As many of your know, I’ve had a rough start to 2019. Just a lot of crap on my plate – all at once. It kind of feels like the hits just keep coming, and the latest is my health (or lack of). Anyways, I consider January a wash and February is the new New Year, as far as I’m concerned.

So, I was chatting with MJ of There’s Good in Store recently (actually we text daily), and she mentioned wanting to dream a little louder. I think a big part of being a human is having hopes and dreams. But, too often, we don’t see those dreams through, they just get stuck at the “idea” stage. And the hardest step can be saying those dreams out loud, so that the world hears what we want and what we are working towards. When you Dream Louder, there’s the risk of folks seeing you fail in the pursuit of that dream. But, on the flip side, there is also so much potential for folks to join you on a journey to success, to find courage in your vulnerability, or even help/assist you in making that dream a reality for you.

Instead of bottling up our dreams and holding onto them for a rainy day, we have chosen to Dream Louder and yesterday we got on IG Live and shared our 3 biggest dreams. (If you missed it, don’t worry, I’m going to share my dreams here as well.)

Yikes! I’m not going to lie, it was scary to say them out loud. MJ said she had a “vulnerability hangover” after sharing. And I have to agree, it feels like I said too much and a part of me wondered if there were folks out there listening and thinking I was CRAZY. Maybe they think I’m totally not skilled, equipped, or gifted to pull off these dreams. But, the other part of me was EXCITED and MOTIVATED! I actually got to work right away and spent a couple hours tweeking my book outline and testing a recipe (keep reading to hear more about this dream). The accountability aspect of sharing a dream out loud is so so so good.

Ok, so if you missed the IG Live, here’s my top 3 dreams (in no specific order):

1. Oleander + Palm Product Line – I want make and sell a product line. It will be a home goods line and I will start with an online shop. I think it will have seasonal launches with a limited run of the items. All the items for a launch will have a central theme tying them together. Some of the goods would be handmade by me or a collaboration with another maker and some items might be more of a curation of items I love and use.
2. Write a Camping Cookbook – I love to camp and I love cooking while I’m camping. I know there are other books out there, but I think I can bring something unique to the table. I have an outline already written and I’ve starting compiling some of my favorite recipes. I want this book to be a handbook of sorts for every level of camper – from the experienced backcountry camper to the first time car camper with a giant air mattress. I’d like to shoot all the images for the book as well. This is a huge undertaking, but I think it could be a really great challenge for me.
3. Go on a Fully Sponsored Trip – This is a very blog related dream. But, I LOVE to travel and I think I’m pretty good at it. I see other bloggers taking trips and creating content in exchange for that trip and I think, “I could do that really well!”. So, I will be actively seeking out and pitching airlines, hotels, cruises, and travel bureaus around the world this year. And before I do that, I’m going to make sure to update the TRAVEL section of my blog to serve as a portfolio. First up, our trip to ICELAND! I have so many amazing images and even video content – I just haven’t found the time to put it all together into a blog post of 2.

Well, there it is…. and time is ticking. 2019 – I’ve got big DREAMS for you!

I’d love to hear you Dream Louder, if you’d like to share on Instagram please use our hashtag, #dreamlouder3 so we can see your dreams and share them as well.