So here's to all my sisters, out there, keeping it country.
Let me get a big "Hell, Yeah" from the redneck girls like me.
-Gretchen Wilson, Redneck Woman

Name:  Jenn	Age:  29
Location:  Atlanta Metro	Birthday:  12/26/76
Husband:  Chris (32)	Daughter:  Emily (2yo)
Hair:  Dark Blonde	Eyes:  Blue w/ a Yellow Ring

Okay, now that the basics are out of the way, here's a brief history of me:

I was born in Northeast Georgia in 1976.  I'm an only child and my parents are still married;  an anomoly today, I'm sure.  I had a pretty normal childhood.  I lived in a small neighborhood with few children and I guess I was a pretty lonely child, though it didn't really feel that way at the time.  I always did well in school.  In high school, I didn't really fit into any particular category.  I had lots of friends, but few good friends.  I was very active in Key Club.  That was my main thing.  We did a lot of different community service, which I enjoyed a lot.  I graduated with honors, blah, blah, blah.  I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I opted to stay at home and commute to Gainesville College.  This turned out to be a good choice.  Gainesville really is a good school, despite the reputation it has with the locals.  I graduated there in 1997 with an Associate of Arts degree with a major in Business Administration.  I then went down to middle Georgia to Georgia College and State University.  I graduated there in December of 1999 with a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Accounting.  I got married on January 8, 2000 and moved to Cobb County.  In February of that year, I got a job at APAC-Southeast.  On Labor Day of 2003, we moved to Cherokee County and on January 21, 2004, I had my first child.  (Are you taking notes?  Because there will be a test on this.)

I met my wonderful husband on Match.com.  When I was at Gainesville College, my friends and I were fooling around in the computer lab and we all signed up for a free 2 weeks at Match.com.  Chris was one of the guys who emailed me.  We talked online for a month or so before we decided to meet.  Our first date was August 16, 1997.  (Still taking notes?)  I brought my two friends, Katy and Christy, with me 'cause I'm not an idiot!  I've read all about those "bad people" on the internets.     We met at a big movie theatre and got tickets.  (It was Face Off, for those who want Extra Credit on the test.)  We went to Applebee's and had dinner.  It's a good thing I DID bring my friends 'cause I'm SHY (shy enough to rate all caps) and Chris was a little shy too.  After that, we had some time so we went over to the mall and they were having one of those traveling fairs in their parking lot.  Chris and I walked around and talked while my friends rode rides.  After that, we headed to the movies.  Katy and Christy sat in another part of the theatre while Chris and I watched the movie.  After it was over, we all went home.  I got a little peck on the lips. 

Before I went out with him again, I bought pepper spray because, let's face it, you can't be too careful!  It all turned out fine though.  We dated for 13 months before he proposed.  We actually picked out the ring together after we'd been dating for a year.  He was going to wait for Christmas to propose, but couldn't wait and so on one of his mid-week trips to visit me at school, he brought a huge bouquet of flowers and the ring.  We dated for another 15 months before we got married.  I graduated college in December and we were married in January.  We went on a cruise for our honeymoon:  Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and New Orleans.  Chris had bought a house just before we were engaged, so that's where we moved to.  We lived there for 3 years before we moved to a much larger house farther outside the city.

My little cutie pie.  What can I possibly say about her that will tell you just how much I love her?  I don't know.  But I'll tell you how she came to be.  (Not THAT specific, silly, so get your mind out of the gutter).

I didn't want children.  I didn't really know if I'd ever want them.  We'd go visit our friends and their kids and they were (are) incredibly cute and sweet, but when they got fussy, we could leave.  :)  We had a dog.  That was enough for us.  Well, I started working on my MBA in the Fall of 2002.  Before I started on it, I started getting those "baby twinges."  I'd notice them EVERYwhere and my mind was slowly changing and warming to the idea.  So, Chris and I went out to eat one night (I even remember the place:  The Mad Italian on Cobb Pkwy) and I told him that when I finished my MBA, I thought I wanted to start trying to have a baby.  He completely lit up.  He'd been thinking that he wanted to have a child too.  (We're so in synch on things, it's scary.)  By my calculations, I should have been able to finish up my MBA just as we hit our 5 year anniversary and that would be a good time to start.  Well, I started school and it sucked.  Majorly.  I soldiered through the first semester and ended up on academic probation with a C.  I started the next semester, but it wasn't getting any better, so I dropped out all together.  Then, with nothing in the way, we decided that we'd start trying in April or so of 2003.  (I needed a chicken pox vaccine first and you have to wait 3 months after you get that.)  Well, the time came and Chris was laid off from work.  He knew that he was going to get a job at Home Depot Corporate, but it takes a long time to get hired there, so he still didn't technically have the job yet, so we decided to wait.  Well, the next month, he still hadn't started, so we were going to wait again.  We got a little careless and thought I'd already ovulated anyway and in 2 weeks I was wondering when my friend TOM was gonna come visit.

I bought a 2 pack of pregnancy tests at the grocery store and brought them home.  Chris was going to go over to a friend's house that night for a bit, so I waited til he came home.  I wanted to do it by myself.  I took the test and 2 lines showed up!  I freaked out.  My heart was beating so hard!  I waited about an hour and took the other one.  Same results.  I was so excited and scared at the same time!  I waited for Chris to come home and when he did, I was upstairs in bed reading.  I told him to sit down, I had something to give him.  He did and I made him close his eyes.  I handed him a book called "My Boys Can Swim."  He opened his eyes and you could see he was thinking, "oh.  a book." and his face kinda fell a little.  I told him to open it up and inside were the two postive pregnancy test.  He was so excited too! 

9 months later, we were parents.  I'll write more about the pregnancy and just Emily in general on another page, later on, but for the time being, her website is here and my mommy/baby blog is here.

My other interests.  You could say that I've become more of a geek since I've been with Chris.  Of course, you could also say that the geek inside me was just waiting to get out.  :)  Chris is a computer programmer.  He went to Georgia Tech.  He plays war games with little miniature models.  He also plays lots of computer and xBox games and even D&D from time to time.  I've been known to do all of these or help Chris with these.  *hanging head in shame* 

I went to Dragon*Con with Chris one year and was bored to tears.  It's a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention that features people from and programming tracks about Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pern, Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, etc.  I wasn't into ANY of these, but I liked the atmosphere.  There were all these people dressed up in these CRAZY costumes having a great time!  So, two of our good friends were really into watching Buffy and Angel, so I thought I'd try that.  It just so happened that FX was about to start rerunning the entire series.  So, I started watching and was immediately hooked!  This was when Season 6 was on the air.  Chris never really watched them, but he caught the Once More With Feeling episode and LOVED it, so he's been watching Buffyon DVD with me ever since.  (We also watch Angel, but he doesn't like it as much.)  Since then, I've also gotten into Farscape, Charmed, Wonderfalls (sadly cancelled WAY too early), Roswell, and Smallville.  Roswell, I caught way after it was cancelled and I've been watching it on DVD.  Smallville I'm also watching on DVD 'cause I haven't been able to catch up with the live ones.  If you haven't noticed, I'm seriously addicted to TV.  Since Tivo has made it so easy, I watch everything!  I also watch Lost, Alias, Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, Grounded for Life, That 70s Show, Monster House, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, What Not to Wear...

I also LOVE to read.  I've not been able to read as much now that I have Emily, but I still try.  I'm pretty into vampire novels right now.  I'm reading lots of Anne Rice right now.  I also love Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series, but I'm caught up with those, so I'm just waiting fot the next ones to come out.  I also like JK Rowling and Lemony Snicket, even though they're kid's authors.  I'm also into Tolkein, Russian royalty biographies, CS Lewis, Orson Scott Card, etc.  I like lots of genre's, but I'm into Sci Fi/Fantasy (mostly the fantasy), Mystery, Horror, Classics, some Romance, etc. 

Movies are another love.  My favorite right now is Lord of the Rings.  Fellowship is my favorite, followed by Return, and then Two Towers.  I also some the Harry Potter series.  Some other favorites are Kevin Smith's New Jersey trilogy, Being John Malkovich, and Fight Club.  Sadly, also, I have a strange addiction to cheesy teenage movies.  Like Can't Hardly Wait, She's All That, etc.  What can I say?

In music, I like most genres.  Some of my favorite artists right now are Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Marilyn Manson, Louis Armstrong, Jessica Simpson, System of a Down, Elvis Presley, Eve 6...  I like to go to concerts, but I've not been to a whole lot.  I've seen:  Sarah McLachlan (Surfacing Tour), Tori Amos 3 times (Strange Little Girls, Songs from the Choirgirl Hotel, and Scarlet's Walk), Jewel, Summer Sanitarium tour with System of a Down, Korn, Powerman 5000, Metallica, and Kid Rock, Metallica by themselves, Aerosmith twice, Dave Matthews Band, 99x Big Day Out with Green Day, Eve 6, Stroke 9, and lots more I can't remember at the moment!  I listen to Q100 in the mornings.  Other times I switch between Q100, 99x , Star94, Lite 94.9, and Kicks 101.5.