Category: Lifestyle

Friday Favorites {02.18.22}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Who else is dealing with weather that can’t make up its mind? I was walking Sawyer outside on Tuesday, and Thursday woke up to snow. About this time every year, my attitude towards snow shifts. I’m all good with it up until about February 15. But once we’ve had that first taste of spring-like weather, which always happens around mid-February, I just can’t mentally go back to winter mode.

Hope you all are staying warm wherever you are today! Let’s grab a cup of coffee and jump into some Friday Favorites.

This weekend is Nathan’s birthday! He’s the best daddy and most amazing husband. The boys and I just love him so darn much, and can’t wait to celebrate him! Adult birthdays are so much more fun with the joy of the kids around. 😊

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Friday Favorites {01.07.22}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I always feel like I deserve a pat on the back for making it through the first full week back at work after the holidays. The temperatures finally dropped to winter cold, and I’ve struggled finding the motivation this week. We’re looking forward to the Chiefs v. Broncos game this weekend at our house. Nathan is at least excited that his game will actually be shown here in the Kansas City market. Ha. Hope you all have a great weekend ahead!

I love Christmas decor, but I looooove the blank slate and uncluttering that comes with taking all the decorations down. Anybody else get a thrill over how big their house seems with all the Christmas decor coming down?

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Lauren’s Top 3 Books of 2021

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I became a reader again last year. Thanks to my, albeit very late, discovery of audiobooks, the second half of my year was FULL of reading. Books that I thought I’d never have time to get through before, that I had had on my reading list for years. I wrote a whole post about how I became a reader HERE.

This year, I listened to 21 books. 20 of those books I reviewed here on my blog. Here’s some links back to past book reviews:

I took a look back at all of the books I read this past year, and came up with my top three favorite books of the year. When I actually sat down to try to rank them, this was a really hard task! I can’t imagine how hard it will be once I’ve read books for an entire year!

In third place…

3. The Last Thing He Told Me

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Friday Favorites {12.17.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

I feel myself getting caught up this time of year in trying to have the perfect Christmas. Mostly ideas of peaceful cookie decorating, picturesque holiday movie watching on the couch with the whole family and a fire going, and doing all of the festive things like visiting Santa, looking at lights. And then there are little things too, for me, like wrapping each present perfectly. And I can find myself, if I don’t catch it early enough, with these high expectations of what this time looks like for our little family.

The holidays, and pretty much all special events, are better when I lower my expectations. When it doesn’t go perfectly, I don’t want my kids remembering a mom that was flustered and upset. I want them to remember these special celebrations as moments of joy strung together.

So as we head into this holiday week, I pray for you, friend, a week where we let go of the reigns a little bit. We lower the expectations of our children’s reactions and actions, the perfect picturesque holiday scenes we have in our minds, and remember that the best thing we can give our kids is a happy, joyful mom in the chaos and mess of it all. (And then let’s just all plan to have a virtual glass of wine together at the end of the night. ☺️)

Happy Friday, friends. And Merry Christmas week! ~Lauren

We went and visited Santa a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t sure how this would go, honestly. I was prepared for tears. Harrison hadn’t visited Santa since he was 1, and obviously has no memory of it.

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Our Winter Cozy Home

Posted on by Lauren Lane

As Christmas comes upon us, and the holidays come and go, I take comfort in the coziness of winter. When it comes to the weather dipping into the teens, there’s something reminiscent of childhood in coming into a nice warm home that feels super cozy. There are a few things that make our house extra cozy during those cold winter months:

-1- Ambient Lights

There are few things that make a house feel more cozy than the soft glow that comes from a side table lamp or twinkle lights on a Christmas tree. It just exudes cozy.

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Friday Favorites {12.10.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

AHHH! This month is FLYING! How does that always happen?? Anyone else have an elf on a shelf that this seems like a great idea?

Absolute favorite from the past few weeks was being able to have Thanksgiving with family again this year. It was absolute chaos, and absolutely beautiful. We had so much fun getting to see everyone!

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October & November Book Review

Posted on by Lauren Lane

It took me two months to get here, but I finally have a quorum of books to review for you guys!

I started out October reading Set Boundaries, Find Peace. I started following the author, Nedra Glover Tawwab on Instagram not ago, and I’m always looking for books that give me new insight into how to improve upon my own life. This one was only ok for me. After following her for several months, I felt like many of the concepts she talks about in regards to where people struggle setting boundaries are the basis of her Instagram account as well. So I didn’t feel particularly inspired by anything new in the book. Are they good concepts? Sure. Just didn’t really have me walking away wanting to really make a lot of changes to my own life.

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Friday Favorites {11.12.21}

Posted on by Lauren Lane

Fall is really showing off here in Kansas City this week! As I’m writing this, the rain is supposed to be coming in any minute, and I know the leaves will really start coming down. Sawyer and I got out for one last walk before the rain with all the pretty leaves. Also, can you believe that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away?! The holidays always seem to just fly by at the end of the year. It has me thinking about how this time last year, I was finishing up my maternity leave. Time flies, friends.

You guys know I have a real thing for Bravo reality TV. And this is just satisfying every single messy bit about my love. Are you all watching this new series?? I mean, really what could be better than cast members from my two favorite reality shows coming together?

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