The Inn at Christmas Place

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

Snow was falling softly, but quickly from the darkened night sky above. Sounds were muffled from the streets below as people hurried home to their warm beds. An orange glow filled the night sky, and everything was peaceful. Inside, a Christmas movie playing, and Christmas lights blinking. It was peaceful, and magical.

It would sound like Christmas was here, but in fact, this scene was set last week, in February. Zach and I found ourselves completely in raptures during our adventure to a new to us town, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Our destination, the Inn at Christmas Place. Where the spirit of Christmas is held all year round!

For those of you who know us, you know we love Christmas. It is our absolute most favorite time of year. We may have put up our tree right after Halloween last year. And we got married around Christmas! It is a special time of year that we love to spend time with friends and family and spread joy and cheer.

So when we found out about the Inn at Christmas Place, we knew we had to visit. And finally, our time came to have a weekend getaway at the Inn! We booked our two nights, and drove up early (read er arrived at 3am) to Pigeon Forge because we knew snow was coming the next day.

The Inn at Christmas Place was everything we expected and so much more. From first glance to when we drove off, it was an exceptional experience, and I just had to share it with you all!

Christmas Place is a beautiful hotel, and reminds me of a Bavarian building, all decked out in Christmas lights, wreaths, garlands and bows. And of course, it was even more picturesque because snow was on the roof and ground!

The customer service at the Inn is second to none. When we walked in, we were greeted by some really friendly doormen, and then checked in to our room. We were even given some ornaments since it was our first time at the Inn! We were also informed at every night they put out fresh, homemade cookies for free for the guests. Yes, please!

Walking through the hotel to our room we were taking in every detail. Christmas paintings and art, every floor with a themed center desk at the opening of the elevator, there is even a Charlie Brown Christmas themed area playing the movie all day long!

If we thought everything was amazing to that point, our breath was taken away opening the door to our room. We had a mini kitchen area, cabinets, a spacious, clean bathroom with granite countertops. The beds were decked with a lucious red cover and fluffly white pillows. The TV armiorre was topped with a mino Christmas tree, and the walls adorned with winter paintings.

We were blown away. Never have I ever been to such a unique and special hotel!

Our stay only continued to get better as we took morning dips in the pool and hot tub. We also watched the snow fall from the indoor hot tub! We definitely enjoyed our nightly cookies, an incredible hot breakfast included in the mornings, and to top it all off, time with singing Santa on Thursday night!

If you love Christmas, and especially if you love near Tennessee, the Inn at Christmas place is absolutely worth your visit. The customer service that we received alone was well worth our stay. In our culture these days, you don't always find such great service. But the Inn went the extra mile to make sure our stay was incredible, and boy was it!

We will absolutely be back to visit the Inn at Christmas Place.

Some fun places to visit around the Inn:
-The Christmas Place store! Across from the Inn is a huge, amazing Christmas store! Well worth the visit, even if just to look.
-The Old Mill- a working mill from the 1800's, complete with fun country store and restaurant! Very picturesque.
-The Island- an upbeat section of town with some arcades and even a ferris wheel!
-Smokey Mountain National Park is less than ten miles away! A beautiful place for sure.
-Blue Moose Burger and Wings. Zach and I ate here and it was so good! A sports bar and grill feel, but they have some incredible burgers!

Pigeon Forge itself has lots of dinner and theater shows, Dollywood, and lots of fun seasonal outdoor race tracks, putt putt places, and the like!

So if you are near the area and looking for a fun quick getaway, Zach and I can highly recommend the Inn at Christmas Place!

Who else loves Christmas? 

Creative Valentine's Date Ideas

Every year Valentine's day comes with more filly cards, more hearts, and more candy than I remember from the year before. Seriously, how did this holiday get so big that it's put out literally the week after Christmas? I'm not sure. But, here we are, less than a week away from the holiday of love.

One thing you must know about me is I love to celebrate. I love cooking dinners for special occasions, getting dressed up for no reason, making home made gifts, and creating fun events to celebrate the people I love. But the way that Valentine's Day is traditionally run, does not get my creative motor running.

Sure, flowers are beautiful. Candy is nice. Chocolate, even better.

But seriously, that's all we can think of to celebrate love? Buy flowers and candy and go out to dinner at way too overcrowded restaurants and come home exhausted? That's not particularly my idea of a night of a fun celebration of love.

So, I'm sharing some ideas that I think would be fabulous Valentine's Day dates that get out of the box and let you have some great fun together. Of course you can go the traditional route, and that's fine, but here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

1. Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt. Whether you, your honey, or both of you plan one for each other, think of a Valentine's Day scavenger hunt you can do together! Have it take you to some places that mean a lot to you, or you can even do it around your house and have it lead to your present for your special honey. Make a day of it and have fun!

2. Cook a gourmet dinner together. This is a lot of fun. Seriously. Grab a recipe you both want to try, go out and shop for the freshest ingredients together, grab a bottle of wine, some candles, and go home and get to cooking! Put on your aprons, cook, and then go get fancied up and set up a candle light dinner and enjoy your creation!

3. Valentine's Game Day. No, I don't mean football. Get your favorite board game or card game, or pick up a fun new one together. Turn up the heat and set some stakes for the one who wins! You could also get some ingredients to cook your own personal pizzas to have during your game day!

4. Have a Valentine's Day on a different day. This is actually what Zach and I are doing, because he works on actual Valentine's day! The perks to this, things are less crowded, and you get better prices! You could even have a mid week Valentine's Day this year, and grab a room at a hotel for the night, order room service, and just be with each other! Check Groupon for local last minute deals, too!

5. Instead of trinkets for gifts, write each other love letters. This is also something we are doing this year. We are both writing each other love letters! Words of affirmation are both in our top love language, so those written words are cherished forever and mean so much. You could give them to each other over your home made dinner!

6. Chopped Inspired Dinner Date.  Also another thing Zach and I are doing! Inspired by the TV show Chopped, we are creating our four course dinner together, but with a fun flair. Zach is picking out ingredients for me to create an appetizer, and I am picking out ingredients for him to create dessert! We have a set dinner menu, and a cheese board before, but it's time to get creative for the appetizer and dessert!

7. Breakfast in Bed Valentine's Day.  Start off your Valentine's with a bang. Go all out for breakfast and prepare breakfast in bed either together, or for your honey. Do the works! French toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, eggs benedict, whatever you like! Bring it in on a tray for the two of you to share, and you could even snuggle in bed and watch a movie in the morning after you enjoy breakfast!

8. Valentine's Camping. Now hear me out, because some of you may live in a cold place! But if you have a small enough tent, set it up in your living room (or your bedroom if you have kids), or make your own blanket fort. Deck it out with twinkling Christmas lights for ambiance, put down an air mattress or lots of blankets and sleeping bags. If you have a fire place, cook s'mores! Just have fun and be together.

There you have it, eight simple, low cost ways to dazzle your special someone for Valentine's Day. Just because everyone else is doing flowers and candy doesn't mean you can't think outside the box! Get out of your routine, shake things up and have some fun this year and actually celebrate love and the one you love instead of going through the motions.

What's been one creative Valentine's Day date you have seen? I always love new ideas!

2015 "Dream Big 15"

"If you aim for nothing you will hit it every time." Zig Ziglar coined some wise words when he spoke this phrase, and it's one that I believe to be very true. For the past few years, and especially in the last year, I have grown to love the concept of setting goals and dreams.

Not only is it fun for me to pray about and dream about the places that I am called to go, and set goals for the things I am called to do, but it gives me direction. Without the goals, sure, I have ideas floating around of things I want to do. But I am a visual person, and I need a concrete list in front of me to remind me of the direction I am headed in.

I heard recently in a personal development call for my coaching that to thrive, you need to set at least three goals, and to really triumph, you need to set 12. Well, considering it's 2015 this year, and that's only three away from 15, I decided to make this year's goals my "Dream Big 15."

Fifteen goals and dreams that I am actively working to achieve and make happen. There are a mix of personal, relational, financial, health and work goals in this list of 15. And honestly, I have a few more than 15 goals, and have written those down into four categories (spiritual growth goals, marriage, personal, and business) and hang those on my fridge.

But I wanted to take a minute today and share my "Dream Big 15" with you in hope that it encourages YOU to write your own goals. Give yourself direction this year, I promise, it is worth it. Even if you do not achieve all of your goals this year, you are moving in a direction and can check your progress along the way.

My Dream Big 15

1. Help 60 people on their health and fitness journey.
2. Take two vacations with my sweet husband.
3. Save up for a down payment on a house.
4. Pay off two of our credit cards (working towards that debt free, baby!)
5. Lose 100 pounds and wear my special dress for our anniversary at the end of this year.
6. Read 12 books (at least).
7. Build an emergency fund of $1,000 (Anyone else done Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University? Seriously so good, and this is one of his first tips to financial freedom.)
8. Do at least one "Pay It Forward" outreach.
9. Create community by getting involved in a small group and host monthly gatherings for ladies at our home that foster spiritual growth.
10. Achieve the leadership position of two star diamond in my business by my birthday in May.
11. Achieve the leadership position of five star diamond in my business by Christmas.
12. Become a full time coach!
13. Hike Blood Mountain in north Georgia with Zach.
14. Go camping with my hubby!
15. Have one "intentional day" each month in our marriage. This is where one person picks something that both of us do together that we might not normally do together, but it helps us connect with each other on what the other likes.

There's my Dream Big 15 list for 2015! I am honestly really excited about this list of goals, as well as the other goals that I have set for myself and that we have set for our marriage this year. Something that the Lord has been laying on my heart for this year is "Excellence."

Excellence in everything that I do, in every area of life. Spiritually, relationally, in work, in business, in day to day interactions, in chores around the house, literally everything. So I am ready to put my all into this list of dreams and goals this year and see what God has in store.

If I don't achieve them all I won't be an utter failure, but I know what direction I am going in and I am giving this my heart and am working towards hitting each of these goals! What are some of your goals for this new year? I would love to hear your dreams and goals!

12 Days of Christmas Fitness - Day 8

EIGHT Glasses of Water.

Stay hydrated during the holidays! Getting the proper amount of water every day is important no matter what time of year it is, but around the holidays it can make an even bigger impact!

Aim to drink at least eight eight ounce glasses of water every single day, and that’s the bare minimum. Generally you want to drink half of your body weight in ounces every single day. So it could be less, depending on your weight, but eight glasses is a good amount!

To help get your recommended amount of water in every day, drink a full glass of water when you wake up, a full glass of water before every meal, and a glass with every meal. This will help keep you full, keep you hydrated, and give you energy too!

I’m pretty sure we can all use more energy around Christmas time, so drink up on that water!

How many glasses of water are you going to drink today?

12 Days of Christmas Fitness - Day 7

SEVEN hours of sleep a night.

I don’t think I have to tell you just how important a good night’s sleep is. Sometimes it just isn’t possible to get your full seven hours, but at least make it a point to carve out that time and attempt to get a good night’s rest every night.

Turn off your phones, computers and other screens and hour before bed time and get your body prepared rest! Take a bath with lavender essential oil diluted in the warm water, or drink a cup of chamomile tea to calm you down from the day.

Create a warm, cozy space for you to sink into at the end of the night and sleep away the stress of the day! Not only will a good night’s sleep help you feel better, but it aids in weight loss, your energy throughout the day, and keeps your body working at it’s full potential!

How much sleep do you normally get per night?

12 Days of Christmas Fitness - Day 6

SIX small meals a day.

Spread your eating out throughout the day! Like I suggested earlier on day three, bring three small snacks with you on the go so you have healthy options. Along with that, plan out your other three meals for the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so that you can make healthy choices!

If you are going to a Christmas party, eat some veggies and protein before you go so you don’t arrive starving. Drink a full glass of water with each meal to keep your body hydrated and your metabolism revving throughout the day!

Spreading out your meals will help you maintain your energy and help you keep your body balanced, especially as you go throughout your busy shopping, work and errands that you have to get done!

Which meal is your favorite meal of the day?

12 Days of Christmas Fitness - Day 5

(Zoodles...AKA zucchini noodles are a fantastic way to get a veggie serving in!)

FIVE servings of fruit and veggies every day.

Just because you are enjoying some yummy holiday foods and maybe even some cheat meals doesn’t mean you can’t stay on track with getting the nutrients in your body that you need!

I challenge you to focus on getting at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day this month! Aim for at least 3 servings of veggies, and 2 servings of fruit. Getting the dense nutrition from fruits and vegetables will keep you full, give you energy and make sure that you are staying on track with your health during the holidays!

Looking for some easy ways to get a lot of your servings of fruit and veggies in at once? Make a smoothie! Throw a cup of spinach or kale in your smoothie with your choice of fruit, add some water, ice, and you could even add some Greek yogurt in! Blend it up, and enjoy some super nutrition that your body craves, especially this time of year!

What’s your favorite fruit and vegetable?