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About Me

Welcome!

 Thanks for stopping by.

My name is Ana-Jessica and I'm a writer. 

Well, I'm a lot of other things (mom, wife, etc.) but I'd love to be known as "a writer."

I've been blogging for quite a long time, mostly because I enjoy the process of creating content, writing and editing. And it's a great way to update my friends and family of our whereabouts, and keep track of our own adventures and house projects.

Blogging is probably what I'm best at out of everything I've done in my 40ish years on Earth. That and eat bread. I'm excellent at eating bread.

The Beginning

I started What Ana Does in 2011 when my husband and I uprooted our young family from a NYC suburb in New Jersey to an outer suburb far north of Chicago. The whys and hows are documented in the early posts on this blog, but, in a nutshell: we wanted more space to grow with our two little girls.

Since that time, What Ana Does focused on my interests ... travel, cooking, decorating, parenting, books, etc. There's just so much in a day that I want to share. And because I'm a homebody and an introvert, documenting them here was just far more comfortable. (Learn more about me in this post of 14 things for 2014.)

And over those years, the girls have grown up, I've gotten involved and passionate about a large number of things, and I've written over 1,000 posts! See below for a list of fun subjects to explore. There's a lot here.

We lived in PARIS! 

At the end of December 2017, we jumped at the opportunity to move to Paris for my husband's career. So, What Ana Does ... in France! was live for 14 months of Paris-centric posts and funny stories about living in a country where I didn't know the language. Yikes! (I tried!) You can read them all following my Paris label.

Once we returned, we jumped back into our normal life, but something was missing. We had a pre-teens, a puppy and great careers, but didn't feel fulfill. COVID-19 hit and we figured it out ... we miss close friends and family. We've been disconnected for too long. 

Another BIG Move

So 2020-21 turned into the MOVE BACK EAST challenge, which certainly was a challenge (pssst: never move during a pandemic!). Not to Jersey, but to Pennsylvania where some life-long friends have been bragging about for a decade. "We get it. We're here! Enough already." 

New adventures are just what we do best, so for the foreseeable future this blog will be documenting a lot of new house, new projects, new state, in addition to the usual books, not-so-little-kids, food, movies, etc. It's just what Ana Does!

 Hope you enjoy your visit!


Fun post subjects to check out:

  • Home Projects - I'm constantly doing something around the house
  • Book lists - I read A LOT and post my annual book lists here 
  • Travel - I love traveling, and I like to share where we go 
  • Audiobook reviews - during my past commute to work, I listened to MANY audiobooks.
  • Decorate - one of my favorite things is to make our house look awesome.
  • Painting Project - my other favorite thing is painting walls in my house.



Find me on Instagram and Pinterest


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