Living Your Dreams

Have you ever had a dream that you thought was impossible or far fetched?

  I am excited this week to see my college roommate and teammate Jessie Graff being spotlighted in her career of a Hollywood Stunt woman on "CBS This Morning". Since she was little she wanted to be an action hero and she has not only achieved her dream, but is loving every minute. When we were in college, we watched the show Alias constantly and had many action packed adventures.She even talked me in to climbing a 50 feet tree (which she also had a to talk me down because I was scared after hanging out on a limb!)

  This week she was featured on CBS this morning about a recent clip she made on YouTube which has now reached over a million views! She wrote and produce the video based on a Family Guy parody.

Link to Video and article on video

CBS Interview

  In college sometimes people thought Jessie was crazy or off the wall for her constant "stunts" whether jumping on moving trains or practicing crashing, but when I think about how focused she always remained and how much effort day and night she put into her dreams, to see her succeeded as a Hollywood Stunt woman is so exciting.

  Recently Jessie visited Nebraska and we were able to spend the weekend together. We talked goals and life followed up by a good body whipping workout. She took me through a stunt woman workout and I was aching for days afterwords! I did get to run her through a workout of my own, so I think we ended up even.

The above is our picture from her trip in one of our body balancing poses from way back when. When we were in college we performed all over Lincoln body balancing acts.
Below is our picture from college after a performance. I am just glad after having 3 kids I can still lift another human being up on my shoulders :)

  So, we may not all have dreams of jumping through windows from tall buildings and crashing motorcycles on movie sets, but we do all have dreams and goals. We have all heard nothing is impossible, but do we believe it? Maybe it is opening a business, a large community effort, inventing something..or even competing in a pageant to change lives;)
   Whatever it is, you CAN achieve it. Will it take time and effort...Yes. Will there he hardship...most likely. Final question....Will it be worth it....Absolutely, every minute of it. If you know you are made to do something and your heart longs to achieve that dream....don't wait. If you listen to Jessie's interview on CBS, there is a key sentence for me...she highlighted that she loves what she does.

I leave you with a quote today from a great athlete that I am sure all will recognize...

Jessie's full Hollywood Stunt Bio can be found here: www.jessiegraff.com

Workout Tip:
   Just like you would write down your dreams, write down your workout goals. Make copies of them and keep them in multiple locations. Anytime you want to relax off of them, take them out for a quick reminder of the path you drew out and keep trucking!

Have a great week!
 Warm Regards,
Maggi
Mrs. Great Plains International 2014

Meeting a President

First, I an delighted and ecstatic to share some new with you...if you have drums near by, this warrants a drum roll (a desk and two pencils will work as well!)  Next year my family and I will be heading to Jacksonville, FL to compete for the title of Mrs. International 2014 as Mrs. Great Plains International 2014!!! Let the happy dance commence. This is possible with everyone who has been so encouraging, the International Pageant Family and Mary Richardson. This is a tremendous opportunity and over the coming weeks I will be sharing Team Thorne's new goals. Our family has recently faced some difficulties and it really shaped my direction in life. I reached a point of sheer mental exhaustion from the overwhelming emotions. I am now rested, the matter resolved and God reminded me that He made me with the will to Never Give Up!

On to the updates friends and I am glad to be writing to you again! I hope the start of your fall is lovely:)

Recently I had the honor of meeting a president. A woman president! Stacey D. Stewart, President of the United Way USA was in Lincoln to speak to a large captive audience and even had a chance to visit a few places in Lincoln and learn about our great city. She spoke about community challenge and the heart of a community can start with one person. We cannot wait for government to bring change, be active and be involved. I am sure everyone in the room walked away motivated to serve and connect with all around us.

After she spoke to the audience, we were able to connect and discuss opportunities for partnerships and one of my favorite topics....running! Stacey has a beautiful heart to serve others and it was amazing to get the opportunity to share my background story, and hear her's and what her passion's are. She has two daughters as well and we discussed the importance of being encouraging and re-affirming to not only our girls, but girls all over the country. This piece of information is important as you will see in upcoming blog's. United Way is a great organization and with a woman like Stacey and her excellent leadership, there are many great things to come and lives to be changed.

Stacey D Stewart Bio 

Husker fans and sports fans all over the Great Plains, enjoy your weekend!

Warm Regards,

  Maggi

Your Mrs. Great Plains International 2014