March 4, 2014 by Stephanie

My Thoughts on the Oscars

I.LOVE.THE.OSCARS.

I watched the whole red carpet. (I may have DVRed it, and watched it again.)

I stayed up for every second. (And for this gal who has been falling asleep between 7 and 8pm for the last two weeks, this was a big deal!)

This was one of my favorite Oscars to watch. I know others were not as found of it, but I really enjoyed it. It might be because I think Ellen can do no wrong…

I also love all the glamor and glitz of the evening.

Here are some of my thoughts as the night went on.

I absolutely loved the dresses that Sally Fields, Pink, Lupita Nyong, and Jennifer Lawrence wore. I would put them on in a heartbeat.
I have two dream jobs. One is to be one of the escort women on stage who just stand there in beautiful gowns. I love wearing fancy ball gowns and to do so without a script or much spotlight, absolutely. My other dream is to be a seat filler when stars go to the bathroom or where ever they may run off to. How cool would that be?
“Happy” by Pharrell was my favorite performance. I love that people got up and danced.
I am going to say it and probably be crucified because of it, but I don’t see what the hype is about “Let it Go.”
I think they should give more time to group winners. The second person to the mic always gets screwed because the first person took so much time! I always feel bad for them.
This is the first year I have seen none of the films that were nominated for the big awards…I blame it on the morning sickness. I will be remedying that soon since they all currently are saved on Netflix.
Lupita Nyong’s acceptance speech was absolutely my favorite speech. It was so genuine and full of emotion. It made me cry it was so beautiful.
I also loved watching McQueen react to winning Best Picture for “12 Years a Slave.” I love when people aren’t too pompous about winning. He was just so perfectly excited.
Ellen giving out pizza had to be the best thing. I really loved how she interacted with the audience, but watching the stars scarf down pizza in their fancy wear was just delightful.

Someday I am going to host Oscar parties at my house and do ballots, dresses, and the whole shabang. It is going to be awesome.

Also, I am guest posting today for Elizabeth over at Army Ever After! You should check her out!

What were you favorite parts of the Oscars?

Did you have a favorite outfit?

February 27, 2014 by Stephanie

Being Still

This week Tom has been out at the range with overnight training, so the dogs and I have had full reign of the house.

I have been taking advantage of the time to myself and making myself be still.

I don’t do still very well.

But a month long episode of nausea will make a person not want to move.

Because of my health concerns over the last month, my doctor has restricted me to no activity over walking or yoga for a few weeks. (A doctor restriction sounds a lot more serious than we believe it to be. I just need to slow down a bit to keep it that way. No worries friends!)

So I have to be still.

This is so hard for me, but it has been really good for me at the same time.

I have taken the time to breathe more, to sleep more, to not worry about connecting online as much.

It’s just me and the dogs.

While I like being busy and having things to do, it is so important for us to take time to be still. You can reconnect with yourself and listen to what your body needs.

So I am still here. I am just taking some time to be still.

Now if I can just get the dogs to be still, we would all be great in the Whitener household. Just kidding, I enjoy watching their energy.

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image via

February 16, 2014 by Stephanie

Saying Goodbye to the Taurus

We have been on the hunt for a new car since the beginning of last fall. We test drove a few cars, and scoured websites for months. We knew we wanted to pay as much cash as possible so we were just waiting for the right price and car to come along.

My first car was a GMC Jimmy, and I really missed the SUV factor. I knew I wanted to upgrade up to a crossover type car if not SUV. However there is a price that comes along with those.

We kind of stumbled upon the car of choice. It was not one we had originally set out looking at. However the price kept showing up in the area we were willing to go for. After test driving a Dodge Journey, I knew that it was the car that would eventually end up in our driveway. I was just in love with it!

But then comes the part of saying goodbye to your old vehicle.

I have had my Taurus for 7 years now. I got it right before my trek to South Carolina for grad school. There was no way my Jimmy was going to make the drive, and I needed something that was able to get great gas mileage for the inevitable trips across half the country during those couple years. And the deal we made for this gal was really astonishing and too hard to pass up! It is a great feeling to walk out of a dealership and own the car outright!

The Taurus got me through 5 different moves:

Missouri to South Carolina
SC to Florida
Florida back to SC
SC to Iowa
Iowa to KY

I still had parking passes from Worlds of Fun, Clemson and University of Central Florida plastered on it’s windows.

We drove to Savannah to get engaged in this car.

I drove to our wedding in this car.

We brought Grace home in this car.

I picked up Tom after his deployment in the car.

I can’t even fathom how many road trips have happened in this car. Most of her miles are highway miles.

I have said many goodbyes from the driver side door over the last 7 years.

While it was nothing like my Jimmy, but it served me well (except for that one breakdown in Oskaloosa, IA). She had the practicality that I needed. She was a fighter down to the last drive we had. And I have had countless memories in the driver seat.

We have entered a new era though. We needed to upgrade before things continue to change for us. It was not as travel friendly with two dogs. And with the plans of a baby in the future we knew we needed something with a little more wiggle room. And I am not really a car person per say, so I really wanted something to fit our lifestyle a little more. And although, she was a fighter, the Taurus was showing her age.

So we have been saving and waiting.

This week we finally saw the car that was at a price and qualities we couldn’t pass up.

So we drove 40 minutes away from Ft. Campbell to check her out.

And we ended up driving home with a newly owned Dodge Journey!

It is a 2013 with only 5,000 miles. And we believe we got away with a steal price wise. So we feel really fortunate to have a pre-owned car that is practically new!

Here she is!

It is the first non-red car I have owned, which I found exciting!

It has SOOOO much room! The dogs are going to love traveling in it. There is a 3rd row seating option, which I feel will be really handy in the future because we are going to have this car for a long time.

They are a lot like Ford Edges and Chevy Equinoxes if you want something to compare it to.

I have a touch screen control panel which is nuts! There are a lot of new things I am going to have to adjust too. The technology in this car is just redonkulous. I didn’t even have key-less entry in the Taurus.

And what is super great, I get the same gas mileage that I did in the Taurus in this Dodge!

I could keep going on an on about the positives, but I will spare you.

I am just so pumped to have this car! It is still weird to walk out to the carport and see it and remember it is mine though.

Have you ever had a hard time saying goodbye to a car? Do you get attached to your vehicles?

February 14, 2014 by Stephanie

Bound By the Ties of Friendship

Sometimes it is hard to put into words what an experience means to you.

Ten years ago, I started an experience that changed so many things for me.

I joined an honors fraternity.

Phi Sigma Pi was more than just a resume builder, although it did plenty of that.

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I gained friends and family. My best friends came from this organization.

It was a platform for me to become a leader and learn how to be confident in who I was. It gave me opportunities I would never have dreamed of putting myself in, even long after I graduated.

I was able to travel and make connections across the country.

It was also just a lot of fun. PSP things are some of my fondest memories of college. We had meetings I will never forget, events that make my heart smile, and relationships that have gotten me through so many things good and bad.

This organization is a big reason why I want to do the job that I do. I saw how impactful being involved can be for my own success and connection to a university. The ideals of scholarship, leadership, and fellowship have shaped my Student Affairs philosophy. I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today without being a brother in Phi Sigma Pi. (Yes it is a brother. It was a co-ed organization). Obviously, I would encourage others to be in PSP too, which is a big reason I assisted with the charter and activation of the chapter at Iowa State. Although, I feel that any positive connection to a university is going to have such a drastic influence on students.

I can’t believe that it was 10 years ago I was waiting for my bid card on 3rd floor Hosey with several other people from my floor. I was uneasy about joining because it was so out of my comfort zone, but knew that I needed to branch out more. That’s what college was for. It was honestly one of the best and most transformative decisions I made while at Central.

This was my rush class in 2004.

Today is our Founder’s Day! Happy 98 years Phi Sigma Pi!

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Founder’s Day was always really special for our chapter, because we were the founding institution of the organization.

So as the Alpha chapter, we felt like we were celebrating more than most chapters. This was our only Founder’s Day, so we had to do it up big.

We visited the grave sites of our founders every year since they were buried in town. It sounds a little creepy, but it was actually really cool. And inevitably every year, we couldn’t find one of the headstones.

And now for the crazy amounts of photos I have of PSP.

Hey, it has been 10 years in the making so I have just a few!

This was at a regional conference.

It is so funny to look back and remember what was happening then and see where we have ended up now. Rianna (left) is a fellow Army spouse, and Jeannette (right) now has two bouncing baby boys.

Jess and I did so much together in college! She was one of the first people I met at Central.

Janelle (who is another military significant other) and I at a jello fight turned mud brawl. Come to think of it, there are A LOT of us who have become MILSOs.

Officially becoming alumni brothers.

My family had a unique way of expressing ourselves.

I was fortunate enough to win a national scholarship through the organization while in New Orleans.
So honored and touched!

Mr. and Ms. Phi Sigma Pi
(I told you PSP was a big deal to me!)

We were some of the lone survivors of our class to the bitter end. We came in together and went out together.

It gave me plenty of opportunities to dress up.

At a western themed social

And I got to craft! What a deal!

You get to learn from some pretty amazing people.

Most of the time, we were just plain silly.

We knew how to make anything fun.

And again, who doesn’t love dressing up?

This was for a 40s themed event. Whoop Theta class!

I got to show people who was boss during my presidency. (Eh not really though) It is pretty neat to see things that we started during my time still being implemented today in the chapter.

But it really is about the bonds that you make.

These are my best gal pals, Annette and Jeannette! We grew a lot together during our time in PSP.
3 for 3!

And who could forget about formal fun?

This guy is an Alpha alum from way back. He became like a grandfather figure to me when I was president. He wrote such delightfully encouraging letters and would send me birthday and graduation cards for a long time well into grad school. He is a pretty famous person across the nation for PSPers.

We got spirit! Yes we do!

So while I may have been a nerd going in to this honors fraternity, I came out a more mature and self-aware nerd. Some things you just can’t change!

So happy birthday Phi Sigma Pi and thank you for everything you have give so many of us over the years!

February 12, 2014 by Stephanie

Lately and A Giveaway!

I had full intentions of writing a full post today, but this week just got away from me. So here is what is happening lately:

We haven’t had hot water for the past couple days. We have a silly hot water pump, that every couple months it needs to be recalibrated or something. So I have been taking a 2 minute cold shower every morning. Super. (They did fix it today though, thanks to my hubs getting them out here!)
I still can’t eat a full meal, but I have graduated to tuna salad sandwiches. Much better!
Tom has had two separate ranges this week, so we haven’t really seen much of each other this week. At least that means that the dogs and I can take over the bed! And they cuddle with me so sweetly when Tom is gone.
I really think that the country should shut down during the Olympics so everyone can stay at home to watch the events live to support our athletes. I have filled our DVR full of Olympic goodness!
I miss running with the dogs, but I am a baby when it comes to cold. And I don’t want to subject them to the freezing concrete.
I don’t there is an episode of Ellen that I don’t end up crying. I just love this show and her. It is on my bucket list to go to her show.
I am ready to stock up on Valentine’s Day clearance chocolates. Peanut caramel clusters come to me!

That’s about all I have as far as happening around here.

BUT…

I participated in another giveaway with several other bloggers! Jane from Poppiness is the brainchild behind this, so thanks to her for putting this all together!

I have been so fortunate to connect with other bloggers over the past few months, and I can’t wait to see where this blogging journey continues to take me!

So enjoy the giveaway!