hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope your week/weekend was good; mine felt ten years long. 🤣 I started working on this blog post from the hospital room Thursday and was going to publish Friday, but then the day started happening, and I never got around to finishing. So if this seems a little Friday Favorites-ish, that's why. I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah to talk about a few things from last week and the weekend.

I love the Instagram story prompts where you can click to add yours. This was mine for the month of October! It was a great month for the most part, until it all kind of came to a half on Thursday the 29th when Graham was admitted into the hospital. It was a month filled with favorites: friends, my sons, travel, some really great dates and getting to know someone new. I'm grateful for all of this, and I'm so glad that things with Graham played out the way they did and that he's on the mend. 

It's been a week full of some of my favorite shows, of which Friends will always be at the top of the list. Does anyone else love the episodes when Monica dated Richard? I've had a crush on Tom Selleck since I was young; I loved him on Friends as he dated Monica! I sent this picture to my best friend the night I took this and told her I was enjoying being comforted by my man. She loved this! 

Hospital coffee hasn't been my favorite, but all the quality time with my Graham has been. I've also enjoyed being with the others that have been up here with us a lot this week. We've had so many great talks, laughs, and bonding moments. I've missed him, which is weird to say, but he just hasn't been himself. 

This hallway is my favorite at school each year at this time! We have a memorial day program next week, and it's always super heartwarming. I had totally forgotten about these flags until I walked in last Monday, and my breath caught. I love this so much! 

I miss these views! The land at my dad's house was always my favorite at this time of year. Our trees are starting to change colors finally, and all of a sudden, everything is bright and vibrant. It's beautiful! These were the days when my sister and I would do Dad's Christmas lights each year. It was quite the task, but it was something Dad loved and that we were happy to do for him. 

Christmas is our favorite! Jonah is ready in his room, and I was able to put mine up, too. 

This day of breakfast was my favorite! I went downstairs at the hospital on Tuesday morning and grabbed us some iced coffees and breakfast for myself. Graham didn't want any on this day.

These verses from 2 Corinthians were my favorite this week. I had time to spend reading some extra this week while I was off on Tuesday. 

These pictures are from the social media page of this coffee shop near me, JoJo's Espresso. How magical is this place?! I can't wait to go here again soon and admire all of this in person. 

These were a couple of my favorites from social media this week! I've done a lot of scrolling this week, friends.

On a more positive note, this was another favorite. I just watched a video of a neurosurgeon that said it's literally impossible to be both anxious and grateful at the same time. I love that! 

Lastly, this was my favorite thing to see on Wednesday when I went home after work before coming back to the hospital! Jonah and Noah moved some things around in order for Graham to recover at our house for the next couple of weeks. It's good to be home, friends. It took us all day long Friday to rest up from the eventful week; Saturday felt more normal, but I fell asleep multiple times during both days. 

The weekend was super low key; we adjusted to being back at home on Friday. I left for dinner with Dustin (you can peep him all the way back up at the top of this post in the lower right corner of the collage pics), and that was all. Saturday was pretty much the same! Sunday felt more normal, but I stayed home and got some things done to get ready for the work week. I have a feeling today might be an adjustment! 

I loved how full the house was on and off during the day on Saturday We watched football all day and people were in and out. This is a picture that Noah shared on Snapchat; I saved it to my phone. There were more trucks not pictured to the left of my driveway on the street. 

Graham is doing really well! Thank you for all the kind words, thoughts, and prayers on his behalf. He will have to return to the hospital once a week for lab work and for his pic line to be attended to, but he's in a good place. He looks and sounds so much better, and I am thankful for this. This "kid" just about gave his mom a heart attack, but some great things came about from it all. One is that this is causing us to remember that we don't need to ignore illnesses and coughs. Another thing is that I spent a ton of time with my ex-husband and his wife during the seven days we were there, and we're all good. This showed us that we can and want to be friendly with each other, and that we can almost be like one big, blended family. 

I also have to say about Dustin, how thankful I am for him. He was there with me every single day, and he's now officially met all of my people. He kept us supplied with waters, Gatorades, and food each night. I didn't necessarily mean for him to meet everyone so fast, but it's what happened. The good news is that everyone loves him, and he loves them! Ha. Even Todd and Jennifer met him and both of them told me at separate times how much they love him. I realize that's so strange to say here, but we're taking that time we spent together in the hospital with our oldest son as a fresh page to start over. I believe if we want it bad enough, that it's something we can accomplish. I'm proud of us both for this! And it's proof that good things can come from something not so good.

Anyway...enough rambling. I'll see you back here tomorrow, friends. Love to all!


Jen 

fashion files & some ways I'm taking care of myself

 

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

I think I shared this one already? I wore this one day last week; I kind of forgot that I'd purchased this skort thing from Old Navy over the summer! 

I'm missing a day of outfits...I don't know why or how I did that, but there was one morning last week when I was running later than I like. That's probably why. I went back and forth between the skort, dresses, and leggings/button downs last week, because of events going on at work. I'm so ready for different weather when I can vary my clothes again! I have to stay cool, and the only thing that keeps me that way is a dress. 

This was for Saturday brunch...

...Sunday church...

...and then for an afternoon spent poolside. 

Our weather isn't changing this week; we're still experiencing extremely hot temps, so this means indoor recess and more of the same outfits. Maybe next week it'll change? I'm hopeful!


And now for the second part of this blog...

I thought I'd share some ways I'm giving myself some love lately. Yesterday marks one month since Chris died. I wasn't sure how I'd feel on that day, but for the most part, I was okay. I cried on the phone with my Missy when she called to check on me, and then I moved on with the day. I played on my phone, I worked on my blog, and I watched TV. At one point when I went upstairs to make my bed and put on real clothes, I decided instead to crawl into my still unmade bed and take a nap. When I woke up and hour and something later, I took a shower and washed my hair. This felt amazing! I was kind of sad when I was laying in my bed; I was glad that I hadn't made plans to do anything that day.  

One thing I love to do for myself is take care of my home. I love for things to be clean and organized; I spent some time doing that yesterday in preparation of my work week. It feels so good to be able to get things cleaned out and ready for the work week. It's a place that I love to be, so it brings me joy to take care of things here. I love it all...the mundane and the frivolous. 

On the days when I'm at home, if I turn on the TV and start watching a show and feel myself growing sleepy, I succumb to that and will take a nap, even if it's a short one. I know that my body needs extra rest right now, so I try to listen to it and do what I feel in that moment. I don't always watch TV; sometimes I will choose music over that and actually prefer it, honestly. I'm listening to a catchy playlist as I write this on Monday morning. Other times I might read or scroll on my phone. 

I take my lunch breaks one day at a time at work. Some days I eat in the lounge by myself; while I do that, I read. Other days, I will sit in my friend Sarah's classroom since she's not busy when I eat. I let each day be different; she understands the need I have to be quiet sometimes, which is what I did last week. Sometimes I don't want to be alone; other times I feel like I won't be able to talk without crying. Each day is a little different, so I try to take it easy on myself. 

I'm taking care of myself. I treated myself to a mani/pedi on Saturday, which felt amazing. 

I never do that those two things on the same day, but it felt luxurious to be able to do that over the weekend. The pushing point was that all the polish came off my toes Friday night, and I can't stand to have them bare. Ha! 

I'm saying yes to people; dinner after work, weekday movie nights, birthday celebrations that last all weekend long...I'm saying yes to it all. I'm also saying yes to staying at home on the nights when I just don't have it in me to go anywhere else, or when I'm absolutely and utterly exhausted from work. 

I'm trying to take it easy on myself; sometimes this is easier said than done. It's been a long month. It does feel a little easier each day, and the new normal has set in. I am still hopeful of my future, and I'm starting to get to the point where I'm excited about things. It's very minimal, but it's there, nonetheless. I find myself being extremely grateful for the small things in life: time spent with people I love and even the most mundane and minimal of plans, and the offer of emotional support that Chloe consistently offers me. This is me trying to keep on with life to the best of my ability. 

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. 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 back up to Thursday evening and will jump right in! 

Thursday was a very long day at work, since it was orientation day. My day started with me at work by 7:15; I worked until noon, then went back at three and stayed until six. I was exhausted when I got off work, so I met Chris for dinner at Lost Pizza. It was so good! I could hardly keep my eyes open when I got home from dinner and was in bed by eight thirty. I don't think it took me long at all to fall asleep! 

Fridays hit differently now! After work I came home; Chris met me here after work and we went to get Mexican food. It was so good! 

We came back to my house after dinner and watched A Man Called Otto. I've seen it before, but I'd forgotten what a great movie that is. 

Saturday found me up early and getting things cleaned up around my home; I started with cleaning out and reorganzing my refrigerator and then moved onto the pantry. This felt so good to be able to start the school year off right with things being clean! I placed a giant grocery order for family dinner and for my lunches this week, and then I moved onto dusting, laundry, then vacuuming. I got dressed that afternoon for a wedding that I'd been invited to (Chris was invited as well and my friend included his name on the invitation); this was a fun way to spend a Saturday night!

I thought this was funny! The disco light turned my dress green.

This is my friend Marcia's son Drew; he is now married with a son of his own! This was him with sweet little Beau.

Sweet Marcia and me.

This place was beautiful! It's called The Ravenshaw; they have domestic deer that were outside with us letting us pet them. I was in awe and decided that I'd love a pet deer someday.

I loved the detail they put into the wedding; there were drinks named after the bride (Hannah), the groom (Isaac), and their Golden Retriever (Daisy). I loved that during the ceremony, the two sets of parents went up to the couple and prayed over them as a new family; I loved that Brad (the father of the bride) gave a welcome of thanks with special instructions for us during the reception, and I loved watching the dances (father of the bride with Hannah and Isaac and his mom). There were times in the ceremony that both of us teared up. In the ceremony, my young friend Alayna sang the song The Blessing by Kari Jobe that I love; it's taken from the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy. 

I'm including the video from YouTube in case you would like to give it a listen; it's a beautiful song. 

The dinner was great, and it was fun to run into my old friends from the church I went to when the boys were young (Memphis First Assembly of God). Brad and Marcia were our very best couple friends; when we traveled on a mission trip to Iceland when the boys were little, we made them our "just in case" people and had a temporary will put into place for the time we were gone. I love this family dearly! Our kids all grew up together, and each weekend found us at one of our homes together for game night or eating Taco Bell after Sunday night church. We even camped with them the first time we ever camped together as a family! 

Did you ever think of your kids marrying someone specific when they were little? That was how it was with my Jonah and Noah with Hannah; I'd genuinely hoped one of them would marry her someday. This makes me laugh, because things like that don't usually go that way, right? Isaac and Hannah are the most adorable couple, and the whole evening from start to finish was beautiful. I was so glad to have Chris with me; he kept me laughing the whole night, and I love that he wanted to do the photo booth they had with me. 

I never got a picture of them at the wedding, but I snagged this off Marcia's Facebook; they're so precious. I love that his dad married them! 

Sunday morning found us at church; after that I went to Dollar Tree and Kroger for a few school supplies (it's tax free weekend) and something I forgot in my Walmart grocery order. After that I came home and unpacked it all, then got ready for the family to come over that night. I'll share more about that on Tuesday, so come back and check out that day's post! Here's a little sneak peak...

Tell me all about your weekend! I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!

Jen