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Saudade Dad: Your Love Remains

Saudade Dad: Your Love Remains We’re celebrating you today, Dad. It’s your 77th birthday. This is the second time we’ve celebrated your birthday without you physically here with us. Daddy, it still hurts so bad. I’ve lost so much since you’ve been gone. I wish we could talk about it. I wish I could hold your hand. Sometimes I wonder if the ache of not having you here will ever go away. But deep inside, I know the ache won’t ever go away, because while I’ve lost so much, I have also found so much.   I keep finding my name in your Bibles and your devotionals. I’ve found your notes scribbled in the margins, which led me to answers I desperately needed in those exact moments. There’s no other way to explain it, Dad.   Your love remains.

We’re celebrating you today, Dad. It’s your 77th birthday. This is the second time we’ve celebrated your birthday without you physically here with us. Daddy, it still hurts so bad. I’ve lost so much since you’ve been gone. I wish we could talk about it. I wish I could hold your hand. Sometimes I wonder if the ache of not having you here will ever go away. But deep inside, I know the ache won’t…

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Loving Porcupines (teenagers) and other salty people

Loving Porcupines (teenagers) and other salty people ~ an honest story about what I've learned.

I was talking to a friend the other day who shared that her high school son told her he was sad because she did not text him in the middle of the school days, just to tell him how much she loved him, that she was praying for him, thinking of him, or excited for him, etc … complete with all the emojis and exclamation points! Say what!?!  Of course, she did not realize he was wanting her to text…

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Last Minute Single Room with Air- HeartStories Inaugural Girls Trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico 2021

Last Minute Single Room with Air- HeartStories Inaugural Girls Trip to Riviera Maya, Mexico 2021

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Exploring Friendship + Connection with Alison Lumbatis of Get Your Pretty On

Exploring Friendship + Connection with Alison Lumbatis of Get Your Pretty On via an IGTV Live interview and over on the blog today!

I was so thrilled when my friend Alison Lumbatis, Founder of Get Your Pretty On, and Author of The Ultimate Book Of Outfit Formulas, asked me to join her for an Instagram Live to explore friendship and connection and discuss all the details of our upcoming girls trip!  We took a little look back into the history of why I started HeartStories in the first place and all the way through to an…

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Why You Need a Girls Getaway & What's In Store

Why You Need a Girls Getaway & What’s In Store

Crystal’s quick 1-minute recap of “Why you need this girls trip getaway” on HeartStories Instagram In Texas, we’ve been waking up to 54-degree weather this week, which is most definitely the sign of “coffee date” weather! Even though I don’t actually drink coffee, I’ve been intentionally setting aside little time slots right after all my morning school drop-offs, for 1:1 “reconnection coffee…

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First Class Flight Upgrade Mexico Girls Trip 2021

First Class Flight Upgrade Mexico Girls Trip 2021

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A single sunbeam

When it seems like life moving at the speed of light, it's easy to forget that even the little things you do matter.  Your positive perspective, your words of encouragement, your small act of kindness and your tight grip on hope, they are the light someone needs today.  Someone in your life is feeling the darkness of the shadows, be their candle.   Be their single sunbeam.  

While I was measuring a tree trunk in the backyard last week (I know, it’s a long story for another day), I looked down the side of the house and noticed St. Francis peacefully standing there mixed in filtered sunbeams.  The view stopped my in my hurried tracks long enough to take a deep breath and snap this picture, of course.  We’ve had this little statue in our backyard since we lived in our…

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Appreciate what is

"Expectation is the root of all heartache." ~ William Shakespeare  Letting go of expectations is one of THE hardest, and best things you can do to live at peace in the present moment.  It's something I struggle with daily, as I have pretty high expectations of myself and all the people in my life.  I'm guessing you do too. 

Judge me if you must, but these pretzels are one of the boys favorite, take-and-go snacks for school.  They’re a bit on the expensive side, but I found a place online where I can buy them in a box of 6 – 3 oz bags at a great price.  They typically arrive in a big box with the sets of 6 in smaller boxes inside.  A few weeks ago, I ordered my las bulk shipment of 5 boxes of 6 bags, just in time to…

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Who are you?

Who are you?! Do you see a grown up body, but you don't know exactly where the years have gone, or how they've gone so quickly?  Do you see someone who chose not to go with the flow?  Someone who took a different path? Does it ever feel like while other people are learning one thing in this season, your life has led you to work hard to learn something entirely different?       Are you a different person than you once expected to be?

My kids have all sorts of feelings about me using their (our)pictures on this blog.  They know I tell stories to encourage people like you, and that a huge majority of the stories in this season of my life, include them.  As a result, their pictures become part of the blog.  There was a time when this was embarrassing and frustrating for them, so we made some agreements about pre-secured…

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Safe spaces are built over time

In groups, it's easy to hide.  It's easy to stay safely, up above the surface, and pretend the deep waters don't exist at all, that everything is just fine. It's easy to keep it clean, and family friendly all the time.  But it's suffocating.   It's refreshing and life-giving when you make the decision not to hide.

At our last couples home group gathering I was sitting on the couch, across the room from Holly, who was leading us through a bookthat is an introduction to better understanding relationships through Enneagrams.  She stepped up as a leader and teacher in a way I haven’t ever seen her before.  It was probably the most engaged we’ve all ever been during a small group.  We tried to self-identify as…

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That ship has sailed

If you know me at all, I am a social butterfly.  All I want to do is play, talk, laugh and have some fun.  Seriously.  That is the good life to me.  But this whole adulting thing seriously gets in the way sometimes. That ship, of "young and carefree", has sailed.  But the view, out on the vast ocean of adulting, is beautiful, when you stop to take a look.  

We snapped this pic on the last night of the fourth grade Texas History field trip.  I was sneaking out early to catch a flight home to be back in time for the Off To The Races GNO, when my two roomies, Mel and Libba, reminded me that we didn’t have a single pic together.  They were right!  It was completely unlike me to not have taken loads of pictures of our adventures together that week.  But…

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That's what friends do

It was seriously such a huge honor to be able to do any little thing for that Tribe.  Nothing in the world was "beneath me".  They are my sisters, my people.  I would have scrubbed the potty if they needed me to.  Showing up for each other in small and big ways is the way we get through life.   We do it together, that's what friends do.  It was because of Laura, I could do my part to pass out ice cream.  It was because she showed up for me, I could show up for The Tribe at Tribe Alive.  We all need each other.  We're all connected, more than we'll ever realize.  

I love this image of my incredible friend Carly because it’s so far outside the limits of what you would typically see of her on social media.  She’s usually pretty calm, cool and collected.  But last night was the open house for her very first storefront with the sustainable fashion brand she founded in 2014, called Tribe Alive. 

And she was ready to celebrate! 

Her storefront is in downtown…

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Social media is not the truth

Social media can be deceiving.  It's the highlight reel.  It's only a snapshot of the perfect moments. . . that have been filtered and retouched to perfection.  Which is fine to an extent, because as we chatted about earlier in the week, the mess isn't for the masses.  BUT  if you take the images you see on social, and compare them to your real life, without reminding yourself of the truth, it can wreak havoc on your self-esteem and your real relationships.   Social media is not the truth.

I was honored to be invited to a birthday dinner party last night celebrating my beautiful friend Britney.  It had been on my calendar for quite some time, but in this world of showing and selling our house, my schedule is constantly up in the air.  I’m working to anticipate that the showing call will almost certainly come at THE most inconvenient time.  (But oh, how I hate that!)

Yesterday was…

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Better than you found it

I've learned this lesson the hard way.  I've borrowed and loaned my fair share of things over the years. It turns out, people expect to get things back the way they were when you got them.  It doesn't matter if it's a lawn trailer or a red carpet. Ten times out of ten, it's the right (& much easier) thing to do, to leave things better than you found them.  Going down the red carpet one more time with the vacuum won't kill you, but it could kill a relationship.  It's true in all of life, leave it better than you found it.

Having a “red carpet” at the step & repeat for a party seems like a minor detail.  Like a simple little unrolling of a carpet and throwing a banner up.  Let’s just get that straight right here.

It is not. 

For the Derby-Style GNO on Thursday, we borrowed my sister Kim’sred carpet as well as her step & repeat stand, to set up the photo-op with my friend Kim’s Kentucky Derby banner.  Rolling out…

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Never Surrender

In this world of instant satisfaction, it's easy to forget that there are some things that are still worth fighting for.   There are some things that are worth the grit, determination and the decision to never surrender.   Certainly, there are times when the cost is too high and the decision to change direction is the right one.  But more often than not, when it comes to the important things like your goals, your relationships, or your vision for the future, the difference the difference between success and failure is often simply the resolve to never give up. 

Over the weekend, Noah decided he was ready to “frost his tips” on the top of his hair again.  We did it once before, but we paid a hefty price tag at a fancy “barber shop” to have it done professionally.  For some reason, on Sunday, I decided to volunteer my years experience using $10 highlighting kits in high school and college as a money saving option.  I mean, I can’t even tell you the…

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The mess isn't for the masses, but you can't face it alone

Let's be honest, the mess isn't for the masses.  The whole world doesn't need to see us soaking up soda with napkins.  It's not really interesting or helpful.  It's more like a rubbernecking distraction.  But it's imperative to acknowledge the mess with safe people, whatever "the mess" may be.  Pretending it never happened, may be a great slogan for a professional cleaning company, but it doesn't work for your life.   You have to face it.  

This is one of my favorite pictures from the Off To The Races GNO last Thursday night, for so many reasons.  One, it’s my friend Sarah.  We met almost exactly one year ago at Girls Night Out.  She came with a friend and has been adding joy to GNOs ever since.  This girl knows how to have a good time.  I really love this pic is because of something you can’t see.

The back story, behind the scenes.

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Only one hat at a time

As mamas, wives, sisters, friends, and contributors to this world, we women wear a lot of different hats.  We balance all our roles like it's nobody's business.  This trip was reminder to me that sometimes, I simply can't do it all.  Neither can you.   Oh you can do a lot of things all at once, no doubt.  But sometimes you have to accept "the exceptions" with loads of grace and just keep going, doing the next right thing.  Come to think of it, maybe it was the idea of wearing a Derby Fascinator hat for Girls Night Out tonight that helped make that clear.   

This blog was silent for 3 days in a row.  That’s a record since January of 2015!  I’ve been writing every weekday for more than 3 years, with few exceptions.  It’s a practice and a commitment, both to you and to myself.

But this week. . .

This week I made a conscious choice to call this one in advance.  I don’t always know my limits, but thank goodness I anticipated this one.  I went on a field…