the Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm joining in with Joyce today for the weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge. I'll jump right in!

1. St. Patrick's day was celebrated on Monday March 17th. Did you mark the day in some way? Wear green? Make a special meal? Watch or participate in a parade? I didn't mark the day in any particular way this year, and I usually don't, honestly. I was tired that day, that I didn't even care about it or green or anything. I went to Mom's for dinner that night, and I rested all day long, trying to catch up on sleep. While I didn't participate in anything that weekend, some people that I know and love did! 

Drew always seems to be living his very best life!

And one friend went to Chicago for the weekend to witness the river being dyed green! How cool, right? 

2. Do you think luck plays a part in your life? Explain. I'm not a believer in luck; I believe that life plays out how God ordains and that we can put in the hard work to accomplish certain goals and achievements. But everything is for Him, from Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). 

3. Of the fifteen foods listed, which is your favorite and how do you like it prepared? Are any on the list a hard no for you? In general, do you like fruits and veggies? As a kid, did you eat them willingly or did you hide peas in your napkin hoping your mom wouldn't see? 

Asparagus, avocado, broccoli, celery, cucumber, grape, green beans, kale, kiwi, lettuce, lime, 

pear, peas, pistachios, spinach

I love all of these foods, honestly! I'm not a picky eater at all and will eat just about anything. Of these, my favorite is avocado. I like them alone, sliced, with salt, and eating it with a spoon. I love guacamole! I eat one avocado a day, most weeks. I ate things willingly as a kid; Mom always had a rule about trying everything, and after that if I didn't like it, I didn't have to eat it, but I at least had to try. 

4. What's something that makes you turn green? (With envy or with illness, whichever way you want to run with it.) I cannot handle being around someone who has a stomach bug; that's all I'm going to say! I also never enjoy seeing blood, mine or anyone else's, and I have to turn away from the one drawing my blood. 

5. Did you spend a lot of time outdoors as a child? Doing what? Do you spend a lot of time outdoors now? Doing what?  I was outside the majority of the time as a young girl! I lived in the country, so this was inevitable. I loved to climb trees and did that all the time! I don't spend a lot of time outdoors now, but if I do, and it's a hot day, I like to be by a body of water. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I don't have any new music for you this week, so I thought I'd share some pictures I took driving home from Mom's Monday night. 

Look at this amazing screened in porch that Bill just added to their house! The porch was there, but he finished framing it out and adding the screen. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting out there with him after dinner on Monday, and look at that sky as I drove home! God is an amazing artist. 

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

Jenn 🩷

weekending

 

Happy Monday, friends! I am trying to do better this week by writing this post as I go along in my weekend. I completely forgot about this last week and didn't share a post until later in the day; it's very uncharacteristic for me! I've been majorly distracted lately. 🤣 My weekend was amazing! It got started when my friend Teresa drove in from out of town on Wednesday; she stayed with me that night until after church on Sunday! I loved every minute of having her in my home all week, and it was a balm that I desperately needed. Back to the weekend: I kicked it off Friday with working for about an hour, then signing my divorce papers. What a way to start the weekend, right?? Here's what I did this weekend with my friends; I'm backing all the way up to Thursday.

I worked on Thursday, but after that, Teresa met me and we went to run errands for my work. While I was in the area, I stopped by to see a friend at work, and then we came back to The Ville to make a drop off and let Chloe out. We had made the decision to have dinner at a Mexican food restaurant that night, at my favorite: La Perla; I had the chicken fajita nachos, which were amazing as always! We came home after this and immediately got into pajamas (and I showered). 

Marilyn called and ended up coming over with food for our weekend! She had leftovers from a work event, and brought a lot of them to me. How sweet, right?! Chloe was ridiculously excited to see one of her favorite people! 

Teresa and I watched episodes of Reba, then we tried to catch the lunar eclipse before it started happening. After we realized what time it would be taking place, we went to bed and I set my alarm to wake up at 1:30 so that we could try to see it in person. We did that and caught a tiny glimpse of the red at the bottom!

This is a terrible picture, but can you see it? It was so cool! We promptly went back to bed and laughed at ourselves in my front yard at 1:30 a.m. in nightshirts. Memories! I had to work for an hour on Friday, and after that, I went to sign my divorce papers. I went home for a bit afterward, feeling weird about what I'd just done, then met up with Teresa again around 1:30. I took her to my favorite place: John Mark's!

This may sound strange, but I wanted to dress confidently on the day that I signed my divorce papers. I did the same thing on the day that I filed, and wore green dresses both days. 

His bathroom wall art kills me!

I came home and changed out of my dress because I kept flashing people, thanks to the intense winds! It was a big day for me, so I made reservations for us at a favorite place of mine, an authentic Irish pub called Bog and Barley. It was amazing! We picked up Missy on the way there. 

We sat upstairs, which I loved. 

Teresa ordered beef tartar as an appetizer, and then I ordered pan seared trout with crispy potatoes for dinner. 

It was such a fun night! We ended the night by taking care of Graham's dogs, since he was at a Memphis Grizzlies game, then we came home and stayed up late. We had bad weather predicted for the next day, so we knew we had a day that we could sleep in and take it easy the next morning. 

And that's what we did, except that my body refuses to let me sleep past six a.m. I came downstairs and watched tv while they slept in a little, then I got started on making bread. I was supposed to have done that Friday night, but I completely forgot about it. 

 

We took it easy that morning while it rained cats and dogs outside; then we got dressed and left the house for lunch. 

We went to my favorite place: The Salad Station! I introduced T and Missy to it, and they loved it as much as me. I went to my friend's house after this to let her dog outside while they're on vacation, then we came home and got comfy again and settled into an afternoon of watching movies. We watched two: a Hallmark one about sisters (can't remember the name) and Fly Me to the Moon. 

Post dinner game night selfie; you know it's serious because my hair went up. 

Meanwhile, me and my brother Trey kept talking on the phone, because Trey made the trip to Dallas from where he was in Oklahoma to see my boys while they were together. I love this! When I got this picture, my heart grew three sizes. I love their bond! My nephew Jax is in the middle of them. 

We went to bed pretty early, but I laid awake for half the night and watched the numbers on my phone go by slowly. I was up early on Sunday for work and also to let my friend's dog out again. After church I came home and showered/took a nap, and then Marilyn came over in the afternoon. We talked on the phone to Amy, we cleaned up my porch from the storm, we talked and laughed, then we went to dinner at McAlister's. It was a great weekend, and I was so glad to end it with Marilyn! After I got home, she left, and Jonah had made it home from Dallas. He proceeded to stay downstairs with me for an hour, and we talked about everything. I missed having him here last week, and we had a ton of things to catch up on! 

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, 3.14.2025.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you've had a great week! Mine has been epic; stay tuned until the end to find out why. Here's a few of my favorite moments from this week.

Time with my boys is always my favorite; so are Drew's random resting positions and places. This is nothing unusual; he often lays down in the middle of a floor to rest. I love how Chloe was hanging all over him!

This green dress and the book I'm reading are both favorites! I won't talk about how long it's taking me to read this one book. This was me at work killing time on Tuesday.

It was a favorite coming home on Tuesday and showering and then sitting out here soaking up some vitamin D! 

It's always a favorite when a bestie comes to town to stay with me! Today is the kick off for our little girl's stay-cation at my house; Teresa came in town Wednesday and is staying with me through Sunday; my bestie Missy will be joining us today after work. It's been amazing having her here with me this week! My heart desperately needed this and I love the timing of how this all played out. Again, stay tuned until the end!

Car problems are never a favorite, but having my boys at home with me is! They were adding some coolant to Drew's truck because it overheated on his way here that night.

Birthday flowers are my favorite! I treated myself to them on Monday. 

I had an amazing Sunday; this was me taking a picture to document me being happy Monday morning. 

My Mare will always be my favorite! We've experienced #allthethings and #alltheemotions this week! 

French press coffee is definitely a favorite. 

Here were my favorite outfits from the week:

Baby Jolene is my favorite! This is a major perk of my job; my friend Caroline comes in and basically hands this baby girl off to me every time I see her. I'm not complaining, because I need more babies in my life!

Those are my favorites from the week, along with the fact that I have huge news to share today: I'm signing my divorce papers today at eleven thirty! I am beside myself with excitement as I close the door to this chapter of my life and move forward. I never thought I'd say that I would be excited to end my marriage, but I'm ready now, and so is Todd. And I look forward to us being friends for our sons; I know we'll do that, because they're the most important people in our lives and we agree wholeheartedly on this topic. We'll do anything for them, you know? 

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

Jenn ❤️

Thankful Thursday -- the birthday edition

 

Happy Thursday, friends! It wouldn't be a Thursday without a weekly gratitude list; I have so much to be thankful for this week. I'll jump in!

I'm thankful for something I'm focusing this entire post on: the gift that life is as I celebrated birthdays for three of my sons. 

Jonah made a rare appearance in a picture with me finally! I talked him into this three weeks ago in anticipation of his birthday. A mom has to do what a mom has to do, you know?? 

I love this one of Noah and me from when I was visiting him; we had gone on a walk around a lake in an area that he was showing us. He asked me lots of questions on this day, and I asked him a lot as well, making sure that he was okay with life. Quality time is my love language! It's right up there with physical touch.

On Monday, Jonah (top pic) and Noah turned 22! On Tuesday, Graham turned 26. We had the best night celebrating the three of them Monday night; I made dinner, and the three of them and Drew's roommate Sam ate dinner here. We sat outside for a few hours as they did things to Jonah's and Drew's trucks. It was one of those magical nights that I'll relive time and again. 

It was such a fun night of catching up, productivity, and laughter! Jonah was getting things ready on his truck to leave the next day for Dallas; I'm so glad he's there with his twin brother for their birthdays! There's a huge car event happening there this week, so that was the reasoning as to why he picked this particular week. I was glad to hear that he made it there safely after leaving around 6:45 Tuesday morning. It's always good for a mom's heart to hear such things! This is a new normal for us, and we're all okay with it; it's part of the whole year of firsts in this new life that we all have. I don't hate it, honestly! They celebrated with their dad the night before, on Sunday. 

I am so thankful for these amazing young men that I have the privilege of calling sons. They've all proved themselves to be faithful and kind this last year, and they've all stepped up to the plate for me in huge ways. I'm so grateful not only to have the title as their mom, but to get to call them friends. That's a more appropriate description of our relationship these days, and I am here for it. All of their younger (harder) years were worth it for the life we get to share now that they're adults. Aren't they all so handsome? I'll talk more about Drew on his birthday in a few weeks, but this night made my week a great one. 

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 ❤️