Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨   August’s visit home and Smackdown Live | I left off my last Lauren Lately with my sister’s visit to Portland and that we were headed home the following day. We had Jen’s (Chris’s sister) grad party at his parents house, which was FULL of delicious food and his family members. We got to relax by the pool that weekend and then I worked in my office for a few days. On our last night home, we went to Smackdown Live in Providence with two of my friends. It was awesome because it was the last show before Summerslam. We watch Baron Corbin make an idiot of himself and it was insane. Old Orchard Beach | My goal was to soak up the coastal Maine towns/beaches while we still had summertime to enjoy. We made our way down to OOB for a day and LOVED it. I wish we stayed longer or explored into the […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Cape Elizabeth / Portland Head Lighthouse | We weren’t sure what to do the day before Jen came to visit (a Saturday) so we decided to take a little trip down to Cape Elizabeth, which is around 20 minutes away from us. There’s a huuuuge land preserve with the Portland Head Lighthouse. Apparently it’s one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. It was gorgeous, so I can see why. We walked around there a little bit, took pictures, and got a fantastic lobster roll with local Maine sodas. Jen’s visit and first trip home | Chris’s sister was coming to Maine for a few days to take her nursing exam (she passed!) and stay with us. We didn’t do anything too crazy while she was there, since she lived in Portland for two years (literally in the apartment next to ours…) and didn’t need to sightsee. We hung out and watched movies (you’ll see […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ End of Connecticut | Since I last wrote one of these, we packed up our apartment and moved everything into Chris’s parents’ house (basement). We lived with them from July 18th through July 2nd before coming up here. It was a nice period of time and pretty relaxing, once we had everything organized. The biggest issues are animal-related noises, since they have two bark-y dogs and lots of squawking chickens. Exploring Portland! | This is a large category because we’ve been here for almost two weeks now. It’s so weird to think about! I felt like the day was never going to come, and now we’ve been at it for half a month already.  We spent the first two days doing a lot of apartment shopping, since we got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved. We’ve been biking into the downtown area and trying to figure out our favorite route. There are gorgeous […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨   Skatepark reading | Chris hits the skatepark quite a bit during the warm months. I really enjoy going with him so I can watch him skate around and learn new tricks. But… my time there would be very boring without a book. I’ll sit on the bench or top of the ramp to watch him and read.   Portland round two | We had an EARLY and LONG day back in Portland, ME for Chris’s sister’s graduation. Lots of stressful things happened but we tried to keep cool heads… otherwise we could have gone crazy. We skipped out for lunch on the water and then helped her pack up the apartment. We also went to check out the local skatepark and skate shop too. Bike riding | We finally grabbed a bike for Chris and my dad put air in my tires, so we’re officially able to ride bikes around! We’ve gone a few times to […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Portland, ME | We went up to Portland to visit Chris’s sister with his cousin and had SO much fun! I have more pictures but didn’t want to spam you. We’re so in love with that city now. Above you can see the Bug Light park/lighthouse area, our seafood lunch, and walk near Back Cove. Everything was awesome. We went to a really fun Mexican restaurant at night with so many pepper-shaped lights on the ceiling and walls – literally like a blanket. We also went to a nice indoor-outdoor bar that will be super fun later on in the summer. I can’t wait to be back up there very soon! 💕 Reading outside | Tis the season, when the weather gets a little nicer and I get to spend my lunch breaks reading in the grass. I also try to utilize our back porch as much as humanly possible. I love being able to enjoy […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ New England weather | I’ve lived in this region my whole life so I’m very familiar with the saying “if you don’t like the weather today, wait until tomorrow.” This past month, it’s been so true! We had one weekend where it snowed and sleeted on Saturday, then was 60* and sunny the next day. We were able to squeak in skiing one more time and then went for a nice walk the next day. It’s crazy!     Hiking and other outdoor activities | I already alluded to this but the weather finally stopped being back-and-forth, so now we’ve got some nice weather. Rain was in the forecast a little over the last week but there were some warm and sunny days too. I’ve been taking full advantage of reading on the porch as much as possible. We’ve also gone for a lot of walks around our apartment and on some new hiking trails. TV […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨   Skiing | As usual, more skiing this month! It’s nearing the end of the season (which is obvious in the last picture, where half of the ground is dirt instead of snow) so we tried to fit in a few more days. The conditions were terrible one weekend at Ski Sundown, then completely perfect the following weekend. We’ve pretty much been able to go weekly since February!   New hair | I usually just get highlights done over my roots, but I was sick of how it looked when it grew out (see the before and after above). One of my best friends is my hairdresser and she’s perfect at knowing exactly what I want. I showed her a few pictures and she made this masterpiece! Some of her coworkers said it’s one of the best color jobs she’s done before. This new color combo has me curling my hair with a new curling […]

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨    More hiking | It was 50 degrees a few weeks ago, so we went on a nice hike in one of our new favorite spots. There are so many different trails throughout, so you can really choose how long you want to be out there. The weather was perfect and I was able to try out my new Vans All-Weather MTEs. So good!   Busy weekends… | The last weekend of January was a busy one! We went hiking and had all-you-can-eat sushi for Chris’s dad’s birthday on Saturday. It was a mess at the end of the night because LONG story short: they left the car key at home when we drove an hour and a half away, so Chris’s uncle had to drive us home at the end of the night. Sunday, our LUG and the New England Lego Users Group got together for a display at the Railroad Hobby Show […]

I always get annoyed with myself that my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups are too long and that no one wants to read that much. I get carried away on all sides – the bookish and the personal. So! My solution was to create Lauren Lately to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. (After all, I base all of my book stats around the month ending anyways and my personal life is more flexible 😉 ) ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨   Christmas Days Off | Because Chris had Christmas Eve Eve off from work, I took the day off too! We went for a nice wintery hike and really enjoyed that particular trail. Later that same day, we went to my mom’s house to watch The Family Man. I used to love watching it every year with them, but it has been a while since we’ve all seen it. It’s sort of Christmassy, because the main plot gets started on Christmas, but not as much as I remembered. It was great to relax with a beer, taco dip, and pepperoni bread.   Christmas | We definitely had a jam-packed Christmas as usual, but we were able to eliminate one stop on Christmas day. We went […]

I always get annoyed with myself that my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups are too long and that no one wants to read that much. I get carried away on all sides – the bookish and the personal. So! My solution was to create Lauren Lately to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. (After all, I base all of my book stats around the month ending anyways and my personal life is more flexible 😉 ) ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨   Thanksgiving was another busy holiday for Chris and me. Unlike Christmas, we only had to hit up two houses that day. As long as I’ve been alive we’ve had Thanksgiving in the morning/early afternoon with my family. My mom is a Cowboys fan and they always play at 4:30, so we’d have to get our asses home in time for the game. It works out perfectly because Chris’s family tends to do things later in the day. We went to my Nana’s house at noon and had Thanksgiving with them, then we went to Chris’s parents house at 4:00 for the second meal. I loved all the food – as usual – and it was great to see everyone! The long weekend […]