Website Wednesday-Favorite Websites

Here are some of my most visited websites (besides Facebook and Twitter). They make me happy. 8 )

http://www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com/
I first became familiar with Elsie because she has some scrapbook lines. Her stuff is very funky, I love it! She is very spunky and vintage and fun and I love looking at her creations and her photos (she is very pretty).

http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth has become a part of the scrapbooking industry within the last few years and I LOVE her style.

http://jennibowlin.blogspot.com/
Love love love Jenni Bowlin! She has a scrapbook line as well and it is totally vintage. She has the most amazing antique stash and is amazing at creating scrapbook pages and projects using antique pieces. She is very inspiring.

http://www.etsy.com/
Check it out and it will speak for itself...8 )

http://www.thefoxnation.com/
A story and opinion website from Fox. I visit a lot of political websites, but this is one I visit more often than others.

http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/
Ali is an amazing scrapbook enthusiast, she is all about telling your story in whichever way you want. Simple is good.

http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/
I take a ton of online classes thru this site. If you are interested, shoot me a message and I can recommend some great classes for you!

http://www.scrapbook.com/
I visit this site almost everyday. I have a gallery on it, but I also shop and look for inspiration on this site. Amazing array of ways to play on this site! 8 )

Enjoy!!!

Mackin Monday-Us

This is Us right now...
Mallory: Miss Mallory (or as we call her, Mally) is a very busy 2 year old who is as sweet as pie. She loves music, loves to sing and dance. She loves to be chased around the circle. She loves to play and rough house with daddy. She loves to read stories, especially Good Night Moon where she is currently obsessed with finding the mouse in each room picture. She also loves the moon. She can spot an airplane from a far distance and loves the choo choo train. She loves movies-right now Snow White is one of her favorites. She memorizes things quickly-songs, stories, dance moves...she is a joy to watch and listen to. She loves princesses and barbie (all things girl). She loves ballet. She loves to get into sissy's make-up (which is against the rules). She loves to stretch limits as far as possible. Right now, she loves to climb out of her crib-before she goes to sleep and in the middle of the night to climb in bed with me and Dan. She loves to say "I did it!" after she has gone peepee in the potty. She loves headbands, but only if they are in her hair a short time. She loves chocolate (and loves sneaking it from the candy dish when we are not looking) and really any kind of candy for that matter. She loves chocolate milk (which she says with a southern slang). She loves to wear 'dress' jammies, even during the day. She loves to dress up in princess dresses. She loves puppy dogs and kitty cats. She loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses. So blessed to have this sweet angel in my life.

Keaton: Miss Keaton is such a big girl. She just turned 6 and is in kindergarten. She has such a sweet soul. She loves to watch out for others. She loves school and loves to learn (although can get frustrated fairly easily--that patience thing...). She loves her friends. She loves to run around and play some days and some days just wants to watch movies or play the wii. She loves to play the computer (playhousedisney.com, sproutonline.com, barbie.com...). She loves babies. She loves popcorn. She loves to play games (part of it is the game, part of it is the one-on-one time with mom and dad). She loves music, loves to sing. She loves dance (ballet, tap and clogging-favorite is clogging). She loves to make things, even scrapbook pages (makes mama's heart happy!). She loves staying the night with Grandma Linda. She loves to read...and is reading better every day. She loves spaghettios. Right now she is loving the movie Mulan. She loves to run and be chased and tickled by daddy. She loves to stay in hotel rooms...and pretends our living room is one sometimes. She loves recess. She has no interest or care about what clothes/shoes/hair pieces she is wearing (hence I am still picking them out). She loves to climb in with mom and dad in the middle of the night, also. She loves to have her back scratched. She has lost one tooth. She is witty, says random funny things that reminds me a lot of her dad. 8 ) She also gives great hugs and kisses and is a snugglebug. Love this girl!

Nicole: I am a stay-at-home mom/business owner (Memories~To~Cherish, custom scrapbooking, classes, crops--soon will have a store) I turned the big 3-0 this last year. I am still told that I look 20. I am okay with that. 8 ) I love my family, they truly complete me. I love my friends, I have been so incredibly blessed to having so many amazing people surround me. I love to scrapbook-it is my hobby and work. I also love to read, organize, and shop. Right now I am totally into vintage/antiques. I could spend hours in an antique store, finding things for multiple purposes-the home, the store, scrapbooking projects, storage solutions, etc. I love to travel and have been blessed to have been able to do a lot thus far in my life. I am involved in a local Book Club (was one of the 'founders') and Adult Couples Bible Study (with my hubby). A typical day for me is watching two little guys (ages 1 and 2) along with Mallory in the mornings, scrapbooking and or cleaning during the afternoon while Mally naps, getting Keaton from school, spending the evening with the fam/supper/cleaning, etc, putting the girls to bed and either catching up on TIVO or scrapbooking until bedtime. I love politics, I consider myself a self-educated political/news junkie. I am a very passionate conservative and above all a patriotic American. I love the show Castle (new season starts tomorrow!) and love to watch Roseanne and West Wing re-runs (wow, could they be any more different genres!?) and of course the occassional chick flick. I am slightly addicted to Facebook and Twitter and enjoy blogging...mostly to document my life. And most of all, I love the Lord and all that He has done. I am so very blessed, I truly love my life!

Dan: Dan is my dear husband who is an amazing father to our two girls and provider for our family. He has a fast and witty sense of humor and never ceases to amaze me. He works for a company called Flowserve, where he works from home but travels a lot. (It has taken an adjustment, but it all works out). He is very understanding and puts up with my scrapbooking obsession (allowing me to have my own scrapbook room and leave for full weekends to go to crops or to Angie's to scrapbook with her for the weekend). He loves sports-watching and playing. In the last few years, he has mostly just played golf. He plays for leisure and also at golf leagues/tournaments. He is a very hands-on dad and is very in tune to what is going on with his girls. He is truly a blessing to my life and I thank God for him everyday.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for heat. It is so incredibly cold outside, so much they even cancelled school! Brrrr...I am also thankful for nice warm food....like my husband's chili. YUM. Keep warm everyone!!!

Truth Tuesday

"Then you will know truth, and the truth shall set you free." (John 8:32, NIV)

I love this verse about truth. God and His word ARE the truth and they do indeed set us free. Free from sin. Free from pain. Free from all of that that keeps us separated from God.

Truth is hard to come by in our world these days--on all levels. Society in general is moving farther away from the Truth. Farther away from God. Farther away from taking care of our neighbors. Farther away from personal responsibility--it is easier to make an excuse or blame someone else when we do something wrong rather than take responsibility for it. It has become acceptable to blatantly lie about others with no consequence (think internet). It has become acceptable to twist the truth to make something work out in our favor. It has become acceptable to do what we need to do to get ahead in life, at the expense of others.

This reality became really apparent with Sarah Palin. I am just finishing reading her book, Going Rogue: An American Life and I am just appalled, even more than during the election. The lies that were told about her and the way her words and actions were twisted were seriously awful. The fact that she was a conservative Christian just brought out the worst of the worst, which is really sad to me. Because if you actually looked at facts and read her words, you know that she is very qualified, very experienced, and very intelligent. And you know what-she stands up. She stands up for life. She stands up for kindness. She stands up for her family. She stands up for the weak. She stands up for personal responsbility and doing for yourself all that you can. She stands up for helping your neighbor, even if it is inconvenient. She stands up for working hard. She stands up for principle, not party. She stands up for prayer. She stands up for what this country is about, to include the fact it was founded upon Christian principles. To me, she stands up for truth. Truth that is so refreshing in the political spectrum. That is why no matter how much she is crucified by the media and the left, she is going to go far. Because Americans thirst for it. We have been lied to way too often by our leaders. And the term hope and change apparently didn't include truth, because there is lie after lie after lie coming out of this administration. (Example: today CSPAN has sent a letter to the White House requesting that all Health Care negotiations be recorded for the American people to see. Why? Because that is what the President promised in a speech last year. That everything will be transparent. No part of this process has been transparent, it has all been done behind closed doors. Just one example of the American people being lied to by their leaders).

So I say this-lets live as honestly and truthfully as we can. But lets also hold our leaders to that same standard. Lets show them that we will not vote them in if they are going to prove to be deceivers and liars. Lets show them that we will no longer put up with the corruption and the dishonesty that is politics. Our security is in their hands and the more govt grows the more our livelihood is in their hands. We must stand up. Stand up like Sarah Palin.

Mackin Monday: Keaton's Birthday

My first born turned 6 this weekend. Wow, how time flies. I remember the day I had her perfectly. It seems like it was just yesterday. Now--she is in kindergarten (the big school). She dresses herself. She reads and spells and writes. She plays video games and colors in the lines (mostly). She prefers a shower over a bath. She is no longer afraid of performing in front of people, in fact she loves it. She is just so darn grown up and I wish I could slow it down.

Here are some photos from her two birthday celebrations-top picture is with her two best friends. We took them to the new Chipmunk movie and Dairy Queen afterwards. The lower picture is at my mom's house, where we celebrated her special day with my side of the family. Special times with special people!

Happy Birthday Keaton, I love you!!!

New Year Goals

Happy New Year!!!

After both girls ended up in bed with me last night (love cuddling with them, but really need a good nights sleep!), I was awake quite a bit thinking about what I wanted to change and improve this year. I normally don't do New Years resolutions but I do have things I want to step up this year-things that have to do with my relationship with God, my business, my family, and of course politics (yep, this obsession did not pass like I thought it might, lol). Here is what I came up with:

Mackin Monday-on Mondays I will focus on updating my personal blog (this one), doing a better job of documenting my life and family. It is so easy to forget the little day-to-day things that happen and I really want to do a better job of documenting those pieces of life.

Truth Tuesday-on Tuesdays I will focus on truth. This may be in the Biblical or worldly realm. In our culture, truth is relative and I want to focus on at least one story/issue per week that is about truth. This may be done on my personal or political blog, depending on the issue.

Website Wednesday-On Wednesday I willl focus on updating my Website. It is http://memories2cherish.webs.com/index.htm
I have a lot of work to do...

Thankful Thursday-On Thursdays I will focus on documenting what I am thankful for-this will be done on this blog and on Facebook. This will keep me grounded, I must remember to do this outside of the Holiday Season.

Freedom Friday-On Friday I will focus on politics, things that had happened during the week. This will take place on my political blog http://nicmackinpolitics.blogspot.com/ I really want to focus at some point on our Founders and what they intended for our country.

I can not guarantee this will get done everyday, but I am going to try. Thanks for reading!!!

Merry Christmas

The Mackin kids in their PJ's from Santa. 8 )

Me and the girls at the Minden Courthouse.

Sweet Mally cuddling on the couch with her Santa hat on.

Miss Keaton ready for her School Christmas Concert.

Our Adult Couple Bible Study group out for a night out to celebrate each other as friends.

Me, Keaton, my mom, my Grandma and Great Aunt (taking Tina's place) at our annual Christmas outing, a Christmas dinner and musical in Hastings.

Me and some friends for our book club Christmas outing-saw a Christmas Jazz show at the Red Cloud Opera House.

Whew, it has been a busy month and it is hard to believe that it is almost 2010! We had a very Merry Christmas, even though we endured a blizzard on Christmas day! We were blessed to still be able to be together, I know many families were unable to do so because of the weather. We have one more Christmas this Saturday at my moms and then sadly, the Christmas festivities will be over. 8 ( Above are some of highlights of our Christmas festivities. I am so incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends and family to celebrate the season, specifically God's love for all of us. Those times are more special to me--more special than the presents and all of that.

So here is to good friends and amazing family and more important than anything, God's love forus and for Him sending Jesus to this earth to be our Savior. May God bless you all.

Halloween

Halloween was a blast this year! Each year we do something a little different...sometimes we bake and decorate cookies, sometimes we paint pumkins...this year we did the traditional carving of the pumkins. Keaton did a great job drawing the faces (and other marvelous works of art) and while apprehensive at first about cleaning the "goo" out of the pumkins, came to enjoy that as well. Mallory wouldn't touch the insides, but had fun observing the process. Of course, Dan can always make these occassions fun...he is the best dad. 8 ) Look at the faces on those girls...true joy.

On Halloween itself, we first went to the Hastings Downtown Trick-or-Treating event and while a bit chaotic, it was fun. After supper we went trick-or-treating in Blue Hill (which was nice we got to see both grandparents since my mom went with us in Hastings). We met up with some friends and trick-or-treated all over town. The weather was beautiful...just an overall super fun day. And it didn't help AT ALL that the girls were adorable in their costumes. 8 ) Both girls LOVE Wizard of Oz so Keaton was Dorothy and Mallory was a munchkin. They both played their parts well. 8 )

Workbox by The Original Scrapbox

I just became an affiliate for The Original Scrapbox. They have a great deal! If you click on the link and purchase the Workbox, you can get $100 off shipping! Just type in "100ship" at checkout. If you are looking for a piece to organize your scrapbook products and to give you a place to scrapbook, this is a great option! Notice too how when it closes, it hides everything!

The Workbox: Knotty Alder Raised Panel Craft Storage Furniture - $ 1495.00 High-end craft furniture on wheels folds up into a and comes with a collapsible work table and adjustable shelves. Dimensions 31d"x36w"x72h" includes 85 canvas totes and 20 clear zipper pouches in 3 sizes.

A new (but exciting) journey...

This building (not so pretty now...) will soon hold a dream of mine I have had for a long time-a scrapbooking store. A scrapbooking store owned by me. And really, it all happened so fast. About 3 weeks ago, Carisa (my cousin and friend who owns a photography business) saw the "Price Reduced" sign, inqured about it, and just a few weeks later, well...we OWN it! In fact, we just closed on it Friday. This is something we have talked about for years. Now, it is finally a reality.

It is a good sized building-about 2400 square feet. It is built in 2 sections-the larger back section will hold Carisa's photography studio and my crop space, and the front room will be the store. It needs a LOT of work-it has been sitting empty for many years. We are in the process of hiring a roofer to fix the roof (lots of leaks, etc) and it will take off from there. Carisa's husband will do a good portion of the work to fix it up (he is an electrician, but is very handy in all areas). Me and Carisa plan to get our hands dirty as well, we want to do as much by ourselves as we can. It is going to be a fun, but hard process as we work to get the building in good working order.

While it happened very fast, I have been spending a TON of time thinking about how this will change my life and the life of my family. The comforting thing is that the building is literally ONE block from my house. We plan to have a little sectioned off area for the kids to hang out/play/do homework, etc. so I foresee my girls spending a lot of time with me at the store. If that were not the case, I would not be embarking on this at this point in my life. Because I want to cherish this time with my kids as much as possible. Then-the question about opening a store in such a small town (rather than Hastings)-it isn't ideal from a retail point of view, but I plan on having a lot of scheduled activities/crops/classes, etc that (I hope) will bring people here. I am also going to do an online store, so the two together will hopefully move inventory.

It is all very risky and every other day brings about a new doubt or reason to be nervous, but then I remember-if I don't do it now, I may never do it. When will I get a chance again to purchase some real estate at such a low cost? And if it doesn't work, either financially or with my family's schedule, I can always sell it or close it...and try again later in life.

I will be posting photos of the 'fix-up' process on my Memories~To~Cherish Facebook page. You can be a Fan and have access to the page if you want to see them. I will also try to update regularly on here too.

Here's to a new adventure!!! 8 )