{"id":30685,"date":"2017-07-18T09:30:41","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T13:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/?p=30685"},"modified":"2017-07-18T09:11:59","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T13:11:59","slug":"birthday-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/birthday-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30691\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-2017-10.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-2017-10.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-2017-10-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-2017-10-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-2017-10-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For my birthday, I once enjoyed a great party and all the gifts my heart desired, but as I get older, I like use the\u00a0moment to reflect on all of the things in my life and what I&#8217;m thankful for. It&#8217;s actually <a href=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/5-not-new-years-resolutions-for-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">something I try to do everyday<\/a>, but my birthday is a chance for me to stop and look back\u00a0on the past year. This year has been challenging, to say the least, but I also realize I&#8217;ve also been greatly blessed. So my recent birthday was an opportunity for me to take stock of all the great things happening in my life, and focus on those blessings and answered prayers &#8211; and even some of the unanswered ones. This year, I&#8217;ve grown much closer to God which is really the most important thing. I&#8217;ve also grown a lot closer to my mother, particularly <a href=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/dealing-with-loss-and-remembering-my-aunt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">after we lost my aunt<\/a>. I&#8217;ve gotten to use my acting and improv skills and training in various formats, and have been in a few paid performances, and have some upcoming. I have grown closer to my amazing group of friends, who are smart, supportive, creative, and so entertaining. I&#8217;ve joined two boards of directors and where I can contribute my experience, skills and knowledge to help grow their organizations. I have continued to be able to grow <a href=\"http:\/\/whatshaute.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What&#8217;s Haute<\/a>, which I am proud to have sustained after all of these years after so many substantive changes in the blogging world. And I have some other things I&#8217;m working on that are personally fulfilling that I&#8217;m excited about.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t say any of this to brag, but to remind myself that amidst the struggles, there are a ton of great things happening for me and to me, and they are all things I&#8217;ve prayed about and asked God for. I encourage you to take stock of your life and even though it might not be perfect (hint: it never is!), there are probably a bunch of things you can be thankful for, right now.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30687\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-5.2.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-5.2.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-5.2-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-5.2-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-5.2-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What are you most grateful for?<\/p>\n<p>What I&#8217;m wearing: <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2tbhtZJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2uusn0M\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30688\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-4.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-4.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-4-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-4-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-4-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30689\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-2.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-2.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-2-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-2-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30686\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-6.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-6.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-6-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-6-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-6-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-30690\" src=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta.jpg\" alt=\"2017 birthday reflections: ASOS Scuba Bow Front Pephem Midi Dress, Franco Sarto Jennifer Wedge Sandal, What's Haute\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta.jpg 1000w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-400x600.jpg 400w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-768x1152.jpg 768w, http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/bday-insta-683x1024.jpg 683w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For my birthday, I once enjoyed a great party and all the gifts my heart desired, but as I get older, I like use the\u00a0moment to reflect on all of the things in my life and what I&#8217;m thankful for. It&#8217;s actually something I try to do everyday, but my birthday is a chance for [&hellip;]<a href=\"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/birthday-reflections\/\" title=\" Read More \u00bb &laquo;Birthday Reflections&raquo;\" class=\"more-link\"> Read More \u00bb <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18415,16326,18010,18858,18752,17573],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30685"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30692,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30685\/revisions\/30692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/WhatsHaute.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}