Magnolia Market Recap & Pictures

My friend Sienna and I have been wanting to visit the Magnolia Market Silos for a while now.  Summer schedule just didn't work out for us to go, so we were so excited to have the chance on our way home from the Pinners Conference last weekend!  The Magnolia Market just screams JoAnna Gaines...I mean, what else would you expect?  But really, each and every single detail is thoroughly planned and intentional.
Inside the market was a treat for the eyes, as one can't just stop at one thing...it all flows together in perfect rustic-industrial harmony. After perusing the market, we explored other areas of the grounds, such as the Seed & Supply garden store and the Magnolia Market bakery.  My favorite was the actual manicured grounds. (Did you happen to catch my cartwheel shenanigans on Insta?)  Even though it was still burning hot outside, I envision how fun it would be to bring the family on a cool fall evening to run around, enjoy some food truck snacks, and just hang out.  The old jazzy music playing loudly outdoors makes quite the ambiance.
After having visited, I think I'm good.  You know where you're like "checked that off my list" kind of good?  I'm sure I'll go again, but I've seen it, enjoyed the experience, and got to soak in all that I've admired from afar.  But I'm good.  Except of course for those bakery cookies...I could definitely go for that again!

^^^ outside on the lawn looking at the market ^^^

^^^ which is your fave? ^^^

^^^ I was drooling over all the antique tables they put the displays on! ^^^

^^^ What a gorg vignette, huh? ^^^

^^^ Cotton and some more cotton ^^^

^^^ Did you know their iconic magnolia wreath is almost $100?! ^^^

^^^ Picture perfect garden ^^^

^^^ Bakery goodness ^^^

^^^ I heard Letterfolk will soon be sold at Magnolia...how cool! ^^^

^^^ The iconic Silos ^^^

^^^ Why don't cha stay and play!?! ^^^



Have you visited the Silos?  What did you think???




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You're Still Welcome Here, Winter {Life Lately}

Life lately has been a LOT of indoors.  It's just been yucky outside, therefore, we've ventured out much less than normal...aaaaaaand I've gotten dressed much less than normal.  No, that's a lie...I'd live in a robe if I could.  My uniform of late has been a combo of sweatpants and hoodies...but not just any sweatpants.  THESE sweatpants that changed my life.  I don't know what it is about them, but I'd wear them non-stop if it were socially allowable.  Heaven (and Blake) knows I try to at all costs.

Here's what our life has looked like (in phone pics) this past week...probably much like those in the rest of the country.  Lest I sound like I'm not okay with this weather, I TOTALLY AM.  Spring can take its sweet time and I really don't care if I never see Summer again....cold, rainy, foggy --- Bring it!

She looks asleep, but she's really pissed at me and hiding her face.  This girl is wearing me out with her mood swings...Talk about five going on fifteen!  Gah.

No time/weather/opportunity for outfit pictures, so I take them myself sometimes...this is a lot trickier than it looks, my friends...or I'm just seriously lacking in iPhone coordination.

Jacket: CAbi, jeans: J.Crew, booties: Target

If I'm ever wondering where this 85 pound giant is, 9 out of 10 times I find her here on our bed...exactly like this.  The other time, she'll be laying like a human on my pillow.  #smh

In the car waiting.  Their not-so-preferred pastime.

I've been trying to work on his fine motor skills lately, and he's just not interested in much of that.  The only thing I can get him to do is color Star Wars books...but his tolerance stops there...and at about 3.2 minutes into it.  It's so interesting having a boy at this age, as the three girls were all about writing, coloring, reading...and all he wants to do is have light saber fights and throw balls.  Boys.

Date night outfit from last weekend...and gasp, we're going on another this week.  A rare occurrence, but they would certainly be nonexistent if it weren't for our amazing mothers who watch the kids for us.

turtleneck: Banana Republic, skirt: CAbi, boots: Target, necklace: Kendra Scott (exact)

Gone Junkin'...A Home Decor Post

Y'ALL.  I had my first junkin' experience a couple of weekends ago.

Some call it antiquing.  Some call it junkin'.  Some call it Round Top, Texas.

I call it a kid in a candy shop!

A couple of girlfriends and I took the hour and a half drive out to Round Top and totally scored some amazing finds and deals...haggling is completely the norm...something I didn't realize until AFTER my first purchase.  After we got the jist of our whereabouts (booths as far as the eye can see) and what we mainly were looking to find...the day was a hit!

^^^ I got one of these candle holders....but no candles.  Hoping to find some on Amazon for cheap. ^^^

^^^ My favorite find...an old windmill I somehow was lucky to get for only $60!!! ^^^

Okay, so let me tell you about my personal "interior decorator".  My friend Sienna....who's track record of suggesting amazing additions to our new home has resulted in the barn doors and the above windmill turned kitchen light fixture.  I absolutely love it!  Her husband and Blake turned it into a fully functional light that's now over the kitchen table.  She's got an eye, I tell ya'!

Speaking of interior decorating, I thought I'd just share some festive decor we have up.  In years past I've hardly decorated for Halloween....so this little bit we have up is a huge step.   It might have something to do with me hosting Halloween Bunco this Friday (remember this costume from last year's Halloween bunco?).

^^^ replacing those blue tapers with some black ones methings ^^^

Do you decorate much for Halloween?
Do you go junkin'?
Have you even heard the work junkin' before this post?
I'll stop there. Happy Columbus Day...or as we call it, "He Never Realized This Wasn't India" Day.



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DIY Industrial Rustic Shelves

You know, there's nothing like planning a party at your house to get your butt in gear with cleaning, decorating, etc.  In our situation, that party was last Thursday and we were down to the wire making these industrial-rustic shelves for the study and the two barn doors (all reclaimed wood) for our living room...see below BIG REVEAL video for the doors.  And when I say we, I really mean Blake.  He's been such a rockstar the past week...not that he isn't usually...just more on a Justin Timberlake level rather than an N*Sync level.  (Is that even a good analogy???  Probably not, but you get the picture.)
Our plan is to have two sets of these shelves on either side of our east-facing study window, but we started for now with just one.  I've outlined all the steps and the exact parts (how many and what size) you'll need to make your very own.  They're not too difficult to build, but it sure is helpful to know all the working parts ahead of time rather than trying to figure it out as you're standing in the aisle at Lowes with four children who are loudly voicing that they're so over this DIY thing.
Okay, starting out...you'll need to buy the following pipes.  You can find all these at your local hardward store, such as Lowes or Home Depot.  To be clear, this list is for ONE set of shelves only, so double if you're building two.
8 - 3/4" diameter, 12" long galvanized or black iron pipe (We went with the galvanized because we weren't sure of what finish we wanted, but then decided to spraypaint them black, black iron piping is cheaper by the way.)
4 - 3/4" diameter, 18" long pipes

2 - 3/4" diameter, 6" long pipes

8 - 3/4" Foot Plates

4 - 3/4" diameter Tee Fittings

2 - 3/4" 90° Elbows

2 - 3/4" Couping Fittings

Then for the three levels of shelves, you need to get the following wood:
1 - 2x12x10 wood board

Cut this board into three 3 foot long pieces.

We used the same stain (below) we used for our fence to stain the boards...I really liked how they turned out, but obviously you can do any kind of stain here.  Or paint would give a whole different feel to the shelves as well.

Once you get all your piping assembled and the wood cut and stained, it's GO TIME.

You'll need to have 32 of these wall anchors (below) that hold 77 lbs a piece, so you don't necessarily have to get them in a stud.  But depending on how heavy of stuff you plan to put on the shelves, you may want to get the kind that hold even heavier weight...although 77 lbs for each of these is even overkill in my opinion.

Using the picture below as a guide, assemble the piping.  Once assembled, hold it up to the wall in whatever positioning you'll want it, and have some one pencil in the holes for the wall anchors.  Screw all of them in (we used a drill to first make the hole) and make sure everything is tight.
Then all that's left is placing the boards on top and you're good to go!

Also, I wanted to post our barn door big reveal as promised, so here's a little video of our finished (for now) living room.  (Next project is ripping up that carpet!)


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Keepin' It Real With Our First Home Tour {vlog}

Y'all know I like to keep it real, right?
Meaning...showing my chaotic, messy new house and myself with no makeup is something that I would do, right?
Actually, that's exactly what I'm doing today. I need your help. Decorating a new home is tough cookies, especially when that doesn't come naturally to some.  {pointing at myself}
So, please be kind.  I know most people can't help but judge...so go ahead and judge.  And then comment with your helpful suggestions, ideas, etc... And then forget you ever saw this. Until, of course, the time that you see the "after" and you'll are like "WHOA."

So tell me your thoughts on how to make this house what my Pinterest board tells me it can be! Help a momma out!


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Moving, Photography, and Priorities

Get ready for a very random, but highly informative post....ready? OKAY!!!!!!
So.  We are FINALLY moved in.  And the reason I stress that finally, is that the last week leading up to last Wednesday's closing was pure torture...for a home buyer, that is.  Crazy stuff got messed up on the lender's end (they gave us misinformation from the get-go) and our closing got delayed.  Thanks to a nice gentleman (senior VP in their company, whose ear I chewed a bit), we got everything in order and "made right" for us.  By the end of it all, we didn't care so must about the wrong being made a right...we just wanted our home we'd been building (and looking forward to) since last November! Deep breath.

^^^ Does this picture give you anxiety???  If so, please come organize/clean/fix it for me, won't 'cha???  It'll make you feel better.  wink, wink ^^^

Now that we're moved in (I use that term VERY loosely....I mean, all of our belongings on located on our property...and that's the extent of our moved-in status), I feel thankful, relieved, joyful, and stressed all at the same time.  I've constantly had to fight that urge to get everything exactly how we want it RIGHT NOW.  It's just not realistic.  Things like painting, landscaping the backyard, new decor, etc. have to be put on the back burner until we get settled in a bit.
But guess what????
Those projects make for great DIY/Home Improvement blog posts, so stay tuned if you're into that stuff.  And if you want a preview of what my vision is for our new home, check out my laundry room, girls' bedrooms, and for the home boards on my Pinterest.  

Switching topics, I had a blast doing the first half of my Mommy & Me mini sessions last week!  I posted a couple of my favorites on Facebook so I thought I'd share here too!  I just love how the black and white captures the emotion of these mommas and their little ones...so precious.  I want some of these for myself!!!!

And on to my third topic of the post (I warned you it would be random), I've thought a lot lately about my priorities.  In fact, yesterday, I wrote all of my responsibilities down and ranked them in priority.  This list of importance wasn't news to me when digested visually, however, it seems as though something sunk in that I can cut out several things in my life that would support those big priorities a little more...such as my husband, kids, home, church.  I feel like I need to trim the fat a bit.  Who knows where those trimming may lie, but I definitely think some changes will be happening in the next few months.  Do you ever feel this way???  It's like I need a priority reset to bring it back to the core strongholds in my life...and let some of the other fluff go. I'll keep you posted on that, too....once I figure it out myself.  :)

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Thoughts While Moving

The night before we were to be completely out of our old house, I spent several hours there getting all of the last little bit...which looked rather harmless, but turned out to be an entire trailer and truck's worth of stuff, so as it turned out, I had my work cut out for me.

Needless to say, I had a lot of time to think...

Thoughts I had at 1:30am while moving:
-I've thrown away/donated nearly an actual ton's weight of stuff....HOW do we still have so much junk???
-If I see one more random hanger, sock, penny, lego, or bobby pin...I'm gonna scream.  All of these went in the trash if I came across one.  So now we have a lot of single socks.  Desperate times...
-Professional movers must have both incredibly ripped muscles and a strong desire to quit their job.
-I'm going to do better in our new house about cleaning, organizing, etc.  Especially the laundry room...yuck.  Yeah, we'll see about that.
-I have such wonderful friends and family who have shown tremendous love and support during this fiasco...especially through food.
-Am I going to miss this house?  No, I don't think so.
-Singing to myself "Every light in house is on..."
-If I see one more random outlet plug, nail, crayon, rubber band...I'm gonna lose it...and throw them all away.
-Shoot, we're out of trash bags!  Walmart run in the middle of the night?
-Can I carry that humongous box down the stairs by myself?  Welp, let's see.
-There should be anti-moving laws.  Anyone who has to move gets the priviledge of torching their stuff and getting reimbursed once they move into their new place.  That would solve all sorts of serious global issues.
-I envy the caloric burn had by professional movers.  I'm hungry.  Candy.
----------------------
We still have about three months until our house is ready, so we'll be staying with my generous in-laws until then.  It feels so good to be finished with the moving process, and I'm thankful we have a little breather before the move-in.  The trauma of moving won't be as fresh...and we might even be able to enjoy it!
To any of you who have to move in the near future...I'm here for you.  Let's form a support group.  Let's commiserate.  Let's stage a coup.
Or just hire movers next time. The thought (next time) makes me shudder.



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Unplugged & Weekend Recap

Well friends...I did it.  I unplugged for the weekend.

For the most part.

Exceptions include texts and trying to sell a stroller on a Facebook page...but besides that, no checking email, no social media, and no having my phone on my person nonstop.

It felt really nice and surprisingly, I didn't miss it.

There were a few times I glanced at my growing number of emails and suffered a slight pang of anxiety of the time it would take to sort through all of them come this morning...but nothing more than that.  I definitely think I'll do it more often!

Did you happen to unplug with me this past weekend?

We spent most of our entire weekend packing.  Currently everything, yet nothing is packed.  My MIL helped knock out the kitchen yesterday and we have most decor and furniture out...so today my job consists of mountains of laundry and packing the kids' room.  Fun.

Here's a few other highlights from our weekend...it was beautiful!

^^^ Me and Tyler Bree at the 360 Bridge looking over Lake Austin.  It was so neat! ^^^

^^^ Went to dinner with my mom...love these pants from KLR! ^^^

^^^ Boxes are loads of fun.  Clearly. ^^^

Riley, Tyler Bree and Blake went to a Daddy/Daughter dance and had a good ol' time.  Oh these girls with fixing hair.  They fight me on it every time!  Don't they know I know what looks best!?!?  Gah!  I won, by the way...well, to be perfectly honest, it was more 60/40.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend!!!


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{Smart Style} My Favorite Color Combo...Again + Unplugging

Each time I pair black, blue, and cream...I remember suddenly why I love the color combo so much.  And then ask myself why I don't wear it more.  Maybe I need some more blue in my closet...a color I don't typically gravitate towards.

Last night a couple of girl friends and I went to the San Antonio temple.  It was spur of the moment for me, and I sort of had that "I don't know if I can make this happen" kind of attitude, but I'm so glad I did.  Not only was it great to hang out with them in the car and at dinner, but I appreciated being able to experience and enjoy our time there as sisters.  

Outift details---blouse (option): CAbi, cardigan: Banana Republic, skirt (option) and heels (option): Target, clutch: c/o Purse & Clutch, earrings: Kendra Scott

I also wanted to mention one thing I woke up thinking about today. I'm toying with the idea of unplugging for the weekend.
I'm hyper-aware that I'm completely connected to my phone.  It's a life line for me...sad to say, but true.  We used to not have our phones in the bedroom at night, but over time have altered that policy in case of an emergency (we don't have a land line).  But with that decision, there have been times we've both lain in bed ON OUR PHONES.  Whaaaat?  That's ridiculous when you really think about it.  And while we do spend time listening to or reading our scriptures from our phones before bedtime, for the most part, I think we abuse it.
So...I'm wondering if I could prove to myself that I can do without....my precious.  Pshh, I know I can.  Heck, I did it for four days on my cruise!  To really unplug this weekend is what my mind tells me I need to do. I want my kids not to see my carrying it around with me everywhere I go. I want to actually get some substantial packing accomplished. I want to abide by my dad's old saying that phones are for your convenience, not that of others.
What do you think? Would you like to do this with me?  I think I'll need some moral support. Let me know if you're up for it and we can sign off together...tonight. Scary, I know. But necessary, I feel.


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Packing Sucks

Folks, I'm about to lose it.
Packing straight up sucks.  SUCKS.
If I even had an ounce of OCD in my blood, this whole process would be ten times easier...but no.  I can't even wrap my brain around the organization that should be in process right now.  I just can't. Does. Not. Compute.
To make things more chaotic and messy, all of our furniture (except for the kids' beds and our kitchen table) is out of the house.  I tried to plop down on a couch today and ended up just wandering around with a forlorn look on my face.  I landed on my bed mattresses, by the way.

^^^ An empty closet...what kids' play is made of. ^^^

In the next seven days, I've got to get my stuff together.  Or else. Or else, what? I don't know...the world might come to end? I burn everything we own? Yeah, that second option is sounding pretty good right now. Anyone got a light? You wouldn't think I'm joking if you saw the state of the entire upstairs. I'll pass on showing a picture out of sheer avoidance of utter embarrassment.
But at any rate, come hell or high water, we'll be outta here by next weekend. Shudder. Pray for me.
In related news, I'm getting rid of anything in sight that I don't have a strong affection for or that serves a specific purpose... Meaning those random toy pieces that got separated from the mother ship...Gone. Meaning those clothes that I've hung on to because maybe, just maybe they'll come back in style...Gone. Meaning if it's in my war path...Gone. Meaning it feels real good to get rid of stuff...and I'm being ruthless about it. Goodwill is gonna LOVE me. Not. As will our trash man. True story.
p.s.  I made these babies tonight and OH MY GOSH.  #Heavenly p.p.s.  Did I mention we're moving? {insert cross-eyed emoticon}

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