Vitacost Haul

Three months ago I said I was back to blogging, but that obviously didn't happen. I've had a lack of inspiration of what to post, though not because I haven't had much going on. Life's been quite busy as of late, so who knows when my next post will be. I wanna try and post at least a couple times a month, so hopefully I won't be dropping off the face of the blog world again anytime soon!

Last week I made my first purchase from Vitacost. For those not familiar, Vitacost is a site that sells all sorts of natural and health foods and products, but usually for a better price that you can find locally. Plus they carry lots of items that I haven't been able to find in stores. Here's the breakdown of what I purchased:

Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips - $3.69 per 10oz bag
Reed's Ginger Candy Chews - $3.29 2oz
Let's Do Organic Unsweetened Coconut Flakes - $3.29 for 7oz
Vitacost Rolled Oats (gluten-free) - $2.19 for 16oz
Now Foods Nutritional Yeast Powder - $8.69 for 10oz
Y.S. Eco Bee Farms Bee Pollen - $11.49 for 16oz

These are the best chocolate chips as they're dairy and soy free. They're usually about $6 locally, but the sale they had on Vitacost was so good I decided to get three bags!

The ginger chews are the same brand as the ginger brew I love, so I thought I'd give them a try.

We usually get shredded coconut, so I thought flakes would be a nice change. My favorite thing is to put them in my homemade granola. They taste good by themselves too!

I usually buy rolled oats from Trader Joe's, but I can't remember the price I paid. I think these are a better deal, though, so I thought why not. I made granola with them (one bag was the exact amount I use in my recipe!) and thought they tasted better than the Trader Joe's ones.

I didn't know they made powdered nutritional yeast, but this Now Foods is a much better deal than the Braggs and is better for putting on popcorn, my favorite way to use it!

My friend Sarah loves bee pollen, so I thought I'd give it a go. It's filled with lots of vitamins and minerals.

I used a referral link that got me $10 off my first purchase of $30 or more, which is a great deal! Shipping is really reasonable at $4.99 and orders over $49 ship free. If you wanna get $10 your first purchase for $30 or more, feel free to use my referral link. You'll have 30 days to use it once you accept it.

And I'm Back!

Why hello there, blogoverse. It's been a while! Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas; I sure did! Since it's been nearly three months since I took a break, how 'bout a little recap?

Work's been pretty fabulous, even during the crazy holidays. Everything went really smoothly, even Black Friday. Actually Black Friday ended up being one of my best days at work surprisingly. People are a lot less grumpy from when we opened (5am) till I got off than they were in the late morning/early afternoon like when I worked before. In the mornings before work my mom and I would get up a little early and watch Hallmark Christmas movies together which was fun.

My boss was awesome and gave me Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas off (the store was closed on Christmas), which I was really thankful for. We had a nice quiet Christmas at home, opening presents on the morning of Christmas Eve.

The day before New Years Eve my grandpa ended up in the hospital. Because of that, the past few weeks have been pretty crazy. He has cancer in several spots, including is brain, but overall he's doing pretty well.

This month I started something I've always wanted to do: take a dance class! I'm taking Broadway Jazz at a Christian Dance Studio not far away. I'll be in my first ever recital this June (exciting!) and it's going to be really fun because the theme is Mary Poppins, and I love, love, love the music from that movie!

Besides that I've gotten my drivers permit, had time to do some cooking, made elderberry tinctures, saw Big Hero 6 (new favorite movie), discovered a gluten and dairy free pizza, watched the Seahawks do the impossible at the playoffs, and started shooting my first roll of film in an old film camera.

What about you guys? How've you been? Let me know what all you've been up to in the comments!

Giveaway Winner! + A Temporary Goodbye

Hello blogging world! Since the A Few of My Favorite Things giveaway ended last night, that means it's time to announce the winner. Drumroll please; and the winner is...

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Raechel!

Congrats, Raechel! If you can shoot me an e-mail (wintermist3{at}gmail{dot}com) with your name and address I can get that package off to you real soon. :D

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On a side note, I'll be taking a little break from the blogging world. With the holidays practically here and the busyness that brings, plus working in retail this time of year, the days fly by waaaaayyy to fast. There's a lot of fun stuff I've been coming up with to do, so I wanna leave myself plenty of time do just have fun and do Christmas-y stuff on my days off work. 

I might still pop in here in there, we'll have to see, but I won't be putting it on my regular schedule to write up posts like normal. I'm totally playing it by ear here. So in case I don't see you all till the new year, have a lovely Thanksgiving and Christmas season. This is my favorite time of year and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

^random photo of the Cheshire Cat pumpkin I carved. Pattern found here.^

GIVEAWAY! (CLOSED) :: A Few of My Favorite Things

It's hard for me to believe I've been a blogger for seven years. In July of 2007 I started my first blog, which is a personal scrapbook of sorts, to share with my friends and family. I still post on that blog today.

In January of 2010 I started getting into photography after using my parents DSLR for the first time and started my first public blog, Sereina's Photography. I blogged there for three years and it was then that I discovered the wonderful community of bloggers around my age, especially homeschooled ones. I never really truly realized how many homeschoolers were out there until then. It's such a great community of girls and I think it's cool how everybody sorta "knows" everybody, even if we don't follow every blog.

I've been truly blessed to get to know so many of you and I don't think I've ever said how much I appreciate every single one of you. Every comment left on my blog brings a smile to my face and I've enjoyed so many blog posts written by you all. Thank you all for making this community such an enjoyable place! You all are the best. :D

I wanted to do something for you all.  Ribbons Down My Back is over a year old already and I've never hosted a giveaway before, so I thought it was about time I did! Since I wanted to share a variety of items I came up with a few of my favorite things to giveaway to one of my readers! Below is a list of everything included and a little about it:

Bells are Ringing DVD
Musicals is my favorite movie genre and Bells are Ringing is one of those hidden gems in the genre. It's not well known, but it has a fabulous soundtrack and stars Judy Holiday and Dean Martin.

With Ever Letter by Sarah Sundin
This is the first book in the Wings of Glory trilogy that follows three flight nurses in the Mediterranean during WWII. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and no one does it better than Sarah Sundin. This also happens to be the first book of her's that I read myself.
The Piano Guys: Wonders
I don't listen to a ton of modern music, but when I do many times it's The Piano Guys! This is their third album which was released in early October and has some awesome tracks such as Batman Evolution, Let it Go, Story of My Life, and Kung Fu Piano. If you haven't heard of TPG's before, check out their YouTube channel!

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Giveaway is closed!

Entering is simple: leave a comment with one (or more!) link to a blog you find inspirational and/or encouraging. I also encourage everyone to take a look at the links left in the comments and check out a few of the blogs and leave an encouraging comment or two.

For additional entries you can share this post on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, etc. Each site you share it on counts as another entry. Be sure to let me know in a comment what all you did!

Giveaway ends at midnight PST on Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 and is open to readers in the continental US only. Winner will be chosen randomly and will have two weeks to respond, otherwise another winner will be drawn.

Yes to Tomatoes 3-Step Acne Kit Review

Acne. Nearly all of us deal with it, some of us more than others. I'm one of those that had many issues during my mid-teen years, and although it's mellowed out a bit now that I'm older (twenty to be exact), it's been giving me a fair share of trouble lately.

When I was a Target last month I saw they had the Yes to Tomatoes 3-Step Acne Bundle. It's $20 for three products, all of which contain salicylic acid and are petroleum, SLS, and paraben free. Most of you know how important natural health and beauty are for me, so seeing that it was a natural choice plus the fact that I've been very happy with other Yes to products I've used I decided to give it a go. I'm not usually one to impulse buy something like this, but it ended up being worth it for me!
Like I said I bought mine at Target, but it is also sold at Yes to, Amazon, and Walmart. If you go to the In Store Coupon section of the Yes To site, you can get $3 off any Yes To purchase of $6 or more.

Before I tell you how it works, here's a bit about my skin:
I have oily skin that tends to break out mainly on my chin, jawbone, and temples/forehead. The type of acne I usually get is the kind with white pus underneath the surface. To wash my face I use a washcloth and water, so no soap or face wash.

Yes to Tomatoes Daily Pore Scrub 
This is a gentle scrub that uses ground mango seeds and bamboo to exfoliate. It contains 2% salicylic acid to fight acne, along with ginger and tomato to help with redness and irritation and is 99% natural. Most scrubs aren't made to be used every day, but since this one is really easy on the skin and I can see it being used daily like recommended. It has an interesting smell that's hard to describe, but isn't very strong or noticeable unless you're trying to smell it.
Yes to Tomatoes Daily Repair Treatment
This comes in a bottle with pump and cap and it like the consistency of a moisturizer. You apply it to areas that you're prone to breaking out. For me that's my chin, tops of my cheeks, temples, and forehead. It contains 1% salicylic acid, so it may dry out your skin, although It hasn't been an issue for me, probably because I have very oily prone skin. If you use a moisturizer it can go on after this Repair Treatment (there's even a Yes To Tomatoes Moisturizer if you're on the lookout for one).

Yes to Tomatoes Roller Ball Spot Stick
This is one of the best parts of the kit, the spot stick. It contains 2% salicylic acid, so it can really combat acne spots, along with with ginger root and tomato to help with the redness. It's also 97% natural. I find this stuff highly effective. In the morning I'll put it on any trouble spots and it significantly helps with the redness. If I remember to put it on twice a day, the spot will be mostly in a couple days, depending on how bad the blemish is. Since it has a roller ball it applies really easy.

Overall this kit has a huge help for me. Even after using it for just a few days I noticed a difference. My face is a lot less red and if I keep up with the routine when any new spots appear, I can usually keep it from getting any worse. I've found that it's makes the biggest difference when I'm using it every day. Since I only shower every other day, often I don't end up doing this on the days I don't shower, and although it helps significantly, it's much more effective when used daily. I like that it's natural, reasonably priced, and gets the job done.