What Ana Does

Another trip around the sun and I'm ready!  My 40s ruled! My kids grew up. We moved back to the east coast. We lived in friggin PARIS. I made a career change. We adopted our adorable dogs, including my best friend Pepper. We killed it  So yes, I'm ready for my 50s. BRING. IT. ON.  Here's 10 things about Jessica at 50: I read A LOT. And mostly romances. And I love it.  I love to travel. My days are empty unless I'm planning for our next trip.  My kids are my favorite people. How did I get so lucky to have two of the greatest young women who call me Mom? Who knows.  My hubby of 20+ year is also darn amazing. Again, not sure how I got so lucky as I am still very much in love with that guy. He's just the best.  I have to mention my bestie Pepper, too. She follows me around, jumps in my lap every chance she gets. And protects me against every and all perceived threats. Bestie.  I'm still very much an introvert who doesn't like calling offices, has a so...

Today is a pretty momentous day. I paid off the last of my college student loans. Closing an ugly chapter in my life.  Circa 2001 Loan-wise, I would have been OK if I stayed at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls were I went my freshman and sophomore year. The tuition was within my loan means; I was able to borrow the amount pretty easily. And I got a small stipend to play soccer there. I still had to have on-campus jobs for books and supplies, but it was financially manageable.  But no!  My dream was to work in New York City for Martha Stewart or Jane Pratt and I knew the little Wisconsin state school wasn't going to be a big help getting me there when my classmates were learning to write agriculture reports and about new farming techniques. So, I found the University of Rhode Island through an national exchange program and was able to pay Wisconsin tuition to attend my Junior year there. Well, I loved it and wanted to stay, so Senior year and the half year I had t...

Quarantine has spoiled me in one important part of my day: The mornings.  My only alarm clock is this little dog's bladder (or mine). We hop out of bed, head downstairs and while she and Bruce hit the backyard, I make my cup of coffee and we meet on the sofa where I think about my day, fill out my to-do list, grocery list, etc. I look at Instagram and play Words with Friends with my sisters. And sometimes I'll get in a 15 minute meditation on Headspace.   Most days, the girls will join me on the living room sofas and we'll chit-chat about the day or who they're watching on Instagram. They eat breakfast, too.  Then, on weekdays, I jump up to get dressed and into the home office by 8:30 to start work. And on weekends, well, it just depends on what I want to tackle first.  It's important to honor these natural rhythms that happen in life because, like all things, it's temporary. This will all change soon enough as another season of our lives begin. But, for now, I...

I haven't made it into a salon since early 2020, so my hair was long, heavy and style-less. Most of the time, it was going directly from shower into a bun.  Time for a BIG CHOP!  BEFORE:  And AFTER:  And I got 8inches + off, so I can donate it to charity. I found this one: Children With Hair Loss that will take my hair -- even with a few strands of gray! So off my little ponytails go ...  and I feel about 20lbs lighter! 

Have you heard about this Enneagram personality test? Ok, it's been around for years and years, so it's not a new thing at all but I've just been lately hearing it referred to in my favorite podcasts. "Oh, you're a 4 so that makes sense," they'll say. I had to figure out what the heck it was all about.  I found a quick, free test here and my result was ... I'm a SEVEN. With a lot of 4, 9 and 5, apparently.  While I'm pretty happy to be considered The Enthusiast, I think all-in-all it's pretty accurate. Though, according to this official-looking site , 7s are extroverts and I'm totally not.  This short description pretty much sums me up. I'm generally versatile, I read a lot and I'm TOTALLY SCATTERED! It's incredibly accurate.  The one word I think about a lot is "Spontaneous." I never really thought of myself as spontaneous, but once I started to really think about it, I might actually be. One of my weak points is I...

In our normal days, I wear a lot of hats. Mom, worker, wife, dog mom, house caretaker, etc. And I usually get transition time to change my hat.  I start work in the morning and I'm constantly interrupted by dogs, family members, the kitchen dishes (who mock me when they're piled up in the sink). My house projects, the laundry, my book, the beautiful weather, they all fight for my attention. And I barely had focus before this all started, but now that focus time is under a few minutes.  When I'm working, I'm always keeping an eye on the dogs, the kids, the house. And no amount of hiding or wearing earphones or trying to concentrate on one thing ever works. I always get pulled away to something else.  I'm a multi-tasker at heart, but it's exhausting to multitask as many things as I have been while everyone is home. I find places to disappear when I need to re-charge, but some days it's just too much.  And there are only so many hats I can wear on any given day...

I have so many thoughts about this pandemic and all the scary uncertainty rolling around everywhere. I worry for my family and my loved ones and my coworkers, but I'm also filled with some certainty that we're all going to be safe. And, someday soon, we'll share stories about what we did during these days/weeks we were isolated at home. Work From Home! I'm also fascinated by the sociology of this and what kind of mark it will leave on our culture. Big changes come from being uncomfortable, from uncertainty, from a massive crisis. That's true for us individually and as a civilization. So this is all so fascinating from that point of view. There's just so much swirling it will be weeks until we can really understand it all and see the big picture. Until then... We're all home. Dave and I are working from home. The kids are getting e-learning assignments and keeping busy. And Bruce the pup is confused that we haven't all left him to his day-long ...

We've got a wedding in Florida at the end of February and none of my formal dresses currently fit. So instead of the frustrating, lonely and depressing experience of spending a few hours in the dressing room at Nordstrom or Lord & Taylor, I've been experimenting with online dress shopping. I've been using mainly Amazon and Zappos, because of quick and free shipping. And I found quite a lot of dress options. In fact, I spent WAY TO MUCH time browsing through dresses and imaging how they'd translate from the model's size 1 body to my, er, larger one. In the end, I found there were some advantages and disadvantages to doing this kind of very-targeted shopping .... Pluses:  - Try on is at my house, in my bathroom, with my own shoes and undergarments, etc. I had ALL the space to move around and take each for a test drive. - My house has better, natural lighting and several mirror options. - I could take pictures of myself in the dress to send to my sisters w...

This week is a big one. My first week of a new job. After three years of being home, experiencing all that it is to be a "housewife" -- not to mention moving my family to France and back. (No big deal.) And I'm finally back to work. My Office -- Hello! This also marks a pretty big success for me. When I left my job three years ago, I wanted to change my career path just a bit ... I had moved far away from being creative at all, and that was not making me happy. And I didn't think a career change was going to be possible or easy. And no one likes job hunting but it's especially hard if your resume says 12 years of one thing, but you want to be doing something else.  So, high-five ME! Along the way, I learned a lot about being home. It's not easy and not always fun. In fact, it's incredibly lonely. I identify as an introvert and I like my alone time -- but even I need to be around people sometimes. I was lonely ... a lot. And then there's the c...

I'm not saying I'm in any way responsible for Brandi Carlile's growing fame, but I will say I called it years ago. See, in my 20s and early 30s I worked for AOL Music (I know, I'm a dinosaur) and we worked with artists and record labels and it was fun -- but not the party I'm sure you're imagining right now. Occasionally, along with the BIG NAMES we needed to keep the website viable, the record labels would send over emerging artists they wanted us to meet and get behind. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. I remember the day Brandi Carlile came into our conference room. The label guys would all meet then the emerging artist would trail behind and introduce themselves. They usually had a box of CDs for us. I remember about a half-dozen artists we met this way. Brandi stood against the wall of our conference room with twins Phil and Tim who play guitar and introduced herself. I remember being mesmerized by her voice and the shy way she held hers...

I'm an utter failure when it comes to getting birthday cards in the mail. Most family birthdays, I don't even buy a card. But sometimes, as I'm strolling by the card section of Target, I may pick up a few funny/inspirational/adorable cards for some upcoming birthdays and genuinely mean to send them. In most cases, I'll even fill them out and ask the girls to sign their names, too. Then, they sit on my counter, and my To Do List, for a few weeks, but they don't get anywhere. And then, I'm embarrassed to even send them so many weeks late. Currently Waiting to Be Sent - Weeks Late I'm not sure if it's a mental block or what. It's silly. I'm pretty good at a lot of things, but this is definitely an area I need to work on. So, if you're wondering why you never get a birthday card from me, here's your answer. Related links Other Birthday related posts 

I've been thinking a lot about Paris recently. Maybe because a year ago, we were heading back to our Paris apartment after a month back in the states and getting the girls back into school and what a wonderful experience that all was. And for the most part, I'm completely re-assimilated back into my USA life and feeling pretty good about things. ... EXCEPT ... EXCEPT ... I still (STILL) prep myself to say "bonjour" every time I walk in a store. And sometimes my brain starts to translate whatever I'm there to find in case I need help.  It's been 6 months, so I'm not sure when that instinct will go away. We were all so lucky to have that experience for 14 months. It's hard not to miss something so special. Onward! Related post: Catch up on the whole Paris experience

I bought this dress for my birthday in April and haven't had the right occasion to wear it until last weekend. I love it so much ... and it was comfortable and flattering. I got it from J.Crew on a very good sale ... here's the link . For me, they do denim so so so well. In fact, this is the third J.Crew denim dress in my closet. ;) Plus, you can see a little more of my master bathroom  of which I can report we still very much love since our winter remodel! Related links: Have you thought about doing a capsule wardrobe? I did.

I was in San Diego last week helping out my sister and I met this pink car that says "it's time for yoga and a smoothie" in a very girly voice and "there's so much to see!" and I thought ... hey, that's ME in preschool toy form. So my sweet, iPhone-obsessed niece snapped this picture of me after a yoga class, drinking a berry smoothie, and I just couldn't feel more "seen" by an inanimate object.  I mean, the toy car is actually looking up at me with adoring eyes! And I could I be more SoCal?! Related posts: More very Me posts 

In our master bathroom, I went from this long, crazy counter that was never organized to a small one that's all mine. So, I really spent time selecting and curating the most important things that I use and want displayed in my own little space. The Top of the Vanity I love having everything I need RIGHT THERE and it looks pretty and organized. A personal goal of mine for this remodel. And all the other bottles and things I don't want to see everyday has been tucked away in labeled bins inside the cabinet. (Yup ... I got out the label maker.) Starting from the top, going clockwise: Tom's of Maine toothpaste | bamboo toothbrush | Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleanser (use it almost every night) | Burt's Bees Night Cream (super moisturizing) | little wood clock | Beautycounter Overnight Resurfacing Peel (also almost every night) | WM Apothecary Hand Soap | jade roller (every morning to de-puff) | yellow hand towel | Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume | handmade...

I have wanted glasses since about as long as I can remember. There was something about the intelligence and sophistication that comes with a great pair of glasses. My friends with glasses thought my jealousy was insane. It was awful to need a pair of glasses to see. Horrible. The headaches, the blurriness, all bad. So lately, when I've tried to read at night, I've noticed the letters jumping and having to concentrate a little harder to read the words on the page. I upped the font size on the Kindle, but reading to Alice at night from a paperback was ...well ... annoying. Why did the letters move around so much? After a few months, I got an appointment -- the same eye doctor I visited a few years ago -- and got my sight checked. The prognosis was finally what I'd wanted for years. It's the lowest of the lowest possible prescription, but my eyes finally need a little help. But here's the surprising thing: I thought I'd be so excited. I thought I'd ru...

It's 1996. I board a train in St. Paul headed to Rhode Island where I'll be a domestic exchange student (yup, that's a real thing). My boyfriend at the time and sister Liza see me off. I'm a wreck, but I'm confident in my decision to follow my dream and go to college on the east coast. Even though I've never ever been to the east coast. And certainly never ever been to Rhode Island. And I don't even have any family or friends there. It's completely foreign to me. And I've never been on a train before but the ticket to Rhode Island was cheaper than air travel (though, this was pre-google so I had a hard time making that comparison), despite it taking two days of travel. It just sounded more "romantic." So ... I get myself loaded and find a seat and stare out the window and ... I start crying. Sobbing. I sit in the bathroom as the train leaves and I cry harder -- that crying that hurts your belly and produces little whining noises. It...

The View of the "Grand Salon" in the Sun Lately, there's been a lot of talk about leaving Paris and returning home. For good. Yes, we knew this Paris expat position was for a limited time and contingent on David's job placement and career growth. We're so grateful for this experience, to begin with. Until Christmas break, our expectation was we'd finish out this school year and return to Illinois in July. But, after some meetings over winter break, it became clear that our move date will be even sooner. At first, I was devastated. Really. I absolutely love living in Paris, despite all the negatives ( post here ). For one thing, I have real friends for the first time in years . As an introvert, that's a huge thing. Being surrounded by other expat moms (and dads) who are trailing their spouses, it's easy to make fast friends -- and some meaningful friends, too. It's fabulous. I also figured out a good SAHM schedule that balanced qualit...

With the new OS on my iPhone, there's an app keeping track of how much time is spend on the phone -- have you seen this? I had already been thinking about wanting to decrease my phone usage time -- as I find, like most people, I pick it up all too often. But with this tracker I now know I average two hours a day on my phone!!! Two hours! That seems nuts! Imagine how many other things I could do! And why am I surprised when I now catch the girls grabbing their phones all day, too?! So I had started stopping myself before I opened the screen or leaving the phone in another room, etc. to avoid using it when it wasn't really necessary. And I was starting to drop my usage just a little. Fast-forward to this week, when I finally got around to fixing my cracked phone screen. We got the insurance on my iPhone we bought here so I just needed to drop it off at a store. Little did I know they would send it away to be fixed ... for "about two weeks." The Loaner So I...

This week I went to my first CrossFit class (a topic for another post) and on my way to the gym I listened to an Armchair Expert podcast that made me laugh so hard I had to cover my mouth so as not to get odd looks from passing strangers. But put me in a fantastic mood to start the class. I listen to a lot of podcasts in Paris, from self-help to entertainment, and it's a great alternative to listening to music and I discover something new in each episode. Here's what I'm listening to these days: The Goop Podcast is kind of amazing. I like how the guests can be a little "alternative" or "controversial" and the interviewer (their CCO Elise, usually) really digs into topics and makes them relevant. During or after I listen to episodes, I find myself doing extra research to come up with my own views or thoughts on the subject. My favorite episode (so far):   Is there proof of a spiritual universe?  (Which will probably lead to its own post from me s...