Personal Writing: First Sunday Letter

Hi there. Hullo. Howdy. Hola. Whitney here, guys. Not Whitney and the team on this one, just Whitney.

Hello. I’ve been wanting to write to you for a while.

I’ll offer the standard apologies: Life gets in the way. It’s a lame excuse, but you know what I mean. We’re pretty good at filling our days, no? I’d blame the chaos on the kids, but a lot of you don’t have kids, and you STILL know what I mean. There’s the caring for parents, neighbors, friends, pets. House projects, car problems, things we promised someone we’d do. I thought the pandemic would slow us down. But we’ve sped up.

Allow me to be frank: I’m tired of it. The speed. The hurry. The haste. I’m ready for change. And I have so many thoughts about this. This letter is not the place to share those thoughts. There will be time enough for that in the future. The purpose of writing you today is to tell you to expect more of this: the writing. The letters to you.

I’m excited about this. Here’s sort of what I’m envisioning: throughout my week, I’m going to take copious notes. I always journal, but I will write with you in mind. I’ll be looking for things that I think might interest you: how I’m planning, what I’ve done to the house, maybe something interesting I read or learned. I usually share this type of thing at the moment, over on Instagram, but that’s contributing to the unsustainable speed issue.

Instead, I’ll compile all this by Thursday evening. I’ll send it to Emily, Madame President of Whitney English Company, who manages our marketing and email list. She’ll do a final edit, approval, and set it up to send out to you all on Sunday. When you receive this, I’ll be collecting stories and thoughts for the next Sunday newsletter.

My mom always said I was good at gilding lilies, so of course, I have an idea about how we can make a “newsletter” amazing. We’ll start with voice: I’ll be here, involved, and you’ll get my thoughts and words. Then, maybe we’ll move to graphics: a beautiful header? Some symmetrical formatting? I’ll pull out my rusty HTML skills and see if those even work anymore. And then, there will be the images: photographs, drawings? Like a good ol’ fashioned blog, ya know? We’ll layer those in until we have a gorgeous Sunday newsletter that you can’t wait to read.

It will take time. That’s why I’m telling you now. Rome wasn’t built in a day, guys! Consistency has always been my number one battle. Creativity, on the other hand, I have an infinite supply. Rather than wait till a project is perfect for presentation, I would prefer to share the behind-the-scenes with you, tell you what I’m imagining, and bring you along for the journey.

There are so many small stories I want to tell you. Things I think about myself and the world around us, the stuff that’s happened and happening in my life. Stories are powerful. They change us.  This format is a bit different, but every time I’ve leaned into different, I’ve learned something that’s led to better. Let’s lean into that.

For the people who were REALLY following on IG and have a ton of questions about things I usually talk about over there.

• Thinking: Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by those doing it.
• Buying: Colorfulkoala leggings on Amazon. Or, “leggins” as I mistakenly typed, just now, before correcting myself.
• Watching: Maid on Netflix. Thought provoking. Made me realize how hard some people have it. Really brought out the compassion and empathy emotions, and I’m ok with that.
• Listening: My October Spotify playlist. I’ve been curating these playlists for several years now, and really upped my compilation game this summer. Each month contains a variety of genres: some new, some old, some fun, some slow. I’m constantly editing them and they’re really becoming great mixes.
• Eating: Daily Harvest. Subscription. Flatbreads, bowls, and smoothies. Gluten free and organic.
• Learning: I once read an article about how Oprah was trusted because she didn’t receive money to endorse her “favorite things” list. I’ve always had a hard time being an “influencer”. I want to be a trusted voice. Transparency comes into play here. More on that in the future. Oh, and TikTok. Really made some progress there this week. (ha!)
• Scrolling: Really, not much. I’ve been watching a bunch of YouTube videos for various creative projects I’ve been attempting around the house. If you want to know how to rewire a lamp or felt an elephant head, I’m your girl.
• Looking forward to: getting the house ready for Christmas.
• Planning: our family’s holiday season!
• Designing: Two full houses. One is about 3/4 done, and the other is about to begin. Two totally different styles and clients but they’ve both been great!
• Selling: My space in Mockingbird Manor had a great last month! And you guys are LOVING our monthly Planner Palooza sales! Look for more in the future!
• Shopping: In the market for a Breville oven, since we’re about to demo our kitchen. Craigslist is the new FB marketplace? TBD.

See you next Sunday.

xo,
Whitney

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