Monthly Archives: February 2015

Things I am currently Hearting: The February Edition

So last month I told you three things I was currently “hearting“…yes, liking, but since I have this mini obsession with taking photos of hearts AND my username and blog title is iHeartTheATX I am tying it all together….Interestingly enough this month most my items are food (weird).

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So what am I currently hearting in February? Easy…

1. iheartSnapKitchen!

As someone who is on the go, and admittedly not the best or most creative chef, I am super diggin’ healthy yet tasty dishes from Snap Kitchen. I have also tried to recreate some of their items. I know people always claim that these pre-packaged healthier meals are “so expensive” BUT compared to what I get when I go to Whole Foods I think Snap is a bargain (plus I know exactly what is going into my body–calorie, fat, protein wise, which I don’t when I do the WF salad bar). They have a few convenient locations for me AND if you think about it–Spend $10 at Chipotle for a bowl-way more fat, way more calories, or be satisfied with a gourmet like healthy dinner with a few calories to spare. I put mine on a place when I eat them at home so I don’t feel like I am just eating on the go out of a plastic bin-if you’re feelin’ fancy. #itsasnap

Some of my favs from Snap Kitchen: Naked Chicken, Scottish Salmon, Ginger Glazed Chicken & Salmon, Naked Beef, Goat Cheese and Egg Scramble, Goat cheese and Beet chicken salad….I could go on.

This Here is my attempt at the roasted cauliflower from the “Naked Chicken” dish.

Onto the next one…

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2. iheartQuestBars!

One of my trainers at my gym had talked about these protein bars and then I saw a huge display of them at HEB and decided to give them a try. I am usually weary of any kind of “health bars” because they are usually either: packed with sugar and artificial ingredients or taste like cardboard. My fav flavors: chocolate chip cookie dough and Orceo, but they have many others to choose from. Yes there are carbs, but 21g of protein and 1g of sugar, gluten free, 17g of fiber and they taste good. They are like my dessert and until I get really tired of them or someone tells me they cause cancer, I am going to keep eating them.

.oreoquest

3. iHeartGeniusScan

I love technology. And this week was a busy one between several clients and houses and inspections. I use DocuSign quite a bit, and my tech-savvy and non-tech savvy clients tend to love it, but want to share with you an app I use quite a bit. I can take photos of invoices, bids, notes, etc without running to the office to make a copy or scan, but rather take a photo-then it will process it clearly, I can tag it and email it to my clients or party in need and save it in DropBox. So if you need an app like this, you can find it in the App Store.

geniusscan

Anyway, that is all I got for this month, open to suggestions always of new things to try from food, to apps, restaurants to stores etc.

We are creatures of habits but I try and keep an open mind.

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How Dating is like Buying Real Estate in Austin Tx (a seller’s market)

So, I have been meaning to write this blog for a while…each time I sell something I can associate it with dating in a way. And while I have been trying to cut down the dating blogs…well it is inevitable and apparently you people like reading it (at least that’s the feedback I get) so hear me out!

I also heard from a friend (after I told him my next blog idea) that Deb (Jason and Deb on 101X recently talked about this on their podcast). Dammit! She stole my idea! Or maybe I am not original, either way…here we go…

How Dating is like buying Real Estate in an Austin Seller’s Market.

  • The older you get the pickier you get.
    • You have dated enough people to know what you can and cannot be with. ( So, you can’t date a short, messy Liberal who doesn’t have ambition). Same goes when home buying, you have lived in enough houses to know your must haves and deal-breakers. (You need more cabinet space in the kitchen and a bigger yard, but not East of Lamar– got it)

agentclients

  • Do you have enough to offer?
    • You see the one you want, look over from your friend circle at the bar, smile, and make eye contact, give ’em that; Hey I would totally be ok with you walking over here and making conversation look, BUT they don’t respond well. Perhaps you lack that initial physical attraction they need. You’re blonde. They like brunettes. Same as a house: It’s cute! It’s perfect! It’s remodeled! But your offer just isn’t strong enough and you get beat out by another attractive (higher price, more money down) offer.

   multiple offers

  • Coming to the Market Soon!
    • “I hear ___is having problems with ___, probably be single in a week, trouble in paradise…” says your office mate. You get excited, now here is a good one that you really like! You wait a bit before you make any moves—be cool. Be subtle…Boom. Taken. In real estate you put a “Coming Soon” sign in the yard, you call on it ASAP, you see it two days later when you can finally make time…Boom,  already under contract. Sigh. The good ones go off the market quickly.

hotguyinoffice

  • If only…
    • After you date a few people you sometimes wish you could combine all the features to make the perfect significant other! (“He is so nice and good to me, if only he was as funny and tall as my ex.”) That’s equivalent to when you see the remodeled house of your dreams with the pimp master shower and awesome backsplash with cute kitchen island… in the ghetto… surrounded by sex offenders… next to a crack house.                IT’S NOT GOING TO WORK.

ghettohouse

  • What’s the catch?
    • “Meet _____, educated, ambitious, funny, attractive, successful, happy, works out…” (I could go on–all the buzz words that make you attracted to a person. BUT they have been single a while. “Wait how many years since their last relationship?! What’s wrong with them?” Same with a home. You see the photo of only the outside and 60 days on market, two backed out contracts, “there must be something wrong with it, it’s been on the market so long…SKIP!”

jenanniston

  • Slim pickens…
    • The older you get the circle seems to get smaller and smaller of people you’d actually be willing to go out with, everyone starts to have children around you, getting married, and you are enjoying life doing “you” but slightly on the desperate (or what I like to call “open minded”) side where you accept dates with those you’d never really pictured yourself with…or perhaps doesn’t quite meet your “checkboxes“–but hey, you ain’t getting any younger!! That’s like 2012 as the articles start to float around “Austin next best city...” for this and that, says Forbes…everyone moves here, traffic worsens, restaurants improve and now: there is nowhere to live! You start looking in places you’d never thought you would end up. You increase your budget. You search further out in neighborhoods you used to complain about your friends living in (“they live so far!!”) Over paying for 900sq ft for a home…in the ghetto…surrounded by sex offenders next to a crack house. “But it’s remodeled and this area is getting hot!” you say.

Anyway, perhaps you can relate, perhaps you can’t but hopefully you liked the read. As a real estate agent I do have to add that sometimes I feel as though I am breaking up with my clients after their home closes. No more weekends and evenings spent together. No more guiding you through your lost-ness (of home buying ha). No more riding around in cars, complaining about traffic together. No more criticizing paint colors of homes. No more listening to your wants and needs and trying to understand you. “I miss you, Saturday afternoons aren’t the same without you.” I send them monthly postcards and e-newsletters of their neighborhood stats like an ex sends a text when I hear “our song.”

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Anyway, that’s all I have right now. Hope you enjoyed, and as always-thanks for reading! ~Ashley