Great New Things

Okay so I thought I'd come back and share some great new things with you to finish up the month of June.  I've been on a makeup kick for about a month now so I've been trying new things I have seen on a blog that has rapidly become a favorite of mine.  The blog is called Maskcara and Cara is a makeup artist and really cool chica in my opinion.  Check her out sometime.  So on to my new favorite things.

#1.  Since turning 40, I've been more focused on my skin and keeping it in great shape.  I found a new lotion that is wonderful and inexpensive.  And pretty much available anywhere. 

Yep, good ole St. Ives.  I've read so many reviews on this stuff and decided to try it.  And I haven't been disappointed.  First of all it's cheap at $5.49 for this huge container.  I'll be using this for a long while.  Second, I've noticed that my face is smoother and more moisturized. 

#2.  Since losing weight my face has become "hollow", meaning that I can actually see my cheek bones.  Along with that, I've noticed some darkening under my eyes which no amount of sleep or water can seem to correct, so I had been using "normal" toned concealer until I read about this stuff....

 

And yes, since you asked it is lavender in color.  The lavender changes the tones under my eyes and helps brighten them when I put my foundation over it.  Perfection!  And at about $5.00 at Ulta you can't go wrong. 

So there you go, two great "new" things to try.  I've bought some other things lately but I'm holding judgment on those so I'll have to get back with you.

 

Great New Things &  Blessings,

Magnolia

Craziness and More!

Quick rundown on what's been going on (only the high points)
     #1 - The week after Easter, J and I ran our 1st Cooper River Bridge Run.  Yep us and 30,000+ of our running friends.  I've never been in a ran over a few thousand, so this was something really new to me and pretty scary to tell you the truth.  That bridge can be very daunting if you look at it and think about it too much.  But we did great and beat the time I set for myself!  YAY us!  And the bridge is actually really FUN!  The energy of the crowd and the adrenaline pumping is CRAZY GREAT!  And yes, we are planning on doing it again next year. 
     #2 - My birthday was the week after the bridge run, so we took a couple of days off and went to Asheville, NC.  Well maybe not Asheville, but Weaverville, NC.  And we found some of the best food in this little mountain town.  Oh my!  Best bakery I've ever been to.  The Well Bred bakery is a must stop of you are anywhere near Asheville/Weaverville.  We also hiked the Blue Ridge Parkway, of course that was after I almost had a nervous breakdown driving up the mountain!  That's what I get for listening to a local give us directions.  All in all, I had the best birthday I've had in many, many years!  Happy 40th to ME!!
     #3 - I ran my first "womens only" race about a month ago.  It was my first race without J to push me.  Come to find out, I can push myself just fine.  Not only did I get to run with girlfriends, but I had a PR for my 5K time and 1 mile time!  Woo Hoo!  Oh, and it was pouring down ran!  Talk about some silly pictures with my "girls" afterwards.  My hair looked really special if you know what I mean. 
     #4 - I got to see my oldest niece this past weekend.  I so miss that kid.  Ok, so she's 25 years old, so what.  It may not sound exciting but she lives in Truckee, CA, so I don't get to see her but maybe twice a year.  Oh so enjoyed my Memorial Day even more because J and I got to spend time with she and the whole family.

So that's what's been happening in my neck of the woods.  How about you?!?!? 

Blessings & Crazy,
Magnolia

He is Risen

Yes, he has risen indeed!

 

 

 

Happy Easter!!

 

Never Too Old

As I've discovered the last several weeks/months, is that you are never to old to learn, especially then God is the teacher.  And what a teacher he is, His patience for me is never ending and quite simply unreal.  I'll list a few examples below....

     #1 - I've written about my roof and the leak and waiting on the roofer to get here.  So many days I prayed that the Lord would hold off the "heavy" rain until our roof was done.  Well, again, he has taught me to be patient and also more importantly, be careful and specific about what you pray for.  No sooner did the roof get fixed last Monday, well we got a terrible rain and thunder storm.  And when I mean rain, I mean crazy sideways rain!  And then of course, the power went out!  For over an hour in the dark, all I could think about was how good God was and yes, he does have a sense of humor. 
     #2 - Sometimes, people surprise you.  I've always had opinions about a certain person.  My opinions were formed years ago and maybe not under the best of circumstances.  God puts these people directly in your path so that you can see the error in your ways or to either justify your opinions.  Maybe just a little of both.  Yep, you guessed it, that very same thing is happening to me, even as I type this.
     #3 - "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything".  This is the HUGE one over the past several weeks.  I've had the most crazy minor "panic" attacks.  Every time the weather man has said "Rain" I've freaked out a little.  To the point that J has even called me out on it.  I'm so crazy hard headed sometimes and want to take charge of things, even when they are out of my control.  I've prayed and am still praying that God really helps me out with this one. 

So am I perfect, gracious NO!  AM I HUMAN, Oh boy am I!!  Hard headed, stubborn, panic attack prone, doubting, judgment making me, is so not perfect or deserving of the LOVE that the Lord has given and the many Blessings that he bestows on me every single day.  I am just grateful that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for my sins, past, present and future (I'm human remember). 

Blessings & Lessons,
Magnolia
    

My Thoughts Now

Being "thin" now, I've noticed that I think differently.  Especially in regards to younger people, mainly younger women.  Today was a good example.  I was drying my nails at the salon (high maintenance remember) and there were several young girls/women standing outside the door and out of the 6 only one would have had a normal BMI.  I get really upset/irritated when I see overweight young people.  It really does make me want to go up to them and say, do you know what you are doing to your body by being this much overweight?  Do you know what kind of health problems you are going to have later in life.  I really want to share my story.  I want to tell them that anything is possible, even at the ripe old age of 40.  At 4 weeks shy of 40, I have begun to love the body that I've worked for, prayed for.  At the age of 40, I finally get it.  At the age of 40, God has answered my deepest prayers.  Not just for my body, but my mind, my soul.  I've never felt better.  I've never known my own body and soul better.  I finally get ME.  Not just the me on the outside, but the me on the inside.  I've accepted that I'm funny and quick witted and I've begun to share that with people close to me.  I've started to accept myself so that others can accept me for ME.  Not just some well dressed, well manicured person.  My friends have accepted the me that shows up at 7am for a run, with no makeup, crazy hair and a thug hat to keep my head warm.  And I've accepted that person too.  I've actually come to really Love that person.  It's me and I know that it's the way God created me.  This is the person that he's always wanted me to be.  And it only took me 40 years to "get it".  That's the story that I want to share with these young girls that are half my age.  And for the love of all that is holy, STOP WEARING PANTS THAT ARE 5 SIZES TOO SMALL!!!  It is just not a good look. 

Blessings & Thin Thinking,
Magnolia

PS Not to brag, but when I mean thin, I mean a size 2!  I would have never even thought when all this started 2 years ago that I would be picking out size 2 pants!! 

Moses & Notebooks

I've been reading "Reading God's Word", which is a daily reading of the Bible broken down by days, weeks and "acts".  I started on January 1 and will finish right before the end of the year.  This is actually the first time that I've read the Bible from cover to cover.  And some nights I'm reminded why, and the, I think about the fact God has done so much for me, why can't I read a few chapters in the book of Numbers or the whole book of Job.  Reality hits some nights that's for sure.  Reality being that I would have had to write everything down that Moses was supposed to remember, like in a notebook with tabs!  Wow!  That's all I can say.  Do's and Don'ts abounded when Moses and the nation of Israel were in the desert, that's for sure.  What different sacrifices were observed when, what to do when someone had a skin disease.  It's actually mind blowing when you think about it or read about it.  It's times like these that I am so thankful for Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross for all of his children.  What a wonderful God that we have.  So long story short, I wouldn't have been a very good Moses or Israelite.  They'd have kicked me out pretty quick without a notebook.

Challenge for you.  Read the story of Moses escape of Egypt and journey with the Israelites.  And think about all they had to remember and then think about how you would have done back then.  Certainly makes you grateful for God's love and redemption.

Blessings and Notebooks,
Magnolia

More Than I Deserve

First off...... Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay, so now that's done.  On to what the title refers too.  There are many times in my like that God has provided for my needs and given me even more than I deserve.  I am humbled today because he has done that yet again.  We've been "dealing" with a leak in our roof for the last week or so.  Rain almost everyday and a whole lot of prayer that the tarp that J put up did it's job.  And of course the insurance adjuster.  This is the first time that I personally have had to file a claim on our insurance and I was nervous to say the least.  Are they going to cover it, if not what are we going to do, where's the money going to come from.  Well, I should have known that God had it handled.  The insurance is covering a new roof and the damage that was done in the attic.  PRAISE GOD!  I don't think that I even imagined that would happen.  I was hoping for a partial coverage and the adjuster not to deny the whole claim.  You talk about floored.  All I could do was thank him over and over again today.  And ask for forgiveness for being stubborn and worrying.  But God already knew that I would be that way.  Amazing that he knows and loves us anyway, right?!?!?!  What a great Valentine's Day gift.  God's Love and Forgiveness.  And he also knew that I needed a really good run tonight to get some of the kinks out from this past week.  And again, he provided, my run was fantastic!  PRAISE GOD!  I am so blessed, way more that I deserve. 

Blessings & More than I deserve!
Magnolia

Time / Life / Faith

Time
     Time passes so quickly.  I have thought about this blog quite a few times since I last updated it and for some reason just couldn't sit down and type.  There seemed to be something else to do, something else that has come up.  So I do apologized to anyone out there that was reading this. 

Life
     Life has been good.  J and I have been running quite a lot and our times and distances have gotten better.  Who would have thought that when I started running outside with J that I would want to run 6+ miles on a Saturday morning (a chilly 32 degree morning).  But it's become a stress reliever of sorts just knowing that I get out of the gym and can enjoy the out of doors doing something that I have come to love.  We actually ran our 1st official 10k 2 weeks ago and to say that "racing" wasn't mentally or physically challenging is an understatement.  The hills about did us in.  And I think that I realized that I love to run but I'm not much on the racing end of running.  For a good cause, I will run a race, but just to better my time or do it just because so is not something that works for me personally. So I think that our races will be few and far between.  Work for both of us is stressful at times and we've come to realize that it's part of work.  But at the end of the day, we go to the gym, run or work it off and go home and relax.  My mother came up and visited us at Christmas and we had a wonderful time.  Even though she wore me out!  That has been life as of recently.

Faith
     Thursday night a heavy rain came through our area (12 hours worth of it).  And our roof started to leak.  And when I mean leak I mean that water was coming in through our light fixture in our hallway.  SCARY!  Thank goodness God blew the rain through a little quicker than was expected.  Friday morning of course I called a roofer to come over and take a look at it and called the insurance company.  And as anyone knows the insurance company can take a few days to send someone out (Monday supposedly).  The roofer did come by Friday afternoon to take a look.  And it's another case of nails popping up and rain/water coming in.  He is supposed to come back Monday morning to tarp/fix the area or nails before it starts raining again.  But wouldn't you know the rain is supposed to start Sunday night now!  So now I'm really freaking out.  To the point of J and I went to get tarps today and he put some up over the areas of concern this afternoon.  But I'm still worried.  This is where the faith part comes into play.  I know that I need to let God handle this.  We've done what we need to do here, and he's got to take care of the rest.  That's what faith is.  But there are some times where I just get nervous and can't help myself.  So please pray for me specifically to have faith and to give it over to the Lord and that he will calm my fears.  Also, pray that the tarps do their job for the time being and we don't have the flood of 2013 in our house. 

Again sorry for the lack of updates.  I am so going to try better. 

Blessings & Faith,
Magnolia