cozy dressing

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I'm co-hosting the Ageless Style link party today with several ladies, and the topic for this month is all about adding some cozy elements to your wardrobe. 

My favorite cozy weather wardrobe addition is a sweatshirt! I just ordered this one a couple of weeks ago, and it arrived on Monday. I love it so much, but I especially love what it says. I decided I need to wear this Tuesday night when I worked, because it had been a day. 

I love adding third pieces to my outfits this time of year, and this shawl from a few years ago that is J. Jill is a favorite. 

This was one of my Marshall's purchases from last weekend.

I also think that certain colors give off a cozy vibe; this faded olive green is one of my favorites. I wear lots of neutrals this time of year.

Cozy sweaters are fun when the weather is appropriate...

...and so is a flannel shirt that I wore last week and have since decided to let go of.

I love bronzy browns at this time of year!

And all black is always an easy and cozy feeling no-brainer. 

Notice I keep my footwear optional because the weather varies so much. 

I love this outfit that I wore yesterday; the sweater is another Marshall's purchase from last week, and I threw this vest on top to complete it, since it was cool. How do you add an element of cozy to your wardrobe? I'd love to hear from you! 

Also linking up with: 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 🖤

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Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond for today's post. I'll jump right in!

1. How did you meet your significant other? If you don't have one of those, how did you meet your best friend? 

Missy and I met when Graham was a young high schooler, so about twelve years ago is when I first found out who she was. She was involved in youth at that time, and went on all the trips to camp. Because the person I don't want to talk about also went on those trips, he knew her before I did, and encouraged me to get to know her. For whatever reason, I never really did that, but we did eventually meet and discovered we shared a love of reading. I let her borrow my books for a long time before we hung out, but the day that cemented our friendship was the day that my bonus son Alex's mom died. I'd gotten a phone call from his aunt (my neighbor) that she had died, and to not say anything to him, since he was with us that day. I had to get out of the car, because I immediately burst into tears, and I didn't want anyone asking questions. Missy was walking out of the church right at this moment, and even though she's not a hugger, she walked straight to me, dropped her bags, and wrapped her arms around me. She ended up taking me to lunch to occupy me for a couple of hours, and thus, our friendship began. 

Since then we became even closer as we led community groups for high schoolers together, we shared camp trips, a camping experience, and many girlfriend trips. We've walked through too many deaths together, along with addiction problems, adultery, and lots of sicknesses and family issues. She is literally the one person who knows all of my people and all the things about me and still loves me. She has unfriended people on my behalf, sent mean texts (🤣), and championed for me time after time. We've been joking that for the last four months almost, it's been my turn to be the needy friend. She's gone through so much in our friendship and apparently, I've been saving up for present day. She literally fed me and my boys for two full months by creating a take-them-a-meal page on social media; what was only supposed to have lasted for two weeks went on for an additional six weeks because people love me and my boys so much. What a wonderful feeling and blessing that was to all of us! 

Everyone needs a Missy in their life! Another amazing thing she did for me recently was a couple of months ago when I freaked out about a financial situation I thought had happened in my bank account. I flipped out, and called her in near hysterics. She flew through getting dressed and met me in my church parking lot. I handed her my phone with the banking app open, and all of the paperwork that I had on hand. She immediately took over and calmed me down; then she walked with me into work and later on communicated with two of my sisters about what was going on. She talked to Lisa a lot over the following days, and that meant the world to me. As my friend Mandy said that I've already said once and that I'll reiterate is that everyone needs a Missy in their life. She has seen me at my best and at my very lowest, and recently while we were on a trip together, literally crawled into bed with me and wrapped her arms around me and held me while I sobbed my heart out. I could literally go on and on about this amazing friend. 

2. It's National Department Store Day today! Do you still shop in these types of stores? Do you miss them, if you don't? Do you have a favorite department store? What about fun memories in one? 

Whew. On a lighter note, though I really don't shop in department stores anymore, I sure did love going to Goldsmith's when I was younger! Goldsmith's later became a Macy's, but there was one located downtown that I loved going to. I also loved another one in Memphis that had multiple floors; or maybe that was the one downtown? My memory is fuzzy, but they sold everything from clothes to appliances to rugs, and Mom and I used to eat lunch at the restaurant located in the store. I honestly don't really miss them now, because I'm not a big shopper. 

3. Something you're currently nuts about?

I've been thinking about this faux omelet or burrito or whatever you want to call it since last week. I'll probably have this for a late lunch/early dinner tonight since I'm working from five to eight at church. 

4. What's your favorite nut and is there a recipe where this is used?

I love pecans! My favorite thing that contains those is the pecan pie that Mom makes. She also makes a crumble topping for her sweet potatoes that is to die for. 

5. Today we officially reach the 70 days until Christmas mark. Have you purchased any gifts? 

I have purchased a couple of gifts and plan on keeping with that trend in order to be finished by Thanksgiving! My goal this year is to not dread Christmas eve or Christmas day like I usually do every year. I love the season of Christmas, but not the day of, because it's always such a letdown. There were some other reasons why I dreaded the holidays, but I won't focus on those. I'm looking forward to loving all the days of the coming season, including both days of! 

6. Insert your own thought here.  

I am glad that yesterday is over. The day got started off on the wrong foot, and from there it progressed downhill. I've never been so glad to see a day pass me by! Here's to hoping for a better today, Thursday, and Friday. 

Thanks for reading my blog today. Also, thank you for your many prayers on my behalf. Love to all! 

Jenn 🖤

underrated products that I love/use

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I was getting dressed on Saturday and had the idea for this post as I used one of these products. I'm linking up with Joanne for today's post. I've talked about one of these before, but not the other three. 

For my skin:

In my humble opinion, Vaseline is one of the most wonderful and underrated products on the market that has been around for ages. One blogger and influencer I follow mentioned how there's a Vaseline body stick that is available right now, but it's pretty pricey, and this does the same thing. I have been using this for years now, and I wanted to let you know of all of its benefits! First and foremost is that it keeps my lips from being chapped. I've been wearing this to bed every night for at least five years now, and I put it on after I brush my teeth and moisturize every morning. I always take a little and rub it on my forehead (where my skin is extra dry) and the backs of my hands. I have a beautiful African American friend who told me that she uses Vaseline as her daily moisturizer, and you should see her skin! If it helps mine even a fraction as much as it does wonders for her skin, then I will be one happy camper. 

Speaking of moisturizer, this one is the one that I'm still using everyday and that I've been using for years. I like how it's a light and whipped consistency, and not thick and greasy feeling. I put this on under my makeup everyday after I brush my teeth. I also use this as body lotion in the colder months, when my skin is extra dry and sensitive. It lasts for hours and keeps my skin from being itchy all winter long.

For when I'm sick:

And because this is the season for being under the weather, I have to use the most secret weapon that I have in my home to fight off being stuffy. This is the only nose spray that I have ever used that is almost exactly twelve hour relief. I try not to use this stuff unless I have to, but one of the most miserable parts of being sick is when you can't breathe through your nose. Additionally, this is when I either invest in the tissue with lotion, or I just use a roll of toilet paper, because it's the softest. I keep Hall's cough drops with menthol around, and I use a combination of medicines for when I'm really bad, but Mucinex (the Kirkland brand from Costco) is probably the most helpful, because it makes your cough productive. 

For use around the house:

I use Dawn dish soap for everything! I use it for washing dishes, obviously, but its other main use in my home is as a stain remover. It works every single time! Have you tried this? Also, I hate to break it to you, but Dawn power wash is not worth the extra money that it costs, in my opinion. Its sale point is that it breaks through the toughest of foods on dishes, but so does regular Dawn when you just use a few drops of it and fill the dish or pan with water and let it sit. Because I am my mother's child, of course I store it in a pretty glass container with a pump. 

Tell me some things that you love/use that are highly underrated. I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 🖤

weekend recap

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a good weekend! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. Did you do anything fun this weekend? I did! Here are the highlights. 

A highlight for me was finding some tops and a pair of pants at Marshall's on Friday; I am in desperate need of both! The first picture of me was what I put on that day, because we were still in the "wear a sweater in the morning and regret it in the afternoon" weather. That is changing today, and I couldn't be more happy! I found four tops and one pair of pants.

It was a highlight seeing that Marilyn and I made Sophie Hudson's book tour reel on Instagram!

These sourdough crackers were also a highlight, though I probably won't make them again since they lost their crispness overnight.

Another highlight was seeing my greats have fun at the pumpkin patch in Colorado! I got to go there with them two years ago, and the year before that we went to one closer to their house. I love that I get to see them every fall and am counting down the days until I see them soon. 

This sourdough toast with Christmas jam was a highlight on Saturday.

And so was wearing the new pants that I love!

Marilyn and I found ourselves at an Oktoberfest on Saturday! This was the first one we went to; after we saw everything, we left and went to search for another one. 

We made a stop at this unique gift shop first.

And we pulled up at the end of a car show, but when we got past all of that, we finally found what we were looking for. 

After a very sketchy walk under this bridge, we came upon an even smaller one than the first! We were fine with this, since we didn't spend money on either. At the second one, we ended up eating a really great lunch from a food truck. I had a chicken schnitzel sandwich that was to die for! 

I couldn't resist this one for my sons, because we all know how much they love their vehicles! For the rest of the weekend, I relaxed at home and watched marathon Hallmark fall themed movies. I'm not complaining, trust me! What did you do that you loved? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn 🖤

The Cozy Chronicles: all about Fall/Halloween

 

Happy Saturday, friends! I'm glad you're here today to talk about fall and Halloween traditions. Do you have anything that you still do, even though you may be in a different phase of life now that your kids are grown? Or some of you still have littles at home, so how do you celebrate this time of year? I'm excited to hear from you. 

Now that my sons are grown, I used to stay at home on this night and hand out candy. Because of the dogs and their aversion to people in costumes being on the front porch and ringing the bell, I used to sit in the driveway to do this each year. It was always fun to get to see neighbors outside doing the same, since we're all in similar life phases. I won't be doing that this year, though, and even if I were going to be at home, I would have made plans to be out of my house on that night. This year that's the day that I leave to go to Colorado; this is the trip that got postponed earlier this month. The night we get there is when my niece has her annual Halloween party, so I'm excited to get to go this year! I'm thinking of costume ideas...

This reminds me of when my boys were young. We've always done this kind of thing on Halloween each year, and I think it was my sister Lisa that started the tradition, though it changed over the years from her house to mine as my kids got older and wanted to trick-or-treat here with their friends. We would always get together and have a yummy dinner, then some of us would stay at home to hand out candy, and some of us would go with the kids to trick-or-treat. Those were the days! When I started hosting it, it became the night I made a big stockpot full of soup. A few of us would leave to walk with my boys as they collected copious amounts of candy. 

(Chicken tortilla soup was always a favorite!)

These were a few of my favorite costumes of their from years past. Some were bought, some were borrowed, most of them were made. 

Additionally each year, we loved going to a local pumpkin patch with friends. We happened upon that one year when we saw signs for it, and we went back a couple of weekends later better prepared. You could "rent" a fire pit and take your own food to cover over the flames. We always took hot dogs with all the fixings, and marshmallows for s'mores. The kids would play the games they had set up, and would run around on their playground, then when it got dark, we would take a hayride back to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins to bring home. After several years of doing this, others caught wind, and it eventually became a zoo, so we stopped going. I looked back on pictures for this, but the quality of them was terrible. This was the only decent one I could find.

The first year we did this, Jonah and Noah were four. We probably did this for eight years in a row; the older the boys got, the less they wanted to do things like this and the more they wanted to do new and fun things with their friends. 

What do you like to do every year at this time? Are you still celebrating the best of year in any way? I've continued in my love for pumpkin patches and have been to a couple in Colorado when I visit my family there. It's been fun celebrating with my great nieces now that my sons are all grown! I'm excited to hear from you today! If I don't have many that link up today, I'll probably stop this from being a link party next month and will just continue on my own. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

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