Tweet Utopia: An ideal place or state, any visionary system of political or social perfection   Over the 4th of July holiday, Jordan and I ventured over to New Harmony, a small community that began as an experiment in utopia. Today it is a quaint little town full of cute houses, antique stores, and history on almost every corner.  Jordan knows me well and suggested we grab our bikes and head over there for the day. He had found an ice cream store he wanted to go to and well, I am always up for an adventure, even if it’s just down the road.  We got to New Harmony right as…

Tweet And it all started with one tiny word- YES.   Life has been a bit crazy lately and a minor mishap caused my blog to get lost in cyberspace for a few weeks, but I am back and excited to announce the newest adventure I am embarking on.   Planning a wedding.   Yep. The man of my dreams proposed to me Saturday.  It was a complete surprise.  Since everyone has asked and because I don’t want to forget, here is the story.. He invited me over for dinner which is not uncommon on a Saturday night. I had been running errands all day and had loaded up my…

Tweet Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.- Anthony J. D’Angelo While most people may spend their vacations on the beach, I took two of my vacation days and spent them at a leadership conference. In fact, throughout the past few years most of my vacations have been used to attend conferences. A long time ago I developed a love for learning and since my church is a host site for the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit I decided to go this year. Let me assure you, it was worth every bit of the two days I took off work. The amount of knowledge I gained…

Tweet Your life. It starts today.   Simple enough statement. But super complicated meaning. Society has twisted this statement and I believe uses it as a marketing ploy to keep us unhappy or at least to keep us from being content. To keep us always wanting more. Think about the messages communicated daily.   Life starts when you graduate highschool. OR graduate college. OR get your first real job. OR get married. OR have kids. OR retire.   It’s always starting when you reach the next big milestone.   This idea has been driving me crazy lately. For several reasons, but namely because the following is a conversation I seem…

Tweet Last week, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Jason Selk speak. He is the author of the book 10-Minute Toughness and perhaps most notably around this area, the Director of Mental Training for the St. Louis Cardinals.  His hour-long talk was one of the most straight-forward, down-to-earth messages I have heard in a while and the exact message I believe everyone needs to hear at this time of year. Heading into mid-January, how are your goals and resolutions for the year holding up? Have you already forgotten them? I hope not, but in case you are waning, here is a bit of motivation to keep you moving.  …

Tweet Happy 25th Birthday to Me!   I am pretty excited.   25.   Sounds so grown up. I can now rent a car, I have officially entered my mid-twenties, and have enough experience under my belt to at least have somewhat of a voice and opinion. I am three years out of college and getting ready to go back. I have had an amazing year and am excited for what is coming next. Life is always an adventure with me!   I love birthdays. I have never ever dreaded getting one year older. I know, that may catch up with me someday, but for now I am excited about what year 25…

Tweet Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog. I enjoyed reading them! I found a random number generator online, inputed all the entries in an Excel Doc, and choose a random number that corresponded to an entry. (Tried to make it official)   Anyways.. after all that the winner was:   ELIZABETH ZIKMUND!   Her comment was: JK Rowling, I am a big Harry Potter nerd and would love to speak to JK Rowling. She is such an amazing writer, I’d love to pick her brain! CS Lewis. I have read so many of his books and a biography written by his stepson. I would love to hear his…

Tweet “Love your work, work for what you love, and change the world–All at the same time.” -Opening quote from Start Something That Matters written by Founder of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie.   Little excites me more than a good book. I can get lost in the story, the characters, and the imagery the author weaves throughout the pages. And while Start Something That Matters is not as much of a story as it is a guidebook, I fell in love with the book from the first page. I had to be careful where I read it as so many of the stories told by author and founder, Blake Mycoskie brought me to tears. Perhaps…

Tweet …miles.   Yep, that’s right.     I ran 13.1 miles.   And I did it 1:56.   Let me tell you, there are few times in my life I have been so proud. I woke up at 4:30am Sunday morning after 9 weeks of training. The day was finally here. I have sacrificed a lot the last couple months to train for this. And I was a little nervous, but as I lined up with all the other runners, I was just excited. Yes, excited about getting ready to run 13.1 miles. Another reinforcement of the fact that I am not your average person. Most people get excited about football games; me,…