about

Oh hey y'all! I'm Julie. I talk a lot. I cook a lot. I manage to make a funny on occasion and I constantly wonder why my husband puts up with me.

I live in Dallas, although I grew up in an itty-bitty small town where you either get out as fast as you can or stay forever. I chose the former. I'm a loud & proud graduate of Texas Christian University, where I majored in Advertising and Public Relations. After a few years in the agency world, I took the plunge and went to graduate school full time... and emerged from The University of Texas at Dallas with my MBA in Marketing Management and Organizational Strategy. Today, I spend my days as a corporate communications consultant... and my nights dreaming up ways to drive my husband ever so slightly insane. After all, I have to create a level playing field in our household. Duh.

Yes, he gets pretty much whatever he wants.

You'll see a lot of the cutest puppy in the history of all mankind on the semi-reformed nerd. We adopted The Captain from a local rescue organization in late 2011 and he's had us wrapped around his little paw ever since. If I didn't know better, I'd honestly think he's trying to take over the world. He's THAT smart.

You'll see a lot of recipes here too. My fascination stems from a combination of being an overweight kid (which translated into being an even more overweight college kid), a successful weight loss of 50 pounds my senior year of college, the fluctuating 20 pounds that came a few years later... and the copious amount of reading I did along the way. If Mark Bittman wrote it, I read it. If Jillian Michaels suggested it? I read it. All my studying and trying to figure out why my metabolism hated me lead me to vegetarianism for three years. However, looking back on it... I really should refer to it as being a carbotarian. If I hadn't blown out my metabolism before, I did a great job of doing it then.

Brett trying to perfect his impression of The Captain.

What you probably won't see are a lot of pictures of my husband, Brett. He's either camera shy or angry when the paparazzi comes around, so in the interest of 1.) keeping this blog family friendly-ish and 2.) trying to keep my marriage happy, I'll refrain from plastering his picture all over the interwebs. (I know, I'm sad too.)

Other than that, I have a weird obsession with Ghost Adventures, using soup spoons at every meal and checking my herb garden every few hours to make sure everybody's well hydrated. All that said, I'll do my very best to keep ghosts, unusual eating habits and basil buds out of my daily posts.

 

You'll find a little bit of everything (and a whole lot of nothing, if we're being completely honest here) on the semi-reformed nerd.

PS: If you're interested in learning more about link exchanges, product reviews and more, visit the disclosure page.

PPS: Feel free to email me. I'm fun, I promise.