Green & Gold

For those who know me, you know I am a proud graduate of the University of South Florida.

Football season has started and even though my schedule hasn't worked out to attend the past few home games we were able to attend one so far this fall season.

I love that my entire family is USF Bulls Alumni. 

It's a great feeling to have that school pride that all connects us. 
I love to tailgate and can't wait to get out to more games this season if my job allows, we won last week and hope we can continue to show everyone what the BULLS are all about.

Do you support your college team?

xo

Lauren

Identity Crisis

Lately I feel as if I am having somewhat of an identity crisis.

I know that sounds weird and at 31 not ideal obviously.

I'm not saying that I'm not happy or not confident in who I am in this stage of my life but it's been a very confusing time.

I was used to being a wife for the past almost 7 years, something that I thought was my main identity.

Only to find out it was only a part of who I was and I am still trying to figure out what really defines me and who "Lauren" is.

Now I am a girlfriend, a career girl, close to my family and have that strong group of girlfriends that have really been there for me throughout the past 4 months.

I am blessed.

But I am also hurting.

Some days when I wake up I miss my old job when I was working in weddings, although I still work in events now it just isn't the same. 

My goal is to keep doing some wedding coordinating on the side since I just simply cannot get out of the field, I love it too much.
That is a part of me that is special and near to my heart and even though I am going through a divorce I do believe that many people can get married and have their happily ever after.

Sometimes it's weird not wearing my wedding rings anymore, at first I felt very insecure like I wasn't myself and with the rings not present anymore I do get some questions but I am more comfortable as time goes on.

I am confident in my new relationship and it's thriving.

Recently my boyfriend accepted a new chef position with an amazing and very well known and respected catering company here in Florida. I was proud to have helped him with some career coaching like I do on the side at times and just seeing him so happy and excited about starting this new opportunity makes me thrilled.

Our relationship is open and honest and we communicate like I have never with anyone in my life.

It's an amazing feeling to have found someone I care about and connect with so much, it really is.

So as for my identity crisis, I am figuring out who I am again one step at a time. 

Getting back to my roots and exploring new opportunities when they come along in my career.

It's exciting but can be stressful at times as well, but I am sure that I will figure it out and just learn to be happy, appreciate life and live it fully.


xo

Lauren

Making a house a home...

Hi everyone!

I've been trying to keep up with my blog but it's been a super busy week of work for our state conference coming up tomorrow and between that and getting things moved it's been a bit hectic!

This past week was a great one.

I can't say anything yet but exciting things happening just in general.

I've been getting settled in the new place and started decorating my home office a bit!

I need to still get a new desk and some more shelving but I figured the walls were bare enough for too long so I would start to work on decor first.

I love the concept of gallery walls and I think I might just do that with a few of the areas in my office.

This is what I started so far and can't wait to add more!

This will be my other gallery wall, featuring some of my USF memorabilia and other artwork I've done.

You know fall is on the way when all the pumpkin beers appear in the stores, this might be my new favorite one!

and just because this dinner was too amazing not to share here is what we had for dinner last night, have I mentioned how awesome it is having a chef as a boyfriend?!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far, I will update more later on "life" in my next post it's just taking me a while to figure out how to explain my situation and how I want to present to my readers :-)

xo

Lauren

Mini Beach Getaway

So here it is over a week later and I'm already slacking on blogging!
#fail

In my defense I had a crazy busy week of working and traveled to Orlando for a couple events then we left the next day for a nice long Labor Day weekend at the beach!

It's no secret that Treasure Island is my all time favorite beach here in Florida since I grew up vacationing there and now can enjoy everything the "island" has to offer as an adult as well.

I pretty much know all the best places to eat, drink and enjoy the area and I take full advantage of that while on vacation.

I'm lucky since this was the second time in three months we got to visit and the weather was sunny and amazing.

Here are a few photos of the long weekend, it was a wonderful much needed time away from it all!

Our view from a new condo/hotel we checked out, was a hidden gem for sure! (contact me directly if you want the information they have buy two nights get one free till December on no-holiday weekend, awesome deal!)

Cute decor in our condo living room loved it!

Enjoying the beach

Always crowded for a holiday weekend but feel so at home here!

Had to check out once again my favorite beach bar Sloppy Joe's we could walk from our hotel (although a bit hot so we opted for the 1 minute drive) :-)

These fishbowls are the best! 

I could never get sick of this!

Must go to when at John's Pass the Florida Winery, these wine slushies rock! 

We had a fun night out with friends at Ricky T's a local beach bar!

I still need to blog about my family trip to Michigan, just wait till you see the photos it might be the most beautiful place I've ever been to!

Also, today was a really difficult one but I will blog more about it later this week.

Cheers!
-Lauren

Life...

Life is never easy. Don't let anyone tell you that.

No matter how perfect someone's life might seem, trust me it's not.

Yes there are some completely happy people out there in marriage but it is really wanting to make it work on a daily basis and being supportive of each other.

As most of you now know I am now separated from my husband of almost 7 years, 10 years together.

That is a long time.

A house. A pet. Holiday traditions. Vacations. Family ties and much more.

I say that I am disappointed at how things turned out and truly saddened would be an understatement.

Yes, I am going to be divorced and only 31.

Do I feel like a failure?
Yes.
Do I feel like life will go on?
Yes.

But every day there is hurt and heartache and feelings I can't even begin to describe on here.

As some of you have seen on Instagram I am indeed with someone new. I have been for several months now and it's pretty serious. 
We were friends and it evolved into something more.

Did I use this as an excuse to end my marriage?
No.

I know that some people might not "get it" and think I am an awful person to even consider spending my life with someone else when the papers haven't gone through yet and there is so much left to decide but let me tell you this.

When God has a plan for you, he truly makes it happen.
I have been through a lot the past almost 4 months and it has not been easy.

What I can tell you that has made it better is having someone that truly loves me for me and makes me happy, every single day.

Learning to accept a new relationship out of a broken marriage is NOT something I ever thought I would have to do.

When you say marriage vows they are supposed to last forever.

I don't know how to explain what happened in my marriage but I can say we had a 10 year relationship that just didn't end up on the same path.

I value all the years of fun and love we did share but at this point in my life I had to take a huge leap of faith and do what was best for me.

I have had several questions from people I haven't even spoken to in months wondering "what happened" and "how could I do this".

Well let me tell you something, it takes two people to make a marriage work, and sometimes things just don't work out.

This is probably the most honest post I've ever written and I intend to keep it that way on here.

I want to use this new blog as an outlet for me, which trust me is very much needed lately.

I do appreciate all the love and support over the past few months from friends and if I kept you in the dark then I am truly sorry but it was what I had to do at the time and needed my space as I figured things out.

Here's to a new beginning, an honest beginning and one finding MY best happily ever after.

-Lauren

The first post (hope it's not awkward)!

Well here goes nothing. 

I blogged for almost six years straight when I had my previous blog "The Life of a Modern Day Wife", to say the very least things in my life have changed. 

I don't intend for this blog to be a "tell all" per say of what my recent months have been like. But I have been MIA from blogging and I would like to share about my experiences including the good and bad that led to me having a new job, new life, new love and new beginning.

Thanks for following along and cheers to endless possibilities!

Lauren