priorities

The problem with tomorrow

As I walked through the living room this morning collecting trash from last night’s apparent frat party, this whiteboard suddenly caught my eye.

I stopped to read the top and it took my breath away.

As I wrote about on the blog yesterday, I’ve been trying to create intentional moments of connection with the boys. Realizing that I cannot stop life to be with them 24/7, I’m simply taking pauses where I can, to connect. Yesterday during lunch I asked the boys if they wanted to play a game or something together. Noah and I decided to play a game of cards. While I was cleaning up the final dishes, I looked over and saw that he’d erased my family “to-do” list on the whiteboard and written something at the top.

My heart sank.

My brain is too full to remember anything so I’d been scribbling notes there for the last few days, of …

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have two basic speeds: On or Off. I either need to be moving and shaking, getting stuff done. OR completely chilling and disconnected from the rest of the world. It’s actually one of the reasons I’m pretty terrible at the social media game. The always-on, always posting, always sharing, never-ending buzz of the online world is hard for me to just dip a toe in. I’m either all in or completely out, so I avoid social media often so that I don’t allow myself to get sucked in. (The word “boundaries” comes to mind here.)

I like to batch my work for efficiency so I can sit down to focus and then get up and be finished.

Obviously, this is not how the life of a wife, mother, and entrepreneur naturally flows. At some level, all of those roles demand a constant buzz for attention. …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Words Loving Others Loving Yourself Motherhood Priorities 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

I spent the day yesterday hanging around a hospital, while my beloved Daddy had a (long overdue) knee surgery. It had been a family juggling act for me to be able get down to the hospital before they took Dad back.( Thankfully, I made it and Dad did great!) But while I was trying to focus on my laptop and the final preparations for our “Holiday Ready” GNO tonight, the funeral of President Bush was airing live on all the waiting room TVs. The focus of almost everyone in the room was up on those screens. I wanted to listen to the eulogies of the legacy of such a wonderful man, but I needed to prioritize my work. Then I noticed an elderly man, a couple of chairs down from me, he must have been more than 80, who was waiting for his wife to come out of surgery. He was …

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

I’m supposed to be going on a field trip with one of my babies today. It’s going to be a fun one too, they’re going to the butterfly gardens! But I just can’t. Thank goodness I’m not an “official chaperone” because then, I wouldn’t have a choice. I was just planning to tag along. Because of course, the chaperone sign-up went out on the day of the last HeartStories GNO, which means it got buried in my inbox so I didn’t see it until it was much too late to sign up. But that’s a whole other story. Today let’s just talk about the fact that momming is hard. (Yes, “momming” is a word now.)

Momming (momm-ing) v.: 1. Tapping into the reserves of strength you never knew you had. 2. Juggling all the things.

I spent the last three days with a house full of handy-people, and all of their mess, working to …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Loving Others Loving Yourself Motherhood Priorities Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

Houston, we have a problem.

Even just a quick eyeballing of this sheet rock situation would give reason for concern. This was only our second piece of sheet rock, our first day on the job, and we couldn’t get it right to save our lives. The ceiling was bowed and nothing was meeting up evenly. Add to that, we had sheet rock screw guns that were so finicky, we’d either drive the screws straight through the paper or couldn’t get them to sink at all.

It was a comedy of errors at every turn.

But we did eventually get past this sheet. We were eventually able to finish quite a bit of this house, before the “pros” arrived and promptly began to show us how it’s really done. Together with a team of college students from near and far replacing the roof, I’d say we made huge progress toward bringing hope to …

by Crystal Gornto Inspiration Love In Action Love in Family Motherhood Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

The problem with tomorrow

Pick one

Seek joy and you will find it

“Holiday Ready” is more than meets the eye

When saying “no” isn’t fun

It starts simple