Lifestyle Archives - Page 4 of 15

Category: Lifestyle

November 2022 Book Review

Posted on November 29, 2022November 28, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Hi! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving break! It feels like it’s been forever from this little space. Whatever sickness took down Jonathan proceeded to take down Harrison and Nathan the week of Thanksgiving. Needless to say, it’s Monday morning and this is the first time I’m writing to you when my house feels eerily quiet after two weeks of sick people at home. This morning, everyone is back to school and work. I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for a rough sickness season, but truthfully, I’m not ready. I’m already tired just thinking about it.

Today is my (usually) monthly book review. This November I finished three books, and I wish I could say I loved the as much as my October books, but alas, I wasn’t that lucky.

I started this month finishing The Glass Castle.

October 2022 Book Review

Posted on October 25, 2022October 24, 2022 by Lauren Lane

If you are going to read any book review of mine of the entire year, this is the one. This is it. I read two books this month, and was BLOWN AWAY by both. One was the most beautiful and moving book I’ve read certainly this year, if not ever. I would be shocked it it doesn’t end up in my top spot as most loved book for the year. The other just knocked me on my booty with SO MANY things to think about and unpack about myself.

Friday Favorites {10.21.22}

Posted on October 21, 2022October 19, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Monday morning was Jonathan’s first day back at daycare after spending the previous week at home with me potty training. Guys, I felt ALMOST as nervous as the day I dropped off Harrison at daycare for the first time. Would they pay attention to his cues enough? Would he be successful? (Because I so badly wanted him to have an awesome day & week showing off his new skill!) I checked my daycare app about twenty times that day. And he did awesome. So relieved! It wasn’t perfect, but so, so, so good. Whew.

I rounded up a lot of family favorites from the past few weeks to share today!

I had so much fun going pumpkin patchin’ with the boys and their cousins a couple of weeks ago! It’s truly one of my favorite days of the year. Trying to take a picture of two, much less four kids together is pretty much impossible at this age. So I offer up some very bad group kids pics. 🙂

Friday Favorites {10.07.22}

Posted on October 7, 2022October 6, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Happy Friday, friends! We have a busy weekend ahead, and I’m so looking forward to it! Harrison has a soccer game, and then we’re getting lots of family time including going to the pumpkin patch with the cousins. It’s one of my FAVORITE activities of the whole year!

I usually don’t listen to anything while I’m working or writing in this blog. My mind can’t concentrate on hearing multiple things at once. 🙂 But just this week, I’ve rediscovered my love of piano music. I played piano through most of my childhood years, and there’s something so calming about listening to piano music. I’m loving this playlist on Spotify of Autumn Piano Vibes.

Aug/September 2022 Book Review

Posted on September 27, 2022September 20, 2022 by Lauren Lane

My reading really slowed down in late summer. Maybe it was that beach vacation with small children that doesn’t allow for extra time to “read.” 🙂 This is a combined two month book review! And I have to admit, none of these were my favorite reads of the year.

I started August reading The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Friday Favorites {09.23.22}

Posted on September 23, 2022September 20, 2022 by Lauren Lane

This week has been crazy! I’m writing this on Wednesday because we are about to head down to the lake for the weekend with some friends (kids included!). I feel like anytime I take a shortened week off of work, an entire week of work gets crammed into the shortened few days of working. Anybody else feel like that?!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

We are working ever so diligently to check off our Fall Bucket list! The other weekend we met our next door neighbors at the zoo! A far cry from our usual driveway play sessions. The kids had so much fun seeing the animals, especially the tiger, who for the first time in my adult life, was not sleeping when we visited!

Friday Favorites {09.09.22}

Posted on September 9, 2022September 8, 2022 by Lauren Lane

It always feels so strange to be gone for a week from this space! But so good, because I miss it and you all! I’m still working on my blog posts about the beach, so I’m sharing a bunch of random favorites from this week with you all!

In previous years, I’ve always pulled my annuals around Labor Day because we were headed up to South Dakota, and I was just ready to be done watering. That was all when I did the watering by hand every single day. This year, though, I’m still loving the garden and part of it still look really beautiful. It’s definitely starting to fade as we get to the end of the season, and I’m contemplating ways to swap some plants for more cool loving plants for fall.

This zinnia fade still has me in awe…

I love a coral flower, and this one continues to deliver so much beauty.

My Favorite Vacation

Posted on August 16, 2022August 16, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Yesterday was the first day of the new “school” year for the boys! They both moved up into different classrooms. This is not as big of a deal for our two year old, Jonathan. But, for Harrison, he has been anticipating this move for MONTHS. He’s officially in the oldest class of the school, Pre-K.

Here’s a look at Harrison just last year on his first day of Preschool:

We’re getting ready to go on a vacation in a few weeks, and I thought it would be fun to share my favorite vacations from the past!

Friday Favorites {08.12.22}

Posted on August 12, 2022August 11, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Happy Friday, friends! It was the boys’ last official week in their current classrooms, and they are off from daycare today for a teacher in-service day! We have lots of errands to run to get ready for Jonathan’s birthday party this weekend, so I’m hoping they’ve put on their ”helper” pants and are eager to be good listeners today. Hahaha. Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

I took Harrison for a special birthday treat/breakfast in April, and I loved the short little one-on-one time with him. Jonathan had his first dentist appointment last week, so I took the opportunity to sneak him away for a little special birthday breakfast date, too. He apparently missed the memo that it was breakfast and opted for an iced sugar cookie. Emphasis on just eating the icing, though.

How I Thought About Changing Jobs

Posted on August 3, 2022August 5, 2022 by Lauren Lane

Over a year ago, I accepted and started a new job. I’m not sure that I ever explicitly talked about starting a new job on this blog, but you may have figured it out from Instagram or other comments I had made along the way. I thought I’d talk a bit more about how I considered changing jobs after being in the same function for my entire adult professional life.

{{Side note: This picture above is from my masters year in North Carolina of press pictures we took for the graduate school. I never take pictures in work attire, so struggled to come up with pictures for this post. 😆}}

I spent my entire career working for a public accounting firm. When I moved from North Carolina back to Kansas City, I made a switch from one public accounting firm to another, but the work I was doing for both companies was exactly the same. I spent thirteen years working my way up in my chosen career path. For all intents and purposes, anyone would look at where I was just below the very top of my career path, and wonder why would you spend thirteen years of your life doing something only to give it up just *moments* before reaching the very top?