• Home
  • Start Here
    • About
    • Top 10 Posts
  • Train Hard
    • Printables
    • Videos
    • New Move Monday
    • Shed & Share
  • Eat Well
    • Food Tips & Tricks
    • Recipes
  • Live Free
    • Challenges
    • Mindset
    • Spiritual
  • Your Second New Year
  • “Living + Active” Challenge
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Services
    • Coaching
    • Speaking
    • Essential Oils

Clare Smith

Training Body & Soul

Ohio LOVES Candace Cameron Bure!!

July 15, 2013

If you’ve been following me at all on my social media accounts, you know that I’ve spent the past few days with my friend, Candace Cameron Bure! This isn’t the first time that we had met and been together face to face as I visited her in LA back in December! She came to town to attend a friend’s wedding in Cleveland, which is just one hour north of me, and also to meet some blogging friends who live near here. It was a perfect combination to get her out here! (Be sure to check out Candace’s post and pictures about her trip here!)

I picked her up from the airport Thursday afternoon and we grabbed lunch at the famous, “Melt”, and caught up. There’s nothing quite like talking with someone face to face about life versus doing it over the phone or emails! I could tell from that moment that this weekend was going to move much quicker than I preferred! Candace was super tired as she didn’t get any sleep the night before and had been traveling all day, so we went back to my house where we kind of just chilled. We decided that if we were going to do anything, we better do it then, or else both of us would be asleep by 7pm! So we freshened up and met my friend Leslie out for a bit. We were both ready for our beds by Thursday night!

Ohio loves Candace! | peak313.com

Candace enjoys working out just as much as I do so we knew that would be on our schedule! We woke up Friday morning and leisurely had coffee with my husband and just chatted! I made breakfast for us and we got ready for the gym! (I work out at Malone University which is also where I teach pilates classes!) I was excited to put her through one of my strength routines and she did awesome! She is so tough–zero complaining–and went along with every silly move I did!

Candace & Clare Exercise! | peak313.com

Candace and Clare Exercise! | peak313.com

Candace & Clare Exercise! | peak313.com

After the gym, we went back for a quick protein shake made with vanilla protein powder, coconut milk, frozen peaches, fresh raspberries, and chia seeds. I hadn’t decided on my dress for the wedding we were attending the next day, so we boogied to the mall, ran into Dillards and in a 40 min time span, I bought a dress and a pair of earrings. We shop really well together. There have been multiple times–both in the LA trip and the trip to Canton–that we both were literally holding up the same piece of clothing asking if each other liked it. I seriously have to chuckle at this! We have a very similar style in clothing!

Post Workout Shake! | peak313.com

After shopping, we got home and showered so we could meet up our friends for dinner at Gervasi Vineyard! Courtney (Women Living Well), Ruth (The Better Mom), and Janelle (Comfy in the Kitchen) were waiting for us as we got there! Courtney and Janelle both live within 15 minutes of my house (and we attend the same church!) Ruth drove 3 hours and stayed with Courtney so she could also join the fun! These girls all were a part of Roo–Candace’s online magazine that she had a year–so she was so excited to meet them face to face. We ate and ate, then walked around the grounds of the restaurant. Came back to my house where we just chatted about life! It was so wonderful having them in my home! (Make sure you check out Courtney’s blog post about her visit. She has some awesome pictures that I won’t be posting here!)

The "Roo" girls and Candace! | peak313.com

The girls left and Candace, Kory, and I stayed up talking. Finally at 1am we decided we needed to hit the sack, as we were rising early to workout and make our way to the wedding!

♥♥♥

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Here is Candace with my kids. My daughter wasn’t being agreeable for a pic so Candace worked her magic, and got down to her level, cuz she’s great like that. 🙂

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Kory and Candace chatted…a lot! As a matter of fact, I almost fell asleep listening to them one night! Ha! He was such a great help this weekend so that she and I could do what we did. He even got our coffees and breakfasts to go when we were running late one morning! I have an awesome man!

♥♥♥

It was a rough Saturday morning wake up as neither of us got enough sleep, but we gutted it out and made our way to the McKinley Monument–one of my favorite places to workout in my city! We did a quick, but effective 25 minute workout with the stairs and some bodyweight exercises (decline push ups, tricep dips, step ups, reptiles). We made our way home to shower up and head to Cleveland for the wedding!

Candace & Clare: Stair Workout  | peak313.com

The wedding was just GORGEOUS! The weather couldn’t have been better and the bride and groom (Megan and Mike) were just glowing. I felt so privileged to be part of their special day as Candace’s date! We had some time in between the ceremony and reception, so she and I went to lunch and walked around downtown Cleveland a bit. It was fun to see the people around Cleveland and Canton realize she was in town. The twitter feed was fun!

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the reception. We danced (and ate!) the night away! We couldn’t hit our beds quick enough, even though we laid there and chatted for a while. What can you say–girlfriends can talk forever, right?!

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

I had to post this dress! Killer deal at Dillards–70% off a BCBG!

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Ahem. We weren’t hungry or anything post -wedding….

Sadly, Sunday morning came and we had to make our way to  the airport to get her home. I knew the time would fly and man, was I right! We were already talking about our next big excursion (or when I can get discounted tix to LA!) to visit. These bi-annual visits aren’t cutting it for our friendship! We truly do connect on all levels and I see God’s hand through and through our friendship. It’s rare to find someone who “gets you” on all levels.

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Would you join me in praying for her when you see her on tv or social media? God has placed her in a unique place in the world, being the hands and feet of Jesus to people who you and I would NEVER get a chance to minister to! She has a Hallmark movie coming out in December, and then her next book coming out January 1st, 2014! So much to be lifting her up for and I KNOW without a doubt, she cherishes all your prayers!

Ohio LOVES Candace! | peak313.com

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Filed Under: Featured, Good Living, Real Life Tagged With: candacecameronbure, real life, reshaping it all 7 Comments

About Clare

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    July 15, 2013 at 8:02 pm

    Have to ask — what is in the smoothies?

    Reply
  2. Nikki Morton says

    July 15, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    Y’all are both so awesome! I am so inspired by how abundantly you both live life and it makes me want to MOVE, to DO something. 🙂 Candace seems to be so real, so full of the Spirit. It is obvious you two are much alike, and may I say, I wouldn’t mind being a little (okay a lot) more like the both of you! Thanks for sharing and for what you do for women everywhere!!

    Reply
  3. Janelle says

    July 16, 2013 at 1:06 am

    Looks like so much fun! So glad I got to discover all of you lovely ladies through Candace’s blog! Can’t wait to start reading more from all of you 🙂

    Reply
  4. Women Living Well says

    July 17, 2013 at 7:13 am

    LOVE the elevator picture :)! And the pics with your kids. Such a fun weekend. So excited to see how God is working in both of your lives!!!
    Love you,
    Courtney

    Reply
  5. Kristine says

    July 31, 2013 at 4:13 pm

    So refreshing to hear things like this. I too have a special friendship like this… What a precious blessing… Someone who “gets you”! Blessings to you and thanks for sharing! Awesome example!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • YouTube

looking for something?

post archives

Instagram

Let your complicated, challenging, nuanced situati Let your complicated, challenging, nuanced situation(s) be what forms you. Let it build you into the person God is bringing you to be. It’s not the ability to live life unscathed and perfect that creates a beautiful soul. It’s the ability to feel the heat and pain and come out more tender, authentic, and loving that makes you a person who is set apart for use. A person like this is refreshing and that person absolutely is you. #abeautifulpurpose

(Quote not my own)
I’ll keep this short because I want you to read I’ll keep this short because I want you to read the poem. We can bring our burdens many places nowadays- friends, Instagram, Facebook, text, to gym, to work, to sleep.. you get the point. But let’s make sure we bring our burdens first to Jesus. After the week.. month.. year.. many of us are having, there’s no better time to do this than now. #sweetunfailingrefuge

(I found this tucked in an old book at my family’s 100 year old farmhouse that we were selling this summer 🤍)
•My house was a mess with everyone being home to •My house was a mess with everyone being home today
• I only had ingredients for one batch of soup
• I don’t drink alcohol on Mondays
• Hubs had the sink totally apart in the middle of a project
• The kids were in and out of our deep conversation

Sometimes the quick stop to say hello turns into a therapy session with dinner and wine. Everything was stacked against me – so I thought- but the mayhem is often beauty and normalcy to the person’s life who is spinning. Sometimes “the plan” goes off track... but it’s not off track in God’s eyes.

Living life knowing that the minutes of your day are not yours but for God to use to encourage and be there for people who are hurting changes everything. It changes who you marry. It changes how you spend your money. It changes what you do with your time. Dinner portions may not be what you planned but God always finds enough to fill those who come to His table to be loved on and heard.

If I know one thing – it’s this. People are hurting right now. Some things are private and some are public. What would it look like if our homes became safe places for people to land? For our hearts to enter in the pain? For our embrace to provide the temporary relief needed? We can be people who talk about bringing the kingdom here on earth or we can be people who do what we can with the little we have to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 🤍
I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the past few weeks. Between an insane December, Covid recovery, Ohio winters, and the mere fact I don’t have the bounce back that I used to (#thisis40) it’s been a slow go for me to get to feeling where I feel best physically. It’s been discouraging to say the least and I feel like I just turned a corner last week. 

While a lot truly was physical exhaustion, it was more of a mind game I was playing. I had to be my own #hypeman and tell myself to keep chipping away at the goal. I had to tell myself that the only way to the end was through it…no shortcuts. Just time and steady work. I often dismissed the small wins I had because I hadn’t hit the finish line. Well that thinking wasn’t helping me and one day had the “aha”that while I wasn’t yet at the goal, I was BETTER.

Each of us have something in our lives where it’s not what we want. We are on the path to achievement but it sure ain’t there yet. It can be with some of the obvious things such a health or financial goals but I see this often with people regarding relationships. The marriage, friendship, child or community in which we live falls just short of “perfection” and so we just settle instead of putting in consistent, hopeful work, which allows room for the Holy Spirit to work. 

I just want to encourage you to keep chipping away because while things may not be what you want, they can be better. In fact the way we reach what we want is not by snapping our fingers and it magically appearing but by a process or journey which involves ups and downs, straight stretches of boredom, and then finally a renewed energy as you see the end in sight.

What have you given up on achieving because it hasn’t come to fruition in the time you wanted? Remember… things can be BETTER. And that counts for something. 🤍
I was recently telling someone my journey or where I was recently telling someone my journey or where I am today in regards to what I do for a living... the crazy road I’ve travelled over the last 10 years to get me here. It’s changed a lot and if you’ve been here online with me, you have seen it! If you would have asked 18 year old Clare what she saw herself filling her days with at 40 years old, it would be about 5% of what I’m doing. Goodness...none of this was even around when I was 18!

I look back and see all the twists and turns. All these tiny moments and conversations. Many open and closed doors. Things that I thought were just random or not a big deal, but in hindsight, they were a huge deal. I appear to be a very type a “has her stuff together and a plan” type girl but the truth is, I am (was) taking everything day by day.

All I know is that everything I stepped into prepared me for the next thing. Many times I didn’t even know it! But I look back often and am like, “ohhh, God, I see what ya did there!” 

My encouragement to you is this- no matter what age you are- trust the path you are on. Let peace be your guide... not some assumed plan an “expert” or author told you. Sure- be wise with your time. Put in the work with diligence wherever your feet may have you, but be open to the nudges of where to go.

Maybe I’m crazy but living a life of faith in God is one of the most exciting and fulfilling things. I don’t know what He has for me in 5 years let alone 1...and for whatever reason, that thought alone gets me up and helps me live with a holy anticipation. I trust Him.  I live less with resistance to the unexpected now. God is indeed preparing you for what he has prepared for you. What a loving Father!
We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Rem We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Remember that seeds are buried and “in the dark” before anything springs forth. Our journeys in life can often feel like that. Do the daily work. Tend your “heart garden.” Time is on your side. And when it’s time...it’s time. 🤍

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians‬ ‭6:9‬
A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s retreat in the Chicago area. I just finished a session & a lady ran up to me asking if she could ask me a few questions. She was early 50’s, striking in appearance… fit & confident. She started telling me that she resonated with my health/fitness message & wanted some encouragement on starting “this late in life”, but as we continued talking, her demeanor changed & tears started to fill her eyes.

She told me that was she was struggling with something that had been weighing on her since she was 18…the decision to have an abortion. The tears were streaming down her face, the clear guilt she carried from it weighing heavy on every part of her beautiful stature. Not many knew about it. Her current husband did not…many friends did not. She felt it was keeping her from this life she saw that was just within reach. The more she sat in silence, the heavier the chains felt. She needed to speak and I watched the tears fall like visible chains.

We chatted a little longer, prayed & hugged, & as I walked away I couldn’t help but think of many women I’ve encountered with this same story but I would’ve never known. Walking through life seemingly fine, yet carrying a deep wound inside, questioning every bit of her worth and ability to make a difference. Heartbreaking. 

If you relate to that woman, I want you to know that you are loved & seen. Your past, as hard as it has been, has formed & shaped you into the woman you are today, & a woman that God greatly desires to use. He wants your broken, fragile heart. He will bind it up and heal it. He will walk with you in the shadows. He will lead you beside still and soul-quenching waters. There may be many words you can attach to your situation but there is one more powerful than all that I want you to keep remembering…RESTORATION. Jesus is renewing and reviving something within you that will bring light to yourself & others.

For the rest of us who may not have this as a part of our story, let’s remember that we are walking amongst those who have & that we are to be healing arms, not ones of judgement & legalism...but ones of compassion & grace. 🤍 DM me if you need prayer!
This came up on my Facebook memories and I just fe This came up on my Facebook memories and I just feel it’s always applicable! There is always something in our lives that if we could just “get our hands on” would work to our favor. We dream about what it would be like if we got that thing/person etc. We think about the 2 tweaks that need to happen for it to occur. We pray about it. Perhaps obsess over it.. sound familiar?

But we also start to resent our current lives. We stop living in what God has fully given us. We live everywhere but the here and now and alongside that dream of yours comes a side dish of anxiety and sadness. So then we get our hands in it, perhaps without God’s “OK” and then we see a mess unfold. We’ve all been there. If only we had waited. 

This is the grind of living in reality. We are pulled from living what is before us into living into a dream we have deep within. Here’s the cool thing. We don’t have to choose.. reality or dream. It’s not an either/or but both/and. We can live fully here while also giving energy to our hopes. The difference is how tightly we hold into those things and how much they get elevated in our hearts.

If you are here this morning I just want to encourage you that you aren’t alone! I truly believe with everything I am, that God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) I believe in His sovereign timing. I believe that the work He started in you (and everyone else in your life) will be completed. (Phil1:6) Keep praying, stay faithful to where you are now, walk in the “peace path” and hold onto Jesus. He will lead you. 🙏🏻
Follow on Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • YouTube

© 2021 · Clare Smith · Design by Heart & Arrow

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.