Throughout my dating tenure (I went there), I’ve never really been the one to initially pursue someone, call or text them first, or coordinate a date. Yes, I’m aware that that’s most likely the reason for my tenure, but I’m old school.

Not to sound cliché, but I believe in southern hospitality, serendipity, and God’s plan. I don’t feel the need to take desperate measures to be with someone; if it’s meant to be, it will be. I wish more girls had this mind set because it would make things a lot less complicated, especially with this guy.

I’m not oblivious. I am SURE he is texting at least 20 other girls while he’s texting me. That doesn’t bother me, that’s what dating is… kind of. I just know that those 20 other girls ARE going Kim Kardashian on him to get his attention and that’s not me. He should already have your attention and text you.

Is this when I start to refine my dating rules? Nah… Maybe I’ll just break a few.

XOXO,

Jordan

Last year, my girlfriends and I did everything from drinks by my pool, beer tastings at The Common Table, dinner and more drinks at a few bars in Uptown to the pool at the Omni Dallas. It was quite the adventure to say the least…

Now, for this year, I have discovered this place… Ku De Ta Dallas. This Dallas gem is in a discrete location behind Three Sheets, off of the Central Expressway and Ross. Ku De Ta is unique because of its very resort-y pool-side bungalows during the day and destination nightlife seen at night. It’s like a stay-cation! I’m dying to check it out. What do you think? Does it look like douchebag central?

Any other birthday suggestions in Dallas?

XOXO,

Jordan

Where do you see yourself five years from now? What do you need to do to get there? Who is in your support group? Are you on the right path?

Having an idea of where you want to be in five years is like having the middle part of your puzzle put together and all you need are the edge pieces. Are you passionate about teaching, nursing, real estate, marketing, etc.? What do you enjoy doing? What makes you happy? When you have that part down, you can then start to dream big and visualize yourself in those shoes and carrying that designer purse you paid for yourself.

Okay, back to reality. What do you need to do to get there? First, get your foot in the door! Start at where you can and learn the ends and outs of your desired industry, and most importantly, get the experience, make your contacts and do the bitch work. You aren’t going to be the CEO of Yahoo overnight. Not sure where or how to get your foot in the door? Find someone that has your “dream job” on LinkedIn. (It’s like Facebook for work!) This is a great way to see someone’s professional experience, what they’re degree is in and if they have any special certificates. Take it a step further and follow these industry leaders on Twitter and participate in industry related discussions. But wait, if you are going to take it to this level, make sure you tweet things that wouldn’t offend your grandma, better yet, a possible future employer.

Who do you have in your support group? Having influential people close to you, or an actual group of supportive people is huge. It means you’ve done something to impress these people, they trust and want what’s best for you and you look up to them. You will always have people trying to tear you down, but if the person tearing you down has a hand in you achieving your goals, separate yourself from them. What’s the point of keeping them close anyway?

Are you in the right direction? If not, don’t jump ship! Hang in there and keep an open mind. Start thinking about your future. This is YOUR time, not anyone else’s.

XOXO,

Jordan

New job: Check

New House: Moving in 3 weeks. 

New School for Carson: Still searching for a new private school. Starting kindergarten in August

Now, if that’s not major life change, I don’t know what is! I’m excited to say the least. Big things are coming… Stay tuned! 

XOXO,

Jordan 

I’ve always been a terrible liar and may be a slight procrastinator.  This is making it very hard for me to pull off being Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and eventually the Tooth Fairy. Actually, Carson will probably have this all figured out before the day he loses his first tooth.

So, I might have fallen asleep the night of Easter before playing Easter Bunny… I woke up close to 3 AM and immediately starting getting Carson’s Easter present out and got the eggs and candy to hide. I kind of threw this whole Easter egg thing together and found cheap, pre-stuffed and packaged eggs. As soon as I starting hiding the eggs, Carson woke up sick. I thought I would just leave the eggs alone and hide them before he woke up the next morning. Spsh… yeah right.

Yup, it was 8 o’clock in the a.m. when I eventually woke up to hide the eggs. I crept into the kitchen where I left the eggs and started getting them together as quickly as I could. Not 5 minutes into it, I hear “The Easter Bunny came, mom!” I threw the tray of left over eggs in the oven to hide from him and he didn’t notice a thing! Phew…

Now, a few weeks later, I decide to cook dinner (I clearly don’t cook often, or at all). Let’s just say, the only thing I ended up cooking was plastic eggs, Now and Laters and Smarties.

I’ll do better next year.

Jordan

“My coworker is wearing his cheap cologne again…”

“I might still be drunk from last night.”

“Completely re-writing this proposal. Some people don’t know how to use a comma.”

Well, those aren’t has bad has LeAnn Rime’s social media rants that put her into rehab, but they are close! Generation Y is known to result to social media in the heat of a moment, opposed to calling a good friend or shooting a text to vent. And surprisingly enough, most of this takes place on Twitter, public Twitter profiles, where you follow industry leaders, your company handle, and possible future colleagues. Even better, they probably follow you! Use Twitter to make a name for yourself, get to know influential people in your industry, and allow them to get to know you!

Then you have Facebook. You don’t want random people emotionally invested in your struggle or your pursuit and you don’t want to necessarily decline friend requests from your favorite happy hour group. Yes, I’m saying it is okay to friend/accept friend requests from coworkers – if you do it right! Let me let you into my little secret… Facebook friends lists. Create a list for all of your coworkers that you become friends with and you can easily block that group from seeing certain things on your FB. You can even post a status update and hide it from that particular list. I have a ‘work folks’ list.

So, tell your close friend sorry. You’ll be going to them to vent a lot more instead of venting to your following.

XOXO,

Jordan

So, I came up with my own detox cleanse to fit my lifestyle. I am on day 3 and I’m feeling pretty good. It’s easy too! It basically consists of whole foods, detox pills to enhance the “cleanse” and oil pulling. What the eff is oil pulling? I found it on Pinterest and it is actually kind of cool. The pin said to swish coconut oil in your mouth for 15 minutes to pull the toxins, via your mouth, I guess? As soon as I repinned this very holistic approach to cleansing, I rushed to Central Market to buy the stuff. There’s that impulsiveness again. I set up a shot in a “Bottoms Up, Party Down” shot glass and started swishing. Now, my teeth are slimy like I just got braces off and I might have lost my taste for coconut rum. I hear this helps whiten your teeth, is good for your gums and has even helped with colds, (which I currently have) so I’ll deal.

I would let you know if I lose weight from this, but I don’t own a scale and I am doing this to simply rejuvenate.  

Want to join me? Might as well! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Fresh fruit
• Fresh or steamed veggies (Ziploc steamer bags are awesome)
• Apple-cider vinegar (You can take shots of this in the mornings and at night, use it as salad dressing, or add a tsp. to your water.)
• Filtered water
• Lemons or lemon juice
• Black coffee if you’re a coffee drinker. It has to be plain, though! If you’re not a coffee drinker, you should try a cup in the mornings. It helps with your metabolism. Beginners, water it down.
• Chicken, tilapia, albacore tuna, or crab (Plain yellow mustard and Seasoning is okay, as long as it doesn’t have sugar.)
• Plain popcorn to munch on (They’re full of antioxidants. Who knew?)
• Gluten free, 100% real fruit snacks for something sweet
• Coconut oil for the oil pulling (I added a pic below because it took me forever to find it.)
• Detox pills (Your local GNC and most whole foods grocery stores have shelf-fulls.)

No sugars, carbonated beverages are gross anyway, stay away from bread, dairy products are usually a no-go, and no alcohol (unless it’s New Year’s, of course).

Side tip: Sweating is the same as detoxing, so a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio a day wouldn’t hurt. Wash your face every night and morning to prevent detox break outs. Yuck.  

Oh yeah, how long is this supposed to last? However long you want it to! I would do a minimum of a week, though!

Happy rejuvenating!

XOXO,

Jordan

Dallasbelle Rule #8:

Never wear a bright red dress to a winter wedding; doesn’t matter if the wedding is in Texas where the weather ranges from 75 and 45 degrees. You’ll look like a damn creeper in the background of all of the wedding pictures.

Guilty.

Even better- the photographer said he got plenty pictures of me doing the robot, the running man and a few other moves that haven’t been named yet. Going to die…

XOXO,

Jordan 

I go to get my first spray tan in hopes of adding just enough color to make me look alive. I tell one of the two people that were helping me that this was my first spray tan ever and I’m kind of freaking out. One of them just laughed and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll tell you what to do.” Then, someone else takes me back to the room, pops in the bottle, presses a button and says, “Okay, you’re all set!” Uhh…? Maybe the machine will tell me what to do? I immediately call one my girlfriends and she walked me through the first few steps; put a ton of lotion on your hands and feet, make sure the hair net doesn’t cover any of your forehead, and keep the palms of your hands facing down. Okay, I can totally handle that.

I get in and don’t really know what to do with my hands (yes, total Ricky Bobby moment) but I get through the 2 sprays, front and back. I thought I did a decent job and then it started spraying again. WTF. I couldn’t hear what the machine was telling me to do, so I just came up with a different poses hoping that it would be okay. I get through the unexpected last two sprays and didn’t really feel like I got a “good tan”, so I went ahead and took the bottle out of the booth and started rubbing the mystic tan all over my body, including my face. Freaking out, I know.

I called a few of my girlfriends after that to see how long it typically takes to see if you’re going to look like Ross from Friends and they all freaked. So, I rushed home to take a shower and scrubbed my entire body. Such a waste…

Thank the tanning Gods that the only trademark I have from this are my orange hands. Never will I ever get a spray tan again. I’ll stick to my Victoria’s Secret Beach Sexy body tan enhancer.

XOXO,

Jordan

Young & Fearless Tip #1:
You are likely to be semi-new in your position and/or career which, nine times out of ten, puts you at the bottom of the totem pole. Understand and accept that. You have to bite your tongue when your colleagues want it their way and when they do something that your bachelor’s degree would frown upon. They have probably worked there longer than you; they may know something you don’t. Of course, offer your opinion and ideas in a professional and positive manner, but don’t get upset if you feel completely ignored.

Tell me about your first job and the newbie mistakes you made.

XOXO,

Jordan

I mentioned today to my colleagues that I learned something about cars when I was on a date almost forever ago and they almost immediately said, “Think about how smart you would be if you dated more.” Hmph…

Well, he is probably right, but I think I’ll just play dumb.

XOXO,

Jordan

The title of this blog post may be a little dramatic, but only because I managed to experience what life would be like without Facebook and a cell phone. Talk about going back in time to the 20th century. I survived 4 days without Facebook, roughly 16 hours without a phone, and am barely surviving without a smart phone. Phew… 

Your first thought was probably “What made her deactivate her Facebook in the first place?” Yes, I realize that, 9 times out of 10, people part ways with Facebook because of drama. I’ll just say I’m partial. I really just needed a break from it. I was constantly checking it when I woke up, on the elevator, at stop signs and when I got home from work. I was wasting too much of my valuable “me time” on it. Surely, I’m not the only one, right? Are there any AA type classes for Facebook addictees? So, I thought I would deactivate my FB for a week or so to “sober up”. Nothing too extreme…

I was talking to someone in my office before leaving work on Friday about going to Dallas Beerfest 2012. I had to explain to her why I couldn’t Facebook message her if I ended up going because I deactivated my account. So, we exchanged numbers and she made a comment about what the world would possibly be like without phones and how we can’t survive without phones in this day and age. Who knew I would be without my phone later that night? Shoot me. Just a few hours later, my Blackberry took a dive into a large cup of coke. Joy…

So, here I am in Uptown trying to meet up with a few different people without a phone. What do I resort to? My friend’s Facebook. So, I only partially broke my FB sobriety. Don’t judge me. 

The next morning I had a slight panic attack of what I was going to do without a phone. My life was/is on my BlackBerry, my $600 Blackberry at that. Luckily, I can text the very few numbers I have memorized from my iPad and I was able to get a hold of my mom who was also having a slight panic attack when she found out I wasn’t on Facebook. I literally had “slim to none” contact with the outside world. I’ll admit, when I wasn’t freaking out, I was kind of enjoying it.

Because I didn’t have any way of communicating with my family and close friends, I decided to get back on Facebook. Major “-_-” moment. And I am now temporarily using a Samsung Smiley. Died… I think I had a better phone than this when I was in 8th grade. 

I guess my apocalypse is slowly coming to an end, but I still feel like I’m living in the 20th century. If anyone needs to get a hold of me, call me. I can’t handle texting on this damn phone. 

XOXO,

Jordan

I say things that only a few people understand and appreciate the humor behind and forget all the time that there are more people who don’t understand my humor than people who do understand it. Oops…

Anyway… 93% of the things I say on Facebook are a joke. Take it lightly and let it entertain you.

XOXO,

Jordan

P.S.- Yes, my friends and I ‘Like’ our own comments.

People ask why I’ve been single for so long -5 years to be exact- all the time and my sister and grandfather are both on my case about it. My sister wants me to find someone before Carson grows up too much and my grandfather wants me to have someone to take care of me. Sweet, I know…

To be honest, I am happy being single and frankly only really need a man to take the trash out, take care of my car and cook me dinner. I don’t need or want anyone to pay my rent, take care of Carson, or to be Facebook official with. Now, where can I find that?

I have been on my own and independent for so long that I can’t picture my life any other way. Is that good or bad?

XOXO,

Jordan

Never trust a man with a crazy ex-girlfriend. Chances are nine times out of ten, he’s the one that made her crazy.

Xoxo,

Jordan

Whether it is who you hang out with, job related, or who you date- lowering your own standards only gives others the capability of lowering the standards they have for you. Essentially, you can put yourself in a lose/lose situation.

If you think you can do better, chances are you can!

XOXO,

Jordan

Whether you’re around a new group of friends, in a job interview, or with a new person of interest- always be yourself. Being someone else is boring and too much work. 

Now, I’m not close minded when it comes to music- I promise. My taste in music is actually very eclectic. My iPod has everything from Britney Spears to Chris Ledoux, Marc Anthony, Pearl Jam and Big Sean. However, I pretty much live for Real Texas Country music. I have a lot of blog readers that don’t live in Texas, so I can somewhat understand if you’re not the biggest country music fan ever. On the other hand, if you live in Texas, you should have at least 20 country songs in your iTunes.

Here is a peek into my iTunes library:

I recently turned a non country music goer onto a country song and he actually liked it, which is huge considering he is a HOUSE music guy. I’m pretty sure his life changed that day.

If you need to broaden your iTunes library or just want a few good new songs, here are a few of my “Real Texas” favorites:

Touch by Josh Abbott Band
Taste by Josh Abbott Band
Oh, Tonight by Josh Abbott Band

Always the Love Songs by Eli Young Band
I call the Tune by Eli Young Band
Even if it Breaks Your Heart by Eli Young Band

One Woman by Randy Rogers Band
Tonights not the Night by Randy Rogers Band

Feet Don’t Touch the Ground by Stoney Larue
Look at me Fly by Stoney Larue

My Kind of Crazy by Brantley Gilbert

Good Luck and True Love by Reckless Kelly

Next Time by Casey Donahew Band
Runnin’ Through My Head by Casey Donahew Band

Spinning around the Dancefloor by Chad Mcbride & the Drifters

Wear My Ring by Bart Crow Band

Don’t want to spend a few dollars on a few good songs? Just hit up a country concert and you will definitely have a whole new love and respect for country music.

xoxo,

Jordan

@jordananix