If We Were Having Coffee…

Posted March 8, 2018 / If We Were Having Coffee, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I LOVE reading personal posts from other bloggers and seeing Jamie’s “If We Were Having Coffee” feature take off is so fun. Laura and Lindsey also have some great spin-offs of this feature too. I was very tempted to also make mine margarita-related (like Lindsey) but coffee is so ingrained in my daily life that it just makes sense to keep it. If you’re not familiar, it basically involves a fake little conversation about what’s been happening in our lives lately. Read on to see what’s been happening lately and feel free to chat back in the comments!

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you how I did my first one of these exactly two months ago today! It’s kind of weird how time flies by so quickly. I’ll probably talk more about that later on, but thought it was worth noting that I inadvertently developed a schedule for these posts. I try to keep some posts like these a bit more loose because I should just post them whenever I feel like it, but other memes are more scheduled. I try to have a mix on my blog. Usually the beginning of the month and the end of the month have the most “scheduled” things between wrap-ups, TBRs, and other monthly/quarterly link-ups I participate in. Do you have a blogging schedule?

If we were having coffee… I’d obviously talk about booooooks. February was a slow reading month for me because I was basically reading MY PLAIN JANE all month. Whooops. I started it, thinking I could finish soon, but wasn’t able to fully get into it right away. I had to pause reading it for an ARC tour book that came in and my book club selection (which happened to be over 500 pages). I finally finished MPJ over the weekend, moved on to THE LEADING EDGE OF NOW (holy wow, what a powerful book), and am reading LEGENDARY on my Kindle. What are you reading?

If we were having coffee… I would still manage to talk about football even though the season is over. I had the NFL Combine in the background over the weekend/Monday just to get some football feels going. I love watching them compete and getting familiar with the names in preparation for the draft. The biggest offseason thing I half love and half dread is free agency. The Panthers already got rid of some of my favorite players (RUDE) but I’m really hoping they make a nice move or two during free agency for once. Do you pay attention to the Combine, Draft, or Free Agency for football, or am I the only crazed one?

If we were having coffee… I’d ask you about Instagram. I’ve noticed a lot of people have switched over their preference to Instagram stories instead of Snapchat, which is fine with me, but I can’t decide how to up my Instagram game in general. I’m not the kind of person who sets up books with a bunch of props because I’m suuuuper lazy. I usually take pics of my books while I’m ~in action~ instead – like, this is where I’m reading right now, on the beach or porch or comfy on the couch. I try to participate in monthly bookstagram challenges but (a) the number of books I have with me is limited now and (b) I don’t have good locations/options for taking pictures. What do you think of the emphasis on Instagram lately?

If we were having coffee… I’d freak out a little bit that we have like four months left in Portland. The weeks go by so quickly, especially when we don’t go out and do anything. I’m ready for the warm weather (LOL because we just got a bunch of snow this week and it’s currently snowing) so we can actually explore, go for walks, and take our bikes downtown. I need to figure out our living situation at home. We’re hoping to rent a house from my coworker but it’ll depend on if her tenant leaves. Fingers crossed because it’d be perfect! Is your area in spring mode already or are you still getting snow like we are?

If we were having coffee… I’d honestly keep talking your ear off about this move and our remaining time here. Sorry! I need to make a bucket list of Portland activities to do before it’s too late. I wish we didn’t have weddings and bachelorette weekends to take up time over the next few months, but there are plenty of weekends and weeknights we can go do something with ourselves. I’ll have to start compiling a list so we can run through it whenever we’re bored. Chris’s work schedule is making things a bit difficult sometimes but we’ll make it work. Any tips on how to make time slow down? No? Didn’t think so…

If we were having coffee… I’d tell you about my recent calorie counting app, LifeSum. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now. While there are a lot of things I don’t like, compared to Lose It, there are more things I do… generally speaking. I like getting meal ratings and food ratings, as well as seeing the breakdown between protein, carbs, and fats. It makes me feel like I’m doing more than just calorie counting; I’m actively trying to be healthier too. Have you ever counted calories or used one of these apps? If you’re curious, I do have a post coming up about the two…

If we were having coffee… I’d talk about the weather/seasons because I’m lame like that. It’s so weird lately – one day it’ll be 50* and the next day it’ll snow. I kind of like spring getting a slow start in between more snow because I prefer to ease into it (and out of the winter). I don’t mind the winter because I ski, and I’m still itching to go a few more times this year if I can. I think with this snow and some coming up over the weekend, we’ll be able to make that happen. I’m constantly in a weird state of being ready for the spring and warm weather, so we can hike and ride bikes, or wanting the winter to continue so I can keep skiing. What’s the deal with this global warming, dude?

If we were having coffee… I’d talk about this lil blog of mine. I’ve never cared much about the stats because I’ve always said that this blog is really for me to record my life and reading. I love being able to search through old Lauren Lately posts and see exactly when I did something. It helps to have great comments to read to make the time seem even more worth it though. I’m not sure what I want to do to grow this space. I know I could be more active with Pinterest and Twitter, promoting my posts, but I just can’t get the energy to do so. I feel like I need to rebrand or revamp or something. I’m not exactly stuck in a rut because I have lot of post ideas, but I feel like I’m heading that way. How do you advertise your blog?

If we were having coffee… Of course I would mention some food I’m obsessed with lately! And the biggest thing is… olives. I know they’re a controversial food that people either love or hate, but I love them. In the picture above you can see my FAVORITE bagel and cream cheese combo at Black Cat Coffee – olive cream cheese on a sesame bagel. We went out to a bar a couple of weeks ago and tried a hummus and olive tapenade plate with pita bread and I immediately got my own jar of olive tapenade from Trader Joe’s. Aside from the apparent olive obsession, I’d tell you that I’m obsessed with making smoothies and almost every product at Trader Joe’s in general. Whoops. Do you have a TJ’s near you?! It’s the best place!

If we were having coffee… I’d actually ask you about something I’ve been curious about – bulletproof coffee! Have you heard of it? It’s basically a way to make your coffee more filling and full of “good fats” first thing in the morning. It’s supposed to help curb hunger for a while and give you some good stuff right up front. However, it’s made with… butter? and some kind of coconut oil maybe? I saw it on a blog I follow and did some research, and then saw some other people talk about how its a scam. HELP. Do you know anything about this trend? Some people swear by it but the whole butter-in-coffee thing weirds me out.

If we were having coffee… I’d try to convince you to watch wrestling… or spend an hour defending my choice to watch wrestling. Unfortunately that’s the way it is when people find out that I like it! I’m actually working on a post that exactly one person will care about (Morgan) where I talk about our first year as wrestling fans and some of the fun things we’ve experienced as a result. We’ve recently expanded into NJPW and ROH aside from WWE and hooo boy do we spend too much time watching wrestling! Do you watch at all? Probably not, okay moving right along…

6 responses to “If We Were Having Coffee…

  1. I love these posts. I wish we were really having coffee! (Well, actually tea. Ha.) Anyway, Jim did bullet proof coffee every morning for about 6 months, and he loved it! He thought it totally worked. He had an immersion blended, and he’d blend 1 TBSP of butter and 1 TBSP of coconut oil into his coffee, and he said it helped curb his hunger, and it helped with intermittent fasting which has tons of great benefits. He lost some weight, and he felt really great. He would only eat then between 12 PM and 8 PM. And have the coffee around 7 AM or so. He thought it tasted really rich and creamy and super good. I don’t like coffee, so I never tried it.

    • We will totally make the coffee/tea thing happen sometime!!

      Oooh I’m glad to know he liked it. I was just going to do an immersion blender too. I saw this pre-made creamer that has the mix of butter and coconut oil too, which would make it easier, but I think I’d just start with the oil and butter because if I hate it, I can just use them elsewhere haha. Thank you!!

      Lauren (Bookmark Lit) recently posted: If We Were Having Coffee…
  2. I wish we could all have coffee together!! I’m with you on advertising the blog problems. I was going to write a post about the differences between when I started blogging 6 years ago and now– and how now it’s like we’re expected to do so many things on so many different platforms to have a successful blog, where back when I started blogging it was like hit publish, sign-up for blog hops & do Top Ten Tuesday type things and you’re good. It’s such a time suck now.

  3. Ohh I love that you adapted this! I’ve been reading Jamie’s posts forever and I love that more bloggers are choosing to focus on some more personal things rather than just bookish things. I may have to do my own…

    Also 100% AGREE about Bookstagram! I love it but I DO NOT have hours and hours of time to set up photo shoots! (I’m also not that creative lol)

    Cristina (Girl in the Pages) recently posted: February 2018 Month in Review

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