Jun 13, 2013

2013 SPEAKING + THE MAKING THINGS HAPPEN CONFERENCE

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I sat in my living room last Friday afternoon with Emily, Nicole and Kristin (and Marissa on Skype) and had to take a moment to just breathe. David Beahm spoke at engage!13 last week about stopping to smell the roses. I took a very deep sweet breath in. Emily looked at me, smiled and said, “Lara, this has arguably been the biggest week of your business life.” Yes, I suppose it was. I found out that my book has been picked up (more details soon!), had an exciting meeting on Friday and spoke at engage!13 on goal setting and making things happen. There’s a lot more to it than these surface facts, though. Sitting there on my couch with these amazing women I have the joy of working with, I sat back, took a deep breath and praised God for all the challenges, blessings and the heart change He has made happen in me the during the last few years. I feel like my journey with Him is really just beginning.

I was really nervous to speak at engage!13. I get nervous when I believe in something and when I know I’m going to push the envelope a little. I stumbled over a few sentences at first and felt like my mouth suddenly became the Sahara, but I made it through by the good grace of God.

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On stage at engage!13. Photo by Carla Ten Eyck

This was my 8th engage! and I was so grateful for all of the meaningful conversations I shared. I prayed so much to build real heart connections there and God blew my prayer out of the water. It was a joy to see old friends and meet new ones and see so many of our Making Brands Happen clients (Mary and Jamie, Valerie and Jack from Sapphire Events, Yvette Price, Kailey-Michelle, Deborah Nadel, Amy Marella and Rebecca and Kathryn) and our Southern Weddings Blue Ribbon members (Holly Chapple, Whitney Carillon, Becca Atchison, Millie Holloman, Amelia Johnson, Greer Gattuso and Valerie)!

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A bear hug with Holly Chapple, who inspires me to no end. Photo by Carla Ten Eyck

Huge thanks to Rebecca, Kathryn, Trisha and team for giving me this amazing opportunity again. It was a magical week! Read more about the amazing Southern welcome party on Southern Weddings today.

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Make It Happen goal setting workbooks we created for engage! with calligraphy by Lindsay Letters. Photo by Jeremie Barlow.

The Biltmore was breathtaking and the gala on the last night had us all in tears it was so beautiful. We had so much fun playing dress-up for a night of Gatsby-inspired celebration! Nancy, me, Becca, Emily T and some feathery ladies…

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photo from my iPhone

I would love to see many of you at my remaining speaking engagements this year: Americasmart, The VOW Event, Pursuit 31, the Influence Network Conference and I’m thrilled to announce that registration for the Making Things Happen Conference is now OPEN! 20 of the 60 seats are already sold even before I posted this! Y’all are FAST.

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The Making Things Happen work fires me up beyond words. This October will mark over 1000 people who have attended MTH over the last five years. We sold out in March and can’t wait to see everyone this October. Our amazing group from March…

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I never dreamed that hitting publish on a blog post several years ago would spark this. God is awesome and has greater plans for each of us than we can ask for or imagine. Get your seat (we’re limiting attendance to 60 people!) while you can. Click here to register at the early-bird rate.

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In other news, Ari and I have been assigned to lead the two-year-olds class in the children’s ministry at our church from now till the end of September. This should be a hoot and a huge blessing as we spend more time with Gracie and friends. She is growing like a weed and counted to 12 yesterday. I just about died. Meredith sent me this while I was away at the Biltmore. Melt my heart!

The best part of last week, by far, was coming home to Gracie and Ari. Nothing beats the first hug after being away. Wishing you all a week that is connected deeply to what matters.

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P.P.S. (I know. I’m an excessive P.P.S.-er!) PowerSheets are back in stock. We’ve sold out four times this year and are almost out of this last batch. Get yours.

7 Comments

  1. Natalie on June 13, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    Your work and WORDS never ceases to inspire me Lara–keep on going–smell the roses and enjoy the moment 🙂 LOVE YOU!

    • Lara on June 13, 2013 at 6:35 pm

      I love YOU, my amazing friend!

  2. Nancy H on June 13, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    So excited that I’m one of the 20 already signed up! I am counting the days 🙂
    Love you too pieces
    xoxo
    Nancy H

    • Lara on June 13, 2013 at 6:35 pm

      YAY! We cannot wait to see you in October!!!

  3. Kelly Scarborough Watson on June 13, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    SO proud of you and all the work you are doing! Your grateful heart reminds me to be grateful too.

    • Lara on June 14, 2013 at 1:59 pm

      I am so proud of you. Thank you for always being such a wonderful encouragement to me!

  4. Jessica on June 14, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    So much goodness in this post, but I can’t stop laughing and smiling after that “I lub boo” video. Oh my, that girl is too much cuteness! Teaching the 2-year-old class will be so much fun and definitely “a hoot” as you described it. My 2-year-old makes me laugh every day more than I used to laugh in a month or more. Enjoy and keep on doing wonderful things! Great great work!

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