The Sassy Steel Magnolia
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  • life

  • May15th

    1 Comment

    #winning

    Posted in: life

    I’m not made of tiger blood as a certain Sheen apparently is, but I do indeed feel like throwing the #winning around lately. Remember those goals I told you about a few weeks ago? Well I’m happy to report I can officially cross two of them off.my.list. !

    10 mile bike ride? CHECK!

      

    Of course I made Justin stop for a photo op at the state line.

    Running my first 5k since college? CHECK!

      

    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. (<—- that’s a boom of excitedment) Who doesn’t love a good overly-dramatic finish for the camera? Thanks, KG, for capturing my big moment. ha ha

    And here’s a few more pictures from my trip to Connecticut. It was such a wonderful couple of days – I’m pretty sure I might still be on an emotional high from it all. I love my family.

    My 80 lb early morning wake up call, Cadi.

    My Sista Sista with my Precious Baby Niece and Goddaughter, Amelie. She’s the first baby I have ever willingly held in all my 28 years.

    I don’t want to share too much, so that’s all for now. Just wanted to let yall know that I did indeed survive goals # 1 & 2. (still working on that # 3 but I’ve still got a few months) This past weekend I did yet another thing that shocked the ca-rap even out of me, but I’ll share that with you soon.

    What can I say – life is good, my friends. Life is good.

  • May1st

    2 Comments

    a girl & a goal (or three-ish)

    Posted in: life

    It seems I have been a girl on a mission lately. A couple of them, actually. Three in particular.

    Mission 1 - I’m flying to Connecticut this weekend to see my Sista Sista & meet her new precious baby girl, Amelie. While there I’ll be biking to Massachusetts with my brother Justin on Saturday morning. I just started riding again (and by again I mean since ohhhh about age 12) when I bought a used bike for $25 about a month ago. Now granted it’s only a 10-ish mile ride we’ll be going on, but I haven’t biked for longer than 6 1/2 miles without finding myself in quite the pain pickle. (I believe I may need a new seat.) My goal in this mission: not to fall off the bike, to make it the cafe in Mass, and to not seriously damage …. myself.

    That's my bike!

    Mission 2 - My practice is supporting a 5k race series out Charles Towne Landing which begins in May. I was doing my social media thing at the day job when on a wild whim I decided to sign up for the 5k on May 10th. Now that may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but for a girl who fell off the work out wagon big time in a I’m not dancing anymore and I don’t have to bust my body to be perfect in front of 60,000 people so I’m not gonna and you can’t make me  frame of mind a few years back, a 5k is a pretty big deal. (yea, umm, someone had a few issues to deal with in case you couldn’t tell) I’ve been back on the work out wagon for a year or so now and well, here’s hopin! My goal in this mission: to finish in 35 minutes …. and still be able to enjoy the Caribbean food at the after dinner. (It’s Barbados night on my selected 5k!)

    my usual running path (aka my yellow brick road)

    And for the big finale: I came across a DVD titled Amelie the other day at Target. Given it’s my future goddaughter’s name, I couldn’t help but pick it up. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized the entire movie just happens to be in French. (pause & cue subtitles, here) Regardless, half way into the movie I was hooked. It really is a great movie with what I imagine to be very French-like quirks. Then the epiphany (for lack of better words) struck: I’m going to FINALLY learn French so I can watch my new movie without subtitles AND be able to understand it. And I am going to do this by the end of 2012. That’s 8 months. I have 2 iphone apps to help me get there and will gladly accept applications for practice chats.  Tips, of course, are quite welcome. I took French in high school and have always wanted to be well versed in another language – so it’s looking like now is go time to get on that.

    1/1/13 - I will watch you minus subtitles!

    *So with all of that said – am I obsessing with the goal thing? Maybe / sorta. But since there’s two semi-short term and one long term, I think it’s okay. I know some may disagree with the idea of setting goals with all the backlash and personal ramifications if they don’t happen yadda yadda yadda, but I think it’s healthy to have a few goals swimming around out there. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

    Au revoir pour le moment! ~jB

  • March29th

    1 Comment

    breaking up is hard to do….

    Posted in: escape, life

    ….especially when it’s with yourself.

    It’s a silly little game we play, continuing patterns we know are not good for us. Over-analyzing. Over-eating. Careless thinking. Dating the wrong people. Second guessing ourselves. Smoking. Crazed nit-picking. Over-spending. Obsessive worrying. Disregard for reality. Refusal to take responsibility. The list is long, pick your poison.

    Maybe we continue the cycle because that seems to be easier than breaking [up with] the cycle. Too lazy to put  in the effort. Decidedly ignorant of the benefits of a looming break up.

    Break ups are exhausting both mentally and physically. They’re far from easy, because they take a toll on nearly every single area of your life. I’ve had my share of not so great relationship break ups, but I’ve also been through many personal break ups as well. (some successful, some not so much) I’m convinced those personal break ups might be harder. The intangible, mental ones where deep down inside no one is to blame other than yourself.

    Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It’s worth it. It’s worth it. Keep reminding yourself that it’s worth it. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit or form a new one. But what about a thought process that has been brooding for the past 27 years? How long does it take to break that? I’ll tell you what, it’s probably a bit longer than 21 days that’s for sure. Oh dear.

    It’s worth it. It’s worth it. It’s worth it.

    So how about it? Anybody else going through or contemplating a mental breakup with yourself?

    photo 

  • March28th

    1 Comment

    music snack *that’s who I am

    Posted in: circus, life, Music Snack

    I haven’t heard this song in years. Driving home from work Monday I happen to flip from CD player to Radio and then it happened. Thanks to 96.9 the Wolf, my speakers went straight to full blast and I was singing Jessica Andrews at the top of my lungs in 2.7 seconds flat. It was a moment. Me and the Don Holt and this song. A precious moment which according to the honks & waves I received, a couple of others enjoyed on their commutes as well.

    The second verse is the best:

    So when I make a big mistake
    When I fall flat on my face
    I know I’ll be alright
    Should my tender heart be broken
    I will cry those teardrops knowing’
    I will be just fine’

    Jessica Andrews – Who I Am

    Granted that whole I’m a saint and I’m a sinner part ain’t too shabby either. It’s a true story.

    What can I say, sometimes I’m clueless and I’m clumsy. ;)

    xo, jennie b

    __

    When you need a little more than a smile or a cup of tea to get your week in motion, the Sassy Starter will be here every Monday to get your wheels turnin’ in a classy – sassy – fabulous sort of way

  • March26th

    1 Comment

    sassy starter : (my own) rules to live by

    Posted in: life, Sassy Starter

    I thought it’d be a great idea to do a whole “Rules to Live By” post for today’s Sassy Starter. I began searching handy dandy Pinterest to find such a list – and one that is beautifully displayed – but I was a little disheartened to find basically the same thing over and over and over. Now I love a good dose of Keep calm & carry on. or a little Live ~ Laugh ~ Love. as much as the next, but none of these were really fitting what I was looking for. I needed something with a bit more me to it. So what does a girl on a blogging deadline do? She puts down her lap top and writes out a few of her own rules of course.

    Here’s what I came up with:

    1. Never give up on love. It never gives up on you.
    2. Always try your hardest not to put another sister down. Same  travels, different roads.
    3. Learn how to cook at least one thing really, really well. Like really well.
    4. When it feels like there’s no hope in sight, open a bottle of wine & cry.
    5. If #4 happens to take place, drink a glass of champagne the next day. You were given another day to figure it out & that’s worth celebrating.
    6. A little bit of glitter is good for the soul.
    7. Take constructive criticism with grace & be sure to say thank you. Take all other forms of criticism with a grain of salt & remember: it’s not your fault someone peed in their cheerios that morning.
    8. Be a bit superstitious. Always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder.
    9. When in doubt, dance it out.

    Fine Print: If none of these rules apply, make it up as you go. Just remember to breathe, have a little Faith & that a good red lipstick goes a long way.

    I stopped at 9 and added the Fine Print as sort of a to-be-continued type clause. I think those do a pretty good job of covering a good number of situations which may come up in my life – at least for now anyways. It is a working set of Rules to Live By.

    So how about you? Have any rules, guidelines or mantras you try to live by? Do they fit your current situation? Time to maybe rewrite a few of em?

    Take a few minutes and marinate on that one. You can get back to me about it later.

    __

    When you need a little more than a smile or a cup of tea to get your week in motion, the Sassy Starter will be here every Monday to get your wheels turnin’ in a classy – sassy – fabulous sort of way

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