Before and After

Mr. Mac and I have been in our house for 2 weeks now, and things are coming together little by little!  I am finally getting to the point of not feeling so overwhelmed with boxes and stuff everywhere!  Thank.the.lord!!!  It has been so nice to have Mr. Mac off these weeks, as he has done so much to the house...ya know things that I would not be to keen on doing.  Our garage is put together enough that we can park in it...BONUS!!!  We have towel racks hung, a new shower head installed, furniture put together, light bulbs changed, and all those other man things.  Now I am just waiting for it all to be done so I can go on my crazy cleaning lady spree!  Our bedroom is almost complete.  I haven't taken a pic yet cuz I am a slacker like that :)  But I do have pics of our master bathroom.  I am in love with the way this all turned out!  Mr. Mac hung all the stuff on the walls as a little surprise for me when I can home from work one day this week!

Here is the plain, before pic...

And here are these two walls after...

I need to find some purple candles to go on these sconces...work in process here peeps

remember when I took pictures from the same angle to get the right effect...ya me too!

It is really hard for me to let the process just BE.  I want everything to get done ASAP, and well it just doesn't work like that.  But I enjoying making our house a home!

This weekend is one of my favorite times...especially this year!  Before I had my current job we would go up to the cabin, but I have to be at work for the end of the year...so we are going to bum around at home all weekend and eat yummy food!  Saturday night I am going to make surf n' turf...YUMMO!!!  Sunday all the Bowl football games are on, so I got all sorts of finger foods to put out and I am going make a pizza roll and meatballs in the crock pot!  I can't wait to ring in the new year in our new house with my hubby!  I hope you all have a hap hap happy new year!!

Christmas Recap-ish

Hi ya'll!! I think my last post was something about me getting lost in what was a hot mess of a bedroom....turns out I did get lost in there and then Christmas was over when I found my way out ;)  I hope ya'll had a merry merry Christmas...here is a little photo recap of our Christmas weekend!

We spend Christmas Eve with Mr. Mac's family....

Me and my SIL with the bottle of wine our father-in-law specifically bought for us :) HAHA loves it!

Sibling love!! S and G...the kids are getting so big!

"The Shrimp Brigade!"

Mom and Dad Mac...soo cute...she told me this was their 34th Christmas together!! How cool is that?!?

We spend Christmas day morning with my dad's side...

"I'n hiding...come fine me"

B was a doll this year!  He is learning to talk to much and finding his opinion on things. It is so neat to watch him grow!

Represent!!! Our die-hard Cowboys Fan :)

We are soo blessed this year to have our health and family.  Christmas never really felt real this year with the move and everything, but we had a great weekend.  This week we have done a lot of work in the house!   I have some pics of our bathroom and bedroom that I will post soon!  But for now this is how I ended our holiday weekend...

**cheers**

A heavy heart

I am not going to go into a lot of detail, but today I have a heavy heart.  I have spent my morning watching it blizzard outside and praying.

What I will say is that the power of God and prayer and the overwhelming amount of comfort He can provide is amazing.

"God can do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine" ~ Ephesians 3:20

"But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.  For you have been a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.  O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love." ~  Psalm 51:16-17

What did I get myself into?

For those of you have moved recently and or do move frequently I am sure this is an old song...but for me not.so.much.  Our house is out.of.control. right now.  And I know we just moved and all that jazz but oh my gosh it is killing me slowly!  I came home from work last night and went on a crazy lady cleaning binge...not kidding :)  Mr. Mac helped me out and moved all of his toys into his toy box tools into the garage.  And I picked up and thew out all sorts of trash that was everywhere and ran the vacuum. Side-note: The vacuum lines you get in new carpet are uh-maz-ing :)

But let's take for example our bedroom...

I know that furniture is cool huh...especially the new ergonomic mattress we are sleeping on.  Y'all have got to try it!! Just kidding as I mentioned yesterday the mattress is coming on Thursday .  Which is 2 days away people and the rest of the room is looking pretty bad!  I honestly have no idea if clothes are clean or dirty, which only means I will end up washing all of them because you never know, and I do not want to be that person!  Me being the type A that I am will have to get this room in order by tomorrow night....in other words if I don't blog tomorrow or Thursday it is because I got consumed by that mess!

I do love the furniture though!  It is always hard to pick out such important furniture and not know for sure how it will look!  But I think we did a good job.  

I totally forgot to take pictures on moving day. I was in GO mode!  My only question is where in the heck did all of this stuff come from?  I mean my goodness I have more kitchen ware than Target!  When Mr. Mac and I got married the only wedding presents we used were the pots/pans and plates.  Come Saturday I thought it was Christmas on steroids!  NO JOKE!!  I had no idea how much stuff I had....so naturally all I want to is throw  party to use all of it!  Once we are settled in  and it doesn't look like the bomb of 2011 went off...I will be throwing  a grand ol' party....can't wait :)

Hope y'all are having a terrific Tuesday!!

WE DID IT!!!!!

Well peeps....we did it...we own a home together :)  I am pretty sure I suffered from the worst form of ADD on Friday that has ever existed!  I was able to get some work done and we closed at 2:00.  Everything went perfectly and we had a slew of keys in our hand by 3:00.

Never been sooo excited to be in such debt ;)

We got to work right away.  We wanted to take advantage of not having any furniture in the master bedroom...so we painted until 11:30p!  Come Saturday morning we were ready for a full day of business!!!  We are so blessed to have the family and friends that are willing to spend their Saturday with us....and man oh man did we do BIG work!  My kitchen is the ONLY room that is completed.  We have boxes and tools and furniture and plastic wrap and nails and hammers and laundry baskets and big black bags and piles of stuff EVERYWHERE ELSE!  It only took 4 hours and 3 people to get my kitchen done!  Here are some pics of the house at it's current state of awesomeness!

Fridge cuteness...

You can call me Rachel...as in Ray :)

This tile is by far one of my favorite wedding gifts we got...such a perfect gift!

One of the extra bedrooms...Mr. Mac and I are staying here until our mattress comes on Thursday!

I told Mr. Mac I was NOT going to put up any Christmas Decorations just to have to take them down...but this cute little tree was calling my name.  

If you know me in real life...this is not me at.all!  I am a red and gold perfect matching Christmas decorating kind of lady.  BUT I love this tree!!  It is hot pink, lime green, and blue...I will put it up every year now, and for now it is our first Christmas in our first home together and I am basking that up for all it is worth!

A Letter to Us

Well we are now two days away from our closing :)  and time.is.flying!  I wanted to "write" a letter to us during this time in our lives, and to recap this year.  This time will never come again, us buying our FIRST home.  I never want to forget this time, and the excitement...so here it goes....

Mr. and Mrs. Mac,

Today is officially two days before you close on your first home together.  Mr. Mac's parents have been so wonderful over the past year.  You guys have worked hard and saved money.  You have learned so many things about yourselves as individuals and as spouses to each other.  

The first half of the year was kind of par for the course.  Nothing too exciting happened.  You were both busy with work and having fun!  There was a health scare that turned out to be nothing.  That brought you two closer and you relied so deeply on God and each other.  You are building a strong foundation for your marriage, and God is always the focal point.  You have both learned how to pray together this year...don't ever forget that, as it truly a gift.

In June you celebrated your one year wedding anniversary!!  Man how time flies!  You went for a nice dinner and stayed the night in a hotel room....complete with champagne and strawberries :)  So romantical :)

In July you all took a family vacation to Disney World.  It was sooo much fun and a trip you will remember all your life.  Hopefully the next time you go...you will have an extra passenger...or two :)  In August you all traveled to Houston for Charlie's wedding, and stayed in the most beautiful house EVER!!!  Again great memories were made with our entire family.

In August you put your first offer on a house together!  The house was a short sale, and at the time was no problem.  You were willing to wait it out.  Well four months later that deal fell through.  Mrs. Mac was a HOT MESS to say the least, but Mr. Mac was right there to pick you up and put you back together.  Then within 48 hours you went from not getting a house to being under contract on "the one"!!!  This house was a fix n' flip and it is perfect for you guys.  You drive by almost every day to check up on it and any work that is being completed.  Giddy doesn't even begin to express your feelings.  You have lists and lists of things to do.  Mrs. Mac has turned into some crazy decorator lady, and Mr. Mac is Tim the tool man Taylor himself, always thinking of projects he can do.  You are so blessed to have the family and friends you do...they are all so excited and supportive of you.  You would not be here without them.  Always remember to thank God for that support and encouragement.  

In two days you will move out of Mr. Mac parent's house and into your very first home together.  This is a new chapter for you.  Life will change over the years, and your current home may change too.  But always remember this: that God is always in control, His timing is perfect,  His answer to prayers is sometimes NO,  His plan for you is perfect.  You are each other's best friend and the perfect yin and yang...keep God in the center, and enjoy the journey of life!

Love,

Mrs. Mac -2011-

Hot Date!!

First and foremost....we are closing on our house Friday at 2:00!!!!!!  I am beyond ecstatic...in fact last night I was totally the little kid on the Disney World commercial who is too excited to sleep :)  I didn't fall asleep until 12:30.  Needless to say I am very tired today, but it is totally worth it!!  I cannot wait to do before and after pictures once we get our stuff in.  The first room we are focused on is our bedroom, and I am just in love with all the goodies I have planned for that room!!!

Ok back to my hot date :)  Mr. Mac surprised me with tickets to go see Mannheim Steamroller!!  I grew up listening to their Christmas music and I just love it!  So we went downtown and they were amazing!!  It is all based around 5 people playing various instruments, and they make all that noise!

We had so much fun together!  H&M just opened downtown and I have been wanting to go...so Mr. Mac tagged along with me and I did a little shopping.  I found some simple long sleeved t-shirts for like $10 each....cheap and I wear them all time with cardigans and things.  I will definitely be a frequent shopper there!

Then we went and enjoyed a nice dinner together!  I will always cherish dates like this with him :)  Mr. Mac really is my best friend and I just love him to pieces!  I know life will change and circumstances will change, but I always know that as long as I have him everything will be okay.  I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband who works so hard to provide for our little family.  We are so pumped about our house and all the stuff that goes along with that, but I am just so happy to start and new chapter with HIM!

P.S. We didn't even get home until 10....such rebels we are :)

A Betty Crocker Style Birthday...

This past weekend was uh-maz-ing!!!  It was busy but not too busy and we did some fun things!  Friday was my mama's birthday so Mr. Mac and I went over to her house after work.  For as long as I can remember my mom, aunt, and grandma have baked up a storm at Christmas time.  And it seems the list gets longer and longer every year of the things they are going to bake.  This is a multi-day extravaganza that goes on, and requires some serious organization.  For example here is a 6-foot table that is sitting in my mom's kitchen...

Even though it was my mama's birthday...she surprised the heck out of me with this...

A brand spankin' new Kitchen aide Mixer!!!!!

And it came with this new attachment with a scrapper side...it's the little things people, I am tellin ya :)

One of my mom's specialties is home made biscotti.  She makes it in two flavors 1. Orange Zest and 2.  Pistachio Cherry (my all time fav!)

 Oh ya and it is drizzled with chocolate :)

I will get the recipe from her and post it.  It is soooo easy and makes people love you forever!  That's why she makes it...so people lover her forever :)  Just kidding mom...love you!!

Her house is decorated sooo freaking cute!! I mean check out this Santa!!!

But her thing is this village...

They (my mom and her hubby) add a new building/people/item every year and it has grown to be this!!  It takes them about four hours to put it up, but it is worth it!!

I hope you all are having a great day!!!!  Oh and GOOOO TEBOW!!!!!!  So glad everyone is jumping on the ban-wagon that some of us have been on for oh so long :)  Stay tuned this week for the most adorable Tebow fan!!

Bah humbug!

I love the Christmas Season...a lot!  I was blessed to grow up in a family where Christmas was a true season in that we decorated and baked and made traditions and all that jazz.  I remember helping my mom and dad decorate the trees, and my dad would hang Christmas lights on the house and they always looked so perfect.  I remember listening to the Mannheim Steamroller CD with my mom as we put up our tree and then we would sit with all lights off but the tree and just watch it glow.  I remember my EXTREME fear of Santa!!!  I always asked Santa to leave my presents outside on the deck so he didn't come in my house :)  I remember my mom, aunt, and grandma baking and baking and baking. 

You see to me Christmas is so much more than just ONE day.  It is a season.  It is a distinct time period.  It is more than presents and family.  It is my salvation.  It is a love that NO ONE will ever be able to fathom.  It is the start of the biggest sacrifice any one person has ever made. 

 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16

As an adult/wife/hopefully one day mommy...I could not image giving your one and only child as the ultimate sacrifice.  Knowing how it will end.  To be able to step out of MY self to give to others!

This post is totally random, but there was something that triggered it for me.  My office is decorated and I listen to 90% Christmas music all day.  Starting the day after Thanksgiving.  Someone made a comment about how all I listen to is Christmas music and how we celebrate ONE day for 24 days and so on.  My hackles went up and I called him a humbug!  I started thinking about why I got so defensive.  I went to my bible at work and meditated on John 3:16.  I realized I got so mad because if God can give us his one and only son to that we may live in eternity...why can't we celebrate that for more than one day?  Don't we owe it to Him to give Him more than one day?  And then He convicted me like He always does when I need it most....shouldn't I be praying for the "humbug" and not condemn him?  Shouldn't I be asking him to have a soft heart and that maybe my Christmas music and whatnot will show him what the reason for the season really is?

After all isn't that the story of Scrooge anyways ;)  Here's to remembering the reason for the season.

Dining Room

9 DAYS AND COUNTING!!!  Until this pretty thing is officially ours!!!

I just never get tired of looking at it!!  The neighbors probably think Mr. Mac and I are like stalkers really just Mr. Mac...he drives by every night :)

Work has been a little slow today so I decided I was going to do a little version of e-design and do our dining room.  Now for some reason I am OBSESSED with dining rooms.  I don't know how, I don't know when...all I know is that I looove the way a set dining room looks!  You see the living room and dining room when you walk in so it is important that it looks warm and welcoming too! 

Drum roll please.......

I KNOW!!!!  The napkin ring is a freaking feathers!!! I mean can it get any cuter than this??? 

I found them online here!!!

I got the centerpiece pic from pinterest I just love the look, and I think it will be pretty easy to change the stuff seasonally.

I found the run on Overstock.com...that is the best website sometimes!!

We got a full set of the china we registered for at our wedding!  One of the best things by far!  We would've NEVER gone out and bought ourselves china so that was one of the smartest things we registered for.  The point being that I have never opened any of it and feel like I need to display it!  And what better place?

The other room I cannot wait to get together is our bedroom!  I am a bedroom girl...I love laying in bed watching TV, reading, whatever.  So it is soo important to make it a comfy place.  Our duvet cover is gray and white.  And I chose lime green as the accent color in the room!!  I can't wait to see how it all turns out!  The way it all looks in my head is gorgeous...hopefully it will turn out that way too!  It's a lot of work to decorate a whole house...but I just feel blessed beyond words to have a nice home to decorate!

Hope you all are having a great Wednesday :)

Christmas Movies

One of my fav-o-rite things to do during the Christmas season is watch movies.  Well who am I kidding I like watching movies all the time, but ya know...

There are a few that are classics and that I feel I.have.to.watch...or else.  And these are them...



White Christmas.  Now I had never seen this movie until Mr.Mac and I started dating.  Now we watch it every year together, and sing along to all the great songs.  I love this movie!!

Elf...If you have not seen this movie or do not like this movie, then you are missing out! I laugh almost this entire movie.  Will Ferrell is a crack up in this movie.  Definitely a must!

                                   

                         

Miracle on 34th Street...The new and the old I am a sucker for this movie!



Home Alone...Need I say more???

How the Grinch Stole Christmas...Call me old fashion but I like the cartoon better than the newer one :)

Christmas Vacation...YES PLEASE!!!



The Santa Clause...How cool if your dad became Santa!!

Every year on Black Friday we go and see a Christmas movie.  This year we saw Arthur Christmas and it was super cute for all ages.  It is a movie that I will for sure buy when it comes out!



A couple of years ago we went to see Four Christmases and I freaking love that movie.  Reese Witherspoon is one of my favs and this movie is sooo funny.  Even Mr. Mac likes it, and it is a little more on the chick flick side :)

What are some of your "must watch" Christmas movies...are there any that I am missing out on?

**These are movies solely based on my opinion.  No one paid me to talk about these...simply my opinion :)**

Snow and Truffles

I am posting from the middle of a winter wonderland except I am at work so not so much!  It has been DUMPING snow here for the last week or so!  Which on one hand is great for the moisture...it is sooooo dry here it almost hurts!  But on the other hand we are waiting for a new roof to be installed on our new house, and well they can't get that done when it looks like this outside...

Oh and the other nice thing about this weather is the Lexi thinks we are the best mom and dad ever because snow is like gold to this dog!!!  She.loves.it!!!  Straight up wild dog style (notice her ears flying in the air in this pic.  She looks like a batdog...love her :)

Mr. Mac and I had a dessert/game party to go to on Friday night.  I was not feeling so hot and didn't feel like baking up a storm so I made Oreo Truffles instead...much easier...kind of...

I made a double batch...obviously you could only use one of each

In my awesome blondness I decided to put the cookies in a zip-loc and bang the crap out of them...that worked for like 2 seconds.  Then I remembered the power of the food processor.  That works muuuch better.  After the cookies are a fine crumby texture mix in room temp cream cheese and it will look like this...

So gross looking but so tasty when it touches the lips :)

Melt the chocolate...



Roll the truffle mix into tablespoon size balls and coat in the chocolate, put in fridge to cool and enjoy!!

There ya have it snow and truffles...the truffles make the snow that much better :)  If you don't have snow then just enjoy the truffles!