by Wendy Scheel | May 6, 2017 | Business
Raise your hand if you are busy – or should I say, don’t raise your hand if you are busy.
Cause who has time to raise their hand?
With Spring upon us and Summer just around the corner, everyone is busy doing something!
Wrapping up the school year, planning graduation parties, figuring out Mother’s Day gifts, scheduling summer vacation plans.
The lists go on and on.
I hear you. I am there right along with you.
At the top of my personal busy list is continuing to plan Sam and Justin’s wedding. We are within the three-month window of the big day.
I will be driving up to Sam’s house next week to finalize the flowers, put the finishing touches on the invitations and probably 800 other details.
Or maybe we will end up binge watching Fixer Upper. 🙂
On the business side of busy, I am so excited to share with you that I have hired a designer to create an Old Lake George logo for me. You know that, “thing” you see and you know the brand instantly? Think;
Nike
Home Depot
And, of course,
Thistlewood Farms
Shelby Hersleff, is a Minnesota-based designer/artist with a very impressive list of clients and an endless amount of patience and creativity.
You can find her website here.
Trying to find the “perfect” logo that represents Old Lake George is something I have struggled with for years. There are so many thoughts that go into what seems like a simple “blop” on a piece of paper.
This is what I wanted the logo to be:
-Direct. Not busy and overwhelming. (How I think of myself)
-Black and white. (My two favorite colors)
-Without emphasis on the word lake. (This isn’t a nautical company)
-Figuratively stamp-like (Yet, I can literally stamp it onto packaging, business cards etc.)
-Rustic and not perfect (No explanation needed about that one)
Shelby got right to work with these thoughts and has already sent me four ideas. This is the beginning stage of developing a logo and I cannot wait to unveil the final decision with you soon.
She hit the ball out of the park.
I am so excited!
And busy.
Enjoy your weekend,
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Apr 18, 2017 | Life
My recent trip to Waco, Texas to visit Magnolia Farms was so fun and a true bucket list adventure!
However, if you have a couple of more days to adventure around the area, here are a few places we found that were almost more fun than Magnolia.
Take the time to visit the Magnolia House B&B.
This house is actually in the town of McGregor, which is about 22 miles from Waco. McGregor has a population around 5000.
My first impression of the B&B was pure joy!
It would fun to stay here in the “winter” because truth be told, there isn’t a whole lot else to do within walking distance of the house.
Not that that is a bad thing. Just being at the Magnolia B&B house with friends or family would be memorable.
Please keep in mind that unless you have reservations, you will not be able to go past the iron gate that encloses the property. (Click here for pictures of the interior.)
And according to the reservation website, all dates are booked for 2017. Keeping my glass half full, that means there is something to look forward to in 2018. 🙂
Since we were already in McGregor, we went to the two antique shops, the Cedar Chest and Cedar Chest too, that Joanna and Chip frequent to find pieces for their homes.
If you want an antique scavenger hunt, walking-down-memory-lane adventure, this is for you.
I don’t know how many times, my parents and I said, “I remember using that!” or “If only I would’ve kept that, we would be rich!”
And after walking around thousands of square feet of goodies, I bought this.
Side story: I actually had an ice cream scoop in my basket when we were at the Magnolia shops. The scoop was $20. I totally justified spending the money on an identical scoop because it made for a great story if people asked me where I got it. And then I realized that it wasn’t that great of a story.
When this scoop found me at Cedar Chest Too, and it was only $2.95, I knew it was meant to be the scoop for the storytelling.
On our way back to Waco, we drove thru Chip and Joanna’s first subdivision. (You can read all about it here.)
According to the article, this is a,
37-home, gated community off Bosque Boulevard called Magnolia Villas. The garden homes will sell for $140,000 to $200,000, which includes the price of the lots.
This subdivision was started in 2011 and as we drove around, none of the homes were for sale and the final two lots were almost completed.
Every single one of the houses was “perfect”.
After driving around and looking at houses, which I could do all day, we stopped by Harp Design Studios.
We spent about fifteen minutes here. I thought this would be a combination of Cedar Crest and Magnolia.
It was not.
Although the items that were available for sale were fun to look at, the studio is located in a residential neighborhood and parking is very limited.
But our day wasn’t over yet.
If you are looking for some local Waco shopping, please make it a point to go to Spice Village. There is a collection of shops with something for everyone.
Here is their website.
Our final adventure on the trip was to Homestead Craft Village.
Here is their website to learn more.
I could write another 1000 words about this village right outside Waco.
This is a community based on:
an agrarian- and craft-based intentional Christian community. Its literature stresses simplicity, sustainability, self-sufficiency, cooperation, service and quality craftsmanship. It also strives to live in peaceful coexistence with the land, other people and other faiths.
This is a taste of what simplicity looks like.
We had our own little private impromptu tour with Colleen who worked at Brazos Walking Sticks. A company that made a large assortment of walking canes that is located behind the Simply Fabric Store.
She shared her personal history with Homestead, the history of Homestead and the process of making walking sticks.
She had the best summation of what the village was all about.
“We are a community that lives simply and are self sufficient. It’s not that we don’t use the technology that is available in society, but we are not a slave to it.”
I love that. Something to think about.
There are so many other things to check out in this area. This is only the tip of the iceberg. 🙂
We found this magazine in our hotel room and used it as our guide.
Thanks for letting me share! I hope this inspires you to head south and visit!
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Apr 12, 2017 | Life
Did you see on Instagram today that Magnolia Farms also owns Magnolia Realty?
Believe it or not, I know this!
But I only know this because when we were in Waco, we stopped for a late lunch at Captain Billy Whizzbangs.
And this best burger and potato fries in the world restaurant, is right across the street from Magnolia Realty!
Click here to look at their website and listings.
I was going to write more about our visit, but I figured that you, like me, once you clicked and went to Magnolia Realty….you wouldn’t come back.
By the way, I want the 2304 Landon Branch house. It was featured on Season Two. 🙂
Catch more of our Waco highlights later this week.
~Wendy
P.S. My Dad and I have the same slightly warped sense of humor. We thought we were hilarious taking a picture of him holding his t-shirt in front of the “Whizzers” (bathrooms).
P.S.S. Even at our mature ages, bathroom humor is always funny. 🙂
by Wendy Scheel | Apr 10, 2017 | Life
Is visiting Magnolia Farms on your bucket list, a potential dream come true or something you would do if you just happened to be in Waco?
Magnolia Farms was on my bucket list.
And last week I checked it off the list.
My Mom and Dad winter in southern Texas. When I visited them last January, we made plans to meet in Waco as they were making their way back home to Wisconsin.
So on Monday evening I flew from the Minneapolis airport on a direct flight to Dallas. After a quick and easy two hour flight, I rented a car and drove an hour and a half down to Waco. The drive was almost a straight shot down I-35. Well marked highways, plus having Siri on my side made for an easy drive.
My Mom was a little bit nervous for me to drive by myself.
Once a Mother, forever a Mother. 🙂
Safely arriving at the hotel, we caught up with each other and then grabbed a good night sleep.
This was my parents fourth trip to Magnolia. They wanted to arrive when the shops opened at 9am, but I am not very good at being productive in the morning.
We arrived at about 10:30. We parked about three blocks away along the street. We had heard a lot of rumors about how terrible parking was, but we did not have a problem.
I found the area to be interesting. It must be from the TV images of the Gaines’ house and other sights, but I thought that Magnolia would cover a more spacious area.
It does not.
We all know that the silos they bought used to be an operating business. Truth be told Chip and Joanna Gaines must be incredible visionaries because I would not have seen the same potential in this area as they did.
I guess that’s why I am here telling you about their place and they own it. Lol
The first thing we did was enter the main Magnolia Shop.
Everything is wonderful.
Everything.
On a Tuesday morning, there was plenty of room to casually walk around and take your time looking at the items that are so brilliantly staged for sale.
We did chat with some people that said they had been there over the weekend and it was impossible to get around. Tuesday compared to a Saturday at the Silos would be two different experiences.
From the shops, we walked over to the new bakery.
They have a great system set up to move as many people in and out of a small area, very quickly.
My Mom picked out a carrot cake cupcake with yummy frosting, my Dad had two cinnamon rolls and I enjoyed a sugar cookie.
I think we paid around $25 for all four items. A little pricey, but delicious.
After the bakery we walked along the silos where they have a great photo-op set up.
We ventured into the cutest garden area that included a quaint garden shop. In addition to our purchases from the Magnolia shop, I bought a tea towel that has a picture of basil on it and my Mom bought a little tin basket and an airplant to put in it.
Outside of the garden shop, framed out by the Magnolia shop, silos and food trucks is an area for kids to run and play. There were wood blocks, all types of balls and varieties of other games. They had huge black and white striped bean bags along the edge of the astroturfed area for parents to relax.
Every single person that we talked to that worked there was nice and genuinely happy to be there.
These two guys were so excited when I asked them if I could take their picture. I told them that I was going to put their picture on my blog. They knew that this was the beginning of them being “famous”!
Too cute.
We spent about two hours at Magnolia.. But I think that if you plan on going on a weekend, you will probably spend twice that amount of time.
Either way, it was fun and well worth the trip.
~Wendy
P.S. I’ll share some other things we did while in Waco later this week. Our trip only got better from here. 🙂
by Wendy Scheel | Mar 26, 2017 | Home Tour
I want to live in a Magnolia Furniture store.
That’s all, end of story.
Okay, maybe there’s a little more to the story. 🙂
Last week when Sam was in town, we went to The Northtown Mall. For whatever reason, I rarely go to this particular mall but we needed to kill some time while Sam’s car was being fixed and the mall is right across the street.
I had totally forgotten that a Becker Furniture World store had been added on several years ago as an anchor store.
Solely with the intention of killing time, we entered the furniture store first and then planned on continuing with the other stores in the mall.
Ten feet into the store, they had the Magnolia Home section.
I love the whole collection. Every last bit of everything.
Wade had wandered off to look at gas grills, so Sam and I pretended to re-decorate my house and furnish her new apartment.
And then I saw this.
And then I looked a little closer and saw this!
Be still my heart.
I NEEDED this cabinet.
Okay, I really WANTED this cabinet.
In my mind, I justified 3000 different reasons why I should buy it. But, I didn’t have a spot for it.
Or did I????
Shock of all shocks, we left the store without the cabinet.
We picked up Sam’s car and had a great rest of our weekend, but I could not get that cabinet out of my head.
Then I realized that this was the perfect spot. (And no, I don’t have my Christmas Tree up anymore. I just really liked this picture. )
But as you can see, I had the awesome dresser in that spot. (You can read here and here all about that dresser makeover.)
The answer to the problem was easy, sell the dresser.
I listed it on Craigslist around 8pm on Sunday night and it was sold and picked up on Monday night.
Bada-bing-bada-boom.
Miracles of all miracles, I then waited another FIVE days before Wade and I went back to Becker Furniture World, holding my breath the entire way that no one had already bought it.
The store opened at 10am.
I walked straight to the spot where I had last seen it.
And………..
It was still there!
We grabbed a salesperson, swiped the ‘ol credit card and we were headed home by 11am.
As we were waiting for our purchase to be loaded onto our truck, I said to Wade, “You know, we could save a lot of money if I just lived in the furniture store.”
He smiled and shook his head.
What do you think?
~Wendy
P.S. I added a set of casters to the cabinet. You know, just as a personal touch. 🙂
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