the times they are a changin

You guys. My life is swirling. I’ve been going nonstop for the last few weeks – with something going on every single night of the week, and weekends packed with activities and (amazing) visitors. It’s been absolutely wonderful, but it just hit me that we are halfway through June. For real?

Although, when I look back at all the things I’ve been doing, there is a part of me that can’t even believe it’s only been in a few weeks. Whah!

I’m really excited, though, because I’ve made a ton of new friends in Atlanta recently. Something just clicked for me, and around the five month marker of moving here, I started meeting all these people. In the last month or so, I suddenly feel like I have this great network of people here, and it’s really wonderful. I’ve also taken time to reconnect with people I already knew, but hadn’t had time to see. It’s so much fun seeing how this city is connected – how people I’ve known since my first summer here in 2008 also know people I’ve only recently met. I love it when my worlds collide.

It’s amazing that I spent my first four months here wandering around like a little kid in this huge city, only knowing a few (also wonderful!) people and then, it’s as if it happened overnight. Things started to turn around. Now I look back to the early months in December and January, when I was putting so much effort into trying to stay busy, and taking on little crafts and projects just to feel productive, and I wish I could go back and tell January Whitney: don’t worry! You’ll have more friends soon. You make those coasters now, because your new friends will like them!

But I can’t tell her that. And I think it was important for me to go through that time of having to lean on myself, and spend that time alone. Because it’s when you do things on your own, that you learn and grow. And, it makes you that much happier when you find great new friends. Trust me – because I’m really happy I’ve found them.

image via

happy place

Glamour recently asked readers where their happy place was. And while my first thought was to say that my happy place is wherever my family is, the magazine encouraged discussion of a physical location. Almost as immediately as the first answer came to me, so did the second: my happy place is outside. More specifically: near water. On a boat, on the beach, on a dock, anywhere that I can feel and hear the movement of a natural body of water, is pure bliss to me.

In sixth grade, a friend of mine had her birthday party at her lake house. From tubing to floating in the middle of the lake, I couldn't have been happier. At the end of the day, her parents gave everyone an award based on behavior for the day. By this point in my life, I had grown accustomed to being known for having a positive attitude or smiling a lot, but on this day, they gave me the title of the lawyer, for constantly negotiating more time on the boat, and less time on land. It was at this point I knew I really loved being on water.

Although I've yet to spend time on a lake this summer (don't worry - my legal background will come into play soon, and I'll get myself some boat time), the past few weekends have been marked by constant time outdoors.

Last weekend my dear friends Katie and Emily visited Katie G. and me, and we spent the weekend soaking in the glorious Georgia heat. We spent all day Saturday at the Virginia Highlands festival (if you're in Atlanta, you must go next year), then enjoyed an amazing dinner outside at Noche. Almost nothing makes me happier than coming home to get ready for an evening and realizing you've barely spent a minute indoors.



Thank you Katie and Emily for being amazingly fun guests!