Friday, February 14, 2025
Friday Favorites; the Galentine's day edition (2.14.2025.)
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Thankful Thursday
Happy Thursday, friends! I have so much to be thankful for this week, so I'll jump right in.
This week I'm thankful for:
- things to look forward to, both big and small
- my amazingly supportive and wonderful family
- video calling my Noah and seeing his smiling face
- knowledge to learn new things
- new opportunities
- new beginnings
- God's faithfulness
- being able to save money and time by doing my own nails
- new friends both in life and the ones I get to meet at work
- a fun night out
- Bunco!
- Chloe's antics and sweet, cuddly personality
- shows to keep my mind occupied
- the cutest little kids to hug every week
- talking to my niece Erika twice this week so far
- music that makes me happy
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
the Wednesday hodgepodge
Happy Wednesday and hodgepodge day, friends! I hope you're having a great week so far; I know I am, and I anticipate it to keep getting better as it progresses. I have so many things to look forward to that are coming up in the next few weeks/months.
1. Did you watch the Superbowl? Did your team win? What's your favorite snack to munch on while watching a sporting event? If you mean "watch" in the sense that it was on in the background while I scrolled on my phone, then sure. Because of what I just said, I didn't have a team to route for, but I wanted the Eagles to win since they were the underdogs in the game. I'm so proud of them for killing it, too! I loved what the coach said after they won; he was super humble and gave God the glory for their victory. I love a humble person! My favorite snacks are always salty, but I didn't snack. I did grab a handful of popcorn at one point, but that was all, aside from the dinner I had that night.
2. What's your "superpower"? When I was a leader for high school girls in youth at church, they said my superpower was being able to quickly spout off names of the bottles and bottles of OPI polish that I had. They all used to come over and do their nails and would quiz me regularly on this. Another superpower is noticing right away when someone gets something new done to their hair. I'm really observant.
3. Will you do anything special on Galentine's day? If so, please share. Any thoughts about this particular holiday? Share a favorite verse or quote pertaining to love. I'll be spending the whole weekend with a few hundred teenagers! I'm excited about leading a group of ninth grade girls for D-Now, an in-town retreat in which we all stay in host homes and do fun things together around town. This year I'm excited about the holiday, because I'll get to love on some teenage girls, but in years past I have hated this day. Interesting, right? That says a lot without me having to say a word, if you know what I mean. My favorite passage is one that I pray over my sons/bonus sons/loved ones/friends:
"Lord, help us to love You with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength; and help us to love other as we love ourselves."
This prayer is taken from two passages: Deuteronomy 6:5-9 and Luke 10:27. Also, this heart tattoo that I have on my left wrist? That's the reason I got it in the first place, to remind me to pray that every time I see it, over the lives of my sons and bonuses.
I still love it as much today as I did the first day I got in February of 2020.
4. Are you a fan of the rom-com genre? If so, what's one of your favorites? If you're not a movie-goer, what about a book you love that features a great love story? How about a favorite love song? I love the rom-com genre! I wish they'd make more movies like they used to, the old favorites like The Runaway Bride, When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail...and lots more that I'm not remembering off the top of my head. One of my favorites is The Wedding Date with Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney; have you seen that one? I am not currently reading romance books; I'm more into nonfiction and historical fiction at the moment.
I do have a favorite love story in the Bible, though, and it's the book of Hosea. It's a terribly difficult book to read, but it's also beautiful since it shows us how much God loves us even though we sin so greatly against Him day after day. I helped write a Bible study on this book back in 2019, and it was a great privilege not only to co-write a Bible study, but to study such a beautiful book. I remember sobbing as I studied and wrote; words just seemed to pour out of me at that time in my life.
5. Let's get creative; write an acrostic for the word LOVE.
Love everyone at all times, in every situation, and love all
Of the people around you
Very well,
Especially the ones who don't love you back or treat you that way first.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Here is my current favorite song; I've had it on repeat all week! This is Love of God by Phil Wickham and Brandon Lake.
Tell me one of your answers to one of these prompts; I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!
Jenn ❤️🩷
Linking up with Joyce.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Galentine's Day version of "Would you rather?"
Happy Bonus blog post day! I couldn't resist this fun link party when I saw it circling on other blogs this morning. In honor of the infamous weekend coming up and the fact that I'll be spending the entire weekend with a few hundred teenagers, I thought this would be fun to participate in today. I'll jump right in!
1. Restaurant or cozy at home? Well, since I'm doing neither, I will answer that I'd rather be busy on this actual day and night. That night I'll be at my church, and then we'll be having a late (LATE late) night activity at a bowling alley and ninja gym.
2. Eat red velvet cake or wear red? I'm not eating sweets right now, or avoiding them as much as possible, so I'd much rather wear red. I'm kind of in love with red nail polish right now! My current favorite is Coca Cola Red by OPI. My best friend bought this for me a couple of years ago when she went to the Coca Cola museum in Atlanta.
3. Heart shaped candy or jewelry? Definitely jewelry! I wear heart shaped "hoop" earrings everyday without fail.
You can sort of see them here.
4. Reese's pieces or peanut butter heart? Peanut butter 🤎s! My sister Trish insists that the special shapes taste better. I will always agree with her!
5. Love themed movie or action movie? No matter what happens in my life, I'm a romantic at heart! I'll take a Hallmark movie any day over an action packed one, though I'm not opposed to seeing the more exciting movies.
6. Would you rather give chocolates or a card (that isn't so great)? I'd rather give a card/ handwritten note.
7. Would you rather visit Tahiti or Iceland for this holiday? Because I've been to Iceland, I'd love to go back and visit my friends who live there.
8. At Last by Etta James or I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith? I definitely prefer I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith at this stage in life. 🤣
9. Celebrate for a week or not at all? I'd rather celebrate for a week, honestly, but not because I love the day. Obviously I don't love this day at all, but I am all about celebrating the people I love, whether my sons or my friends. I adore them all!
10. Would you rather eat a sour piece of candy or a Brussel sprout dipped in chocolate? Bleh. Give me sour candy any day of the week!
This was fun to write! From these prompts, what are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them! Thanks for reading my second blog post today, friends. The first post is here. Love to all!
Linking up with:
Marsha in the Middle.
Jenn ❤️🩷
a list of random things that I'm spending time thinking about
Happy Tuesday, friends! It's been ages since I've made a post like this, so I thought I'd talk about a bunch of random things today here on the old blog. This is throwing it back to the mid 2000's, right? Here goes.
You really can teach an old dog new tricks! My life has proved this to be true since Sunday. I don't want to say more than that here, in case anyone is reading.
People can be creeps! This isn't anything new to report about, but seriously...if you can't say something nice, do not say anything at all. I met with a friend yesterday to walk with, and we talked about this in great depth. I had to just roll my eyes at something she mentioned, but I've noticed it elsewhere as well lately.
This is Christa, one of my very best friends. I loved walking with her yesterday! According to my phone, I walked two and a half miles. It was nice that we were at a pretty park with a couple of small lakes. The weather was cold, but I love walking in the winter.
Netflix is my current favorite past-time, and I fluctuate between shows there. I go back and forth between documentaries, reality shows, fictional shows (Younger), and Madam Secretary.
My nails are getting better! They're becoming more and more tolerable.
Video calls are my favorite! Noah and I did this, and it's always so very good to see his face; he said the same about me. We were both smiling so big when we talked!
WW is amazing, and I'm feeling great! I'm down eleven pounds; I've started eating better, I'm eating healthier, and I've started using less coffee creamer. I'm starting to add more movement into my life, hence the walking yesterday.
It's cold again this week where I live; last week spoiled me with the warmer days! I actually prefer cold to hot; and though I knew that it wouldn't last since it's only February, it sure was nice.
Another dog went to live with someone else Sunday (you all know who I'm talking about), and while it's strange and I loved the dog, I won't miss her fluffy hair all over everything and loud bark. This was Callie the German Shepherd. My ex is the one who wanted her all the years ago when she came to live with us; I'm glad he has her, since she was his dream dog. Jonah isn't sad about this either, so now it's just us and Chloe!
Prepare for me to regale you with her antics of how I'm spoiling her even more as an only puppy. ;)
Do you have any random thoughts this week? I'd love to hear them! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!
Jenn 🖤
Linking up with:
Monday, February 10, 2025
weekending
Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine was really good! I was gone a lot this weekend, which was kind of nice, honestly. Here's a few things I did...
And of course we had frozen yogurt afterward from her favorite place. It was a fun night!
I stayed home most of Saturday, then went to run errands and had dinner with a friend. I love going to my favorite store in Memphis! It was an early night for the most part, and though I fell asleep early, I woke up and laid in bed staring at the ceiling until about 2 a.m. It was a long short night, if you know what I mean, since I have to be up early and at church by 7:15.
For the rest of the afternoon, I did a couple of things after church, then Marilyn came over for the superbowl! I made us dinner (it was not great), then we watched together until the halftime show, of which neither of us were impressed by. I fell asleep in the second half and went to bed shortly after it ended. It was a great weekend, overall! I hope yours was too! What did you do that you loved? I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all.
Jenn 🩷❤️
Linking up with:
Friday, February 7, 2025
Friday Favorites, 2.7.2025.
Happy Friday, friends! How was your week? I hope that you can say that it was a good one. Mine was pretty great and it went by really fast. Why does time go so quickly? I know I say that all the time, but it never ceases to surprise me. I can remember my dad saying this all the time; he was right! I'll jump in with my favorites from the week.
February might just be one of my favorite months. I'll be honest; I've been dreading this month for a while. I don't know really why, because it's not like we ever really celebrated the holiday that this month brings, but maybe it's because of what it represents as "the love month". That being said, my opinion of that changed this week with the gifts that my friend Abbey (and her precious kids) brought me on Wednesday; it felt like I was lavished in their love. I love something that Abbey wrote on the card she gave me: "I pray that today and everyday you feel loved by the Father." And just like that, my perspective changed. I don't need any person on earth to love me like I need God's love. I shared a post about this yesterday that you can read if you're interested. Click here to read the Thankful Thursday post.
Here was one of the first ones I got that same day.
I love books like this! My friend Debbie sent me this book at the end of last summer in the sweetest care package. I used everything that she sent to me, but this book that she authored was my favorite, by far. Isn't that sweet? Here's a link to her book. It's free right now with Kindle Unlimited!
I did one of my favorite things again this week: I made a couple of loaves of sourdough! I haven't made any since before Christmas, so it was way past time.
My favorite dinner this week was this meal that I shared with Marilyn last weekend! We had a margarita to go along with it, and the whole meal from start to finish was delicious.
Yesterday I started reading this book that one of my friends wrote, Chris Wark, author and founder of Chris Beat Cancer. I loved opening up the book and finding this in the first chapter! Psalm 23 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
In case you missed out on any of the other blog posts this week, I'll link them below.
Share Your Shelf (the books I read in January)
What was a favorite from your week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!
Linking up with:
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