Pedaling Off My Turkey

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Jenn

I hope you little turkeys had a lovely holiday weekend! Rogers, Callie and I spent it in East TN with my family and it was so nice to be home with so many people (and fur people) I love in one room.

Callie made herself right at home in Mom and Dad’s house. Obviously.

We ate well. I had leftovers for two days that were plates just full of carbs. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheese grits, stuffing, etc. It was all so good.

Of course, as any holiday does, it turned into a Wade family pickin’ and singin’ party.

Also, any time in Roane Co. that we can, we always catch Drivin’ Blind – my sis-in-law’s Dad’s rock band. Yes – that’s how we roll. Scott and the boys always entertain and we were super impressed with the new lead singer.

We headed back to Nashville on Saturday afternoon so we could have whole day to recover from the family fun before heading back to work on Monday.

Sunday morning started with this family snuggle fest on the couch. Callie was such a good traveler, but so glad to be back in her own house! She always has to be a little extra on guard when she’s at her grandparents’ house – in case I try to abandon her there. So, she totally sacked out for about 24 hours straight when we got home – which meant I could sneak in cuddles while she was in a cat coma.

So, little back story. I’ve been sort of interested in buying a bike ever since watching my brother and Dad dominate in triathlons. I have no plans to dominate anything, except staying upright on both wheels, but I’d been sort of interested in maybe doing a Tri Sprint next year. I looked at one bike shop here in Nashville and got bike snobbed (“titanium this, carbon that, Trek schmeck), so I waited until I was home and had my resident experts take me to a couple shops so I could ride some.

Then, while Rogers drove me back to Nashville I surfed Craigslist and found a really nice Giant Avail that had been posted mere hours before. It was just my size, nearly brand new (for half off) and was colored “Tangerine.” Big Orange, y’all!

So, Kyle (the owner who was selling it for his Momma) and I met up this afternoon. After a quick spin or two around the parking lot and after running all the deets by my little brother, I put ol’ Tangerine in my back seat and headed for home. I looooove it!

I’ve been over at Centennial Park cruising around on this beautiful day, figuring out shifting and what not. So, who wants to go for a ride!?

Also, since I work a mere .4 of a mile from my house now, I will soon be one of those dorks riding her bike to work.

Have a great week, little turkeys.

XOXO,
Jenn

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

Happy Birthday, Little Brother!

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Jenn

My LITTLE brother is 27 today, which means soon he’ll be older than me! (In a couple years we can celebrate our 29th birthday together, Josh! I’m holding).

I am continually impressed by you and every day spent as your sister is a blessing, little brother.

You have gone from “my baby” that I couldn’t wait to hold…

…to such a fabulous young man. So proud of you.

Oh, and there’s this picture, just because it’s one of my favorites ever.

Happy birthday, buddy.

XOXO,
Jenn

Keeping Austin Weird

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Jenn

Last weekend Rogers and I packed a bag and hopped an early flight for Austin, TX. My good friend and sorority sister, Crystal, was marrying her man Nick, and all the Phi Mu girls were en route to help her celebrate.

Rog and I made a mini-vacay out of it and stayed three nights and spent the whole time exploring and catching up with good friends. We LOVE Austin. If it wasn’t 1 million degrees there in the summer, I’d consider moving.

We found a perfect little cottage on AirBNB.com for $48/night. Yes, you read correctly. It was about the same size if not bigger than a hotel room and 1/3 of the cost. Totally private and a mile from the heart of South Congress where all the great shopping and eating is located. I highly recommend staying at the Cottage if you visit ATX.

Here are some photos.

Boots – and boots. All the essentials for TX trip.

Quick plane change in Houston. We’d been up since 4 and had stayed up till midnight the night before. Not wise.

We arrive in ATX and were in our rental car by 10:30 a.m. but couldn’t check in to our place until 3. No worries. I’m a planner extraordinaire and had scheduled some things to look at. First, Barton Springs. Austin’s humongous natural spring swimming hole. It was 300 yards long and a crisp year-round 68 degrees. And there were little old ladies swimming laps in it. With no wetsuit. OMG y’all. That is cold.

Lunch was at Kerbey Lane for the famous queso. It lived up to my every hope and dream and then some. It had guac and pico de gallo in it. I die.

We finally couldn’t stay awake any longer and checked in early. We found this bottle of wine waiting on us from our host. We enjoyed it post-nap, pre-dinner. Dinner was at Uchi, the Top Chef restaurant that we ate at during girls weekend in January. We met Melissa and Aaron there and loved it just as much as the first time – apparently so much I forgot to take pictures.

The next morning. Tacos at TacoDeli and coffee and tea at Austin Java. Two new favorites. We loved Austin Java so much we went back the next morning for breakfast.

Saturday morning was so cool so we walked off our breakfast at the Lady Bird Lake trails downtown. There were so many people out and it was BEAUTIFUL. It’s a lovely thing being in a city with so many active people.

Next was shopping and lunch on South Congress. On the left is Uncommon Objects, our favorite South Congress store. So weird. So fun. On the right is a bloody mary from some café that we just had to have mid-day. We lunched on food trucks across the street. I had Mighty Cone – and ordered a tortilla stuffed with crunchy shrimp and slaw, in a cone. Delish. Rog had a yummy pita that took approximately 45 minutes to make.

On the right – please check out what girl to the right of Rogers is wearing. WHAT.the..heck.

Saturday night – Salt Lick BBQ – again of Top Chef fame and again a place we fell in love with on Girls Weekend.

Then it was on to Gibson Bar to meet up with the lovely bride and groom! They arranged to be at their favorite bar for a set couple of hours so everyone could meet up and visit. Great plan. It was so fun.

The next morning – breakfast at Austin Java. I wanted sweet and savory so I had Farmer’s French toast AND a chorizo, egg and cheese taco. Rog had some kind of omelet with gouda cheese. It was all divine.

Shopping and more eating on South Congress for lunch, after visiting a couple book stores and the famous Waterloo Record store.

Sunday night – on to the big wedding! It was on a beautiful Texas farm and was definitely the most beautiful wedding I’ve been to. So much fun.

I definitely wasn’t wearing what I’d plan on wearing – because the temps were dropping into the 50s. We all went out and bought tights and pantyhose. Ha. Nothing like some nude pantyhose to dress up any occasion, right?

I snapped this as they headed up the aisle. They were positively glowing.

Phi Mu ladies. From the left, me, Monica, Melissa, Lindsey, Edgin and Katie.

Crystal had arranged for us to have a Pink Ladies lounge. Too cute.

The reception barn – right next to the outdoor ceremony sight. I’m telling you – this is what little girls dreams are made of!

There was a photo booth. Like, a real photo booth. It was so fun. How six of us crammed in there, I have no idea. You’ll notice in picture two that Melissa also brought a giant log into the booth. You’ll notice in photo three, that she inadvertently smacked me in the head with it between photo 2 and 3.

Me and the bride!

Why not?

Getting inside Monica’s blanket with her. Yes – she brought a blanket, which she wore most of the evening.

Me and Rog.

Thank you, Bristows, for letting us celebrate in your nuptials and fall in love with your city! We can’t wait to hear about Hawaii! Love you.

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

Callie Gets Busted

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Jenn

I keep my bobby pins, ponytail holders, rubberbands and other misc. hair doodles in this little storage container that sits on the back of our toilet, next to the sink.

Callie is OBSESSED with pontytail holders. She loves to hold them in her mouth and bat them around the floor. She collects them and keeps them on her “condo” where her food bowl is. All my girlfriends who have slept over always leave sans ponytail holders, because Callie waits until they’re sleeping or out of the room, then she sneaks in and ransacks their luggage looking for them. She’s a stone cold killer.

I always keep one on my wrist in case of emergency ponytail disasters, and I’ve woken up to Callie tugging on it with her teeth. WHILE it’s on my wrist.

Anywho — I’ve been pretty careful to not let Callie see where I keep my ponytail holders — in this little container on the back of the toilet. But this morning, while she was drinking from the faucet and I was getting ready to work out, she spotted it and was on it like white on rice. She acted like she didn’t care — but I could see it in her eye. She cared…a lot.

So sure enough, I came back from working out and she’d flipped the lid off the container and hunted and gathered as many rubberbands as she could.

Then when I left for work, Rogers got this video:

Ha — I love that little devil.

XOXO,
Jenn

21 Most Terrifying Things as a Child

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Jenn

Have you all seen this list? Hilarious. It definitely spoke to me as a child of the 80′s.

To this day, I’m still afraid that a spider will lay eggs in my face at night and then what I think is a zit will actually be an egg sack buried under my skin and one million baby spiders will spill out one day. Remember!? Remember that story? OMG. It still haunts my dreams.

BUT MOST OF ALL, THIS:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-most-terrifying-things-as-a-child

Mountain Mama

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Jenn

Rogers and I went camping a couple weekends ago. We stayed three nights, four days at Elkmont Campground, where we’ve stayed three or four times before. We LOVE Elkmont and the Smokies like I cannot describe to you. I seriously could stay there a couple weeks (before I’d have to get a real shower and bed).

We get so into our little camping routine and never tire of each other, without TV, computers, cell phones, etc. It’s really nice to escape everything else and we’re both just really in our element when you drop us in the middle of the Smoky Mountains.

We don’t shower (but we maybe bathed in the River – shhh, don’t tell the Park Ranger). We sleep in a tent (with an air mattress and down comforter – shhh, don’t tell Rogers I told you! It embarrasses him that I have to have an air mattress). We cook all our meals by campfire or tiny camp stove. We sit. We hike. We visit. We laugh. A lot.

Here’s a photo recap.

Entering the mountains – so excited!

Dinner night one – campfire hot dogs and easy mac. YES.

My view.

We had the biggest steak ever, thanks to Momma and Daddy’s freezer.

Rog wraps potatoes in aluminum foil and throws them in the campfire coals. The best baked potato!

Every morning – bacon and eggs. This particular morning we had leftover steak on the side! Hiking fuel.

Our camp. It poured on Saturday, but Rogers kept us dry with his tarps and crazy Eagle Scout knots.

Friday morning Mom and Dad met us at the Alum Cave Trailhead and we headed off for Mt. LeConte. The grandaddy hike of the Smokies.

Me and my Dad.

However, Mom was having some knee pain, so she and I turned around at the bluffs (2ish miles each way) and then went into Gatlinburg and shopped and ate Mexican food. Ha! We sent the men on to to the top. They got to see the Llamas! The llamas hike 12 miles roundtrip, three times a week, to bring supplies, laundry, food, etc. up and down the mountain. So cool. Look at ‘em!

Dad snapped this photo from the top. You can’t beat it.

Like I said, it poured on Saturday, so we stuck close to camp. In between showers, Rog taught me “land navigation” with a military compass. Now, if I get lost, I can find my way home…if I have a map and compass, which I clearly ALWAYS carry with me.

Views around camp.

When the rain didn’t let up, we went into Gatlinburg so I could get an internet signal and download a new book on my Kindle. Priorities, friends! We also may have acted like tourists for a minute.

Please notice I’m being photo-bombed by a stuffed moose on the right. (Rog).

Dinner on the last night – cheeseburgers and black beans. And S’mores. Duh. We had s’mores every night!

Rog cooked our last breakfast on a little gasoline powered stove made in 1966. He’s had it since he and his Dad used to go camping and it’s made by a company called “Rogers.” So awesome.

Until next time, Elkmont. We love you so!

XOXO,
Jenn

Easy Pot Roast

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Jenn

I posted a photo of dinner on Instagram and Facebook and a couple folks asked for the recipe, so here you go.

This was compiled from several other recipes and seems to be super popular, so you may have seen it before — or some version of it. I think my Momma once gave me a pot roast recipe that used brown gravy and dressing mix, so I probably owe some credit to her for planting this in my head. Thanks, Momma!

Easy Crockpot Pot Roast:

Ingredients:
– Beef shoulder roast (or some other pot roast worthy cut of beef). Mine was 2.5 pounds, so you might adjust the ingredients as necessary (and cooking time) dependent upon your roast. FYI — I may have made a pot roast one other time and it wasn’t that great, so I am intimidated when it comes to going to the ol’ grocery store and picking out a cut of meat. Fortunately Publix stuck a big orange sticker on this one that said “for POT ROAST.” Thanks, Publix. It cost about $12.
– Three baking potatoes
– One medium sweet onion
– Four large carrots, peeled
– A packet of brown gravy mix

– A packet of Good Seasonings italian dressing mix

– A packet of Ranch Dressing mix. (NOTE – this is the powdered mix. For the love of cooking, do not squirt ranch dressing in your crockpot).

– 2 cups of water

Directions:
– Put the meat in the bottom of your crockpot.
– Whisk together the three seasoning packets with the two cups of water in a separate bowl. Pour over meat.

– Turn crockpot on low and cook for 4 hours.
– After those four hours, chop potatoes, onion and celery into sizeable chunks and toss them in the crockpot.
– Lift the meat up with some tongs and let the veggies get on the bottom of the crockpot — put the meat back in on top. While you’ve got the top off go ahead and spoon some of delicious gravy on top of the meat.
– Cook on HIGH for 3 more hours.
– Remove meat, chop it up and toss back in with your veggies. Be a redneck and serve it straight outta the crockpot. EAT!

If you want to get real crazy, you could pour some of the juice out and make some gravy with it — but I won’t pretend to know how to do that.

Now, this cook time seemed to work out pretty well for me. The potatoes could have been a teency bit softer, but I didn’t want them in there the whole time because they would have disolved. So, you can adjust the veggie add-in time according to how your like yours. This cook time above kept the meat tender and the veggies just soft enough, but still with consistency.

Enjoy!

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

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