Whitney English, Personalized — Behind The Scenes

From Idea To Experience: Bliss & Bokeh

by Whitney on May 8, 2013

A few months ago, my friend Betsy called me, and uttered those dangerous, magical words: “I have an idea.”

My ears perked up, my pulse quickened, and there was a little catch in my breath. Those four amazing words are inspiring. What comes behind them is creativity at it’s most brilliant. What comes behind those words is vulnerable and brave. What comes after those words is life-giving, if you choose to capture the vision and share it with others. The people that have the courage to utter those words are my people.

So Betsy had my full attention. She began to cast a vision for a intimate, luxury retreat for wedding photographers. A workshop that wasn’t all work. An event that rejuvenated, re-energized, and touched the heart of wedding photographers. As a wedding photographer herself, Betsy knew what the struggles they were facing–a changing industry, increasing competition in the already competitive wedding industry, on top of the daily struggles of working with brides while trying to improve your skill and craft–and she created Bliss & Bokeh as a solution to the fatigue that we all face when we follow our passions. (It happens, trust me–if you’re just starting your business, start keeping a handy list of re-energizing sources. Passions maximized can lead to burn-out.)

I’m nothing but delighted to be joining Betsy this coming October 6-9. I’ve been working with Betsy along the way, sharing tips and insights that have worked for us in hosting Stationery Academy in the past. Betsy’s attention to detail has been unsurpassed. Through logo development, website launch, to hotel coordination, and event planning, Betsy has made sure every element is perfect, timely, and refreshing. This event is going to be a breath of fresh air for your soul, and I can say that with confidence, because that’s what Betsy has been for me. She’s put together an amazing group of speakers with superb experience in the wedding industry. KT Merry, Tara Guerard, Joy Thigpen, Becky Hoppman, Leigh Webber, Angelica Maraccio, and Emily Newman will all be joining Betsy in encouraging the hearts of photographers this fall. In Betsy’s words:

Bliss & Bokeh is an intimate luxury retreat for female wedding photographers in beautiful historic Charleston, South Carolina. The team behind Bliss & Bokeh shares a desire to bring together women who are passionate about wedding photography and the art of capturing bliss. Through an amazing team of talented speakers, beautifully styled shoots, and incredible local partnerships, women will have an opportunity to grow as creative entrepreneurs, while indulging in the luxury and charm of a city named two years in a row by Conde Nast readers as the number one destination in the US.

If you’re a wedding photographer, I encourage you to check out the Bliss & Bokeh site, sign up for more information, and consider joining us in Charleston this fall. It’s going to be an amazing experience!

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Dear Kiddo, Bubba, and Charley,

by Whitney on May 3, 2013

Tonight, I told two little red-fleece-pajama-clad boys that it was time to go bed. You all got up, and padded in your little footie feet over to the bottom of the stairs. I took a photograph with my mind: puffy-diapered bottoms, chubby little legs, tiny little paws grasping at the banister, fat knees crawling up the steps. I read you half of three books, because your attention span doesn’t hold for the language-laden old school Thomas books, and Green Eggs and Ham is totally memorized, and the new Pooh book you found on the shelf was a last ditch effort to feel like I had done my job at teaching you to love books. We said prayers, you both sucked down some water, and I said goodnight. The evening ritual wasn’t over, though. It couldn’t be over without a few after-bedtime cries, whines, a misplaced lovey and a dirty diaper.

Daily, we’re amazed at the new little conversations that are happening in our house. Bubba, you walked into the middle of the family room the other day, stuck out your little belly and declared, “Mama, I wan bah.” Four words. A complete, albeit rude, sentence. A request for a breakfast bar, food of little demanding tyrants, apparently. I was so tickled that you uttered full sentence that I forgot to tell you to say please.

Bubba, you remain focused on…well, EVERYTHING. In everything. Touching everything. Reaching for my computer, my pad of paper, my pen. Putting your nose in my book, my iPhone, trying to convince me to give you the iPad, turn on another movie, let you go outside, let you stay inside, fix you lunch, let you carry lunch around the house, play-doh, crayons, oh my goodness, the list doesn’t stop. When we chastise you for being into EVERYTHING, you look at us with a cautious, testing glance before breaking into a large, charming grin. It’s not fair. You’re two. You aren’t supposed to be winning these battles with large, charming, grins.

Kiddo, you love soccer, riding your bike, going to school, playing with twacks (tracks, belonging to trains). When Bubba sneezed ten times in a row the other day, you politely asked, “You ok?” After Bubba nodded, answering your question, you said, “You ok, Bubba, you ok.” When the soccer ball was stuck under the wagon the other day, you came to your brother’s aid and helped him remove the soccer ball so that the wagon could move forward. Your daddy and I watched, and then told you how proud we were of you, helping other people. “Thank you, Mama!” you say, in your little sing-song voice, to which we almost happily reply, “Your welcome!” And I guess the manners practice is paying off, because when we tell you thank you, you promptly reply in darling sing-song, “You’re welcome, Mama!”

Charley, you have learned how to roll and grab things. The other day I put you on the rug, and turned around, and you had rolled completely into the other room. It’s a reminder that you’ll be crawling all too soon, and then I’ll have to keep track of three little moving heads. Crawling babies are a lot more work that babies that sit still, or even rolling babies, believe it or not, so we’re not in a huge hurry to teach you to crawl. You want to be a part of the party, though, so I think this whole crawling thing is going to happen despite my reluctance. All it takes is a brother in the room, and you want to be over there by him, grabbing his hair, or his leg, or his toy. When I get you out of bed in the mornings, you instantly start looking around for a brother, and shriek in a high-pitched squeal your delight upon first sight of one. We don’t have any girl toys, so you don’t have the foggiest idea what a Disney princess is, and prefer to play with keys, trains, these little plastic jungle and farm animals, and the monkey pacifier. One of these days, when you’re older, I’ll let you watch Hello Dolly and Annie and The Music Man and have crazy dance parties with you.

I love you all, so very much, and I every day I pray that you’ll learn to love the Lord, and with His help, all the crazy wonderful people in this world. I pray that I can teach you all the things you’ll need to know to make a difference on this earth, and I’m oh so grateful for all the things you’re teaching me about making a difference here, too. Thank you for your kisses, your hugs, your tackles, your cries, your giggles, your roars, your growls, your whines, your little conversations. They make these long days so worth it.

Love always,
Mama

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Recipe For Homemade Laundry Detergent

by Whitney on May 2, 2013

How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent by Whitney English

Today’s post is not brought to you by America’s consumer products companies. We’ve been making our own laundry detergent for almost a year now, and it’s worked out shockingly well. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I’m convinced that consumer product companies don’t want us to know how easy, inexpensive, and painless making your own laundry detergent is. This little recipe has been our family’s biggest success factor in pairing back our family budget. It’s super easy and cleans well–and I’ve tried to answer as many questions as possible in the directions on this post.

What You’ll Need:

A Five Gallon Bucket
A Fels Naptha Bar (available on the laundry detergent aisle at your grocery store)
1 Cup of Borax (cleaning or laundry aisle at grocery store)
1 Cup of Washing Soda (laundry aisle at grocery store)
Blender (we use an old Magic Bullet blender for ours)
Pot for Boiling (the bigger the better, as it easily overflows)

Directions:

Put pot on the stove and start to boil water. Pick a larger pot than the own I have shown in the picture above. I consistently over flow this pot, and will be remembering to use a larger pot next time.
Shred the Fels Naptha bar. Lots of people grate their soap, but that was taking far too long for me, was shredding my fingertips, and still wasn’t getting the soap fine enough. Enter the blender. I cut the soap up in to tiny chunks (it actually starts to fall apart on it’s own a little bit), and blend half of it, until all the chunks are finely ground into a fine powder. Pour into the boiling water. Blend the other half of the soap bar as well, and add it to the boiling water as well. The goal is to get the chunks of soap melted into the water, so the finer you blend the soap, the less time you’ll have to boil it.
Add the boiled soap-water to the five gallon bucket.
Add a cup of Borax to the five gallon bucket.
Add a cup of washing soda to the five gallon bucket.
Fill the rest of the five gallon bucket with super hot water and stir as you add water.

Literally, that’s it! You’re done! The whole process takes me about fifteen minutes. Use 1 cup of detergent per washing load.

A few things worth mentioning, just because this whole “make your own detergent” thing is a little bit different, and I didn’t know what to expect, so here’s what I’ve learned:

The mixture is very thin at first. It thickens overnight, congealing and clumping together a bit, but bottom line, it’s a pretty thin liquid. You could add less water if you wanted it to be thicker, but we’ve found that this balance of water to soap cleans really well.
If you choose to add less water and want it to be thicker, sometimes it will clog the little soap dispenser in your water. When this happens, I just run a load of wash on the sanitary cycle on our machine, and the super hot water clears out the soap dispenser.
If you don’t like the thickness of your soap, you can add more hot water to your five gallon bucket at any time. This stuff is super-forgiving.
We’ve been using this mixture in our HE washer for over a year. I did a lot of research on making detergent before trying this, and turns out, commercial companies actually add a substance to the soap to get the soap to sud. Apparently, soap isn’t naturally sudsy. So this mixture does not over-sud, and is perfectly safe for our HE washer.
It’s not like we’re washing teenage boys’ football gear (yet), but this recipe has served to clean all of our wash over a year. We have little kids, and this stuff has cleaned up some pretty gross stuff, and I’ve been very happy with the performance of the detergent. Once or twice, I have chosen to run a load through twice, but I think that’s been more for my peace of mind than for actual cleanliness’ sake.

How Much Does It Save?

I estimate that we make five gallons of detergent for about $1.50. That’s $.30 per gallon. Compare that to grocery store detergent, which is about $15.36 per gallon. So, I estimate that we save about $15.06 per gallon of detergent. We go through five gallons about every two weeks, so I estimate that we’re saving over $150 per month, and on heavy wash months, almost $200.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them!

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Speak Life (& Change The World)

by Whitney on May 1, 2013

Speak Life (& Change The World) from Whitney English on Vimeo.

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The Story: Chapter 2

by Whitney on April 26, 2013

Nineteen days after the world changed forever, I started my second job out of college. The first job had spiraled downward only three months in, and with nine months left to pay on an apartment lease, I had opted to take a job selling furniture at the retail Thomasville gallery in Addison, Texas.

There were two big pros to the job. The first was that the store was literally four minutes from my apartment, which made the commute a dream. The second was that I figured that I could sell pretty much anything I was genuinely interested in, and truth be told, I was genuinely interested in furniture. The cons to the job were that it was 100% commission pay, and that I’d have to work weekends. A job is a job though, and you’ve gotta do what you gotta do, so I went into the whole thing with a pretty good attitude.

The whole world still remained visibly shaken over the events of September 11, and the old-timers on the sales floor welcomed me with a respect and appreciation that’s rarely found in competitive sales environments. There were about fourteen total sales people on staff in the store, and about half of that team was new. The handful of newbies and I would start training just a few days in, and training would last for about a month.

We were smorgasbord of oddballs. There was another girl my age, who didn’t know a thing about furniture or fabric. There was an older lady who loved decorating and was just so precious, a middle-aged mother of two who was dynamic and had a background in furniture sales, and another guy with several years of furniture sales experience, and a few others. When I walked into the storage space where they held training, and looked around at the lot of us, I couldn’t find one common thread, except for the fact that we’d all just been through the most horrific events of our lifetime within the past three weeks. Not surprisingly, that was all we needed to make a connection, build trust, and respect, and we quickly fell to good times, quick laughs, and figuring out this post-September 11 world together.

Life immediately perked up. Having friends to laugh with made all the difference in the world, even if it was just sitting around the tables at the store, waiting for customers to walk in. I started going to dinner with co-workers after work, and even kept in touch with my manager from my last job. My friend Jennifer arrived in Dallas around this point, and we found time to grab dinner as often as possible.

And then, towards the end of training and October, that guy with several years of furniture and sales experience asked little ol’ me to go to a pool party with a rather unfortunate Halloween theme. I’m not going to tell you what the specific theme was, but I can tell you it involved purple zoot suits for the men and that I can’t remember a single female in attendance participating in the women’s suggested costume. I wore something from Harold’s, no doubt: little black dress or the like. Halloween costumes weren’t in the budget.

After that, the nice guy and I started hanging out. Dallas got a bit more friendly, and that nice guy’s friends in the scary zoot suits turned out to be the nicest people in the world with the worst Halloween fashion sense ever. It turned out I was pretty good at selling furniture, and that I was pretty good at getting dates. The older gals at the store started setting me up with their decorating clients (single guys in Dallas hire decorators, turns out) and friends, and I started to have a really good time, building a tiny community of people whom I still call dear friends.

By April of 2002, however, the enchantment had worn off. I was tired of working nights and weekends, and while I had totally developed a crush on that nice guy, he wasn’t interested in returning the affection, and was going to be leaving the store to take on another job at the end of April. The unity that we’d all felt after the impact of 9/11 had faded. One of our teammates couldn’t make her numbers, and was let go. Another leader in the store was moving to California. A third co-worker and friend had been fired, and none of us knew why. Yet another guy was transitioning to the real estate world. There had been some drama in the back office, and they had hired a really annoying new sales lady who made it very clear from day one that she disapproved of and disliked me a great deal. My apartment lease was coming to an end, and that was the only push I needed to decide to wrap things up and head back up north, move in with my parents, and try to figure out where life was going to take me next.

My mom came down to help me pack, and I emptied my apartment into my GMC Jimmy and said goodbye to new friends: my best friend Jennifer, who taught me the art of frugality, my friend Suzanne, who had taught me all about the traditions of Dallas living, and that really nice guy who I’d sold furniture with for nine months.

It was definitely a short chapter, and not particularly a happy one, given the shadows surrounding it, but it was a pretty important chapter, because six and a half years after October 1, 2001, I’d end up marrying that really nice guy with the crazy zoot suit friends.

I said my goodbyes, and hit I-35 to head back to Oklahoma, my family, and back to the only job I’d ever know outside of furniture: selling wedding invitations at a stationery store.

Side note: he doesn’t look very happy in that picture, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t unhappy. He’s one of the happiest guys I know, still! It’s one of the only early pictures I have of us, unfortunately. Cell phone cameras hadn’t been invented yet. How weird is that?

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AMBER HOUSLEY: Inspired

by Whitney on April 24, 2013

When people ask me what the secret to my early success was, there are always a few different things that pop into my head. I’ve never stopped to make a list, but lately, I’ve felt like I should make a list of what worked, and what didn’t. That’s been rolling around in my head as an idea, and it’s probably time to take some action on it. I think it would be an interesting reflective exercise, maybe even a blog series.

One thing that I will resoundingly claim as a factor that aided in early success was this: I SHOWED UP. Hell or high water, rain or snow, I made an appearance. Tradeshows, industry alliance meetings, local entrepreneurial forums, conferences, workshops, shindigs, and parties: I was there. Literally, I have showed up by every form of transportation except boat: bus, train, car, and air. In fact one of my most awesome feelings in the history of ever was me, walking through the Denver airport in a pair of great looking jeans and a stellar pair of Prada heels. It was a quiet moment, in the middle of a long travel day, and I was booking it: on a mission from one place to the next, in an exhilarating moment. I felt like I was smack dab in the middle of INCREDIBLE.

I guess you could call me a conference junkie.

So it’s no surprise that I now consider Amber Housley to be a kindred spirit. We attended Alt Summit together this past January, and I can’t imagine a better roommate or conference buddy. We loved the exchange of ideas, the interaction with all sorts of new friends and other creatives. She’s the one who pushed me and supported me to have the Authenticate workshop in Nashville, and there is no doubt about the fact that I will forever be tracing the mark of Amber’s influence in my life. She cares. (She even let me have an ugly cry!) When people care, they change you. Isn’t that amazing?

Amber was so supportive in helping me with Authenticate in Nashville, and now I’m nothing but elated to return the favor as she hosts AMBER HOUSLEY: Inspired in Nashville this coming August. She was precious to ask me to speak and share my insights suggestions for living authentically, and I was delighted to oblige! I’m so stinking excited that I’ll get to attend one of her AH Inspired workshops!

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But here is the thing I most excited about: when I saw the speaker lineup, I FLIPPED. I’m not kidding, ya’ll. If I wasn’t speaking, I wouldn’t wait TWO MINUTES before registering. If you don’t follow (or stalk) other creative entrepreneurs, let me be the one to tell you: this batch of women is PHENOMENAL. Amber has rounded up the best of the best, and is putting them all in one intimate setting on August 1st and 2nd. Ten incredible women will be on hand and willing to share with you the insights into how they built their businesses, what they did right, what they did wrong, and what they’d do again. Forget the fact that I’m tickled to be speaking beside them; I’m tickled just to be able to get to sit in the same room with them and learn from them!

Let’s do a quick run down, just so you can hear how I read this off in my head. Literally, get ready. This is a stream of consciousness. Michelle Loretta? I think she loves worksheets as much as I do! Maybe she’ll have worksheet handouts! Amy Flurry, what a cute headshot! Boxwood hedge background? How could I not love her? Yes, we must meet. Cathy Olson, OMG, I think she might share my nerdy fascination with code. We ALSO must meet. Jessica Bishop, love that girl. Love her heart. Can’t wait to hug her neck. RACHEL SHINGLETON, girl who GETS me? Yes, we both live in OKC, but it’s this creative conference thing that binds us. We don’t hang out in OKC enough. Mental note to call her. Jess Lively. OMG. I totally embarrassed myself in front of her at Alt Summit. Walked up to introduce myself and was so exhausted I don’t even think I finished my sentence. Hopefully she’s forgiving. And how stylish! I love stylish people. And Jessica Turner, met her at Alt Summit, too, and she spoke on a panel about monetizing your blog. Savvy chick, I should get to know her better. And darling legal mind, Heather Crabtree, whom I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know better the past couple of months, I can’t wait to see what her insights into a successful creative business are. Oh my gosh, I must text Amber NOW. This is amazing. She is amazing! What an amazing opportunity for other creatives!

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I’m done gushing.

I’d like to personally invite you to join me at AMBER HOUSLEY: Inspired 2013, a business and lifestyle summit for creative women entrepreneurs. For more information, check out http://www.amberhousleyinspired.com

If you’re on the fence about going, don’t be. The AH Inspired workshop is an INCREDIBLE value (and I’m all about value these days–pinching pennies over here!) There are only 40 seats available, and there is going to be tons of face to face time to interact with each speaker. To make the opportunity even sweeter, Amber is even offering an early bird rate! You can register today at the early bird rate of $729 (ends June 15, 2013): http://www.amberhousleyinspired.com/register

And if you want to check out some of the thoughts that previous women have left inspired with, check out the film announcing this year’s inspired! I’ll confess I got a little bit choked up watching this, but then again, nothing makes me happier than seeing other creative entrepreneurs step out and reach for their dreams. https://vimeo.com/63428817

I’m not kidding when I say that if you’re a creative entrepreneur, I’d love to meet you at AMBER HOUSLEY: Inspired this August! Please join us!

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Where Were You On September 11?

April 11, 2013

Energy was positive. I was bustling around my apartment in Dallas, getting ready for the day. In a few minutes, I would walk outside to my 1994 burgundy GMC Jimmy and head eleven miles south, into the heart of the design district. There, for nineteen more days, I would be employed at a small furniture [...]

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Positives & Progress

April 5, 2013

“Give me three things positive about life in general lately,” he asked. It’s the same question I’ve heard almost every three weeks for a year and a half now. I twizzled my hair and staired aimlessly around the room, maybe trying to find something my eyes could land on that would suffice as an answer, [...]

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How Vision Relates to Purpose

March 20, 2013

How Vision Relates To Purpose from Whitney English on Vimeo.

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The Process of Finding Purpose

March 18, 2013

The Process of Finding Purpose from Whitney English on Vimeo.

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A Video Follow-Friday & Authenticate Workshop Update!

March 15, 2013

A Video Follow Friday! from Whitney English on Vimeo. To register for the Authenticate Workshop in Nashville, go to http://authenticate.eventbrite.com. There will be two separate workshops: one on Wednesday, April 17th and then another on Thursday, April 18th.

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