Friday Favorites - January 17, 2025

I can't believe this was just a week ago:

Schools were closed across every county in Tennessee—yes, really, for this. We got a little more than what you see here, but no more than 2-3 inches. A lot of other areas in the state received much more, though! Believe it or not, our front yard still has snow on the ground because of the low temperatures this week. The sun’s been out, though, helping to thaw the roads and kids went back to school on Tuesday.

I'm linking up with the ladies who host Friday Favorites every week - Andrea and Erika :). Head over to their blogs (click on their names) and visit other people linking up too!!

Even though I really don't like snow and HATE the cold, it is beautiful and I'm fortunate enough to live in a nice warm house and have enough luxuries in my life that I don't have to go out if I don't want to :). The dogs enjoyed it and Erin got some cute pictures of her puppy and Chelsea:

Saturday we took the doggies on a walk around the neighborhood and I took pictures of all the fun the kiddos around the neighborhood had with the snow - 

If this was last year our streets would have been snow-and-ice covered still - this year our HOA contracted someone to plow our streets which was money well-spent!

I had my first webinar for the leaders in my new company this week!  This was my set-up at home - I don't have an office in the building where I work so thought it would be better to host from home.  I forgot to ask IT for an extra monitor so Tom set up an old TV sitting in the "dispose of" pile for me to use.

It fit the bill :). IT brought one by my space at work yesterday so I'm good to go for the next two next week.

I finished this book this week.

It was as excellent as "everyone" has said it is.  I missed out on the book with the Book of the Month Club last year so bought the Audible version.  It took me about 9 months to get through it - not because it wasn't good, but because it was SO real, so difficult to read.  I really struggle watching people (even fictional people - ha!) make bad choices but Kristin Hannah makes the reader understand where Frankie came from, who she is, and the circumstances that changed her.  It would get so intense that I would just have to take a break and then go back to it a month or so later.  When I finished it my first thought was, "I want to read it again".  Rarely, rarely would I choose to read a book again.  I think the reason is, now that I know how it ends, I won't read with as much anxiety, if that makes sense?

Last Friday we booked our flights for our Ireland/London trip this summer!!  We generally just pay our friend, the group leader (there are 30 of us this time), who makes all the arrangements but five of us are extending the planned Ireland/Northern Ireland trip to also include 3 days in London.  I'm so excited about this addition!!!  

When I put my time off in at work I told the team I work with, "I don't think I've ever asked for this much time off/been away from work this long on purpose except to have a baby - ha!"

LOW LEVEL GOALS

I don't know if I have any?

Melanie and Sophie always do an episode on these each year on Patreon.  This year they did theirs with Cole Cubelic and it was fantastic!  It's worth $5 to listen to it - really.  Then my blogger friends had a link-up Wednesday on low-level goals.  

I always think they are such a good idea and when they are talking about them I can completely get into conversations in my head about them but then just can't seem to come up with any on my own.

Walk the dogs everyday?  That's probably a good one - I only do it "when I feel like it" or they guilt me into it - maybe it needs to be something I'm more intentional about.

I think I wrote somewhere that I want to finish some projects around here - is that a low-level goal?

I guess low-level goals are things that are easily enough to achieve, you just haven't committed to them yet.  Things that, if not reached, are not really going to "change your life" but if you DO incorporate them, they maybe COULD make a positive difference, right?

I've spent some time listening to The Lazy Genius podcast too and I feel like Kendra has talked about these also.  Not using the same term, but she's all about making small changes.  Her tagline "Be a genius about things that matter and lazy about the things that don't" is so good - I really like it.  It goes along with "will this matter in 5 years?".  Yes, some things will but many things will not.

Look at what Tom found when we were working on his closet last weekend:

He reads it and says, "I don't even remember this".  Isn't that just how it is??  In the moment it must have been a big deal (who knows??  Maybe just Laura thought it was a big deal and Tom shrugged it off - I don't know).  But the point is, day-to-day LIFE happens, but will it matter in 5 years?  The broom either got "fixed" (our kids always thought Daddy could fix anything!!) or replaced - who knows.  But guess what?  The letter MATTERED.  It mattered enough that someone who is not sentimental, doesn't keep much (he has one file box next to my 6 bins of "stuff"), kept this.  WORDS ALWAYS MATTER.  

My "word of the year" is INTENTIONAL.  Be intentional with my words, my time, my thoughts (if they are going in a negative way I can change them), our money, what I eat, how I move my body. . .certainly not "low level goals" but each choice will make a difference - some choices are long-lasting and some turn into habits that make a difference.

Now I feel like Jenn, who is probably my favorite Friday Favorites blogger, who always ends with a "truth as she sees it" - my words, not hers.  But I'm not a writer like she is. . .I'm more of a rambler so I will stop here.  Of course there is a spiritual truth in words but I'll let you ponder that if you want.

I'll see if I can "find time" to join in other link-ups or some other form of writing this week :).  I know I will, for sure, be reading most of the blogs on my sidebar and many in the link-up today though.  More thoughts on that later - I have them!!

Stay warm,

Love,

Jenni