Wickless Wednesday: Bates Nut Farm Trip!

Pretty very year as long as I can remember, I've gone to Bates Nut Farm. The family that owns the place started buying walnuts, then progressed into buying all other types of nuts. From there, they roast 'em and package 'em and sell 'em! In addition to the nuts, they have a pumpkin patch each October, and they used to have a Christmas tree portion of the farm, too.

Josh and I have a yearly tradition when it comes to Bates Nut Farm. First, we go get pumpkin pancakes early in the morning, and then head up to see Bates! We continued our yearly tradition this year. We take our time browsing in the General Store, where the nuts/fruits/salsas/fudge/baked goods are found, and often stop in the Farmer's Daughter, a shop for trinkets and toys and candles. After that, we go and feed the animals!

Here, you'll find photos of Bates, and the shenanigans we had. Enjoy!
(WARNING: Image Heavy!)

Bates Nut Farm has some gorgeously large trees throughout the farm! Of course, the leaves were falling like crazy, making the ground extra beautiful.

Here's a shot of the Farmer's Daughter trinket store. It's a little cozy looking house with all sorts of fun stuff. It has changed over the years and now focuses on more mass-appeal items, like toys and baubles, as opposed to jewelry and candles like I remember it. This time around, we didn't go into this store.

The General Store is where the good are housed. See all of those barrels? They are filled with candy! This store has tons of cool displays during Christmas and Thanksgiving. They had a nice mix of both. Right in front here, there was a big stand filled with ornaments.

I love the check-out registers, lol. They look so cool! The hand, you ask? I'll get to my ol' pal later.

I loved the Christmas tree display with the sunflowers. I was sort of sneaking around, not sure if I could take pictures, so I apologize if any of them are blurry. There were tons of signs for Thanksgiving, as well as handmade crafts and all sorts of sets for kids to enjoy.

SEE, THIS POST HAS A WAX POINT! Yankee Candles have been proudly sold at Bates Nut Farm as long as I can remember! Here, right in the front of the store, we found an assortment of fall scents, from Pumpkin Buttercream (lovely!) to Salted Caramel (meh). They also has votives, votive holders, and those weird scent beads.

UGGGHHH, I WANT THIS TREE IN MY HOUSE!!! It was huge and fluffy and has gigantic candy ornaments. As you can see, off to the right, the back part of Bates now houses even more gifty things: more signs, more toys, great little gems and jewels, rocks, personalized creations, etc!

...AND MORE YANKEE CANDLES! This was the Home Sweet Home display, one of my favorite scents, along with some great little holders and tins. Very cool, I liked the way it was put together. I ended up not buying any candles, but I was tempted.

Homemade and local Goat Milk products for sale! Soaps and lotions and things...I almost bought some, but didn't. I might go back and get some though!

Some random thing I found while wandering around the store....a serving plate made of Himalayan salt! How weird and cool is that?! I guess it's for multiple uses, too. I *almost* bought it, but actually found out you can buy them online, too.

Remember the hand from earlier? It's my old pal Cowboy Joe! Well, I call him that..anyways! There's a bench in the front of the store with this mannequin that turns his head and is generally creeptastic, so naturally, I had to take my picture with him. ;)

Now, for DA AMMMIIINALS!!!!!!!!

Some of these goats were sort of jerks, LOL. They were practically hopping the fence to get to our corn kernels!

...this dude was the worst. He headbutted the other 3 goats pictured, several times, I might add! Calm yourself, goatie, quit being a hog!

Josh feeding the swarm. He's adorable. :)

I just love this photo of the alpaca, he was all like, "haaaaaaaaaaai Lauren, 'sup bro!"

Another one, very cute. I really like alpacas. How many times can I say alpaca in one post? Alpaca.

Togetherness!

Da cheepsz. This sheep was totally side-eyeing me and my corn nubbinz multiples times.

Turkey! I may or may not have told him he was about to be dinner. WHAT?! I'm just being honest. :P

Bates always has tons of chickens.

Not a very good photo, but they also had 2 emus this year. Very cool, but far away!

I had a lot of photos of our haul, which included jams, marinades, all sorts of cool snacks, postcards, and trinkets, but the photos got deleted. :(

Hope you enjoyed sharing in our yearly tradition with us! :)

Review: Front Porch's Pink Sugar Marshmallow

Every wax addict has their favorite vendors and their favorite scents, as well as their favorite scents from specific vendors. I am no exception.

...one of my all-time favorites just happens to be Pink Sugar Marshmallow from Front Porch.
It's so, so amazing.
If you're a fan of pink sugar, this is a must-try. It mixes so perfectly with Front Porch's already stellar marshmallow scent that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. If I could, I would buy pounds of this scent. It's second only to Pink Peppermint.
As far as the cold sniff scent goes, it's a nice mix, but heavier on the marshmallow. If it doesn't smell that appealing on cold sniff, wait until it warms up, it does get stronger and better and more well-rounded! Its lasting power knows no end, I've had a couple of these tarts last me upwards of 2 days.

This scent continues to surprise and impress me each time I melt it.

~~~~~~~~~~
Front Porch's Pink Sugar Marshmallow
Cold Rating: 7.5/10; the cold sniff isn't exactly the strongest scent I've smelled, but it is in no way, shape or form weak. You get more marshmallow on cold sniff with smaller whiffs of pink sugar (although, some will say that they can't smell FP's pink sugar scent because it's not strong enough).
Lit Rating: 10/10; basically perfection! As I've mentioned, these two scents go together so well, like peanut butter and jelly. Great throw, you get each note individually, really perfect!
Throw Rating: 8.5/10; not weak by any stretch of the imagination, but not blow you away strong all the time. Reeeeeally great!
Overall Rating: 10/10; another "numbers be damned" scent since it's one of my favorites (I am of the opinion that your favs don't have to be punch you in the face strong on cold or warm throw for you to love them). Perfect mix of pink and marshmallow when warmed. Lasting power is always a plus. Needing this in bulk!

Random Post: HELLO, I'M BACK :)

HI, FRIENDS!!!

Do you remember me?? Lolo, that one gal who rambles on and on about wax tarts? HI!!! :)

How have you all been?! I know that a few of you are friends with me on Facebook, so we keep in touch there, so I will briefly recap the past month or so.

Like I mentioned (umpteen times to some of you), we had the flu. Well, it has come and gone, except for a pesky and never-ending cough/hoarse voice that I developed after my fever broke.
Christmas was really lovely. Most of our families were there, and we had a really fun time.

I hope you all had a splendid Christmas and New Years (I don't remember much of our New Year's eve...let's just say there was a lot of alcohol and shenanigans involved, LOL).

Before I get into my reviews again, I must admit something to you all. 

It's probably not hard to tell since I've been gone for virtually an entire month, but I had a (brief) moment where I didn't think I would continue this blog.  I don't know what to tell you about this, friends, except the honest truth...

It could be because the wax community has changed so much in the past 2 years (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, in my opinion), or it could be because people just aren't reading things online like they used to, or it could be because I'm not buying as much as I did (granted, I am still buying here and there, but mainly just melting like a fiend)...

...ultimately, I decided that I was being an idiot because I LOVE blogging! I love writing my reviews and thoughts for others to read. I love reading YOUR blogs and commenting on your thoughts...I just sort of lost my way a little bit.

It's hard to know when people are misconstruing your words because you're reading this and I am typing it. If I mean something one way, you might interpret it a different way, and that's fine and dandy, but I don't ever want to offend anyone, buyer, vendor, passer-by-er...that is never my intention.

My intention is to give my honest feedback, my true thoughts, and hopefully, help you decide if you want to buy from a vendor or not. What I like isn't necessarily what you like, and my experiences aren't necessarily yours, but if you like reading about wax and take my words with a grain of salt, then it's all good!

Anywho, bottom line is you're stuck with me, so you might as well get used to it. ;)

Love to you all, thanks for reading, sorry for my lack of posts and comments on your blogs, but I AM BACK, friends. And thanks for being the wonderful people you are. :)

~L

Random Post: The Flu Can Die!!!!

So, Josh and I had the flu...he got better and I, well, I got sick after I was sick. It has been almost 3 weeks, and I'm still not 100%. This was enough to make me get my flu shot until the day I die...good lord, it has been awful.

I just wanted to apologize for the lack of blog posts, and if you were wondering, that is why. I will be back very shortly, though! Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope the beginning of your 2014 has been better than ours, LOL.