Thursday, May 4, 2017

Band of Bloggers: Volume 17, May 2017


May, May, May. Welcome back, ol' friend! May is a turning point in the year for a lot of people. The school year is almost over, summer is coming soon, and those mild months will soon become scorchers. The birthstone of May is the emerald, which symbolizes love and success. This month, we're focusing on those two things!

We all love something with all our hearts, so tell us what you love the most. It could be the story of how you met your spouse/significant other, where you got your pet, or a nod to your parental units.

What a sweet question! My heart holds much love in it. I love God, I love Jesus. Agape. That all consuming, incomprehensible love. 


I love my husband. We have carried each other through many trials and laughed through many joys. He spoils me and I am fully aware and try not to take it for granted. He makes my coffee in the morning, fills my tank with gas every Sunday and loves me when I find it hard to love myself. Yes, we fight. We struggle. I have been truly awful and sometimes he is exasperating. That is marriage. We have gone through marriage classes and Bible studies, years of penny pinching and years of bounty. Health and sickness. But I wake up each morning choosing to love him and I thank God he does the same too. And thank God for AOL chat rooms in the 1990's, for that is how we met. <3 This November 19th will be 18 years together.



I love my girls. I know motherhood is a struggle at times and I mess up. But I don't give up. I try to watch my words as best I can. I try to discipline thoughtfully. I try my best to give them the foundation they need and it all stems from my love for them. They are pretty awesome (says the completely unbiased mother). They care about other people, nature, their pets, and their family. They have their own interests and ideas. I am to this day, thankful and full of gratitude that I got to be a part of their lives. I love them so.


I love my mom, my dad, my family. And I love my sisters. I love their hilarity, their goofiness, their trust, and fellowship. I love how hard they work and how far they have come. I love not only watching them grow into adulthood but helping in any way I can. They more often than not, are my friends. 


And of course I love my friends. Mom's nights, books and coffee, movie nights and even Harry Potter parties. As an introvert I don't have an abundance but the ones I do have are very, very dear. My virtual friends mean a lot to me as well. 

I know the question was what do I love the MOST. But love takes all forms and I simply cannot answer that without giving a litany of my favorite LOVES. Which also include: Toddles, Boopers, Beardie, books, my home, my Jeep, my smelly smells, coffee, books, the sea shore, the mountains, books, Harry Potter, supporting small business, you know I am going to say books again, Christmas, coffee mugs, cats, music, plants, food, and about a million other things that bring a small slice of joy to my day. 

In terms of success, and keeping it blog related, have you ever participated in and/or completed a successful "project wax" or spring wax/perfume/makeup/scented product purge? Have you ever had so much product you felt the need to use it all up before your bought again?

Contrary to popular belief, I really don't have a whole buttload of wax. Well. I mean in wax hoarder terms. I don't have dressers full or rooms full. I have my two three-drawer Sterilite containers (not even the big ones, just the average two foot tall ones) in my closet and I melt my wax and I gift my wax. It doesn't spill over the drawers and I am good with that. I have never felt overwhelmed with my collection (yet- we all know how saying "never" goes). Just like when I was into nail polish. Or makeup. Even perfume. I build, find a spot where my collection is full according to space and then use, buying more when I feel it is worth adding. I do suppose my melting baskets are a type of project wax. I usually fill them with older scents or groupings of samples or gifts I want to melt. I prefer using up product rather than tossing it. I don't toss out wax. I do give it to family or friends who want it. But I have tossed some polishes that went goopy beyond thinner or the colors changed. 

Everyone is different and deals with collections or interests differently. I like to keep mine at a certain size and then use and buy from there.

Please, feel free to answer these questions in the comments section below!


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16 comments:

  1. You and Adam are such a beautiful couple. A man who makes your coffee and fills up your car is one to hold onto forevah (mine does too). Congrats on an upcoming 18 yrs and I smiled at the chat rooms reference, those WERE the early days, what a success story.
    Love all your loves and I could never narrow it down to one 'most' myself. Your blog is such a litany of love, most of the time, and your fans love that!

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    1. Thank you! I agree. Beats flowers and love notes any day. I will admit, we lied to our folks about how we met at first because of the whole "anyone you meet on the internet might a an ax murderer" thing. So we told everyone we met at a party but hey. It worked out. Pretty darn well.

      I guess we tend to write about what we love anyway, or at least what impacts and moves us. I have been derided about my "PollyAnna" outlook by friends in the past but it keeps me afloat. And it is tempered with a strange streak of nihilism that I feel like I simply cannot control everything around us and one day it will end so let's just keep loving and smiling while we can? I dunno. Life is... complicated.

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    2. It certainly is. Ha, there are worse names to be called than a modern day Pollyanna. It's a fine balance to keep a positive voice online if you're feeling down in life, and I get that. But I don't enjoy reading a lot of negativity online, be it blogs, IG, comments, etc. When I first started to blog, I kept everything upbeat because it was a painful time offline. Ive opened up and gotten more real since then but try to maintain that outlook. Now that my monthly recaps aren't strictly scent related, I can use my best/worst format to vent if needed. Without a sense of humor, we might all sink.

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    3. I agree. For sure. But it was not said from a kind place. Ah well. I am who I am. I agree about the negativity too. Certainly enough of that to go around. :-) And yes, humor and laughter are my favorite bits of medicine. <3 So happy to have you in my corner, Jay.

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  2. I just love your pictures, Julie! :) You have a beautiful marriage, lovely and compassionate daughters, and fantastic friends. <3

    I agree about the wax stash thing. For so long, it was BUY BUY BUY BUYBUYBUYALLTHETHINGS, and now, it's like, melt what you've got and don't go crazy! I got to a point a year and a half or so ago when I had to throw stuff away because it didn't have a scent and I couldn't in good faith give it to anyone. I've converted my mom, my grandma, and several people to wax, so I've let them grab what they want and give boxes of stuff away to them when they need it, now that the older crud is gone! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks, Lauren! I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Any plans?

      Yes. Totally was buying like made at the beginning. And during RG customs. And whatever else what hot hot hot. Isn't nice to have people around you to be able to gift wax to? Especially when they love scents that you don't. I have one sister that loves coffee scents so I always unload those on her. :-) Glad you feel lightened. <3

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  3. You just have such a beautiful marriage and family. Congrats on 18 years!! This post truly made me smile, so thank you for giving us that small glimpse into the fun, wacky, creative life of Julie!

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    1. Thank you. It has had truly awful moments that I brought upon myself with a drinking issue but thankfully he drew the line and I agreed to not cross it again. And we both had a lot to learn about how to fight more fair and over come some bad habits. You know how it is. Gotta grow together. :-) I hope you have a great weekend!!

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  4. I adore the story of you and your hubby! I know quite a few happy couples who have also met online; it's a wonderful thing. This was a beautiful post!

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    1. Thanks! It IS a wonderful thing! And how would we have met otherwise so many miles apart?! It still amazes me to this day that he popped into a chat room asking if anyone was from FL and I decided to pipe in with a loud "Me!" Crazy. I enjoyed reading your post too and LOVE the photo of you and your guy. Y'all are so cute!!

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  5. Adam sounds like a keeper! I'm glad you two found each other and built a beautiful life together <3

    I always thought you do a wonderful job of having a bountiful collection while keeping the contents fresh and melting frequently. I fear I may overload my Helmer back home with nail polish; I'm not there to watch the drawers fill up as I make periodic purchases and send them to my parents.

    Tossing polish?! *dramatic faint* Why, I never... actually, that's a lie. I got rid of a lot of lower end nail polish that I knew I would never use several years ago.

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    1. He is! Thank you! And I love that Michael is such a support for you too.

      How fun will that be when you finally see what colorful and lovely polishes you have waiting on you?!

      LOL! Mostly tacky glitters that got crazy goopy and a thinned about a trillion times. I just gave up. And maybe one or two that stained like the dickens even with a base coat (I HATE that!!) Otherwise I try to re-gift them to anyone who wants them. And yeah, bad formulas. Those stink too. Gotta purge once in a while.

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  6. Julie! What a sweet post. :) You have SO much love in your heart. Mine's a small little place - by invitation, standing room only, one of those kind of annoying events where you stand around making small talk with people you don't know while fretting that your shapewear is falling down...that's my heart. ;)

    I love that you and Adam met online - I did not know that! Will (that's my husband; I rarely ever talk about him by name) and I also met online - personals through The Onion, actually. Gosh, it was like the wild west back then.

    And your melting baskets are totally a wax project! It's such a great way to corral your melts and take stock every week of what you have and what you've actually used. I've started putting one together myself, although I find myself dipping out of it all the time. :)

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    1. Thanks! I had to laugh because I was one of the saps that went THAT way with my post, but hey. I just can't help myself sometimes. Your heart is MUCH much bigger than you let on. I know it and I am sure those in your life know it too.

      How cool you guys met online! I find people are weirded out by it when I tell them sometimes but to meet others who have too is so cool. It was wild back then. No screening, no surveys, no matching, just pure luck of the draw. Boy howdy did we get lucky!!

      I dip outside my basket from time to time too. Mostly when I am craving mints or the rare bakery or whatever. Or when I am testing for a haul post to see how some perform. But the basket does help my stash to drain pretty regularly. I have one tiny one in my bathroom too but I hardly ever feature it. more like a poop fighter melt basket.

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  7. I can't believe you and Adam will have been together for 18 years! I can only hope to produce wonderful children like yours. You are a great mom and also a great sister. Love you!

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    1. Right?! We have been together for half of our lives now. We met at 18 years old. You and David will have amazing kids and I will help spoil them rotten. Thank you for your kind words. They mean the world to me. And I feel the same about you. So blessed to have you in my life. Love you!

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