Sharing My Jennarocity

I posted on Facebook the other day about a weight loss success I had and I've had several people ask me "HOW?"   Well, I'll tell you, but you probably don't want to hear it.   I ate better and exercised.   When I started this journey, I was very overweight. So overweight, in fact, that my insurance let me see a nutritionist covered by my plan. So, January 1, I went in to see her. She didn't tell me anything I didn't already "know" in my head, but she was able to really help me identify what I could change long term that would help me lose weight. That same week, I found out that they YMCA offered a free training session with a trainer, where he would identify your goals, tell you how to get there, and then show you how to use those sometimes intimidating weight machines. Here are a few things I've learned from them both that might help you on your weight loss journey.   1. Don't make changes to your diet that you can'...

My four year old is growing into a pretty fun, pretty mischevious child. Her new obsession is jumping on the furniture and coloring on the walls with paint, or markers, or whatever else she can find.   So, that's fun.   We love Magic Erasers in my house.       Other than becoming independent in certain ways, she has also become very much an only child. She loves to whine and pretend she can't do things she can do, like change her clothes or eat dinner. So all in all, I think she is a perfectly healthy kid, hitting all of the major milestones a four year old should.   We also had another addition to our family in the last few months...his name is Jacob and he is Avery's very special friend. Jacob has been Avery's boyfriend, husband, brother, grandpa, and classmate, just depending on what we are doing. Sometimes, Jacob comes with us and sometimes he stays at home. Sometimes, he eats dinner and other times, he is in trouble and was sent ...

I was watching House Hunters yesterday after Property Brothers was over. It peaked my interest because this couple was looking in DFW and I wanted to see if I recognized any of the neighborhoods. House Hunters is probably one of my least favorite shows as a Realtor, and this episode really told me why. This couple was looking for a "craftsman" style house, even though none of the houses they were shown were "craftsman" style. I'm not even 100% sure that this 21 year old couple even knew what a craftsman style house was; I am convinced the producers just tell the people to say these things to add interest to the episodes. The first house they saw was a new build in McKinney. The second was in Mesquite and the third was in Plano. Anyone from DFW should know where I am going with this....how did they get from McKinney/Plano to seeing a house in Mesquite?  (image courtesy of hgtv.com )   This show is very unrealistic, specifically because looking for hou...

Right before our first anniversary, I wrote a post about how I got through the first year of marriage. I think that list was pretty great, even now, after we've been married almost five years! I can't believe this month, we will be celebrating our fifth anniversary. I thought I would add to my list and write about how we got through our first five years of marriage.   1. There really isn't a day that goes by that one of us doesn't tell the other what we appreciate about each other. We are very specific. Sometimes, it's what we contribute to the household chores, sometimes it's what we appreciate about the other person as a spouse, sometimes it's what we appreciate about the other as a parent. Sometimes, they are big things and other times they are small, like "I appreciate that you always are the one that cleans the toilets!"   2. I've learned that a day can change right that very minute. Just because you are mad right now, doesn'...

I've been pretty vocal about my love of The Walking Dead. It's the one show I can't wait to watch, the one show I will watch as it comes on and suffer through the commercials. For the first time, last night, I realized I didn't watch it Sunday night and had to watch it on DVR. I was surprised that I had forgotten, to be honest. But this season hasn't been my favorite one, at all. There have been episodes in the past five seasons I have suffered through, I call them "story fillers" - they are only there to move the story along, but are incredibly boring. This season, so far, it's not that the episodes have been boring, it's that I am getting really tired of the plot line not going anywhere different. The show has repeated the same cycle since the beginning - our survivors wander until they find a place to stay, the people they find are crazy, they kill everyone, then they move on until they do it again. Last week, we saw them at their wit's end...

We had such a lazy couple of days around here.   We did make it outside for just a little while.     My crazy pup loves to eat the ice. She couldn't get enough! The dogs also loved playing in the ice. They went nuts!! That is, until they came inside and proceeded their lazy life on the couch.   We even got some hot chocolate afterwards!   Jason lets the kids eat ice, which grosses me out, but hey. I guess one parent has to be the fun one. Avery loved being outside, even though we were only outside a total of about 10 minutes.   The streets looked decent enough to get out of the house, so we went and had some breakfast for dinner at Denny's. I haven't been to Denny's in ages, but boy, they have some good pancakes!   And now, getting back to Day Two of inside fun!  

As I sit here attempting to figure out what I thought about Birdman , I am having a hard time deciding whether I really liked it or simply appreciated it for what it offered while being incredibly annoyed at the entire experience. The line between artistic, unique filmmaking and ridiculous nonsense is often so thin that it's difficult to determine what a movie actually is. In this case, I can see both sides of the story.     If you don't like reaching out of your comfort zone in a movie and having numerous questions that are never answered, this movie isn't one you should see. The entire movie is based on an attempted comeback of a has-been superhero actor played by Michael Keaton (whom I have always loved and loved in this movie). He has spent the majority of his career playing Birdman, but hasn't done much in the last twenty years. In an attempt to prove he is a real actor willing to take risks, he writes, directs, and stars in an theatrical adaptation of ...