As many of you know I had the opportunity to head back to Waco last week to visit Magnolia with Kilz! The last experience when I went in the Fall with Kilz to share the Magnolia Home Paint Line I had was beyond what words. You can read more about that trip where I was prayed over on top of the Magnolia Silos [HERE]. This trip was just as inspiring. It’s so hard to say everything that happened in those few short days I was in Waco last week, but I will try to give you the basic rundown. If you followed me on Instagram stories you got a behind the scenes first look for sure. So, I won’t bore you with the days that I wasn’t with the Kilz team working on something,but I’ll just share that we stayed at Hotel Indigo downtown Waco & I totally recommend staying there because it’s close to the Silos & offers a great room & great food in one location. It’s also close to a lot of other shopping, food, & coffee which is always important. Other than that on the first day I explored Waco a little bit & got to meet up with Liz from Love Grows Wild & hang out with her & then later that night we met up with a whole wonderful group of bloggers, magazines, social media people, & of course the wonderful team from Kilz. We ate at Cafe Homestead which is one of Chip & Jo’s favorite restaurant that night. Please excuse my random thoughts in this post as this day was like a dream for me & my brain was truly in the clouds, also while meeting chip and jo I didn’t want to be on my phone too much so sorry I don’t have a thousand photos of them, but I hope I can do the day a small amount of justice for you…

Speaking of Chip & Jo… the big day we got to meet them was the following day on Tuesday. I could hardly sleep Monday night knowing that I was going to meet them. I woke up on Tuesday in a panic. I had forgotten all of my normal hair stuff & makeup so I had to wing it [thank goodness for hats] & I just felt all out of sorts knowing that I was going to meet them. I had NO IDEA how the day was going to go, how we were going to meet them, or even where we were going, so it was all a huge surprise. We met at a hall down the street from our hotel & right when we walked in I could tell the the whole place was touched by the Gaines style. It was decked out in Magnolia Home paint, furniture, & decor. There was a large display of the Magnolia Home paint colors in the front of the room & at our seats were beautiful gifts that included signed copies of the Magnolia Home Journal & Book. When we arrived we were served a beautiful breakfast from the Magnolia Bakery & I was in heaven. As we finished our breakfast, I became the most nervous I think I’ve ever been in the presence of someone. Chip & Jo came out to introduce themselves. & let me tell you… they are the most down to earth people & gorgeous couple that I have ever met. After a short introduction of themselves, they wanted to meet all of us, so we went around the room introducing ourselves to them & when they came to me, I honestly can’t tell you what I told them, but I was so honored when she said that she had followed me & knew about our store & farmhouse.. I about died. What an honor. I highly respect Chip & Jo for many reasons beyond design, & that’s why I was so excited to be in their presence & to know for a split second that she had seen some of my work.

After the introductions & a fun candid chat with them while I just stared at how gorgeous Joanna’s hair was [apparently she said she uses pantene products, what a great spokesperson for them!], Joanna introduced us to her new product…. drum roll… chalk based paint!! That’s what will be added to her Magnolia Home paint line with Kilz which I already love & adore. I am so excited about this news & to actually use the paint in our farmhouse for future products, but much to my surprise we got to play around with the paint right then & there. Joanna helped us pick paint colors & we were then able to pick a project to paint… I respectively chose to paint a wooden tray in the color shiplap which is one of my favorite neutral colors of hers. The paint was FABULOUS & to my surprise covered the tray in barely two coats which is a true test when you are painting something white. I will do more of a full review of the paint very soon when I use it in our house, but the Magnolia Home chalk paint by Kilz is launching soon so stay tuned for that! I was so excited to be there for the intro to her new paint product & honored to be one of the first people to try it out. I will be back very soon with more info about the chalk based paint before it launches here on the blog.

After we played with the chalk paint Chip did a really cool live demo with Kilz primer for us. He showed us in real life how it covers stains on walls like crayons, dirty, & lipstick. He also showed us how paint looks so much better over primer as well. It was so interesting to learn facts about primer that I had never known before & really see the importance of primer when you are painting anything. One tip I thought was interesting about the primer was that when you have a stain or a mark on a wall, the primer doesn’t necessarily need to hide the stain, you just need to cover it & the point of the primer is that it seals it in & it won’t leak into your paint that you put over the primer. I always thought the primer had to hide the stain so you couldn’t see it anymore. Anyways, that’s just one thing we learned in his demo.. but what I really learned over all was that he is truly always funny. Just a down to earth funny dude. He truly is the hard working, nice, compassionate guy that you see on TV. My favorite part about him that day that I noticed. He was in true work boots that I’m quite sure he wore on the farm & his jeans were worn & had evidence of past projects on them.. why is that my favorite? Because that’s how I dress & that’s how Jose dresses & this man is so normal… I know that sounds funny, but to the normalcy of these amazing people was quite charming.  I have always been a loyal Kilz girl, but after that live demo I’m an even bigger fan!

After all of this fun hands on stuff with Chip & Jo we go to have a sit down chat with them. This was a dream. Sitting on a chair across from them sitting on a couch together was honestly something I NEVER saw myself doing. If you know me, you know I don’t plan ahead. I am an “in the moment” kind of girl so even though I knew we would have this sit down interview time, I DIDN’T PLAN A QUESTION. I realized how dumb this was as soon as I sat down & felt like I froze up. But I’m actually really glad I didn’t plan because the question came from my heart. I asked Joanna how she found balance in her life. As many of you know “balance” is my word of the year so i found this super appropriate since Joanna seems to do it all, but is still an amazing mom, loving wife, & a healthy woman all the way around while doing amazing things everywhere. Her answer? Simply “Establish what is most important in your life & keep that your top priority always. After you establish that prioritize everything else & set time slots for all of those things.” It’s like a big light bulb went off in my head. Did I know these things already? I guess I did, but it was like I was sitting down with my best friend & she was giving me the advice that worked best for her. To put my family first, to give quality time to all other things, to hire out for areas where I’m not needed, & to learn to say no. That conversation may have been very simple for her, but for me it was life changing. The rest of the talk was wonderful with them & was very inspiring about their family life, tv life, & more. The whole time I just couldn’t believe they were sitting so close to us having the most normal deep conversation about life. It was all surreal.

It didn’t end there. After this amazing day spent with them we all lined up to take photos with them. I was of course so nervous that when it was my turn I’m not even sure  I took a breath during the photo & it turned out looking just like how I felt… overly excited. They were so kind to chat with all of us as we took photos & the moment to top off all moments happened when we were done taking photos.. Joanna turned & hugged me & told me thank you for coming… I couldn’t believe it. She is so kind & down to earth that she thanked me for one of the best days of my life when it was because of her that it was one of the best days of my life. That my friends is a true role model, a wonderful example, & a woman of grace that I hope to be. After all this we got an exclusive Magnolia tour & got to see the offices including my favorite spot in the whole space, chips office, which has a great view of the silos & grounds. We headed to the roof top & after all that did some serious shopping. It was a beautiful day in my life that I will never forget. Thank you Kilz for inviting me on this amazing trip & thank you Chip & Jo for being great role models in design, life, marriage, parenthood, & spirituality. It was a joy to meet you & I will always remember that wonderful day. xx