My Takeaways from The Influence Conference.

I got home from The Influence Conference in Indianapolis almost two week ago now. I remember buying my ticket a year ago not knowing if I'd know a soul there but really feel like God made it possible to go this year. I haven't been able to go in years prior, so I was especially excited when my friend Jessie said she wanted to go as well. 

She lives in Minneapolis, and it's been two years since we've seen each other. I was excited to spend a few days together in a hotel, soaking up God's goodness for us.

I loved Haley Morgan's opening keynote talk the first morning. One thing she spoke that really stuck with me was;

"Filter out the good for God's best he has for you."

So simple, but yet so true. How many times do we say yes to things that are good but they may not be the best that God has for you. Really evaluating those distractions that come up and figuring out what is God's best in your life.  She talked a lot about what it means to have a spiritually divided heart. When we are yoked together with Christ we stay in step with him.

That evening Jess & Haley talked about being "wild & free" and what that means. There was a powerful time at the end of the talk where they asked us to call each other up. Instead of calling each other out they asked us to encourage one another to call out the good we see in each other.

This was so powerful to look around a room and see 400 women walking in that. Such an encouraging time. It gave me the chance to speak life into my friend Jessie and tell her some meaningful ways she's impacted my life especially in the last 6 years of our friendship. 

I went to a Revival session with Ruth Simons of Gracelaced. This was such a powerful session for me as she reminded all of us who we are in Christ. 

The whole weekend was just what I needed! God really moved in my heart. Showed me my dreams aren't forgotten and even confirmed that now is the time to start walking in some of them. I also immensely enjoyed my time with my friend Jessie, it was such a life giving weekend to be with her and share this weekend together.

Stop by the blog tomorrow to see my Downtown Indy exploring day! 

S E P T E M B E R Goals.

September in Arizona just doesn't look like the rest of the country. It's still so hot here. There are no leaves to be changing. But we can pretend all we want locked inside our house with our air cranked low and sipping PSL's all day errr day. :)

I'm seriously having a hard time believe that it's already September! It's crazy to think that in just a few short months the holidays will be here. It's one of my most favorite times of the year, so I'm looking forward to it.

Before we dig into this month's goals I thought I'd quickly re-cap August. Here we go:

In August I had a goal to read at least 2 new book and ended up reading 4! Holy cow! I was on a roll! I edited and updated my shop this month, I still need to get some new inventory listed but for now there's a sale going on over there so take advantage! We test drove some cars and finally decided on one. I'd been researching for over a month now, and I'm so glad God has provided for us and that's taken care of. 

Ok, now onto this month's goals: 

This month is going to go rather quickly I think. I've got an out of town trip planned in just a couple weeks. I'm traveling to the Influence Conference for the first time. I'm super excited that I get to meet up with one of my very best friends and we get to experience this together. I've also got several blog projects I need to finish for the 'Bid On A Budget' contest I'm participating in. At the end of the month I'm speaking at a local church's women's event.

So this month is crazy and filled. I have some short and sweet goals for this month!

01. Start Christmas Shopping for my kids.

Yes! I want to try and kick out their portion of Christmas pretty early on. You can read more about how we do Christmas gifts for our kids here. 

02. Read 2 new books.

I've actually got 5 new books on my roster to read. But we'll shoot for two this month. 

03. Work on Zane's big boy room.

This is the room I'm re doing for the contest I mentioned. I've been slowly working on it. But still have to work on making over the big furniture pieces I have. I also need to sell all of the old nursery furniture, since we have no space to store it. 

04. Finish Board & Batten Living Room Project.

We started planning this project and then got all the materials for it and have just been sitting on it. I'd love to finish this project this month. 

---

Check out Transitioning Your Summer Closet to Fall: 10 Buys Under $100

by Tend Editor at Mode

AUGUST GOALS.

I can hardly believe we're in August already, seriously where has the year gone?! I really enjoy writing out, and dreaming up monthly goals. It helps keep me focused on where we're going as a family and what we need to accomplish both personally and as a family. 

I blinked and July flew by. Right after we got home from vacation is when I had my back injury. Unplanned and certainly has set me back a bit. I wasn't as productive because of this set back. 

So let's review July goals before we jump into this month. You can read the original post here. I did crank out a whole bunch of things before we even on vacation so that was nice.

1. Work on 1 new house project: we installed a bunch of different light fixtures, and replaces some and moved the ceiling fan from down stairs to upstairs.

2. Go on 2 dates this month: we only made it on 1 date this month, but it was to celebrate our anniversary which was a lot of fun.

3. Start family evening walks: we only did this once this month. I forgot how hot it still is here in Phoenix in July, so that was part of the problem. 100 degrees is still to hot at 6pm. 

4. Buy jogging stroller: Check done! I got one before we went to Disneyland, and tested it out. I haven't been running with it yet, but can't wait to see how it goes. I'm hoping to review the one I got, it's a more affordable one that I think will work great!

5. Get my shop back up & running: This didn't happen. I'd planned to work on this after we got home from vacation but then my injury. 

6. Buy all Ava's school supplies: Done. We spent the day and got all of her supplies. Her uniforms came in the mail and we're all set for school next week.

7. Turn off social media from 4-8pm: This also didn't happen like I'd planned, so I'm moving it to this month and hoping to make this more of a priority.

8. Organize & Clean garage: Done. We're still unpacking and the garage is a mess, but I was able to unpack quite a bit before leaving on vacation, and then organized things. I also hung my wreaths in the garage, organized the tools and paint supplies.

Here's my goals for August:

1. Get my shop back up & running: I've got new products to list, and want to have a major sale to clear some inventory, stay tuned!

2. Turn off social media from 4-8 pm: Again, moving this here and trying to make it a priority.

3. Test Drive Cars: We've been a one car family for 7 years, the time has come to start the process of buying a new car. I've been doing a lot of research and hoping to test drive some of my choices this month and narrow it down.

4. Work on guest room/office Makeover: I'm partnering with an auction house to make over this space and need to get started on it this month. 

5. Read 2 new books.

6. Start running again.

7. Work on board and batten for the living room.

---

What are some of your goals for the month? I'd love to hear them in the comments below.

COFFEE DATE + JULY Goals.

Happy Friday! For today's coffee date I thought I'd review my JUNE Goals for you and see how the month shaped up. As well as run down my goals for the month of July. 

In June, I wanted to paint the ENTIRE house! I ended up hiring a painter to do most of it which was the best decision I've ever made. I painted both kids' room's myself, and the upstairs bath. 

Another goal for the month was to do Whole30 + work out for 30 days consistently. And DONE! I'm so proud of myself for working hard this last month.

And finally, Orion and I have had a goal this year to go on a weekend getaway with out kids! Well, we made it happen last weekend. We headed to Flagstaff for a wedding and made a little weekend out of it. It was so great to beat the heat in Phoenix and get away just the two of us. Now, we're vowing to not wait so long to do it again.

Ok, moving onto my JULY goals: 

01// Work on 1 house project: I'm back to working on house projects. There's nothing major that needs to be done to this house, just a few things we want to do to make it our own. Plus, my walls are still pretty bare. Hoping to spend this month taking care of that now that everything is all painted. 

02// Start family evening walks together: It's still so hot here in Phoenix, but I'd love to start taking some intentional time in the evenings together and be active as a family. 

03// Buy a jogging stroller- I'd really like to do some research this month and buy a jogging stroller so that I can start running again when it cools off. My plan is to drop Ava off at school this Fall and then head home for a run with Zane. Working out has been really hard lately since I do it all at home, and it's hard for me to find the un distracted time like I used to. Plus, I need more cardio in my life. 

04// Go on 2 dates this month with Orion- I love dating my husband and I'm hoping that we can up the dates this month from one to two.

05// Get my shop back up & running- Now that we've moved and settled a bit I'd love to get my shop back up and running. There will be a shop update soon + some fun discounts and news! 

06// Buy all Ava's school supplies + uniforms- She starts school the second week in August, now is the time to get all that stuff finished. 

07// Turn off social media from 4-8pm daily- This is a huge goal of mine. Spend less time on social media during this time of day and enjoy reading and time with family. I find myself floating around and checking it way to much during the day and I know I could use that time more wisely. 

08// Organize + Clean the Garage- We've still got boxes to unpack. This month I'd love to get some shelving up to organize everything like we had in our last home. 

---

What are some of your goals for the month? Tell me in the comments below! 

10 Things on a Tuesday!

01. I'm on Day 16 of Whole30 Round 2! Halfway there and it's going great! Some parts of Whole30 are super challenging for me and others are easy. This round has been fun because I'm doing it with my mom.

02. This week is Ava's big dance recital! It's her second year of dance and I've loved watching my tiny dancer blossom over the last 2 years. 

03. We've painted almost our entire house! It was a big goal of mine to tackle this painting during the month of June. We ended up hiring a painter to paint most of the house which was the best investment. What literally would have taken me days took the painter just a day in a half. I've spent the last few days painting the kid's rooms and getting them in order. They love having "their rooms" back. 

04. We've had tons of family in town the last few weeks. It's been wonderful and I've been soaking it all up. This weekend my step-dad is coming into town and my nieces will be coming soon as well. 

05. Speaking of that we're getting excited for vacation soon. A week away with my people is just what I need. 

06. The hubby and I are looking forward to a weekend away just the two of us for a friend's wedding. We haven't had a weekend away since before Ava was born! That's awful people, so we're excited. 

07. I wrote an update about my weight loss journey, you can read it here. 

08. We had a big goal this year to pay off a lot of debt! I didn't know we were gonna do it, but God did. He provided for us and we've been able to pay off our car, the rest of our credit card debt and medical debt. Such a blessing and so freeing. #debtfree 

09. I went back and read my word for the year again this past year and it helped center me again. Reminded me of all that God wants to do in my life this year. 

10. Earlier this year I made some financial goals to help us save more and pay off more debt. One of which was to only buy things on sale and not pay full price. Wait for sales or use a coupon. I've always been a fairly frugal person, and love a good sale. I'm happy to report that this year so far I've accomplished this goal. It's an awesome feeling and a goal accomplished to get things at a great price and be able to accomplish financial goals.