the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in! 

1. Summer's here (in the Northern hemisphere)! If you're in the Southern hemisphere, substitute winter for the word summer. What do you love the most about summer? What's your biggest summer pet peeve? My biggest summer pet peeve is when my legs stick to the vinyl or leather booth that I'm sitting on. There isn't much that hurts worse than peeling your sweaty skin off a sticky vinyl seat. 🤣 The thing I love most about the summer is how late the sun sets and that I get to be in the water. I love wearing dresses/skorts in the summer!

Honestly, I just love summer. I don't even mind how hot it is! 

2. What song always reminds you of summer? One song that always reminds me of summer is Cruel Summer. I think it reminds me of summer because I watched The Karate Kid a lot one year, and that was all it took. To this day when I think of summer, I think of this song and my favorite scene from The Karate Kid when Ralph Macchio's and Elizabeth Shue's characters go to a carnival together on a date. 

That video is interesting, to say the least. 🤣

3. What's something you remember about your childhood summers? Do you think kids today get to enjoy summer as you did when you were a child? Elaborate. One thing I remember about my childhood summers that I loved was spending time on the lake with my dad. I've always been drawn to the water! I loved it whether it was a lake, river, or ocean.

We spent a lot of summer weekends at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I loved it there! The picture above is from when my best friend Stacy and her parents joined us. I was probably the one taking this picture. How great is this photo? Seeing the background of this picture makes me realize the reason why I thought of Dad Saturday on the Ohio River. Dad loved to pull into and swim in coves on a lake; this was a cove we were in for lunch that day last weekend. Please note how similar the backgrounds are in these pictures!

4. We celebrated Father's day on June 21st...do you favor your dad in looks or temperament? Tell us something about your dad. I favor my dad in temperament. I don't look anything like him, but we had the same personality and shared the same views on almost everything. Dad loved Jesus, and the letter he wrote for us to read after his death said that his greatest prayer was that his kids would love Jesus with all of their hearts. Dad loved music, musicals, traveling, fruity cocktail drinks (like a pina colada), dressing up in a suit, his work, and his family. He also loved my mom and told me that shortly before he died: that he always loved her because it was with her that he had his two youngest kids (Trish and me). 

Seeing my sweet daddy in these pictures makes my heart ache, so I think I'll stop. 

5. Let's wrap up with a summer this or that...

flip flops or sandals

beach or pool (Yes to both, please!)

 watermelon or peaches

shorts or sundress

iced coffee or cold lemonade

amusement park or water park

6. Insert your own random thought here. I love my job, friends. I feel like the most fortunate person in the world to be able to do what I do everyday. Here are some pictures that reflect what I do each day. The first one under this is something I saw yesterday on socials that I loved. 

I can't wait to read your answers to the prompts today! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

some things to talk about on a summer Tuesday

 

Happy Tuesday and happy Summer, friends! Yesterday's post was all about my weekend trip to Louisville; today I thought I'd talk about things that I'm loving and things that are a hard no for me this summer. Before I start, I will tell you that this post was inspired by Sophie Hudson and a recent episode on The Big Boo Cast. Okay, here goes!

things that are a hard no:

• spending too much money
• saying "yes" too much on my time off
• dressing in stuffy clothing
• not eating enough (I need a lot of protein while I'm working)
• being unfriendly to people I've never met
• being mean to the little girl I'm a one on one for at Summer Learning Camp
• not dating my boyfriend (it still feels so weird to say that after being a wife for 28 years)
• being unhappy
• not enjoying this life that I get to live
• having a home/home decor that I don't love
• saying "yes" just to please someone
• being a people pleaser (see above statement)

things that are an easy yes that I am loving:

• finding ways to be at home more
• soaking up the one day a week that I have at home
• loving the clothes that I wear
• eating food that sustains me at work this summer
• being friendly with all of my current co-workers
• getting to love on the sweet little girl that I'm a one on one for (she has a terminal illness)
• dating my guy and doing lots of new things together
• smiling at work in the halls as I walk my little student around
• being so grateful that I can't help but smile
• loving my life and all the things I get to do
• my home and being here for the week nights (and sometimes the weekend nights)
• letting go of being a chronic, lifelong people pleaser

And on another note, here are some recent outfits I've loved...(linking up with Amy here for this one...)

I loved getting to have dinner out with these lovely ladies Friday night! This was the dress I wore at Easter as well. 

I bought this adorable chunky necklace last weekend while I was in Louisville; have you seen these scarf necklaces? I am loving this one!

I lived my best teacher life yesterday and wore this dress with white tennis shoes. It was raining cats and dogs when I left that morning, so no sandals for that day! I am loving my summer job outfits.

I am loving my new clutch that's in my favorite color: magenta!

I am loving this neon orange dip powder that I got last week! 

Your turn! What is something that's a hard "no" for you? And what is something you're loving? I like to end on a positive note. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

weekending: the one about a weekend getaway

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine flew by! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I'll back up to Thursday and jump right in! 

I picked up Marilyn at eleven forty five Thursday morning, and we hit the road! A few months ago, we came up with the idea of taking a long weekend road trip somewhere together. When I mentioned going to see Amy, we quickly asked her if she would mind, and she was all for us doing that! There's nothing like inviting yourself to someone's hometown, right? I'm smiling as I write that; Amy was such an amazing and gracious host, and we had the very best weekend! It was one I will remember forever. 

We got to Louisville around seven thirty that night; Amy met us at Kilwin's for ice cream. Mine was mediocre, and so was Amy's. We didn't finish what we had, but we loved catching up for about an hour outside while we listened to live music. Marilyn and I were tired, so it didn't take long for us to crash that night at our hotel.

On Friday, we met Amy at her house at ten for a delicious, homemade brunch! She made an egg casserole type of dish, roasted potatoes, yogurt parfait, and coffee cake. 

My favorite night have been the iced coffee that she had ready for me!

I loved the cocktail napkins! 

Every bit of this was amazing. I love that she had little gifts for us! She is such a great hostess/tour guide; I aspire to be more like this in years to come. 

We left her house (and sweet, sweet Eddie Otis) and went exploring. We shopped a little and we saw some really great historical buildings. My favorite place that we visited was a leather goods store named Clayton & Crume. Amy's son works there, and I loved getting to meet him and watch him work. I love getting to meet the "kids" of my friends! We went to the hotel after all of this and rested...we met Amy at 5 that night for a progressive dinner of sorts. Up first? Steak & Bourbon!

My bourbon cocktail drink was outstanding! It was blackberry, bourbon, mint, and lime. The other yummy thing was this bread with a butter candle. All we ordered here was drinks and appetizers. 

Our next stop was a place called The Rabbit or something along those lines, and y'all. It was a hidden speak easy! I was dying and in Heaven; we got appetizers and drinks again.

Our last stop was Grassa Gramma; we ate dinner here and enjoyed complimentary chianti and prosecco. 

We went to the hotel after dinner and shopping at Kroger, and I sat out here to talk to Chris before going to bed. It was a full and fun day!

Saturday was water/river day! We met Amy at her house again, and went to the dock where their boat is; Captain Tom is a considerate and safe captain, and Amy is a great help to him. We saw downtown Louisville, we ate lunch in the boat at Captain's Quarters, then we saw a little inlet on the river called Party Cove. It was an amazing day! Friends, I could ride on a boat for the whole day at least twice a week. I love being on a boat; the day was amazingly cool and sunny. I loved being able to add some more color to my skin!

We rested for a couple of hours back at our hotel that afternoon; at five fifteen, we met Amy and her best friend Heather at Gustavo's. This is Mexican restaurant with three floors; the third floor is reserved for adults only! I think this is a brilliant concept. I love kids, don't get me wrong. But sometimes I need to escape kids. I realize that makes me sound terrible, but oh well. 

After dinner we listened to live music! Here's a pic I squeezed the four of us into. I loved this weekend, friends. It felt like a really long, restful weekend and it was so much fun being with my friends. There's nothing that compares to a fun weekend with your girls, you know? I absolutely adore Amy and feel like she's one of my best friends. You know what else? I would love to live in Louisville someday! I always dream of moving away at some point, and I could see myself settling down there. I would just need to be somewhere that I could easily get to my sons; if it was somewhere near a body of water, then that would be a bonus! I don't know if this will ever happen, but it sure is fun to dream. 

Marilyn and I got back around one thirty yesterday; I came home, did laundry, unpacked, and caught up with Jonah and Noah. Chris came over at four and we shared a yummy dinner.

It was the very best weekend! How was yours? Did you do anything you loved? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I'll see you back here tomorrow. Love to all!

Jenn