Mandy and Jace

After a much needed break I am back to posting pretty regularly here. Over the past few months I have really began to re-evaluate the things in my life and have taken a sort of inventory of what is necessary in my life and what I can do without. At the beginning of this evaluation process I was really getting bogged down with people and things that were coming at me on a daily basis, means of which I chose to let in my life, that were not edifying my life but actually clouding it. Things like social media and constant television can distract us from the things in life that are beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook and Twitter for many reasons including promoting this website, but both outlets have become a place for people to constantly tear other people down or complain. So, I have done some cleaning of my Facebook account and twitter account and made it to where I only see the things I want to (the hide feature is great for this). Also, I have learned that it is OK to keep the TV off sometimes and listen to music (or nothing for that matter) unless there is something I actually want to watch. Also, now that the weather is getting better I have been spending a lot of time out on our patio reading. I have been inside surrounding myself with nonsense for so long I have missed the beautiful creation God has given us.

I want to begin to focus on the things that I love like design, cooking, music and just overall expressing my creativity. Also, I want to make sure I never lose sight of my marriage, family or myself for that matter. I think there are a lot of things that can fog up your clarity in life and get in the way of being the people God wants us to be. My goal in all this is to remove that fog and be sure that clarity is always there. If I have to give up something like Facebook that might be fun for a while but in the end isn’t beneficial to me, that’s fine. I have been leaning on Philippians 4:8 (particularly The Message version) for the past couple of weeks and will continue to be my guide to live by.

Philippians 4:8-9
The Message (MSG)
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

So, what does this have to do with mandyandjace.com? Not much. I will still continue to do my meal plans but they might be a little more minimal. To be honest our lives are just not that interesting every week. So I’m going to cut some of the “fluff” and meaningless chatter but still keep you up to date on the fun stuff that we do. Also, I will continue to post all of the new yummy recipes that I come across. My big Africa trip is coming closer and closer and I’ll be giving you the play by play on that too. So stay tuned great things are to come!

Well, my birthday was great, but not at all what I expected. Last week on Tuesday night Jace came in and asked me to go to Ft. Worth with him. After a lot of phone calls and trying to get things worked out we loaded up the truck and left on Wednesday. We had a great time!



My awesome husband got me a new pair of shoes that I might never take off. They are so pretty! We had several beautiful dinner dates and We came back Saturday night so I can spend my actual birthday on Sunday with my family and church family. All in all it was a great birthday week!!!

I’m not doing a meal plan this week becasue I still have most of the food I planned to eat last week and didn’t get to because we went out of town. So we are just going to make do with what we have.

Happy Eating!

Long wavy blonde hair





I love the splash of color in this photo. May have to think about this for the next time I go to the salon. (hint hint, Melanie)

My new iPad

I wasn’t sure how handy this thing was going to be until I got one. It is going to be great for directions when we are traveling and movies on plane rides. I also like that it is so much more portable than my laptop.

Pioneer Woman’s iced coffee recipe

I like coffee, but with it being 300 degrees in Midland right now it just hasn’t been worth it. This recipe for iced coffee however has fed my need for caffene and kept me cool all at the same time. I just keep it in an old milk jug in the fridge, pour me a glass when I need it, add some creamer and sugar and sip away. Believe me, it’s really good! You can find the recipe here.

Unfortunately vacation is over (cue pouty face and waa-waa sound). We had a great vacation week though. We went to Dallas where we shopped, ate great food and slept as much as possible. The Hilton Anatole where we always stay has an amazing restaurant and bar on the 26th floor with windows everywhere so on the 4th we went up there and watched the fireworks spread across the Dallas skyline. It was beautiful! On the day we came home we decided to stop off at Six Flags and ride some roller coasters. We have never been to Six Flags as just a couple so it was great getting to ride all of my favorite rides with my favorite person beside me.

I really didn’t take very many photos this time, and I’m very content with that. I think a lot of times I hide behind the camera and miss a lot of things with my own eyes. It was nice seeing things like fireworks, sunsets and roller coasters outside of the view finder. In the words of John Mayer:

Didn’t have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I’m
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life

This week’s meals are going to be light. I ate everything in sight last week and I’m ok with that, but now it’s time to reign it back in. Here’s this week’s plan.

Tonight: chicken thighs, potato cakes for Jace and salad for me
Tuesday: dinner with Jace’s family
Wednesday: five spice stir fry with as many veggies as I can get into it
Thursday: take out for Jace and salad for me
Friday: some friends of ours are getting married and we are on sound tech duty so who knows what we will eat

Hope everyone is having a great Independence Day! Meal plans will start back up next week.