How is it already November?

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Jenn

Whoa, I’ve been a blogger slacker. I’m alive and kicking though, don’t you worry. Here are some photos to prove it…

Rog and I have been eating a lot. Per usual.

We eat when we’re sad, we eat when we’re happy – like when I get a new job!! More about that in a second.

Here we at at Zumi Sushi on Belcourt Ave. We LOVE this place. Might be our favorite in town.

We still love our neighborhood and how accessible everything is, on foot. Can’t believe we’ve been here almost three years! We walked up to Stoney River the other night and did some people watching at the bar, and wine drinking.

Last weekend I went out to see my best friend, Wendy. She’s having another baby in January – and is having us a girl! Can’t wait to meet baby Harper.

My boyfriend Cade was there, too. He told me a secret – that he has ANOTHER girlfriend at school. I won’t mention her name on the blog, because it’s a secret. I told him that was dumb and not fair. And he said that he could have two girlfriends, and I said I was ok with that. I don’t see him often enough to keep him all to myself, so I’ll take what I can get.

Kelly and Heath have raise these babies right. Cade just sat in my lap and cuddled while he watched cartoons. I figured he would have grown out of that stage, being a big kindergartener and all. While I was relishing in his sweetness, he farted and brought some balance back to the universe.

Look at this sweet boy. He woke up from a nap and was a little groggy – but still let me kiss all over him. Who needs to have babies when the Linville girls keep having perfect nieces and nephews for me to love on?

Halloween has come and gone, which also means October has come and gone. My favorite month of the year! Come and gone. Although, it was pretty monumental. We went to Austin, TX, Rog had a great birthday, I got a new job and we had lots of celebrations with friends. So, I can’t be too sad.

We also got to dress up, which makes pretty much any month the best. I was Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I wanted to be him because a.) he uses his mind and his heart as his most powerful weapons and b.) his actual weapon is a bow staff, which was easy to make.

My friend Kim had a fabulous party at her house, complete with a photographer, which pretty much makes any party the best, in my opinion. Here’s me and my “turtle hunter.”

And here’s my and the famed Pancake Girls! These are some of the girls I run with every Friday morning and then we eat pancakes at the Pancake Pantry. I seriously love these girls so hard. Their friendship has been one of the best things to happen to me and I love our time together. Pancake 4 Life.

And of course, since I blogged last, Callie was mean.

And sweet. Just the way we like her.

So back to that whole “new job” thing. It’s true! I got a new job this month. I went through the longest interview process I’ve ever been through and the whole thing was positive and a real learning experience. I must have said something right, because starting in a week I’ll be working for a fabulous global, Fortune 50 company here in Nashville. While it’s a huge organization, it’s a relatively small marketing and communications office that I’ll be a part of, and I couldn’t be happier to be making this move. It’s a real opportunity for me and my career trajectory, and I hope I love it so much, and they me, that I just stay forever.

I hope all of you have had a lovely October, as well – and that the rest of 2012 is everything you want it to be.

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

The Danes

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Jenn

This week, we’ve had some international visitors at the Flat. Rogers produces a band out of Denmark called Lilyphone, and the bassist and three of his beautiful friends have been staying with us on their 7 week tour of the U.S. Not a music tour mind you – just a road trip for fun.

Note to America – get more vacation time.

This is the loveliest bunch of people and I’m trying to convince them to move in because they are the best house guests. They’ve made dinner –and not just any dinner — both nights. Beautiful, talented and great cooks. We can definitely be friends.

Obviously, we had to take them to a singer songwriter night. Lucky for them, it was exceptionally awful this night.

We have been spending a lot of time on the deck before we send them on the rest of their U.S. tour tomorrow. They’ll head to Memphis and then New Orleans from here, eventually ending up in California and then flying out of Seattle. Not a rough way to go.

Xoxo,
Jenn

Farewell, Old Friend

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Jenn

Today, I got a new whip. That’s means car, for those of you who aren’t so fly.

Before I can truly celebrate this though, we must mourn the one who is now headed to auction. There, she will either be purchased by some father for his 16- year-old daughter to ruin and not fully appreciate OR where she’ll be bought *gulp* —- to be chopped up for parts.

The 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse. God bless her little motor oil pumping heart.

I remember when my Dad and I started shopping for cars together my senior year of high school. My parents always had a deal with my brother and I that if we kept an A/B GPA through high school and went on to college, they would buy us a car. One car, and one car only for the rest of our days, so we better take good care of it.

My Dad took me car shopping the last semester of my senior year of high school. I had gotten into UT and fulfilled my end of the bargain. As we headed to Knoxville, I had my heart set on one of those lime green Volkswagen Beetles. True story. Dad strongly encouraged me to shop around. The first thing we drove was the Mitsubishi Eclipse. I think we went there because they were running a great deal with super low APR. I fell in love. Hell, I probably would have fallen in love with anything on four wheels that wasn’t my ’91 Toyota Corolla I was driving at the time. But I like to think it was that little red car’s destiny – that she should shuttle me around for the next 11 years.

The Eclipse was so dang cool. It was the shiniest thing I’d ever seen. And soon, it would be mine. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad. Dad and I signed the paperwork and celebrated by eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant by the movie theater. Obviously.

Two or so days later she was in the garage waiting on me one day after school. And so it began.

Since then, she’s taken me on more road trips than I can remember, braved the parking garages at the University of Tennessee, had more fender benders than I care to remember or discuss and just overall been my number one gal on four wheels.

But she’s 11 years old now, and although she’s served me well and is still purring, it’s time for her to move on to the next phase in her little car life. Now, she’s chock full of door dings, hail damage, scratches, strange smells and several other surprises. Maybe I should have left instructions in the glove-box about how to turn the radio volume up and down. It’s sort of a tedious process.

Ah well.

There were near tearful hugs goodbye.

God speed, little Eclipse. I sure love you lots. The Mazda has big wheels to fill.

Also, August will be the first month that I’ve ever had a car payment in my life (again, thanks Mom and Dad), and I already think it’s pretty sucky.

XOXO,
Jenn

Jennstagram

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Jenn

Here’s a little photo wrap-up of the week I fondly call, Jennstagram.

Me — driving back from K-town last Sunday. A little sad to be leaving the “country,” but ready to get home to my kitty baby and Rog! Who is this girl with long blondish hair, PS?

As you can see, Callie was STOKED to have me home. She could hardly contain herself.

While at home, I took a photo of this photo (yeah, technology!) of my Dad in his early days working at Y-12. Look at how cute he is! He appears to be about 15 years old, but he is not. Check out that sweet PC.

Momma and Daddy were wealthy with tomatoes from the garden and sent me back several. I’ve enjoyed one of these with lunch every day this week.

Rogers put in a new closet organizer in the hall closet. Lawd, we needed it. He knows the way to my heart is through organizational gestures.

I met my friend Alice at Taco Mamacita for a Tuesday night gab session and margarita indulgence. Pomegranate Margarita. Thank you may I have another. And I did.

Wednesday, when there was a humidity of about 168 percent, by some sweet divine intervention the new food truck RetroSno was parked at our building. Kim and I both tried the Vanilla Toasted Coconut flavor “snoball” which was topped with coconut flakes and “cream,” aka sweetened condensed milk. Instead of cramming my sweaty face in the middle of it, which was what I really wanted to do in that heat, I ate it. Every bite of it.

My life is complete and I’ll be stalking this truck all over town, now. There are about 15 more flavors I’d like to try. So I guess my life isn’t that complete.

After 11 years with the Eclipse, I am finally car shopping and think I found “the one.” Mitzi the Mazda is currently en route from Georgia to Nashville to meet her new owner (me!)

A.) You’re welcome for getting you out of Georgia, Mitzi. B.) I hope we have a long, repair-free, life together. You have big wheels to fill.

My First Guest Blog Post!

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Jenn

Since I’m apparently too lazy these days to keep up regular blogging on my own blog, I’ve done a guest post over at www.HiFromColorado.com. I love Katelyn’s blog and am honored she asked me to do a guest post. Hop on over and see it!

Blogaversary — Year One

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Jenn

Wow – yesterday was my blogaversary! At least here at HappilyEverFaster.com. I was blogging previously on Blogger, but it’s been exactly a year since I moved the blog over with the new domain.

I stole this idea from my friend Susan at www.newlywedsinnewyork.wordpress.com and thought I’d share my first year’s stats with you. Here we go:

Stat #1: In the first year I’ve had 43,201 views, counted in WordPress. WOW! Thanks for reading, y’all. It really makes a gal feel special. Callie too! (I know that’s why you all visit). I’ve heard that WordPress can’t capture all the people who read your blog in Google Reader or a similar reader. I wonder how much higher that number really is?

Stat #2: My busiest day at the ol’ blog was September 2, 2011 when I wrote a little ode to Tennessee Football. 362 people hit the blog that day and I about had a heart attack and felt as famous as Suri Cruise. Dear Ol’ Tennessee.

Stat #3: Of those hits, only 668 people have ever read my “Meet Jenn” page. You don’t really know me at all! J Kidding. That thing probably needs a facelift.

Stat #4: The most popular search terms in Google that land people on my blog, in this order, are:

Happily Ever Faster
Happily Ever Faster Blog
Wrapped Mummies (this is from the time I went on the art walk and talked about the weird mummy art)
Three Ingredient Pumpkin Bread (YES! So good. Not surprised).
Cajun Mac and Cheese
My sciatica is acting up again (Ha – sorry you only found bitching and whining here, and no actual remedies for sciatica pain).

Stat #5: This is my 411^th post. That includes the posts pulled over from Blogger. How have I ever found 411 things to write about? Well, it’s probably just like four or five things, 411 times. Callie, food, how much I love running, how much running sucks and Rogers.

Stat #6: I’ve had 512 comments! Many of those are from me, since I try to respond to everyone who comments – I love to communicate with you, bloggies!

Stat #7: My top commenter is my Momma! She may not be the only person out there reading, but she sure is my favorite!

Stat #8: The most popular link clicked on my blog is to Melinda’s blog! I’m not surprised – her blog is precious. 996 people have clicked through from my blog to Melinda’s in the past year. If you haven’t yet, go! Go! A close second with 992 clicks is Kayla’s blog. No wonder these two ladies are so popular – they both have precious babies on their blogs. I see a matchmaking opportunity in about 20 more years.

Stat #9: The most popular “referrer” to my blog is Facebook. Meaning, I post on FB that I’ve written a new blog post and people click through from there. Second place is my old blog URL. Come on people, update your bookmarks. Third most popular is Google – I think from people searching “Happily Ever Faster” as noted above.

Stat #10: And lastly, some of the most random search terms that have landed people on my blog are:

What does a human bone look like on the inside?
Drunk girl laying in pool
Sad old couple
I’m gonna taze you
Tom Cruise in tight pants (Ew).
Callie Rogers (Ha)
Beefy Cheesy Glory Tebow

And, there you have it. Year one in the books. I’d say that was successful, no? And a beefy, cheesy, glory Tebow to you too!

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

Blog Readin’ Fatigue

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Jenn

image via

How do you all read your blogs? Do you physically go to each of them? Use a reader? Use the blog roll on your own blog and click through each one?

I, personally, had my life changed the day I discovered Google Reader. I love it and rarely physically hit a blog’s URL. Did you also know that when you look at the analytics of how many hits your blog gets, it doesn’t count all of those people who are reading your blog in reader? At least that’s how I understand it works on WordPress.

Anywho – if something is interesting to me and I want to read it every time someone posts, I drop it into my Google Reader, which I like to check every morning and sometimes every afternoon, so it doesn’t get too full. However, I recently found myself skipping over a LOT of the blogs I’d put in my reader. I’d just skim right over it and not even pretend to read it. I did this for months until I was like “hell – this is MY reader – why am I keeping this trash in here?” So I did a big overhaul on the blogs I follow and cleaned my reader out. SO much better.

It was sort of strange and got me ruminating over it – because I obviously liked the content at some point, or I wouldn’t have put it in there. So what changed? Surely the author didn’t change. They are probably doing exactly what they were when I once found them appealing. So it must have been me that changed. Why? How?

And with a couple of these blogs, I’m not talking about “eh, I just am bored with it.” I’m talking I was straight up like “you are terrible and dumb. Quit talking. If I see one more awkward self-portrait of you in running clothes in your tiny backyard, I will straight up knife my computer screen.” (I know, that makes me sort of terrible, but this is my little internet corner to speak the truth, just like they have theirs to be terrible in).

Did my interests change? Am I happier now and don’t feel like listening to them whine about how sucky everything is (when their world actually seems pretty perfect)? Or maybe it was the opposite and I found their constant state of euphoria unrealistic. Nobody is that happy. Maybe I’m jealous. Maybe I feel sorry for them. Who knows – but it got me thinking nonetheless.

They’ve done these studies that show that people who use Facebook are generally not as happy and satisfied with their lives as people who are NOT on Facebook. They believe it’s because we tend to post more about all the good things in our lives on Facebook, e.g. “I’m having the greatest day ever! I just got a promotion at my dream job and got engaged to my dream man via this 6 carat diamond! See photo.” Ok that’s kind of an extreme example – but you get my drift.

So we read all this crap about how wonderful everyone else’s life is – forgetting that they aren’t telling us about how they also gained four pounds last week, are strapped for cash until payday and have relationship issues, too. But it’s all about perception. So we start to think everyone else has a peachy life and ours is lame because we aren’t eating at the fanciest restaurants with the prettiest people and doing the “most fun thing!” every weekend. Neither are they – they are just going to be dang sure you know about it when they do. Multiply that by your 800 friends and you could see how that would be depressing.

I think the same thing applies to my recent blog reader overhaul. What do you think?

How’s that for a random Wednesday brain dump?

Happy humpday, friends!

XOXO,
Jenn

Update on Eggplant Kitten, aka Sally

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Jenn

I got an email update from the sweet people who adopted Eggplant yesterday. (see previous post to catch up).

Apparently, Sally, as she’s been renamed, is doing just beautifully in her new home. She loves it and has settled right in. The four-year-old little girl who is Sally’s new mommy is having to work on giving “gentle hugs and kisses,” said her Mom, because the kitten is just so squeezable. Smile Too cute. She said Sally doesn’t seem to mind though, because she just keeps coming back for more. I’m telling you, this little fur baby has the sweetest disposition.