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By Lara | December 31, 2018 | 0

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welcome!

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go DO them!” – Lara

Hi, I’m Lara! I grow flowers and meaningful things. I built two beautiful businesses (acquired in 2022) and I’m in a whole new season of life. I love healthy living, good words, the Word, hiking, and Charlotte Mason homeschooling. I’m the creator of the PowerSheets and Write the Word journals, founder of Cultivate What Matters, Southern Weddings magazine, and best-selling author of Make It Happen, Cultivate, and Gracie’s Garden. Chapel Hill, NC. I’m glad you’re here!

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Like a great book, transformative hospitality brin

Like a great book, transformative hospitality brings people into a story – and helps them see their own in a new way.

My mom showed me this firsthand as she gathered people around a table to use her skills as a French chef. Whether it was dignitaries or my friends from middle school growing up, she loved people through food and transformative hospitality. She has been a food writer for almost two decades now, and she continues to remind me of the power of doing small things with great love. If you’ve eaten in her kitchen, you know!

This is the hallmark of a great company—and hotel, too.

Small things with great love change people. As I shared in my keynote at Harvard last week, this is redeeming work. It matters. It creates a ripple effect.

I loved my stay at the Charles hotel for three reasons:

1. They told a story and brought me into it. The history woven into the hotel and how they cared for guests made us feel like we were part of a bigger story — a family.

2. The health and wellness focus helped me live my own story well. Thoughtful amenities and farm-to-table food made me feel good and gave me energy to love others well, too.

3. The people. It’s always the people! Each person I interacted with was grateful to be there and they invited me in wherever I went. (I always love exploring a hotel and all its nooks and crannies!) This hints at great culture. Loved people love people.

You know I’ve always geeked out over customer delight. It’s in my blood, thanks to my mom. 💛

@charleshotel
@henriettastable
@corbuspasalon
@regattabarjazzclub
@hfharvard

The research is clear on what produces happiness a

The research is clear on what produces happiness and life satisfaction: above money or accolades, circumstances and status, it’s largely people.

Close personal relationships.

Community.
Connection.
Sharing life together.

The Bible takes the research and multiplies it: we love because God first loved us. 1 John 4:19

The way we listen.
The way we care.
The way we give our gifts to others and encourage their gifts, too.

It makes people wonder where our hope comes from.

God’s version of happiness — and flourishing — is richer and more lasting than what our culture presses toward. While everyone around you might be happily overspending, overindulging, trying to find wholeness where they’ll never find it, or rising to the top of the success ladder at any cost, there is a much greater life satisfaction for those who follow a different path.

We know that the goal of life is not happiness as an end to itself; the goal is Him.

‘Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.’ - Jeremiah 17:7-8 🌱

More in my stories @laracasey

Our Top 10 from our fitness and wellness marriage

Our Top 10 from our fitness and wellness marriage retreat at the @carillonhotel in Miami Beach. We loved it.

Not pictured (the video shows 9 things - ha!): the easy flight. It was a direct flight for us from RDU to Miami (just an hour and a half on @americanair), which made travel feel super smooth.

We booked our stay at @carillonhotel using their spring promotion, which gave us 25% off if we pre-paid and two spa treatments. If I were to do it again, I’d book through @americanexpress Platinum, which gives you an even lower rate, room upgrade, 4pm checkout, and a food and experience credit.

We spent time dreaming together about our future ministry, praying, working out, trying new things, and enjoying each other’s company in the sun. We’ve used the @gottmaninstitute Card Decks app (free) several times now for marriage summits - the open-ended questions have been so helpful for us to dream and connect.

Overall, 100% worth the trip and we would love to return—maybe next time with friends! 💛 Anyone want to join us?

What you DON’T see in these photos and videos fr

What you DON’T see in these photos and videos from our time here at the @carillonhotel are all the small everyday habits we’ve recently started in our marriage:

- The 6 marriage questions we ask each other every weekend
- Morning and evening prayer, without fail
- Saturday afternoon date walks
- The repentance and daily grace
- Hugging for at least 10 seconds multiple times a day – it changes your hormones and connection together
- Working through challenges each week with a Christian counselor who helps families with special needs - this has been life-changing
- The simple act of asking each other questions throughout the day - curiosity about what dreams and challenges each of us has
- Remembering God’s faithfulness to bring us through very hard conversations and seasons
- So so much more – small things that add up to the big things

Why do all of this? Because we know what it feels like to go through the motions and we don’t want to do that.

P.S. We are loving our time at Carillon! So many fun things to try if you love health and wellness!

I was tired of being tired – experiencing soul-d

I was tired of being tired – experiencing soul-deep exhaustion. So much has changed in the last year and a half, and the layers of tiredness continue to fall off. I lived so much of what @jessaconnolly’s new book illuminates. If you are looking for a realistic reset button, get yourself a copy of Tired of Being Tired. I experienced the book firsthand at Soul Camp in Charleston last month. When we name our tiredness, good things begin to grow. It was transformative to hear Jess teach from these pages and take time to reflect on my journey—and what’s ahead. What a gift! Congrats, Jess, on giving a truly needed message to the world!

I’d love to buy a copy for 5 of you! 💛 Share your favorite ways to rest below, and I’ll choose a few of you to send books to. I’ll share my favorites below, too.

Excuse me while I temporarily turn into a travel b $Excuse me while I temporarily turn into a travel blogger, because this was a WILD trip. We did not plan this and I didn’t know about this before. With our health and wellness journey, it’s hard to find places to stay where you get a great night’s sleep, a great gym, healthy food, and lots of active things to do. We did not plan to stay at the @ritzcarltonwashingtondc, but after our original hotel had their whole computer system down, we had to switch hotels last minute. I’ve never used credit card rewards before, and I’m glad I tried it on this trip. In the taxi on the way to the hotel, I booked through @americanexpress travel using the Platinum Card - I’ll put a referral link in my stories if that’s helpful because it has a bonus. I got this card two weeks ago and it has already paid for itself several times over. The hotel rate was comparable to several other 3 and 4 star hotels -a fraction of the normal rate, we got a $200 credit back, $100 in food, and $150 experience credit, which I used part of to to to the @equinox which is IN the hotel— the biggest gym I’ve ever seen in my life. I was a very happy camper. And the kids had organic eggs and gluten-free pancakes for breakfast! It was their first time ever having room service, and they enjoyed every minute. But more than any of these travel perks, the hotel team was all my customer delight dreams come true. Thank you, Adeline, Vena, Solomon, Asefa and team. Above and beyond. When our flights got canceled and we had to return to the hotel, we were not sad about it. We ended up having to rent a car and drive home, and Vina and Adeline surprised us with a giant bag of travel snacks! What!? So, if you are looking for a quiet hotel in DC near all the museums and monuments, this is it. And if you are looking for a fitness and wellness retreat, this is it, too. We were a block from @wholefoods, where we got groceries and snacks for the room. @sweetgreen is in the same building as the hotel - a great healthy dinner spot. @equinox was ahhhhmazing - a huge sports club with a cafe and the guest room elevators go right there. This was a spring break for the kids—and for me. #fitnesstravel #wellnessretreat$

This garage, y’all. It has seen some unique seas

This garage, y’all. It has seen some unique seasons. Let’s start with its first use as the @SouthernWeddings / @CultivateWhatMatters Shipping Department, complete with official signage. We pushed pallets of magazines and thousands of products up this driveway. Bless my neighbors. And now…

Step inside our 🌿 Garage Gym and Wellness space. 🌿 ALL the details and our favorite home gym finds are on LaraCasey.com/blog or the link in my highlights. Want to guess how many days an actual car was in this garage? Where did the GARAGE DOOR go?? Where did you put all the garage thingy-things? See the post for the answers!

The Shipping Department sign? It’s still there. Great memories with wonderful women. 💛

Huge thanks to @traci_huffman for the after photographs.

We are inching closer and closer to spring—I can

We are inching closer and closer to spring—I can feel it. February brings glimpses of life below the surface: bulbs pushing through the frozen ground, catkins forming on the trees, and new bird sounds from migrating flocks returning home. I love this month! I’m ready to cozy up with hot tea in the sun, do some garden dreaming, embroider my Valentine’s gifts, and enjoy this time with the people in my life. After winter always comes spring.

My February goals and what I’m looking forward to, what I read in January (a lot!), and many updates are on the blog! www.LaraCasey.com/blog or the link in my stories. ❤️🌷

There is no fear in love...

1 John 4:18

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