thunderstorm. And her being a Chihuahua (and sadly, not fully potty trained), I had to take her outside in the storm. That was interesting...

Yesterday I picked up my nephew in Edgerton, WI, where he lives. Every other weekend my mom and I drive to pick him up...we drive through the beautiful farmland of Wisconsin. It's probably my most favorite drive that I've been on in Wisconsin. I had taken an old camera my grandma recently gave me (that's over 50 years old) with us to take some neat country photos. I had purchased black and white film for it too. I did most of the candids while driving, not realizing that the film only allowed 12 photos to be taken...oops. I hope they turn out...but anyway, I love how each special location of my home state is different. For example, in SE WI, it's mostly city and lakefront. In Northern WI, or the "Northwoods", it's just nothing but complete woods and reservations (which I love). In Northwestern WI, you see the Mississippi river, bluffs, farms, woods, everything. Okay, so maybe I may like NW WI better than the Southwestern...maybe. I love going by my dad's hometown because once you're out of Milwaukee, the air changes...the scenery changes, you change. It's hard to explain. But it's wonderful.

There are a few places in WI I have yet to explore that I'd really love to...if most of you didn't know this already (which I'm sure you do), WI is home to a few...erm...serial killers. Not proud of this, but I'm always in to a good scary story. I always wanted to drive to Plainfield, WI where Ed Gein resided. He actually was from La Crosse, WI, where my dad was from. His dad owned a butcher shop a few blocks away from my dad's house. Scarrrry. But anyway, I always wanted to go there for some reason. Another place would be Door County. It's a nice home away from home area. Bed & Breakfasts, wine tastings, small quaint shops...Just a cool place I always wanted to go. Another place is the Summerwind Mansion in Vilas Cty, WI. When I was in Eagle River with my friend Liz a few weeks back, her bf's family was telling us about the Summerwind Mansion, and how it was struck by lightening 3 times and burned down. The foundation is still here. It supposedly was haunted, which I love, and a lot of spooky things had happened there, and even after the fire. Google it, it's really interesting.

So yeah. Sorry for rambling so much on here. I guess it's a place for me to release the oddness that's floating around in my mind...even if it doesn't make much sense :p One of my favorite things right now is slouch hats. I just purchased this one and got it in the mail on Thursday.

Cute Slouch Beanie!!

I've been wearing this pretty much since I got it. It looks awesome with my red hair. My mom thinks I'm nuts though, seeing it's so hot outside. But I've only been wearing it in air conditioning ;) I got Lola this cute little pixie hat as well...

Pup Pixie Hat

I just love these items. I'll have to get some pics of them soon...perhaps when it cools down some. Well I think I'm going to call it a night soon. I'm going to watch a scary movie, eat some ice cream, and snuggle with my pooches! <3

We, Are Warped

Whelp! I feel so behind. I feel bad that I haven't progressed very far recently when it comes to my shop. Life has been crazy the last few weeks (thank you summer). Now, you ask what have *I* been up to. Oh, you know...Camping, the 4th of July, spending time with my friends and family....music festivals, swimming, ya know ;)

I came back from Crandon this past Sunday. Oh man, I was a buffet for the skeeters. They were HORRIBLE. My arms weren't touched (go figure), but my feet got mangled. My bad for wearing flip flops and not spraying them... This trip was by far the most gorgeous. I drove up this time, instead of going in one car with a bunch of people. My cousin, Luke, road with me. We had a good time laughing and blasting music. It was great. I give my uncle many many kudo's for driving up so many times with so many people. That drive wiped me out. Which it really shouldn't because I'm used to driving back & forth to La Crosse (3 hrs 1 way from me, where my paw is buried) in one day. But still.... I was the only person out of 10 people this weekend to not catch a fish. I don't have good luck it seems. I got a bite though......BUT! I got some amazing eagle photos. That was intense all on it's own. I was standing right below her while she was circling around. I had gotten a video of it, which I think I'll upload sometime soon. Our internet is getting changed, so I'm crossing my fingers that it's faster than what we have now...

This is the Bald Eagle completely zoomed out on my camera. And me, standing on a boat directly below her. It was like I had wings and was flying right beside her. Words cannot express how exhilarating that was. I wish I could feel that free all the time. 

The photo above...for some reason, I don't like. It's a good shot of the eagle, but I think my exposure was down too low at the initial time of taking the photo. I tried messing with it on my computer, but I think it looks worse. Oh well :p

This picture though, I really like. I messed with this one also, the original looked like I had taken it in January. I just love the bird minding his own business in the leafless tree. He was a cutie!

This is what I'd like to call a "Money Shot". It's gorgeous, fascinating, beautiful, breathtaking, inspiring and it makes me really really proud. Not to actually take this photo, but to be so close to something so beautiful and something that holds such strong relation to my home. It's pretty awesome to say the absolute least. What's the next best thing to an experience like this? Seeing baby Bald Eagles together in a tree. THAT my friends, is a loss for words. I couldn't believe my eyes. For some reason, no matter how many times I see an eagle, or any large bird really, I get so mesmerized. I just love birds. But anyway, it was great to see two beautiful babies (they didn't look like babies though, they were HUGE) together in a tree waiting for their parents.

They were giving me cute little faces too. It was adorable. I love how they look exactly the same here. Smiiiiileeee. Hehe. But that's not the only thing that was crazy this weekend. We rescued this cute girl, Lola.

She's a Chihuahua, almost 2 years old, such a sweet little girl. She loves to cuddle and she looooves treates. She jumps like a jumping bean when she gets one or see's her leash to go outside. Hehe, I just love her to pieces. She got along pretty well with our other doggie, Lady Jane, she's a Cocker Spaniel who's 4. The cats aren't too fond of this one, but they'll get used to her in no time! Well, I think I rambled on enough I suppose. This post didn't have much meaning behind it other than me taking some sweet pics and getting a new doggie. I'm hoping to have some new stuff made this weekend or my preping out of the way. Either way, new stuff will be up! Good evening all <3

R a m b l e

I want to be able to find a job where I'm not confined to only a cubicle. I want to find a lover that doesn't get sick of hearing me tell him I love him more than once a day - there is NO such thing as being loved too much, EVER....don't let anyone tell you otherwise! I want to be able to use my creativity in all aspects of my life. I would love for my work life to equal the same happiness as my home life. I want to have a big family someday, on a farm in the country, with horses and dogs and sheep and chickens...I want to grow my own food and herbs for my shop so I can ensure that my customers are getting the highest quality they deserve. I want to be able to grow old, very very old, with someone and I want them to feel the exact same way about me. I don't want to act guarded around this someone, but be my complete dorkish self without shame, as well as him too. I want to find someone who has the same aspirations as me, and not shun me if I never get there. I want someone to support my craziness and be there for me when times get tough, not run the other direction like all the other men I have encountered thus far. I want someone who loves nature as much as I and who wants to live out in the woods sometime in our lives. I want to be able to create without boundaries, where ever I may be, and for my future kids to be able to do the same. I want some one to understand my crazy sense of humor and laugh along, not look at me like I'm crazy. :) I just want to love someone unconditionally forever. Not just short term, but for the rest of our lives. I want it to be like the movies, to grow old and happy together. That's what I want. That's on my list of things to accomplish before I die (I'm hoping much much sooner). I know some may seem far out of reach, but you cannot limit a dream that can become an easy reality. <3

You're late - A wizard is never late...

Summer summer summer. For some strange reason, I feel like this summer is just flying by. My birthday is less than a month away (groan), and I feel like it just past. Fourth of July came and went (the pic above was taken at my Aunt's house, as well as the few to follow, on the 4th). Time feels like it's escaping me...that I don't have enough time to do all the things I want to...in my work life, social and personal...and especially when it comes to my shop. Incase any of you were wondering why nothing really new has been posted lately, I've been working "behind the scenes" - or so to speak, getting book keeping and shipping stuff in order. I'm trying to build up a quick and efficient way to get all the things I want done in a timely fashion. Before I peel into that, here are a few more flower pics I took. 

Pretty in pink <3

A country blur. My fav so far. 

I had recently reorganized an area in my room for shipping and inventory. As I always say, "It's an organized mess." That goes for my desk at work, and hell, even my life in general ;) I was packaging orders today, getting all that out of the way before I head up to Crandon on Thursday night. I have come up with a few fun ideas for my shop that isn't bath and beauty related. I've been trying to create accessories from old shirts from the thrift store. I'm testing out a few ideas. Not quite sure if anything will come of it, but it's got my mind running with new things to try! I received an awesome camera from my grandmother that she bought my grandpa before my mom was born (50+ years people)!! I bought black and white film that I cannot wait to try out. I'm hoping to take it up north this weekend and get some great shots of nature. I haven't worked with a film camera in yearrrrrs. So I'm very excited! 

This is my little shipping station! It's half of my dresser. I got the neat white stand from my brother. I have all my labels in folders and shipping stuff organized in there, business cards and old bags on the bottom, tape on the side and some other things. It's nice to have everything in one spot now instead of it sprawled on my bed. I actually really enjoy packaging orders for some reason. I'm an organization freaktoid, so that's probably why. Sorry if this post didn't have much meaning, just kind of talking out of my ears today and making sure everything is in order before I leave this weekend. I won't be closing my shop, all orders ordered from Thursday until Sunday will be shipped out on Monday. I will renew any sold balms from my phone up north (pending reception). Tomorrow is the last day for the buy one get one free deal on lip balm and 1 oz tin of salve. 

<3

Inspiration...

I've been thinking a whole lot about inspiration lately. I've been thinking about all the things that make my creative mind go wild and where I got my inspiration from. What inspires me? Let's see......first and formost, nature. Yeup, that's a given to pretty much anyone who does what I do. How could you not be inspired by no one other than mother nature herself? When I was a little kid, I was alllllllways outdoors with my best friends...riding our bikes, playing in the sand, swimming, playing Barbies, digging for worms, playing antartica, playing famine (we created some crazy stories). You name it, it was done OUTSIDE. I loved just laying in the grass and staring at the clouds trying to figure out what shape that particular cloud resembled. I just loved feeling the warm summer air kiss my youthful skin. Not much has changed.

Last year was the first time I ever went to Crandon, WI and I SWEAR, my life had changed from the time my foot touched the ground after getting out of the car. I really can't explain it, or how it happened, or WHY it happened...it just did. I had recently lost my father to cancer, so a lot of my happiness that I once knew was stripped from me leaving nothing behind. It was hard, I lost a lot of friendships and even a love because of it, but somehow, nature got me through, as crazy and nutso as that sounds. I seen color that day in Crandon. I seen butterflies and dragonflies and Bald Eagles and fish and beavers and deer, just EVERYTHING wildlife has to offer. It was facinating. I was in awe the whole time. It's not like I've never seen any of these animals before, cause hello, I live in WI...But it was the first time I *opened* my eyes when I seen them and it just shed a whole new perspective. It was wonderful. My love for nature continued on from there...

I decided to create Autumn Balm Botanicals after my life slowly began to change. I always wanted to make what I'm making now since I was a kid, but I always deemed it as impossible. Why, I'm not sure. But I always had a crazy imagination, but most times, my imagination never played out to reality. I decided to look up how to make my own at home goodies, and thought, "wow, this is easy". Okay, it's not that easy, but easy enough. I reasearched and researched until my eyelids practically fell off. And then it just snowballed from there...

When I was little, I tried making my own potions. I was *slightly* into witchcraft and wizardry (before Harry Potter, just fyi ;). I had this special green vase that I would brew/infuse my potion into. I had this mysterious box filled with all my goodies. My potion would turn into a blood red/magenta color once it was fully brewed. Haha, I didn't really do anything with it, but it was fun to mess around with. I'm not sure what inspired me to do that at that time, but I think doing that certainly held some inspirational meaning to what I'm doing now.

Another weird thing I did as a child was try to hatch a chicken egg from the eggs you get at the supermarket. Bah, no matter how many times someone told me I couldn't do that with those eggs, I still tried and tried. I had this kids encyclopedia that I would always reference regarding this. I would look up how to incubate an egg to get it to hatch if you didn't have the mother hen. Oh boy, I was a far off child...I took this to school during a talent thing and all the kids where facinated. Haha, I remember them thinking how cool it was (I bet the teacher thought I was nuts). I actually had a kid come up to me after that and said he hatched an egg, haha. I was bummed that mine never hatched. That's still something I'd love to do though...just on a farm this time. ;) 

I loved anything related to ghosts and hauntings (still do!!!). My house was haunted as a child, plus we lived directly across the street from a cemetery, so that aided my obsession...

There is just so much stuff that inspires me, I literally could go on for days talking about it. It's just neat to sit back and remember stuff about your childhood and see it sewn in to your life that you have today. It's pretty cool if you really think about it! Take a moment and sit back and think of what inspires you. What makes you, YOU.

I think the best part about starting Autumn Balm Botanicals is that I can reach my inspirations to other people. Masses of people even. I think that's great. I can help someone in someway (thanks to the Earth of course) with what I create. Yeah, I'm not the first person to create something for your body, and I'm sure as hell not the last. But it's a great thing to even be doing it in the first place. It's heart warming and fun and very much exciting to be able to help people on a different level. I hope you all look further into what I make and don't just see it as a lip balm or a salve, but a healing treatment for your body & soul. It's there to connect you with the things surrounding you. It's much much more than what you think. It's handmade with love and care. That my friends, is an awesome thing <3

The picture above is a photo of the farm my father grew up on as a child. Him and his 8 siblings...

No More Skeet Skeet!

Finally it's up and ready for sale!!! My wonderful Bug Repellant!! I had used this yesterday over the 4th of July and it worked wonderfully. I literally have zero bug bites (that's a first for me actually). Normally every year I get eaten alive during the fireworks, but this year, I was left alone. I was in shock. This stuff is truly a summer staple! It repels all kinds of bugs...skeeters, ticks, fleas, hodags, bears, lions...you name it ;) I can't wait to use this when I go up north next weekend. I have been using "Off - Deep Woods", but all that Deet was getting to me and it certainly wasn't working as well as they claimed. The catnip tincture in this spray is many many times more effective than deet. I know I'd rather spray something natural on me than something poisonous! This is a 3 oz bottle for $5.00. Much cheaper than the harmful sprays at the store. :)

Happy Day of Independence!

Happy 4th everyone. I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful day with the one's you love! I had gone up to Eagle River, WI Saturday night and came back home yesterday afternoon. It was a gorgeous drive up to the Northwoods. I seen a couple Bald Eagles on Catfish Lake. It was awesome. Gotta love the sun and a great breeze on a boat in the summer. <3 Today I formulated my bug spray, No More Skeet Skeet. I'll be trying it out over at my aunt's house to see how well my formula turned out. If all goes well, you should be seeing that up for sale sometime this coming week :) What's great about this particular spray is that it lacks Deet, which isn't the best for your body (ahem, poison)! I have used a few popular insect repelling essential oils, along with a catnip tincture which bugs hate (cats on the other hand, watch out, they love it)! It smells fun to us, which is awesome, but the bugs are gonna say seeee ya! I can't wait to get this out in my shop! The photo above I took yesterday of an old barn of a church. For some reason, I got a dark vibe every time we passed this barn, so on our way out of town, we had to get a pic of it before we headed back to Milwaukee. Spooky eh??