The Greek Goddess of Chaos

My new Motorola Eris is seriously the most exciting and fun phone that I have ever owned.  Sure, I have owned smartphones in my day but none can even come close to this beauty.  Blackberry-schmackberry!  I have owned various Blackberry phones for the past 3 years and prior to that I owned a Treo but don’t ask me the model because I’m guessing it was a 007-Sucko.  These phones were okay and certainly served the email, SMS (texting), and phone call purposes but while my friends were getting the cool V-cast phones from Verizon I was stuck with just being happy to take a picture and open an excel file.  Now it is my turn to have fun and still have a business-savvy phone.

First, let me preface this post with the notion that I am no way an expert reviewer of phones or technology.  I’m going to give this review in the most layman’s terms possible.  If you are looking for more of a review, I can most certainly suggest one by Michelle Lentz.  I was actually very happy to re-read her “First Impression” review once I’ve had my hot little hands on the Eris for a few days.

{Pros}

~ Did I mention that this phone was cool?  When our amazing Verizon Rep (Jay Owens at Springdale Store) handed over the Eris it just screamed cool.  From the way you activate the screen (touching the arc and pulling down) to the customization of the handy home page.

~ Handy applications that are mostly all free.  Yes, F-R-E-E!  Let me again say that I have never owned an iPhone and previous to the Eris I owned a BlackBerry Curve so I didn’t really have much experience with “apps” like I am currently enjoying now.  I just touch the “market place” icon and there are multiple categories to choose.  You can download your favorite soundboards from movies like “Tropic Thunder”, “Super Bad”, and a favorite of my husband “Star Wars.”  I’m sure if you own an iPhone or similar you know exactly what I’m talking about.

~ Syncs up to my gmail and Google calendar and my work email without any issues…….well, almost any issues…. see “Cons” below.  My Google calendar and work email syncs up great to the phone and once one is deleted either on the phone or via my PC the other is deleted – handy!

~ Sweet 5.0 mega pixel camera that will give you the options to upload directly to your Flickr or Facebook accounts once you have taken the picture.

~ Oh yea, did I already say this phone was cool?  I think I did but I have to say it again!

– The touch screen was a huge concern for me because I actually tested out the Blackberry Storm and hated their “touch” screen.  It was sort of a button but sort of not and I couldn’t really text on it without getting super frustrated quick.  This touch screen is quite easy to get used to and I’m already loving it.  You can type portrait or landscape style.

~ I have the Eris and the Husband has the Droid so we have been comparing ever since we purchased these on Saturday.  I do love that the Eris has 7 “screens” to hold all the applications (Droid only has 3) you download and other cool features such as a full page calendar or my clock with the weather.  You can also easily move the icons of your applications to either of the 7 pages.

{Cons}

~ I really can’t put the darn thing down because of how cool it is which of course is leading to a pretty quick battery life.  Our VW-Dude (Verizon Wireless Dude, Jay) said that at first we will zip through the battery but that it won’t be so bad when we aren’t downloading 20 apps and wearing off the “newness” of the phone.

~ Gmail for some reason is causing a sync problem with my phone, it gives me a weird error that I’m trying to figure out on my own but if it keeps up then I’m going to take her back to get a look over.  The sync error it gives me is; Delete limit exceeded, there are 476 deleted items for contacts what would you like to do.  Then it lists these 3 options: Delete the items, Undo the deletes or Do nothing for now.  Guess which one I keep pressing….haha!   If you are reading this and know how to fix this sync error please leave me a comment!

Could I possibly find any more cons?  No, not really!  Again, I’m still trying to get used to this new toy but so far it is a great phone.  I have made several calls and everyone seems to be able to hear me with much clarity.  If you are looking for a phone that you can use for business and pleasure I’d say this is a good match.

{Let me know what you think, do you own an Eris or Droid?  Are you looking to purchase one in the next 30-90 days?  Chat with me!}

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Southwest!

Wow, they had me at 2 bags fly for free but after my experience with their customer service today they now have me wrapped around their wings!  Southwest Airlines is my carrier of choice!

Some back story on why I’m head over heels for Southwest Airlines:

Carol (my mom) called me about 1/2 hour ago super excited that she just booked our flights for the amazing family cruise we are taking in May.  Southwest Airlines just opened their summer schedule and our vacation will be the first week of May so she was finally able to book the flights for myself, my husband, my brother and his girlfriend.  My reaction was of course happy and giddy and I wanted to know what days/time we were leaving on our flight and my mom said that I needed to check my email because she had already forwarded along the official Flight Itinerary.  Woo Hoo, I’m checking it out while she’s on the phone and this is how our conversation goes:

Jesy: “Mom, George is a second, not a third.  It is George Robert Herron II not III.”

Mom: “Oh, don’t worry about that I’m sure they won’t even notice the extra ‘I’ in his name.  Plus, I could have sworn you told me he was a third.”

Jesy: “No mom, OH SHIT, you have me down as Jessica Leigh Wenstrup???  Mom, I’m HERRON, remember?  I’ve been married for 4 years”

Mom: “oooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh F&^% (won’t repeat the real word but I think you get the hint) what are we going to do?”

Jesy: “I’ll call them and see if they’ll change it, crap Mom, what were you thinking?”

So, the conversation ended and I ended up on the phone with an amazing Southwest Airlines CSR who informed me that there really wasn’t much they could do.  I told a funny joke and said something along the lines of, “man, my mom really needs to stop drinking before noon.  I can’t believe after 4 years of marriage and she forgot my last name.”  This of course got the CSR laughing a bit and then I got the, “I’ll see what I can do.”  GLORIOUS!  After being on hold for a few minutes the CSR informed me that since my mom had just booked the trip that she was able to convince her boss to make the changes and then she re-emailed my mom and me the new flight itenerary.   And that is how Southwest Airlines became my carrier of choice.

One side note – I will be flying with Southwest Airlines on both my vacations this year 🙂

Mini Plug for Zola’s

Dear fellow Cincinnatians, have you ever had a Zola burger?  It was amazing, actually a bit more than amazing, it was fabulous.  Husband and I were at the Cincinnati Women Bloggers holiday party in Covington and decided to venture out and find a place we’ve never tried for dinner.  If you know George and me than you know this really isn’t our specialty.  Adventure is okay but not really when it comes to food.  We have our typical favorites in Sharonville, OH such as The Blue Goose, Ruby Tuesdays and the like so for us this was sort of unusual.  Zola’s came highly recommended to us by Michelle Lentz and she was right.  They do have the BEST burgers in Cincinnati.  George got his normal plain jane burger with American cheese and I got the Black and Bleu Burger.  Delish!

Black and Bleu Burger with a "hefty" side of fries

Both burgers were delivered to our table with a mountain serving of french fries and the other side fixins.  I had to cut mine in half and our pretty cool waiter suggested I take the rest of the burger home to the doggies.  He said it was healthier and less fatty than most burgers (not sure what he was comparing to) and we did.  Housch and Carson (dogs) were super excited about their treat and we were also very happy with our $6.50 burgers.

If you are in the mood for something new you should try them out, Mondays are good night because there was no one there and service was super fast.

Are you in shape?

Over the weekend I received my very first copy of Shape magazine from the subscription I purchased over the summer.  Honestly, I had completely forgotten that I ordered this subscription from my little cousin and personally thought I had ordered something else.  But the good thing here is that this is just the magazine I need to help get in “Shape” for a few important things coming up next year!

1. Vacation in April with my in-laws – there is a lot of eating out on the island as opposed to cooking meals.  This means lots of food calories and lots of wine-drinking calories with my mother-in-law.  The good news is that we will be on a beach with uber opportunity to continue my working out in a fun way.

2. Cruise with my parents and family in May – another food trip for sure!  Isn’t the big thing to do on a cruise is eat?  I’m excited about getting dressed up and going to fancy-schmancy dinners with the family and having drinks with my mom as we tan through the day.  I’m hoping there will be work out facilities on board and I’m sure there will be lots of swimming and exploring to keep in shape.

3. Well, this is the one I’m not really going to talk about but let’s just say it is a reason to get in shape!  There are actually many reasons!

Currently, I’m a member of LA Fitness and realistically I only go about once a week.  How many times would I like to go?  About 3-4 times would make me a happy gal but life happens and I can’t get there through the week/weekend.  I really don’t need that much motivation to work out because I love going to spinning class but I really need to make it my priority and stick to my plans of going when I say I want to go.  OR (and that is one big “or”) I need to make a new habit and start going in the morning.  Ugh, just the thought of this is making me whine because I really don’t think this is going to happen.

I’m going to try anything I can to make sure that getting in shape is my NUMBER 1 priority – I’m in go mode (phrase that my sister-in-law has passed on to me) and I’m not going to stop.  Well, I hope I don’t stop.  I’m going to put on my calendar the workout classes that I plan to attend and I hope that I treat these times like I would any other important meeting I have throughout my week.  I may try to drag along the hubs to get his butt in shape too!

What are you doing to get in Shape before the crazy “New Years Resolution” people get to the gym in January?  What have you done to make sure your health and workout time is a priority?  I’d love the pointers and tips!

Well worth the 10 bucks

Last night the hubs and I decided to go on an impromptu date night, we won’t really be around each other much the rest of the week so we took advantage of the free night.  Yes, that’s right I’m always uber busy.  The evening started off a bit shaky because we really couldn’t agree on a place to have dinner and then finally chose Champps.  ***RANT ALERT*** wow that place has the worst service I’ve experienced in a long time!  Does anyone remember my Wendy’s experience?  Well, it wasn’t that bad but a close second. 

The evening definitely perked up when we went across the street to the Rave.  The best 10 bucks spent in a long time was on the movie, The Blindside.  Have you seen it yet?  If so, you know what I’m talking about.  It absolutely made me feel like I could go back into the world after the movie was over to be a better person.  I wanted (and still want) to be a better person.  No, I’m not going to go out and adopt a humongous black boy but I do feel like I could be more aware of my surroundings and try to make this Earth a better place by one nice gesture at a time.  For example, this morning on my way into work on I-71 south I was starting to get caught up in my anger for the other drivers on the highway.  Instead, I acted sweet and let someone over and along we went.  Hopefully I helped make that person have a better day.  If you haven’t seen the movie I encourage you to scrounge all your pennies and dollars together for a little movie night because it was awesome.  Oh, how I want to be Leigh Ann Tuohy when I grow up!

For your viewing pleasure

 

Rebuttle of my husband’s blog post

Didn’t think it would ever get to this but it has, oh it has.  Mr. Husband decided to write a blog post about how I’m a cheater when it comes to playing games and more specifically card games.  Wonder if he thought he would get away with that little post of his without me having one of my own?  Well he won’t!

To begin, I will say that at least the beginning of Mr. Husband’s blog was true.  We do love to play cards and other games but I do not like to play Monopoly because I think George bullies me to give him all my property and then he just takes over the whole game.  Trust me, it happens.  One minute I think I’m doing good with my “Broadway” and he is in “Jail” and then the next second I’m handing over my “Railroads” and owing him money for property I once owned.  But let’s move on to the real issue…..Mr. Husband is just a sore loser.

Have you ever played Rummy 500?  It is Rummy but you play to 500 points, pretty simple and almost mindless.  That is what Mr. Husband and I played all the time the summer when we first started dating but he lost 99% of the time.  Whatever, I’m good at that game and he isn’t, should be the end of the story.  Not for Mr. Husband, he thinks that I cheat and that is how I have won the games.  Well, I’m ready to make my public statement about these allegations:

I, Jesy Wenstrup Herron, do not cheat while playing card games.  I’m just that good.

I hope this clears it all up, if you want to read his side of the story just click here.

Cute idea for “THE HOLIDAY” card

Are you one of “those” that send out the holiday card with every detail from little Johnny and Janie’s past year?  NO?  Well neither am I but I am one of “those” that likes to send out a card with an updated picture of hubs, myself and the dogs if they are lucky.  Yes, it is one of those annoying tasks but let’s face it, the family and friends really like those cards and they tend to hang them up year round (or at least my grandma does).  So what is the best way to make sure this is the easiest task of the holiday season?  You can hire my friend Kristen and her partner Corrie because this year they teamed up to make a special deal for all families in the Cincinnati area.  Check out Five Dot Design & Lil Monster Photograpy for your one stop family photo shoot and holiday cards creation for one low price. 

Kristen and Corrie will be doing a “marathon photo shoot” on December 5th at the Loveland Bike Trail in Loveland, Ohio.  All you have  to do is email Corrie to schedule your 30-minute family photo shoot and you will be ready to rock and roll.  Pricing and details are on thier website too.  Enjoy this family friendly easy peasy holiday idea.

I’m just now realizing these things!

I wouldn’t call it an epiphamy or anything that crazy but I’m just now realizing how important my girlfriends are to me.  Growing up in grade school I tried to get along with the girls in class but I was always the kid that really truly liked everyone so it was hard to commit to a clique.  You remember that, right?  One clique would want to be my friend and have me sit with them at lunch and play with them on the playground at recess but that would mean that I couldn’t be friends with another clique that day or week or whatever the restriction was at the time.  Therefore, grade school was super hard for me and I would have to try and balance all these crazy girl emotions leading me to junior high/high school. 

Ahhh highschool, this is when I learned some hard lessons and decided to just be friends with all the boys.  They are less to deal with, less drama and you could easily boss them around and make all the plans for the weekend activities and they agreed because they didn’t want to hassle with that part anyway.  Just to note, that isn’t the only reason why I like hanging with the guys….I am bossy but being with them was just different.  I didn’t have to worry if I was hanging with one set of guys (jocks) that the other set (alternative ones) would get mad, they just don’t do that.  So being the friend to the guys was my thing in high school leading up through college and sort of now.  Well until just recently. 

Lately, I have been really hanging out with some important women that I call my girlfriends.  Oh ladies, you know who you are!  Things are different now that we are in our late 20’s (yes, I still freak out that I’m 27) and I’m realizing how important it is to call a girlfriend with any problem I have and they actually listen and take the time to talk and really understand the exact emotions that I’m going through.  Other important factors are that I don’t have to choose one set of friends over the other these days,  instead I’m accepted for who I am, the whole package!  The other side to this is that I’m also becoming a great girlfriend back (or at least I hope I am).  That was the thing with the guys remember, no drama!  Not that there is a lot of drama with these ladies but either way I’m listening to them, trying not to judge or to be too quick to give advice (not everyone wants advice) but just to be there and show support to whatever they need it for.  I really like these relationships and I’m learning that I actually need them more and more. 

So to all my girlfriends…. you know who you are…. I love you girls and I’m so glad that you have entered my life!

Marrrrrwidge, what bwings us togeder today

For those of you who are married you know that there are going to be the ups and the downs but hopefully you are in it for the long haul.  That is how I feel about “hubs” and I with our marriage, but I have to say with our 4-year wedding anniversary around the corner, (tomorrow) that there have been way more ups than the downs.  Looking back on the past 4 years I’m reminded instantly of our wedding day. 

Married!

We had such an amazing day and I can’t believe it was 1,460 days ago that I was standing in the hotel room with my wedding dress on, make up done – just staring out the window wondering how the next couple of years were going to be.  I’m lucky and blessed to be married to my best friend, every year things get better and better and I’m excited to see where we will be and what we will be doing in one year. 

Tomorrow night we will be eating our sacred Jeff Ruby steak dinner (we go to a different Jeff Ruby restaurant each year) at the Waterfront.  Probably not talking to each other at all as we let the steak melt in our mouths.  Haha, yea right!  If you know me you know I’ll probably be talking the hubs ear off!  But I’m sure we will be thinking about the years together and hopefully looking forward to a fun-filled future!

Fall and Chili = Favorite Season

The leaves are changing and the best season ever is already here.  I love fall, it is when I got married, it has the best colors, it is all about football and of course it is a great time to make chili.   The 13th Annual Wenstrup Chili Cook-off is right around the corner (this Sunday) and the smack talk is already in full swing.  Friends and family are already making test batches of chili to make sure they are “competitive worthy” for this year’s cook off.  Last year was the year I took home the trophy for the best chili and I’m wanting to do the same this year, but I need help.  Do you have a chili recipe that just absolutley rocks?  Send some recipes over and I’ll pick one this Friday to make for Sunday and we will see how I do.