weekending

 

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 had a good balance of time away from home with friends, and also time spent at home. That's kind of the best of both worlds, if you ask me!

I took advantage of what felt like a perfect fall morning on Friday, and lit this candle while I read my Bible. I took my sister to the airport that morning, and then I ran errands for the rest of the day while I was out, the first of which took me to Graham's new house! 

Isn't it pretty?! I dropped some things off for him, and I cleaned in his kitchen a little. I am so proud of all my sons! I never want to pass up the opportunity to say that here and to tell them that in person. I am all about words that build others up when they're in need, so that it gives grace to all who here (Ephesians 4:29). 

My favorite part of the day was treating myself to a pedicure! I love the dark shade that I chose this  time, Vampsterdam by OPI. 

I came home and made some brownies to take with me to Marilyn's house Friday night. I took a few with me and left the rest of them here for my Jonah. Brownies are always a favorite for him! 

And Marilyn and I enjoyed the loveliest evening eating on her back porch while it rained! It was so cozy out there with the lights twinkling and the sound of rain. Unfortunately the evening ended abruptly for me and I had to come home to do some damage control, thanks to the unpleasant situation I have going on in my life right now. 

I met up with my mom and sister on Saturday for errands and a delicious lunch of Mexican dips and chips. We always get cheese dip, the salsa, and guacamole Mexicana. It fills me up, but I'm always ready to eat early on the Saturdays we do that. 

When I got home that afternoon, Jonah and a couple of my bonus sons were watching the Alabama game; I took the opportunity to go upstairs and take a nap. Chloe was my napping companion for this, which was so sweet. I made myself a veggie pizza for dinner that night and saved half of it for later this week. I'm going to try to be better at dinners from now on; I've barely been cooking since June, so I really want to meal plan this week. I've got one dinner planned already, and another one is stewing in my mind. These days when I cook, I eat the leftovers for the rest of the week. 

Sunday was church! We had a marriage conference at church this weekend, and the service I attended was excellent, even if I didn't want to be there by that point. I came home afterward to eat lunch and take a nap, and I had plans that night, but my friend had to cancel. I have to confess that I wasn't bothered at all by being forced to stay home! The night was rainy and my hair was driving me mad because of the weather wreaking havoc on it, so I promptly threw it up in a pony tail and changed into my comfiest of clothes. 

What did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn 🖤

The Cozy Chronicles: transitioning your home & your heart to fall

 

Happy Saturday, friends, and welcome to the first edition of my new link party, The Cozy Chronicles. As a reminder, here are the dates for the remainder of 2024: September 14th, October 12th, November 9th, and December 14th. Today's edition is about Transitioning from the Summer Season to Fall. You can just use my graphic at the top of this post for your post, or you can make one of your own. In October we'll be talking about Halloween or fall traditions from the past or present. 

There are few things I love more than transitioning my home from the summer season to fall. Here are some things that I love using/doing that just make it feel cozy, warm, and inviting inside my home. In my humble opinion, there is no season that is more welcoming than fall! I love this season for a million different reasons, but one is because it's such a welcome reprieve after a long and hot summer. I get all excited when the mornings first turn cool, and I mean I get as excited as Lorelai does when the first snow happens each year on Gilmore Girls. If only I lived in Connecticut! 

I love little touches of fall throughout my home; many things I've had for years, but others are things I've picked up in the last year or two, like this little bundle of flowers. Anyone who knows me here knows that as much as I love real flowers, I kill them, so I am a huge fan of the faux kind! 

I love to keep pillows and throws out; the throw that I had on this chair here was being washed. 

I use all the surfaces in my home when I decorate! Are you like this?

I think we all do this, honestly, but I love to light candles when I'm at home. I lit this one yesterday morning when I was piddling around in the kitchen. 

I pull out our dog blankets for the furniture when it gets cool outside, and trust me, they love the cozy blankets as much as I do. How precious is Chloe in this picture? The blanket had fallen off the couch, and before I could put it  back, she curled up and did this. 

These are a couple of my favorite playlists on Spotify for fall. I love having music playing in the background when I'm at home. 

I use a similar image for my phone lock screen and wallpaper from now until Thanksgiving, then I switch over to a Christmas image. 

If music isn't playing, I like to use a screensaver from YouTube, like this one. Here are a few of my favorite channels that you can click on to subscribe to:

Calmed by Nature

Coffee Shop Ambience

Candy Music Room

The Alley of Ambience

I think doing any of these things is a great way to add some seasonal coziness to our homes. I can't wait to read your posts! I'm so glad you're here to link up today! I hope people remembered since I failed to mention it yesterday in my Friday Favorites post. I'll keep the link open for a week or so if you want to join in later. Thanks for reading my blog today! Love to all. 

Jenn 🖤

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Friday Favorites, 9.13.2024.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's blog post. How has your week been? I am so happy to say that though mine was filled with a tiny bit of turmoil and anxiety, it was much better this week! You have no idea how happy that makes me to be able to say that. I keep reminding myself that better days are just ahead; I can almost taste them they're so close. Even though I am seeing more of that proverbial light at the end of this tunnel that I'm in, I do still have a bit of time until I can fully breathe again. I am anxiously awaiting that day! 

I have some favorites from this week! I'll share them below. 

My sister Lisa flew in for the week on Monday! I picked her up from the airport, we went to eat sushi at our favorite place as soon as we got back to The Ville, then we hit up a favorite shop of ours, John Mark's. 

We were literally swooning over the infamous ribbon library room. They're adding to it this week, because he recently received two containers full of the ribbon that he designed. I can't wait to see his own brand of that; he has impeccable taste, and I think he's such a cutie! He could be my son, but I loved these pictures that I saw in the restroom. You know I had to take pictures! You should follow him on Instagram if you don't already! Here's his page. 

These were a couple of my favorite outfits from the week! I wore the green dress on Tuesday and needed to be comfortable since it was a long day and because I had an appointment immediately following work. I pulled out my favorite top to celebrate a small victory this week; I have had it for at least three years, and I love it more as time goes on. I always get complimented on it when I wear it, so I'm glad it's not out of style! 

Sweet Bea is my nephew's dog, and she's one of my favorites. She has the best puppy dog eyes I have ever seen! She's a smart girl; she helps him hunt all throughout the year!

Sleepy mornings are my favorite at home! I love it when I don't have to leave home very quickly and the dogs get to do this. They love being lazy; for that matter, I like to be lazy in the mornings too. 

It's been a busy week, but those are all the pictures I have. We had some crazy weather here yesterday, with the hurricane that came through the gulf; it headed straight toward us here in West Tennessee! My sister was here all week, so I got to see her a lot, and she helped me a lot with something big that happened in my life this week. I will also say this about my week, specifically yesterday: I will always remember September 12th as the day I took my life back. I'll share more eventually, but I can't really talk about it just yet. Lots of you have reached out to me, and I appreciate you for doing that! Thank you for your prayers and well wishes, too. I could never say thank you enough! If you ever want to chat more, feel free to email me at allboys@gmail.com.

What was a favorite of yours this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all!

Jenn 🖤 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I hope your week is giving you glimpses of things that you can be thankful for; mine has been like that so far, so I thought I'd talk about a few of them today here on my blog. Here are some things I'm thankful for this week: 

• cooler weather
• things I have scheduled to look forward to
• upcoming fall trips
• my amazing Mom, sisters, and best friends
• the power of prayer
• experiencing answers to said prayers
• being hopeful to read more again soon
• finishing the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament this week
• consistency in my morning Bible reading
• The Bright Minds Book Club that I enjoyed eating with and talking to on Monday night (I'm so irritated that I forgot to take a picture)
• my work family
• moments of laughter
• God's gifts of wisdom and knowledge
• all the little things I want to talk about here but can't right now

What are you thankful for this week? Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Joyce for today's post. I'll jump right in!

1. When the Hodgepodge lands on September 11, I want to acknowledge that. Will you purposely pause to remember and pray for those who were affected by tragedy on this date in history? Share any thoughts or memories you would like about this day. This day always makes me sad! I think it's the day that so many of our lives changed, and I know for me, I realized that a terrorist attack is a very real reality. I always take the time to pray on this day for those who lost their loved ones. 

I had two little ones at the time when this tragedy occurred, and was working in their mom's day out program at my church. Two days after this attack, we had a bomb threat at our church and spent hours outside with all the kiddos while bomb sniffing dogs and agents secured the church. (There was no bomb.)

2. Growing up, did you spend a lot of time with your grandparents? What's something you learned from a grandparent? I did see my grandparents fairly often! Every other week after church, we would have lunch with my dad's mom, and either we would visit my mom's mom, or she would come see us. I like to think that I take after both of my grandmothers! Both of them loved Jesus and the word of God. 

3. What's your go-to breakfast? Every morning I have the same breakfast drink: a Premier brand protein shake, some coffee, and a splash of coconut flavored creamer. It's so good!

4. Tell us the story behind one of your favorite photos. 

This is my current favorite photo, and it was taken at the VA cemetery following my dad's funeral on July 10th. This was taken approximately two weeks after my life forever changed, and it was right before I found out information that rocked my world. These sons of mine are my entire world! Aren't they handsome? Left to right are Jonah, Noah, Drew, and Graham. 

5. This week Friday lands on the thirteenth. Are you superstitious in any way? Do you like scary movies, and if so, what is your favorite? I am not superstitious, but I have experience with how crazy those Fridays are! I've worked in two schools now, so I seriously know this to be true.

I'm keeping it short and sweet today, friends. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

weekending

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a good weekend! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's post. Here are some of the things I did: 

I had made plans with a friend for lunch on Friday, but after an emotionally difficult week, I needed to see my mom. So, I got dressed early, went to my dad's house to sign some paperwork and to see my brother and sister-in-law who are here yet again to deal with Dad's estate, then I met my mom for lunch. We ate salads for lunch, and we ended our time together at Home Goods, where we shopped for Graham's house and the new shower curtain that I bought for myself with the gift card my friend sent to me. 

(Ignore the wrinkles; I was too impatient to iron it first.)

I also finally bought a new journal. I love this one! I like to change journals from season to season, and it almost always works out that I fill one before getting another one. Do you use journals? Do you keep them? I've kept some, but I also threw away a bunch recently. 

While I was at Dad's house on Friday, my brother Paul came across Dad's old mechanical engineering book and duct work calculator. I got these things for Drew, since he's in that same line of work. 

And once again, Chloe the emotional support dog joined me as I watched tv Friday night. Before this, I'd met up with my bestie Andrea for dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant. We had an early night of it, though, and I came home to get comfy and watch my show on Netflix. 

Saturday dawned bright and early! I got dressed, hugged my Drew who came over to help out at Dad's with Jonah and me (Noah doesn't live here and Graham was traveling home from Myrtle Beach), then left to get gas and head to Dad's house. This was Drew's first time driving his truck with a trailer. GULP! Dad has a narrow driveway with a ditch on either side, so I was praying as Drew was driving!🤣 

One last selfie of Trish and me at Dad's house...I'm shocked I didn't cry while taking this. We're usually doing this as we put out his Christmas lights each year. 

I sincerely wish I could take these doors with me! I love them and think they would be the most beautiful headboard for a bed. 

I'm so thankful for my hardworking sons! They were total workhouses for the three-four hours they were out there with us. This trailer was packed by the time they pulled out of Dad's driveway! 

I dropped something off at someone's house with my sister when we left together, then I came home to shower. I felt like I had spiders in my hair since we mainly were out in his garage all day. My sister Trish came over for dinner; she picked something up for her, and I made myself this lasagna inspired pasta (penne, cottage cheese, grated parmesan cheese, and olives).

We watched this movie after dinner. Have you seen this? It was so good! It's the true story of Rebecca St. James and her family (two brothers later formed the group For King and Country) as they moved from Australia to America in pursuit of a better life. These are Christian artists that I love, and I also enjoyed a lot of the music that I listened to in the early nineties back when Christian music was gaining popularity. 

Chloe loved having someone new to cuddle with!

Meanwhile, sweet Chip sat with me. 

Sunday was church, then I was home for the rest of the afternoon. Jonah did yardwork since it felt so amazing outside; I took a nap later, then had leftovers for dinner. At seven, Graham and Jonah took a load of that packed trailer to Graham's new house! He's starting to move some things this week before he leaves again on Wednesday for a bachelor trip weekend away in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Rough life, right??) 

What did you do this weekend that you loved? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 🖤