the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

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

1. What's something you enjoy now that your younger self never would have appreciated? The first thing that came to mind was a memory from being a young girl; every time I went anywhere with my dad for fun, the first thing he had to do was eat. As an adult now, I can appreciate that so much more than ever before, and I understand now why he had to do that. If I don't eat first before spending an afternoon doing something, I will get tired and end up being grumpy. 

2. What was peaceful about today? I starting writing this blog post on Sunday afternoon; as I write, it's 2:49 p.m., and the house is quiet. Jonah's and Noah's dogs aren't here yet; their dad kept them all for the weekend since I was gone and because they were way out at a friend's house all of Saturday. I have the fan on, and I'm listening to my favorite playlist on Spotify. It's cool inside, my home is clean, and I can hear the clothes drying in the background. All of these things make for a very peaceful afternoon! 

I'd just gotten back home on this day from dog sitting at my friend's house all weekend in a neighboring town about thirty minutes down the road. I was so thankful to be at home in this moment to unpack, start laundry, and clean. I don't know if I've shared this portion of my kitchen with the piece of furniture I added last year. I cleaned off this cabinet and decluttered it while doing that; I love how it turned out! I also repurposed that wall basket you see hanging on my door; I had the greenery, but I added the flowers and moved it from my bedroom to this door in the kitchen that leads to the garage. Also, isn't my "love you, bye" sign adorable? This sign reminds me of Marilyn; we say this to each other nearly everyday of our lives. 

3. It's National Blueberry Day (July 8th). Will you celebrate? You can have one of the following right now—a slice of blueberry pie, a warm blueberry muffin, or a stack of blueberry pancakes—which do you choose? Without a question or a doubt, I would choose a warm blueberry muffin. That being said, as much as I love those, I won't be celebrating that holiday this week. 

4. Do you need a break? From what? I do! I need a break from elementary school aged children. I also always need a break from dogs who shed horribly! 🤣

5. What has surprised you most about getting older? I never thought I would get to a point where I just ache a lot. My knees are always aching, or my back is; I don't know if it's from standing a lot at my job or the shoes I'm wearing or the floors I'm walking on, but on any given day, something somewhere on my body is aching. I just automatically take two ibuprofen when I wake up in the mornings. I also never thought sleeping on the wrong type of pillow would hurt my neck, or that I would ever love my bed as much as I do right now. 

All of this made me chuckle, but please don't read this as me complaining. Growing old with aches is a privilege and honor that many are not afforded. I will gladly take all of these little things, because it means that the Lord has given me life at this day and time. I will keep living life and doing things I love, no matter my age or the aches I may (or may not) have. 

I thought of Dad as I wrote this; this was taken in March of 2009 while he was in Israel; he was 76 when he went on this once on a lifetime trip. I want to be just like him when I "grow up"! 

6. Insert your own thought here. This is a song that I came across last week that I love. I made playlist for songs for me and Chris, and I added this one immediately. It's really sweet! I love Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani...I think she is so good for him, and I love how he adores her.

I can't wait to read your answers to these prompts later today! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I'll see you back here tomorrow; love to all!

Jen 🩷

summery things, fashion files, and how I'm doing with my summer bucket list

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm talking about more summer things today. I'm also linking up with Amy for the weekly Fashion Files and Joanne for Tuesday Talk. I'll jump right in! 

I'll start with some more easy opportunities for me to say 'yes' in my current life:

• easy lunches at work
• simple dinners at home on week nights
• using my free time wisely (creating a balance of "me" time and time with friends)
• date nights with Chris
• watching sunsets from new spots around town
• more reading, less scrolling

I shared a similar post about hard "no's" and easy "yeses" a couple of weeks ago; this is where that idea came from again. The original post I made a couple of weeks ago was inspired by an email I received from Sophie Hudson. What would you add to this list of things if it were your post? 

And now, I'm switching gears for this week's Fashion Files with Amy...

Just like my post from last week, I'm still living in dresses that are either gauze or t-shirt material; it's been ridiculously hot here since last week, and I don't see that pattern breaking anytime soon. I decided to stick with the neon trend that I've been getting on my nails all summer, and went with yellow this time. 

So far this summer, I've had neon pink, followed by neon orange, and now I've got on the yellow. Neon nails in the summer are my favorite! In August, or at the end of July, I'll go back to more natural colors once again.

 

Maybe I'll go with a French manicure next time, or a buff color. I like to go natural in August, then in September, I switch over to my fall colors that I love the most. Are you like this with nails? They're kind of my thing, you know?

For the last portion of today's post, I'm talking about how I've done so far with my summer bucket list. Here are the things I mentioned in the original summer bucket list post back at the beginning of June:

• travel ✔
• time for lots of swimming/floating ✔
• explore new and different places with Chris ✔
• visit a farmer's market ✔
• do the mundane things that I don't have time for during the week when the school year starts (new copy of divorce papers, new Driver's License, a couple of bills switched into my new name, a dental appointment)
• catch up with friends ✔
• see more of Mom and Trish ✔
• plan a fall trip or two ✔
• declutter my house
• more outdoorsy date nights with Chris ✔
• read all the summer books I can ✔
• find a summer show to binge watch

Overall so far, I've done great at most of these!

The things I haven't done yet are things I'm currently working on. With this being my last week of SLC, I will have more time starting this week on Friday. I plan to try my best to use the time I have off wisely before I go back on July 27! I still need to have some paperwork taken care, and I need to spend some time decluttering in the kitchen, my bathroom, and my closet. I'm thankful I'll have the time to do this! I'll be ready for a little break by the end of this week, but even so, I am grateful for the job God gave me this summer. He always provides!

What are your thoughts on any/all of this? I'd love to hear them! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. I'll see you back here tomorrow; love to all!

Jen ❤️

Hello, Monday!

 

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 jump right in! 

Guess what?! It's my last week to work at Summer Learning Camp! I have three days of work this week; I decided to take tomorrow off since my little student won't be there that day. 

I got off work Thursday afternoon, went home to pack, then headed out to the country to dog sit for the weekend. I loved it out there! It was fun being in the country for a few nights; I thoroughly enjoyed their pool and hot tub while I was there. Chris joined me, which I loved.

Please ignore this terrible picture of me, but it was so much fun swimming at night with my guy. He's so handsome! I just swooned a little. 🤣

Their lights looked so cool at night.

Their dogs were so sweet! (There's a third one that I could never get a picture of.) I sent this picture above to my friend. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my lazy morning. I lingered over my coffee, I read blogs and caught up, I watched the fluffy part of the news, I talked to one of my sisters...it was glorious! 

I headed out to water the flowers and took pictures of a couple of things I loved in their house. I love a wall pocket! 

They have beautiful landscaping here, and I love that she has some quirky things to put flowers in. After I watered the flowers, I came in to dress for my day and met Mom and Trish for some errands and lunch. Mom and I got our nails done, but Trish had to leave to run her own errands. Mom and I had lunch at Newk's after our nails, then we went to Old Navy. 

I love my neon yellow nails! And this chicken tortilla soup was to die for.

After lunch, I did the last of the birthday shopping for Chris. These are not part of what I bought him; these were for the weekend. Old Navy is having a great clearance sale! These trunks for him were $12, and the linen shorts were $14. He reads my blog, so I won't tell you the rest of the gifts I got for him, but I am so excited that I get to love on him in this way. 

I came back to the house for a bit, then left again to meet Chris for an early dinner that night. We love gyoza! We got our fix Friday night at our favorite little sushi place; we got two orders of gyoza and two rolls of sushi to share.

We ate breakfast on Saturday, then Trish came over to swim with us for the day. This was such a great way to start the day! We did this until about two, then we got dressed in real clothes. 

We went over to Mom's and Bill's for dinner and met up with some of my favorite people (Graham, Drew, and Mallory)! We missed Jonah and Noah, but they had already made plans for the day. I adore Drew's girlfriend, Mallory. I love that we matched, and that she's a big part of our family; I am so glad that they found each other! We missed all of the people in our family who weren't there...my nephews, nieces, and siblings who couldn't be there either because of plans already made or because of living in Denver. 

We had an amazing dinner: Bill fried catfish, hush puppies, French fries, and Chris made pasta salad to take. The white sauce in the middle is my favorite part of this dinner; Bill makes the most amazing tartar sauce that he could bottle and sell! I tell him this every year. It's just mayonnaise, dill, dill pickles, and a splash of pickle juice. It would be great as a dip! 

We left at eight; I had told Graham I would go let his dogs out for him. We drove around a bit in search of food for Chris (he didn't eat a lot because of all the fried food), but didn't find anything, so we went back to the house. I took this picture of this "statue of liberty" in front of a huge Church of God in Christ; this church also happens to be the church I graduated from high school in. This giant statue always makes me smile. 

Sunday we went to church, then we went back to the house to pack up and leave by noon. When I got home, I unpacked, started laundry, and then did some meal prep for my week at work (well, for the three days). I love ending the weekend that way; it lessens the chance of me having the Sunday "scaries". I put together a meal plan for the week, I had my lunches planned out, and I was ready for today once I went to bed. It was so good to be at home in my own bed again! It was a fun weekend away on a little mini vacation, but there really is no place like home. 

I'll end this with the sweetest pictures I saw on Saturday.

Madi, Kylie, Kinsley, Macy, and Ella Blake looked adorable for their festive Saturday! Ella Blake is getting so big already, and how cute is this picture of just her? It's like she's doing a jump and a cheer for our country. (In case you don't know, these are my great nieces who live in Colorado.)

What did you do this weekend that 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!

Jen ❤️