Author: jennpfrey

LuLaRoe

Lounging in Lovely Leggings

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At least this failed MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) adventure of mine stocked my wardrobe with the most comfortable pairs of pants (yes, they *are* pants lol).

Such a bold pattern for today! Are they too wild for your taste?

In the summer of 2016, I put on my very first pair of LuLaRoe leggings – Fourth of July colored ones. Loved the buttery soft feel against my skin.

Red, white, and blue… America!!!

When I found out about becoming a part of the sales team my name was quickly added to the signup queue! So, I bought into the story and really believed this concept made a great business opportunity. We would order, for wholesale price, our choice of styles and sizes to stock our boutique. Catch was – the parent company’s warehouse pickers would pack our boxes with randomly chosen patterns (or solids, if you were lucky). Only a limited number of pieces in a specific design were created so you likely wouldn’t see your friends or coworkers with the same outfit – what a great selling point! Then, as a fashion consultant, the suspense of what landed at your door felt like Christmas Day opening a present! Oh but with the “unicorns” (the term for highly sought patterns) there arrived real duds. Colors that clashed, strange objects or shapes… but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder they said! Sometimes that proved to be true but wow a bunch of just ugly ones did exist in my opinion.

  • Macarons or hot dogs?
  • Mario Bros pipes?
Questionable at best… but if they are your jam buy them today!!!

Some ladies/gents have prospered and even continue to excel at selling these clothes. Unfortunately I had several factors working against me over the past years, so I did not enough allocate enough time to properly succeed. At first my parties did well. I met some amazing people who I still hold as friends today! But my depression triggered a buying spree and soon I housed over a myriad of 2,700 leggings, shirts, skirts, and cardigans… because they said (and I thought) the more you have the more likely a person would find something to purchase. Then, in 2018 I started to travel almost every week for my full-time job. From then on I could not recover and just see every time I go to the basement a daunting task of offloading all those clothes.

Some “unicorn” patterns, I believe… purchase these please!!!

At some point the hubby and I will finish counting and taking pictures (again) of all this great stuff. Then I’ll post a link everywhere I can to sell them at bargain prices. Anyone want to have an online party? Lol you’ll get so much free clothing… </end sales pitch>

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When in Doubt, Over-Communicate!

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Part of my makeshift home office in the living room.

This morning started out rough from a work standpoint. Over the weekend our project team made “under the hood” adjustments to both our CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system Salesforce and our ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system NetSuite. Since mid-September we finalized development scope, documented use cases, tested, and prepared for the impact of these adjustments to data flow and processes. A few users from key business stakeholder groups were involved along the way, so we thought we were ready…

Even after countless hours spent analyzing and testing effects of the changes on end users, we did not anticipate everything that could cause hiccups when we opened for business today. In fact, I personally take responsibility for not preparing specific training materials for a subset of users. Confusion on how to use other new functionality also abounded. Don’t take for granted the importance of change management! After being in the weeds of a project, it is easy to make assumptions about how end users will react when go-live day actually comes.

Upon reflection, here are my thoughts on how I’d structure rollouts going forward,

  • Draw out a stakeholder matrix and constantly refer to it as the use case scenarios are drawn up.
  • Exhaustively prepare screenshots, walk throughs, and any other materials which can be used for “train the trainer” and end users.
  • Conduct “train the trainer” with a representative from all system end user stakeholders.
  • Officially schedule end user training as part of the project plan.
  • Try not to implement new functionality or changes to processes during the time of year most people take days off of work. Yes, a clean cutoff is attractive, but change management will take the hit.

Every day on the job will provide great learning experiences, and we can all hope to improve our interactions as time passes. Just remember to look back occasionally as you move forward.

Wellness

My BHAG – 142 by 42

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With this being the start of my 40th year around the sun, I finally am focusing on my health. Browsing through the Facebook memories reminds me of the ups and downs of my weight over the years. Super skinny stature (almost too much) in high school led to complacency. As a sophomore in college I wore my size 3 prom dress to a frat party so I still felt fine.

From my high school years.

A few years later, when I studied abroad in Germany and London, I believe my size ballooned to somewhere in the 10 range. Then, at my first “real” job, my slacks read 14. Before growing my first two little babies I gained and lost here and there. With my first pregnancy I put on around 70 lbs. Yikes! My daughter was only six months old when I found out I was having another lil one. But believe it or not, after my son was born I managed to get back to a still large but comfortable 150-160lb range. At that weight I exuded more confidence, yes, because I liked my reflection in the mirror. Outward appearance should certainly not fully define a person’s self-worth. However, I really miss those feelings from when I was lighter.

Work trip to Boston – Summer 2014
Holding the best Pisco Sour ever – Boston 2014

Fast forward a handful of years… several factors came together to drive me to a previously inconceivable number – 200lbs. At that point I began to give up and have now found myself facing the terribly embarrassing 240 on the scale. I can’t believe I am even admitting this to not only myself but also anyone who might read this.

Heaviest in my life – Christmas Eve 2020

My longing to experience again that physically-induced comfort of years ago finally spurred me to create this BHAG. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the acronym, BHAG means Big Hairy Audacious Goal. At one of my past jobs I was introduced to this concept and draw from this idea my 142(lbs) by (age) 42. Even if I land in the area but not that exact number, wow, will I be proud. So I cannot just throw an idea out into the universe and expect to just have it happen. Nope. I drew up a plan.

  • Cook at home at least 5 dinners and 5 lunches a week.
  • Control portions using my color coded containers (e.g. green for veggies, yellow for starches, red for proteins)
  • Track what I eat and read the articles in Noom (since it already renewed I should at least use it for real this time)
  • Drink one 32oz bottle of water a day
  • Work out on my new elliptical for *at least* 30 min a day

Gotta start somewhere! For my own posterity, I will update a separate “142 by 42” page with statistics on how I’m tracking with the above goals. I’ll share highlights through posts here on the main blog. Would love to have people rooting for me along the way, and if anyone wants to join me as accountability buddy let me know!

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Embracing the big 4-0

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My foyer with decorations courtesy of my mom, sis, and kids

Today I hit this milestone birthday. However, nothing will change unless I make conscious decisions to further discover and improve myself. Based on my blog name, my entries will likely cover all sorts of topics… so if you can appreciate a collection of “oooooh shiny!” moments, then welcome to a new source of entertainment! Wherever my mind takes me, we will go. On occasion I’ll describe challenges with my weight loss journey or perhaps my exit from the world of selling LuLaRoe. Do you enjoy sewing, photography, essential oils, skin care and makeup, collecting and playing with American Girl dolls, cooking/baking, bottle cap art, and/or spirited beverages? Are you working remotely and miss going to the office? I’ll touch on those and lots of other subjects every day I feel the need to post.

40 golden balloons all around the house!

Writing down my adventures in life will hopefully help me reinvigorate my love of certain hobbies and also keep me held accountable for my newest initiative – 142 by 42 – which I’ll dive in more detail about in another post. Hope you will enjoy following this growing assortment of posts as much as I will enjoy putting them out into the world!