Coffee Conversations

Chair | Pouf | Marble Table | Lamp | Pillow | Basket | Plant

Happy first Friday of October! Like many of you, I’m still trying to figure out how September is already over…it went by very quickly. After several days with my parents and then just my mom here, we woke up to an empty house this morning – I got used to having them here! And then my in-laws just got to town yesterday for a few days, so we’re doing a parent swap ๐Ÿ˜‚

Madewell has their big Fall Sale happening right now – you can get 20% off orders $100+ and 30% off orders $200+. I shared a bunch of items that I wear regularly that are on sale on InstaStories yesterday, but you can also shop my sale picks here! This is a great time to get a pair of their denim — I almost exclusively wear Madewell denim. The roadtrippers and 9″ high-rise are my favorites.

This is the next book I have to read on my nightstand.

I made these lettuce wraps (again) for my mom while she was here – they’re super easy and delicious!

Did you catch my other blog posts from this week? I shared my favorite Amazon finds from September and all the details on our dining room!

We’re considering going to see the new movie, A Star Is Born tonight. Have you seen it? Is it worth it? It has pretty good reviews and I’m intrigued by it. We love going to see a movie in the theater!

I got my mom hooked on using Lavender essential oil to sleep at night. I’ve been doing that off and on for a few years now. It really does make a difference in the quality of my sleep!

Q&A
As someone who works at home, what are your tips for maintaining work/life balance?
There’s a lot I could say about this (and maybe I should in a blog post!), but the biggest thing for me was setting boundaries. I don’t work on the weekends (except during the holiday season) and work normal hours — I usually start working by 7:30am and rarely work past 6pm. It’s been really helpful for me the last couple years to have my workspace in an area of our home that I don’t have to see. Whether that’s in a basement or bedroom that you can shut the door on, I sometimes need that physical boundary to remind myself that I need to not work sometimes.

As I’m writing out this answer, I’m realizing that I definitely need to dedicate a full post to this topic, so keep your eyes out for that!


How did you meet your husband? 
We meet through youth group in high school at our church. We ran in the same circle there, so we were friends through high school, but lost touch in college. Long story short, we reconnected towards the end of college and started dating shortly after!


Do you shave your face? Seems to be the hype.
I don’t! I’m not opposed to it, but haven’t taken the time to get the necessary supplies or really felt the need to do it!


Do you miss Chicago?
There are definitely some things that I miss about Chicago! I’ve settled into suburban life pretty well (๐Ÿ˜‰), but I do miss all the walking I used to do living in the city. When the weather was nice, I loved walking to dinner, along the lakefront, taking the long route while running errands, etc. There’s an energy and electricity in the city that just doesn’t translate to the burbs, so I miss that! The food…oh, how I miss the food! Mostly Chicago-style pizza, but also the endless options we had.

There are times when I’ll be doing something and I’ll get a flashback to my life in Chicago and feel nostalgic for it — it was a wonderful few years with so many memories made. Overall, though, I feel like that was a great chapter but wouldn’t want to go back.


Favorite go-to gift for a girlfriend?
I love to put together a little collection of things, like a cute notepad or notebook, a candle, a little zipper pouch and something unique to them. I love the process of putting together a thoughtful gift like that!


How to make friends when you move to a new city?
Get involved in something! For us, that was finding a church that we wanted to call, “home” and then getting connected to a small group. We’ve been blessed with a wonderful group of friends through that. If church isn’t your thing, volunteer, join a sports league, or tap your co-workers/work friends for  social connections! It’s not always easy to put yourself out there, but that’s the only way to get to know people.

Have a great weekend! 

Hi there!

Lauren Bown Lifestyle Blog is an online destination where I share my personal style, beauty finds, and bits of life in hopes to inspire other women to feel good in their skin and find the beauty in the ordinary.

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