Not my photo above, and I’ll credit when I get home on my laptop, but I did think I’d quickly check in. I’m on vacation in the Turks until Wednesday! I woke up this morning a few hours before the other girls and took a stroll on the beach. Snagged some pics that I can’t wait to share with you!

It’s so beautiful here. Reminds me a lot of our location in Mexico, but it’s just more peaceful here. Quiet. Not as crowded. Not as rowdy.

We have an amazing few days planned. Can’t wait to tell you all about it.

So this may or may not have accidentally happened. I swear, I didn’t intend to go shopping.

But the other day I was on my way to Newton to get a new dress altered. Well, while I was out in that direction I thought: What do you know? The Apple store is just a few minutes away, I could go check out those iPad cases I’ve been eying! So I bought an iPad cover from the Apple Store that just happens to be in a mall that just happens to have a BCBG store which just happened to be advertising a 60% off sale in the window.

I went in. Obviously.

And I need your help! I entered the boyfriend and myself in a Facebook contest to win a free ski vacation in Salt Lake City. Turns out there are less than 150 entries, so as far as online contests go, the chances of winning this one aren’t too shabby!

The prize package is the vacation of a lifetime. A ski vacation in Salt Lake City for myself and 3 friends. Accommodations in a slope side cabin. Dinner out on the town, a concert at night and … a new camera to capture the whole thing!

So here’s where you come in. The entry with the most “likes” wins. Will you “like” my entry?

1. Log into Facebook and go here: http://www.facebook.com/VisitSaltLake?sk=app_168069923289523&app_data=x1605438
2. If “Whitney’s Dream Vacation” pops up, click “like”. You’re done!
3. If my individual entry doesn’t pop up, keep reading.
4. Go to Page 6 of entries and find the 3rd row. Find the entry in the right hand column. It has over 60 votes.
5. Click that entry, click “like”. You’re done!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you times a million. As you know, the boyfriend and I are big skiiers, and he just went out west to ski. But I on the other hand, have never been beyond Vermont!

Please help me win the vacation of my dreams by clicking “like”!

Last week I shared with you my list of resolutions for the new year. Some items were lofty, hard to measure goals, like become more outgoing, and forgive. Others were easy, straight forward. Either I’ll do it or I won’t. Things like: run, read, and drink more water fall into this bucket. Just to recap what I originally wrote down as my goals for 2012, let’s take a look:

• Run, walk, whatever. Just start moving.
• Drink water. Everyday.
• Read more. One book a month.
• Spend less. Save more. Period.
• Travel to new places. Travel internationally twice.
• Create an online photography store. Sell at least one of my own photos.
• Cook more creatively, use new recipes. Bake at least one new treat a month.
• Volunteer more frequently. Once a quarter.
• Forgive. A lot of people. Including myself.
• Become more outgoing. Speak up for myself.
• Dress boldly, accessorize freely. Let people judge.

But since I shared that post a few days, new ideas have been popping into my head, so I thought I’d add them into the mix. I may even start a goals page to keep track of my progress (and to be able to add new ideas as they come up).

• Lotion, lotion, lotion. I have neglected my skin for far too many years. It’s a simple task. Get out of the shower, apply lotion. Done.
• Wash my face nightly. Who isn’t guilty of taking the lazy route and just hopping into bed?
• Send more snail mail. Letters, cards or postcards. Doesn’t matter. Send birthday cards to all of my friends, send thank you notes following visits. Send cheerful encouragement to friends that are having a hard time.
• Get a photograph with the boyfriend at all of the major events. Can you believe we don’t have a single couples photo from Christmas?
• See my girlfriends more. My absolute best friend in the entire world lives in South Boston. And I’ve been to her apartment once. Just once, since she moved here. How absurd is that? Get together, have more dinner dates.
• Back up my photos on my external hard drive. Then back up my external hard drive on CDs. Then print out some of my favorites to save.

So there you have my resolutions, revisited. I like that a lot of my goals for 2012 are doable, they are realistic and rather simple. Things I just need to be more conscious of like drinking water, and lotioning, and other things that I just need to do. Things like taking a photo with the boyfriend at major holidays and writing thank you cards after visits!

What’d y’all put down as your goals for 2012? Any good ones I should take on as my own?

I’ve had a personal to-do list the size of China (wait, that doesn’t make sense) ever since I returned to Boston after Christmas. I’ve had a dirty apartment staring me in the face every day, all day. Thank you cards needed writing, sheets needed cleaning, clothes needed dry cleaning, suitcases needed packing. You didn’t forget about my upcoming trips did you?

In 5 days I’m leaving the country to spend a week in the Caribbean with my closest college girlfriends. I’ll return to Boston only to hop on another plane the following day, to spend a long weekend in North Carolina with my best friends from Maine.

But until then, there were things to do. So I spent this past weekend catching up… on life. The boyfriend was skiing out west until late Saturday, so I used the day to clean, clean, clean the entire apartment. I also did two loads of laundry, cleaned all of the sheets from when we had visitors during New Year’s, dropped clothes at the dry cleaners, had a new dress altered and finally, yes finally wrote my thank you cards.

I always put them off, usually for a solid month, so I’m actually proud of myself for crossing these off as early as January 7th! In addition to holiday thank you notes, I also got around to writing congratulations cards for two of my best friends. One is having a baby, another recently got engaged. And call me an over-achiever. But I also scoped out birthday cards for my dad. His birthday is January 24. If that’s not planning ahead, than I don’t know what is.

Sunday came and went. The boyfriend was home. We had breakfast, got coffee. I ran errands, went shopping, got crafting (after a trip to Home Depot, Michael’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, HomeGoods and A.C. Moore). We cooked dinner, he made chili in the crock pot, we played Scrabble and watched TV.

Now it’s back to work, back to reality. And I must, I repeat, I must actually drop all of my cards in the mail. I have a bad habit of writing, addressing, sealing letters and then letting them sit in my purse for weeks.

Ever since I purchased these shoes by Nine West in caramel and black (pictured below), I’ve been slighly obsessed with the idea of two-toned, color blocked shoes. Nothing crazy. No cobalt blues or fuchsia with red. Come on, you know me and my neutrals. Despite my somewhat boring color palette, I’ve been finding more shoes that I love, love, love than my poor little wallet can afford.

Here are some of my favorites, including the Nine West pair that I own:

1. Nine West Stylin’ (no longer available)
2. L.A.M.B. Nomad Slingback Pump $179.95
3. Madden Girl Sybill Pump $39.95
4. BCBG Paris Iriniax Wedge Pump $79.95

What do you think? Would you rock a pair of color blocked shoes?

I celebrated New Year’s Eve with friends, and welcomed the new year with a bit of positive thinking. But I never wrote down my goals. I’m now about a week late, but honestly, I figure sitting on your year long goals for a few extra days never hurt anyone. So now that 2012 has begun to set it, I find myself having two different types of goals for the new year. The easy, simple kind. And the more complicated kind.

Let’s start with the easy ones. These are the things I should be doing all the time, regardless of it being a new year. These are the things I know will do my body, heart and mind good, yet continue to ignore from year to year to year.

1. I want to start running. Or walking. But preferably running.
2. I need to drink more water. Like 8 cups each day, more. Every, single day.
3. I should read more. Doesn’t matter if it’s the newspaper, on my iPad or a paperback. Reading is good for my brain, and I don’t do nearly enough of it.
4. I have to spend less. Or I’ll never start saving.

And then there are the goals that I want to set, that just don’t seem as simple. Whether it be because they cost money, or cost time. Because they are challenging or embarrassing. Certain things that are just good for the soul, and I truly believe will make me a better, more mature person.

So here are a few more things I’ll add to my list of new year’s resolutions.

1. Travel to new places. Travel internationally, twice.
2. Set up an online photography store. And sell at least one of my own photos.
3. Cook, bake. Get familiar with new foods, new ingredients. And bake at least one new recipe a month.
4. Volunteer more frequently. At least once a quarter. Hopefully a lot more.
5. Forgive. A lot of people. Including myself, for a lot of things. Time to move on.
6. Become more outgoing. Speak up at work. Talk to strangers. Ask a question, if I have one.
7. Dress boldly, accessorize freely. Wear lipstick, whenever I want to.

This morning at 5AM, the air was frigid and the sky still dark. But the boyf and I packed up the car and off we drove. We arrived at the airport in 12 minutes. Traffic is, apparently non-existent in Boston at such a god awful hour. We followed signs towards departures, stopped at terminal C. I kissed the boyf goodbye and drove home to get ready for work.

Tonight, and for the next 3 days, he is here:

Meanwhile, I’m here. On the couch. With my laptop and iPad.

I thought I’d be jealous of his ski vacation with the guys. I suppose I still am, but I forgot how lovely having alone time with my gadgets can be. Plus, I have a lot of DVR to catch up on.

In addition to rocking bright red lipstick this past holiday season, I picked up a new hairstyle. I first curled my hair this way for the boyfriend’s family holiday party and I’ve rocked the look about a dozen times since. Sometimes my curls end up too tight, too spiraled, but other times I think it looks just amazing. Wavy, goodness.

My hair is incredibly thin and never holds well, so in the past I’ve found curling irons to be the enemy. I would spend hours trying to make curls that never looked right, only to have them fall out before I left my front door. But I finally got the hang of it with the help of a few online tutorials.

Check out the 3 tips to perfect waves that finally landed me the curls I was looking for:

1. Start by dividing your hair in 3 sections: underneath, middle, and crown. Pin down the top 2 sections and start with the section closest to your neck.
2. When curling sections, wrap your hair around the iron from root to end. Growing up I always thought it was best to slide the iron all the way to your ends and then roll it up towards your root. The opposite approach is best as it evenly distributes the heat to your hair.
3. USE FLEXIBLE HOLD HAIR SPRAY. I know, I know. Seems counter intuitive. I always thought: thin hair needs heavy duty hair spray. Instead, try flexible hair spray. Go ahead, use a lot of it! Let it dry and then you’ll have loose waves instead of stiff spirals. A flexible hold also means that you can run your hands through your hair and no longer need to walk around like you have a stiff neck all night.