What Really Matters in 2014
Earlier this week, I posted this to Instagram:
I was hesitant to post it, but it was one of those things that came from my heart. I was sitting there, reflecting on 2013, and these were the things that echoed in my head. They kept coming back to me, loud and clear, and even though they’re not goals, per say, I felt compelled to write them down and share them.
And ya’ll liked them. A LOT. In fact, you liked them more than anything I’ve posted ever. It has been a rather surreal past few days, and today the picture got picked up by a celebrity, and it traveled even further. (Honestly, I’m kicking myself for not having the photo watermarked, or not having a copyright statement on there, but I also understand that that’s the blessing and curse of social media. Lesson learned: watermark original content going forward.)
But these are the things that truly are my heart:
- Saying thank you early and often. It’s not one of those things you can overdo, in my opinion.
- Living organized. No more “getting organized” or “staying organized”. Organization is a lifestyle, and it’s one this family is going to embrace. NOW.
- Family adventures. Because adventures are the best way to learn. I have friends that tell me I’m crazy when I say I think about homeschooling sometimes, but then I try to explain that I really just want to do crazy adventure homeschool and live on boats and sail around the world and teach my kids to love to read and explore and find the beauty in all the cultures the world has to offer.
- Celebrating successes earned. A mentor told me the other day, “You don’t deserve it, but you have earned it.” The lesson is to drop the guilt, and accept the fact that you worked your tail off and you have earned the right to smile about that mountaintop moment.
- And basically, say thank you some more. Grace is getting things we don’t deserve. Mercy is being saved from the things we do deserve. All of it is an amazing gift. Say thank you for that daily.
- While you’re smiling, tell other people why they’re awesome. Compliment lavishly.
- Fill your house with crayons and construction paper and glue sticks and ribbon and glitter. Try to make as big a mess as possible with all of this, as soon as your kids are old enough to not eat the glue. This is high on my 2014 priority list.
- Print the pictures, people. I don’t have any recommendations for a photo printing service yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do. I’m thinking about getting three copies of everything and then just starting boxes for each of the kids. (Note to self: look for photo printing sale at various online photo printing providers.)
- Make your house a home. I’ve got a lot of news on this coming up. I’ve been working with Holly Mathis for a year now, and she’s really encouraged me to tell my story of our home. It’s a blessed story, for sure, because the honest to goodness truth is that we don’t spend that much on our home. But I’ve really fallen in love with decorating it this year, and Holly thinks the Internet would like to see more. So that’s on my to-do list, too.
That’s all friends. Have a beautiful day and a blessed weekend!
Really like these! Sad that someone tried to steal them…seems a little weird to steal someone elses goals for the year? :/ I love this time of year, everyone is so encouraged and excited. I hope it can carry through for the whole 365 days ! 😀 Good luck!
xx
Lauren M
Make it a Double
I don’t think someone “stole” it…as they found it the be inspirational and wanted to share it with others. A kind of “pay it forward” and a reminder of what truly matters in the world.
I love your heart and love your intentions for this year. It’s a lifestyle and a way of living with purpose, intention and passion. To me, it’s the belief that nothing is an accident and seeing the purpose of each day and each possession. (In regards to making a house a home.) With we could travel this year together in closer proximity to each other because I know that I’m going to learn so much from you by watching your journey. Thank you for sharing.
I love this! One idea instead of printing individual photos — I make a big family album each year with all of our best photos (I use Blurb to design and print it), and I order one copy for us as a family and one copy for each of my two girls. I want them to one day have all the photo books that tell the stories of their lives, and by spending a few hours each night for a few weeks to make the album (almost 200 pages for 2013 so far!), all of the photos are organized in that year’s album. My older daughter (she’s 2 and a half) LOVES to look at our albums, and it really helps her learn people and remember what we do. I would definitely recommend the annual family album for having your pictures for each child… and yourself too!
Love this! I am doing a Shutterfly album like you mentioned. 2013 is my first doing so and throughout the year as events have taken place I work on those pages so it’s all in chronological order. Wish I would have started sooner…my boys are 12 & 13 now 🙁
I love these goals and intentions! I wanted to comment about the pictures – framed pictures is one of my favorite things in my home and so many of my favorite ones are captured on my iPhone. The Walgreens app changed my life this year! You can upload and print to your nearest Walgreens directly from your phone. They are usually ready within in hour. It has made it so easy for me to frame moments that would otherwise sit in my camera roll. 🙂
Love, love, love them all Whitney. You are an inspiration to me as always! Love you girl.
I’m so happy to have found your blog. Your positivity and creativity are inspiring and beautiful 🙂 Can’t wait to see what you share with us in 2014
I am a new follower thanks to Blue-Eyed Bride. Love all of your goals, but the picture printing really hit home. Yesterday I started printing from last fall :/ Going to catch up and stay that way, because our photos are important to me, and because it’s one less thing hanging over my head.
Oh Whitney! I ask myself how can someone be so poor of mind and unable to write their own thoughts down. This is really a shame, since the ones you wrote were YOURS! So sad indeed.
And I do love the thoughts and the post! You’re always so inspiring and precious. Found the advice of printing the photos very important too. I’m not doing this for so long and have lots of files on computer that I really should/would get printed.
Thank you for everything and happy weekend!
So, as you know I am on the “printing pics” bandwagon too and the amount of people that emailed me after getting our card tells me they too are feeling the disadvantage of the easy peasy iphone pic world too and plan to print away in 2014. So, I say NO to the Shutterfly and Blurb books as your main photo albums, yet I adore them and purchase them as well as auxiliary keepsakes. Look at it this way (or at least how my childhood was)- I longed to sit on the couch and pull out the old, plastic-looking photo albums that were bellowing with too many Kodak pictures of moments that will be forever ingrained in my heart. However, if that same book would have had the pictures printed on the pages (vs slipped in the little plastic pockets) with a fancy schmancy full bleed cover or better yet a glossy jacket I would not have been as inclined to get up close and personal, thumb through with only the patience and attention for the tiniest details that only a child displays. I would have been focused on the pages, how on earth the images got in the book, all the while hoping I wouldn’t tear this said fancy book. So long story short – print pics and fill one book, at least one- old school style. With real pics and put it out so your kids can see it, relive it and then decide if it was worth the extra steps. Something tells me I know the answer to this already 😉 I cannot wait to see what you put together for your own sweet littles. xo
I love Mpix.com to print photos.
Are you familiar with Becky Higgins’ Project Life? Even if you “only” printed pictures and put them into her divided page protectors, you’d have an awesome family record. I’m also a HUGE fan of Artifact Uprising – their photo book printing is spectacular.
I agree with Holly! I love seeing pictures of homes and I’ve only seen glimpses of yours on Istagram, but I loved it all. Happy New Year!
As far as printing pictures, I’ve heard good things about Mpix. I plan on doing Project Life albums for each of my girls then doing a family album through Blurb. Printing pics is one of my goals this year too!
Hi Whitney!
As for printing pictures I recommend Project Life by Becky Higgins! Its a great EASY way to get pictures out of boxes and into albums.
Thanks!