Janae Says...

This year was a very unconventional Christmas for me. I did some Christmas baking and gave plates to friends and coworkers. That means that loved ones in Glendora didn't get a plate. My parents came up here, so I got to spend some time with them. We hung out at my grandma's on Wednesday night. I went with my dad to Mo Bettah and Swig (mom stayed at grandma's to see the twins) on Thursday night. I went to PF Chang's and the Harry Potter Symphony with my dad on Friday. Dad and I went to Smashburger and saw Fantastic Beasts on Saturday (mom was running errands), and I helped mom prepare a little bit for dinner. I helped cook for Christmas dinner on Sunday. I Face Timed two of my brothers for opening their gifts, and got to talk to the other one on the phone. We hung out and went bowling on Monday. They left on Tuesday and got home on Wednesday. It was a short and good trip, I think, for everyone. Every year I make a list of what I got. And every year I explain that it...

My mom used to do annual updates on our family—things we did, new and exciting things on the horizon, talents we had developed, that kind of thing. If I wrote a Christmas letter (if people actually wanted to read that much about me), this is what I’d say. While a lot of people have said 2016 was rough, I feel it’s all in how you look at it. I also tend to go day by day, or even on a weekly scale. I find that once in a while, like maybe four times a year, I’ll say, “It’s been a rough week,” or “this week has been a doozy.” Some years there’s been enough bad, especially toward the end, where it does sort of taint the feeling of the year. But this was not that year. This was a good year. It was mostly because I decided to make it that way. This year was my first full year in my condo, and I didn’t have anything major break or need repair. It's been an adventure with five different tenants in a year and four months.  This year I read lots of personal development books ...

A lot of people ask me if I miss teaching. I don’t think much about it right when they ask. My answer comes almost instantly and without restraint: no. I don’t miss being told all the ways I’m failing. I don’t miss not being told thank you. I don’t miss lesson planning on Sundays and being told my class was boring. I don’t miss making seating charts. I don’t miss grading essays. I don’t miss the excuses from parents. I don’t miss lies from students. I don’t miss the teacher “trainings.” I don’t miss the early mornings. I don’t miss testing. I don’t miss bad attitudes. I don’t miss teenage drama. I don’t miss seeing teens making out, and I don’t miss hearing them swear. I don’t miss the bells or the drills. I don’t miss trying to convince them that reading and writing are important in “real life” but also in their personal lives. I don’t miss the noise. I don’t miss the rude and disrespectful ones. Here are some things I do miss, though: Vacations. Seeing a student work re...

To the lady who judged my family: we’re all broken. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, where to start… what to say… I’ll ask this first: Have you ever made mistakes? Well, unless you’re Jesus, who I don’t think bothers reading my blog, you probably HAVE, in fact, made mistakes. And I’m probably safe in assuming you’ve made a lot of them. Yet somehow there’s room in your world to cast judgment on others? On my family? I know a lot of good families. I mean the parents have done right raising the kids, and the kids are all best friends. I know families who do everything together, even deep into adulthood. I know churchgoing families. I also know a lot of broken families. I mean where the parents have made more than their fair share of mistakes, and some family members won’t even talk to other family members. There’s been hurt and betrayal and all kinds of sad things. I know families afflicted by addiction. I’ll tell you one thing I don’t know: I don’t know of any perfect fam...

I can still see my grandpa, brown skin, white hair, dark wash fitted jeans, leaning calmly against the end of the family room couch, newspaper in hand. I’d come in, and he’d have some bit of knowledge or instruction to give me. It was sometimes about how I needed to read the newspaper. Other times he’d tell me an inappropriate joke (e.g. What is the German word for a bra? A keepemfromfloppem). And a lot of the time it was some bit of information about health (read: vegetables, exercise, etc.). But one that he reiterated at least three times in my early youth was regarding aluminum zirconium, a main ingredient in most antiperspirants. “You'll get Alzheimer’s!” he insisted. Being the sweaty little girl that I was, this limited my options immensely. I checked all the ingredients of deodorants at the store. It appeared that those without the dangerous aluminum were ineffective for me. And so, I gave up and stuck with Secret for most of my life. I’ve battled with sweat and...

Oh hey guys. I’m alive. And a lot has changed, and yet life feels pretty calm and steady, with a few exceptions. Brief recap: I started as a personal trainer at my gym in Murray back in June. Right now it’s just eating up my evenings and my sanity. So I don’t know how much longer I can do it. On July 1 I started my position at Alpine. About a week or two ago, I fully took over my predecessor’s role. She still is around and helps me with a lot of stuff, but I’ve really tried to step in confidently and make this desk my own. With the double paychecks in July and August, I decided to have a little fun. I bought myself a Living Social deal to go skydiving in Moab. I bought myself a ukulele. I bought my mom a laptop. I’ve eaten at lots of good restaurants. And of course I saved plenty (you know me). So this past weekend, I went skydiving with my uncle Bry down in Moab. Yes, he is really my uncle. He is 9 months older than me. We booked a stay at Motel 6 in Green Riv...

I’ve always been an overly realistic person. Don’t worry, I’ve heard all the jokes about how realists are actually pessimists. But I can honestly say I’ve been a pretty grounded person my whole life. I have a weak imagination and am not a big dreamer. While I always enjoyed reading as a child, I can say I had an affinity for non-fiction books, especially memoirs and autobiographies (I still do!). So although I was in the Harry Potter generation, I wasn’t really a part of the mania. It wasn’t until I saw the first movie when I was about 15 years old that I fell in love. I fell in love with the story, with the characters, and with the idea that such a world could exist. Even more so—that the idea could exist in somebody’s mind! The author was brilliant. She had opened up a whole new part of my mind. A spell to retrieve something quickly, to make something float, or to repair something? An invisibility cloak? Flying on brooms? Wizarding school? Pet owls that deliver mail? I'm in! ...

I got through my first week as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness. For my own sake, I need to be better about writing things down. I only journal about once per week (which is better than I used to do!), and I really wish I remembered more things. Therefore, a blog post is the answer. I was supposed to start on Monday morning, but my employee number didn’t come through soon enough. So I went to Body Pump class and used up my final real summer day doing other things. Tuesday, I didn’t get to go to Body Combat. I started doing trainings on the computer which involved videos and slide shows of sorts, and were followed by quizzes. My manager said that he encourages me every day I’m there to meet five new people. I took that challenge head on. I felt super nervous but realized everybody else sees me as official with my red shirt, and that they wouldn't be able to tell that I was nervous. So I put on my confident face and ran up to the group room before class and met some peo...

When you stop writing regularly, it’s hard to know where to start. I have lived in my condo for about 10 months now, and I haven’t even written about the process of buying it, cleaning it, moving in, fixing it up, or any of that stuff. And buying your first home is sort of, you know, a milestone? I guess right now I need to write because I have a lot to be grateful for. Last Monday, I got a job at 24 Hour Fitness—doing a practice initial session with the fitness manager, and then interviewing with the club manager. My background check went through on Friday, and my employee number came through today. So I finally get to start tomorrow. Last Wednesday, June 8 at 10 AM, I had a finalist interview with the CEO, President, and CFO of a local company. They had told me they were trying to build up a pool of final candidates. I thought there were at least a few people in the running. But later that day, I received a call offering me the position as executive assistant to these three gentl...

I have a lot of friends trying out flexible dieting right now. Since I've been doing this for over a year, I've become pretty good at hitting certain macro goals, especially for each meal. It's been on my heart to make people's lives easier with the things it took me a long time to learn. I plan on making this a three part series, with my favorite breakfasts, lunches or snacks, and dinners. I am NOT a meal prepper. I chose flexible dieting because I don't want to eat brown rice, chicken, and broccoli from Tupperware every day, thankyouverymuch. I do minimal work ahead of time because I like to have variety (and simplicity) in my meals. These meals work for my lifestyle and the amount of time I have to prepare. I've compiled this list to help those who might want to add some variety to their meals and keep them within a certain range of macronutrients. A few disclaimers/tips/notes: - I try to spread my protein throughout the day via meals and snacks, as I...

As a teenager, and even a young adult, I remember walking by or driving by runners or other athletes on the road and telling myself I'd never be like that. "That's just not who I am. I'm just not athletic. I could never do that." Not to mention that I hated running. The dreaded mile in junior high and high school. The bane of my existence. Ugh. Obviously things have changed. I've worked out regularly, frequently, and consistently for about five years now. It blew my mind a few years ago when a doctor called me "athletic." Now that I'm training for my third half marathon, and after I've lost some weight, I have accepted that maybe I am athletic. And that is in complete conflict with my self-image even 7 or 8 years ago. But in the time that I've changed my lifestyle and come to love and adore and obsess over all things fitness, I've noticed a lot of people with the same mentality as I had. May I submit these quotes for your carefu...