My Juice Cleanse Experience — The Juice is Loose!

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Jenn

**I preface this post by saying, I am not a doctor. What works for me may not work for you. This is my opinion and backed by no professional or medical knowledge about basically anything, ever.**

Several weeks ago I got serious about researching a juice cleanse. I don’t really know why – it was a combination of things probably. I have been really serious about trying to eat healthier foods, watch my calories and overall be healthier since the new year rolled around. I also read about it on Beth’s blog when she did it last year – and I pretty much trust that anything she says is awesome, will be awesome. The day I picked up my juice, she was there picking hers up too – for her third cleanse in six months.

Since it seemed to be the best around, I settled on Juice Nashville – a local company who does not have a brick and mortar storefront – they are a mobile, family-owned, cold-press juicery. That means no preservatives are added, no sugar, no nothing. The juice has a shelf-life of 3 days, so you get it and use it – or freeze it immediately. And if you open a bottle, you drink it within 8 hours. All this to say, it’s fresh, y’all.

So I placed my order for a the 3 day cleanse and was ready to pick it up on Saturday morning. I made sure I had no dinners planned, no fun events, etc. I was just going to hibernate all weekend with my juice and wrap it up on Monday at work.

I went to pick the juice up at the Nashville West Farmer’s Market where Wes (the husband half of the Juice team) sells on Saturdays. As he sifted through paperwork to locate my order, my juicy heart sank. He didn’t have it. Even though I had my confirmation email, something happened and my order was missing. I left thinking I might not be juicing after all – but Stephanie (the wife half of the team) called me as soon as I got to my car and said they were trying to figure out what happened to my order – not to give up yet. I went home and put on my PJs and Tweeted my feelings – and in true 2013 customer service style, Stephanie replied to my tweet in about two minutes and said that she was moving heaven and earth to find my juice.

WOW – customer service gold star for you ma’am. About 45 minutes to an hour later I got a tweet that said “found your juice! Calling you now.” And my cell rang. (I did drink a Naked fruit juice in the meantime that I had in the fridge because I was getting hangry = hungry + angry).

I zipped back down West and got my juice. I could have hugged Wes. I couldn’t believe they were so responsive to my juicing woes and were just so, so nice. Turns out, they had my order all along and the paperwork had just been misplaced so the two couldn’t be matched up.

So, let’s Juice.

The Juice Cleanse includes NO food. No drinking ANYTHING other than water or green tea. (I missed coffee dearly). You drink 5 juices a day (the same 5) and one almond milk a day.

The juices are:

I’ll be honest – I liked some of these more than others, but I hated none. I LOVED the C Ya – orange, apple, grapefruit and ginger. OMG. Snap – apple, carrot, ginger. Delish. But I think, crazy enough, the almond milk might have been my favorite. I love almond milk.

The Whoa (apple, beet, kale and ginger) was a bit harder to swallow. The Oh Yeah (apple, kale, collard and lemon) got old by the third day. But again, none were terrible. And the nutrients they clearly contain kept me chugging!

The experience:

Were you hungry? Not really. To know me is to know how much I love food. I love to eat. Food = love, to me. If you love me, cook me dinner. Buy me dinner. I love to eat. I exercise so I can enjoy food. Some people eat to live – I live to eat.

So a liquid diet with no chewing and salty food was a real challenge. But was I hungry? Not really. I did yoga Sunday night (day 2), and the calorie burn made me momentarily starve, so I ate a cutie (one of those tiny mandarin oranges). Juice Nashville says if you are desperate, you can have a raw fruit or vegetable.

By the third day I had a screaming headache, but I still think that may have been from three days with no coffee more than anything. I don’t think it was from no food as much as it was caffeine withdrawal. Although I will say, when that last juice was gone, I ate a spoonful of peanut butter straight from the jar. Sorry I’m not sorry.

How did you feel? I felt detoxed, just like they promised. I felt pumped full of vitamins and nutrients and I felt healthy.

Why did you do it? To detox. To cleanse the system. To purge the crap. I did NOT do it to lose weight.

But did you lose weight? Yes. I lost 4 pounds. It was an added bonus – yes. AND, it did jumpstart my fitness this week when I finished the juice. I wanted to keep that four pounds off. I worked out twice a couple days this week. I was determined. But I also ate pizza, which I did crave while I was abstaining from solid foods during the cleanse! Ha.

Let the record show – I just weighed myself this morning and gained every bit of those four pounds back this week. Even with two-a-day workouts and overall watching what I ate, I gained it back. So it’s my advice not to do this cleanse for that reason. Or any cleanse. Clearly.

How did it work for you and would you do it again? I think it totally purged my system. I was drinking a huge glass or two of water between each juice and I was peeing every half hour. My system was cleansed. I was so hydrated – TMI, but my pee was so clear you couldn’t tell I’d peed at all. It was insane. SO I would venture to say that a lot of the weight I lost was water weight and as soon as I started consuming regular food and salt again, it just came right back. I’m not near as hydrated as I was.

Would I do it again – yes. I would definitely buy their juice again and incorporate it into my regular diet, probably before I would juice again. They have lots of other flavors I want to try! But I would juice again if I started feeling sluggish and full of crappy crap. I’d do it again.

Can you work out during the cleanse? I’m no doctor, so I say just do whatever you feel like. I went to power yoga on Sunday evening, two days into the cleanse. This is a 400+ calorie burn class, so it’s intense, and I was totally fine. Again, you aren’t starving yourself – this isn’t a lemon juice and cayenne pepper cleanse. You HAVE nutrients in your system, so just do what you feel like.

How much is it? Lots of people asked me this. It’s not cheap – but when you realize how much fruits and veggies are crammed into every bottle, they can’t be marking it up that much, y’all. It’s quality product, so you pay for it. The three day cleanse was $123 with tax and the refrigerated tote that the juice comes in (which I’ll definitely be using again!). Full disclosure, in the name of stellar customer service, Stephanie gave me half off my juice cleanse because they misplaced my order. Thanks gurl!

So there you have it. Oh – one more thing. Again in the spirit of full disclosure, this juice cleanse did things to my bowels that you would not believe. And the worst day was on the third day when I was back at work. (You’re welcome, coworkers!) I mean, when you’re stockpiling fruits and green veggies in your system and they are in liquid form, there are going to be some touch and go situations. So, that’s all I’ll say about that. Just be prepared, if you do the cleanse.

Huge thanks to Juice Nashville for being overall awesome and wonderful to work with. I can’t say enough good things about Stephanie and Wes, how adorable they are, the customer service they provide and the product they deliver. They truly have it figured out. Nashville needs you – so thanks for being here.

XOXO,
Jenn

The Boob Tube

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Jenn

Did your parents used to call the TV that? My Dad sure did.

Yesterday, Rogers and I did something we’ve been talking about for a while – we cancelled our cable. I know – GASP! I was really the one who was more hesitant about doing this, previously. He was all for it. Matter of fact, he recently cut some channels to trim our bill back, which I supported — until I sat down to watch the first College Football game (Vandy and South Carolina), and realized he’d cut ESPN. I about had a seizure. Fortunately DirecTV restored order just after kickoff and no one had to die.

However, after a couple of ridiculously expensive cable bills and realizing that 99% of everything we watch is on DVR usually the next day or several days after it airs, we reevaluated. Also, I’m doing a lot more reading when I come home from work, to decompress, rather than turning on the TV. I’m plowing through a couple books a week, sometimes. So why are we paying $160/month to watch the news in the morning? Not worth it.

So yesterday, we bit the bullet and cancelled cable. But don’t worry – we aren’t going totally cold turkey. Rogers purchased an Apple TV box for us and signed us up for Netflix and Hulu. Best part – our new grand total for the monthly TV bill is going to be around $15. And we now have access to more shows, music (Rogers likes to have the music channels on during the day while he’s working from home) and other crap than I could ever sift through. $15 a month!!

It’s INSANE. After I posted this on Instagram and Facebook, several people asked “WHAT IS APPLE TV? OMG I NEED THIS,” so here is what I know. Keep in mind, I’m only about 12 hours into this and there are several of you who know more than I do, so feel free to chime in on the comments of this post!

Apple TV is a box by which you stream Netflix, Hulu Plus or other such services that I don’t know about, directly to your TV. I think Amazon Instant is another one. You have to have wireless internet to stream these, obviously. The box cost us $100 from MacAuthority, and since cancelling our outrageous cable bill, it will pay for itself in less than a month. So, you register for Hulu Plus and Netflix online, and then tell the Apple TV box what your username and password are and it pulls all that in. (I’m so technical – I know. Apple is probably calling me right now to offer me Steve’s old gig).

Tiny little box of magic, modern technology.

Hulu Plus is $7/month and Netflix (not the DVDs sent to your house, because like my friend Kim says, this is not 1995) – but Netflix Instant, like Hulu Plus, is also $7/month.

Now, there are other devices out there that will also stream these services – like Wii, Xbox and Roku, just to name a few. So, the way your TV and show selections all look now, is based on what device you’re using. Just like if you were using Comcast vs. DirecTV – the menus are different, etc.

If you’re an iPhone or iPad user, etc., you’ll love the ease of use with AppleTV. I figured it out in about 30 seconds, which is saying a lot.

When I say endless content – there is ENDLESS content. For example:

Hulu Plus – Hulu has more up-to-date shows. All the popular shows like Parenthood, Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy (to name a few of my faves) will be updated with the latest episode by the next day, almost in every case. Maybe two days. So you search for your show or look in your favorites and click, and watch. Just like if you selected it from your DVR on cable. There are also tons of free movies, documentaries, and so much other stuff.

Netflix is not as up to date. They don’t have shows that aired yesterday – BUT, their backdated catalog is HUGE. For example, I’m up at 3:15 a.m. typing this right now because I can’t sleep, and I’m watching the pilot episode of My So Called Life. Remember that show from the 90s on MTV? OMG I wanted to be Claire Danes so bad and date Jordan Catalano, but I digress. All the seasons of the Office are on there, Friends, Saved by the Bell – and of course, more recent stuff too.

I noticed all the seasons of Breaking Bad are on there, which I plan to dive into, soon. It comes on AMC.

You can also purchase premium shows – like $2.99 for an episode of Homeland from Showtime or $31 for the whole season. The premium shows usually aren’t free, obviously. You can also rent newer released movies, just like you could order from Comcast or whatever, previously. We’ll probably still use RedBox for this, but it’s there if you want it.

I would imagine if you’re a Mom with kids, this would be a goldmine. Because there’s a whole “For Kids” section on both Hulu Plus and Netflix, fo’ free. Just hit play – virtual babysitter. (I don’t have kids – clearly).

Did I mention no commercials? That’s why we loved our DVR – but you still have to fast-forward. They aren’t even there, with Apple TV. It just streams straight through.

So, things I’ll miss:

The Today Show. I watched it every morning. However, we can plug our TV directly into the cable outlet and get the three major networks, so problem solved. I just have to watch it live. No big deal. So we just press the “source” button on the remote to go back and forth between Apple TV and basic, bunny ear cable.

College Football. Again, if a game is on NBC, CBS or ABC, I can watch it still. Otherwise, I’ll go across the street to Jed’s Sports Bar and still spend less than our cable bill per month. Boom.

That’s about it, really. So, weigh in if you know something I don’t – or tell me which shows I need to be watching now that I have access to so very many!

Callie wants to watch Downton Abbey because she’s such a proper lady.

XOXO,
Jenn

See ya, Summer

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Jenn

Tell your friend Fall to hurry on over.

We’ve been enjoying the last days of Summer but craving Fall so much.

Here are some of our end of summer happenings.

I recently went to Atlanta for my friend Crystal’s bachelorette party. She is a sweet friend and Phi Mu sister from UT. I can NOT WAIT for her wedding in Austin in a few weeks! We had a blast in Atlanta. The crew was about half friends from college and half friends from her post-college days in Atlanta. So that was really fun. We all got along so well and had a blast – duh, Crystal picked us all as friends, so we’re clearly all awesome. It was so much fun.

We spent Saturday “shooting the Hooch,” or tubing down the Chattahoochee River. So nice! It was like redneck tanning. Just laying in a tube, getting some sun and drinking from your floating beer cooler next to you. Yes indeed.

Then, it was bachelorette time. On the right is Edgin and I – my freshman year roomie!

There was a serious game of Jenga. Each piece had a question about the bride and groom on it or had a “drink three drinks” or “never have I ever” kind of phrase on it. It was hilarious.

Me and the bride!

OMG – dinner at Two Urban Licks. I had scallops over gouda grits. GOUDA! I love you.

Jen Hester and I have a mutual friend back in Nashville – like, besides the ones who know Crystal. Small world.

Beginning of night – end of night. 8:30 vs. 3:31. Wow.

Back in Nashpatch, we went to Bartender Bash. Just as fun as I remember! But the drinks were not as yummy as last year. There were only a couple that blew my mind. The rest were just, eh, so so. But when you’re in good company, it doesn’t really matter.

Stud!

Alice and I, and Samantha and I. Samantha, our month-long roomie, has moved back to GA since her rotation, and we miss her so! Hopefully she’ll do her residency at Vandy.

Beautiful Union Station Hotel where Bartender Bash was held.

End of the night – sorry so blurry, but things were…well, blurry.

Also while Samantha was here, there was a Food Truck contest in Centennial Park across the street from our place. We headed over because Samantha won a spot as a judge! She got to try like 20 food trucks on her last day in Nashville. Jealous.

I ordered lunch from Riff’s Fine Street Food, my favorite food truck that I’ve tried.

I had the shrimp and grits (OMG) and the salt cod fritters, which was their “tasting” portion available for the event. Y’all. I could eat those one more time, top it off with their cucumber basil (I think that’s what it was) lemonade and die happy.

Look at Samantha and all her loot! Fortunately, she left a lot of it in our fridge when she drove back to GA the next day. Muhahahah. I ate it. All.

Come on, Fall! I’m tired of sweating every.where.I.go.

XOXO,
Jenn

Get Dirty

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Jenn

A couple weeks ago my company hosted a Mud Run – the first Mud Run in Davidson Co. It was so dang fun. We staff members got to go through the course after the official race was over and our work was done.

Needless to say, we took full advantage. I’ll try and caption these photos for you. This was right at the end of the course – so we’d already been running for a while and were ready to be done – climbing over and under obstacles. The last obstacle was the granddaddy of mud pits.

Jenn: Ok baby – almost there. I’ve been watching little kids do this all day. Not that hard. Here – I’ll show you!

Jenn: You just run down this hill and step into the mud pit.

Jenn: IT’S DEEP IT’S REALLY DEEP AND SMELLY! OMG I hope I don’t get my new haircut dirty.

Rogers: Umm..

Jenn: It’s IN MY EYE! And my shorts.

Jenn: Ok – ok. It’s not that bad. Come on!

Rog: Just keep your knees up! High step.

Jenn: Yeah – high step. But be careful because right in here somewhere is a deep hole. I saw a kid disappear in it earlier. It’s right here somewhere…

Jenn: OMG I FOUND IT! I FOUND THE HOLE.
Rogers: You knew that was there and didn’t even tell me!
Jenn: I JUST told you.

Jenn: You’re going to make me sleep on the couch, aren’t you?
Rogers: Probably.

Rogers: It’s ok – we’re almost there.
Jenn: Yeah – I won’t leave you. Let’s finish together.

Jenn: Hahaaaaaaaa! See ya, sucker! I still even got my hair poofed!

This is a photo of all of the staff members who did the Mud Run. We were doing our McKayla (from the Women’s Gymnastics team) “is not impressed” face. Do you see her in the back? Ha. Michael is good at photoshop.

I love my work peeps. They’re a hot mess. Literally, on this day.

XOXO,
Jenn

Etch

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Jenn

Some days it’s all about what you know. Other days, it’s definitely WHO you know. Monday was a who you know kind of day.

I was catching up on my Google Reader, like I do every morning, and my favorite foodie, Beth Eats, was blogging about a sneak peak at a new restaurant that’s opening today, in downtown Nashville. I’m always envious of her taste testing and was living vicariously through her blog, at that very moment. The restaurant was Etch, which is located in Nashville’s Encore condo building.

Several minutes later, my phone buzzed and it was my friend Alice. “Hey — my friend Megan is the pastry chef at this new restaurant and has me on the list for a friends and family lunch today at 1 p.m. Want to be my date? It’s called Etch.”

AHHHHHHHHH! (Angels sang).

HECK YES, I said. Jenn Eats!

Etch is opening today, Wednesday, August 29 — and the servers were still working out the kinks and getting their practice on. We were invited to give constructive criticism about our meal, to help them prepare for opening day. And of course, in return, our meal was on the house. The only thing better than delicious food is free delicious food.

We got to share an appetizer and then each got an entree. We ordered the roasted cauliflower to start. I know — really. Cauliflower as an appetizer. But OMG y’all. It was amazing. It came with a feta cream sauce and a roasted, smokey pea puree for dipping. I could have licked the rest of that beautifully green pea puree off the plate. So good.

For the entree, Alice ordered the short ribs, which had the flavors of a beef stew, but was served between layers of thin pasta — so it was almost like some crazy lasagna. It was soooo good. I ordered the lamb sausage. It was served with ginger grits (I know — I know) topped with manchego cheese and a small spinach (I think) side salad that tasted smokey. How, I have no idea. But I’d eat greens all day if they taste like they were on the grill.

The ginger grits were out of this world, although they sound terrible. Ginger and grits? But yum.

And the sausage was just so deliciously delicate and very fennelly (is that a word? no.) and it melted in your mouth.

Dessert was not part of the menu — however, when you know the pastry chef, you get special treatment. Megan gave us a choice of a chocolate something or another OR a goat cheese…..

Stop. I don’t hear anything you say after goat cheese. Cheese in my dessert. YES!

So we had the Goat Cheese Semifreddo. I sort of knew what a semifreddo was from watching years of the Food Network, but just to be clear, here’s a little Wikipedia for you.

Semifreddo (pronounced [semiˈfredːo], Italian: half cold) is a class of semi-frozen desserts, typically ice-cream cakes, semi-frozen custards, and certain fruit tarts. It has the texture of frozen mousse because it is usually produced by uniting two equal parts of ice cream and whipped cream.

It was like really firm ice cream, with a hint of goat cheese taste. I love savory desserts over sweet ones, so this was perfect.

She came out to explain the dish to us and we said “is this raspberry sauce?” She said “Oh no — it’s a hibiscus sauce. I take hibiscus flower petals and combine them with a simple syrup to extract color and flavor. Then I just reduce it way down to get it all nice and thick and syrupy.”

Ah yes — I did the same thing last night.

Amazing! Megan was so good to us and we’ll definitely be back to eat her delicious desserts (and everything else on the menu) real soon! Do yourself a favor and make reservations at Etch. You can keep up with them on Facebook, here.

**Note — other than tagging along for a free meal, I was not provided anything or asked by Etch to write this review. These opinions are mine and mine alone.

XOXO,
Jenn

For People Who Love Cocktails

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Jenn

One of the most fun and delicious events I’ve been to in Nashville since living here for seven years now is the Nashville Lifestyles Bartender Bash. I went last year with my friend Alice and it was the perfect girls’ outing. This year though, we’re letting the boys tag along.

It’s at Union Station Hotel, which is a beautiful venue, and bartenders from around town and Nashville’s finest eateries show you that there’s more to Nashville’s hot spots than good food — COCKTAILS! I mean, some of the things they whipped up last year were incredible. I can’t wait to see what this year holds! Here’s my recap from last year. (That post from last year also serves as a great reminder as to why I should never have short bangs again. Gross. WTF — all you people who call yourselves my real friends! NO).

Get your tickets now and join me — they’ll sell out! Beth over at Eat.Drink.Smile had a great write up about the event, today. The lucky little lady is judging the event. They’d have to call an ambulance if I got a full serving size of each cocktail — there’s no way I could have just a “tasting” of each. Heck no. Too yummy.

See you there, Nashville!

XOXO,
Jenn

Finger Off the Trigger

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Jenn

This weekend Rogers took me on a really special date. We went to Gun City USA and shot a 45 caliber pistol for a couple hours on Saturday. Welcome to the South.

Rogers experienced Gun City USA when the Danes were in town a few weeks ago. He asked them what they wanted to do while they were in TN and they said, “we want to shoot guns. Can you do that here?” The only other thing the Danes know about Tennessee is Bill Dance, the fishing “legend,” because they run his show a lot over there, for some reason, and he always has that Vols hat on.

So, Tennessee = shooting and Bill Dance. Awesome.

Anyways – after such a fun time with the Danes, I asked Rogers to take me to the shooting range. So we did.

I grew up shooting stuff (mostly BB guns, though), but it’s been a while. (Ask my brother about the time he shot me in the leg with a BB gun. I almost died. Also, my version of the story might be a bit more dramatic than the actual event).

The 45 Rogers selected for us to shoot with was quite a bit more powerful than my pink taser I’m packing these days, so it was an experience.

We got to Gun City right when they opened, and had the whole range (like 8 rows or whatever) to ourselves. This was good, because Rogers spent a lot of time on gun safety, showing me how to load the gun, “always point it down range and not at your boyfriend,” yadda yadda. Details — let’s shoot some shit.

Halfway through the instructions I got real nervous and had to go…well…see aforementioned sentence.

We finally got to shooting. And that little 45 was powerful. Like, whoa. It felt like a tiny cannon.

The range doesn’t let you practice “short shooting,” and the targets have to be all the way out at the back wall – so Rogers kept reminding me that a 45 is highly inaccurate from that distance and I should be proud that half of my bullets hit the target. Well then, I will be.

He also kept reminding me “finger off the trigger,” as I would turn to talk to him or yell about something because I couldn’t hear through the ear protection. I’d be in mid-sentence — “DID YOU SEE THAT!? THAT WAS GOOD. I HIT THE TA….”

“FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER, BABY!”

“Oh — yeah. sorry.”

It was really fun and Rog is a good teacher. Next time we’ll do a 22 or a 9mm – something a little more chick friendly.

On the way out, two cabs – 8 passenger van cabs, mind you – pulled up and out piled about 15 drunken dudes who were killing time (pun intended) before one of the guy’s weddings later that evening. Dear baby Jesus. I hope they all made it out alive, considering it was barely noon and they were about to shoot at things while under the influence of alcohol and pre-wedding jitters.

Funny note – Rogers left his ID there so I went back by myself about an hour later to fetch it. Standing in the lobby of the place you shouldn’t be able to hear much from the range because it’s so sound-proofed and down a level, etc. – however, with all those drunk idiots down there it sounded like WWIII. I got out of there with speed and purpose.

Here are some photos:

Their interior decorator is amazing.

A real eye for colors and patterns.

The supplies.

First thing’s first — take my picture so I can Jennstagram!

Dead eye.

My friend Kim pointed out to me that I had my old “Dixieland Delight” Phi Mu mixer shirt on. “Dixieland Delight, indeed,” she said.

This guy was running the place. He likes to talk — consider yourself warned. Allow at least 30 extra minutes for conversation if you go to Gun City. You just don’t interrupt a guy telling you sob stories about his insurance adjustor when he runs a gun shop. You just let him get it off his chest. Also, his shirt had an Adolf Hitler quote on the back.

XOXO,
Jenn

‘Merica — TCB

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Jenn

Happy 4th of July!

Hey y’all. Sorry for the hiatus, but lawd, I’ve been TCB! Taking care of business. You may have gathered from my previous couple of posts that I FINALLY sold my dang townhouse. It sold three years to the day that I put it on the market and I couldn’t be more relieved. It was weighing on me like I didn’t even realize, until it was gone. But all that to say, I hope to be back on the regular blogging scene now that I have my head back in a good, normal space!

In the meantime, let’s do a photo recap of what else has been going on.

I went to Kingston and watched two of my favorite Wade men do a triathlon. They basically kicked tail.

Mom and Dad visited Nashville for Father’s Day. We had a joint Mother’s Day/Father’s Day outing to Arrington Vineyards and had a picnic. It was so fun and they both really enjoyed it. Of course, there was wine.

We had dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill and lunch at Germantown Café the next day.

Mom has always wanted to tour the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home, so we did. It was really interesting and I loved the self-guided tour with headphones. You just punched in a code from a sign based on what you were looking at. I thought that was nicer than some period-costumed lady walking you around the entire time.

Kim took me down to the Farmer’s Market to try Bella Nashville’s pizza. OMG. It’s like Bella Napoli, and its ah-mazing. I die. I think about it daily.

I went to the courthouse one morning and TCB’d. Isn’t Nashville beautiful from the park?

The month of June I worked out 4-5 days a week at FIT Nashville’s bootcamp at Centennial. It was beautiful and we never got rained out. Thanks, drought! Fabulous way to watch the sun come up and start my day!

And in case you haven’t heard yet – I sold my townhouse! Ha.
So empty!

If you need a realtor, call that guy on the sign. Frank J will TCB.

Then, I celebrated the move.

And celebrated the sale. A lot of celebrating.

Rog took us to J Alexander’s for dinner. All I wanted was mac and cheese (it’s to die for), but had some steak tacos too. He had the steak.

In other news, I’m still obsessed with our McKay’s bookstore. I love it. Here are some of the latest finds.

Are you bored with the randomness of this post yet? Hope not – because here’s an update on my hair! It’s getting looong, and I love my bangs longer, now. I can curl them back a little and keep the little turds out of my face.

Last Saturday Rog and I got all dressed up and went to Junior Chamber gala. It was so fun. We topped it off with a trip downtown to Robert’s Western World and then acted refined and had a nightcap at the Patterson House.

My handsome date.

Phi Mu ladies!

Mal pal.

Two of my favorite Nashville friends – Rach and Linds.

And two of my new friends thanks to NJC – Elisabeth and Evelina. I don’t befriend ugly people, clearly.

Lastly – I ate half a sticker off my apple yesterday. That was awesome. Then, I checked my mortgage account and saw my outstanding balance. YES sir! Ha. Ok, I’ll quit talking about it, I swear.

And, I finished this book today and HOLY moly. It scared the poop out of me! And had so many twists and turns. It would make a fabulous movie. But OMG – y’all. Read this book. I read it in three days and had nightmares. Ha.

How’s that for a random brain dump? Now that we’re all caught up, I’ll try to keep it that way.

XOXO,
Jenn

I Swear Officer — I Just Wanted to Hug Them

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Jenn

I don’t normally get star struck, although in Nashville there are plenty of opportunities. The stars just walk among us like normal humans, for Pete’s sake.

I think I normally don’t get star struck because I usually don’t recognize who it is I’m looking at until they’ve come and gone.

Exhibit A: one time I was at the Bound’ry restaurant and ran into Lucas from Days of Our Lives, Bryan Dattilo. I literally ran into him coming around a corner. He was by himself and I was like “OH MY GOSH, I’m so sorry. OH HEY!”

Because I knew I recognized him but had no idea from where. UT? Kingston? Right. So I played it off.

Jenn: “How are you? I haven’t seen you in forever? (true statement — it had been since about 1997 that I last watched an episode of Days). Doing ok?”

Lucas/Bryan: **confused — oh hell, how do I know her…is she crazy? Probably** “Oh — you know. I’m fine.”

Jenn: **wow — he seems a little uptight.** “Great — well, it’s really good to see you again. I’ve gotta run.”

Probably about one minute after he walked away I realized who it was. More cocktails, please.

Joke is on him since he probably spent the rest of the evening either a.) trying to figure out if I was an extra he’d once “dated,” or b.) looking over his shoulder for the deranged fan who pretended to “know” him.

Anywho, there have been countless other incidents like this and I’m just never quick enough to put it all togehter…until recently.

Monday night I had to get a package of tortellini for dinner. I tried to go to the Turnip Truck grocery in the Gulch, but they were closed. I cussed, then thought “I’ll just go to the janky Apple Market across the street from my place.” I got in my car and since I’d had a glass of wine with my gal pals, I dug my iPod out of my purse and turned on my favorite car sing-a-long, Miranda Lambert’s “Baggage Claim.” (This will be ironic in a moment).

I drove over there, walked in and turned down the aisle and saw a girl way at the end of it that was so cute. I thought “whoa…what’s she doing in this place?” It’s just kind of seedy. She had on cowboy boots and a crisp white dress and blonde hair in a low side ponytail. Then this tall drink of water walked up behind her and I thought “he’s tall. They sort of look like… HOLY TORTELLINI it’s Blake and Miranda.”

Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. I about passed out. I don’t really give a hoot about a lot of these people, but I love Miranda and Blake is just precious and hilarious.

I think I stopped and just stared and then walked toward them — like a moth to a flame. Then I panicked and turned around and they cut down a different aisle. I then said to some random guy “THAT WAS BLAKE AND MIRANDA.” I think he was homeless. “What. WHO?” Nothing. Walk away.

I walked around until I spotted them again like a total creeper. I wanted a picture so bad! They were so cute and were just shopping and being normal. Who knew?! Miranda yelled “BLAAAKE! We still got them pizzas? Need more?” It was California Pizza Kitchen, if you want to be like the famous people. It’s basically a rule that I’ll only eat CPK pizzas now.

Unfortunately after I cut down three or four aisles like some sort of stalker, I gave up and got in the checkout line. Well heavens to Betsy, they got in line RIGHT behind me. I didn’t dare look at them. As we waited, a couple of people said stuff to them — one lady told Blake she auditioned for the Voice — and he was just sweet as pie. But I swear — Miranda had one of those pizzas up her butt because she was all eye rolls and smug looks. I understand — I’m sure that kind of treatment gets old. You just want to buy your overpriced frozen pizzas and go on about your business like a normal person. But lady, you’re in Nashville and it’s CMA Fest week. You gotta either hibernate at home or just get over it and indulge us a little.

The checkout clerk, who I feel like is my uncle or something since we go in there so often, asked her for a picture. He said, “My wife will just die. She loves you.” She released a heavy sigh and said a flat, “sure.”

I left at this point, got in my car and waited for them to come out. Yes, yes I did.

OH, first I did take a couple photos through the window, as seen here.

As they exited the store, Miranda looked RIGHT at me. I mean, we locked eyes. Dang it. I know she thought “there’s the creeper from inside.” As they headed toward Blake’s pick up truck (or hers, who knows), she whispered something to him and then HE turned and looked at me. OMG I was mortified. I’m one of them — those people who come to Nashville to see famous people and then bother them in their natural habitat. Like poking a stick at an animal in its cage at the zoo.

I cranked up my car and through my speakers blasted Miranda’s twangy voice at top decibel since I’d just been singing along with her. I thought she was back to beat me up. I about peed my pants and then sped away.

Such a loser.

XOXO,
Jenn

Training Gets Personal — with Kathy Mead

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Jenn

Recently an email hit my inbox from Kathy Mead who lives here in Nashville and is venturing into the world of personal training after almost 15 years of being a group exercise instructor. Kathy and I have mutual friends (the Pancake Girls that I run with every Friday morning), but haven’t ever met. This was perfect — because Kathy wanted to hone her personal training style with a few guinea pig clients that she knew nothing about.

I love being a guinea pig!

First, Kathy and I had a phone conversation about my workout history, likes and dislikes. We talked about running, my injuries (stupid ol’ knee), my recent love for boot camp and BarreAmped classes, etc. She asked me what my goals would be if I were to work with a personal trainer on the regular, and I told her that I’d love to just continue to tone up — lengthen and strengthen, people. So that’s what we worked on.

Soon after, Kathy and I scheduled two personal training sessions. Again, her goal was to practice working with brand new clients and putting together fun, effective, hour-long personal training sessions that aligned with the individual’s goals and fitness level. She also wanted to get familiar wtih her new studio location and all it has to offer.

I met her bright and early at 6 a.m. at the studio she’ll be working out of — which was amazeballs. It’s so convenient to me, and anyone in the downtown area. It’s in Hillsboro Village on Wedgewood Ave. in one of those beautiful old houses that you always wish your office would relocate to.

The entire upstairs, with a separate entrance in the back, are small fitness studios outfitted with tons of equipment for whatever your exercising heart desires. It’s called The Studio of Muscle Integration, run by Kandice King. Go to the website and read about Kandice too — she kicks major butt.

My hour-long session with Kathy went something like this. 5 minute warm up on the treadmill to get the blood pumping. Then, three sets of a circuit that involved two strength exercises and one cardio exercise. We used the exercise ball, exercise bands, TRX, dumbbells, kettlebells and more. I’m telling you, they have a little bit of everything to keep it interesting. After working hard for 50 minutes or so, we cooled down and stretched. And I was a puddle on the floor.

So, for example, we’d do a set of wall squats using the exercise ball, some tricep and oblique (I’m so workout term savvy, as you can see) exercise using a band, and then a set of burpees for cardio. Then we’d repeat that at least one more time. Then she’d introduce another “circuit” of three new things. It was awesome and I was pouring sweat.

OMG the TRX. Do you all know what this thing is? I’d never used one, but had seen it. Here’s an example of a push up using TRX. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4fUS7yITAw. I fully expected for an elbow to give out and for me to get tangled up so badly that I’d have to be cut out of it with scissors, but it was great. Total body workout because you’re balancing and engaging your core the whole time. Don’t think me weird if I install one of these at the Flat, soon. Here’s another one we did — TRX Side Plank. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ezC5UNcyyg&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL4D2D34FEAE5E9A05

I’ll have to be honest — personal training has always seemed intimidating to me. I’ve never done it before, but the thought of someone staring at me and only me while I workout is daunting. But not so with Kathy — she is so likeable, personable and makes you feel comfortable right from the beginning. We chatted (as much as I could while gasping for breath) about random stuff like books, exercise, travel, cocktails! and such. It was like working out with a friend — if that friend just watched you sweat and told you what do to next.

It was SO nice to have someone who knows what they’re doing to be sure your form is right and to be sure that you aren’t about to blow a knee out because you can’t properly do a lunge. That was so cool — because that’s how so many inuries happen. Kathy was great at adjusting the workout up or down as I needed.

Perfect example: on the day of our second session I had run out of peanut butter. (Huh? Yes.) If I workout in the morning I eat one spoonful of peanut butter and that’s enough to give me some protein so I don’t pass out, yet it’s light enough so I don’t puke it up. I know, lovely.

I didn’t have any PB the morning of our second session, so I crammed some dried fruit bites in my mouth and headed out the door. About halfway through our workout I was doing a simple strength exercise and was watching myself in the mirror and saw all the color drain from my face. Then I thought I was going to barf. Then I thought I was going to…well, nevermind. I had to stop, lay down, started POURING sweat and my ears were ringing. I went in the bathroom to splash water on my face and to consider what it would be like if Kathy had to break the door down to pull my face out of the toilet after I fell into it. Finally, I settled down. It was terrible.

I was so embarrassed and felt so wimpy! Kathy was totally cool of course and was like “let’s stretch.” So we did about 20 minutes of really good stretching to finish the workout. Poor Kathy.

If you are interested in personal training in Nashville, give Kathy a call, please. She is so kick ass and you will love her for kicking yours.

Bio and Contact Information for Kathy Mead:
Kathy Mead has a B.S. from Vanderbilt University in Human and Organizational Development and Psychology and a M.S. from MTSU in Exercise Science. She has been a certified group exercise instructor for almost 15 years and interned with MTSU’s strength and conditioning department as a graduate student.

She’s worked as an Exercise Coach since 2004 (also certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health and Fitness Specialist since 2004) and is a VERY amateur bike racer.

She is absolutely committed to exercise and fitness as a way of life and has worked with a myriad of populations including: pre/post-natal, bariatric surgery patients pre and post-op, post-physical therapy patients, athletes, and just the everyday “Joe” or “Sue” who is interested in improving fitness or losing weight and unsure how to amp up their workout routine or start a routine all together.

Contact her at either 615-330-7308 or at meadkm1028@yahoo.com for more information.

Category Archives: Nashville

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Training Gets Personal — with Kathy Mead

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