I've mentioned before that I am crazy sensitive to fragrance. I haven't been inside Bath & Body Works in over two years, and I don't even bother smelling candles or air fresheners in the store. I love nice smells, but the synthetic stuff....nope. Headaches and nausea galore.

It's frustrating because I want the house to smell nice and I especially love candles. I've made a point to look for soy candles as they burn cleaner, but even so, many still use synthetic fragrance versus essential oils. If I am lucky enough to find something that fits the bill, it generally makes my wallet scream at the insane price. Eeesh!

I was definitely intrigued when I heard about Old Factory Candles. They met my criteria for soy base with natural fragrance, and came in a set of three smaller candles. That was great to me because I have on many occassions liked a candle in the store then burnt it once at home only to find I couldn't stand it! Then I was stuck with a used candle I couldn't return. The small size is a great way to see what works without a big commitment, and $25 for 3 (in a super cute box, mind you) isn't bad at all!

Great packaging for a gift!

aren't they cute?

I'm definitely happy with these candles and hope that Old Factory expands to larger jar candles in the future now that I know what I like!


Old Factory Candles via Tomoson




I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

In this giveaway you will have the opportunity to win tons of ad space, as well as some gift cards to great shops! All you have to do is click 'like' on a few facebook pages! Super simple, right? Enter below- this one ends quickly!

*Southern Beauty Guide// *My Fair Daily// Busy Being Jennifer{Homespun Happiness Shop}// *Kristie's Blue Jeans//*The Southern Thing// Bijoux Avenue< /a>// *Gettin' Fit Fab// *A Gayle Force// *Re•solve// *Glitz & Grits// *Life With a Side of Coffee// Keeping Up With Ashley and Cody//  Life as Rachel {Country Couture}
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Many of our favorite changes in transitioning from an apartment to our home involve appliances - no more shared laundry thanks to our own washer/dryer, and (perhaps) no more spending money on car washes since we now actually have a hose.

Hoses are little things but man, they make a big difference. Many times in the apartment we wished we had access to one (especially when cleaning the bunny cage!), but we had to make do.

When we bought our house, Sean rushed out and bought one on move-in weekend just to get some basic maintenance done. We'd seen the flexible looking ones around and were curious but stuck to what we knew.

Thankfully, Quality Source Products sent us one of their expandable hoses to try and it was a surprise hit! Between many rainy days and a trip to the ER with food poisoning, I didn't get to try it out as soon as I wanted. But, Sean had some work to do and gave it a spin - then spent a whole car trip filling me in on the things he loved about it!

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So, the perks of a flexible hose over the conventional type, according to my hubby:

• It's just easier. It's way lighter than a normal hose and also much easier (and thus time-saving) to get out and put away. No tangling, no getting annoyed when you're trying to roll it back up after use. (and no need for a rack or anything else!)
• It takes up less space. This is a 75 foot hose- when in use. This is great to get to wherever you need to get while cleaning, but that's a lot of hose to put away! No worries, turn it off and it shrinks to a manageable 25 feet. (note: if you need more length, you can connect multiple expandable hoses to suit your purposes!)
• It includes a pretty neat nozzle. I was pretty nervous when I opened the hose because the nozzle is plastic and felt cheap to me. I was actually going to ask Sean to use our nozzle with the hose. But, he used it before I remembered to say anything and he loved it! There are 7 settings to choose from, and:
• You can shut off flow without the nozzle. Sean really loved that the actual hose had a switch to stop water flow so if you are using it nozzle-free and need to shut the water off for a minute, you don't have to run back and forth to the faucet. just flip the switch, take care of business, and open up the flow again when you're ready!
• No wondering where the water is getting cut off. Remember dragging a hose when the water flow stopped? And you had to walk around looking for where the hose tangled or folded, fix it, then go back to business? No problem here!

If you had gifted 21 year old me a bottle of wine, I would have smiled politely and re-gifted that sucker. Where's the Smirnoff ice?

Heck, if you had gifted newly-wedded 24 year old me a bottle of wine, I'd have done the same. Where's the bay breeze?

29 year old me was sitting at home on Sunday, sipping a glass of wine... from a bottle that I bought. On purpose. There are even more bottles I've yet to open that I also bought on purpose. I fully intend to drink them. And the thought of Smirnoff ice or any of those other bottled drinks makes me want to gag.



What the heck happened to me?

Other danger signs I've noticed:

• Lemons, garlic, and onions must all be fresh. I used to never purchase these items. A bottle of lemon juice was perfectly fine (now, I turn my nose up at the stuff), garlic salt did the job, and onions were terrible things I didn't associate with. Now, they're the base of 90% of the things I make.
• Speaking of garlic, I just (like 3 months ago) began using a garlic press and I ask myself every time how I went so long without one. It's my new must-have!
• I get mad at myself when I forget the reusable bags.
• I'm trying really, really hard to "start a crock pot habit" because I haven't been feeling the cooking thing lately but I hate the money I've been wasting on eating out. (feel free to share your favorite vegetarian slow cooker recipes in the comments!)
• I struggle when buying shoes because I want the comfort brands (ow, why do my feet always hurt?!), but why are they so ugly and well, old? I did luck out recently with some Aerosoles riding boots. Yikes.

I scare myself a little, though I think these are all good things (except the shoes maybe!). What surprising changes have you noticed in the past few years?

Who doesn’t love giveaways?! With the holidays right around the corner, Tessa from Mama Smith’s Review Blog and Joyce from Women and Their Pretties wanted to do something special for all of the loyal readers. As part of the 2014 Holiday Gift Guide they are hosting the 12 Weeks of Giveaways. Now, what is this exactly? Well, it is exactly what it sounds like – for 12 weeks we will be giving away a prize a week.. EACH! If you are counting, that is 24 prizes. But guess what, it does not stop there! Over the course of the 12 weeks there will also be FLASH giveaways, so keep your eyes peeled.
Skin1 - Elta MD Moisturizer

The temps are dropping and I'm fighting pulling my jackets out of the closet just yet. Hoodies and cardigans will have to do. But, my calendar says November is in a week meaning I'll be losing the fight pretty soon.

Bad news for me...but there's good news for you! November is in a week!

c'mon...I know you know what that means:

Time to give away free sponsorships!

There's 4 spots up for grabs for the month of November, and I'm especially excited because when I updated October's media kit, I decided to take a look at last October's numbers to see how far things had come. I'm pretty stoked about it and you should be too, because all this growth means that many more people who will see your own blog awesomeness:

BEFORE: Last October



AFTER: This October

Enter below!
November Sponsorship of re•solve

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Awesome news for my fellow bloggers! re•solve has teamed up with more awesome bloggers to offer 19 - yes, NINETEEN - free ad spots to one lucky winner! The winner of this giveaway will win a ton of ad spots - see a complete list - and $25 PayPal cash. Who wouldn't love that?! Giveaway is open to everyone, and entries will be verified so be honest!
 

It's the little things that make a house a home, and thankfully, we were able to get lots of little things out of the way recently:

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5. I finally have a dresser! Check out yesterday's post about our IKEA Tarva Dresser Makeover.

now, to reupholster the gliders...

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*apologies for the shoddy quality of this and the upcoming photos. My camera was recently stolen so I'm relying on cell phone pics for awhile.

In the apartment, that was no big deal. We had an enviable walk-in closet that could have fit our queen-sized bed and probably had a little space to spare. Hiding the drawers in there was no big deal.