The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, Some Thoughts & A Winner!
The Good
Monday, I got to visit with a dear friend who is an amazing mover and shaker in the PR world. She’s dynamite. The meeting was quick, but good grief, I love her.
Tuesday I was lucky enough to have lunch with Rachel Shingleton. She presented in her freshly coiffed new ‘do, resplendent in the rainbow of colors she wears in life. In a whirlwind-paced conversation that could probably only be followed by another creative, we jumped over a million topics: the pains of producing personalized goods, what to do with off-product and holiday season, how her pop-up shop planning was going, a bit of Stationery Academy, a bit of Authenticate & Day Designer. She’s speaking at AltSummit, did you know? How smashing is that? Love that girl.
It must have been a week for friends and lunching, because Wednesday was with Erin Conrad. Erin and I date back to the fifth grade, when she showed up to class in a primary-colored scotty dog sweater and matching hair bow. I was jealous of the matchiness of it all, and unbeknownst to me at the time, would also soon find myself jealous of her rather extensive hair bow collection. It was grosgrain heaven, something E wouldn’t be caught dead in these days. Wednesday, she showed up at lunch with her gorgeous ombre curls and we talked about living an extraordinary life. As I pulled away from lunch, I knew that if E didn’t have a darling husband to go home to, and I didn’t have a darling husband and three darling babies to tend to, that we would have hit the open road to California that afternoon. Maybe someday, E.
The Bad
Thursday started to pull me downhill. Thursday I just ended the day discouraged. Too many bills, not enough time or money. I had a MAJOR brainstorm on Thursday afternoon, and found myself discouraged at the sheer momentum that it would require just to execute. The day ended up on a up-note, however, with a round-up of my favorite female entrepreneurs local to Oklahoma City. I’m the member of a group we affectionately call Posse, because that’s what it is–a group of amazing women who have each others’ backs. It’s actually a pretty exclusive group, and I’m honored to be able to hang with these women.
The Ugly
Friday was rough. There was Crazy Legal Thing #1, Crazy Legal Thing #2, Financial Issue #3, and Financial Issue #4. The culmination of these things on one day felt like too much to bear, and the day ended with a sober conversation between hubs and I last night. Let’s just leave that there, ok? These are reality things. I don’t want to avoid them on this blog, but heavens, I don’t want to really talk about them, ya know? Besides, there are children starving in Africa, right? Keep it in perspective, Whitney.
Some Thoughts
I live life as a fearless experiment. David pointed out to me last night that I live like I cook. If there is a recipe for a meal, I never use the recipe. The recipe is just a framework of rules that were meant to be bent, not broken, in my opinion. If there is a framework for living life, it’s just that: a framework. There’s no hard and fast rule for doing anything.
This morning hit me with a few additional brainstorms. Be glad you don’t live in my head, seriously. It’s a little distracting at times. I have TWO new product launches for the Etsy store next week, some surprises ready for January launch, and a couple more big brainstorms that I just have to decide if I have the time for.
And on that note, let me announce the winner for the Day Designer! The winner is…comment #142! Joelle, from Something Charming, you win! Contact support@whitneyenglish.com and your Day Designer will ship ASAP!
Really and truly, love you all. Thanks for your encouragement, for reading this little old blog, and for cheering me on along the way. It means more than you know.
xoxo,
Whitney
Whitney,
How you do all you do is something else! My husband and I just started reading your blog and I believe we found you by the hand of God. You speak to us on many levels and for that I am very thankful. I hope you will continue to see how you are being used in your own family and many other families. During this busy Thanksgiving week please remember the word perspective and know that is sometimes all we need when we are struggling. I love this message that is so well written in The Noticer by Andy Andrews. I hope you will take a look at this little book because it speaks daily to me and I believe you would love it too.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family,
Beverly
Beverly, thank you for the sweet words. Your comment came in at the perfect time–one of those moments when you feel like nothing you do matters. I’m so glad that you find it encouraging! I’ll look up The Noticer. Thanks for the rec!
Warmly,
Whitney
Loved reading this. I’m just up the turnpike from you but reading this feels like a snippet of my up and down rollercoaster creative brain life. It was depressing, uplifting and exhilarating at the same time. Aren’t we lucky to have such wonderful husband’s for support? Sometimes the world makes it a little harder on us living without a recipe – but it’s also so much more rewarding!
For me, the most unsettling thing is the wonderful ideas and potential without time or energy to execute. All those other issues are just the things that get in the way, but you’ll work them out. God bless and thank you for sharing!
I think you are amazing , creative & generous with your knowledge, my hope is you make a small fortune on your Day Planner, it’s brilliant;)