oh love.

I know Christmas is beyond over and I claimed that I like to be done with the holidays the minute they're behind us. But our by-the-seat-of-our-pants-break was too good not to share. So, just a few photos of love...

Headed to Alabama for Katie's engagement party...

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Breakfast at Patachou in Indy with friends, two times... (addiction)

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The Skipper getting ready for all of his babes to come home. Wrapping those gifts!

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Playing in the snow with the kiddos...

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Playing in the snow late night, sans kiddos...

 
(I missed the memo on being fierce)

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Attempting to get Diego to sooth his little teeth with a popsicle...

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Muff and Sam getting ready for a friendly competition. AKA just another night at home.

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So many shoes! Everyone is home. Happiness.

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A front porch workout with C&A. The cold weather won't hold us down...




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New Year's Eve in Nashville with these wonderful people...

 


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And because my parents somehow mostly escaped my constantly snapping phone, a little extra love from them. They're too important not to show again.

I hope your break was wonderful, re-entry hasn't been too rough and the weekend ahead is great!

resolving // waiting // yaay!

2012, I liked you. You were different and fun and exciting. You had trips and happy visitors and festivals and a triathlon and a well and new homes and family time and so many adventures.

And you were happy. And I loved you.

But, roomie Katie and I were recently talking and were both a little bit sad that we started the year out so strong (she got engaged, for crying out loud), and then let the fall get away from us. It left us feeling like 2012 wasn't as great as it was, because we didn't embrace the final season. As we started to reflect on the first nine months of the year, we realized it was a phenomenal one, indeed.

But from September to December, we realized we spent a lot of time waiting. Waiting for the rats to be gone, waiting for my foot to heal, waiting for our house to be back to normal,  waiting to be able to run again...

And when you spend so much time waiting, you stop embracing and living.

That thought, in and of itself, got me thinking bigger - how often in our 20s I think we do a lot of waiting. For a job, to move to a new city, to meet the right person, to live near our family, to buy a house... We're all waiting for something because we're all in different spots.

But I don't want to wait, because I love life right now.

I'm not a particularly middle-groundy-person. If I do things, I like to really do them. And the thing that I want to do really a whole lot is control every aspect of my life. But what I want to do, even more (most days), is trust God's plan. And there is this tricky middle ground where I want to control everything and trust Him and then it gets all messy because that's not really how it works.

It's hard to do both, which is why I find myself in this awkward area of praying to relax and not control things, but also secretly trying to control on the side. Something like: God, please let your will be done. But also let this happen and this happen. But mainly let your will be done. But if it could happen next week that would be great, too...

And where did we net out??

So. My resolution for 2013. This year, I want to stop waiting for the next thing, and to just live life, and trust everything will fall into place. Because, um, had the plan I laid out happened so far - well. It'd be a hot mess. Thank goodness 18-year-old Whitney didn't get her way! And 26-year-old Whitney may pretend to be a leetle wiser, but that's not really the case so much.

So, here's to an amazing year - rat free, injury free and wait free. Because, this life? It's pretty amazing. And I couldn't feel luckier to be living and loving with so many incredible people around me.

Happy shiny, sparkly, new year to you!

PS I also resolve to continue my quest for punctuality. And to like kale.

OK. That's all.


{what i learned in 2012}


I'm entirely guilty of hitting the ground running each new year - quickly tearing down Christmas decorations, reorganizing my possessions, purging my closets and making my resolutions. But as important as it is to tackle the new year with gusto, it feels just as important to reflect on the last one. 

In college, each year, I would make a list of everything I'd accomplished that year, as well as everything I hoped to do in the upcoming one. Resolutions, I guess. But really more goals than things I'd hope to resolve. Somehow as I've gotten older, I've fallen away from this practice, and instead only look forward - new habits and goals, things to do, changes to make, busy hands to keep. Running into the new year...

But this year has been important. And I want to be sure to reflect. 

In 2011, I was really broken down during the first half of the year, and by the start of 2012, I felt whole again. I didn't envision 2012 to be a rebuilding year. 

And it wasn't rebuilding that I did, exactly, but instead started to see myself differently. I have begun to learn that to be loved, you do not have to be perfect. My friends and family don't love me because my house is clean and I can run far and I never forget to make my bed. They love me even with a broken foot and messy hair and tears in my eyes because our house is rat infested. 

And it's going to be a lifelong haul for me to remember this. And to remember that it is not one part runner + one part busy person + one part happy person = Whitney. And being able to run fast or pick out the healthiest food in the store or get the most things done in one day isn't going to earn me more love - or even more street cred, for that matter. Sure, those things might give me momentary happiness, and it's important to identify the things that do that. But they don't make me me, or make me more valuable. They're just things. 

In the last week, I have had two different people say things to me that made my heart hurt for them a little bit:

At an engagement party, a girl I'd just met told me she worked at the bakery that made the cupcakes for the party. That's so fun! I told her - slightly distracted. Then she quickly added, Sitting on a degree in social work, working at a bakery...

Another friend told me that she was having a hard time with a friendship, and she said, Whitney, I feel like I'm just never enough. I will never be enough. 
And it made me so sad. 

So in case no one has told you yet this year: You are enough. In your imperfections and flaws and on days you want to lounge around and do nothing at all: you are enough. Just by living and being who you were designed to be, you're succeeding.

It took me all year (+ 25 years) to learn it, and I am ninegajillion times positive I will forget it from time to time. But as we embark upon yet another year, I hope to do my best to remember it, and give grace to myself - as well as others - in their imperfections.

So, there you go. That's what I learned in 2012. Now on to those resolutions! 



here we are, 2013


The people in my family are many a thing, but one of those things is not night owls. We are as early as birds get. You need a ride to the airport at 4 a.m? We've got you. You need a ride from the airport at 1 a.m. midnight? We're going to need some assistance. 

Which is why it really doesn't make sense that I l.o.v.e New Year's Eve. It goes against my very being to want to plan an evening that centers around how late you can stay up - and ringing in a brand new year, not with waking up to a sunrise, but staying up to watch it happen. 

But I do. 

And I know I stand alone on this one. As Christmas' overrated little sister, I've heard that same old song: it never lives up to your expectations. 

Ok ok ok. 

I get it. 

But it hit me this year as the actual E in NYE started to lose its appeal, but I still itched for that strike of the midnight clock: it's so much more than a party to ring in 2013. It's a fresh start. The chance to begin again.

So what if you didn't quite reach your goals in 2012? So what if you didn't win this, make that, meet him, go there, save this, try XY and Z?

You can try again.

It's 2013 and you have 365 beautiful, full days to make it happen again. And with resolutions, a plan and just enough gusto, it's yours for the taking. 

Aside from getting it right the first time, there's almost nothing I love more than a second chance. It's so full of promise. The chance to prove that - yes - it went wrong the first time. But you've learned and grown and you can try again and make it happen. The third chance? It's not as exciting; you've seen it go wrong before. The fourth chance? You're beginning to border on insanity.

But - oh - the second chance. It's magical.

And it's here - it's yours. 2013 is a year full of promise and excitement. And as far as I can tell, the world is your oyster. 

I hope you'll embrace it. 

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