The 30 Day Meme: Day 01 – Introduction
My name is Jennifer, but I go by Jenn. I was born on June 13th, 1984 at 4:59pm at Rolling Hill Hospital in Elkins Park, PA. My mother’s name is Carolyn and my father’s name is Russell. I am of German, Polish and Welsh descent (according to Dan I have a Polock nose; according to my mom I have Welsh “peasant stock” legs. Whatever.).
I grew up in Philadelphia, first in an apartment, then in another apartment, then in a house, and we then moved to the boonies when I was thirteen. My parents divorced when I was six, my mother remarried when I was nine, and my brothers (technically half-brothers) were born when I was eleven and thirteen.
I had my first boyfriend at the age of fifteen. We met on the internet, met in person a few months later, and broke up a few months after that. The very day I broke up with my ex was the day I started working at Burger King, which is where I met Dan. We got together exactly a month after that (no, he wasn’t a rebound!). We lost our virginity to each other three months into our relationship, on November 20th, 2000. Dan proposed to me when I was seventeen, and I moved to Pittsburgh with him in 2002, a month after I turned eighteen.
I got pregnant with Alyssa when I was a few months shy of twenty. At the time Dan and I were temporarily living with our parents while we regrouped financially. Within a month of finding out I was pregnant we both got jobs, and within three months we were moved back out and on our own again — yay! We were already engaged, so we just moved up our wedding to October 1st, 2004 — seventeen days before Alyssa’s estimated due date. She was born on October 27th, 2004.
We decided to have a second child about a year after she was born, and Ryan was born on July 26th, 2006, via a c-section I wasn’t happy about but nevertheless resigned to because I knew it was medically necessary. Right around the time of his birth we also moved into a larger house — Dan and his brothers painted the bedrooms, moved our things in and unpacked while I was still in the hospital with Ryan.
We purchased our first car in July of 2005, after I had a car accident and totaled our paid-off Kia Spectra, and we then purchased a second car, thirdhand, from Dan’s brother, in December of 2005. That’s the black Kia Spectra that I have. In February 2007, after some issues with our landlords, we bought our first home, and moved in shortly thereafter.
I discovered paid blogging in January of 2007, got picked up by a private client for massive freelance writing projects in March of 2007 (and we still work together!), found more paid blogging companies to work with throughout the summer and following fall, and then in February of 2008 hooked up with SEOwhat.com. All the while I continued with paid blogging and paid tweeting and freelance writing and SEO projects. In February of 2010 I was hired by EdenFantasys to manager their blogger product review program.
I had gastric bypass surgery on November 18th, 2009, after years of battling my weight and losing 10-20 lbs. only to wind up gaining it all back, and then some. At my heaviest I was 331 lbs. At the time of surgery I was 286 lbs., and now, almost a year later, I’m under 190 lbs. I am both elated and ashamed to admit that at a few pounds shy of 190 lbs., I’m the lightest I have been since I was twelve years old. I am thrilled with my weight loss, but embarrassed at the loose skin that now hangs on my upper arms (my bingo flaps) and my stomach. I want to have surgery in a few years — once I’ve reached and have maintained my goal weight.
I’m a very busy girl these days. Dan works 45-50 hours per week in management. I work full-time for EdenFantasys, and devote another 10-20 hours per week to other freelancing projects and the maintaining of my blogs. Alyssa is in kindergarten. Ryan, who is autistic (I suspected when he was fourteen months old; he was evaluated at sixteen months and officially diagnosed at twenty-three months), attends both an autistic support preschool and a regular preschool with a TSS (today’s politically-correct term for an aide). I struggle with drinking enough fluids and consuming enough protein, and I have a gallbladder that needs to come out, STAT. I’m overworked and could seriously use more time and the ability to get by on less sleep, but eh, life is short, and I can sleep when I’m dead!
Great summary!
I’ve been reading your blog so long that I already knew most of it!! Hehe.
Like Caity, I think I was probably already aware of this stuff, but I’m happy to read it all in a summarized version.