(Photo by Vien Rogue Photography)

“This is the true story… of seven strangers… picked to live in a house…” Haha!

A few weeks ago, I went to Sonoma, California for a retreat with female entrepreneurs around the world. Phoebe Mroczek, co-host of The Mind Your Business Podcast, put together the event and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever attended! The group was intentionally kept very small and goals included self reflection, business planning and getting to know each other on a deeper level. When I heard about the event on her podcast and saw it was by application only, I was super intrigued! I’ve been listening to Phoebe twice a week for about a year now and I love her outlook on life. I knew she’d bring together some amazing women with open minds and open hearts! The ladies (Jenna, Cat, Beth, Phoebe and Jess) hailed from San Diego, London, Colorado and Portland. Cat flew in from London and rode with me for the 1.5 hour drive from San Fran airport to the bed and breakfast. We had never spoken before so the trip kicked off like an episode of the Real World haha! She was so sweet!

It was a new and fun experience for me because none of these ladies work in the wedding industry. We all connected as women and as entrepreneurs… even in various industries and in various stages of business. The first day we focused on personal and the second day we focused on business. These are some SERIOUS #bossladies. I can’t even explain how much I’ve learned from each and every one of them. In between all of the planning, we hit a few wineries and stayed up late just talking about life. I had a few ugly cries. It felt SO good haha!

Here are just a few takeaways from my time in Sonoma:

• I need to celebrate myself more often. I absolutely love what I do and love that I get to do this as my full-time career! But sometimes I get so bogged down with work, being a mom, wife and so on that I don’t really take it all in. I am proud of myself and I need to start telling myself that! It’s okay to take a day (even a few days) to “Treat Yo Self” (Parks and Recreation reference haha)! A morning complete with a massage, pedicure and movie alllllll by myself is scheduled and I can NOT wait.
• I really, really enjoy smaller in-person events/workshops/retreats/etc. that are focused on actionable strategies or just something tangible you can walk away with. This is also why I loved the GoLive workshop (walked away with a new website and the knowledge to manage the new platform)! These ladies helped me to flesh out ideas to pair that with my love of marketing. Blogging, SEO, Google Analytics, social media (including good ole FB ads) are all my jam, ya’ll. That being said, I’m putting a small, in-person event together in January that I’ll be announcing in two weeks! If you’re a wedding entrepreneur and would like to be the first to know, join my email community here!
• I prefer white wine over red, haha! I posted a photo on Instagram before the trip asking for wine recommendations (since I was going to wine country) and the commentary was amazing & hilarious! A huge thanks to everyone who commented. I found a few favorites while wine tasting!
• I’m really excited for 2017! There are so many fun things in store and it feels so refreshing to have a plan in place. But I’ll save the details for another blog post 🙂

On to the pictures! I didn’t take very many and I’m happy about that. I tried to be very in the moment. Very present. It was amazing. Phoebe, thank you for choosing me to join such a fun group in a beautiful city. I will always remember my Sonoma experience! <3

Here’s the Bed & Breakfast we stayed in. We all had our own rooms and bathrooms and it was so quaint!

The view I woke up to every morning right outside my window. Surreal.

The venue had another small house behind it and that’s where we did all of our business planning and self reflecting!

Phoebe is a fan of organized fun (girl after my own heart) so of course there was a scavenger hunt around the property! It was the perfect ice breaker on the first day.

She wrote each of us a personal letter and set them in our rooms! <3

Pizza and wine. Does it get any better?

I snapped this on our walk from the bed & breakfast to the wineries. I highly recommend putting Sonoma, California on your travel list, friends!

And again, if you’d like receive the first announcement about my January event, please join my email list for wedding entrepreneurs! My marketing brain is on fire during the off season and in addition to the announcement, I’ll be delivering tips and strategies to your inbox. Join at the link below! <3