 This season's Sincerely North Carolina Adventures include a trip to a flower farm, a distillery, two local breweries, and a couple taverns. Each of these experiences have woven moments into my being that I will never forget. The Fields at Sunflower Trail in Mocksville is breathtaking in late summer! Despite the name, this is more than a Sunflower Trail. In addition to the super fun Sunflower maze sprinkled with props for photo ops, they have a wedding venue across the street. Yup, there's flowers there too!
The day that we were there was a Sunflower Extravaganza Festival organized in collaboration with Catbird Events. In addition to your classic, lovely vendor lineup and food truck, the farm was allowing folks to cut fresh flowers from the fields and they had several games for small children to play! The weather was fine and my boys and I had a great time!   In the fields there were a few beautiful varieties of sunflowers, different dahlias for days, some daisies throughout, and I think I saw poppy and peony. The huge sunflowers were $1 each. The dahlias, smaller flowers, and greenery were sold by the bundle. It was the end of the day when we cut our bundles, so we got our arms full for $9! We made a few lovely bouquets, one of which we kept in our home.  Kristen and her fantastic team at Catbird Events out of Winston-Salem did a great job (as usual) with turning this amazing flower farm into a bustling bounty of people, art, craft, shopping, food, and FUN. A big thanks goes out to the Holbrooks who created this lovely space to have a memorable experience that will last a lifetime for me and my family.
Coming up next is the story of our experience at Mystic Farm & Distillery in Durham…
0 Comments
 So what's with the Sincerely Candles & Co, LLC logo anyway? People ask all the time and I say "it's the violet flame of peace." This is an elevator description which is far from complete because I ALWAYS get a confused or curious gaze as a response. Although the image has changed a couple times, the value behind it is the same. So here's the long of it, shortened as much as possible since you're busy.  The Sincerely Candles & Company, LLC logo is an emblem of the violet flame. This fire does not burn, it’s no ordinary fire, it is a spiritual fire of self-transformation that some people refer to as the “the violet flame.” The violet flame is a symbolic name that is given to the transformative abilities of spiritual energy. Spiritual energy can help us move through many obstacles on our path and heal a multitude of problems from physical and emotional issues, to relationship problems. If you’ve ever seen a popular depiction of an alchemist, witch or magi, there’s often a concoction being mixed up in a fire, with the flame turning into a violet color when the potion is successful. In fact, this type of fire goes back to biblical times. As described in Exodus 3:2 KJV in the story of Moses and the burning bush: “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.“ What does this mean for the products created that hold this emblem? It means they are created to be a blessing of peace. They are clear and free of intention, so you may set your own. It is my prayer that when you light a Sincerely candle or use a Sincerely oil that you are reminded of this eternal power of transformation that you have within. It's only with the dynamic skills of @jessadeedesigns that we were able to raise this image to its current use and with the modifications made by @bitterwitchbrews which brought this image to the vessel sides. I am eternally grateful to these wonderful women for helping me make this logo dream come true! to be continued... The Story of the Biz Name 👀   It’s that time of the year; candle season! There’s something of utmost importance for you to consider when purchasing candles for your home! If you’re a conscious consumer, here are some questions to consider before your purchase.
If the answer is “No” to any of these questions, then buying the candle is a NO!  I know it’s beautiful, lovely and quite divine to look at a candle with glitter, herbs, botanicals, and crystals on the top. This is a fire hazard! The ONLY time you can safely buy a candle like this is if you intend to use it for decoration only. IF it's a free-standing pillar candle AND the decorations are around the outside edge of a pillar candle, there’s a chance the candlemaker used a high-melt point paraffin to encapsulate the decorations around the edge and away from the wick and melt pool. You can tell this if you can clearly see a ring when you look around the top or bottom of the candle. In this case, the decorations are in a shell and this burns safely. Never buy a candle with combustible materials inside a glass container! Yes, even certain gemstones are considered combustible.  So, let’s consider the vessel. Typically ¼ inch is a really good measurement to think of when being a conscious candle consumer. Not only do we keep our wicks trimmed to ¼ inch for proper candle care, but we can also use this measurement when considering the glass containers we are purchasing. If the glass is thinner than ¼ inch, there’s more of a risk that the heat from the flame will crack the glass. If the glass is thicker than ¼ inch there’s less of a risk that the heat from the flame will crack the glass. However, it’s also important to consider that in my experience colored glass tends to be less heat resistant. What about ingredients! This is a topic I could write on for hours. As a general rule of thumb, if the candle business you are checking out does not mention anything about their conscious selection of oils, it’s safer to assume they are not shopping consciously for their oils and other materials. Oil selection is by far the most important step in ordering ingredients for your candles. Many factors are considered during oil shopping. Typically if a candlemaker takes the time to review data sheets to shop for oils that are phthalate and Nitro-musk free, they’re going to make sure their consumer knows about it either on the candle or on the website homepage.  It’s important to me to educate people about candles! There’s some accusations about candles out there that are not supported by science. I’ve been experimenting with candles regularly since 2001 and I conclude that the soothing, relaxing, mindfulness benefits of burning candles in our home outweighs the chance of air pollution or fire hazard. However, there’s also candlemakers not making safety a top priority, so it’s important to be conscious with our purchases; always! Follow me! I’ll help you be a conscious candle consumer.
 It’s nearing THAT time of the year! I know many companies have already begun to release their Fall Scent Collections. Here's the thing ya'll... When I make the candles you see on my pages, it's a whole-hearted process. I want to create the fall scents for you when the time feels right. It feels wrong to rush to create to keep up with the retail stores and competitors.🕯 🤷🏽♀️🕯 There is a version of me in this moment, this day, this season, that I want to be. I will never have this version of me again, so I will stay with her and be here. In context, it means creating fall candles when it feels right and only then. 😌  As I'm over here honoring the end of summer and enjoying the few cool mornings we've had, I'm planning what we are going to be burning in our homes next season and what's the best way to serve you all. What better day to release the Fall Candle Collection than the first day of fall?!? Mark your calendars for September 22nd when we will have this season's fresh small batch candles ready for your homes 🏡 ✨️ 🕯 Guess what!?! We also have a pre-order option this year! This is for some of you that I know begin getting those 🍂 fall 🍂 decorations out real soon. I want you to get your fall aromas rolling right away! I'm announcing this year's collection with a pre-order form to email subscribers ONLY on Saturday, September 3rd. Sign up on our homepage if you're not already on the list. And watch 👀 your emails on September 3rd!!! 💃🏻  I know these are your favorite, so I’m pouring them EARLY and to order just for you! ✨️Orders are filled and ready within 3 days! Shipping or pickup is available and we also have special pricing when you order one case. 💥Let us know if you have a favorite scent that you’d like to see in a Sincerely Candle!
 Two Truths and a Lie is a great introductory group gathering game you can play at parties or use as ice breakers. No special preparation is needed and it’s optional as to whether or not to keep track of points for a prize. To play, everyone sits or stands in a circle. One by one, each person in the circle says three statements about him/herself. Two of these statements must be facts, or "truths," and one must be a lie. The other members then take turns trying to guess which statement is the lie. Here are some tips I've gathered from Hannah Muniz over at prepscholar.com! What Makes for a Good Lie? A Good Truth? A best lie to use is one that seems most believable: it'll sound like something you might've done or might want to do (but haven't actually done). A lie that's too far fetched will clearly sound fake, so try to think of lies that are similar to truths to make them as plausible-sounding as possible. For example, don't say, "I can speak 22 languages." This statement is clearly a lie (unless you're a famous polyglot!). Rather, say, "I can speak three languages fluently." This statement is just plausible enough to make people doubt whether you're telling the truth or not. When it comes to telling truths, you'll want to tell the truth in such a way that others think you're lying even though you're not. Therefore, a good truth will sound like something you usually wouldn't do or wouldn't want to do (but have actually done). For example, if you're normally a shy person but have been the first to get out on a dance floor, this would be a good truth to tell since other people won't expect you to have done it.  35 Two Truths and a Lie Ideas
Below are tons of Two Truths and a Lie examples you can use for lies (or truths if applicable!). Just remember this: when choosing lies, always opt for those that will be most convincing for you! Likes/Dislikes
|
Kimberly MicheleHomeschooling Boy Mom 
Archives
November 2022
Categories |
RSS Feed