HGTV Home Town !!!!!!

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HOME. and TOWN. My favorite things.  So have you heard about HGTV’s new show HOME TOWN that will premiere this Sunday…it features Erin and Ben Napier of Laurel, Mississippi, they have become good friends with Magnolia/Fixer Upper and  my brother Jimmy Don and I have enjoyed learning more about them too! (You were right Peggy Kriel they are awesome) A lovelier couple does not exist. And I can. not. wait. to see their show.  I don’t even watch tv y’all (sorry JD i have caught some of your appearances i promise) but I am excited about this because its about roots, preservation, a small Southern town and old houses!  Oh and they make great things..Erin does letterpress and Ben is a craftsman..they are just so talented and cute and well awesome and I honestly don’t use that word lightly.  IN short I am impressed with their talent, character, and what they are doing, the total package.  She taught my brother to use the word letterpress y’all..she has brought our family together!  ha  Find out all about them here and see some behind the scenes in their town and set your DVR!!!!

And speaking of home and Waco, Magnolia and Jimmy Don… , the boys and Nana and I travelled up to Wacotown last weekend. I wanted my mom to get to see my brother’s wall of work in Magnolia.

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{Some of my fave things in Waco, this new shop THE FINDERY just near the Silos, I love the building at the Silos they have slotted for A BAKERY, Common Ground near campus of course, the Dr Pepper Museum, Baylor’s Mayborn Museum where my kids want to go EVERY TRIP and more}

And y’all, it was CROWDED and busy..not just inside the Magnolia shop but all around that area..people walking. A bustle. There hasn’t been much bustle around downtown Waco (except to scramble into a Ninfa’s parking spot) in a long time. It felt bright and safe and engaging. And the campus looks amazing. I admire the Gaines and others for all they are doing and pray it continues in all areas…truly exciting! After looking around old Wacotown we ventured to the old home place.  Literally.  My brother  recently acquired back part of our great grandparents original farm out in Crawford which is a short drive from Waco and the little town where we grew up and went to school in Valley Mills.  The land is literally minutes from where we went to church (which was the building were our Papa Ed went to school when he was little!)

Below my great grandparents Holmes’ windmill by JD’s new house, the boys exploring near a cave and in the river AND DID YOU KNOW, JD has silos by his shop too! Lol I couldn’t resist. I loved going to Crawford when I was a kid..just the road between our town ten minutes away and Crawford felt “happy” because it was the road to my Granny and Papa Ed, I loved going in the old grocery store Amsler’s there with her and looking in the window at the domino hall for my grandpa…little girls aren’t supposed to actually go inside domino halls you know that right?! I can hear the shuffle now! So special even President Bush has a place there!;;

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I love seeing my boys roam around where their great grandpa did when he was a boy on the Middle Bosque River! I can’t wait to see all that Jimmy Don does cleaning up and preserving this place and its history!

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{Drew and Henry on Uncle JD’s mule ready to find some dirt!}

Below them exploring around an old cave near the Middle Bosque. My attempt at Wacoan Mr Gildersleeve’s photo style..anyone know about him?? He was a hometown wonder in Waco once upon a time..you can see his photos at the Texas Collection on Baylor campus..they are amazing! I learned so much working in the Carroll building doing oral history and researching in the Texas Collection.  Love that place.

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Home and family and roots…It’s so important. I love you brother and I am rooting for the show Erin and Ben, y’all please please set your DVR this is a pilot so help with the buzz! It is on right at noon I believe, check listings..you may be still at church or getting lunch so SET THE DVR thingy! #HGTVHomeTown

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Texas Beauty

Here to share some authentic Texas beauty with you  . . . at least I think its beautiful.

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Kind of a beautiful mess kind of a thing which I love.  Authentic, time worn, a little sad maybe, neglected, but still beautiful in its own way. Kind of the way I believe God and those closest to us see us when we aren’t at our best.  When we have renovations going on, Still lovely.

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My clients that bought this little gem in a small nearby town (much like the one where I was raised) are native Texans but work abroad.  They visit a few times a year and this 700 sq foot little house is going to be remodeled for them so they have a place to stay when visiting their hometown. I love their vision and desire to update and restore this little house.

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This house has been neglected. But in its decaying state I was startled by its haunting beauty. This house is like people and hearts.  We are rotting and decaying but God and those He places in our lives to stand beside us see beauty.  I don’t want to overstate or over spiritualize but I think its such a picture of our state and God’s love for us when I see something like this.  It was honestly a blessing and treat to see this mess of an old house.

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Rotting, decaying but beautiful.  Just like me.  I need so much “work” inside and out, I need “restoring” daily in fact, I am such an “Ongoing project” and “renovation” but God and the people who love me don’t give up. It’s really a miracle. In fact, it is a miracle.  An Easter miracle of love and beauty and learning that being perfect isn’t required.  God see us they way we are, where we are.  He sees beauty and loves us even when others only see an impossible fixer upper. Something that should be gutted or bulldozed.  Like this old shed.  It’s sitting on the ground just rotting.  But my client want to salvage it, want to repurpose it, make something out of it not just throw it away.  I love their thinking and how its consistent of the bigger picture of the main things in life.  Concepts like “don’t just tear down everything” and “look beyond the surface”… sure sometimes the pruning has to be painful and deep and yes some gutting and rewiring will take place.  But the soul and the strong boards and fiber of this how are salvageable and so are you and I!

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But things have to be updated in order for them to live there…it can’t just stay this way huh?  I mean Anthropologie might love to use for a catalog shoot but reality is this house is decaying and it needs some updates.  It can’t stay stagnant, it must change or it will be too far gone to be of use anymore.  So I am excited to be a part as they go down to bare walls and shore up foundation and rewire and plumb and make this place able to be home again.

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Just wanted to share..during Texas Antique Week (or “Round Top” as I call it) there is a lot bling and so called “beauty” and grunge hanging around which is totally fine and cool and dandy but I am glad I got to see this fading beauty last week to remind me of the authenticity and rawness of life. Not contrived or trying to hard just authentic.

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