Happy Thanksgiving, sweet friends! Today, I hope you’re curling up on the couch in your favorite stretchy pants, combing through this blog post as you recover from all the turkey you’ve eaten. I’m so excited to be sharing my recap of Day Two of the October illume retreat with y’all! With just one more sleep until registration opens up tomorrow morning at 9am CST, I hope this little peek into our time together last month gets you even more excited to join us next April.

Day Two kicked off with an incredibly inspiring session led by Katie Selvidge of Cottage Hill Magazine on creating more than a business. She encouraged our attendees to dig deep into the heart, the motivation behind their work, and to focus their energy on creating a business that truly stands for something at the end of their days.

With attendee notebooks filled to the brim with big ideas and deep revelations from Katie’s presentation, I took over to present for a second day on how to create sustainable balance and boundaries in your business.

After a morning packed with speaker sessions, we broke for lunch with incredible arrangements designed by my right-hand gal Kat Schmoyer of Dear Sweetheart Events! Can we take a minute to talk about how she managed to procure peonies in October? I’m still in awe of the beauty this lady was able to whip up in her hotel room that morning!

Jenna Kutcher of Photos by Jenna Leigh led us on a fun, practical and motivating session on authentic marketing after lunch. How joyous does this sweet gal look up there, y’all?! We wrapped up our hands-on sessions with one last breakout led by Laura. Her Intro to Modern Calligraphy mini-workshop gave us all a chance to try our hand (literally) at a new art form, one which she makes look so effortless. I loved that we all got an opportunity to kick back, have a little fun and unwind after a full day of speaker sessions with this one last activity.

I can’t lie or pretend like I wasn’t fighting back tears when I dismissed our incredible attendees with a few final words! Growing with these women, learning alongside them, being entrusted with their deepest struggles and getting to watch them grow during our time together humbled me to the core, friends. Words simply cannot express how transformational this experience was for me, as well as our attendees, speakers and team. There is something so beautiful about coming together for a time of productive rest, digging deep, and finding a tribe of likeminded women who believe in your big, scary dreams. We may not have everything in our lives or businesses all figured out, but that’s okay. Because together, we can join hands and encourage one another to a life well-lived as we try new things, learn from our mistakes, and grow.

It’s only fitting to finish out my reflection on our time together at the October illume retreat with gratitude, sweet friends.

To our attendees – Thank you. Truly. From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful that you chose to take a chance on this little retreat you’d never heard of before. I am so grateful that you came with open hearts and open minds, and so courageously allowed yourselves to be challenged. Thank you for doing the work, and for daring to ask yourselves what your lives could look like if you redefined your vision of success. Thank you for choosing to pursue heartfelt businesses instead of the easier alternative. I am humbled by your bravery and tenacity, and am truly honored to call each of you “friend.”

To our speakers + staff – Oh, ladies. I will never be able to thank you enough for believing in this crazy dream of mine. Thank you for answering the call to speak and to serve as posed through unexpected emails in your inboxes so many months ago. Thank you for giving of yourselves, your wisdom, time and talent. But most of all, thank you for truly loving our attendees. Each of you showed an incredible dedication to showing up and loving others well, through one-on-one conversations, simple acts of service, and thoughtful presentations. You are each a light in this world, and I will forever treasure this experience we got to share tucked away in the rolling Texas Hill Country.

The theme for our 2016 retreats is refine + simplify because I believe it’s time we got serious about cutting out the excess in your life and business, nixing the distractions, and instead getting to the heart of your best work. Our 2016 curriculum isn’t about teaching you more or adding additional tasks to your plate. Instead, it’s about helping you hone in on what matters most, what truly fires you up, and how you can implement thoughtful, strategic changes into your business that will help you create the life you’ve been longing for. For our entire team, the illume retreat experience exists to help you create a business that is truly life-giving, and offers you the opportunity to bless not only your clients, but also your families, through your work.

Registration for our three day, three night, all-inclusive retreat experience opens tomorrow morning at 9am CST. Our early bird rate of $3,300 lasts through December 18th, and seats are limited to just 15 in order to preserve the intimate nature of this retreat! For full details on what your all-inclusive registration includes, as well as our full speaker line up + content descriptions, head to our website. Registration is expected to sell out quickly, so don’t forget to set your alarm, friend! I so hope to see you there.

We are so grateful for the generosity of our Day Two sponsors! 

Day Two Gift Bags: Cultivated Heart, Herbivore Botanicals, Intentionally Designed, Paper & Oats, Sage Paper Co, Rifle Paper Co

Calligraphy Session: Paper & Honey, Paper & Ink Arts

Photography: Shalyn Nelson of Love, the Nelsons