• Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Collaborate
  • Blog
  • Parties
    • Children’s Parties Ideas
    • Holiday Parties
    • Adult Party Ideas
  • Holiday Ideas
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Fourth of July
    • Spring
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • Seasons
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
  • Project Gallery
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY
    • Good Ideas
    • Tutorials
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

  • Book
  • Speaking
  • Meet Vanessa
    • Featured

September 18, 2017

When You’re So Close to Amazing

We stood in the lobby of the hotel in downtown Atlanta anxiously waiting and watching for her to come through the sliding doors. We were pretty sure we knew what she looked like but it’s always so hard to tell when all you have to go on is a tiny profile photo.

And then, the doors opened and there she was. Sparkly flip-flops, flip-flopping as quickly as her tiny feet could go, blonde, curly hair bouncing and the unmistakeable red lipstick (actually I think it was more like hot pink that day but her claim to fame is her red lips so we’ll go with that).

She looked at us and said, “Heather? Vanessa? It’s you guys!” and we looked at her and said, “KariAnne? It’s YOU!” and we all hugged and laughed and squealed and anyone who was walking by would have assumed that this was a reunion of life-long friends rather than three bloggers meeting each other in person for the first time. We were all there for the very first Haven Blogging Conference. None of us really knew what we were doing or had ever attended something like this before and we took so much comfort in knowing that at least we had each other. We talked and dreamed and felt so normal being with people who really understood this crazy world of blogging.

Fast forward a few years, and we found ourselves staying in a gorgeous home on Tybee Island. It had been a very full day of activity and several of us were gathered together around the fireplace in the living room. We talked a little bit about blogging, but mostly we talked about life. And we realized that these relationships had transitioned so far beyond being just ‘blogging friendships’. These were tried and true, real-life friendships. That night, KariAnne and I talked about our love of words and our love of people and we cast vision and spoke of dreams that had somehow become not so far-fetched anymore. When I look back on that weekend, it is truly amazing to think about how far God has brought all of us.

That was the weekend Laura told us that she and her husband dreamed of making maple syrup.

That was the weekend Lucy gifted us all with beautiful necklaces from her incredible jewelry line.

That was the weekend Heather and I talked about what might happen if we ever got the opportunity to write a book together.

That was the weekend Jen shared with me her vision of hosting a conference for women.

And that was the weekend KariAnne shared a few of her own dreams with us.

And we’ve watched as one after the next, after the next has come true.

All of this was running through my mind as I sat down with a cup of coffee and my copy of her newly released first book ‘So Close to Amazing’.

As I turned each page, I felt like I was back at that beautiful cottage with KariAnne on Tybee Island. Laughing, crying, sharing big dreams, deep disappointments, embarrassments, successes.

Because, when you are so close to amazing, you live in a little bit of a tension. You may have grand ideas and big visions and lofty goals, but reality can so very quickly come knocking on your freshly painted, boxwood wreath covered front door.

You might move to a new state and throw a party in your home in an attempt to seemingly get to know your neighbors but in your heart what you are really wanting is for them to ohhhh and ahhhh over your decorations and your newly refinished dining table only to discover reality is right there knocking again.

“In that moment, I took a look at my own heart and found it wanting. All along I had been thinking an almighty God had called us to this place and this town at this time in our lives for the lessons we were going to teach. In reality, we were here for the lessons we were going to learn.” 

I think the thing that I love the most about ‘So Close to Amazing’, is that it speaks to that part of our soul that longs for the bright, beautiful things of this world and yet when reality brings us up short, we are reminded that perhaps we are intentionally kept ‘so close’ by a loving Heavenly Father who knows that the most amazing thing we can ever experience is His love and grace. It’s only in the being ‘so close’ that we can truly recognize our shortcomings and become aware of our need for Someone who will fill that gap.

So, for those of us who don’t want you to ever peek behind the pictures on our walls because you’ll see that there are a million holes behind them because we couldn’t get it ‘just right’, or who’ve walked out of a bathroom with toilet paper stuck to our shoe, or who’ve realized too late that you had lettuce stuck in your teeth, or who’ve dreamed dreams that never came true, or who’ve learned hard lessons from the disappointments in life….this is your book.

Because, we all know that being truly amazing is totally overrated anyway, right?

The real joy is found in the messes and the mistakes and the mishaps.

The real joy is found in the ‘so close’.

Learn where you can purchase ‘So Close to Amazing‘ and read the first chapter at

Thistlewood Farms!

And, as always, thank you for meeting me here at the fence today!

2 Comments Filed Under: Book Reviews, Good Ideas

Subscribe

Get the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

Previous Post: « The One Sure Way to Multiply Your Time
Next Post: Fall Decorating Home Tour with Shaw Floors »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. KariAnne says

    September 18, 2017 at 8:53 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing this friend! So thankful for you and your heart and the opportunity to grow our dreams together!

    Happy day!
    karianne

    Reply
    • Jen Schmidt says

      September 19, 2017 at 2:41 PM

      Can we go back to Tybee now? {Pretty please? Miss you all 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Search This Blog

Get the book!

Invite Vanessa to speak at your event!

Stay updated!

Must Reads

Recent Posts

  • Why We’ve Chosen Vacations Over Projects April 26, 2022
  • A New Look for the Family Room March 1, 2022
  • Christmas Kitchen and Family Room December 19, 2021
  • Christmas Home Tour Part One December 10, 2021
  • Easy Hot Cocoa Station November 21, 2021

Footer

Stay Connected!

Instagram

“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Psalm 9:10
This is one of my most favorite projects from my b This is one of my most favorite projects from my book Life in Season! 

Because, if heaven has a fragrance, I’m fairly certain it smells like lilacs.

I think that somewhere along the way the verse in the Bible that said, ‘heaven will smell like lilacs’ just got lost in translation. But it HAD to have been in there at some point, right?

When I bury my head in the blossoms (which I absolutely MUST do every single time I walk past them), I immediately feel a stirring in my soul.

It seems like I wait forever for my lilac tree to bloom. Every year I anxiously watch as the buds begin to form on the branches and then when the blossoms finally burst forth I begin that agonizing process of deciding the absolute perfect moment to snip them and bring them inside.

And then, after all of that waiting and watching it’s just over…done. Because, unlike heaven, lilacs don’t last for an eternity. So, making my own lilac room spray seemed like the perfect way to enjoy their fragrance long after the blossoms have faded.

Here’s how to make it! Ingredients: Water, Vodka, Lilac fragrance oil. Directions: Fill spray bottle with 50/50 ratio of water to vodka. Add 12 drops of lilac oil. Give it a shake, spray and if the scent isn’t strong enough, simply add a few more drops of lilac oil.

Once you’ve made this lilac scented room spray you will be very tempted to spray it in every room in your house. And someone may want to use it in the bathroom to cover up other less…ummmm….pleasing aromas.

But, do not, I repeat do NOT, let them.

You’ve captured the fragrance of heaven in a bottle and you wouldn’t want to go and tarnish it now would you? 😉
We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most We had two back to back days of sunshine (the most we’ve had in a LONG time) and now we are back to pouring rain. This has officially confirmed what I’ve know to be true for awhile now.

I’m a MUCH better version of myself when the sun is shining! 🤪 So I’ll just be over here today plotting and planning how my husband and I can be snowbirds someday when the kids are out of the house.

If you could spend your winters (and apparently most of spring too!) in any part of the country, where would it be?
Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of Happy weekend sweet friends!! We’ve had a LOT of rain lately (which is saying something when you live in Oregon) and I’ll admit that it’s affecting my moods a bit. I feel like I’m dragging and struggling to find the energy to get stuff done. So don’t mind me if I’m over here looking at photos of my garden in the summertime and finding that it keeps me hopeful about those days to come. They will come, right?! 🤪. 

What are your favorite plants that you look forward to seeing in the summer?
We’re going to be giving our laundry room a make We’re going to be giving our laundry room a makeover soon. It’s LONG overdue! In fact, the folks from the counter company were just here taking measurements. While we have made some simple, inexpensive updates over the years, it still has many of the original elements from when the house was built in 1992.

Two of our bathrooms are also in need of major makeovers. And we’ve saved up enough money over the years to tackle those projects. But, for the most part, we made the decision to use the bulk of that money in another way. While we knew that it was financially wise to invest in our house, we also knew that the greatest investment we could make was in our children. 

I’ll admit, there are times where I see other people doing massive overhauls of their entire home in a matter of months and I feel a prick of envy. But, we decided that if our choice was between waiting a bit longer to enjoy a renovated bathroom or going on adventures as a family, we would choose adventures every time. And we don’t regret that decision for a single second. It’s not that we haven’t tackled home projects (we’ve done a lot!). It’s just that it’s been a slow and steady process. 

Most recently, we let our son pick where we would travel for spring break since this is his senior year of high school and we are trying to make up for lost time. With so much of life ‘paused’ for two years, we have appreciated these moments more than ever. And, since he’ll be heading to college in the fall, we are very aware of how important it is to spend this time together while we still have a modicum of control over everyone’s schedules.

We have many years left to remodel our home but only so much time left to make memories with our children.

And, while I’m always happy to look around my home and see rooms that are updated and more reflecting of our style, it doesn’t compare to the joy I feel when I look around my home and see the people I love the most who have been shaped by the many adventures we’ve experienced together.
Happy Saturday!! After endless days of rain (and h Happy Saturday!! After endless days of rain (and hail and snow) we are finally getting some sunshine and warmer temperatures. I’ll be honest, it’s really affected my spirits having one gloomy day after the next. So this is a much needed reprieve. Our cherry trees are showing off outside my kitchen window and we plan to get outside and make the most of these days while we have them.

What’s the weather like where you are?
“The devil, darkness, and death may swagger and “The devil, darkness, and death may swagger and boast, the pangs of life will sting for a while longer, but don’t worry; the forces of evil are breathing their last. Not to worry…HE’S RISEN!” (Charles R. Swindoll).

Happy Easter! He is risen indeed!
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; he has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried; yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 

But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. (Isaiah 53)
I try to always remember to put a water bottle in I try to always remember to put a water bottle in my car before I go to pick up my daughter from school. She didn't ask me to do this, but a few months ago I began to notice that she was often thirsty when she would get in the car. Her water bottle filled up at the beginning of the day was empty by the time school got out and she would ask if she could have some water from my hydroflask. So I make sure to have one waiting for her. It's just a simple thing, really. But, I want her to know that I'm paying attention, that I see her.

Isn't it amazing how small gestures can make us feel less invisible? Knowing that someone is thinking of us and takes the time to meet a need that we might not have even realized we had? These little acts can have big impacts. What is something that someone has done for you recently that made you feel valued and seen?

What have you done for someone else to remind them that you are paying attention to their needs?

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
― Charles Dickens
“The next day the large crowd that had come to t “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ – John 12:9-19
#palmsunday
Load More... Follow
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2022 At The Picket Fence