Remember when I said there was absolutely no freaking way I could paint a portrait of Chip? Yeah... about that. If you haven't heard ... 𝗜 𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗢𝗚. 𝗜𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬. 🐶🎨 Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could take a photograph of Chip, sit down with a blank canvas, and come home at the end of the day with THIS. But @Michelle Cyr somehow made it happen! My daughter and I spent the day painting with her, laughing, learning, eating snacks, and being completely spoiled with an amazing Mediterranean bowl lunch. It wasn't just a painting class. It was an entire mother-daughter experience, and we had SO much fun! And Michelle? Simply freaking amazing! She's patient, encouraging, 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡, and somehow knows exactly how to help you fix the thing you're staring at thinking, "Welp. I just ruined it." 😂 Meanwhile, my daughter painted her favorite roo, Howdini, and she's now impatiently waiting for him to fully dry so she can get him up in her room where he belongs. 🐓❤️ I genuinely cannot get over what we were able to create in ONE DAY. So I'm going to say this very loudly for anyone who has been watching Michelle and thinking, "Yeah, but I could never paint something like that..." ... 𝘂𝗺𝗺 𝗬𝗘𝗦. 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗕𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗖𝗔𝗡! If you can swing an IRL painting day with Michelle, DO IT. She's still in Wisconsin for a little longer this summer, and then she'll be heading back south to Texas. And if you can't make an IRL happen? Get your butt on her live calls inside 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀. You will walk in thinking, "There is no freaking way I'm going to be able to paint this," and walk out several hours later carrying a portrait of your dog. Or a whatever you decide to paint! Who knew?! 😂 10/10 experience. Would absolutely let Michelle convince me I can paint again. ❤️🎨

If you haven't heard, reviews went live on Skool today. My community members got the memo before I did! By the time I found out this feature even existed, I already had five sitting there. Unprompted. Unbribed. Just heart-led people doing their thing! I love how Skool is starting right out the gates de-incentivizing incentivized reviews and love that only paying members can leave them, because it keeps the whole thing credible instead of a popularity contest... But here's my one gripe. Some of the best value I've ever pulled from a community wasn't as a paying member. Sometimes the free space is the flex. Sometimes someone hands you a game-changing answer for nothing, and you'd still crawl over broken glass to tell people how good they are... except now, technically, you can't. Which is exactly why I'm still a fan of 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 (aka: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗟𝗮𝗯). Before Skool had a review button, 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 already had a whole reputation built on letting people leave reviews wherever the value happened... paid or not, one platform or five. Matthew Burns actually dropped a video right before this announcement earlier today, basically saying: cool, one site has reviews now, doesn't mean you stop collecting proof everywhere else. Don't keep your reputation in one basket. He called it early, and he's not wrong. I'm genuinely so grateful for these first five as they showed up before I even knew to ask, and that means more than any prompted review ever could. @Joe Sargent @Michelle Cyr @Lisa Drennon @Michelle Spark & @Liisa Reimann ... I see you! And I appreciate you! Go check out their words on the About page. And while you're there, I just updated the page earlier today and I'd love your honest feedback!

My energy may be low but my excitement is high! We have WINNERS in da houzzzz!!!! 🏆 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗩𝗣 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 - Every month the members that refer others to 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗼𝗼𝗹 with their referral link have a chance to win one of two prizes: a Spotlight Package or a 24hr Pinned post! July's big winner is @Jennifer Turner! 🎉Thank you lady! You're getting the full Spotlight package this month! And congrats to @Sabrina aka Bri Gouveia also who's earned herself a 24-hr pinned post this month! Thank you for showing up and bringing your people in with you! 🚦𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 And from our last round of Red Light Green Light... congrats to @Liz Lemarchand and @Glenn Summers! You two consistently gave feedback that was super helpful to other members, and you brought your own work to the table too. Pinned posts for you both this month! 📅 And one last reminder for our Premium+ members - if you haven't submitted your event for the Event Showcase yet, get them in by Sunday at noon CST! If you've not visited the new Event Showcase member site ... what are you waiting for?! Thank you all again for holding it down while I was under the weather. Very glad to be back and (almost) at full energy!

And excuse me while I casually pretend this little ⭐ isn't making me ridiculously excited... ...because IT IS. 😂 We officially earned a Skool Star, which means we're in the Top 1% and currently slipped into the #30 spot in the Money category. Fancy like Applebee's! And it's because of you! This community keeps growing because of YOU. You show up. You contribute. You celebrate each other. You recommend the community. You make newcomers feel like they've found their people and their space! Thank you for helping turn a "crazy idea idea" back in January into a thriving, fun and supportive community! I'm celebrating today, but this win belongs to all of us. Now... who's ready to see how high we can climb? 🚀⭐