How To Make Your Dreams A Reality

How To is a feature on Between Dreams to publicly celebrate other women's strengths and triumphs as they've broken out of their comfort zones, tested their limits, and set out to live their truest desires. It's a snapshot of their incredible stories and lives. My intention is that these stories, bits of advice, and words inspire you to live out your dreams, as we were all meant to.

Passionate. Kind. Creative. Risk-taker. An artist. Designer. Decorater. Business Owner. Blogger. Lover of all things beautiful. Jenny of Maiedae embodies of all these things, and does so with fire and spunk. As she recently made the leap of quitting her 9-5 job to go full-time with her business partner at Maiedae, a company designed for individuals looking to spruce up their blog design, business identity, or website. Jenny has stretched so far out of her comfort zone, that there are no limits anymore.

Let this gorgeous soul inspire you as she dives into what worked for her and made her dreams the reality she's living each and every day.

Hello beautiful readers! I'm Jenny Highsmith, of Maiedae, and I'm so happy to be doing a guest post for Allie! When she asked me to do a post on “How to Make Your Dreams a Reality”, I was thrilled. A while ago, I shared on my blog the exciting news about how I recently quit my 9-5 job (woohoo!!) and went full-time with Maiedae. I am so so so excited and happy to finally be taking this risk. You can read more about that story on my blog here.

For those who don’t want to read the whole story, pretty much what you need to know is that I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’m a graphic designer and an artist – I love making things beautiful. But, I realized as I grew up that making your dreams happen wasn’t the way the movies made it out to be. It wasn’t easy.

Allie made a good point that many people would follow their dreams if they only knew how. So, how does one follow their dreams? I’m definitely no expert, but if I were to break down what I’ve learned on my journey of following my dreams, I would give these four pieces of advice:

1. FOCUS

We all have dreams, passions, and talents.  From the time we are really little all the way through our life, we have dreams. About our future, about what we want to be, about our passions. The thing is, our dreams constantly change and sometimes we have so many we don’t know where to start. Sometimes, we have dreams and we aren’t gifted or talented at all in that area. So, the first step is, to focus or narrow down your top dreams and passions and figure out where your talents line up with that.

To do this, I would suggest taking some time to get away, take some alone time, and write out all of your passions, talents, and dreams. Look for common themes. And, at the end of the day, look inside your heart and decide what really “gets you going.” For me, I’m passionate about art, hospitality, family, building relationships, bringing others joy, and a lot of other things. But, when I thought about the day-to-day, what really satisfies my soul is creating beautiful designs or art for others in order to help them pursue their passions and fulfill their potential. I love enabling others to accomplish their dreams by making things beautiful. And although I might be passionate about those other things, this is what I chose to focus on and pursue as my “career” dream.

2. PLAN & PREPARE

Although risk is required in almost every case of pursuing your dreams, planning and preparing for those risks is just as important. You might think, “Then how is it a risk if you’ve prepared for it?” Well, if you’re deciding to quit your 9-5 job like I am and decrease your salary by half, that’s a huge risk. Not planning or preparing financially for that risk would be unwise, but doing so doesn’t make it less of a risk – it just makes you smart.

When I realized that I wanted to pursue Maiedae full time as a career, I took a risk and moved to Atlanta with little preparation. I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have a support group, and I didn’t have a huge savings account. I couldn’t prepare for some of those things, but I could have prepared more than I did. So, when I realized that it was time to start thinking about preparing for going full-time with Maiedae, I sat down with my husband and we starting planning out financially how we could best prepare for this transition. We set goals for our savings account and started living off of the new budget that I would be on with Maiedae to practice and see how it would work. We prepared and planned and took “calculated risk.”

3. STOP DREAMING & START DOING

Whoever said that dreams come easy was LYING to everyone and should be shunned. Okay, maybe not. I think maybe it’s just that, as a child, we all look through life’s window with our eyes glazed over with possibility. We think we are invincible and that life will be so good to us. Then we grow up. We realize that life is tough. And one day we look back and wonder how we got where we are now.

I’m here to tell you that I felt the same way. I realized at the beginning of college that my dreams of being an entrepreneur had little chance of ever happening. I felt discouraged and lost. And I realized I was not on a path towards real purpose for my life.  Shortly after, I learned a very important lesson:

There comes a point where you have to stop dreaming, planning, and preparing and just start going for it. You have to stop saying, “One day I’d love to…” or “What if…” or “I just can’t…” and just start trying.

I didn’t know that I could actually accomplish my dreams until I started actually doing them. Once I started, it gave me hope and stirred my passion even more. And I realized that I COULD do whatever I put my mind to. All it takes is courage and action.

4. MAKE SACRIFICES

Actually moving from “dreaming” to “doing” is the first big hurdle to jump over. The second is when you realize that “doing” means a lot of hard work, long hours, making sacrifices, being consistent and persistent, and keeping yourself inspired and on task. Savannah and I started Maiedae almost 3 years ago. And for the past 3 years, I’ve worked a 9-5 job, then come home and worked every night (except Wednesday which is date night for my husband and I) and most weekends. Am I exhausted? Y-E-S. But pursuing your dreams requires a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

I joke around a lot that I’ve give up my social life along with many other hobbies for Maiedae. And, although that’s true for the most part, I know that it will pay off. And it’s a decision that had to be made. Figure out what sacrifices you have to make to make your dreams happen and ask yourself if you are willing to follow through with them.

I'd love to hear any advice you have on making your dreams a reality! Feel free to leave a comment below or email me at jenny@maiedae.com. Thank you again for having me here! Check out my blog sometime - Jenny Highsmith - for more Things I've Learned, Fashion, DIY Projects, and other fun tidbits!

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Be The Best You

Let's start this off with a bang: The cold hard truth is that we are the only ones standing in our own way. If we want to become the best version of ourselves - overflowing with creativity, abundance, fiery passion, love that makes your soul sing, and topped to the brim with happiness - there's a few things we need to do first...

I'm so thrilled to announce that I'm taking over Ashley's blog on this fine Friday morning. (What an incredible week it's been!) To find out the goods, head over to The Shine Project to read the rest!

Here's to a phenomenal and inspiring weekend! Tomorrow my friends are kidnapping me for my bachelorette party. Not having a clue what's going on is both overwhelmingly exciting and has me in a ball of nerves. I can't wait!

P.S. If you want to inject more truth into your day, feast your eyes on How To Follow Your Dreams, if you missed it. (Trust me, you won't want to miss it!)

How To Follow Your Dreams

Today I have something incredible in store for you! It's all about following your dreams. You've already figured out what your purpose is, so now we're gonna arm you with the how. (Get excited!)

I'm incredibly honoured to have Jenni from Story of My Life here today to tell you all about it! This is a girl whose blog has grown exponentially with her charm, wit, and sheer dedication. If you've been following along in her journey, you've witnessed the raw talent she has as a photographer as her business, J. Noel Photography, begins to flourish. This girl's got grit!

As someone who's in the thick of this following your dreams bit, Jenni has been an inspiration to me, and now she's here today, dishing out the straight-up honest truth about what she's learned in her own life.

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Allie asked me to write a bit about following your dreams, I suppose because she thinks I'm good at it. I don't know how good at it I really am (most of the time I feel like I'm just stumbling along, following a little glimmer of hope and light I see off in the distance and believing it will pay off in a big way for me someday), but I'll happily share what I've learned along my journey so far. This is my truth.

1. Dream following has to start with an intense passion and a natural aptitude. Weirdly enough, that intense passion and natural aptitude, for me, was blogging. I've had this passion for years now, even a couple years before I actually started my current blog. I followed it, that thing that made me super happy and fulfilled me and that I was good at, and I poured countless hours of my life into it on the simple faith that doing something I loved this much could only lead to amazing things. And it has. It absolutely has. The story definitely isn't over yet, but I know today I have done the right thing.

The natural aptitude thing is so important too, though. When I was a kid, I used to want to be a famous singer when I grew up. Thank God my dad told me you have to have talent to be a famous singer, because who knows, I might have wasted years of my life on voice lessons and American Idol auditions and still had no natural aptitude. My point is, don't waste your life following a dream you think you should have, or a dream you have no skill for. Follow where your heart and your head and your God-given talents lead you. They don't lead you wrong.

2. Dream following is a flexible thing. Sometimes one dream leads you to another. Taking that first step of blind faith can be hard. In my case, I decided to pretty much be a full time blogger in lieu of getting a "real" job, even though I knew that it would probably be many years before I made even as much as I could make waiting tables at a busy restaurant. But I followed my passion and my aptitude, and my blogging gig has lead me to this other, beautiful passion for photography, which is turning out to be potentially much more profitable. Taking steps in a positive direction, following a glimmer of hope and a glimpse of a dream, opens the doors for things you never even knew you loved or were good at. It's a way cool thing.

3. Understand the gap. Own it.

4. Dream following is accomplished in the day-in and day-out, getting your hands dirty, doing the hard things other people won't. It is accomplished in the present moment. Never in the future. It is accomplished in the decision you make right now. To get your business cards designed instead of reading blogs. To sacrifice lunch dates to pay for your website design. To get up at 6:30 AM instead of 8:30, because you know you do your best work in the morning, if you can just get yourself out of bed. To make goals and ways to constantly remind yourself of them. To wake up even earlier to have time to mediate on those goals. To involve other people - to let all your friends and family know about your goals and how they can help you achieve them, even it just means understanding that you'll be poor for a year while you get your business off the ground.

All of this "in the present" work will look different for everyone. But this is the hardest lesson of all. FOLLOWING YOUR DREAMS IS SOMETIMES HARD WORK. Work that isn't fun. It isn't miserable, because you know it's contributing to and part of your dream, but it IS hard. That's what separates the successes from the failures. Willingness to do what others won't or can't. Willingness to train yourself where you are weak, to be different and be strong. In my case, I suffer terribly with FOCUS. I could have three times as much done for my blog and my photography business right now if I could just stay focused and not waste time throughout the day. So I am retraining myself, slowly but surely, to be focused. Some methods have worked, some haven't. For me, this is where the hardest work comes in. For you, it might be something different. But you can do it.

That's my best advice for now. :) Come visit me over at Story of My Life or j. noel photography anytime. Thanks for having me Allie, and thanks to YOU for reading!

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A Day In My Life

Good Morning, friends! And a happy Saturday to you! 

I have a special treat in store for you today... I'm showing you what a day in my life would be like over at The Tape Diaries! From what time I decide to roll on out of bed on the weekends, exploring this wonderful city I live in, and even a peek into the party animals Sebastian and I turn into on Saturday nights. ;) 

Enjoy! And be sure to check back for more "Day In The Life" posts. All I can say is that Nicole will have some pretty wonderful people making an appearance over the next couple of weeks. xo

Top 10 Things For Summer

hi there, I'm allison from note to self . So excited to do a little guest post for paper notes!

A little bit about me: I'm majoring in graphic design, I live in the tiniest (but cutest) little town in southeastern Idaho, I listen to way too much Radiohead, and I have a huge weakness for hedgehogs (it's kind of ridiculous). I'm currently obsessing over summer... here's my top ten I can't wait for:

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Thank you so much, Allison! And with less than a week away until the official day of summer... I can't wait!!! Make sure to visit Allison for more fabulous reads like this one over at her blog. You'll be hooked. (And it probably helps that we have the same name and all:)

What are your top things for summer?

P.S. If you've missed any of the guest posts this week, don't worry! They can all be found here. Tune in next week for even more fabulous posts - you won't want to miss it!

How To Brighten Up Your Space

Hello hello!

My name is Aude, from heodeza, and I’m delighted to be guest blogging for Allie while she’s travelling around the globe.

I've put together a small paper garland tutorial for you today with touches of neon because, well, I can't seem to get enough of it lately!

The other day I came across a craft puncher I had never seen before: a button-hole punch. It makes two cute little wholes which make it super easy to thread pieces of paper together. It’s perfect to make a garland without any glue or a sewing machine (so far I had always used either one method or the other when making my garlands).

Wanna see how I did it?

Let me show you!

Here is what you’ll need:

• card paper (white and neon yellow)
• strong thread
• needle
• different round(ish) paper punchers (I used a small round one, a scalloped circle and an asterisk-shaped one)
• button-hole paper puncher (if you don't have one I guess you could also just poke your paper with a thick needle but it probably won't look as neat)

Start by punching the small button holes, making sure there is enough space in between them to later cut the circles.

• Use the different round-ish craft punchers to cut the shapes out. Make sure to aim so that the button holes are nicely in the center.

Once you’ve prepared lots of paper ‘buttons’, cut a thread slightly longer than the length you want your garland to have in the end. Thread the needle and go through your first paper button’s holes. In order to secure the button in one place (so that the final product is evenly spread out and so that the buttons don’t move around all the time), follow these three very simple steps:

• Choose the place on the thread where your button should be and hold it there.
• Pass the needle through the first and second hole again.
• Pull the whole thread through.

That's it!

Just repeat this over and over again all the way until you have a bright garland that you can hang somewhere pretty and admire all summer!

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Thank you for this fantastic tutorial, Aude! Wouldn't this be so lovely to use for a party? You could incorporate this at a baby shower, engagement party, birthdays... or just to add a little extra spice in your home! It's super versatile. I can't wait to try it out for myself!

Aude's blog, heodeza, is packed full of many more do-it-yourself tutorial's like this one. Her creativity and eye for design is a huge source of inspiration, so head on over to see more for yourself!

The Master Cleanse

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to willingly stop eating food for days at a time? If you're like me, such a crazy thought has never even entered your mind. And if it has - it's quickly brushed off to the side.

You may or may not be familiar with my boyfriend, Sebastian, who I've mentioned many times in past posts. For those of you who don't know, Sebastian is the type of person who is always thinking out of the box, he can whip up a gourmet meal in no time, and has a passion for things with two wheels. He's an adrenaline-junkie who designs bicycles for a living.

And today, he's going to tell you about his experience with the Master Cleanse. (Make note that he tried to convince me to hop on board with this idea, and I quickly turned him down. My justification? "You do not want to live in this little apartment with me if I haven't eaten food. Trust me.")

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I have jumped out of a plane from 5500ft, bungee jumped from 200ft, and travelled at 275 km/h on my motorcycle, yet none of these experiences compare to how difficult and challenging the Master Cleanse was...