It's A Shame She's Not Talented

Bless her heart. I wish she could sing.

Seriously. Ten. Years. Old. 

Thoughts on Working From Home

WORKING FROM HOME IS MUCH BETTER THAN GOING TO WORK IN AN OFFICE.

I like it very much and plan on keeping this going for quite some time.

Even my husband is happy with my new situation. He says I have "been a pleasure to come home to".

My house has never been this consistently clean nor my laundry this consistently done.

We're eating better, eating out less, and I'm making breakfast. (And by "making breakfast" I mean "insert Eggo into toaster".)

AND, I'm getting A LOT of work done and have several great potential clients in the pipeline.

God is good :)

Olivia's 1st Birthday

Grant and I are so blessed to have such a great family. We cherish the times we get to go spend a weekend in Louisiana. On the drive home fom this trip, we both agreed that this was one of our best visits ever.

We got to New Orleans Friday around lunch time. Grant played golf with his dad while Mom and I exercised in the pool and solved all the world's problems :) Later that night Gammy and Paw-Z came over to the house and we ate homemade red beans and rice with Grant's cousin Beau, his wife Ashley and sweet baby boy Alton. It was so fun to visit with family. Later that night, Grant and his mom stayed up till 3am talking! Even though it was late (or, early) it was such a great time for everyone to catch up on life!

Saturday, Grant and I drove to Baton Rouge to see his brother Chase, and our sister-in-law Ronda and their precious kiddos. (Little known fact: Ronda is the one that first had the idea to introduce me and Grant. Yep! She made it happen and I am forever grateful to her for being so persistent!)

Saturday we played with babies, ordered pizza and watched movies. Ronda and I got to catch up and visit and eat yummy food and the boys talked about their fishing trip and it was just all around a great time.

Sunday morning was the BIG DAY! The main reason we came to Louisiana for this visit was for our youngest baby niece, Olivia. Not only was it Father's Day,  but our Olivia was going to be dedicated at church that morning! And after that, we were coming back to the house to celebrate her FIRST BIRTHDAY!!

Here's the precious family before church that morning.

Chase, Ronda, Evan & Emily (twins, age 2) and Olivia Claire (age1!)

 Here is Evan and his Pappaw :)

Gammy and Paw-Z also came to participate in all the festivities!

Baba with her girls (or the "bow heads" as she calls them!)

                                                 
                                               Here is our girl being dedicated at church!

                                                 
                                                      Baba and Olivia after the dedication

                                   Back at home for the party! Ronda had everything decorated so cute!

                                                   
                                                      Me and the girl had a little photo shoot :)

                                                              Digging into her cupcake!

                               
                              Happy Birthday, precious girl! You are a blessing and we love you!



Monday Morning Weirdness

This doesn't normally happen in my office on Monday mornings!

So, that was nerve-wracking. And fun. More details to come :)

Thursday Poetry

Business is good.

The weather is hot.

I bought some new shoes.

I like them alot.

My legs are not tan.

Yet I still wear skirts.

Last night I burned myself cooking.

It really hurts.

I got my haircut.

It's shorter and more red.

It's much cooler now

With less hair upon my head.

I've got to leave soon

I'm running late

For yogurt with Liz

It's a BerriPop date!

So that's what's been happening

I know it's been brief

I just wanted to say hi

But now I really have to leave!

And It Wasn't Hot Outside or Anything...

So.

Grant was out of town the whole weekend. He was fishing with his dad and his brother in Key West. I was due to pick him up from the airport yesterday around 5:30.

Around 2:00, I decided to head to the grocery store to pick up a few key things for dinner.

I purchased 4 items.

I went back out to my car. My HOT car.

And I turned the keys. And everything turned on just fine. But when I tried to put my car in reverse, it wouldn't move.

The little shifter thing wouldn't leave the PARK position. I was stuck.

I giggled about it for a second and then I was all "oh, great". Grant is on a plane. My dad is in China. Where are my men? My brother in law calmly guided me through a few key things to check, but nothing worked. I was officially stuck in the park position.

I proceeded to call all the people I know that live in my area to see if anyone could give me a ride home. Me and my cold groceries. Would you believe that not one of them was home?! I finally walked back inside the store and sat inside because Y'ALL, IT WAS HOT.

Finally, I interrupted my sweet friend Kyndall from her calculus studies and she picked me up from the grocery store and brought me home.

The problem is, by this point it was time for me to go get Grant from the airport. But my car is still at the grocery store. My only option was to drive his pick-up truck.

Fact: I've never driven his pick-up truck.

Fact: IT IS REALLY BIG.

Fact: It is a vast difference from my little Honda.

Fact: The airport is really far away and a pain in the butt to get to.

But, I did it. And I felt on top of the world. I'm not meaning that metaphorically, I was sitting reaaallly reaalllly high up.

Poor Grant was so ready to be home and he had to come home to find his wife driving his beloved truck and learn that her car was sitting in a grocery store parking lot.

After several trips to and from the store, several phone calls with various car people, and a really neato magic trick, Grant was able to get the car from the store to our house.

The problem wasn't fixed, but atleast it was in our driveway.

He did the magic trick again this morning and now I am sitting at the Honda dealership while they fix what is supposedly a pretty common problem. I have never heard of a car being stuck in Park, but whatever. If they say it's common, it's common.

Thankfully, this place has internet access and a nice little deli. :)

I've officially driven a pick-up truck.And, I'm not gonna lie.... I kinda liked it.

Well I've Just Been a Tiny Bit Distracted

Um, hi. Hello.

I'm Jen and I'm not even sure what day it is.

Since I'm not going into the office everyday, I'm thoroughly confused as to where we are in the work week. I feel like every day is Saturday.

I will say this: I really like working from home. I haven't been this on top of my laundry since NEVER.

I am also exponentially less stressed. Don't get me wrong, my new gig is busy and has alot going on, but it doesn't have the ever-present feeling of "I'm about to get yelled at".

By the way, I have another blog going over at my Symphony Social  Media page. It's not quite as fascinating as this blog (because, as we all know, this blog is always SUPER INTERESTING and WELL WRITTEN) but if you're bored or something you should go check it out.

I was filling a form out the other day for my new business and it said "Title" and I wrote "President" and then I just busted out laughing.

Symphony

So, here's what I'm doing:

I've started my own Social Media Management company. Essentially, I help companies/small businesses/non-profits get the word out on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Blogs, or whatever suits their fancy.

I'm calling it Symphony Social Media. I'm excited, y'all :)

God is providing, and He is good. Any success I have from this is from Him, not from me. And that's a fact.

Please "like" me on Facebook (there's a badge over on the left of my blog that will take you there) and find me on Twitter! @SymphonySMM.

You can visit my website at http://www.symphonysocialmedia.com/. And, of course, if you have your own small business or know someone who is looking for something like this, give me a holler!

Jen the Newlywed is a business owner. HOW WEIRD IS THAT?!?

My New Co-Worker

He is very hairy.

He follows me everywhere I go.

He has to take a lot of bathroom breaks.

And I love him :)

Today is Worthy of a Blog....

Good morning, friends!

I write to you this morning from my desk. My desk in my office. My office in my home.

My home office.

:)

Ladies and gents, Jen the Newlywed is officially WORKING FROM HOME!!

That's right, I've started my own business!

I'm not entirely ready to let the entire cat out of the bag. (Don't get too excited, what I'm doing isn't all that mysterious or crazy, but I haven't worked out all the kinks and I'm still putting some finishing touches on my website and such).

But, I'll let a little bit of the cat out. Here is the cat's head: My new business largely involves the internet and social media. :)

I'm very excited. The fact that I didn't have to drive 45 minutes in traffic this morning is a wonderful, beautiful thing.

I'm just so thankful for the opportunity. God is good.