Crystal Cattle Beauty Swap

It is finally time for another Crystal Cattle Beauty Swap. Crystal has been hosting these beauty swaps for two years now, and I have participated in all but the first one. Crystal co-hosted this swap with Myla from The Purple Front Door. These swaps are always a lot fun and are a great way to connect with other women from all over the world. I have sent and received beauty packages from several states across the nation including Michigan, Montana, Iowa, South Dakota, Arizona, and also Canada. Through the swapping I have discovered so many fun beauty items, and many I have recommended to others through the swap.

For this swap I was paired up with someone who lives not that far from me. If you were to follow the St. Croix River that my town is located on, about 2 1/2 hours south, you would meet up with the mighty Mississippi and find yourself in Mamie's hometown. Mamie is a busy mom to two little girls, and a wife to her husband of 9 years. She works for the Mayo Clinic, and has small farm where she raises laying hens, sheep and gardens for the farmers markets. Mamie also blogs at Blessings Abound and Rochester Mn Moms Blog, and advocates for agriculture through AgStar's Women In Ag program.

Mamie Sent me some really fun items:

A Jamberry starter kit along with two additional nail sheets, MAYBELLINE Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser, Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer, Lavanilla Body Butter, Fablash 3D Fiber Mascara Set, a notebook from Thirty-one and a pen from Jamberry, and these are great to toss in my purse.

I have not had the opportunity to try many of these products yet, but the body butter is great for my dry hands. I have tried the Instant Pore Eraser and I love it. It makes my skin feel baby soft, but doesn't add any un-needed greasiness. I am holding off on the Mascara because I recently opened a new tube. I am also really excited to try the Jamberry nail wraps, but am holding off for a trip that I have planned to Washington D.C. next month with CommonGround.

This was a really fun swap, and it was great to connect with another aggie blogger from the area.

To check out what other people received for their swaps check out Crystal Cattle's blog or The Purple Front Door.

Ana White Alaska Dream Vacation Giveaway

So, I don't typically advertise or write sponsored posts on my blog, or enter a lot of contests online, but for this post I am doing a bit of both.

I really like Ana White and all of her DIY projects. I have many of the that I have made in my home including these picture frames:

Ana is hosting a giveaway for a dream to vacation to Alaska, her home state, in honor of her new show Building Off The Grid, premiering on the diy Network. I just happen to be in love with Alaska and would really love to win this trip. Alaska is one place that both my husband and I dream of visiting at some point. Alaska is so beautiful, the nature is stunning and full of adventure.

The dream vacation package that Ana is giving away includes: 4 roundtrip Alaska Airline tickets to Alaska, 2 rooms for 2 nights at Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, 2 rooms for 2 nights at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, and 2 nights at Ana's cabin (that she built) on Paxson Lake in Alaska.

To enter this giveaway, go to Ana White's website here, and enter using various social media outlets and share about Building Off the Grid.

Christmas In The Country 2015

Its that time of year again! I am so excited to participate once again in Christmas In The Country, a gift exchange for Aggie/Farm bloggers!

This year it is being hosted by Jamie from Uncharted Rhoades, Lara Durben from My Other More Exciting Self, Kirby from 15009 Farmhouse and Laurie from COUNTRY LINKed.

Last year I had so much fun with this and connected with some really great Aggie bloggers. I am running really late getting this post up, but you can still sign up to participate!! The sign up closes TODAY!! Head on over to any of the host pages to get more info and sign up to participate TODAY!!  I am really excited to participate for Christmas 2015!

Crystal Cattle Birthday Beauty Swap

It's about time for another #CCBeautySwap. Crystal hosted this latest beauty swap in celebration of her birthday, what a great way to celebrate by including so many other amazing women! This time I was paired with Juli, a rancher from Montana. We sure had a lot in common and shared in our passions of agriculture, horses and quilting! You can follow along with Juli and her ranch life on Instagram @myfarmranchlife.

Juli sent me a huge assortment of beauty products including: Garneir Under-eye Dark Circle Correction, Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Bronzer, Frizz Ease Syrum, Clean&Clear Morning Burst Face Wash, Maybelline Rocket Volume Masara, Flip Flop scrub for summer time (I love it!!), lots of Lipsmackers for my girls, of which they always love!, and some can coozies, and post cards from where she lives in Montana, and a notepad that says: "I just don't have time for the NERVOUS BREAKDOWN that I deserve!" Thank you Juli- I love it all!

I apologize for the terrible picture, as you can see we had just returned from the grocery store, and the girls were excited to see what was it the package on our front porch!

It is always so fun to connect with new Women in Ag from all over, and always so much fun to participate in Crystal's Beauty Swaps. Thank you Crystal for hosting, and Happy Birthday!!

Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along

I am super excited to participate in a sew along with Lori from Bee in my Bonnet. She just came out with a new book called Farm Girl Vintage, that is so adorable. I love everything about it! The blocks are adorable, and since I am a farm girl who loves to quilt, I couldn't think of a better way to mix the best of both worlds together.

We will begin the sew along on Friday May, 1, and end in October. So follow along here on the blog, or on Instagram, we will be using the hashtag #FarmGirlFridays. For more info or to join the sew along checkout Lori's blog at Bee In My Bonnet. 

National Agriculture Day!

Take some time today and thank all who are part of the agriculture community. The ag community is made up of so much more than farmers and ranchers. Teachers, agronomists, veterinarians, mechanics, salesman, administrators, Agvocates and so many more careers are all part of the amazing community of agriculture.

Thank you to all who help agriculture be as amazing as it is today!

Christmas in the Country 2014 Link Up

This past month I linked up with some fellow bloggers and rural women to exchange some Christmas gifts with one another, I had so much fun participating in this swap. There were over 70 participants in this years swap. It was hosted by COUNTRY LINKed, Diaries From The Dirt Road, The Ranch Wife Chronicles, and This Uncharted Rhoade. 

I was paired up and received a gift from one of our hosts Jamie from This Uncharted Rhoade. 

Jamie sent me a package full of fun gifts from her hometown. I received a scarf that she knit herself, along with some candies that she made, some soaps made by a fellow farm wife, some glycerin hand treatment from Angel Ranch, that I absolutely love! I also received three Christmas ornaments, a pretty notebook, that I am happy to say is being put to good use taking notes for a new Bible study that I am participating in, and she didn't leave out my girls and sent some horse stickers for them. 

The scarf that she knit is adorable and perfect to pair with my red wool church coat. and is also great for the frigid -31 degree weather we are having today here in Wisconsin.

Thank you Jamie for all of the wonderful gifts! 

My gift was sent to Nicole over at Midwestern at Heart. Head on over to her blog and check out what I sent to her. Also head on over to our host's pages and check out the link-up and see what all of the participants received. Thank you ladies for hosting this fun link-up!

I had some a fun time participating in this, and I can't wait to link up again next year!