Weekend Getaway...

 

What a silly and fun weekend. My mom and I had drove to East Bethel, MN to visit my oldest brother and his family. I hadn't seen them in over a year. So this visit was long overdue. Lola and Lady were ready for their 7 hr car ride...

Our first destination was West Salem, Wi...which is about 3 hours away from where I live. This is the place where my father is buried. I hadn't visited him since April, so I was very very excited (and sad, too) to visit him (and my uncle, grandparents, as well as a few others that I haven't met). 

My father and I.

I love this little cemetery. It has such history. Not to mention, it seems as though half my family is buried there. It's a place I cherish deep down inside. I wish I could be there everyday. 

The ride to my brother's house was a loooong one! It's interesting to see how different Minnesota is from Wisconsin. How they are just right next to each other, and yet, they are completely different. I have to say, I may never leave my home state, I love it too much! We found this little plant on the way up. Me and my mom thought it was the strangest thing ever! It kinda reminded me of the movie "Robots". :p 

We had gone to the Minnesota State Fair. It was a great time for the kiddies. They went on a ton of rides. I had felt a wee bit nostalgic...every year as a child, I had gone to the fair over my Birthday with my Dad. We always went on the rides together. I love seeing kids get so excited about the fair as I had once upon a time. 

My brother had won the kiddos this giant stuffed animal...in about the first 15 minutes of being there. It was not a fun time carrying that around with a ton of people around. I can't even begin to name how many people commented on it or how many people we unknowingly smacked with it. 

We had visited a few bunnies at the fair. They were uber cute. It made me sad to see them in a cage, though. This particular bunny reminded me of my pup, Lady.

We had a great time out on the lake. I caught a tiny Bass, and everyone else caught bigger ones! Here is my little guy:

We threw all our fishes back, don't worry! :)

Buh bye!

All in all, it was a great weekend! I miss my brother already, but I'm sure we'll see him soon! I'm sad that August is over. But I am beyond excited for fall...I get to wear sweatshirts and my cute knitted hats and all that jazz. Not to mention, watching the best Halloween movies around and taking beautiful photographs of the trees! I had taken quite a bit of film photos from this past weekend. So once those get developed, I will post them on here :) Happy last day of August! Bring on fall <3

truth.

What's the best way to procrastinate? Write a blog entry!

Yeup, I thought I left procrastination at school, but it seemed to follow me years down the road. I will be leaving for Minnesota tomorrow at exactly 9am. And am I packed? No. Is anything charged? No. Are my clothes clean? No not really. And what am I doing? Sitting here with all of you, typing on my MacBook, and watching the Crazies. Yeup, sounds good to me. Even though I am beyond excited to be leaving the state tomorrow (and seeing my dad), I just don't have any motivation to do anything. How sad really.

Last night I had dyed my hair red. It was red before but faded majorly. I guess I'm not one to keep up on my hair as often as I would like. Primarily because I'm afraid I would damage it if I dye it frequently. So I wait until my color fades and my roots get hideously long before I apply the dye again. Just before I dyed my hair red the last time, I was pretty much done dying my hair. I was tired of paying the money, tired of the up keep, and I just missed my natural hair color (see below).

Circa 2007

But as my blog readings have expanded, I found myself envying people with amazing hair colors. The last time I dyed my hair red was the first time it had ever been that color. I didn't really ever desire to be a red head, but I was tired of being brown...
And I was tired of being blonde...

Circa 2008

So what's next you ask?? RED! Here is the before:

And After:

Looking at these pics, I guess it doesn't look too different, but I love the new color better. I really would love to do a crazy hair color in the future, but that'll have to wait until I work at a job that allows fun colors :) Well, I suppose I procrastinated enough, time to pack! I will be updating from MN with fun adventures! I can't wait :o)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS RACHAEL!!!! YOU WON! :)

Thanks to Random.org, you are the winner of this awesome giveaway!! Hoorayyy!!! Please email me at autumnbalmbotanicals@gmail.com your name and address so I can send your lovely free goodies to you :o)

And just a heads up to everyone...I will be out of town starting tomorrow 8/26-8/30. I will be putting my shop on vacation later this evening. So if you need anything, buy up! :) I will return with a coupon code, new products and hats!! I will be jazzing up my lip balm recipe, I can't wait for you all to try it <3 Thanks again for everyone who participated. :)

Weekend Recap

Well, what a crazy weekend this came out to be! I barely had any downtime to sit and just...relax. But that's okay, because fun things were accomplished. Now, I am on a HUGE camera collecting spree. I had gone to a different Goodwill store in search of new finds. I had found two more cameras. When I seen the Polaroid Spectra, I thought I died and gone to heaven. I'm sure I got a few odd stares when I seen it because I gasped and ran to it and hugged it until we left. Yes, I am dead serious. I also got a Weston camera (that doesn't work, boo) and an antique apple cookie jar for me mum (she was stoked).

As you can see, I didn't even take the tape off of the cookie jar for the pic, haha. The camera also came with the original box and books inside. But no film, sniff sniff.

Another store we hit up Saturday was a quaint little Yarn shop. I was practically drooling the whole time I was in there. You will not see any yarn you can get at JoAnn's here! I purchased three different skeins of yarn. 

These three colors are for my shop. Now I'm sure you're sitting there scratching your head thinking, "But...aren't you a bath and body shop???", yeup, but I do hold multiple talents and you know, we aren't called AUTUMNbalmbotanicals for nothin'! I named this shop that for my love of that season. I will only be making hats for fall and winter. Each hat will be one of a kind. I figured this would be a fun addition to my shop, and I have been going back and forth with myself whether or not to do this, and after going into that gorgeous yarn shop the other day, my mind was officially made up :) You will be seeing them debut in September.

On Sunday, my entire family and I celebrated my Grandma's 75th Birthday, it was a surprise party for her! I'm so proud of her and hope to spend many many more years with her <3 Isn't she a babe?

So yesterday afternoon, this finally arrived in my mailbox: 

Say hello to my Nikon N70!!!! I, my friends, am a HAPPY HAPPY girl!!! It's more than I dreamed of and I can't wait to officially play around with her. :) So after getting her stocked up with film, I went to try and take photo's with her...not realizing that I didn't have the correct batteries for her. Sigh. So I took my other camera out and took some shots from my garden...

Look at how tall my Zinnia's got!! I grew them from seedlings, too! 

Have a great week guys :o) Also, don't forget to enter the Giveaway!

Sleepless.

Everytime I see this, I get a good laugh. Which probably isn't the best thing...you know, laughing before bed. Because that tends to keep someone (ahem, me) awake. My sleep schedule is so off...

Did somebody say GIVEAWAY??

Finally, we just got 35 "Like's" on my Facebook page. As promised, it is time for a GiVeAwAy. This giveaway will be slightly different than the last. This time, you will be able to gain extra entries (that means more chances to win!!!). Now, for the ground rules...

<3 To be able to be entered into the giveaway, you must be one of the people who "Like" my Facebook page. Please leave a comment here, along with your name (first name will do), letting me know that you like my page. Congrats! You are entered in the giveaway (see, it's that easy).

**Please note: If you do not leave a comment here, ON MY BLOG (that you like'd my FB page), you will NOT be entered into the giveaway. And incase you were wondering, you do NOT have to follow my blog to be in this giveaway (or even a member of Blogger).

Extra Entries:

-You have to leave a SEPERATE comment for each extra entry to be able to get the extra entry. If you leave all of the extra tasks in one comment, those extra entries will NOT be counted. (I know, I know, it's a little tricky, but I will be using Random.org to pick a winner, and we want as many comments as possible so you can win)!!

<3  Heart my Etsy Shop.

Once done, leave a comment here, along with your name that you <3'd my Etsy Shop. This is worth one entry.

<3 Heart your favorite item on my Etsy Shop.

Once done, leave a comment here, along with your name that you <3'd an item of mine. Please let me know what your favorite item was :) This is worth one entry.

<3 Become a follower of my Blog.

Once done, leave a comment here, along with your name that you became a follower of my blog. This will give you one entry.

<3 Put my button on your Blog.

This will gain you Three, let me repeat THREE entries to win! Leave three comments (can be the same thing over again if it's easy for you), along with your name, that you added my button to your blog (thank you for doing that, if you did, it means A LOT).

<3 Add me into your circle on Etsy.

Once done, leave a comment here, along with your name that you'd added me into your cirlce on Etsy. This will give you one entry.


Now, I bet you're sitting there thinking...man, look at all those entries I can get, is it worth doing ALL that to get a giveaway? You better bet your bottom dollar it is!! The lucky winner will be winning quite a few goodies of mine. What the winner will get...

My three pack of Lip Balm, with a hand painted muslin bag (painted by me).

You will also win my Mint Cocoa Salve/Body Balm.

You will also win my Handmade Lavender & Tea Tree Cuticle Oil.

I will be also throwing in some unknown goods as well. So there you have it!! This giveaway starts now and will close on 8/24/11. Winner will be picked on 8/25/11 by Random.org. You have a total of 8 entries if you utilize all of them. This giveaway is open to anyone from any place on our sweet Earth! Good luck and thanks to all of you that have helped us out so far, it means the world! <3

One person's trash is another person's treasure!

Thrifting has been a very huge thing since I was a little (and I mean little) girl. My mom's been doing it practically her whole life, and my father was a garbageman, so we always found treasures in all kinds of places. I remember getting teased as a child from the other kids at school about wearing clothes from the thrift store. I really didn't have a choice because we were rather poor the majority of my childhood. I hated shopping there for quite some time after that incident... But I always deep down had a love for thrifting. I eventually stopped caring about what other people thought about it (hah, and suddenly going to Goodwill was "cool") and did what I pleased. 

These are some of the neat goodies I found last night. I got three vintage cameras for about 1.75 each (it was half price day on everything). 

Here is a close up of what vintage camera's I currently own (not including the Nikon I just bought). The Duaflex III was my grandparents. I was especially excited about the Sun 600. I actually did not know that they had discontinued the 600 film a few years back. I looked on eBay and HOLY MAN! It's expensive. So I did a bit more digging and found out that a new company (they were previous employee's of Polaroid) took on the film and it's now being produced once more. It's a lot cheaper than what's on eBay, but still expensive. I will certainly be buying a pack. Incase you are curious, check out the-impossible-project.com for details!! 

This is what I got the other day. May not look like much, but man, was a stoked when I found this. The mug I've been searching for left and right. I've been wanting one for the longest time and I scored this baby for .49 cents!!!! It's homemade and beautiful. I've also been looking for a tripod for the longest time as well. It's PERFECT for using for my shop!! 

I got this gorgeous skirt last night. I'm thinking about converting it into a dress. I love it. 

I've been meaning to post these right after I bought my goodies but life just sweeps you away every now and again... I'm hoping to find more goodies in the near future!! 

Me and Lady showing off our toughness. Love herrr. 

Let's get personal!

So, I'm thinking I should get a little more personal with you guys. Slowly I'm gaining more followers (yay!!) and I'm thinkin it's time you get to know me and my fam! I think this will be a series of posts, not sure when I will post all of them, but I'm thinking now is a great time to start!

Meet Ben!
Full Name: Benson
Nick Names: Ben, Benny (Bah Bah Benny & the Jetsssssss), Little B, Lover, Handsome and my Love <3

[sorry, these pics aren't that great, I'm taking em off my Facebook instead of my other computer. Stinks having 90 % of my pics on a different computer (that's currently not hooked up..)]

He is the biggest cuddle bug EVER. I seriously love my kit cat to death. He follows me everywhere (when the pups aren't around) and he is sooo sweet. He has the softest meow around, and he loves to sit by me (preferably on my chest) when I'm on the computer, just to see what I'm up to. Sometimes he'll try to type to his buddies, too. Hehe. 

He's a legit movie fan and computer geek. He's always by me with his purdy blue eyes glued to the tv when I'm watching a movie (he loves scary movies the best, no lie). 

See, him laying on my tummy waiting for "Signs" to start. I love this cat. He beats any human when it comes to cuddling and snuggling with his mama <3 So this is Ben! He says "Hello"!

 <3

Say Cheese!!!

So, yesterday I had gone to Goodwill. I love and hate (but mostly love) this store. It's more like a love hate relationship. I had found some awesome goodies (I'll post pics later). I had found an old vintage SLR camera there and a few lenses. I realllllly wanted it. At the moment, I do not have one (I know, I know). But the more I looked at it, the less I liked it. It was more than I wanted to spend for the condition it was in. I've been really wanting an SLR camera for some time now. Digital or not, I had to get one. So I decided to search up the web last night and found this gem...

IHeartCamera

Now, I seen this online last night. I almost bought it right then, on the spot. But if you know me, I kind of am an impulse buyer (at times anyway, I've gotten better). So I decided to sleep on it. If it's still there in the am, then it's meant to be, if not, oh well. So I woke up and it was still the first thing on my mind. So I had some plans today that I had to do, so I decided to wait after those plans and go from there...

So it was still there. It's a sign, right? Right! So I bought it. I could not be happier. I have quite a few 35mm films lying around, so I can't wait to use this baby when I get it. I can't wait. I'll be able to take shots with her that I can't with my other Nikon (L110). Like I said previously, I'll be out of town pretty much the last two weeks of the month, so I can't waitttt to take some neat shots with this baby! I'm so excited I had to share <3