Purpose

Go together, there is no better way

When I met Beth, our event designer with Joyful Day, at The Cookie Rack on Thursday, we had a good belly laugh with this sign. We met to work through the details in planning the upcoming BraveHearted Cookie GNO with our Featured Guest, Christie Halverson, the owner of the bakery. Before we parted ways, we knew we must take a picture with this sign. In part, because it’s such a hilarious and creative way for Christie to brand her store. But also because we’ve now both had our sons in the store with us which provided the opportunity (for me, at least) to explain the way this phrase has been so poorly used and in contrast, what a rack actually means. And mostly, that they should NEVER say it!

In Christie’s genius, this sign is such a perfect fit.

At the end of the day, the vast majority of her patrons are …

I have no earthly idea what is happening in this picture. If there wasn’t evidence to the contrary, in the smiles on our faces, you might think Michelle was really giving me a piece of her mind. But because I remember that we were all standing there laughing at our last Girls Night Out. I know she wasn’t upset. I know better.

However, she was clearly brimming with passion.

Michelle works with my sister Kim, and in my mind’s eye, she’s a pretty mild mannered woman. Oh she’s strong, no question. But her arms are not typically waving in the air and her mouth is not generally open quite this wide. I absolutely adore the fact that Vanessa captured Michelle this moment, because it made me laugh out loud, but also because it’s one of my favorite things about GNO. When you walk in the door of a HeartStories GNO, there’s an immediate …

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

I’m not sure exactly how or why but the subject of Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos divorce came up around the dinner table last night. We often talk about the hard work of entrepreneurship, but it doesn’t often diverge into the dividing of assets in a divorce proceeding. The topic began with a discussion over the sheer amount of money that would need to be divided and the “fairness” of the system of division and how painful it must be to only end up with half of $137 billion. Then Oaks asked, “Do you think he’ll make it back?” We talked about how hard it would be to make that kind of money twice in one’s lifetime. Regardless of your opinion of Jeff, the truth is, if anyone could make that kind of money again, he probably could. He has become the guy who knows what it takes to make that kind of …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Loving Yourself Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

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

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

Go together, there is no better way

Soul on fire

The person who could do it all again

Add life to your years

There’s always more to the story

The kind of friend who makes others fond of good things