Friday Favorites, 3.14.2025.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you've had a great week! Mine has been epic; stay tuned until the end to find out why. Here's a few of my favorite moments from this week.

Time with my boys is always my favorite; so are Drew's random resting positions and places. This is nothing unusual; he often lays down in the middle of a floor to rest. I love how Chloe was hanging all over him!

This green dress and the book I'm reading are both favorites! I won't talk about how long it's taking me to read this one book. This was me at work killing time on Tuesday.

It was a favorite coming home on Tuesday and showering and then sitting out here soaking up some vitamin D! 

It's always a favorite when a bestie comes to town to stay with me! Today is the kick off for our little girl's stay-cation at my house; Teresa came in town Wednesday and is staying with me through Sunday; my bestie Missy will be joining us today after work. It's been amazing having her here with me this week! My heart desperately needed this and I love the timing of how this all played out. Again, stay tuned until the end!

Car problems are never a favorite, but having my boys at home with me is! They were adding some coolant to Drew's truck because it overheated on his way here that night.

Birthday flowers are my favorite! I treated myself to them on Monday. 

I had an amazing Sunday; this was me taking a picture to document me being happy Monday morning. 

My Mare will always be my favorite! We've experienced #allthethings and #alltheemotions this week! 

French press coffee is definitely a favorite. 

Here were my favorite outfits from the week:

Baby Jolene is my favorite! This is a major perk of my job; my friend Caroline comes in and basically hands this baby girl off to me every time I see her. I'm not complaining, because I need more babies in my life!

Those are my favorites from the week, along with the fact that I have huge news to share today: I'm signing my divorce papers today at eleven thirty! I am beside myself with excitement as I close the door to this chapter of my life and move forward. I never thought I'd say that I would be excited to end my marriage, but I'm ready now, and so is Todd. And I look forward to us being friends for our sons; I know we'll do that, because they're the most important people in our lives and we agree wholeheartedly on this topic. We'll do anything for them, you know? 

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

Jenn ❤️

Thankful Thursday -- the birthday edition

 

Happy Thursday, friends! It wouldn't be a Thursday without a weekly gratitude list; I have so much to be thankful for this week. I'll jump in!

I'm thankful for something I'm focusing this entire post on: the gift that life is as I celebrated birthdays for three of my sons. 

Jonah made a rare appearance in a picture with me finally! I talked him into this three weeks ago in anticipation of his birthday. A mom has to do what a mom has to do, you know?? 

I love this one of Noah and me from when I was visiting him; we had gone on a walk around a lake in an area that he was showing us. He asked me lots of questions on this day, and I asked him a lot as well, making sure that he was okay with life. Quality time is my love language! It's right up there with physical touch.

On Monday, Jonah (top pic) and Noah turned 22! On Tuesday, Graham turned 26. We had the best night celebrating the three of them Monday night; I made dinner, and the three of them and Drew's roommate Sam ate dinner here. We sat outside for a few hours as they did things to Jonah's and Drew's trucks. It was one of those magical nights that I'll relive time and again. 

It was such a fun night of catching up, productivity, and laughter! Jonah was getting things ready on his truck to leave the next day for Dallas; I'm so glad he's there with his twin brother for their birthdays! There's a huge car event happening there this week, so that was the reasoning as to why he picked this particular week. I was glad to hear that he made it there safely after leaving around 6:45 Tuesday morning. It's always good for a mom's heart to hear such things! This is a new normal for us, and we're all okay with it; it's part of the whole year of firsts in this new life that we all have. I don't hate it, honestly! They celebrated with their dad the night before, on Sunday. 

I am so thankful for these amazing young men that I have the privilege of calling sons. They've all proved themselves to be faithful and kind this last year, and they've all stepped up to the plate for me in huge ways. I'm so grateful not only to have the title as their mom, but to get to call them friends. That's a more appropriate description of our relationship these days, and I am here for it. All of their younger (harder) years were worth it for the life we get to share now that they're adults. Aren't they all so handsome? I'll talk more about Drew on his birthday in a few weeks, but this night made my week a great one. 

What are you thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn ❤️

the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm linking up with Joyce today for the weekly hodgepodge. I always love this day of blog reading, and I hope you enjoy it as well! 

1. March 15th is known as the Ides of March, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C...have you ever been to Rome? If so, what did you love most about the city? If not, is this a place you'd like to visit? I've never been to Italy, and would love to go there someday. I don't know how high Rome would be on my list, but I'd love to see the Amalfi coast and Florence. On a more attainable note, I'd also love to travel to Boston and stay there for a few nights, visiting the Italian district, or whatever it's called. An author friend of mine recommended a bunch of places for me to visit while I was there in 2023, but that trip was cut short when my sister's house flooded in Denver. (Both Lisa and Debi were on that trip with me that year.) 

2. Rome wasn't built in a day. What project/improvement/activity of any kind do you have going on right now to which this saying might be applied? I'm still working on painting, and by working, I mean trying to get motivated to pick it back up again. I'm hoping to do that some next week, actually. Additionally, I'd like to work on more activity in my life and would love to incorporate walking/working out into my life. I would like to start doing a Pilates routine at home and have plans for the empty bedroom in my house. 

3. Let's do a little this or that with some Italian foods...I'll make my answers bold and will italicize them.

• Caprese salad or Prosciutto with melon?
• Bruschetta or Antipasto? 
• Lasagna or ravioli?
• Bolognese or Carbonara?
• Risotto or Gnocchi? 
• Tiramisu...gelato...cannoli? 

4. Of the colors red, white, and green, which would be more prevalent in your home? Which one do you think is most flattering to you in terms of your wardrobe? Have you ever had your colors done? Is that something you'd be interested in doing? You would be more likely to find white in my home than any other color. I think green is the most flattering on me and was given several compliments when I wore this shirt last week.

I have never had my colors done before, but would LOVE to do this! I'm pretty confident that I already dress accordingly, though. 

5. Life would be boring without...friends and dogs! I'm so grateful I have the friends in my life that I do; this is something that I regularly thank God for and think on any given day. And not all times with friends are wonderful and exciting; sometimes you cry excessively and your friend crawls into the bed with you and holds you in her arms while whispering over and over how loved you are by an Almighty God; other times she gets into your car when you pick her up so you can go park somewhere and cry and vent and then she gives you a forehead kiss. I literally thank God daily for my friends! As for dogs, well you all know how I feel about the ones I've been fortunate to call mine. Jonah's Chloe is my little bestie and I'll be taking care of her all week in his absence. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I have a few songs that I love right now that I want to share. First up is a worship song that I love by Elevation Worship. This is I Know a Name, and if I've shared this before, forgive me.

Next up is a fun one by Ben Rector; this is My Favorite Person.

Lastly is one I randomly found last week called One More Day by a group called Sons of Sunday. I accidentally found this one and have listened to it countless times since. 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! I'm excited to see your own answers to these questions. I hope you have the best day; I'll see you back here tomorrow. Love to all!

Jenn ❤️

a few random things on a Tuesday

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd talk about a few random things here today. I hope you enjoy!

It's hard to believe that I haven't volunteered with the youth at my church in seven years. This time of year my memories are always flooded with past youth events that were so much fun, and this was one such time. This was the year that we did absolutely zero to contribute wisdom to our girls winning the competitions, and yet they somehow won first place in spite of our lack of motivation. Our prize was to attend a winter jam concert in Tupelo on a weeknight. Woohoo! 🤣 Missy and I had a blast leading teenage girls together; they really did keep us young! I miss those days and sometimes think about starting up again. 

It's such an honor to be a part of my friends' kids lives! This was baby Everly six years ago; here she is now on my left (your right). Time flies! She's big sister to Asher on my right and Violet. I love these kiddos! 

I have major OCPD tendencies in life; my makeup is one such example. I have to have everything lined up in order for me to get ready in the mornings! (That P is for personality.)

I'll never tire of seeing Dad's truck parked in front of my house. 

These are all I have to talk about today, friends! Do you have anything random to share with me today? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

Jenn ❤️

Linking up with:

weekending

 

Happy Monday, friends! This post is better late than never, right? I totally forgot to write this yesterday, and then the day got away from me. I'm also blaming the whole one less hour of sleep thing, but I digress. I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was great; here's what I did:

I love my Friday mornings! I spent some time updating some information on a website that day regarding my future, and then I finally got around to laundry and getting dressed. I had a few errands to run, but nothing major, and I was going alone. I felt the need to get out of my house, so I was glad to do this. I'll stop right there for a minute with that phrase that I needed to get out of my house. Do you all remember when I used to love to stay at home? I was such a homebody, and now I'm rarely home. Even Jonah commented about this lately and told me that I'm gone now more than he is. I find this both funny and extremely strange. It's like I'm not even the same person anymore! 

Anyway, all I needed to do was to put gas in my vehicle and then I decided to do a little shopping at Costco. 

I stopped to wash my car first, which it needed from me traveling the weekend before.

And because this is birthday week, of course I bought a birthday cake! This is Jonah's favorite cake; would you believe that as I write this, it hasn't even been opened yet? It's true! 

I woke up missing my dad Friday morning; it may have been what prompted me to get my car washed. Dad loved to do that with me on our Fridays together! I thought it was odd that this popped up on my car screen that day; it just about took me out. So, because of that and the fact that it was Friday, I decided to go visit his grave. 

I've never been a grave visitor before, but it's so peaceful there that I keep finding myself going back. He loved visiting there, and I like to go and just walk around there. I always make sure his headstone is clean, and I have observed something really neat about the Veteran's cemetery; if there's anyone there doing work on graves or the land, when someone walks up to a grave, they stop their work and retreat until you leave again. This has happened twice so far, and I think it's very respectful. 

I came home for a little while that afternoon, and left again to pick up my friend Tiffany for a dinner out. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants and had an amazing meal! I brought half of mine home; I'll eat the rest of it tomorrow night. We had the best time together just catching up and laughing ourselves silly over lots of things. I love friendships that stand the test of weird phases of life! 

My ex and I were really good friends with Tiffany and her husband Jeremy; it's good to know that we can still maintain the friendship even if one half of that foursome is about to be divorced. He is still friends with her husband, and I am sure that will continue. Things have taken such a positive turn in my life regarding my future; we've had to communicate a lot lately and we've been very friendly toward each other. I'm grateful for this, as it makes the whole ending a marriage thing so much easier. That's still weird to say, but we've agreed to always be friends and we've acknowledged that we both want nothing but good things for the both of us moving forward. 

Moving on, now...

Friday night I hung out with Jonah in his room while he attached these cool lights to the back of his TV. They're amazing! I went to bed shortly after this. 

I think I'm about to need a new coffee pot; this was what I improvised with Saturday morning: French press coffee. It was delicious! I did a few things at home, then I left with Mom for a morning out. We ate lunch at my favorite salad spot, then went into a couple of stores. 

And later on, I met my friend Andrea for dinner at a local restaurant called Huey's that I love. We had apps for dinner! It's always good to see her and catch up; too much time passes between our times of catching up. 

Sunday dawned bright and early! My sweet friend (who acts very fatherly toward me) insisted on changing the time on this big clock that hangs in the bookstore for me, even though I insisted that I could do it Tuesday when I got to work. I love kind gestures!

Jonah carried my new mirror upstairs for me, and I promptly put it to good use. Chloe had fun staring at herself! 

And then I wrapped up the day with my Marilyn! We enjoyed a bonfire and proceeded to laugh our heads off at the silliest of things. I love her friendship and am so grateful for the moments that God gives us together! We now know a scary amount of information about each other and are friends for life, because we'll take some things with us to the grave. She's stuck with me forever! She's one who I don't hold back with at all, just because of our life similarities. 

Isn't God sweet to give us each other as friends? We're so much more than just that these days, honestly. She feels like a sister! 

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