About

I'm in my mid-twenties. I grew up in Illinois, but in a smaller community and always dreamed of living in the "big city".  I went to school in Milwaukee for my engineering degree but MKE wasn't quite what I'd pictured, Chicago was the gleaming star and big city in my sights of where to move next. Then this fall, we moved to Denver after living in Chicago for five years. It was time for a change and so far we're loving it; not to mention as of February 2014, we're homeowners! Which had been one of our goals and motivators in leaving Chicago.

I used to be an avid runner, back in the day.  In 2011, I gave my shot at the Chicago Marathon, but have decided that halfs are more my style.  In addition to running, I love cooking.  We have dinner at home 5 nights a week. More than cooking, I love baking. I dabble into arts, crafts and photography.  I need to have my nails painted at all times, and have fun with fashion, although my comfort zone is still fairly small, but expanding.

In October 2010, I married my best friend, Ben, on our 11 year dating anniversary.  If you do the math, we started dating in our early teens (age 13, 8th grade to be exact) and our relationship managed to survive through high school and college. I couldn't be happier.

Our first "date"
October 16th, 1999





Oscar is our bulldog and our baby. We compromised on getting a bully as a big-enough/manly-enough dog for Ben, but small enough for my first-ever dog.  Now, I cannot imagine our life without him.

Car-ride home with 11-week old Oscar

For now, that's it.  Our happy family of three. While in Chicago we were active in dog rescue as fosters for Chicago English Bulldog Rescue. We're up to six foster dogs; none of which we've adopted (so proud of us). Now in Denver, I greatly miss this aspect of our life and hope to find ways to get involved.

Around the blog you'll find my random musings on life (frustrations, goals, relationship, etc) , my recent purchases, food I like to eat (and make), what I wear, and of course Deals and Steals (what originally started off the basis of the blog; I'm always after a good bargain).

The name for my blog, Just Call Me HaHa, started as a joke. Growing up I never really had a great nickname besides Hannah-Banana, which is long and gets old. When Ben and I got engaged, my sister teased me that the first two initials of my first and last name were both "H-A"; thus the nickname HaHa ensued and later became the obvious choice to name my blog!

Enjoy your peak into my life and if you have any questions or suggestions; please email me!