Defeating that Devil

This weekend...we kicked the devil's butt. Seriously. 

Over the past 3-4 months, the hubs and I have found a church that we love and feel called to make our home church. It's where we want to grow in the Lord, fellowship, and raise our babies. All that was left for us to do was go to Sunday School and find a class to join. We had good intentions to do so every Sunday, yet something always seemed to keep us from going: someone overslept, we were running late, we were out of town, we had to work, etc. 

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Let's be honest. The real issue was that we were scared, intimidated, big ole chickens. We can both be pretty shy around new people and we were just honestly dreading going to a class and being new and awkward. 

On Saturday night, we prayed about it and promised God that we would trust in Him to lead us to the perfect class the next morning for Sunday School. And y'all...the devil surely did try to stop us Sunday morning. I overslept. My hair wouldn't lay right. Husband's shirt was super wrinkled. Radar wouldn't take his morning pills. We held it together, though. And we went. 

We pulled up to the church and we didn't know where to go. It was terrifying. We felt dumb. We felt silly. We felt totally awkward. But we held hands and we kept going. And God was faithful. Right when we walked into the church, a fireman friend recognized my husband and called us over. He introduced us to several people and walked us to our class. God provided for us. 

I know that sounds so silly. We should be adults about it, but it was something that we were struggling with majorly. The class was amazing, the couples were ALL super friendly, and we really felt at peace right away. We seriously cannot wait to go back and get more involved with this class of couples. 

We should fit right in. : )

Thank you, Lord, for leading us when we can't walk, for comforting us when we can't find peace, and for protecting us when we feel insecure. Thank you, Lord, for loving us. 

Do y'all go to Sunday School? 

Love, love!

Be a Monkey

It's Friday, I'm off this weekend, the weather is amazing, and I get to see my best friend and her babies. 

Life. is. good. 

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That's the attitude I want to have all weekend. I want to be happy, thankful, and positive for having a "new banana." I am so so blessed. I hope that y'all feel the same this weekend! Have a great one! : )

Love, love! 

These Three Things - tales of me and the husband

No more scary faces from me today. Lucky y'all. It's time for "These Three Things!" Bridget is here today from tales of me and the husband to share with us the three things that define her. Y'all are just going to love her. She is the cutest mama to 5 sweet kids, one pretty brand spanking new. : ) With all her spare time (ha), she blogs and covers topics ranging from health and fitness to travel to recipes. It's basically a one stop shop blog for everything that y'all could ever want to read about it. Plus, she has an amazingly hilarious sense of humor and is pretty prone to make me laugh out loud at her sarcasm and wit. Go see! 

Meet Bridget.

(picture by her, obviously!) ; )

these three things define me lately:

music has forever, pictures have for awhile, diapers have lately.

music: i love music.  i have it playing pretty much all the time.  the background of my life is marked by the melodious voice of james taylor, the clever lyrics of paul simon, or the fun beats of some ladysmith.  i love me some ladysmith.  concerts are some of the best memories of my life too (the ones i remember... jk, i wasn't a lush in high school!).  i wish i could play an instrument and made a promise to myself that i'll learn piano at some point in this lifetime.  me + all the seven-year olds in a recital together.  get ready.

pictures: my husband gave me a nice camera for my 25th birthday.  i love it (and him, coincidentally).  with it came the realization that i love taking pictures and documenting life.  perhaps why i love to blog so much too.  capturing my new baby's smile, the kids sledding in the wintertime, the gorgeous landscapes of new england... i like being behind the camera.  i like it a lot.

diapers: well, lately... diapers define me.  there's a lot of them in the hizouse these days.  dirty ones.  smelly?  not yet, we'll get there.  these days, mostly yellow-y, smushy poo in 'em while a happy, kicking baby smiles at me as i take the umpteenth wipe to his bare bottom.  it's not so bad cause he's pretty sweet but ask me again when he's onto solid foods.

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I know, I know...y'all love her already, right?! I thought so. 

Bridget, you are quite the funny woman. Some girls just get it all. So not fair. : ) Thanks so much for being here! Now y'all hurry and go check out her and her sweet family! 

Love, love!

PS: One of my favorite bloggers, Nicole, is teaming up with 3 other amazing ladies to create a blog about loving God and loving others. It's Christ-centered. It's life changing. It's Fearless. Go visit. 

PPS: More winners: Ryan, Holly, The Bays, Just a Jersey Girl, and Emily! Email me, y'all! Congrats!  

Is It You?

I'd like to introduce y'all to my new bff...FALL!! : )

That's right, it has finally arrived in Louisiana. No one knows how long it will stay, but we are hoping it's settling in for a long visit. On Monday it was 90 degrees and I wore a strapless dress and flip flops. Yesterday it was in the 50's. We had heard that a cold front was a'comin (hick words)...and I woke up almost as excited as if it was Christmas morning. Fall and I, we get along well. We enjoy each other's company.

Even the hubs had to put a little jacket on when he was cleaning out the garage last night.

#akaplayingwithhisbowandarrow

Speaking of cleaning out the garage, it's time to announce some more giveaway winners! Nice segue, huh?

I am excited about winners. And yes, I'm in pajamas.

The winner of the Define Design print is..........

Molly!

EXTRA: Sweet Sandrine from Define Design is giving ALL Mackey Madness readers 15% off anything in her shop. Just use the code MAD15 at checkout. Here's a few faves from her shop:

The winner of the Etta Grace giveaway is..........

Heather!

The winner of the Found by Marie clutch is..........

Megan!

The winner of the Showcase 66 wall art giveaway is..........

Michelle!

I still have several more winners to go, but I ran out of silly faces. Plus, husband was giving me the stink eye to come to bed. And y'all know what THAT means. ; )

Winners...email me!

Love, love!

Extreme Couponing, But Not Really

I don't like to shop. 

Yes, I just said it. Now I'm probably demoted to the worst blogger/female ever, but it's true. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I can handle it. One store can be okay. But multiple stores and an all day affair and I'm the grumpiest person ever. 

This weekend I set out on a search for boots. After going to at least 5 stores, I was starting to get a teensy lot grumpy. Thank goodness my next stop was Kohl's. It's one of my favorite places and always has THE best deals! They had summer stuff on clearance for 80-90% off. Jackpot. 

I got four tank tops, including the two above. The most expensive one was $2.60. 

90% clearance...heck yeah!

I also found the most beautiful pair of boots...regularly $99 and on sale for $59! 

Sneak peek. 

On top of all those sales, I got 20% off for working at one of the local hospitals because it was "Friends and Family" weekend at Kohl's. Have I mentioned that I love them?! Yeah, I do. : )

Have y'all ever shopped at Kohl's? Do y'all bargain shop? The next thing I want to do is go thrift shopping! Someone teach me how. 

Love, love!!

PS: The winners of the Purple Ink giveaway are Deejay and Four on the Shore. Email me! : )

From a Year Ago

As most of my faithful readers know, we spent our one year anniversary in Jamaica. And I'm not just saying that again to rub it in. : ) When we got home, we decided to bust out our year old wedding cake and give it a go. 

That big dent is from the time that I accidentally threw it in the trash. No worries, I dug it out. : )

So here's where the problem became clear. This is exactly how our cake was stored...no foil, no plastic wrap, just this box. As I opened it up to take pictures, the hubs said, "Uh, baby, I think it's supposed to be wrapped up or something." Well, gee honey, why didn't you tell me that a year ago?! Right inside the box, we found the slip of paper detailing how to preserve the cake for the year. #fail

Andddddd this is exactly how we felt about it. 

But hey, don't be sad for us, we just so happened to have a delicious piece of (fresh) cheesecake in the fridge and it gladly accepted the year old cake's role. 

If y'all follow me on Twitter (who doesn't, right), then y'all know that it was quite the task getting the hubs to cooperate for pictures! I tried to explain that every silly face he makes means that we have to redo the picture, but for some reason the threat doesn't scare him. He knows that I'll eventually give up. : )

And then...to complete the night of wedding remembering, I tried on my wedding dress. I'm happy to report that it still fits. One point for the wifey. Let's see if I'm still saying that in 20 years. 

Doesn't he look freaking thrilled?! : )

That concludes our anniversary festivities. Someone please tell me that they messed up their cake, too?!

Love, love!

PS: We have the absolute worst lighting in our house. Sorry!

A Night at Our House

My husband is active. I am lazy. This is nothing new. 

A typical night at our house includes me blogging, texting, reading, and trying to snuggle with him...while he comes up with the most random things to do to entertain himself. See below. 

That would be him with knives and blowing a duck call to excite the puppies.

A Southern boy's necessities. 

Intellectual reading material.

Stirring all the puppies up. 

This is probably their favorite thing ever...when daddy gets on the floor to play. 

Shout out to my sweet baby girl and the one trick that she knows: shake. 

Anyone else have a crazy interesting husband/roomie/parent? Surely it can't just be me. : )

Love, love!

PS: No animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. 

A Few Friends

Happy Saturday!

Are y'all already feeling stressed about what to get who for Christmas?! Well, have no fear...I am here today to help! I am sharing a few of my lovely little sponsors, just in time for Christmas shopping!! : )

For the best friend, sorority sister, newly engaged/married friend:

Head on over to the sweet shop Cami's Paperie! This girl has some major talent with stationery, so be sure to check out her shop here! She has anything and everything, ranging from regular note cards to wedding and holiday themed. And they are all amazing!

For the fashionista, style blogger, bride-to-be:

Check out the fabulous little shop that is Ezza Exclusive! She designs amazing statement jewelry and each piece is bold and breathtaking!! The colors are rich and vibrant...y'all won't be able to pick just one! Go visit her shop here!

For the feminine friend, mom/mother-in-law, classic beauty:

Don't miss the always amazing Jewelry by Jennifer Casady! She makes the most feminine, beautiful pieces and I am crazy about every single one...as seen here in her shop! There is something in there for everyone, I promise!

I'm finally going to be announcing some more giveaway winners tomorrow! Who's excited?!

Love, love!

These Three Things - Sabrina Says

It's Thursday...which means it's time for another blogger to share three things that define them for my weekly series, "These Three Things." I'm super excited to have sweet and pretty Sabrina here today from Sabrina Says. This girl should seriously be a model...I'm not kidding. She is super photogenic and has an amazing style. She looks stunning in front of the camera, but home girl can work it out behind the camera, too! I wish she lived closer because I'd hire her for every picture for the rest of my life! She is carefree and energetic, positive and silly, sweet and funny...just the perfect girl, basically! : ) See for yourself! Enjoy!

Well hello readers of Miss Mackey! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to be guest blogging here today! I guess I can start by introducing myself! My name is Sabrina. I'm short, silly, and I am so proud to be joining the "These Three Things" Series! Now let's get into the good stuff!

Energy

I am constantly running around from school, to work, back to school, out with friends, time with family, vacations.....I get tired just thinking about it! Luckily my body doesn't require much sleep... but it does require CAFFEINE! I am constantly taking on new projects (like wedding photography!) which feeds my need for creativity. If I didn't have a million things to do at once I would be SO BORED. Hence, my love for coffee and rockstars (do not combine!)

Oh wait... that's a margarita...

Photography

I recently invested in a BEAUTY of a camera.  I am obsessed and yes, I bring it EVERYWHERE. I still haven't named her... it's a shame. Why does this define me? Well first, my blog is a life and style blog. I post pictures of outfits, outings and my daily adventures. Photography is my very special way of remembering the best times in my life. Such as my recent trip to Austin or my most Favorite Outfit! 

Basically we are attached at the hip.

Happiness

My goal in life is to be the best version of myself. My friend once described me as "The friendliest, most giggly person ever." Holy crap that's a lot to live up to! But really, that's exactly what I want to be! I love laughing and love being silly. Anyone who knows me can tell you I have no fear of making a fool of myself! I love leaving silly messages on answering machines, sending ugly pictures of myself, and basically anything that would make someone laugh. My happiness is found within my family, friends, and service to others. I try my best to be appreciative of all that I have been given (Although I am human.. and probably complain more than I should). I live my life from day to day trying to make the best decisions that will ultimately make me the best person I can be. 

I got it from my momma :)

Well... friends! There you have it! "These three things" are NOT all encompassing, but they are a HUGE part of me. I would love if you stopped by my blog to check out more about me, my photography and maybe a vlog or two!

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And there y'all have it, the sweetest, cutest blog thing ever! I simply adore you, Sabrina...and your sweet, silly spirit is so beautiful, even coming from the computer screen! Not to mention you can dress your butt off! : )

I stole this from her blog...isn't she precious?! #girlcrush (picture by her)

Thanks so much for being here, Sabrina! Head on over and check out her blog, y'all!

Love, love!!