Pride of the KY State Fair!

Bring on the greasy food, hoochy shorts, and tiptoeing children....

Oh the fair....
Most people go to the state fair with their families to ride the rides, eat greasy food, and check out the exhibits. I can count the number of times I have been to the Kentucky State Fair for that purpose. ONCE. My trips to the state fair have included competing in FFA contests, working the state fair as a KY FFA State Officer, or of course, exhibiting or watching livestock. This year was no different. Though we didn't take anything to show, we had clients that were exhibiting their animals.

Before we headed to the fair though, Drew announced one day that this year at the fair he would be consuming a Fried Derby Pie; as this was one of the "special" foods at the fair this year. So after the livestock show was over, we set off to find Drew's fried goodness. Luckily, it was at the same booth as Fried KoolAid. Which we did not try. It looked like playdoh. But ta-da we did find the Fried Derby Pie. Drew's food review stated that is was pretty good, but had a lot of nuts. Nuts, being the reason I did not try it.





While Drew and Lauren tasted the Fried Derby Pie, mom and I stayed with the good stuff. Fried pickles and veggies!! YUM!

The following day, Drew and I ventured back up to the fair to see Matt Nathanson, Train, and Maroon 5 in concert. It was a very good concert and we had pretty good seats. Here are few photos from the evening!

Brining art to life!

My dear mentor Crystal Young (Crystal Cattle) is doing a giveaway with The Farmer's Trophy Wife through their blocks. If you are not a follower of either, you should be.

Bringing a boring Tuesday to life, they are giving away a 20x30 canvas print of one of Crystal's photos that she has taken. Of course, in true competitive spirit, I have already entered in every possible way I can. I love canvas prints and I know exactly which one I would choose if I won and I know exactly where it would go. Hello bedroom!

Being a hobby photographer like I am, I have dreamed of a day when I had nice photos taken by myself that I could make a collage on my wall. Show off my work! Until then I will dream of winning the work of a dear friend and mentor until September 2nd!

Wish me luck!!!

Address Wreath

Because we all need a little DIY

I really enjoy doing crafts. I love doing crafts and being able to give them to your friends and family. Its a gift you worked on, took the time to plan out, and put in hours of work for that particular person in mind. It is special.

Since discovering Pinterest (if you haven't, hurry go now, I'll wait) I have been finding all kinds of DIY and craft projects. AND since, I have a new house to decorate, making crafts is even more fun.

One of the first items I found I wanted to make was this really cool Address Wreath for our front door.



All I needed was:
1- 14" grapevine wreath
wooden numbers
Acyrlic paint
Fake flowers
and my trusty glue gun

I sat down one evening painted my letters. They started a burgundy color, but I changed them because you couldn't see on our door. While my letters were drying, I arranged and hot glued my flowers to the grapevine. After they were dry, I glued the numbers to my wreath and Ta Da! A wreath was created. I'm pretty excited about the end product and it looks wonderful on our door!

Have crafting!

Makes Perfect Scents!

I'll be honest with you. Since graduating from college, the job market is pretty sucky right now. I've searched, googled, applied, and interviewed. Somedays searching for jobs just makes things really dark and low. My husband can attest to that. I mean you go to college for four years, get a degree, and then head out into the real world at one of the worst possible times.

Of course, I was looking for something in agriculture. And of course, I wanted still be able to work for the family business, which I seem to love a little more everyday. (You might ask me that again around Christmas after fall sale season). After many tears, discussions, and thoughts, I have decided to start selling Scentsy to earn some income. In the meantime, I'm still job searching and doing the DP thing. It gives me the freedom I have been looking for, and you know what? I'm really excited about it. Something I have felt like I've needed.

I have some other things in the plans for the future, but right now things are slow going. So we'll see. AS for right now though, I think you need to check out my website http://hollihatmaker.scentsy.us and check out our products. The new catalog items come out on September 1st! Until then though, in the month of August items are 10% off! What is great is you can be my friend from wherever and I can share this product with you through my website. You can order right off of it and it will be shipped right to your door!

Somethings in life haven't seemed to make much sense since graduating college, but finally something seems to be making perfect scents!

:)

Won't you be my neighbor?!

Well, its finally official and over.

The Hatmaker's are homeowners!



I haven't been too vocal about the fact that we were purchasing our very first home because I was nervous. It is a long process with lots of paperwork and name signing. And truly, the faith of my happiness and our new home was in the hands of the bank/mortgage people. I didn't want to get too over zealous. I even asked our loan officer one time if I could continue packing.

But now, thankfully the waiting is over. We closed on our new home 2 weeks ago today. That was a Friday and we were able to begin moving on the following Monday at 6pm. Of course, the weather for most of the United States has been HOT, and it was no different moving. We kept everyone drinking lots of water.

After about two and a half days, we were successfully moved out of the townhouse and into our HOME. It was a very weird, but rewarding feeling. Nothing big, just a small little starter home for Drew, Gabby, and I. I'm thinking about getting a fish?



There are not many photos of the new house just yet because I don't want to share them with the world with boxes all in them. But soon. Now, its time to unpack the boxes and make into a warm, cozy, decorated home. One of our new neighbors even brought us some brownies to welcome us to the neighborhood!

I promise to work on the pictures soon!