DIY Wax Bars

So, I love the scents of Bath and Body Works. I love the prices of their 3 wick candles (when they go on sale). However, and issue I have is when I light them, I smell more of the burning flame than I do of the candle. Maybe because my nose is weird? Don't know, but it had me wondering if there was another way to get the scent, without the flame smell. It came to my attention, that yes, I probably could buy a candle warmer plate... but that's just money I'd use that we can't currently spend.

Imagine my glee when I saw on Pinterest, that someone made their own wax bars, for a Scentsy warmer. I decided to try it out, with my own spin on things. They used one of those candle warmer plates, but I didn't have one. I used my crockpot. Of course, you should probably use a slow cooker you don't intend on cooking out of again, because this was really messy, and wax obviously isn't safe to eat.

  

This is the candle that I chose to use. I did have this candle already lit at one point, so don't mind the black wicks. It was not a brand-new candle.

 

I placed it in my slow cooker, and turned it on the lowest setting. Honestly, I don't even know if I needed to put the lid on, or not. But I did. I did this is kind of spurts. I waited until a good part of it was melted liquid, then poured into an empty Scentsy wax container. Then I put the candle back in the slow cooker to melt some more.

Once it was completely melted, I came out with a total of five wax bars (I also read that you could use ice cube trays, as well?). I am really clumsy, so if you do something like this: protect your counters, and fingers. Wax is hot, and a mess to clean up if you miss the molds.

 

I heard that sometimes the wax doesn't melt in Scentsy warmers, or there's issues with them. However, I popped three squares into my warmer, and it melted fine, and smelled like the great Bath and Body Works scent, without the flame, just like I wanted.

I feel like this was a little more economical than buying more bars. I spent $11 on one candle, and made five bars out of it, where Scentsy bars are $5 per one. However, I'll probably continue buying the Scentsy bars, because I adore their scents, and only do this alternative on the random times I buy a candle. It turned out okay, but really, Scentsy has just as awesome smells.

In other news, it feels like ages since I last blogged. We have moved into our new apartment, I've officially changed my name on all the important things (I have found that changing your name is a colossal pain in the rear), and we finally just got internet today. More pictures coming later, of our new apartment!

Repainting Brass Lamps

So, the wedding was on Monday. We are officially married, and our marriage certificate already came. It went really well, I didn't fall on my face with those heels, although my feet hurt like crazy afterward. His family took us out to a nice, fancy dinner afterward, and they even bought us a little wedding cake to cut during the dinner. It was nice. Now, Tyler is officially my husband. I did decide, however, that I will wait on updating my driver's license and stuff to my new name until we move - that way I can change it to the new address, and my new name all at once.

Anyway! The wedding is over, so now it's time to change my focus to other things. My mother is telling me to focus on getting through one day at a time, so that's my goal now. Wedding is past, so now I'm focusing on packing. And doing a few projects.

One of my goals for the new apartment: invest in it. By that, I mean... I'm making it my mission to really invest in furniture, decor, and little pieces to make it a home. With our current place, we still have a dresser and a desk that we received as hand-me-downs from his mother. I want to get better quality furniture of our own. At the same time, I'd like to do it on the cheap. That said, I've been taking inspiration from Pinterest, and embarking on a few small projects.

We've been taking small trips to the Goodwill, and Flea Markets in search of furniture and a couple random pieces for the new apartment. On one trip, I came across this lamp, priced at $4.

Normally, this lamp would have been so gawdy, that I'd bawk at it and move on. However, something stopped me. This lamp looks almost exactly like a touch lamp my grandmother used to own when she was alive. I loved the lamp as a child, just briefly touching it turned it on, and the hours of entertainment that it provided to me (and probably annoyance to my grandparents).... That simple memory of my grandparents sold me on it.

However, as is, I didn't want it in my new apartment. I decided to put my Pinterest reading to use, and I decided to spray paint it! I've never spray painted anything in my life, but this was minor enough to try on.

I wiped it all down with soapy water, and took it apart. And then set out to paint it! I chose a glossy white, thinking that it would probably go best with the things in our bedroom.

Ta Da! Looks so much better, I think! It has a few mess ups on it, mainly where I was too close in my painting... there are a few running paint drips, but for the most part - it looks awesome, all things considered. Not bad for a first try, right??

It was so awesome, that I decided to give painting another try. I took on a slightly more expensive project: a brass lamp, again from Goodwill for $7. This one, I think will end up going in our living room. I'll probably buy a more attractive lampshade for it eventually.

An Upgrade of a Move

Taking a break for a moment to talk about something other than the wedding... on Tuesday, we had gotten a call from Woodbury Heights, the apartment that we applied at, telling us that they already had an apartment that was coming available. This was financially unexpected for us, considering that we expected to start planning on moving next month or later. But somehow, we need to make it work.

We've cut back on a few wedding things, to save money for the expense of moving. (Sadly, the hotel needed to be cut). But, we will be moving in less than 3 weeks, and I am officially terrified, and overwhelmed with everything. First, we will be getting married on Monday. With all that, comes the cost of it all, stress of the name change, the worry about photos, all that. Then literally, right after, we are moving. This comes with, worrying about collecting boxes, packing, will we have enough money to move, U-Haul truck, people to help us move, transporting the cats, changing my address through all my accounts and post office, buying the things we will need there that we don't have here, unpacking, and there's probably more.

I'm freaking out a bit. I broke down to my mother, who is hundreds of miles away, and she did all she could do - told me to breathe and get through one thing at a time. So, here we are. taking things one day at a time.

Moving on! Woodbury Heights apparently has 2 types of apartments, with 2 types of wall coloring. They have brown walls, and then they have grey walls in other ones.I was expecting brown walls, based on what they had originally told us. Which was awesome, because I had ideas for colors for my bathroom and kitchen. I already had dark brown towels, I was going to buy new dark brown bathroom rugs, which would go awesome with the cardboard colored walls! Well, Wednesday, when we went in to talk to them, they informed us that... Hey no, your walls will actually be grey. The look on my face couldn't have said anything other than... Crap.

I liked my brown idea! So, right after I got done griping to Tyler about having to chose a new color scheme, we wandered into JCPenney, because I know the Home department was having a nice sale on items, and I could also use my associate discount, obviously!

We chose a shower curtain, which I instantly fell in love with (right from that moment, I knew I was going to be okay without my dark brown. In fact, I didn't even care about brown anymore). The woman who was in the home department that day was probably one of the most helpful people I've ever encountered as a customer. She had went out of her way to use all possible washcloths as swatches for us to find the perfect color rugs and towels.

After a half hour of holding the shower curtain up to a variety of towels, I think we found the perfect shade a blue for the curtain. And, I think it would look fantastic with light grey walls. Through this whole process, Tyler was such a sport for shopping, even taking off on his own in search of a matching rug. To his credit, he was even the one who picked out this color.

 

They look fantastic together, right? At least I think so. We did end up with the lid cover, contour rug, and the bath rug to go in front of the shower.

When I moved here to Iowa, I had bought the cheapest bathroom accessories I could find from Ikea, and brought them with me. Now, it was time for a upgrade. Since there was some white in the shower curtain as well, we got this white ceramic toothbrush holder and a jar thing for holding Q-tips. there was a matching wastepaper basket, but it was  ceramic too, and I just know that the cats would find their way into it and break it. I'm not even sure how well they are going to do with these, but I figure I will try them.

 

I didn't want to buy too many towels, because I have several brown ones already. But, I like to match, so we just picked up two bath towels, and a hand towel to hang on the towel rack for washing my face at night.

Decorative pillows were on sale as well. When we bought our couch, it came with four decorative pillows. All were ugly. So, new apartment, new pillows. these were on sale for $29.99, and you get two of them. A deal, if you ask me. So, I chose these. They should go well with our couch, and the wall color.

I also bought a 13 piece pot and pan set, because I believe we will be cooking a lot more, instead of eating out all the time. Also, I picked up a kitchen rug for in front of the kitchen sink. Gotta always have a rug for the kitchen, I think.

Tyler's Dress Shirt

Tyler has been wanting a "suit" for the wedding. He wants to go all out with buying the full jacket, pants, vest... the whole thing. It's been my mission this week to try to talk him out of it. They are expensive. and for our little courthouse wedding, a little too dressy then what I'd like to have done.

We came to a compromise of what to dress him in. We settled on a dress shirt that should match my dress, and a silver/white tie. I think the ensemble should look nice, paired with a pair of dress pants that he already has.

Also, a couple things. My ear piercings appear to not be doing well lately. They are swollen, really painful, and I think they may be infected now. I've stopped using the cleaning fluid they gave me at the Piercing Pagoda, and switched to a salt-water mixture a couple times a day. I think it might be making them feel a little better, considering they aren't throbbing anymore. So, hopefully I'll be able to leave them in for the wedding.

Thursday, early morning, we turned in our application and deposit for the apartment we hope to get into. we should be one of the next people on the waiting list, so maybe, we will hear a response soon!

Moving by Amtrak

At the end of November, I moved from California to be with my fiance in Iowa. We weighed many options for this move, from traveling by rental car, to taking a plane. But all had disadvantages. Rental cars charge a huge fee to return the vehicle - if we went this route, it would have cost almost two thousand dollars to move my things. On a plane, you are only allowed a couple pieces of baggage, and the cost for additional luggage? No thanks! We decided that a train was the best option. I could take a total of 5 luggage pieces (size allowances are even larger than on a plane), and I could check in 3 additional luggage pieces. It sounded perfect.

I spend the couple months before the move collecting things, I purchased several luggage pieces, bought new housewares to pack, purchased a better quality camera, and I stuffed a small duffel bag filled with snacks. I had cracker sandwiches, nutella, cookies, a few ready to eat tuna salad packages, and several bottles of water. I also had two books, portable game systems, and my camera. November 30th, I had my last In-N-Out burger, and left for the Sacramento Amtrak train station. I had a total of 5 checked baggage pieces (3 were allowed, I paid only $20 extra for the additional two pieces), and also 2 carry-on pieces.

Boarding the train was confusing. People had no idea where they were supposed to be, what end of the train they needed to be on, and the staff was absolutely no help. But, anyway. Eventually I made my way on, and found an empty seat. I settled in, and the train took off. I took out my camera, and started taking photos. I took tons, but will only share a couple of my favorites.

Surprisingly, the train ride was pretty fantastic, I think. There was certain things though, for example... the water on the train was really, really, bad. Several times I subconsciously checked the color of the water, because it tasted not right. Watching other people get water from the same area, they did a double check as well. Towards the middle of the trip, the bathroom facilities, got really messy, and they didn't seem to be very sterile. Though, they looked really good when I first boarded. Lastly, the cost of things. At the snack car, I paid $6 for a microwaved cheeseburger, and $2 for a single can of soda. Not to mention, I also dined in the dining car for lunch one afternoon, and paid $17 for that.

At night, the lights turned off and the staff passed out pillows. I was actually really shocked at how many people slept. I didn't plan to sleep, but when I leaned my head against the pillow, I was out. There's got to be something about the movement of the train that just sends you to sleep. Though, I didn't sleep well, I was up about every half hour or so, and once during the night, I seen that we had stopped just outside Salt Lake City, Utah for a good 4 hours. When the lights came back on the next morning, the conductor described that we were stopped due to high winds.

In Denver, Colorado, they announced that there was going to be a maintenance stop, and that they were going to be stopped for a longer time. I took the opportunity to step off the train and get some cold, fresh air. It was 14 degrees that night. They finished their maintenance, and the train trudged on to it's destination. My fiance had traveled to the nearest stop in Omaha, Nebraska, and stayed at a hotel, so he could come pick me up when I arrived, very early in the morning. Unfortunately, the train was still late and I was a couple hours behind. But he was waiting there when I stepped off, on December 2nd. Of course, I hadn't bathed since I got on the train, I felt pretty gross, and I'm sure I looked it as well. I bee-lined it to the bath when I first walked in the door to the apartment, that's for sure.

So, did I have a good trip? Yes, it was fabulous. Would I do it again? Definitely! Was it worth it? Oh yes, it really was. I'm glad I went on Amtrak. It was quiet, beautiful, All 7 pieces of luggage made it to Omaha safely, the staff was great for the most part. However, if you are planning on making a trip: Make sure you bring essentials to freshen up in the bathroom (facial soap, toothpaste), and, be sure to pack some snacks, because the costs of food on the train is insane.