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 ✨ I’m here a little early this month because I don’t usually post on the weekends, and I have plenty to report as of right now! We successfully moved home this month and enjoyed the remaining days in Portland, so here’s the standard rundown of my life lately! Popham Beach State Park / Bath, ME | We have plenty of time to explore southern Maine (Portland and under), but we probably won’t be venturing north as much as the years go by. We wanted to check out Bath because it’s a cute little town (kind of city maybe?) and there’s an EXCELLENT beach up there called Popham Beach State Park. Sandbars are exposed during low tide and there’s a little island kind of thing you can walk to when the timing is right, which was so fun. We spent the day there and then grabbed dinner at a random oceanside restaurant in Bath. California trip […]

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 ✨ June marks the super busy time for me! We’re moving at the end of the month and had soooo much to do in the interim. There’s more to come after this posts, where things get even busier. Here’s my life from mid-May to mid-June! Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor | I know I already did a full recap of this trip, but I wanted to include a few pictures here. Definitely read the whole thing if you want more details! It was so much fun. It’s genuinely the most beautiful place I’ve been. If you have a chance to go, please do. Victoria Mansion and food spots | We went to a Portland attraction, the Victoria Mansion, this month. It’s really cool because they kept most of it authentic to the time people lived there. We went to Highroller Lobster Company after, which was amazing. We split fries, a “lobby pop” (piece of lobster […]

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 ✨ This has been a crazier month than usual, my friends. I’ve done a lot things and traveled to many places between the end of April and beginning of May! Here’s a big ol recap: Week 1: Hikes, Makeup, and Food The weather started warming up again and we tried to get out as much as possible for a little while… before our crazy few months started up! We went to Mackworth Island for our favorite local hike. We need to keep getting out there but it’s been tough! I started to get heavily into makeup and beauty things again, as evidenced by many of my recent posts/sections. I’ve spent a lot of money on it lately and I MUST BE STOPPED. Week 2: Home in Connecticut (Lots of Celebrations) My sister and mom have the same birthday, which happened to fall the same weekend as my cousin’s bridal shower in Connecticut, so it […]

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 ✨ Crazy weekend home – bridal shower, secret santa, birthdays, and all the lies | Before we headed home, we spent one night at our favorite dine-in theater and saw Game Night. So funny! Then, our mid-March journey home was fillllled with plans. My friend wanted a surprise bridal shower, so we had our very late Secret Santa the night before as an excuse for all of us to be in Connecticut. We had this immense web of lies I won’t get into, but it paid off! She was definitely surprised and it was a fun day… well, as fun as a bridal shower could be, I guess! (So not my thing.) The next day, we had dinner out for my dad’s belated birthday and then my sister and I went to see Love, Simon and its PERFECTION. We both read the book and loved the movie just as much. I got my hair done […]

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 ✨ Cooking, relaxing, reading, and coffee shops | The past month has actually been quiet. We went almost a month without skiing, which is weird at this time of year! I’ve been eating healthier and taking more care when choosing recipes/meals. I’ve read decent amount of books (and some really great ones). There’s a new coffee shop down the road (even closer than some of the others I’ve gone to!) and we walked down there on a really nice day before heading home for our February trip. I did a Day in the Life post about it too.   February’s trip home | We stayed home from a Wednesday night to Friday night. We didn’t have a lot to do, aside from my book club and me needing to cover part of my boss’s vacation in the office. We went to this amazing soul food place for book club and discussed Renegades! I saw both of […]

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 ✨     Thompson’s Point | I’d always heard about this little neighborhood in Portland and had been planning a trip there for a while. It’s this little strip of land that juts out into the ocean and is currently being developed still. They’re going to add some apartments and hotels to make it an actual neighborhood. Anyways, there’s currently a bunch of stuff to do there for a day: brewery, ice skating, fried chicken and waffles restaurant, distillery, paint your own pottery, and a cryptozoology museum. We decided to hit most of those one Saturday afternoon! We got chicken and waffles first, then went to the museum, then went to a yurt near the ice skating for beers (the brewery was way too busy), and then painted pottery. Biddeford / Elements | In an effort to keep exploring the surrounding area, I spent some time one Friday researching local bookstores. I came across a really cool […]

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 ✨ Christmassy trip to Freeport and holiday things | The middle of December involved a quick visit to Freeport, ME. It’s the home of the LL Bean flagship store, plus a cute holiday market they put together in the middle of their “campus.” We walked around the town, got dinner at Linda Bean’s, and shopped for final Christmas gifts. It had exactly the kind of Maine Christmas vibes I was looking for this holiday season. We did a LOT of holiday movie-watching this year. We saw Daddy’s Home 2 in theaters and watched countless movies at home as well. I did a few round-up posts for movies if you’re curious. WWE Live event | The same weekend we went to Freeport on Friday, we went to a WWE Live event in downtown Portland. These are non-televised WWE shows and they’re pretty fun. Unfortunately we went to the last Live event before a PPV, so it was a little […]

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 ✨   Home for Thanksgiving {Lego meeting, hotel stay} | Even though the last recap was basically right after we came home at the end of October / early November, we had to come home again a few weeks later for Thanksgiving. We really didn’t do anything in between the two trips home, honestly. So! We we were able to come home a few days before Thanksgiving to go to our Lego club’s holiday meeting, which was a blast. We got sooo much free Lego. That night, we actually got a hotel room in a little CT town that we’re considering living in after we leave Maine. We enjoyed a nice dinner out and walking around in the rain, then ended our night in the hotel by the fire with drinks. We did some exploring the next day before heading to my dad’s house for football. I worked in the office in the days leading […]

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 ✨    Apple and pumpkin picking day | We decided to hit up three different orchards last month, just to get out and about. Like I’ve said before, Chris’s foot surgery definitely has led to major laziness… so this was a great way to get out of the house. We had some long, scenic drives and then checked out pumpkins, apples, ice cream, and cider donuts at each stop. It was a really great day to be outside.   Chris’s birthday | We weren’t sure what we were doing to do on his birthday because of the boot situation (last year we went for an intense hike…), but we made the most of it for sure! We started out by attempting to go to this restaurant downtown, but it was utterly packed. We decided to regroup on the Eastern Prom and check out the boats. We ended up choosing a nice waterfront restaurant north of Portland, […]

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 ✨ September week home | We ended up coming home for a little over a week in September. We wanted to help Jen out around the house while Chris’s parents were in Vietnam. We also had a wedding that corresponded well with the trip, so we decided to make a week of it. It was a very stressful but productive week home. I saw a lot of people and really kind of wore myself out. I think it’s partly because Chris and I really don’t see anyone but each other when we’re up in Maine. When we’re home, we see EVERYONE. I won’t bore you with the millions of errands I ran, but there are a few photos above – Abby on her throne, some delicious pho and Vietnamese iced coffee, and a wedding selfie of us. Chris’s surgery and laziness | So I honestly don’t have much to report since our week home. Chris got […]