Happy Friday, friends! They closed the courthouse for the morning, and I think the roads will be much better for this afternoon. What a grueling 2.5-day work week this will be. ;-)
Thanksgiving and Christmas 2024 were closer together than usual, and there are always so many fun parties and events that go by fast through the holiday season! I love the details and feel like little things tend to get overlooked when life is really full, so I'm taking a minute to slow down and recap a few things through the holiday season today...
Here's Mom and Dad at Justin and Anna's dining table after the big family Thanksgiving dinner! ❤ Mom has Jace's discarded hoodie wrapped around her for extra warmth. lol
The fam came by to see my house on Black Friday before our Red Robin lunch. The Whitaker boys always love this couch in my bedroom, the "cotton candy couch" according to them! =)
Quick pic with Chet and Karli outside Mission BBQ after Parker's ballet!
The cutest little feisty mouse from The Nutcracker!
Submitting my final CCU assignment (a paper on leadership)... I waited for the family dinner so it wouldn't feel alone and anticlimactic. lol
Professional photos by Amy... YAY!
I'm thankful for these women and our time together at CCU, and I'm so happy we have these photos to commemorate that!! I told Chet and Sarah we're doing a legit photo shoot (with them and their families) for our Golden Friendiversary next December, and I'm quite serious about that. ❤
JEM + the Wilsons and Bradleys singing fun Christmas carols at Chet's 4th Annual Child-Free Bougie Charcuterie Board Party! lol
Kristin Michelle and I by the tree... they came by on December 15th (the official last day of class) to celebrate the official end of my grad school season, which meant a lot to me!!
Fun with Rach and Kyndal Faith (this was at Quail Springs mall the day before our Tulsa road trip)!
My 5k jog at Lake Hefner... probably my favorite training run thus far - the weather and the lakeside sunset view were fantastic, and I pushed myself and felt really good about it!
Hogie ❤
(Sapulpa Christmas Chute - photo by Chet - could corgi puppies BE any cuter!?)
Kudos to Dad and Jace for looking at the right camera. lol
This pic makes me very happy!! ❤
Lunch with Mom at the Moore Chicken Salad Chick on our party prep day (12-27).
❤ Parker E joining the fam! (minus Dad and T, who didn't come for this year's party)
Parker being the very cutest while toasting in the new year!
The ladies behind us had super-fun pink and gold balloons, so this = me deliberately getting that in the background of our Bow Bridge pic at Central Park!!
I was hoping to recreate the giant syrup bottle pic from 2010 but couldn't find any so this had to suffice.
This = why I chose the S'mores Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity later that night!! I want s'more! ;-)
On a far more serious note, this was the only artifact you could touch at the 9/11 Museum, a 10-ton piece of steel recovered from the collapsed buildings. The tour guide encouraged us to touch it and to work together to try to lift it (which was obviously quite impossible)... but he used that to emphasize the magnitude and difficulty of a cleanup project involving 180,000+ tons of HEAVY metal and debris surrounded by semi-toxic dust. It made things click in a new way in my mind, so I appreciated that!
The 360-degree-view from the One World Observatory is epic and very worth the visit!!
Verse outside of Trinity Church. ❤
The Miss K's unicorn drawing at our last family dinner! ❤
My backyard this morning. ❤
An appropriate winter season meme and an illustration of being deeply rooted that I love!
Shifting gears a bit, this was a fun-filled and food-filled holiday season!! I'm honestly surprised that I haven't gained back any weight (likely thanks to the consistent increase in exercise), but I haven't lost any lately either. More importantly, I haven't been taking care of myself in a way that makes me feel good and proud. I have zero regrets about enjoying fun foods during vacations and holiday parties, but there were also plenty of solo, stress-based or apathy-based sugary snacks that have had a negative impact on my sleep, mindset, blood sugar, physical endurance, and overall health. I'm seeing that more clearly, which is a gift in itself. I'm genuinely not far from where I want to be at this point, but staying on the right trajectory is VITAL! Thanks to having a clear plan and checklist, I've done very well with my marathon training workouts, but exercise alone is not enough. One way or another, the season of life ahead holds a lot of transition and potential for stress, which means I will crave all the familiar comfort foods... but my mind, body, soul, spirit, and circle of influence would all benefit greatly from me making consistent, healthy nutrition choices!! So today is prep day for a body kindness reset tomorrow - taking responsibility and buying some healthier foods, restarting the CGM tracking, and printing out a food game plan and habit-forming checklist for the marathon training months ahead!
That's all for today.
I love you and believe in you,
and I hope you take care of yourself and have a fun and beautiful weekend ahead!!
because it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer."
~I Timothy 4:4-5
Today, I am thankful for:
1. A heartfelt and encouraging message from Annie about living an abundant life in Christ as we run our unique race with perseverance! ...I'm always grateful for her leadership and example as a sincere Christian and a thriving single woman!
2. Judge Brockman treating Doris and I to lunch at Rosa Mezcal (a new Mexican restaurant on Main Street in Norman) on our first day of work in this new year... we had a good talk about future plans and how God opens and closes the right doors for us in life! This = my salad and the cool murals on their outside patio area. ❤
3. Having a FB friendship with my former Compassion child now that she's a beautiful adult - I love being able to continue to encourage and support her in life and love seeing her thriving lately, and I was surprised/grateful to see myself in her story on people she is praying for today! ❤
4. Starting my new year off with an awesome trip to one of my fav cities, and getting a grateful text from Triston this morning! ❤
5. Playing an entertaining new game at our family dinner Tuesday night... thankful for quality time together and laughing with all the fam! ❤
6. Earning my "Millennium Club" milestone with Peloton strength workouts!! #strongereveryday (I got up for a 5:30am class hoping for a shoutout, but no such luck. lol) Sadly I'm starting to get sick right now, but for the record, I'm very grateful to be fully caught up on my Marathon training workouts after completing a 30-minute ride, an hour of strength classes, and a 4-mile walk/jog yesterday!!
7. A great talk with Kristin Michelle over a delicious lasagna dinner at Benvenuti's (an Italian place I've wanted to try on Main Street that opens at 5pm, so I can't have it for lunch). Also grateful for being able to wear several of my cute coats from yesteryear again! =)
Bonus: Being off work for today! Our courthouse was already going to be closed for President Carter's funeral, but it's also our first real snow day in a while and I'm feeling sick-ish, so I'm freaking delighted and thankful to watch the lovely snow from the safe-and-cozy indoors and have a sleeping-in + movie-watching and blogging kind of day!! ❤
Stay safe out there, friends, and Happy Thursday!!
My oldest nephew, Triston Michael, joined me for a long weekend trip to New York City, my fifth trip and his first NYC experience!! #getexcited
Quick Note: We both had fun, although you can't tell by some of the pictures. I resorted to more selfies and solo pics than usual since T didn't quite appreciate my bright-and-fun, excitable tourist vibes and posing for several photos. lol But in spite of the lack of smiles, he says he had a great time and loved the city and could see himself living there eventually (I could see that for him too), so I'm glad for that!!
After much Cyber Monday searching, I booked our stay at the Tempo Hotel by Hilton in the heart of the Theater District - their staff was helpful, the lounge and breakfast area was fun, our 30th floor room was really nice, and we had a great view of Times Square - highly recommend! ❤
Pics with a story: (Left) - we flew American Airlines, and they gave us these Biscoff cookies... it immediately reminded me of having the same free snack during my first flight ever (via American Airlines) with Babah, who flew with me to Dallas and back all in one day just so I could get used to being on an airplane before our long Hawaii flight. I remember her telling me that she'd been on a lot of great trips, but one place she wished she'd gotten to see was New York City... so it made me think of her whilst enjoying the cookies and feel even more blessed and grateful that this was my fifth time visiting the city. ❤ (Right) - Mom was feeling very concerned about our safety and talking about the high crime rates and how we needed to avoid the subway at all costs and be extra cautious in NYC. I prayed over our trip and intentionally looked for good and kind people, and I found SO MANY OF THEM. Sincerely, this was the least aggressive NYC has ever felt to me, so my comfort level there has gone up a lot! I sent Mom this pic on our first night of this guy with a verse on his hoodie, just to jokingly reassure her that there are, in fact, good people around in NYC! She texted back "He's def a tourist." lol
We arrived around 11:30 on Friday and got to our hotel around 12:30. We walked a block over to Junior's for lunch then went to Central Park and walked all around there for a couple hours!! It has long been my favorite place in New York City, so spending some extra time there with no set schedule or agenda was really nice!! ❤
We saw Bow Bridge (above), the Cherry Hill Fountain (claimed to be the fountain from the Friends theme song), the "Arcade" with the cool ceiling where Talhia and Kevin got married, and the lovely Bethesda fountain pictured below, although I didn't have the nerve to step into it this time.
Without planning it, I'm wearing the exact same coat doing the same pose at the same fountain 15 years later! ...The pictured friendship has changed *just a bit* ...but it makes me happy knowing Chet Lee took the pic on the right.
We grabbed dinner at Chipotle (I know, lame and not unique to NYC, but we were hungry and cold and exhausted from lots of walking, and it was close and sounded good)... then took an Uber to Grand Central Station, which T-man was interested in seeing as the entire second floor is a huge Apple store and Genius Bar. It was fun being there again, and I quickly realized that the last time I was there was literally 20 years back when JMM and I visited Holly Dei and we took the train from Yale (in New Haven, CT) to NYC to watch Mamma Mia on Broadway!! NYC really holds a plethora of good and bad memories from very different seasons of my life... the summer 1998 family road trip, 2005 college weekend with Josh and Holly, 2010 Christmas trip with Chet and Malori, summer 2017 with Mom & Dad + Bill & Jill, and now this New Year trip with Triston).
We had an early morning flight and went to bed unusually early on Friday. We grabbed breakfast at our hotel lounge on Saturday then met our USA Guided Tour group at 9am in Times Square just a couple blocks down from our hotel! It was a 6-hour tour that hit several of the major NYC highlights. Our tour guide, Jimmy Hoffman, was entertaining and full of fun facts that brought life and meaning to the things we were driving by in NYC. "Fuhgeddaboutit!" We stopped for photos of the Empire State Building and the big tree at Rockefeller Center (so happy that was still up - they took it down yesterday)!!
"That's White Star Line property!!" ...As we drove by this seemingly random spot on the Hudson River line, Jimmy told us this is the where the Titanic would have docked and where they actually brought the survivors in April of 1912, and that you can see "White Star Line" faintly written on these beams. AMAZING - I was definitely more excited to hear that factoid than anyone else in our tour group! lol
The group stopped at the Liberty Market food hall where Triston and I split a delicious pizza for lunch, an NYC classic! We all stopped to see the South Tower Reflecting Pool ❤ then took the Staten Island Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Our tour guide was great and led us to a secret spot at the back of the boat where it was less crowded and great for photos. It was super windy and below freezing outside (felt like 13 degrees), so we came back in after taking a few pictures!
After the tour, Triston went back to the hotel room to chill and relax for a bit (#letthem) whilst I talked to Mom and Rach about Kyndal's Redland Rendezvous v-ball tournament and FaceTimed Jaceman and galivanted around the nearby souvenir shops, M&M store, Hershey World, etc. (#letme). This = me keeping our cheesy M&M picture tradition going strong! lol
Jace Michael: "So did y'all get to see the Home Alone hotel!?"
Me: "Yeah, it's called The Plaza. We drove by it and saw it by Central Park, but it's only open to residents and they don't let you just come in to look around the lobby!"
Jace: "What!? Go back and tell them you're checking in for McCallister!!" LOL
We had dinner reservations at Serendipity 3 that night, which brought back vivid Vegas memories for me!! Great atmosphere and fantastic food! We both got the frozen hot chocolate (something they're known for)... and it was one of many times I wished we'd had a third person there who was willing to eat after people. T and I both avoid that, and we both had approximately a third or less of our $20 drinks.
I texted Chettles a pic when I saw the infamous Forbidden Broadway Sundae on their menu! He mentioned that it has doubled in price since 2010, which is ridiculous but not overly shocking! lol
After Junior's on Day 1, we walked to the Gershwin Theater box office and got what they claimed were the only 2 remaining tickets together for the Saturday night show of Wicked (4th row center). Crazy expensive, but the musical was great, and I had never seen it on Broadway before. Also, Mary Kate Morrisey (good friend of Annie F. Downs) played the lead role of Elphaba, so realizing that was fun for me!
Speaking of Junior's, we stopped at the Brooklyn location (equally close to our hotel) and grabbed some of New York's best cheesecake to bring back to our hotel room (#3023). T-man had literally never tried cheesecake before, so his expectations are now set too high for other restaurants. lol He got apple crumb and I got the pineapple, and it was delicious!
He was suddenly full of energy around 11pm and talked about staying out till 3am, but alas, NYC is not Vegas, and there's really nothing safe and appropriate that's open for us to do past midnight. We walked back into Times Square for their Midnight Moment - something he'd learned about on TikTok and I'm happy to know about now - what I'm deeming the NYC version of the midnight fountain show in Vegas. All the screens of Times Square become a unified digital art exhibition from 11:57 pm to midnight every night. (A fantastic idea that they could do so many cool things with, but what they actually did was fairly disappointing compared to what I'd expected - hopefully they'll continue to revamp and improve on it!!) I did love that there was still colorful confetti on the street from the massive New Year's Eve party four nights before!! ❤
The fun countdown video at the beginning of my slideshow below was from the Midnight Moment in Times Square, then it was 3 minutes of animated birds... lamesauce.
Sunday was our final day there. Again, we started with breakfast at the Highball Lounge in our hotel, then checked out and stored our luggage with them... then we Uber'd to the 9/11 Memorial Museum. During our tour on day 2, Jimmy pointed out this globe sculpture that was partially crushed and folded in on top, explaining that it survived in between the two towers on 9/11 - so amazing - I love stuff like that! #resilience And I was happy to see a photo of it pre-9/11 attack as we entered the museum!!
This whole experience was profound. I am so grateful we did the guided museum tour and that they were flexible on the schedule as we were later than expected - our tour guide was exceptional and put so much heart into it! This museum is underground between the foundation of both reflecting pools (wouldn't have known that on my own), so the wall pictured below stretches from one pool to the other, connecting the north and south towers with this display - there is a unique shade of blue on every single sheet of paper, one for each person killed in the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The letters in the quote you see are filled in with melted-down metal from the World Trade Center rubble. And behind this wall is The Repository, where the remains of unidentified victims (40% of all the 9/11 victims were unable to be positively identified) are preserved by the Chief Medical Examiner. It's a place where their families can come to mourn them, the closest thing many of them will ever have to a tomb... seriously, very sobering and well done. Probably my favorite thing we saw at the museum, but that is not a short list.
A 9/11 sculpture on the left, and right is "the last column" - still rooted to the original foundation and much bigger than they initially realized when they started trying to dig it out - they put an American flag on top and it was the final thing to be removed from Ground Zero... signed by many of the firemen, rescue workers, and cleanup crew!!! ❤
We watched a short film featuring President GW Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Rudy Giuliani, and more talking about their experience of 9/11. (Triston obviously didn't live through it as he was born in 2007, but he's watched several documentaries about 9/11 and also appreciated seeing the museum.)
From there, we took a short walk over to One World Trade Center, aka The Freedom Tower, and went to the observatory at the top... the very best views of NYC!! ❤
We took a short Uber ride to Trinity Church (pictured left)... at long last, it was open and I was able to see the inside and pretend I was in National Treasure!! lol I had T take a pic of me at the Wall Street and Broadway sign because it immediately brought my mind to that movie: "Heere at the Wall" ...I may watch that again this week - truly one of my favorites!!
The beautiful auditorium inside Trinity Church (several stories above the treasure). ;-)
T was excited about Wall Street, so we walked over to the New York Stock Exchange after visiting Alexander Hamilton's grave just outside Trinity Church - the entire epitaph is fantastic: "The Corporation of Trinity Church has erected this monument in testimony of their respect for the Patriot of incorruptible integrity, the Soldier of approved valour, the Statesman of consummate wisdom, whose talents will be admired in grateful posterity long after this marble shall have mouldered into dust. He died July 12th, 1804. Aged 47." ❤
On Saturday, Jimmy recommended Los Tacos Numero Uno, so we decided to try that for lunch since it was at Chelsea Market near the Starbucks Reserve T was hoping to visit! Really good food, and reeeeally friendly/aggressive pigeons! I snapped a pic for JEM and Chet, and I'm so glad it was a live photo. lol (Reminiscent of the extra-friendly little bird at the Bellagio Pool Cafe).
T looking 100% thrilled to join me for a brisk but lovely outdoor lunch at Chelsea Market and then coffee/hot chocolate across the street at Starbucks Reserve (another new thing I learned about from him, and it was very cool)!
Fun fact: There are several Starbucks Reserve coffee bars but only six Starbucks ReserveRoasteries in the world... located in Tokyo, Shanghai, Milan, Seattle, Chicago, and NYC! The atmosphere was fun and vibrant, and the huge building and roasting process was impressive to me - and I would imagine far more so to coffee lovers, for whom they offered samples of various unique blends!
GET IT! I was so freaking happy when we drove by Peloton Studios NY on our way to the Memorial, and yes, we had just enough time for one final stop there on our way back to the hotel! Tragically, the actual studio was closed, but the retail store was open, so I got myself a pink Peloton jacket from NYC -- love it!!
So Lord willing, NYC trip #6 will include taking a live Peloton class with one of my fav coaches and seeing Hamilton on Broadway - yes, please. Driving by the Richard Rodgers Theater on our way to the airport, everything in me wanted to be in there! lol "History is happening in Manhattan, and we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world - in the GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD!!" (*Not actually the very greatest in my book, but it's grown on me exponentially, right along with Disney World. lol And the atmosphere would have to be electric in this theater with the songs about NY - I just know it!)
We had a slightly turbulent but otherwise quiet and timely nonstop flight home, arriving at my house around 10:30. Triston said he enjoyed it and thanked me for taking him, and I'm grateful it all worked out so smoothly... I spent a stupid amount of money, but Mom and Dad's Christmas gift went a long way there, and I'm full of gratitude for getting to see Trinity Church; the big tree and glittering Christmas decor; the NYE confetti and the Times Square Midnight Moment; the incredible 9/11 Museum; the Freedom Tower view; Peloton Studios NY; 4th row seats to Wicked on Broadway; visiting Grand Central Station again; taking a nice long walk through the heart of Central Park; two fantastic guided tours; and awesomesauce food from Junior's, Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Buon Cibo Pizza, Los Tacos #1, and Serendipity!!
Without further ado, here's my delightful slideshow recap of our 2025 New Year trip to NYC!! We kept hearing this Alicia Keys song in the background as we walked the streets of NYC, and it made my cheesy-tourist self happy every time!!
That's all for today, friends and fam. Looking forward to catching up with the fam over pizza tonight! I love you and believe in you, and I hope you look for beauty and goodness in the world and find it, and that you embrace joy and do something that makes you feel more alive today!!
God gives us the daily grace and endurance we need as we look to Him. This is my focus verse lately. I repeated "run with perseverance" several times in my New Year's day 10k and it had a strengthening effect!
I did a 45-minute walk today, and I'm on track with the training plan so far. I got lots of steps in during the NYC trip, but also lots of junk food and not much jogging. Back on track now, and ready to persevere through the next 15 weeks leading up to the Full!!
Today is January 6th, the Christian holiday of Epiphany that marks the official end of the Christmas season. Epiphany is defined as "the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles [as represented by the three wise men]" and/or "a moment of sudden revelation or insight."
I had a counseling session with Emily tonight. It took a while for me to get there, but I had a personal epiphany moment of God-given insight on this official day of Epiphany, so that feels worth blogging about. (I'll do an NYC trip recap tomorrow, but that will take much longer to write.)
Twice in my life, my grandmother made a negative comment about me to someone else that I overheard, then it stuck with me and grew like an infection. In her defense, neither comment was intended for my ears. And to the credit of our clever spiritual enemy, that sense of secrecy added an extra layer of shame and made her words feel truer and sharper so that they created a much deeper cut.
*Praying God will help me to be more careful and thoughtful with my words. He isn't kidding when He says "the tongue holds the power of life and death." ....That wasn't the epiphany - just something I've been thinking about lately.
Emily and I were discussing my future career path, and I mentioned looking into jobs here and not feeling sure about the idea of working with kids. She asked what was creating that sense of doubt for me, and I had a long rambling answer, during which I quickly mentioned that part of it stemmed from an offhand comment Babah made 20+ years ago telling someone I'm not good with kids. Emily's strong reaction and follow-up questions made it clear that she knew it was more important than I was letting on... which I appreciated.
She asked whether my desire to be a mom was present before that comment (yes) and whether I ever believed I was not good with kids before that (no)... and she said she could see it being a huge invisible barrier that's been holding me back internally, adding, "When you break through it and that barrier dissolves and disintegrates, I feel like you'll be unstoppable and motherhood is waiting for you."
Being the Marvel movie fan I am, I pictured a thick barrier wall and the Thanos-snap-style disintegration... and my mind went to this Captain Marvel scene (how could it not!?)
To be extra clear, I'm keeping this blog somewhat vague and brief, but I feel this profoundly. I don't know all that God has in store, and I'm not taking this as any sort of promise from Him that I'll become a mom. But I AM taking seriously the responsibility to heal and be free from labels that are not aligned with God's viewpoint and design for me. It matters, and it's time for those old labels to dissolve and disintegrate whilst I put on new labels and continue to grow in seeing myself in a brand new way. Here's to the power of reinvention, letting go of the old and actively putting on the new!!
"Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God." ~Philippians 4:6
Today, I am thankful for...
1. My New Year's Day 10k!! I will be in NYC this weekend #surreal, so I made a solid last-minute decision to get up early on my day off and complete my long run for this week before Mom came over at 10:30... I did a 90-minute walk/jog for 6.4 miles featuring 3 Peloton classes: The Nutcracker ballet music, a New Year's Eve party mix, and Wicked: the movie soundtrack... genuinely FUN, and a solid way to start off the new year! #thrivein25
2. A wonderful final podcast with heartfelt thoughts on relationships + laughing about random stuff with Annie and Eddie on New Year's Eve, and learning they plan to continue the monthly episodes in 2025 - yes, please!!
(Their personalities are kinda reversed, but their friendship dynamic often reminds me of my friendship with Chet, and I always enjoy their random conversations!)
3. Ringing in the New Year by the glow of twinkling Christmas lights with a quiet prayer to consecrate my year ahead to God + watching the 7 Fishes and Forks episodes of The Bear... my absolute favorite episodes in all their glorious chaos and dysfunction and growth and change! (It was brand new to me a year ago, but I ended 2023 the same way, so maybe it's a new tradition. #everysecondcounts)
4. The Wilson fam toasting in the new year (at 8pm) -- this pic is the absolute cutest!! ❤
5. Mom and Kristin coming over and the three of us working hard to take down all my Christmas stuff yesterday and get my house ready for the meeting with Shane (my OKC realtor) on Monday! The flocked tree and garland was a beautiful new look but a decidedly messier clean-up process, which all became funny to me as Kristin and I were wearing black!! #soflocked I appreciated this relaxed timeline, thanks to my Christmas party being after Christmas this year. I am grateful for the visual representation of transformation and creating a fresh start on New Year's Day, and I'm glad it's all done now, and I'm thankful for the extra help in getting there!! (Next step - staging and listing my home!)
6. The God-ordained ability to change and mature + God's mercy being new every morning + the hope of new beginnings and clean slates!! *
7. God's redemptive power and grace + experiencing beauty for ashes! I appreciate the sentiment of hope and agency in the meme below, but for what it's worth, I firmly believe that no season of our lives is ever "lost" to grief or darkness or wounds - God draws near to the brokenhearted and dependably renews our minds and restores our hope as He walks with us through painful seasons. He brings beauty, restoration, hope, growth, healing, and redemption -- the ashes do not have the final word. So press in and keep walking with Him, trusting that nothing is wasted and He knows how to bind your wounds and bring light into dark places!!
*I wrote about this song in December 2023, feeling sad and lonely and afraid, but hopeful for a 2024 comeback. I'm extra grateful to feel more victory in some areas and more hope for continued growth and victory in others today!
