Friday Favorites, 2.20.2026.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you've had a great week. Mine has been really good for the most part, and it went by pretty quickly. I feel like the month is flying by, and it is, right? March is just right there to touch, almost. It's birthday season for my sons beginning in March! I have some favorites from this week, so I will jump right in.

When I went to work Tuesday morning, the fog was so thick that you couldn't even see the school just across the street! I stopped to take this so I could send it to Marilyn. Did you know that she and I talk every single morning before I go to work? That's one of my favorite things about our friendship. This is one of my favorite things about our friendship, and it's been a huge blessing to me since I've started working full time again. 

I ordered pizza from my favorite place on Tuesday night; this Elvis statue always cracks me up and makes me think of Marilyn. 

Seeing one of my favorite families on earth Saturday was a treat! I haven't seen these kiddos and their precious parents in ages. Fun fact: Abbey and I have been posing like this for pictures for twelve years. 

I love looking back through old pictures. 

I think my favorite outfit from the week was the one with the black leggings and brown top; I wore it Wednesday since it was going to be so much warmer that day. I love those pico style shirts! The material is so soft, and I love how flowy it is.

We had a professional development day on Monday; it's always a favorite on those days when we get to leave campus for lunch out! This was me and my co-worker friend Stephanie in the backseat of the car heading back to school after. 

Other favorites from the week include but are not limited to:

• week night dates with Chris
• Ted Lasso
• laughing with co-workers and trying to avoid drama
• early morning phone calls and texts
• journaling
• Bible reading/listening each day (even when I'm in Leviticus)
• seeing or talking to my sons
• avoiding looking at who's watching me on social media (you'd be surprised)
• late night talks with Jonah 

What was a favorite from your week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Just a reminder that next Saturday is February 28th, and will be time for Share 4 Somethings. I hope you make plans now to join me then! Love to all!

Jenn 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday! I feel like it's been a while since I've done a Thankful Thursday post; I was talking about this recently with someone and it made me miss this. I always feel like I have so much to be thankful for, and this week is no exception. I'll jump right in!

This week I'm thankful for:

• normal morning routines
• that I have multiple ways to read the Bible, whether it's actual reading or listening
• The Bible Recap
• the narrator of the Bible on YouVersion in the NLT translation (he makes it come alive and is very theatrical...this helps while I'm reading Leviticus)
• music
• week date nights with Chris
• good memories to replace the ones I have from one year ago at this time
• a good week at work
• lunch out with co-workers on a professional development day
• plans for the weekend that make me happy...a sister date
• the desire to cook at home and eat in more
• a show to look forward to watching every night
• good phone conversations
• the gift of blog friends and reading what they write everyday
• having trips to look forward to
• warmer weather and sunshine
• a good choir rehearsal
• a really great night of sleep
• that I'm a morning person and that I never have issues getting up when my alarm goes off

What are you thankful for this week? 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. The hodgepodge lands on Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. Do you mark this season in some way? Will you be giving up something or adding something to your life in this Lenten season? First, I can't believe that it's already this season! Spring is coming, friends, and that is so exciting and hopeful. I can't wait! I don't really observe Lent, but I strengthen my faith everyday by reading the Bible and spending time in prayer. 

This was last year on Resurrection Sunday! We had lunch at my house that day; this is me with three/four of my sons, Mom, and my nephew Tyler.

2. Pancakes...are you a fan? Syrup or no syrup? Plain, blueberries, chocolate chip, bananas or some other add in? Are you a pancakes on your menu this week? I love pancakes, but I rarely eat them. I like them all of the ways, honestly, but my favorite was when I made lemon blueberry pancakes one time. I heated up some syrup and ate a small stack. They were delicious, but my sons ended up eating most of them! I'd done chocolate chip for them, but they liked mine more. I wasn't planning on having pancakes for dinner this week, but now I'm thinking I need to put them on the weekly menu!

3. Tell us about a time recently when you felt "spread too thin". I think a time when I recently felt spread too thin was when I was having to go through a lot of things to start the job I have now. I had to go through an onboarding process, and I had to do a lot of training and get paperwork in order. It felt overwhelming for a little while, but I was so glad to have made it through all of that. 

This was my first day back at work! 

4. What's your favorite jewel or gemstone? In terms of your wardrobe, would we find more gem tones, pastels, black and white, or primary colors? I'm not a huge fan of jewelry, so I really don't have a favorite. There's one gemstone that is turquoise in color (but not actual turquoise), and is beautiful. I don't know the name of it, but I would take it if someone were to give me something like that! 🤣 I'm more of a plain jewelry person, and I like solid gold or sometimes white gold/silver. My closet is plethora of color! I have all of the colors listed above.

5. What responsibility do you think is hardest about being in charge? The hardest responsibility by far to me is paying all of the bills! It's stressful being the one solely in charge. I don't like it, if I'm being honest. I am really bad at remembering certain bills, like the water bill and a credit card bill. I'm rolling my eyes at myself. It's ridiculous. I just had to go check this to make sure I am still caught up. I am! Whew. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I have loved getting to see plays at The Orpheum this year. I purchased season tickets last spring in honor of my dad, and I haven't regretted that decision even once. They were pricey, but it's been so much fun to see plays again. I'm seeing one this weekend with my sister and can't wait! Do you ever get to see Broadway plays? 

I can't wait to read your posts today! Thanks for being here to read mine each day, friends. Love to all!

Jenn 

inspired writing Tuesday--a luxurious feeling night at home

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd share about things I love doing to make an evening at home feel more luxurious. I hope you're inspired! 

Anytime I'm home for any length of time at all, I light a candle to add ambiance. I also never use the overhead lighting in my home, opting instead for lamp lighting. Are you like this? I also love to use lamps in the dark corners, like in my kitchen or in my dining room. 

I love to have a fire in the fireplace when the weather is cold. I only started doing this for the first time in a couple of years just recently. I am scared of inside fires, honestly, but now that I've started this I will continue. 

I love it when these outside lights are turned on; they looked beautiful in the snow. I love to sit outside when the weather is mild, but I have these lights set to come on with a timer. 

I love to use one of the many mugs that I have to eat things like soup, cereal, or ice cream in. I believe in things like using pretty mugs for this kind of thing, eating on real plates instead of paper, and using cloth napkins instead of paper. If more than one person is here with me to eat, I'll use paper napkins, but when it's just me I will always pick the cloth ones that Mom made for me several years ago.

I use them all year long, because they're reversible. 

I also believe in doing things like having music playing, having surfaces cleaned off, and having a basket of blankets close by on those cold nights. I'm a seasonal music gal; I have it playing almost all day long when I'm at home and my playlists change with the seasons. 

I like having books or magazines near by in case I'm tempted to pick up one to read. 

I like for my bed to be made everyday. Do you do this? It really does get my day started off on the right foot. I mention it here, because I love to climb into a bed that's been straightened already.

I like for my kitchen to be clean on the nights when I cook at home. 

I like to keep my closet as clean as possible; it's easier to maintain once you clean it thoroughly. I have been practicing hanging up or folding stuff the minute I take it off if it's not going into the dirty clothes basket. 

On the nights when I'm in for the evening, I like to be comfy. My favorite thing to do is to shower and wash my hair early enough so that it'll dry before I go to bed. I love to have a clean, moisturized face on the nights in!

I will sometimes use the nights that I'm at home to give myself a pedicure or a facial.

I do a little maintenance work while I'm at home, meaning that I do things to keep the house picked up and clean for the week. 

What are the things you like to do to make your evenings at home more pleasurable? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jenn ❤️

Hello Monday, 2.16.2026.

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a great weekend! I can't wait to hear from you at the end of today's post. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for today's blog post. I'll jump right in!

I donned the shirt I'd been saving for this day for work and then regretted my choice of it all day long. It's cute, right? But the fabric is this terrible, synthetic material that I struggled with all day long. Work wasn't as crazy as I had thought it would be; nothing unusual happened and the day passed quickly. I was glad for this, because I was ready for my nighttime plans! 

A few weeks ago, Marilyn and I shopped together on a Saturday. We went to Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby and were basically inspired to have a party. She hosted Kendra and me Friday night for a Galentine's day party, complete with its own playlist on Spotify. It was such a fun night! 

Mare made chicken pasta, focaccia bread, I took a salad, and Kendra brought the wine! It was a delicious meal. We ate and caught up and then we eventually moved on to Valentine's day games. 

We started working on our vision board ideas for 2026 and gathered some more ideas. I want to do this soon, but I need to figure out what I want to use as the board. It was a fun night! I stayed as long as I could before I started to get really tired. It was an early to bed night!

Kendra came with gifts! This one had us cracking up. 

Chris came over early on Saturday, and we spent the whole day together. This is where I confess that I struggled with the day all day long. I don't know why I had a hard time all day; I cried at one point and have no idea why. I was quiet all day, and though I was grateful to have Chris around, I didn't necessarily feel up to having someone with me, you know? I told him I probably would have canceled on him had he not just shown up when he did. I still don't know what the issue was that I was having, and I think it's okay that I don't know. He was a rock star and was a steady and loving presence all day long. We ate lunch, we did some running around, we came back to my house at one point, and then I went to give gifts to my favorite local little people, also known as Abbey's kids.

I loved getting to love on some little people that day! I think it's what turned it around for me, honestly. It was so good to see these friends! We stayed for about an hour before leaving again. (Levi isn't pictured because he was about to be taking a late afternoon nap.) I love these kids, and I loved introducing Chris to them. I think they made him feel at ease, but he was nervous walking in. He's always a little nervous meeting new people! I love this endearing quality about him. 

I made sure to reassure Chris all day that whatever I was feeling had nothing to do with him. He did everything just right, and the fact that he didn't let me push him away, so to speak, spoke volumes to me. He was just there, quiet and steady all day long. He held my hand, he hugged me, he let me lean on him, and he let me cry on him. Emotions are a funny thing, you know? That evening we went to a place here in town called Nashoba. We had dinner and listened to live music before calling it a somewhat early night and heading back to my house. 

It was a fun night! I'm thankful that by the time we left Abbey's and Steve's, that I felt almost normal again. I loved sitting side by side with Chris for dinner; we sat at a bar type thing away from the bar as we ate, and we had the perfect spot to see the band and to people watch. We were given lots of opportunities to people watch! We could have danced some, but we decided that we're both more the dance in the kitchen variety. And we do! I love dancing in the kitchen with this man; he's got moves. I love how romantic he is; we didn't do anything crazy to celebrate the day, but we make sure to speak love and truth into each other everyday. 

Sunday was church! I woke up early and wrote a bonus blog post; here's a link if you'd like to check it out! He came over bright and early and we ate lunch with Mom, Bill, and Graham afterward. We came back to my house to watch more of Ted Lasso and then we said our goodbyes after an early dinner of leftovers. 

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

Jenn