Three Things for August: Update!

Well, my plan worked. Giving up dairy in August, as well as waiting for my birthday to arrive (I'm still a seven-year-old inside), slowed the month down in the best way possible. Here's how things panned out...

1. Giving up dairy. Golly. Just as I feared. I felt much better without dairy. My skin was clearer. My digestion was better. I wasn't bloated. I had more energy. So much motivation not to eat it! I didn't miss cheese like I thought I would, but I did miss cream in my coffee, froyo and cottage cheese (gross, I know. But I love it. You may judge.). 

Between our family vacation, my birthday and the lake last weekend, I have been fully on the dairy train in September. Now that the celebrating is over, though, I think I will stick with dairy-free living for the most part. The pros outweigh the cons, for sure. Will I ever enjoy froyo again? Obviously! But, on the whole, I think I'll stick with abstaining. 

PS: Atlantans, does anyone know of a good dairy-free froyo place? It would be a game changer!

2. Blog sponsors. Taking on blog sponsors has been really fun! The free shoes were an obvious perk :) I've also loved promoting people in my sidebar and via sponsored posts. It's so much fun to support people pursuing their passions and it's making me feel more connected with the blogging community. 

I'm going to continue into October with sponsors, too. If you're interested, you can sign up here to get a sidebar ad, or email me if you want to do a product review or giveaway.

PS: I meant to tell you yesterday, when I moved my blog, all of the comments from the last month got deleted because of a blogger glitch. So sorry if yours got deleted! It wasn't intentional.

3. The frame wall. Oh happy room! My wall is complete and I'm loving it so much. It makes my room so much warmer and I smile every time I look at it. 

You might be thinking I got carried away by calling this little display of frames a "frame wall," but, if you know me well, you know this is a lot of chaos for me. I'm more of a barren chic type of girl, so three different types of frames is puhlenty for now. 

Courtney also gave me this awesome Indiana print for my birthday. I'm thinking I might incorporate my Appetite Paper print into the frame wall, so this one can stand alone. Indiana kind of calls for its own wall, dontyathink?

So there you go! That's how August rolled. 

this life today...

Happiest of moments this week 

- Delayed packages. Nothing like the extendabirthday. 

- Grocery shopping for my newest fundraising endeavor: Snafrica! Selling snacks for Africa.

- Little activities along the way with Duke and Sam. Church and dinner Sunday. Froyo Monday. Groceries Tuesday. Having family here is changing everything. 

And little bit of business

- Did I tell you I moved? Kidding. Sort of. I moved my blog! Now at: www.sometimesalwaysneverblog.com.
PS a huge thanks to Designer Blogs for redirecting my old site for me! Amazing team.

- Oh, quitting dating. I'm somehow already noticing the impact of it on my life. I'm sort of in shock, but it's largely underprocessed. I've got to reflect. I'll get back to you on this one. 

What I'm looking forward to

- Using my free birthday drinks at Starbucks and Dunkin soon. Might be time to break into pumpkin. Maybe. 

- Going home next week. September just calls for time in Indiana. 

- Taking 700 Sharpies to Africa in a few weeks. Way better to stuff my bag with Sharpies rather than shoes, right? 

And what other people are saying right 

- For 20-somethings: funny post about the 10 things you start caring about after college 

- For healthy living lovers: great post about calorie counting, weight loss and restoring your metabolism.

Tell me, tell me. What are you loving/needing/looking forward to today? Happy halfway day!

thank you, thank you // birthday recap

Thank you, thank you, thank you, family and friends - near and far - for making my birthday amazing. 

To those of you that were far away: you made the distance between us disappear for the day. Wrapping me in your cards, calls, texts, gifts, love from afar.  I am so grateful for you and wish we could spend every day together. Seriously, you're incredible. I wish I had a picture collage of all of you so you know that you made me feel so important on 9.5.

To those of you in Atlanta: Oh my. You made me feel like a birthday king! Thank you for taking the time to celebrate with me. 

I am so grateful that all of you are in my life.

And grateful for the amazing, amazing birthday party Melissa threw. It made me feel so loved to have so many dear friends there on that magical night.

For 27 cupcakes with 27 candles that I only sort of could blow out. 

And for having family here to help me celebrate. It felt like a dream.

For the wishiest wish-making lantern I ever did see. Up, up and away my wish went!

And for a tasty dinner in Chattanooga Friday night. 

And a sweet lake weekend with friends. 

And for Oka B., such a cool company, gifting me b'day shoes. (PS Use this link to get $15 off!)

What a day! You all made me feel so loved and excited for the year ahead. 

Thank you, thank you! I love you all.

on why i'm quitting dating

I've broken up with people before, and I've been broken up with before, but this is a new one for me. Today, I'm officially breaking up with dating. 

The fact is, somewhere along the line, I've become consumed with - obsessed with - dating.

I've spent a lot of time in the last few months pursuing my relationship with God, but I've remained a little frustrated. For months, I've felt like I've been hitting a glass ceiling - getting so close, yet something was still keeping me from Him. 

And last night in church, reality hit me: dating is keeping me from Him, because I'm idolizing it. And not just dating, but relationships. I have always been forward thinking; planning my next step, my next phase. However, I also consider myself (mostly) able to live in the moment, and, unfortunately, my obsession with having a serious relationship, building a future, working toward marriage, has started stealing my joy for the right now. It has made me feel stuck in a phase of life that I'm not so sure I should be rushing through. I want to slow down and enjoy this season; learn from it and live it fully. 

I once heard idols described as dangerous because, when you begin to idolize something, you are a dog and it is your tail. But eventually, they can be so all-consuming that the idol becomes the dog, and you're simply the tail, following it around.

I am the tail. And last night I realized I needed to give this idol up. 

image via

I feel fortunate that, for a lot of my life, if I've wanted something enough, I've been able to find a way to get it. But a relationship - my husband - that next phase - is not something I can get on my own. While I know this cognitively, I unfortunately don't fully believe it. As with so many single-20-something-girls, I calculate. I go to certain places on weekends with the hope of meeting someone. I make plans to go places when I really want to stay at home.

Because you never know.

 And I know I'm not alone. So many of us are out there in the world, hoping to meet someone. I can't tell you the number of times someone has said to me:

You can meet someone anywhere. Even the grocery store!

Yes. You can meet someone anywhere. That's so true. But it isn't the reason we're at the grocery store. And it isn't the reason we're living. 

However, lately it seems to be the reason I'm doing a lot of things. 

And, in addition to that, I've been on a wild amount of no-so-good dates. Total misses, called Brittany instead of Whitney, type dates. I've also had a frustratingly high number of unavailable guys make moves lately and I'd noticed the two things combined were starting to weigh on me. And it's really important to me that I don't become jaded. Because I believe in love deeply and I believe in the good in people with all of my heart. And I don't want a funny season of life to challenge those beliefs. I want to hold onto them. 

image via

So, I'm officially on sabbatical. I'm not just taking a break from dating, but also one from calculating. I'm not doing things with the hope of meeting someone and I'm not weighing it into my decision making. I'm just doing me. For five weeks. Which takes me right until I leave for Africa. 

I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'll have a mind-shift or stop brushing my hair or do something crazy. But I hope it reminds me to live in the present. To embrace the in between and see the beauty in the mess. To see the beauty in the little things and break through my glass ceiling with vengeance.

Wish me luck, y'all! :)