Hey friends! I have been a little absent around here because last week I was busy with a bunch of bloggers! Yes–that’s right–a bunch of my blogging friends got together to reconnect, refresh, and swap ideas and tips for this weird thing we do online. (You know, not everyone *gets* us! haha)

Just a quick background, my friends Courtney (Women Living Well) and Janelle (Comfy in the Kitchen and Overcomer Outreach) live 15-20 minutes from me. We all used to attend the same church for years (some of us have since switched churches!) so we knew each other before blogging was on the radar! Then our circle grew as our connections did.

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Mandy Young, (bottom row) Ruth Schwenk (The Better Mom), Darlene Schacht (Time Warp Wife), Courtney Joseph (Women Living Well), Janelle Nehrenz (Comfy in the Kitchen), (top row) Summer Saldana (Le Musings of Moi), me, Katina Miller (Overcomer Outreach), Karen Ehman (Karen Ehman/Proverbs 31 Ministries)

We used to attend yearly blogging retreats but have not done that in a while, so we were way overdue for this 4 day retreat! It was so great to be with like-minded people, not only in what we do for a living, but how are hearts are tied together in Christ. Here are a few snapshots of the week. If you follow me on instagram, you probably saw them! I tend to post more real-life, real-time shots there!

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How’s this for real-life pic?  I brought Ruth and Summer out for a run on the trails. We did 30 second walk/run intervals for 20 minutes and ended up with some pilates!

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It was Mandy’s birthday while we were there! 

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The out of town girls got to experience a tornado warning! (and yes, one touched down 15 miles from us!) Here is the sky when we were at dinner! Yikes!

We got pedicures one afternoon. And ummmmm, well, my feet aren’t exactly the best. You’ll see why when you check out this video Karen took. (If you can’t see the video, check it out here)

 

Bloggers doing what we do–social media!

Another day, another quick workout! Summer and I did our best with what we had!

We stayed in a villa that had 4 rooms. (We took up 3 of the rooms) This is the shared room in the villa so we would get cozy every night and brainstorm and learn from one another. We may have had some snacks, too! 🙂

…food like these bomb-tactic brownies from Janelle. OH MY WORD. Seriously. OH MY WORD. The recipe is here! 

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Our time was short but I had another half day with Summer and Mandy before I took them to the airport. They have never been to Amish country and since I live 40 minutes from there, off we went! We had a blast!

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We both love thrift shopping, but Amish thrift shopping? GAME CHANGER!

If you want to get a good feel for our trip, be sure to check out my friend Summer’s 2 part VLOG on her trip to Ohio! Part 1 and  Part 2

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(and since I didn’t get this post up as quickly as I wanted to, here’s an additional update with my latest trip!)

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I grabbed my friend Liz (one of my Good Morning Girls!) and  we took a whirlwind trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan to be in the audience of a DVD curriculum for a book that will release in November from my friends Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk! It’s called, “Hoodwinked: 10 myths moms believe and why we all need to knock it off.”

There were 6 sessions we sat through, with multiple cameras around us. Believe it or not, sitting and listening, making sure you weren’t scowling or doing something else embarrassing is sort of exhausting! We also had outfit changes so that was a fun! I am so proud of my friends and I learned so much from their teachings and this was even without reading the book! I can’t wait for you all to see it when it releases in November!

I’ve never been to Grand Rapids before! Beautiful!

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Behind the scenes of the set. The warehouse location they shot at was amazing!

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And go!

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And here we are at the last session. Karen loves my massages so I was getting her all warmed up!

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Fun fact: Karen’s daughter, Kenna, is a stylist and make-up artist and was the on-set guru! It was so great to meet her in person–she’s a fellow health nut. 🙂

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It’s a wrap! Can’t wait to see the finished product!

I am blessed to have such wonderful, talented, Godly friends! I hope you enjoyed a peek into my week!

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p.s. Check out some of the newest releases that my friends have out now!

– Ruth and her husband just released,  “The Dig: Proverbs” , a kid’s devotional.

– Courtney has a Proverbs Good Morning Girls Journal, and

– Darlene just released “100 Prayers For Your Marriage”

Eek! So much great stuff for marriage, family, and personal spiritual growth!