something worth celebrating

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I didn't think I would post today, but alas, here I am. I saw a video on TikTok this weekend that inspired this post...it was basically about writing prompts, but there is one I wanted to expound on here today. I thought I'd give it a go today and see how it felt, and I may do this again next week.

I had a small win already this week! It wasn't intentional, but it happened, and I'm glad it did. I need to give a little back story first. Yesterday was a great day for me; I haven't been feeling my best lately thanks to changing weather, but I have zero complaints. The day was going along without a hitch, maybe except for the fact that I was tired at work, but things changed when I left. I had to run to the bank to deposit a check I got back from my insurance company from when I had my wreck over the summer. It was actually sent to my ex-husband, but he sent it back to me. Anyway, I went to deposit it, and they wouldn't let me because it had both of our married names typed out on the front. Had it said him or me, I would have been able to make the deposit, but as it was, he had to endorse the freaking thing as well. And y'all, I had this intense moment of anger in the bank, and directed at the teller. I did make things right with her before I left. 

Before I get any snark from you anonymous commenter(s), do not come at me for this. I don't know how many times I can say here that I didn't ever want to be divorced. I didn't want my freaking (know that I'm holding back here by not saying the real F word that I want to say) husband to tell me he didn't love me, that he wasn't happy, and that he had found another woman. Oh, wait...he never told me that, I had to find it out on my own, but I digress. Never in a million years did I want to be right here today, divorced, dating, and still experiencing intense moments of rage when something unexpected sets me off. I didn't want this life, but here I am. I try to be grateful most days, and I am honestly, but yesterday something snapped in me once again. 

This is nothing new for divorced people who didn't want to be divorced, by the way. I'm literally one of millions walking this same journey, and though most of the time I am full of joy and content with life, in the tradition I have of keeping things real here, not everyday is a great day. I'm just being honest and am counting on you to be kind to me in return when you read this. 

I hate divorce. I hate what it has done to my family. I hate what it's done to my personality! I hate that I want to text my ex-husband sometimes still a year and some months later, because I'm used to being friends with him. I hate that he threw away thirty years of a life we built together! I hate that he didn't fight for our marriage when he felt complacent towards me. I hate that he doesn't feel any of this in return, and that when I say something friendly, it's not met with reciprocation. It's just frustrating, and yesterday took me by surprise. But here's the small win for the week, and it was completely unintentional. The Lord knew what was coming, and He's the one who set this up before I know what Monday would look like. I'd mentioned to Mar on Sunday evening that I wanted to cook dinner last night, and I invited her to come. And she did! She had also had a rough day for part of her afternoon, and we needed each other last night, by the time she got to me.

I love it when my phone tells me that Marilyn has arrived at Home. 

We shared a delicious dinner and three margaritas (we each had one and a half). We hugged for so long when she got here, then we just started catching each other up on all the stuff (again, I'm holding back on the real S word I want to use) that took place between the hours of eight a.m. and five p.m. on Monday. It was like therapy! Something else that was like therapy was what commenced after we had dinner and Jonah shared something with us. 

I decided it was time to start burning the old (tainted) wedding dress. All I had the energy for last night was the sleeve, so after cutting it off, we took our drinks and the lighter outside. I wanted to do this last year, but I kind of promised my counselor that I would wait a while before actually doing it in case I would regret the decision. It felt right to start last night, and guess what? I have zero regrets. 

And there we sat, watching it burn while drinking our drinks, for the next hour. This felt like therapy! It also felt like something worth celebrating; thus the idea for this blog post came about when I remember what inspired me on TikTok over the weekend. Something else worth celebrating is God's gifts to me in friends, both likely and unlikely. You've heard me talk about my (new) friend Kendra...she and I became friends when I realized that a guy I dated was using me to get to her the whole time we saw each other. So she and I dated the same guy, but she was engaged to him before she found out about his extra curricular activities dating back to right after they first started dating four years ago; they broke up last year before Christmas, and I met him on Valentine's day of this year. Thank the Lord, I only dated him for a month before ending things. She and I like to say that we trauma bonded over this, and we've compared notes on this terrible man; as crazy as this sounds, and it is, we have become really great friends.

This is Kendra, as in my Wednesday night Rotolo's buddy, Kendra. Isn't she beautiful?! We have shared so much in the weeks that we've known each other, but she's who encouraged me to stop talking to the guy we both dated. I never really stopped talking to him, because he was great at manipulating me into keeping me around, but only to get to her. It's a long, drawn out story, but that's all I want to share here. So yes, friends are something worth celebrating. 

Do you believe in celebrating the small wins in life? I didn't mean to mention the Kendra thing here, but as always when I start writing, things take a turn. It felt like something worth mentioning both in this post and in blog land. Right now I am grateful for the friends I have, especially the ones who have walked this path that I'm currently on. Life is weird, friends, and often hard/sad. What about you...on a different note, have you had a small win at life lately? I'd love to know about it, if your answer to this is yes. I can't wait to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends, and for your kindness all of the time. I appreciate you all more than I could ever express here. Love to all!

Jenn 

weekending

 

Happy Tuesday, friends, and happy September! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. How was your weekend? As much as I loved an extra day off last weekend, it almost felt like too long. I'm not sure why I can think like that when I haven't worked full time in a while; I'm saying this because I'm glad this weekend was more normal. Here's what I was up to...

A few weeks ago, Marilyn mentioned to me that there was a Huey Lewis tribute band playing at a local place in Collierville called Nashoba; she asked if I was interested, and my answer was an immediate yes. So that's what we did Friday night! It was a blast! We had a great dinner, and then we listened to two bands: the first one was a Hart tribute band, and the women lead SANG. They were incredible, more so than the main act, in my opinion. To say that it was a fun night is a major understatement! 

It was cold and rainy when I woke up on Saturday! I enjoyed a very leisurely morning at home doing things like cleaning, organizing my closet again, putting the groceries away from the delivery order I'd placed Friday, and taking my time getting dressed. 

This was my Saturday outfit for running around; I threw on a black rain jacket with this when it kept raining. I went to Target for a couple of things before meeting up with Mom and Trish for lunch at our favorite place for chips and dips; it was good seeing them! I haven't done a Saturday with them since I started working again. They went on to their next stop after lunch, then I made my way back home. Chris came over at one to spend the rest of the day with me. He hadn't eaten lunch, so we went to Tony's Trophy Room (I had a Diet Coke and a few bites of his fish and fries) first. We just did a few things around town to run around, mostly for him. I didn't have anything to add to our list of places, but we did stop at a really cute place for coffee!

This place is called Cafe 127; how cute is this wall with the hot pink velvet chairs? I asked if he felt like he lost a little bit of his man card by sitting in one, and he said he liked them. Our experience here was much better than the one we had last week at Vampire Penguin. 🤣 For the rest of the day we came back to my house. He programmed a replacement remote control for me, then we watched a movie on Netflix. Our time flies when we're together! Before we knew it, it was nine and he needed to get home to let his dogs outside. 

I asked him to take a picture with me, and this was the third one we took. I appreciate about him that he does this kind of thing without complaint, and not only did he not complain, he made me check each picture to see if I liked it or if I'd want another one. We took one standing side by side the first time, then he did this and stood behind me for the last ones that I liked better. I think he's adorable, but more than that, I really like that he makes me laugh, is a great communicator, and that he always asks if he can do anything for me while he's at my house. He's thoughtful, considerate, and a gentleman. 

I have learned some more things about myself since I have started this dating journey in my late 40's. I've learned that I can be clingy; I need to see someone more than just one week. When he's around, I can't get enough of the physical touch thing and hug him constantly. I love that he actually initiates this most of the time. He always puts his hand on my back to guide me or will just stand right behind me in a store or while we wait, just so that he can have his hand on my shoulder or my arm. I love that he knows what he wants or doesn't want in someone. I appreciate that he's every bit as clingy as I am. He also overthinks things, which is something I do as well, so this means that it makes us talk about everything. I like that when we're together, all he wants to do or cares to do is to be with me; he's always excited to see me, every bit as much as I am him. 

I'm not suggesting that he's the one, but I see serious potential with him. I've had zero red flags about him since we started seeing each other a month ago. It feels promising and I'm hopeful. Yesterday was church; I had to be there at eight for praise team rehearsal, then after church I came home to change and drive out to Mississippi to spend the afternoon with Chris. It was a great afternoon! We had Mexican for lunch, then we drove around out in the country; I fell asleep while he was driving at one point. I appreciate that he's a good enough driver that I can trust him enough to fall asleep while he's driving us all over the place. I was home by eight; I had a late snack for my "dinner" since I ate a lot at lunch, then I worked on blog stuff for this week. 

I love a country drive! 

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

Friday Favorites, 9.5.2025.

 

Happy Friday, friends! How has your week been? Mine was really good; it went by super quickly! I appreciate this, because usually in a school setting the short weeks drag on and on forever it seems. I am still loving my days at work, and how different they look from one to another. It's never boring, and there's a lot of laughter involved! Just Wednesday I had a little boy tell me that he trusted women more than men, so he wanted to be in the girl scouts. I laughed, and then I found out about his life, and well...it didn't seem that funny anymore. Poor little guy! Also, that same kid calls me Ms. Loyal, and I kind of love it so much that I can't ever seem to correct him. 🤣

I'll move on to some favorites from the week.

I decorated for fall this week! This is my new favorite candle; Chris picked it out when we were at Marshall's together last Saturday night.

This view is still my favorite! I was laying down when I took this picture. 

Drives out to the country are my favorite!

These little Cayman Jack's are my favorite cocktail at the moment. The flavors are lime, strawberry, and watermelon.

My new nails are my favorite! I took a picture of the name of the color so I'd remember it, since it's not an easy one. Amy, can you translate this? 

Salad dates with Marilyn are my favorite! 

My co-workers that I eat lunch with everyday at work and I call ourselves The Lunch Bunch. One of them had a birthday last week, so Karen made this chocolate cake with scrumptious icing from scratch; it was my favorite thing that I added to my lunch everyday! 

This is one of my favorite hangout spots in town!

This is one of my favorite things that I saw on socials this week. It spoke volumes to me! 

Getting dressed is always my favorite; these are the outfits I wore to work so far this week. The last one is from last Friday; it was team sports jersey day, but I don't have anything sports related to wear. I just wore this royal blue dress since it's the color for University of Memphis and called it a day. 

Getting pictures of Chris in exchange for the ones I sent to him is my favorite! So was eating dinner with him last night.

Wednesday nights at Rotolo's with Kendra and Marilyn are my favorite! So are their half priced bottles of wine and calzones. The live music was extra good this week!

I loved this from Instagram! It's true. 

My current watch face is my favorite.

This book is going to be a favorite! I started it Wednesday at work on my break. Do you follow Case Kenny on Instagram? I love his account!

What was a favorite of yours from this week? Do you have big weekend plans? 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 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. Next Sunday is Grandparent's Day. Share a favorite memory, photo, recipe, or something you learned from a grandparent. This picture isn't of me, but of my sons with Dad. My parents have been the very best grandparents to my sons! I'm so grateful for this, and the godly legacy they've left on us all. 

My favorite memories as a mom are all tied up in spending quality time with Mom and Dad, and them making a lasting impression on my sons. They all had their things that they did with my sons; I consider myself so very fortunate to be able to say this! The grands in their lives taught them how to cook, drive, cut grass on a tractor, and how to genuinely be a good person. 

2. What's a quote from a book (besides the Bible) that has stayed with you? I'm going to quote one of my favorite books again, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. It's another one about summer, and it's so good!

For me, it was almost like winter didn't count. Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers. 

I love this so much! I feel like this is true of my life. Last summer was the hardest summer of my life, as you all know. I was determined this summer to have the best one ever, and to make all new memories. I did! I'm so glad about this. Also, since I was a little girl, I have measured my life in summers. I would say most of us do this, actually. I don't ever want to be so old that I don't love the summers! I want them to always be magical and wonderful and full of the most amazing opportunities. 

3. What's your number one food pet peeve? I don't love when people slurp or chew food loudly. There's a disorder that has to do with this, but I don't have that; mine is just a strong dislike. 

4. What's one thing about you that is still the same as it was when you were young? I have always loved to have my nails painted! This has been the case for 44 years, my friends. Some things never change! 

5. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency plan? Do you have some sort of preparedness kit you keep on hand? If so, tell us one thing that's kept there. Ummm, no. I'm not a dooms day type person, but hopefully someone around me is. 🤣

6. Insert your own random thought here. My random thought here is to tell you to keep reading past this post! I shared another blog post today, the Currently link up party. I hope to see you there! 

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

Currently: September 2025

 

Happy Wednesday, friends, and welcome to this month's Currently. This month we'll be talking about what we're currently loving, beginning, ending, picking, and posting. I'm going to just jump right in since it's late Tuesday night. 

I'm currently loving: 

I am loving seeing these pictures from Graham's social media! He is at Mustang week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

I'm currently loving these cans of margaritas!

And I'm loving nights spent out on patios of restaurants like this. This is Rockhouse Live that's here by my house in Collierville. This was where I met my sons one night a few weeks ago and one of their friends was buying me drinks. 

Their patio is amazing!

This is the other place I've been going to, Rotolo's. 

I'm currently beginning to learn Christmas music!

I'm currently ending my season of old memories and looking forward to making new ones! 

I cannot wait to make a new memory standing in front of the Portland Headlight in Maine when I go there with my sisters next month! 

I'm currently picking out great music to listen to everyday! I'm listening from everything to fall music, which is Steve Tyrell radio, to the Meghan Trainor radio playlist that I just found on Spotify. Last night the music ranged from Meghan Trainor to John Mayer to music from The Greatest Showman. It's amazing! 

I'm not currently posting much, honestly. I don't know why, other than I just don't have a lot of free time. Maybe I'll get back to that soon. 

I'm glad you were here to join in with me this month! I'll leave this open for a couple of weeks, but I can't wait to read your posts! Thanks for being here today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

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