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Who knew that shy of 6 months after that January day I would hit my first goal. 11 months later would hit another, 13 months another and last Thursday and Friday night the last one. Who knew that a year and a half, that all of these goals would be met?!? I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I realized this last Friday. I am living proof of the Making Things Happen platform. Things are happening in my life because of MTH and God’s blessings.

Want to hear exactly where, what, how, when and why? Read on. Since that first MTH, so much has changed. I remember so clearly a phrase I kept repeating that day. " I want to find me and capitalize on it." It took a good year for that phrase to fully come to life. You can see that journey in my 2010 Self portraits letter. But, boy I have never been this comfortable in my own skin. I have found Gina. It sounds so weird and oh so "Eat, Love, Prayish" but it's 100% true. It all started at my first two MTH experiences, to getting a phone call from Ms. Lara Casey asking me to go on the November tour with her and Emily Ley. A trip that we would have never have imagined that would begin such amazing growth and change in each of us. I was such a blessing to see the immense growth in each of the attendees in those cities, yet I learned so stinkin' much about myself and was continually in awe when we hit each new city that my journals weren't just a repeat of the city before. I was changing, molding, melting. Melting especially in Hawaii.:)

I will remember this one moment in Hawaii for the rest of my life. Each morning we got up and ran or worked out. One morning there I threw on my suit and walked out to the beach, with Temper Trap blaring Sweet Disposition in my ears. I sprinted through the waves. Water splashing everywhere, saltwater taste in my mouth, a grin the size of Texas overtook my face. Seriously friends, I don't think I had tapped into that childlike happiness or innocence in a decade. In that moment I remember feeling an insurmountable amount of peace. Like God saying to me. "Yes, Gina this is you. You are a child at heart. Laugh, Play it's OK, Just be you."

A couple days later I left Hawaii and my two best friends, only to see them again in twenty one days. Here enters Natalie Norton. Natalie and I shared a room at the Watercolor Reunion & Intensive. At the Intensive, Natalie challenged me to be OPEN. To be vulnerable, physically and emotionally. To open up my heart. This my friends has changed my world. Do you find yourself crossing your arms, fiddling or looking downwards when you are starting to tap into unknown, icky or dreaded feelings? Do you use your humor to hop, skip and jump around them? Ding. Ding. Ding. All of the above were true (and still something I work on) for me. Just after a long weekend of working on my physical openness I could feel a LARGE shift in my heart. That weekend was so special to share with beautiful women, moments that I will never forget.

We finished off our MTH 2011 Jan Tour in a hotel room stranded in NYC. What memories we made making snow angels and hailing cabs in that snowstorm. During our January tour, I also really found my voice. I was encouraging, coaching, challenging and even writing. All of it came naturally. I remember a time where I would read Lara, Natalie and Emily's posts and say why can't I write like that? And here I was writing, authentically and it was coming out like butter. I had no idea of how deep my passion was to encourage, mentor and challenge others until this point. This is work I want to do the rest of my life. I love it. It fires me up. It's crazy that this was something that I had written on my 2010 MTH Minneapolis notes and it was accomplished in the very forum I took myself. Make it happen, friends. - Gina