Favorite Finds Friday

Ok so I haven't done one of these in FOREVER and don't expect another one soon. But yesterday I was inspired by Kelsey from Keeping up with Kelsey to share my love of the 50's!! She had posted something about it on Instagram and I mentioned I had a board dedicated to the 50's on Pinterest. To me it's such a great era. For me it's the Music, clothes, cars, colors, and even recipes that makes this decade so dreamy!! So here are some of my favorite things about the 50's!! HAPPY FRIDAY!! :)

Oh Swoon!!!

Governors Conference on Ag and Honey and Wine Tasting

Hello everyone, I have had quite the exciting weekend full of travel, great food, new people, and weather of all sorts!! First off I got to travel to Kansas City Thursday night to attend the 2014 Missouri Governors conference on Agriculture. All weekend they had a conference with different vendors and speakers promoting Missouri agriculture and just agriculture in general. I wish I could have stayed all weekend but I was of on another adventure to St. Louis. Here are some pictures from the Governors Conference on AG.

The event was held in the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City. They had a bunch of trees outside that were still covered in lights it was so pretty!

The bluegrass band that was playing during the event

This was our little table we had set up with different bee/honey products. 

Me talking to a really tall man from the USDA. 

We met so many amazing people all involved with Agriculture in one way or another. 

St. Louis Honey and Wine Tasting at the St. Louis Culinary arts School. This was an event sponsored by one of the bee clubs in the state. It was a great event with lots of people both beekeepers and non. They had a room set up that had tables all around. On each table were 3 or so different honeys paired with a certain wine. Even though I didn't get to try the wine I still got to sample all of the different honeys. There was honey from Germany, France, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Missouri and some others I can't remember. My favorites were the Colorado Wildflower and the Mesquite flavored honey from Mexico. 

The food! Oh my god so amazing! In one of the rooms there was a buffet set up with different foods the culinary students made. There was Duck confit (duck cooked in duck fat), smoked salmon, cauliflower pureed with black truffle dip, fruit, different cheese, and some sausage. All was so amazing!!!!

Me with the President of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Me and the Executive Chef of the school

Me and the woman in charge of the event

Me with the guy who brought most of the wine

It was a great weekend. It is so nice to get dressed up every now and then and step out of your comfort zone and learn about new things. The whole honey wine tasting was a little out of my normal activity range but it ended up being so fun and awesome. It was also great to share with others my passion for Beekeeping and agriculture. 

A New Beginning

So we are 8 days into the new year and I have to say that so far it's been alright!! I know there are 357 more days to go, but you know what I don't care. I'm ready to face the world head on, with a positive attitude, and a smile on my face. I know that there will be bumps along the way but I am more than ready to face them. I don't really know what changed my mood but I'm not gonna argue because I just feel truly happy and I feel like so much has been lifted off of my shoulders. It's almost hard to explain.

A few days ago I posted about my resolutions/goals for 2014. So far I'm doing pretty good on all fronts. I've tried 2 new recipes (98 more to go), not had a pop, I start each day with a devotional and reading the good book, I've wrote down several blessings and put them in my jar, and I've started putting money in my savings jar.

Also these past few days my Honey Princess chairperson and I have been working on planning out my year and my travels. I'm so excited to get to travel to new places and meet new people. I'm going to be in St. Louis several days, Kansas City, Lake of the Ozarks, Springfield, Sedelia,  Kansas and several other places. The coolest part though is that I get to share a passion of mine to others. How cool is that!!

So for those of you going through not so happy times right now let me tell you that I've been there and I know that It's not fun. But you can't give up!!! Please don't. Find something that you know will bring some piece of happiness to you and do it. Also talk with a friend. You never know maybe they have gone through something similar in their lives and have some advice for you. I'm sure that all of you have someone you can talk to. I hope that helps. I'm not that great on giving advice but it's something :) 

Christmas In the Country Gift Exchange

This year Laurie from COUNTRY LINKed and Jamie from This Uncharted Rhoade put together a deal called Christmas in the Country. It was a secret Santa gift exchange among different bloggers. I think all in all there were 25 different participants from all over the country. The gift package that I sent out went to Texas. I sent out some cookies, some honey from my bees, some honey peach butter, a mug, and an ornament.

The gift that I received came all the way from LaMoure, North Dakota from Kayla Jo from Creek Side Ranch. My gift included a journal with a wonderful note inside, a cookbook, a little devotional for students, some North Dakota BBQ sauce that looks delicious, a homemade candle, a magnate and some postcards featuring North Dakota. I loved everything!! She did great job of featuring her area.

It was such a fun and easy project to do!! I really hope that they do it again next year and I encourage anyone who didn't do it this year to do it next year! You get to know different bloggers and it's always fun to give gifts!!

What I Hope to Accomplish in 2014

So this year like many past I have some things that I would like to challenge myself to do this new year. Unfortunately like the past 20 years I have never stuck with them. But hey it's a new year and if you don't have some goals your life won't go anywhere. So here is to 2014!! 

First I found this little deal on Pinterest that gives you a goal to save money. Last year I did really well on saving some money which helped fund my trip out west. So I thought I'd follow a more structured plan and see where it got me!

I also found this on Pinterest and then later a similar thing was on Facebook. You fill a jar with different good things that happened to you during the year. Also fill it with special mementos. 

This was a little thing you filled out to plan some resolutions

2014

A Bad habit I'm going to break: 

Drinking Pop

A new skill I'd like to learn:

How to Rope

A person I hope to be more like:

Ethel

A Place I'd like to visit:

Texas

A book I'd like to read:

Gone With the Wind

A letter I'm going to write:

To myself when I'm 40

A new food I'd like to try and make:

Tiremisu

I'm going to do better at:

Studying

Some other Resolutions I hope to follow this year are:

-Visit 5 new States

-Read 100 Books

-Try 50 new recipes

-Visit 3 new museums

-Drink 100 oz of water per day

-Reach goal weight

-Take 10 minutes out of each day to read my bible or a devotional

-Walk/Run 15 miles each month

-Read all the books I had on my Autumn book challenge list

-Get B's in the rest of my nursing classes

-Better my writing skills

-Be happy

As you walk your road in 2014, LOVE everyone that comes into your life, choose to have JOY in every circumstance and be STRONG through every trial.