Blog | HeartStories

It’s time for the true story

I haven’t completely settled in to my new office yet. It’s been sort of a work in progress since we moved in because I waited a long time to buy bookshelves. We lived in our old house for 14 years and most of that time, I didn’t even own a bookshelf. A few years ago, when the books were piling up in my closet, I finally bought a little red bookshelf at Ikea, filled it with my favorites, and left the rest in the pile in the closet. When we moved in to this house and I realized that I had four huge boxes of books, I decided to honor my new-found love for reading by buying a set of bookshelves that I love. I finally found them, and purchased them on a giant sale over the holidays.

They arrive today! (I can’t wait!)

I’ve shared before that my love for reading …

The beauty eating the greenery at Girls Night Out? That’s my joyful friend Melanie. She brings laughter wherever she goes. She’s brilliant and wise. She’s serious about supporting parents as they navigate the unknown waters of raising kids.

But you can always count on her to bring the laughter.

Yesterday, as I watched a quick video of Mel and her husband Jeff promoting a parenting class they teach together at our church, I couldn’t help but smile at their joy. Those two seem to always be laughing. Case in point: While we had a house full of guests during a holiday party, they led their entire home group to our house to sing Christmas carols. Only Jeff and Melanie. . . they wore pantyhose on their heads. Yep. They were singing loudly in front of a crowd of mostly strangers, in stockings caps, like bank robbers. There’s a backstory of course. I …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love in Friendship Loving Others Loving Yourself Purpose Leave a comment chat

Since the day I met Vanessa Corral, she’s been dreaming up incredible ways to help the women of the HeartStories community feel more beautiful in their own skin. She cares deeply about capturing the unique beauty of each woman. She wants them to see the best version of themselves, not only in their hearts, strengths and accomplishments, but also in the way they look on the outside. While most media tries hard to convince us that we should all look one way, Vanessa pushes back, insisting that physical beauty isn’t about a cookie-cutter stereotype.

One look at her site or social media, and you’ll quickly see that Vanessa fully embraces the incredible beauty in our diversity.

She’s been taking headshots of our beloved HeartStories Members at our annual Holiday Ready GNO for the past three years in a row. But lately, Vanessa has been dreaming specifically, about ways to add value to our treasured HeartStories …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

My incredible niece Sophia turned 16 last week. Per family tradition, all the local family gathered to celebrate over the weekend, including Great Grandma, whom we’re thrilled is now “local”. Instead of a fancy birthday cake, Sophia wanted to celebrate with French macarons. They were an absolutely beautiful display of color and perfection. Exactly the right touch for a girl who is entering her adult years of life. But when we’d all gathered in the living room to sing the traditional “Happy Birthday”song while Sophia blew out the candles, those macarons presented a little challenge.

They were almost too delicate to hold even the toothpick style “16” candles.

What I noticed in that moment, was that instead of frustration, or angst of any kind, the room was filled with laughter. There were giggles from all the kids and oohs and ahhs from all the grown ups. Even when the passoff didn’t work, leaving …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

It’s such a beautiful thing, the way that friends influence our lives. I’ve known I needed to get a library card of my own for quite some time now. In the summer, one of my boys enjoys listening to audiobooks while he reads along. In fact, the discovery of audiobooks has changed his entire attitude toward reading. But the first summer we tried it, we were buying them on Audible and other online platforms. Then one day, I was looking for a title that was a little harder to find and my search returned a result showing our local library had that audiobook available to check out. I’m not sure how I’d somehow missed the fact that public libraries offered digital audiobook rentals, but I was thrilled to find out.

Except that I didn’t have a library card.

I “phoned a friend” named Dad, and asked to borrow his library card. Within …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

When Vanessa shared her first look, “sneak peek” images from last week’s girls night out, this one made my heart smile so big. That joyful soul looking up at you is Lauren, the coordinator of all the things. I’m telling you, she keeps HeartStories running smoothly like an Olympic figure skater gliding in for the gold. It’s fast and furious, hard work. Obviously, it’s a lot just working directly with me, but she’s also coordinating all of our staff, sponsors, vendors, members and attendees. She shores up the platform that makes ALL the magic happen for our community, month after month.

And she could do it in her sleep, with one arm tied behind her back.

There’s so much happening behind the scenes to create our monthly GNO and Lauren makes it all seem so effortless. You’d think this is her full time job, plus some. But in reality, it’s her side …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Loving Others Priorities Leave a comment chat

It’s time for the true story

Add life to your years

There’s always more to the story

Miserable? Or happy and strong?

The kind of friend who makes others fond of good things

Seek joy and you will find it