a tuesday giveaway

Tuesdays are always good days. I got engaged on a Tuesday and got hired for my job on a Tuesday. I just really love Tuesdays. Plus, they aren't Mondays, so it's a lot easier to get up on Tuesday mornings!

This Tuesday is a great one...wanna know why? Because my sweet blog friend turned real life friend Sarah, along with myself and some other great bloggers, is giving away a very special piece of handmade jewelry and an Etsy gift card!




The college friend of Sarah at Seriously, Sarah?, and talented jewelry designer, Natalie, is here to show off her new Etsy shop, Wonderful Whimsical Wire! Along with a few of my friends, we're here to give away an Etsy Giftcard AND jewelry from Natalie's shop!

Seriously, Sarah?//Sew My Soul//The Married Writer

Wonderful Whimsical Wire

Sage the Blog//The Silver Lining//All The Joys

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

this race i agreed to run is very intimidating, guys.

My neighborhood is so pretty to run in.

A little while ago I told you what I'm really thinking about while running. And I told you I'm working towards running my first 5k on August 2nd in Greenville except I can't find that post at the moment.
And it's July 2nd. And my nerves are officially majorly setting in. Last night, I dreamed I was running the race, passed out from heat exhaustion, and got trampled by six runners before anyone stopped to help me. And then somehow the dreamed turned into being chased by zombies from The Walking Dead, which I don't even watch because I'm so afraid of anything zombie or supernatural whatsoever. 
So because of the fear, this morning, getting up to run was incredibly hard. I had this voice in my head repeating, "You're not athletic, you've never done anything like this before, and you're not going to be able to make it." So running was the last thing I wanted to do. But I did it. I ran today, despite not having been diligent in training, despite nightmares, and despite the fact that my bed feels like a friggin' cloud and I never want to leave it.
Moral of the story: I'm freaked about this 5k. I know it's a short distance, and people do 10k's and half marathons and marathons all the time which are way harder to prepare for, so I probably sound whiney. But like I said, I'm not athletic, I've never done anything like this, and I'm great at negative self talk.
If anyone has any tips, tricks, advice, encouragement, etc to help keep motivated and move past the pre-race nerves, this newbie runner would love to hear it. What helps you?

if i had my dream kitchen, this is what would be in it

Be still my heart. {img source}

Most weekends find me hovered around the stove thinking up something new to bake or make for my man, my friends, or myself, because I like food and I'm not ashamed to say so. Cooking is a release for me, a creative process with a heartwarming result. Let me carefully fold egg yolks into butter for a dreamy sauce for fish and asparagus. Give me spices to combine and season pastas and soups. I long for dough to knead, let rise, knead again, all for a perfect ciabatta loaf to eat with everything..
The first room that got attention when I moved out on my own: my kitchen. The first room to get settled when we moved into our house: our kitchen. My kitchen is the heart of my home, and it's where I go to create things that show the people I love how much I care. Food is the deepest expression of love for me, making it, sharing it, conversing over it. My favorite moments are around the table, eating, with people I cherish.

Oh, the things I would make here.{img source}

So, when PartSelect reached out to me about their blogger contest for a custom KitchenAid mixer and asked what five appliances I would have in my dream kitchen, I spent hours dreaming and designing, and finally determined exactly what my dream would look like in reality..
First of all, my dream home would have two kitchens. One for every day cooking, and one just for baking and honing my craft of cooking. Extravagant? Maybe, but I don't care, this is my dream and if it's lavish, so be it. That's what dreams are for.

To be baking in here, with friends standing by the island with wine and laughter...{img source}

I would give the most attention to the honing/baking kitchen. I dream about a French country-style kitchen gracing the layout of my home someday. It would have the most beautiful ivory antique finished cabinets with silver hardware, a white cast-iron extra deep two-sided sink, subway tile backsplash, an island with a butcher block counter top...and the appliances...

1. Stainless steel double ovens. Big ones. They would be well loved, used all the time for a million baked goods and experiments, some failed and some wildly successful.
2. An industrial sized stand mixer because I think if you have two kitchens you should have a really big mixer so you can make lots of things to share with lots of people.
3. A separate gas range, built into the island, conveniently placed directly in front of the sink on one side and the ovens on the other. Easily accessed from either side so that I don't have to pause everything to reach something else I need.
4. A stainless steel dishwasher capable of holding every dish I own because I hate washing dishes.
5. Very large refrigerator and freezer. Perfect for making things ahead, storing some favorite creations to pop out on short notice, and keeping all my ingredients well stocked so I can bake on a whim without having to go to the store to get things. 

This dream baking kitchen would be so customized I would never want to leave. Everyone who knew me would be so thrilled I had the kitchen because it meant lots and lots of wonderful food for them all the time.
After all, the best part of baking and cooking is sharing the fruits of your labor with those you love. There's not much more loving than showing up at a neighbor's house with chocolate mascarpone cake just to say I was thinking of you.
What would your dream kitchen contain?

tuesday is a day for thanks

...thanks for a new home to love and grow in together as we dive further in to our journey of marriage...

...thanks for a job that allows me to do what i love and help provide for our family's future...

...thanks for the struggles of my past that led me to renewal in Christ and a strengthened core...

...thanks for family and the truest of friends who stood by me no matter what...

...thanks for friendship with my parents deeper than i could've dreamed...

...thanks for love growing ever deeper as we choose to love and serve every day...

...thanks for examples of marriage and commitment in my life...

25 years in 2013

50 years in 2013

...thanks for a husband whose only greater love than me is God...

...thanks for grace and its limitless reach.

{sourced via pinterest}

what do you give thanks for today?

how to plan a wedding in 100 days or less

When people ask about Husband and I and our love story, we have to condense it a bit because this is our 3rd time together after having known each other for a little over 6 years. When we get to the part about how we got back together this time around, and get to the timeline of how quickly it all came together, jaws drop a little.

We first spoke again after 2 years of silence on March 24, 2013. Our first date was two weeks later. On April 24, 2013, we made it official and declared ourselves dating again. On September 24, 2013, Husband got down on one knee and gave me the most gorgeous engagement ring ever. On January 4, 2014, we said I do. It was all very very fast.

No, it wasn't a shotgun wedding. A few people did ask if I was pregnant because of how short our engagement was, but really we just didn't believe a long engagement was right for us. I was ready to say I do the minute I said yes to his proposal. We almost didn't have a traditional wedding--there was serious talk of us and immediate family taking a trip to the beach about 3 weeks after the proposal and us coming home married. Finding my wedding dress was seriously the one thing that convinced me I wanted a traditional wedding. But I still wasn't going to spend much more than 3 months planning.

All the time I hear people talk about how you need AT LEAST six months to plan. This is false. Unless you are absolutely dead set on having THAT venue and nothing else will ever ever ever measure up, you don't need a long timeline. What you do need: a plan of action, a little creativity, and about a week set aside to book all your vendors.

So here are my top tips for planning a wedding in 100 days or less:

1. Do the hardest thing first. Set your budget and divvy it up before you do anything else whatsoever to plan. Every other decision you make for your wedding requires you to know how much you have to spend in what category. It also determines how large your wedding can be. We had about $10,000, so we knew we were capping the guest list of invites at 90 people (this was actually a stretch for me--anything over about 75-80 made me super uncomfortable because I don't like crowds or being the center of attention).
2. Do the second hardest thing second. Determine your guest list. Not just a general number. Make a spreadsheet of exactly who you will be inviting. Do not leave room for more than 5 add-ons in case you forgot someone. Work with your parents (especially if they're footing the bill) and your groom (and his parents if they're helping with the expenses) to determine who HAS to be there first. Then decide who you really really want there, then go to who it would be nice to have. If the number gets higher than what you can afford, start cutting with the "nice to have's". This is not a fun part of planning. It is stressful. But believe me, you need to get it out of the way.
3. List out what vendors you need to find. Do whatever you can to book them all as quickly as possible. My parents and I were able to book every vendor in 4 days because I was moving 2 hours away ten days after we got engaged. This will be stressful, but fun, because you're designing what you want! Start negotiating with what you would absolutely want to have--not what you think you can afford, and see how you can get what you want to fit in your budget. (ex--I couldn't imagine not having roses, but didn't want to pay for flowers for every table, so we got bouquets and boutonnieres in roses and three bags of rose petals to scatter on tables. HUGE savings.)
4. Decide what is worth DIY and what isn't. For a smaller wedding, it's not hard to put together your own centerpieces. We got vases super cheap at Hobby Lobby and filled them with pearl beads and the sort of shiny stones you find in the floral section at craft stores, and then put twigs in the vases. It took me about 2 hours to make these in multiple sizes for cocktail tables, 60" round tables, and a few for miscellaneous locations. Since I do graphic design, I also did all of our printed materials, including designing and printing my own invitations (with a short engagement you have no need for a save the date--another money saver) and programs. I also DIY'd our favors--packets of wildflower seeds with "Let Love Grow" written on the front and instructions for planting on the back. This project only cost me $40!
5. Buy your dress and maid's dresses as soon as possible. Bonus tip: try on dresses you can buy off the rack in your size or one or two sizes up. It's much easier to take a dress in than let it out, and do so without a major time crunch if your're not having to wait for it to come in. I got mine on clearance (which sounds strange when talking about a wedding gown, but it was the most gorgeous dress I'd ever touched and I didn't know it was clearance until we were ready to buy it) and ordered maid's dresses that same day. However, we didn't use the dresses we ordered. A week before the wedding, we all three hated the original dresses so much that we went to Dillards and found Mom and Erica each their own dress that matched their personal styles and figures, and came in the same color. You don't have to have dresses that are labeled as "bridesmaid dresses."
6. Limit the activities and showers. Do you really need an engagement party, three showers, and a bachelorette, all while living your regular life and trying to enjoy the season of preparing for marriage? No, if you're honest. Mom hosted my only bridal shower, and Erica did my bachelorette. Besides the wedding, these were the only two extras. Don't overschedule yourself during this time of your life! You won't regret doing less but you will regret having too much going on and not being able to appreciate it all for the celebration of love it is.
7. Do not focus the entire 100 days on planning your wedding. Plan your marriage with more fervor than you plan this one day. You have one wedding, but a whole lifetime with this other person. Invest in your marriage before it begins. Go to premarital counseling. Read good marriage books (we recommend Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll and 12 Questions to Ask Before you Marry by Clayton and Cherie King). You're not getting married so you can have a wedding. If you want a wedding more than you want this marriage, don't get married. If the wedding is a celebration of marriage, you're on the right track.
8. Have fun. Feel what this process is about. Feel the love from your spouse-to-be, your family, your friends. Celebrate the gift of love. This is a beautiful, once in a lifetime season. Look for the beauty of it, especially when you are stressed.
9. Get a flu shot. This sounds dumb, I know, but trust me. This goes for every bride. GET A FLU SHOT. Having the flu on your wedding day sucks. You don't want to be ten minutes from walking down the aisle praying you won't throw up in the middle of your vows. Get a flu shot. I should've listened to Husband telling me the entire engagement to do this. My wedding was amazing, but it would've been awesome not to have been so ill that our first argument was on our wedding night about whether we were waking up and going to the hospital or to our honeymoon.

A beautiful wedding can be planned in 100 days or less. It's not the easiest thing in the world, it will be stressful sometimes, but you won't regret it. I certainly don't. It was the most wonderful day of my life, filled with more love and joy than I could've imagined, and I wouldn't change a thing. Except getting a flu shot.

Do you have any short engagement tips? How did you handle your wedding? And if you had a long engagement, what made you decide to do so?

why did i get married?

This post is part of the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE!  

I'm so obviously a marriage expert, right? I mean, I've got real field experience here! I've been married one. whole. month. plus one day. Thus, I'm most definitely qualified to be considered a marriage expert.

Not at all. I'm no expert. It's still strange sometimes. We still forget this is real life, this is forever, we aren't just playing house. It's still new. 

And yet, I have found that one month of marriage has taught me more about myself than I ever thought it could. I know my husband so much better. I know me so much better. I see God so much more. Marriage has deepened everything.

When I decided to join the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour, I knew I would write about why I got married. I'm young. Fresh out of college. Building my career. Just starting out.

It's weird to be a wife in your early twenties in this culture. Five days before my wedding while buying fabric for draping the gorgeous pergola my dad built for us to be married under, the woman cutting my fabric actually tried to tell me getting married now was a mistake. "You're just a baby still! You should be exploring, not being a wife! Why are you getting married now?"

The woman asking me had two pieces of information about me: My wedding was five days away and I really needed ten yards of a specific fabric, and I looked young. She was a stranger. She didn't know my name or age. She didn't know my story. She didn't know anything about me. 

What she knew was that marriage is hard. It's huge. It changes everything. She knew that many people with more life experience than I look like I have can't make it work. She knew that in America, a lasting and happy marriage is weird.

What she didn't know was how acutely aware of all of those things I am. 

For many years, I swore up and down I was never getting married. I was never going to be tied down to someone else. I was convinced that marriage meant giving up all the things I love most about myself. I knew all the statistics. I had snarky comments under my breath ready any time I saw someone I knew get engaged before the age of at least 25. 

What I didn't know was love. I didn't know how dearly I was loved at the time. I had never found faith. I was so opposed to the entire concept of God. And I didn't appreciate the love I had from my family.

When I met Jesus and lay down my heart at his feet, it began to change. I began to see how love worked in my life. I began to see how acts of service and sacrifice didn't mean you lost yourself, but rather that you gained a deeper love for those you served and were served by. I began to see respect evolve through genuine appreciation of who people were. I learned how to be a friend, a good friend, for the first time. I learned how to be loving, compassionate, and sacrifice. I learned how much deeper each of those qualities made my relationships. And I realized I had been missing the point of love all along.

I had taken a year to be intentionally single. It was the best thing I've ever done for myself. I wanted to learn who I was and who God was. For much of that year I prayed for the chance to just apologize to Drew for how poorly I loved him in our past. Finally, at the very end of the year, I decided to give it to God. A week later, the man I would marry called me. Ten minutes in to our six and a half hour phone call I knew we would get married.

I know the risks. I know the statistics. I know it's a struggle. I know that we are still in the honeymoon stage, and that we will hit harder times in our future. I know why lasting marriage is weird. I know why being a young wife is weird. Because when you're young, so much is unknown. So much is unlearned. So much of life has yet to happen to you.

What I do know is that quite a bit of life has happened to me. I've had more of life than many my age. I know the years that brought me to the place I was when Drew came back into my life. I know the tears that got me there. And I know the God who planned this for me. I know the Savior who sacrificed his life for me, the purest and most monumental sacrifice of love in history. I know the love that surrounds me in faith, family and friendships every day. 

The love I know is why I got married. The sacrificial love of a mother and father pouring into the lives of their children even when their children can't see or appreciate it. The selfless love of friends who stay up all night talking to you because you just need someone to listen at three in the morning. The love of a heavenly Father whose ultimate sacrifice gives His children freedom from the pain of their pasts. And the love of a man like Drew pursuing my heart every day.

I got married because I have fallen in love with a man who only loves my God more than he loves me. A man who pursues me every day. A man whose wisdom I trust implicitly. A man who happens to be my very best friend in all the world. A man with whom I want to share all of the life that has yet to happen to me.

Yes, I'm young. Yes, it's weird. But it's right. And one month and one day in, I'm already more in love than I was the day I donned a white dress and veil. More in love than I was the day I was given a gorgeous diamond ring. More than I ever knew I could be. And the longer we have together, the deeper this love will run.

We may be young, but we've seen much more of life than you may think. And we would rather see the rest of it together.

Fawn Weaver, the founder of the Happy Wives Club wrote a book about the best marriage secrets the world has to offer. They say the book is like “Eat, Pray, Love meets The 5 Love Languages.” I say the book is inspiring. You can grab a copy HERE.

kaitie lately...

Let me start with...holy {words i try not to use but still pop into my head when really excited/surprised/anxious/in sudden severe pain} my wedding is in two weeks and two days.

Is this real life?

Also the title is because kaitie lately sounded better than kaitlin lately and because my family and my man and my closest friends call me Kaitie basically always. My brother has called me Kaitlin twice ever and both times it was highly upsetting.

Since I'm kind of a homebody with a love for my family and a love for all things handmade and artisan crafted, here's the pergola my father designed and built and younger brother stained for me to get married under.

Heyyy little brother who is actually much bigger than me. Thanks for the stain job!

My family is pretty talented, I must say. If you love timber and are in the home building market (decorator, architect, builder, new homeowner...) you should check out Accent Truss. I'm biased but I have toured many houses in my day and seen many jobsites, and I must say...no one does trusses quite like my parents. Dad has the best eye for timber frames and he and my mom are an excellent partnership.

Here is me telling my amazing hairdresser for pretty much ten years straight because I have trust issues and no one else is allowed to touch my head what I want my wedding hair to look like.

Donna Hathaway. Upstate SC peeps, find her. She's the best at hair. Plus she's gorgeous, hilarious, and happens to be a super cool biker. For real, go get your hair did by her. It's great.

Drew and I are really really good at presents, but we are also really really bad at them. We cannot keep secrets from each other basically at all, and we have the hardest time not accidentally revealing surprises. So obviously we decided that we should just go ahead and open one present each (he had me open 2 because he technically got me a higher quantity of presents within our budget) this week because we won't be together on real Christmas and have to do it early anyways.

Open gift one and....

We got each other the same thing. Each of us has talked about cast iron skillets so much we each decided it would make a great gift for the other! And we were right--we love them.

He also got me a French press! I adore it. I've admired them for ages but never bought myself one because it wasn't a staple and Liz gave me a big regular coffee maker she and Kyle had before they got a Keurig for their wedding. But it's so pretty! And makes the perfect coffee for my pretty mug collection.

I made our stockings this year by buying the $0.98 ones from Wal-Mart (I've only started shopping at WalMart since moving. I still hate it. But it's cheap.) and then embroidering our names on them. I think they're super cute but I think next year I'm going to make some nice ones that have more detail.

I also made my garters. I took basic ones from Hobby Lobby and totally changed them up. In true refashioning form, I had to take old to make this new...

...so I used beads from my mom's wedding dress all over one. The dangling part on the garter I will be keeping was hanging where Mom's bodice met her skirt. I love it. And I took lace from the hem of her dress to my florist to carry in my bouquet on the big day. She's also my matron of honor. Have I mentioned that I love my mom?

So that's life in the world of the soul behind the seams right now. How about you, readers? What's new in your world?

PS--I'm super excited because on Monday we are FINALLY having a last minute engagement photo shoot! Stay tuned for the pics!

PPS--There is a strong chance I'll be somewhat MIA from the blog for a few weeks due to wedding and a honeymoon cruise but I promise I'll be back soon!

no such thing as a "bridal body"

One of my favorite parts of getting engaged was getting to go through bridal magazines. I loved seeing all of the different trends, the styles of dresses available to me, and the many many ways a wedding can be unique.

This was a going away/happy engagement gift from my former boss and coworkers. I love them and loved my time there.

But.

In every. single. issue. there was at least one article about "Getting that bridal body!" or "Bridal Bootcamp" or "Firm Up those Arms in Just Six Weeks!" Then there were the diets. "Why you MUST do a juice fast!" "Magic Belly-Shrinking Drink!" "Lose Ten Pounds Fast!"

I bought a wedding dress that fit my body the way it was when I got engaged. And I have kept my body the way it was when I got engaged. My fiance didn't propose to me on the terms and conditions that I be one of the girls in the bridal magazine by our wedding date. He didn't ask me to marry him if and only if I could fit into a sample size dress by the time we were going to take pictures. He didn't even ask me to marry him if and only if I promised not to gain an ounce between our engagement and our wedding. He asked me to marry him. Me. Not my body.

See that double chin? It's because I'm too happy to care how I look.

See the difference there? I am the bride. My body is not. I am in a dress. My body just holds the dress up. I say my vows. My body just enables me to give them sound. I marry Drew. My body just carries me down the aisle.

It took me years to realize that there is no such thing as a great body. If there is a great body then there must also be a bad body, and who am I to decide what a bad body is?

My body can dance with abandon. I promise I actually have serious rythm, even though this picture doesn't show it.

I'm a Christian. Therefore I believe that I was divinely designed. I also believe that every single person on this planet was divinely designed. And guess what? None of us are the same. Even identical twins have slight differences that make them unique. Because God didn't create humanity to all be alike. The bible does not say "God saw that Eve was five seven and 110 pounds and it was good." No two Biblical heroines were the same. God did not make good bodies and bad bodies. God made beautiful bodies in His image. Our sinful nature made good and bad bodies. Even if you aren't a Christian, this message is for you: No matter your faith, your body is not bad. It is beautiful. It is good. It allows you to love, laugh, explore, experience joy, grief, hurt, and comfort.

Thank you, body, for letting me experience this moment of joy.

There are healthy and unhealthy bodies. On both ends of the spectrum. I have been very thin and unhealthy. I've also been a little bigger than my normal and been unhealthy. But my body's healthy size and weight isn't what the brides in the magazine say. My body's healthy size is a gorgeous, curvy, 5'4" 140 lbs. I wear a size 8 most days, some days a 6, some days a 10. But I am not a size 6, 8, or 10. I am Kaitlin. I wear a size 6, 8, or 10. I am not 140 pounds. I just weigh 140 pounds. I am not 5'4". I just exist 5'4" above the ground.

There is no such thing as a bridal body. There is only a bride who has a body, no matter its size or shape.

I could tell you that I remember this lesson every day, but I would be lying to you. Some days I could probably write a post this long on how annoying it is to be pear shaped and how I wish I had a "thigh gap" or could get rid of the little bit of extra bulk around my hips and move it to my less than busty upper body. Some days I have to work really hard to remember that I am not defined by the body I live in.

Gym date! We try to be healthy together.

With my wedding just over three weeks away, I've missed the window on a bridal body. But you know what? I don't care. I already have a bridal body. Because I am the bride and I live in a body. I am a soul who was assigned a beautiful life with heartache and joy and grace by a loving and perfect God. He gave me a body He designed and equipped for me to live the life He intended for my soul. Even if you don't share my beliefs: You are still a soul living a life with heartache and beauty and endless possibilities. You have a body that will allow you to do all the things your soul desires.

I am a soul living in a body. I'll take good care of it, but I won't "beat it into bridal shape" or force it to "get skinny quick" like all of my magazines tell me I should. My magazines are wrong. I'm in bridal shape. It's just not the shape that's on the cover. And that is okay.

twenty three before twenty four

Today just so happens to be my 23rd birthday!

True story I forgot about my birthday like seven times this year. The whole graduate-move-wedding-whole new life thing has had me a little distracted.

In honor of my birthday, I decided to do a birthday list. Many other bloggers I follow have done them and I find them really inspiring, so, here is my list of 23 things to do before I turn 24:

1. Run at least two 5K's.
I hate running so this will be a hard one but I have always wanted to get into the habit.

2. Dedicate myself to living healthy.
I eat very healthy usually and cook healthy meals. My favorite snacks are granola and fruit and yogurt. I've tried to go healthy before but ended up just getting unhealthier. This time is different. I want to be active and eat well. I'm not trying to lose weight--in fact I do not own a scale and have instituted a "No Scales" policy for my home. This isn't about a number. Just about me living a healthy life.

3. Learn what it really means to be a "wife."
I truly believed I would never get married ever. But I am getting married in a month and a half. I am really excited about this one, because this all came about after I had taken a full year of intentional singleness. No dating, no crushes, nothing. I wanted to learn about myself as an individual and grow in my faith. It was honestly the best thing I've ever done for myself. Don't wish away your single years, because they do incredible things for your soul and your purpose in life. My single season is over now and I am really looking forward to becoming a wife and discovering who I am in that role. Me, of course, but singleness changed me a ton, so I am excited to see what changes marriage brings about.

4. Do at least one creative project every week.
I love to create but since last winter I haven't given myself time to do it. I've missed it, so now I am going to prioritize my creative side.

5. Go on a spontaneous trip somewhere I've never been before (with Drew)
The last two summers I've done it with my mom and it's been awesome. Our first was to Portland, Maine which we planned precisely three days before leaving. Last summer we went to Highlands, North Carolina, which we picked three days before again. We spent our trips exploring the towns, going into a few shops, eating from all the local restaurants, and experiencing what the area offered. I love it. I want to do this once a year, at least.

6. Take a legit cooking class.
I LOVE to cook. Seriously. It's one of my favorite things. I want to learn techniques and ingredients and all sorts of things like that to help me hone my craft as a home chef.

7. Join a club, volunteer group, book club, Bible study, or something like it.
We know I'm not social from my story about my almost new friend. I want to push my skills and grow in this area. This is gonna be scary and hard but worth it.

8. Meet other bloggers.
Again like #7 this will be hard and scary but I want to meet people with similar interests, and I think blogging is a great outlet for me and so many others. Maybe this goal can be tied in with #5...?

9. Buy a DSLR.
I adore photography. I love art of any kind (gee, big surprise, only my entire adult life in art galleries would've been no hint at this) and I love the beauty in capturing moments. However, I am notoriously cheap and will not spend large amounts of money if I do not need to. I've wanted a DSLR for ages, for artistic and personal use, and I can't wait to cross this off!!!

10. Learn a little self-love.
I'm always very critical of myself, whether it's my performance in a certain area of life or my appearance. I am quick to note my shortcomings all too often. This year, I want to remember that God did not intend for me to spend life tearing myself down, but to live a life that reflects the beauty of His love. He thought I was worth the ultimate price, so who am I to argue with him? I'm going to get over myself and love myself more.

11. Paint something and enter it into an art show.
I'm a closet artist. I paint and draw but I don't like to display work outside of my home. I had artwork in a gallery on Gallery Row in Charleston for a time, but after that stopped displaying my work. Probably this comes from #10--being too critical. I'm going to not be afraid and I'm going to display my talent.

12. Visit the snow.
I am absolutely and completely obsessed with snow. But every year I have let one thing or another keep me from going to enjoy it. Not this year. We all need to take the time to do things or see things that bring us joy and remind us of the beauty of life, so I am going to see the snow.

13. Learn to ask for what I want/need without apologizing for it.
Sometimes when I state my needs I feel like a terrible selfish person, so I immediately follow up my request with an apology. Why should I feel bad about asking for something important to my well being? I'm not going to feel bad about being human and having needs.

14. Try some sort of crazy new food I would never think to eat ever.
My family loves food (my brother is a bit of a picky eater but likes to eat fo sho) so we are pretty open to new foodie adventures. I've been branching out my taste slowly, but this year I want to eat something totally insane that sounds wildly unappetizing but has the potential to blow my mind. Wonder if Drew will do this with me or just catch it on camera and laugh at me?

15. Watch the news more.
I love to be informed. I wanted to be a journalist for a really long time. Lately I find myself watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (how did I not watch this show for the last 23 years??) instead of the news, which means I am not as informed as I want to be.

16. Read new things.
I adore reading. I used to get grounded from books because I wasn't social. Like, at all. But I've been repeating my reads lately so I want to get some new ones in--I haven't even found the library in my new town yet...pathetic, I know.

17. Make a quilt.
I just love quilts. That's all there is to say about this one.

18. Play with my dog more.
I love my puppy (who is actually 8 but you wouldn't know it) but we don't play enough. It will be good for both of us.

19. Give to charity.
I work in nonprofit, but I don't make donations. Partly because I work in nonprofit and it's not exactly a lucrative industry. But partly because I make the assumption that annoys the heck out of me when people assume it about my organization--someone else will do it. This really isn't the case usually. Every contribution truly matters.

20. Grow this blog.
I like having a space to write and create and I would love to see it become a space where others come and chat. I love seeing the community in certain blogs...I hope to build that community here soon too.

21. Bake more.
This is just my favorite activity and I don't do it enough.

22. Yoga.
Used to love it and have gotten out of the habit. What better excuse than a birthday to start again?

23. Do things that scare me.
Half of this list are things that make me nervous or uncomfortable. But what better time than in your early twenties to start challenging yourself? I don't want to realize in ten years that I spent 33 years afraid. I'm going to do things that scare me and in ten years look back and say man, I had a great time.