☀️ Hello, Monday! ☀️

 

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was full, and I loved every minute; it was a perfect combination of my sons, friends, Mom and Trish, and lots of phone calls in between all of that. 

I am always grateful for moments that fill up my time; not only do the moments fill me up physically that way, but they fill up my love tank, so to speak. One thing I've missed since the death of my marriage is the gift of companionship. I miss everything that being married was to me: the friendship we shared, the intimate moments, the hugs, the constant companionship. I miss sharing meals with someone most every night and I miss having a body beside me in bed. All of those things added up just mean that I walk around physically deprived of human touch and interaction. While I was married and lived in a full house, I loved being able to be at home alone; I never had time to myself, so the nights when I didn't have to share a TV with someone felt magical and like a beautiful gift. For years I called myself an introvert, but I don't think I was, since I've always loved being around people, especially my people. It's funny how you realize things in hindsight, you know? 

The reason I mention all of that today is that I want you to know and understand the reasoning behind me needing to be out of my home more than I'm here. I love being here when I am, but I can't stay here alone night after night. I have one son who lives here with me as my roommate, but we rarely see each other. We're truly like ships passing in the night; I leave before him, and when I'm here at night, he's gone. This is why I have to be gone most nights, otherwise it feels like the walls are closing in on me. I'm so thankful for my family and friends who fill up my time, but especially for my Marilyn. I cannot tell you what it means to me that the Lord gave us to each other as friends; I can't remember life without her in it and I don't ever want to imagine it, honestly! We have quickly grown from friends that felt more like acquaintances to friends that feel like sisters. I was with her on Thursday night (and we didn't even take a picture) and said this to her. She's the one person who has witnessed me crying, laughing, being happy, being mad/sad, and cursing at life's circumstances within one phone call. 

Do you know what a gift that is to me? Mere words cannot adequately express my gratitude for the fact that the Lord put us together. Now that we're friends, she is stuck with me for life! I didn't intent to start today's post in this way, but it's important to me that you all know some of the backstory of who I am, and what makes me me. Hopefully all of this makes sense and gives you a personal glimpse of who I am and the reason why I choose to stay busy over being idle. Also, this is why I'm excited to work full time again starting in August! I need to have all of my time filled and I'm ready for a full, faster paced day. Well, I'll move along now with what I did this weekend for anyone who's still here reading. Hi, I'm Jenn, and I'm wordy! 

I started my Friday in my favorite way; by drinking coffee leisurely while I read blogs. Music was playing for background noise, and I got so excited when I opened up Spotify to this new song by Phil Wickham! I love the playlist on Spotify called Release Radar; it's a great blend of all the music I love: worship, country, a little bit of pop. It's really a great way to listen to music, so I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't know about it. How do you listen to music, for those of you who love it as much as I do? 

This was Chloe staring me down, telling me that I needed to get myself up and feed her. She was hungry, and possibly on the verge of being hangry! How could she not be with her baby sister Stella chewing/biting/nagging her to death all the livelong day?! 🤣

Picture for proof. 🤪 

I got dressed for the first half of my day and left to meet my mom, stepdad, and nephew Jaret who is here from Colorado for breakfast. We went to my favorite little breakfast spot, Eggs Up Grill. I had an omelet with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese, with grits as my side. I couldn't finish it all and left quite a bit on my plate, but it filled me up. I'd also told a friend I would have lunch with them that day, so I left straight from breakfast and met them at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. I didn't eat, but I did get a smoothie that I sipped on the whole afternoon. It was the Sunrise Sunset tropical flavored one that had the fewest amount of calories. It was delicious! I came home after lunch and rested before getting dressed up for Friday night, also known as part 2 of my day. Below were my outfit contenders.

I went with the option right above these words, the bright dress. I attended/worked the gala that Marilyn's work put on Friday night, a fundraising event for the non profit organization she works for. It was so much fun being extra with the hair/makeup/jewelry/clothing for a night! 

This was such a fun evening! I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do this Friday night; it was fun seeing Marilyn and getting our pictures made together when we're both dressed up. I was there early so that we could do just that, and I had planned to stay the full time, but around eight, I started feeling bad. I'd felt like I was getting congested all that day, and by eight o'clock, it had hit me. There was an auctioneer that was doing a great job, but was giving me a terrible headache. I took some medicine that Mare had, but after thirty minutes of it not letting up, I decided to leave. I was home by nine and dead asleep by nine thirty until almost seven Saturday morning. I woke up feeling better, but I hated that I had to leave so early. It was a fun night, regardless, and I had a fun Saturday as well! I'll talk more about that later this week, though, since this has become pretty long. 

Before I leave you today, I have some blog business/dates to tell you about since I forgot last month. 🤣 First up is that April's Share 4 Somethings will take place on Saturday April 26th; if you're new here, all year long on the last Saturday of each month, we share some things we loved, some things we learned, some things that went well, and some things we let go of. The topics stay the same for each month. May's Currently link party will take place on Wednesday May 7th; in May we'll be talking about what we're currently loving, looking forward to, leaving behind, letting go of, and looking at. Again, for anyone new here who wants to participate, the topics for Currently change each month; I provide the next month's prompts at the bottom of that post, and this always takes place on the first Wednesday of every month. I hope you make plans now to join me for both of these each month! Meanwhile, I'll try to be better at giving you reminders. 

What did you do that you loved this weekend? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for being here to read my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn ❤️🩷

Friday Favorites, 4.11.2025.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you've had a great week; after last weekend and its theme of canceled plans, I was so excited to see sunshine when I woke up on Monday. The sun really does affect us, and so does the lack of it on gloomy days. I don't mind rain or cloudy days, but too many days of it in a row really start to mess with me. Needless to say, after a leisurely start to my day after a night of four hours of sleep, as soon as I was finished with catching up with all the things, I got dressed and left. 

I jumped into my car with a snack and water, and headed to a local park to walk around this lake. Isn't it beautiful? It felt amazing to be outside in the fresh air and to have the sun shining down on me. When I first got there, I was regretting that I didn't ask a friend to join me, but as I started walking, I started praying. I haven't prayer walked in a long time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first lap around the lake doing just that. I love being in nature and often feel closest to the Lord while outside gazing at His beautiful creation. Are you like this? I sat down after my first lap so that I could answer some text messages, and then my friend sent me a funny video that was really long, so I listened to that while I kept walking. That is my favorite kind of afternoon! 

My Missy and I went out to dinner together Monday night. Time with her is always my favorite!

I went to my happy place on Monday! It's one of my favorite places to be. 

I started listening to this book while I was walking on Monday; an audiobook narrated by a favorite author is always a great idea! 

The story of Ruth is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament.

The weather this week has been my favorite!

Time with my Abbey is my favorite! I ran errands with her last Sunday, which is my favorite thing to do.

 

These leggings from Amazon are my new favorites! I ordered a gray pair and a mocha pair; you all know that I wear these as "pajamas" at home because of all the people that come in and out of my home. My old leggings are literally falling off of me since I've lost so much weigh, so these were a much needed purchase. Here's a link to them on Amazon! 

Sourdough bread making day is my favorite! I'm baking some tomorrow at some point. 

This was my favorite outfit this week; I love this bright green top with the new black sandals I got a couple of weeks ago!

Flair felt tip marker pens will always be my favorite!

Wednesday night choir practice was my favorite...

...and so was holding my friend's baby! Isn't this little girl precious? 

Thursday lunch was my favorite! Work bestie and I planned this earlier in the week, and our friend Anna joined us yesterday. This was a fun forty-five minutes! 

And lastly, work/church is my favorite place to be. I'm so thankful for the time I've spent working here! 

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 ❤️🩷

life lately

 

Happy Thursday from all the dogs and me!

Speaking of dogs, and because Amy inspired me on an IG message yesterday, I thought I'd talk about Stella and a few other random things that have been going on. 

I'll start with Stella. She's growing like a weed! As cute as she is, do not be deceived: she is a little punk. I'm getting better with being patient with her, though, and trying to remember that she's just a puppy that needs to learn. She hasn't had as many accidents as she was having, for which I'm thankful, and she's learning more each day. Chloe (Jonah's dog) is doing such a great job at teaching Stella the ropes. Did you know that dogs teach each other? It's true! 

Stella loves her toys (especially tennis balls), chewing on the legs of furniture, eating her big sister's food, barking, growling, jumping up to see what I'm doing, and afternoon naps spent in my lap. She's super cuddly! 

I've gone back to choir practice on Wednesday nights! This makes me so happy; this was me last night from 6:40 to 7:20. I have to get there late and leave early, but every little bit of in-person practice helps. We're getting ready for Good Friday and Easter. I'm excited to sing with them on that day, and all the time again starting in July! I can't wait to sing again; I've missed it so much.

I love my colored pens! I got these for my birthday from Jonah, and I take them with me to work everyday. I love making brightly colored to-do lists, do you? 

I played Bunco again this week! This is my friend's house that we met at for April. I'm so glad my friend Karen asked me to join them! I love getting to know new people and this is a fun group of women. I had a blast doing this Tuesday night, and who doesn't love winning prizes?! 

These sentences are all so true! It gave me pause when I saw it on IG this week. Do you follow me there, if you're on Instagram? You should! My name there is Jenn M. Lloyd. 

The library will forever and always be my happy place. It thrills me every time I walk through the doors; this was me there on Monday again. I was looking for one book, but came home with about five more. 🤣 I have such a book problem! 

What's been going on in your life lately? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for being here to read my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn ❤️🩷