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. What's one piece of advice you would give a recent or soon-to-be graduate? I would sincerely congratulate them and then I would encourage them to embrace their youth; I would say to them that they're still young enough to not have to worry about having life figured out. I would encourage them to take the time to discover who they were as a whole person before rushing into a relationship, and to lean into whatever it is they find out about themselves.

The picture of the toddler is me with my sister Lisa when she graduated. This picture of Graham will always be my favorite representation of graduation...it's a blur, which is about how fast the time between birth and that day goes by. 

2. May 15th marks the birth date of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At this point in time, are you more in need of brains, courage, heart, or a trip back home? Explain. Currently, I feel like I am more in need of brains. Part of my job is helping co-teach students in K-5 who need extra help with reading and math. I'm here for the reading part of the job, but the math? I don't have the brains to help teach math at the end of a long school day. I did this yesterday with two second graders, and their way of explaining different ways to regroup in subtraction is the most bizarre thing ever. My brain always feel fried by the time this occurs! I do this three days a week with two second graders. 

3. "There's no place like home" is an oft repeated line from Baum's book. When was the last time you felt the truth of that statement? I last felt the truth of that statement when Dad died and we were going through his house. His house was home to me; with the sale of the property in February of last year, it was the final piece of closure that made that more of a reality than ever. 

I miss this place! 

4. May is National BBQ month...do you own a grill? Who does the grilling at your house? What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill? What's the last thing you grilled? There is a grill at my house; it belongs to Jonah. He's the one who does most of the grilling for us here. I love anything on a grill, but my favorite would be either one of his steaks, some of Graham's salmon, or maybe even some chicken. The last thing that he grilled was chicken last Friday night. 

    Oooohhhh, I forgot to mention Bill's wings. Those are definitely another favorite!

5. What's a memory you replay in your head when you need a little joy? Something I often think back on a lot are travel memories. I replay times at the beach with Marilyn last summer, or when my sisters and I went to Maine together last fall. I also love to think back on all the concerts I got to attend last summer; that summer will go down as my favorite to date! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. Give me all your summer reading recs! I need to hear them, please. Here are a few I'll be reading this summer; one of these is a Prime series I can't wait to watch, based on the first Carley Fortune book I ever read (and her debut novel). 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! I'll see you back here tomorrow (I think). Love to all!

Jenn 

Fashion Files & recent Amazon purchases

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Amy and Marsha today for Fashion Files. I was looking into ideas of things to wear during the summer months, and discovered that I already have some of what I was looking at on Pinterest. 

One trend I saw for "casual summer outfits" were button downs. 

Button downs are still trending this spring and summer! I have plenty of these and wear them in a couple of different ways: with leggings, or with cropped wide leg jeans. I think my favorite is with leggings, but you could wear one unbuttoned with a tee underneath, or buttoned and then tied off at the waist. I like them as coverups with swimwear (and plan on using the white one this summer as one of mine), and even as pajamas, though I don't use mine that way. All of my button downs were purchased from Old Navy; the most recent two that I bought are white, and pink stripes. I love them both! I also love a denim button down and found this one on Amazon.

I love this two piece lounge set!

Here's a link. 

Speaking of swimwear...I ordered a couple of new suits this week.

This one is very reasonably priced! 

And because Marilyn told me I need more than one swimsuit, I also bought this one.

Here's a link for this one.

While I was browsing Amazon, I found this kimono and this white tee. 

In case you're wondering, here are the sandals I'll be wearing with all of my summer wear. 

 

I don't have a link for the block heels, but they're from Rack Room last summer. I love them, but only wore them once. I'll definitely wear them again this year. The second pair is the Reef brand, and will be on repeat. Here's the link for those. 

These Dr. Scholl's sandals were a favorite from last summer! And why not add a pretty gold anklet to complete the look? Here's a link for that. 

Do you have thoughts on all of these things? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

Hello, Monday.

 

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. 

My weekend was nice, but I don't have a lot of pictures...here are the very minor details. Chris met me at my house Friday after work. We were going to go out for dinner, but we'd done that Thursday night, so when Jonah offered to cook on the Blackstone, we took him up on the offer. He grilled some chicken, and I added broccoli and rice. It was delicious! The four of us ate together, then they left, so we settled in for a movie.

Have you watched Remarkably Bright Creatures yet on Netflix?! It was beautiful. I read the book a few years ago and it was my favorite for the year; I was concerned that I wouldn't like the movie like I did the book, but they did an outstanding job on this adaptation. Sally Fields is always one of my favorites, and she shone brightly as Tova. 

Saturday was breakfast out, then errands and gift shopping.

Is there anything better than a bookstore? I think not. We finished all of our shopping, then settled back in at my house for a show and a nap on the couch while we "watched". Do you have a show you do this with? I have had several over the years, but my current one is Mike and Molly. 

We had a fabulous dinner Saturday night, at a local placed called Wolf River Brisket. This smoked salt margarita was chef's kiss; I tried ordering a strawberry basil one, but they were out of basil. The bartender was sweet enough to give me a half glass of some strawberry that she'd just made, and it was good too! We shared a couple of things...these Irish nachos that you see, with house made potato chips, queso, and brisket, and then some jumbo shrimp with spicy garlic green beans and macaroni and cheese. 

I spent Sunday cleaning my house for most of the morning; I decided to miss church on that morning. There's a story behind that, but I don't want to get into it today. I needed a morning at home to clean and get ready for the week, and it was Mother's Day, after all. We had a small appetizer from our favorite Asian place, and then we all met up at Mom's for a shrimp boil dinner to celebrate. I saw all of my sons in one place for the first time since Noah's been home...and I didn't get even one picture. 

Here are the pictures I made for Mom on IG Sunday morning, though. It was a nice day and weekend...again with the highs and lows, but this is life for now. I was glad to have Chris around the whole weekend. He's such a great man, and he enriches my life so much by his calm and caring personality. He really is wonderful to me and my family; I love how well he fits in with us all...it's like he's always been around. I love this.

How was your weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn

Friday Favorites, 5.8.2026.

 

Happy Friday, friends! How has your week been? Mine has been good...more highs and less lows happened this week. I'm always glad for that! I'm down to two weeks of school left as of today, and only one week left with students for intervention. The last week will be spent packing/purging/sorting/ and getting ready for the next school year. I'll jump in with some favorites from my week!

Reading has become my favorite past time again! I finally finished this book, and I'm almost halfway through another one by an author I love (Cara Bastone). 

I'm reading anytime and anywhere I can; if I have down time at work, I pick my Kindle up. This was me in my car Wednesday morning before work. 

This poster and Teacher Appreciation Week were favorites this week! 

God's word is a favorite; I've been loving being in the book of Psalm a lot this week. I'm looking for a Bible study to do on my own...do any of you have a recommendation? 

This was a favorite day of Bible reading.

Outfits of the week are always a favorite part of my mornings. 

Our high school's mascot here in town is the dragon. Every year in May, we have a Parade of Dragons...these are the students who attended Crosswind when they were in elementary school. Isn't this sweet? It was a favorite moment of the week. 

This moment was also a favorite...we sent off our special needs friends to a fun event called the Dragon Games early one morning. It's like a field day for them, and our students lined the halls to wish them well. 

This is a great online counselor of sorts that I follow on Instagram; her account is one of my favorites! What do you think about this statement? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I also loved this that I found on another IG account that I love, girlintheyellowtaxinyc. 

Lastly...

...it's always a favorite when I look at my watch at this time. I sent this to Chris. 

Other favorites include, but are not limited to...

• having a one on one dinner with Noah Wednesday night
• sharing laughter with my friends/co-workers
• finally finding out who our new principal is
• a sunny day after two days of rain
• fun games with our kiddos at school
• hearing them laugh and be competitive
• counting down the days until summer
• talking to my sons
• planning a fun mother's day night with my family
• talking to Graham at work after him giving me a heart attack (he always forgets that I work and he called asking for a recipe)

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

Jenn