Welcome to my weekly post I share a peek into our lives, talk about things I’m loving, share links to interesting articles or helpful ideas I’ve collected throughout the past week, and just talk about whatever is on my heart! ?
This week was filled with recovering from sickness, working on moving projects, launching Content Creation 101, a Slow Day and spontaneous dates, planning for the Come as You Are Night (see more below), watching the Olympics, and spending time with friends. Oh and I also decided to try experimenting with Instagram Live…
Join Me for My Daily Instagram Live Show!
So many of you have told me that you really miss my Periscope shows that I used to do. Well, I’ve been experimenting with Instagram Live and it reminds me a lot of Periscope — minus the trolls!
I’ve been hopping on live around 11 a.m. CT every morning to share an inspirational message or practical encouragement. The show is usually 5-10 minutes long and you can interact with me live in the comments. OR, if you miss the show, you can watch the replay for the next 24 hours.
You need to download the Instagram app and have an account. Then, follow me here. You can click on the round profile picture and then it will play my Instagram Live or any Instagram Stories I have recorded over the last day.
Note: I’m currently just experimenting with this to see if it’s something that I want to commit to longterm or not. I’d love your input and thoughts as I decide whether to continue on with it!
I wrote a post this past week sharing about my experience using DiscountGlasses.com.
I also wrote a detailed post talking all about my trip with Jesse to go to the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell Ceremony.
So this happened Friday night. 23 women (most whom I had never met and who had never met each other!) showed up at our house for the first Come As You Are night.
These brave women responded to an Instagram post of mine asking if you were looking for authentic community in the Nashville area. And then they showed up not know what to expect or who was going to be there.
The night was filled laughter, good food (everyone brought a simple snack!), amazing conversations, and incredible openness.
(After everyone introduced themselves, I had a list of 8 questions that I put together and we broke into groups of two and talked about one of the questions for 5 minutes and then moved on to a different person/different question. It was a great way to go deep in relationships pretty quickly and to get to know a number of women in the room in a short span of time.)
A big thank you to my friend, Melissa, for all her help with pulling last night off and being my extroverted sidekick! And thank you so much to Jen Schmidt for inspiring me to stop waiting to be invited and to start being the initiator through her book, Just Open the Door!
I had no idea how much I was going to fall in love with this hospitality thing! I’m already looking forward to planning another night soon!
It’s amazing what happens when you just open the door! Who can you reach out to today?
Links You Should Check Out:
- Want to know my honest thoughts on the books I’ve read so this year? Read this post on the 9 Books I Read in January.
- We’re in the beginning stages of moving to our new house and we’re experimenting with a new system for simplifying our move. Read more about it here.
- Some of you might be bothered by this, but I see a recipe as a suggested guideline to follow, not a hard and fast set of rules. Here’s an example of how that played out in real-life last week.
- Do you have a houseful of teenage kids? Or just growing kids who eat a LOT? You probably should read this.
2018 Goals Update
Personal Goals
1. Read 100 non-self-help books that will build me up/encourage me/inspire me/recharge me. (Fiction/story-driven/biographies/inspirational living books/devotionals.) See the list of 44 books I plan to read this year.
**Progress: 11 books read so far this year
2. Read through the entire Bible.
**Progress: I’m using the Robert Murray M’Cheyne plan and am all caught up— yay!
3. Write one handwritten note to someone every week.
**Progress: 7 notes written so far this year
4. Run 500 miles.
**Progress: 60 miles run so far
Marriage Goal
5. Go on an overnight trip with Jesse without the kids.Jesse and I went to NYC together in January.Family Goals
6. Read 10 books aloud with the kids.
**Progress: I’ve finished one book so far.
7. Take the kids to South Africa.
**Progress: We’re in the process of nailing down dates for our trip right now.
8. Go on a family road trip.
Financial Goals
9. Save up to pay cash to finish off an office for me and workout room for Jesse and me in the basement in our new house.
10. Replenish our Emergency Fund (we dipped into it to replace my car when it got totaled because of the carpet beetle infestation.)
Business Goals
11. Increase our gross income from the business by 8%.
12. Launch 5 new courses.
**Progress: 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life launched in January and Content Creation 101 launched in February.
Krystal @ Simple Finance Mom says
I’m so glad your meet-up went well! I did a similar thing this summer and 37 people showed up!! I only knew 5 or 6 of them. The rest were strangers who saw it on other people’s FB walls who had shared my video and it was amazing to see the Lord work in everyone vulnerability. Four small groups launched after that from connections that were made and it was sko humbling to play a small part in my obedience. I will continue to pray that the Lord will bless your time together!
Crystal Paine says
That is SO amazing!! Thank you for sharing!
April Haynes says
I would love to see the 8 questions you used for your ladies group and what else you did.
Crystal Paine says
I’m doing a post with details later this week… but feel free to email me and I’m happy to share!
Melinda says
I like the Instagram Live so much better than Periscope. I could not stand watching all of the trolls on Periscope. It’s so much better to watch you on Instagram!
Crystal Paine says
Yay! I’m so glad! And me, too! I’ve heard that some people have issues with trolls on IG live, but so far, I haven’t and I’m hoping it stays that way! 🙂
Rebekah J says
I love your idea of a Come As You Are night! Just curious, what kind of questions did you ask? Can you give me some examples? I’m a pastor’s wife and this sounds like a great idea!
Heather says
I’m curious about this too. I would love to put together something like this as the lack of community and authenticity in our area has been really putting a lot of hurt in my heart.
I’d love to know what questions you put together.
Crystal Paine says
I’m writing a post on it later this week with all the details, but in the mean time, you are welcome to email me and I’ll send you the list!
Susan says
Looking forward to the post. I was wondering about the questions you put together too!