Hi mommas! I’m Jen – wife to a man I genuinely admire (Adam), mom to two crazy little men, Nickolas (4) and Lucas (1), lover of coffee and wine, avid reader, writer, and gigantic mess.  Yes, you read that correctly. I’m a mess. I used to be an organized planner and master of time management.  Then I had a kid. And then the second one came along, and now that gorgeous planner I carefully selected is more of a coaster than an organizer. Still, I keep buying them year after year. I’m hopelessly optimistic. In addition to being a mom to two busy little guys, I’m also a serial career changer. So, that complicates things. 

Before having kids, I graduated with a BA in English, and set aside my plans to teach High School English in lieu of enjoying a Marketing career that I just…sort of…fell into.  Eight years came and went, I had my first son, and decided to stay home. However, I quickly learned I wasn’t cut out for full-time SAHM life, but I wasn’t ready to leave him for a full-time career, so I jumped into contract work with various Marketing and Media Agencies around the country. I worked during naps and bedtime, my work schedule tending to run into the wee hours of the night. It was entertaining and educational, but inconsistent and hard to balance.  So, I decided to make a switch into the consistent, steady career of Real Estate (hahahaha).  Quickly I learned it was much harder and more time consuming than it looks on HGTV. I also learned that I enjoyed it. Now that my youngest is one, I have transitioned into full-time Real Estate Agent and full-time work-from-home mom. It is still a struggle to balance at times, but it definitely keeps life interesting and busy. Cue the supportive, amazing husband! 

Truly, I married a good one! While we definitely have our struggles, after eight years of marriage, we like and love each other more than we did back in the days before kids and hefty responsibilities. Not only does he support my pursuit of an inconsistent, busy career, but he steps up like a boss! He cooks better than I do (swoon! No seriously.  He’s mine.). Better than all of that, he recognizes my lifelong dream of being a published author, and not only supports my pursuit of that dream, but encourages it. I know…I’m a lucky gal!

As for my daily life, my mornings start with strong lattes and end with red wine and a good read. I am a big time book nerd – just ask my book club gals. I love reading just about anything, blogging about my life on my site (you can find me over at theglatznest.com) and now sharing my thoughts with the awesome AMB readers! Joining the AMB team has been a dream of mine since becoming a mom and reading wonderfully written, honest, funny, sometimes raw blogs on AMB that spoke to me at a time I needed each one. I’m not particularly insightful or witty, but I am honest, messy, real, and not afraid to put all that juice out there for everyone to read. Hopefully it’s relatable to someone along the way!

I also really love food (mostly Mexican and sushi), being outdoors with my amazing neighbors and mommy friends, going to Costco to sample our way through lunch (no joke), sending handwritten cards for no reason at all, Amazon (because…I mean…it’s Amazon…) and watching crappy tv. I sometimes pretend I’m Joanna Gaines and have exquisite taste and a precious personality. Then I wake up to my messy, semi-decorated home with yogurt smeared on my couch (yes, it happened) and look in the mirror at the disheveled mess trying to make coffee for thirty minutes while continuously being dragged away for *another cup of milk or poop diaper*, and realize the closest thing I have to being Joanna is a Magnolia t-shirt. Which I also really love.

Deal breakers: bad driving, lizards, inconsiderate people with no self-awareness, sand (even the kinetic stuff they claim isn’t messy. It is.), lizards, loud chewing (it’s called Misophonia)…and did I mention lizards?

Oh yeah, and I have a dog. We love her…and she beats the pants off anyone’s Robot vacuum. The cleanest area of my house is the floor around the high chair. Spotless.

I do not have it all together. I do not have it all figured out. My life is fun, loud, messy, occasionally smelly (suspect), and very much my own. I just want to survive each day, giving my boys the confidence and love they need to grow into kind humans, while showing myself a little grace along the way.

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