Sometimes all it takes is a moment to stand still to prepare you for your next adventure.

Take a deep breath. Get your bearings and remind yourself of what really matters.

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I was out to lunch with some old-coworkers a couple of weeks ago and they caught me up on the daily grind back in the corporate world. Lots of decisions, company policies and challenges that are part of the everyday. Their voices almost went into haze, as I remembered that world. I thrived in it. I loved working with people and truly helping my clients. Working from home for this social butterfly has been quite a challenge, but formulating my schedule to include strength training, bible studies, Zumba and of course Hey Tell usually fills my social cup of tea each week. Honestly writing has really started to do this as well. I reply to each comment that is posted and I am able to connect to each of you, start conversations, relationships and my favorite encourage you and your journey. Truly, truly, highlights of my day.

Back to my haze….While I was remembering my old position, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I am my own boss and the only people I report consists of  my husband, my clients and most of all the LORD. This is a sheer and utter blessing that I really have let soak in the past weeks. I remember the times at my old job, where I would get so nervous when there was word of layoffs, when an office door was closed or when I didn’t know what this upcoming meeting was for. It was stressful. Normal large business stuff. But stressful.

To be able to have the free reign to make a decision and change the way that I work is remarkable. To have the flexibility to move and transform so freely is seriously such a blessing. Yes, I get nervous when bookings are slow or if I have big decisions to make. Yet honestly, if I put my trust in the right place, I have such a peace about it. I just want to shout from the rooftops. THANK YOU LORD!

I would have never even thought about this path for my life, but now I can’t see any other way. I don’t make a million dollars. It’s tough at times, but being able to walk into my home and set my own schedule is such a reward that I never ever want to take for granted.

Yes, running your own business takes tons of RISK and hard work. But these risks directly correlate to reward if your heart is in the right place. So don’t just write off your hopes & wishes. Take time to let those dreams bud. Because….

Thank GOD even crazy dreams come true.

Remember. I never planned or thought that being my own boss was an option. I didn’t even know I could dream that big. It took some interceding to get my brain going and to think that I really could make it happen. So, please stop letting all of your thinking be logical. Just DREAM. Dreaming doesn’t hurt anything. Scribble down ideas, have a dream-goal-reach-for-the-stars journal. Let the core of who you are come out on paper.

I know There’s a little bit of all that inside of me AND YOU.
Thank God even crazy dreams come true

Lyrics to Crazy Dreams :: Smash Version

Please If you can LISTEN while you read. This song is AMAZING.

Hello you long shots

You dark horse runners
Hairbrush singers, dashboard drummers
Hello you wild magnolias
Just waiting to bloom

There’s a little bit of all that inside of me and you
Thank God even crazy dreams come true

I stood at the bottom of some walls I thought I couldn’t climb
I felt like Cinderella at the ball just running out of time
So I know how it feels to be afraid
Think that it’s all gonna slip away
Hold on, hold on

Here’s to you free souls, you firefly chasers
Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players
Here’s to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms

There’s a lot of wonder left inside of me and you
Thank God even crazy dreams come true

Never let a bad day be enough
To go and talk you in to giving up
Sometimes everybody feels like you
Oh, feels like you, just like you
Yeah

I’ve met some go-getters
Some difference makers
Small town heroes, and big chance takers
I’ve met some young hearts with something to prove
Oh, yeah

Here’s to you long shots
You dark horse runners
Hairbrush singers, and dashboard drummers
Here’s to you wild magnolias
Just waiting to bloom

There’s a little bit of all that inside of me and you
Thank God even crazy dreams come true
Thank God even crazy dreams come true
Yeah

Ps. Here I am living my crazy dream. Sweat, Tears and giving my every last drop at my last Destination wedding. Aren’t Natalie and I quite a pair?

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This message is to all the Peekers out there.

Are you a Peeker? Someone who reads blog posts like these and the words hit a heart string or you feel something like butterflies in your tummy.  Someone who is really fired up by these posts yet they don’t seem completely fit with your life. Do you read and feel connected, but in you think its not possible for you. Your not good enough? Smart enough? Creative enough?  You might be thinking words like…”Wow, look at how successful that person is. I am forsure not doing something as great/cool as them)” “I could never just do that “I wish I was there” etc. Do any of the above fit you?

First off, I love peekers. Why? I was and I still am a peeker. I remember the first time I read this post, I answered the questions I was crazy inspired, but I wasn’t sure of my next move. My whole life I had just gone on with the next expected thing. The logical choice. The secure choice. I had honestly never asked myself any of these questions and for some reason I was afraid of them. BUT. This post also hit lots of heart strings and my cheeks even got flush as I felt a bit woozy. I believe this was the crack that I needed. The crack to give myself a real try at getting to what was at my core.

Now peeking can take us two directions.  First, it can inspire our hearts to action. Now to you that are on the brink of action, I really encourage you to take one step. One step in the direction that your gut says, but maybe doesn’t make sense in your head. This is exactly what I felt attending the first Making Things Happen. Quit waiting for everything to be perfect and leap. Is it coming on the MTH tour? Is it buying that piece of equipment? Is it hitting publish on a post? Whatever that one step is. Take one more towards it today and if you are afraid email me, I want to hear you and encourage you. I was there, and still am. I still have to put my heart out there, even though its scary. Yet, I have hope that I will be able to write another post like this in 6 months from now, shocked. So, let’s stop just peeking and take the leap together.

Second, peeking can bring on comparison. Looking at what others have and seeing the grass as greener on the other side. But remember,  You were not made to fit into a box, let alone someone else’s life. I have learned some big lessons in the last weeks in this area. In my early days of being a peeker, I was always getting discouraged. Others success = my failure. Which I know now is completely disordered thinking, but after years of thinking like this it takes work to shut those words off. Whether, I take a step back from facebook or repeat to myself…..Gina, your path is NOT their path.  It still comes up. Lately, others success has come up again as a sore spot, even with some my best of friends. This icky part of me was rearing its head and I couldn’t understand it or get ahold of it. I was ashamed of it.

Until. I listened to this sermon while on a run (running without techno/rave music is a total grace from the lord, that I have never been able to do before) and I almost stopped dead in my tracks when these words hit my ears. “O how vulnerable the fallen human heart is — mine is — to feeling that having lots of things equals being really alive. Life is not having things. Life is knowing God.”

This was the answer I prayed for. This is where my icky feelings were coming from. I was believing that all the things that others had and I didn’t I equated life that I was losing. Life that I didn’t have because I didn’t have things. “This person is booking more weddings, and I am losing life because I don’t have as many.” “This person is so successful, I am losing life because I don’t have theirs.” All of this is a big FAT lie.

A big fat LIE to all of us.

The TRUTH :: THINGS (success, looks, money, work) DON’T EQUAL LIFE.

AND IF WE DON’T HAVE SOMETHING OR DON’T GET SOMETHING WE ARE NOT LOSING LIFE.

I believe this from my very core, but I still have to guard my heart and the old thinking comes knocking at my door. So you peekers, I want you to know that you have all the pieces you need. You don’t need someone else’s things. You have a beautiful life, dig in and find the gold. It might take you time to slow down and just be.  You might just need a little nudge. This is my nudge. Stop thinking your not ready or its too late.

Your life is here and now. In your hands. What are you going to do with it?

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Meet our goofy lil’ Christmas Tree.

Now, note. I love clean. White, bright blues that are grounded with a lil’ earthy feel. Our almost pure white upstairs is a good example (yes I know I will probably eat my words when our young ones arrive with Crayolas galore) Yet, I just love the feeling of organization and clarity. Which is completely what my Christmas Tree this year is NOT.

Honestly, I had a hard time actually putting these photos up to post. See there is this curse that some photographers have called…..perfection. ESPECIALLY over your own personal photos. We want the perfect shot, the prettiest of pretty. Sometimes wanting the perfect shot, trumps the memory. Sad, but true. Now…Did I think about perfectly straightening each branch? Perfectly draping or re-pinning the instax? Sure, maybe like 300 times. But while all those things were pondering through my head, I had my camera in hand and decided to let all that stress go. I chose to be grateful that I didn’t have the time, nor energy to do those things and having a perfectly lined up Christmas tree isn’t at the top of my priority list. I realized that our life is full and this tree was representing that.

So everytime I walk up the stairs, I peek at the tree, all the memories in those two years of instax and……..

LOVE the imperfect that we are in right now.

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All you need for your own lil’ goofy Instax tree is ::

• -Twine (which I look for at 5 stores before realizing the only local place by us was Home Depot)
• -Mini wooden clips (Which I got at Michaels)
• -Gold Ribbon (or any ribbon of that matter, I used 3 rolls. Probably could have had 4)
• -Lights (any kind)
• -Instax (Wide or mini, we used both throughout the tree)

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That I am

I am
I am
The luckiest

The luckiest- Ben Folds (who is a host on one of my favorite shows right now)

Matt I am so incredibly lucky to call you my better half. To have you to laugh and listen with. Thank you for every single thing you do, especially the little things like refilling the ice trays. I want to continue to know you more, to love you more, to experience you in new ways. Thank you for being a patient with me and never making me feel like less during struggles, but lifting me up. You are there to make me laugh and to give me hugs.

Truly. I am the luckiest.

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