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career once the baby is born for this reason alone this book is such an encouraging read for any new mother whether she stays home or not because it is so easy to lose your identity to motherhood and we are so much more than that just because we become a mother doesn t mean we give up all of our interests and ambitions we just have to adjust and make room for all of it i could relate to the struggles of a baby who was a lot both my first and third baby were a lot a lot a lot and i remember crying many times because i just didn t know how to take care of them i really felt like i was failing i was good at so much but why can t i be good at this needless to say i wish i had a vi vi is a nanny of sorts a woman of many talents i loved her description of the different stages of parenting and i feel like i m in all of them at once right now she offers helpful advice and a new perspective on parenting i hadn t yet considered highly motivating this is a positive and encouraging book for women and teach you how to say no and when to say yes it s great for career focused women parenting family focused women and the women who are going to do it all no matter which path you take marilyn howard assures you that its the best path for you and that you ve got this thank you to wow women on writing and author marilyn howard for having me on this tour and providing a copy for review all opinions are my own posted by sara strand at 1 26 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook labels 2023 reading challenge books marilyn howard women on writing friday october 6 2023 the summer of concerts i feel like i went to almost all of the big concerts that came near us this summer i missed pink and i m sad about that because she s great live but concerts are expensive and you just can t do them all i still have the eagles to see in november and aerosmith but that s pushed back to 2024 and honestly i don t hate that i am kind of concert ed out in i don t even know maybe august i say the lumineers with olivia and her friends i hadn t ever seen them live and i know a few of their songs so i was pretty sure i d have a good time can we talk about the ridiculous road construction in somerset wisconsin it s terrible they have little to no detours so you re just left to figure it out yourself i also remembered i hate festival parking i hadn t been to somerset in years and i forgot you park in a field during the day time it isn t a big deal because you can see where you are at night though you can t find your car and you realize all of your land marker clues are useless because it looks the same no matter where you are in the field the great news is my car has distinctive lights and a horn that doesn t sound like everyone elses otherwise we would have had to wait until the majority of cars left i also forgot how much have 300 cars trying to get out of one exit when at least half are drunk or at least partially impaired sucks it is an absolute free for all and you re forced to play chicken with everyone around you you also have to have stellar peripheral vision because at least one subaru barreling through the crowd will narrowly miss hitting you despite parking and driving shenanigans it was a really good concert it was perfect weather a totally clear night and quite possibly the most perfect night to have an outdoor concert i also discovered i absolutely love the lumineers and didn t even know it they sang all of the things i knew olivia and her friends had an absolutely great time thank god the drive home was much less eventful once i got out of the damn parking lot it was a late night and it took me a few days to recover i m not in my 20s anymore sadly in september matt and i went to the twin cities to see old dominion these tickets were super cheap for great seats so i figured a date night was in order our old asses ended up leaving early because its a two and half hour drive home it was fine we still got a bunch of hours to hang out without kids shout out to cass for holding down the fort when we were gone oh let me just say i left the concert absolutely loving priscilla like presley block like party because she was such a fun time she has a great live voice and her stage personna was so much fun the last of the summer concerts was 50 cent which i was a reluctant attendee i didn t plan on going to this but a last minute in who was going but it worked out just fine busta rhymes was the opener and he talked far too much and seemingly did cocaine while on stage not even slick about it and then starts talking about his 15 year old son in attendance which stellar parenting eye roll i wasn t sure what to expect with 50 cent but you know what he was great i have all of his albums so i knew all the songs he sounded great he looked great it was a super fun night we left before the last song so we could get ahead of traffic and not get stuck in the parking ramp and the drive home was pretty uneventful and just fine i felt good and didn t feel like death the next day so that was really nice the last concert of the year is the eagles and that one is with jackson and i won t even tell you how much those tickets cost lets just say i would never but jackson had money he loves this band and it is their farewell tour and he had real fomo that concert isn t until november though so i ve got time to pregame it posted by sara strand at 3 31 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook labels 50 cent concerts old dominion priscilla block the lumineers tuesday september 19 2023 back to school 2023 2024 i feel like we ve had a really great long summer and it felt like more than three months we managed to get a ton of concerts two road trips a county fair swimming in our pool and lots of yard play it was a pretty great summer but like every year school has begun olivia is a senior this year and i m not even ready for it she s ready for it though and it is so exciting to see all of her hard work all of these years coming to an end she s gearing up for new adventures but i hope she enjoys this year to the absolute fullest jackson is a sophomore and he s going to be learning how to drive this year and that feels weird to me i m actually excited about that because that kid needs freedom and that s the gateway to freedom penelope is in third grade and she is ready multiplication and division is her biggest challenges this year but if anyone is up for it it is most definitely her lucy is in second grade this year and she s nervous about it it s so hard seeing her grow because i want her to stay little but it is also exciting seeing her hit new milestones now if she could just learn how to tie her shoes we d be set it s exciting because jackson is trying a new sport olivia is going to continue with dance same with lucy and we might get penelope into swimming she needs to find an activity she feels fits her we just haven t found it yet i am hoping to get into good routines again now that everyone is in school i need to get back into my weight loss routines i need work on positive self talk i need to get back into being mindful and i really need to get back into doing kind things for others i always due but i think i need to do more more often i m trying to make goals for each month and really work towards them including budgeting i m doing well with that but you know we can always do better but fall is here and i m here for it it s going to be a good fall i m trying to not let mental health get the best of me like it usually does so stay tuned it ll be ok posted by sara strand at 12 00 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook labels back to school family kids monday september 18 2023 summer of concerts sam smith when i think back to the summer of 2023 the whole year actually i will remember how many concerts we went to this year i wouldn t trade it for anything spending time with my teens is always great because the time is fleeting soon my oldest will be in college and it ll be so quiet and weird one of the concerts we went to this year was sam smith which was a last minute ticket for us there were seats for 25 so who is turning that down i mean really back in the day i could drive to st paul and back it s about two and a half hours one way with no problem now i have to pre game and by pre game i mean i have to take a nap knowing i won t get to go to bed at my usual time of 10pm i m old now and i don t even feel bad about it on this day i didn t get my nap because i had appointments so by the time i got to the concert i was exhausted the opener was jessie reyez who i wasn t familiar with but she was pretty good i ve already seen sam smith live before and i know that he is a tremendous performer with that said i m not a huge fan of this weird gloria phase he s in but you know do you booboo jackson isn t a huge fan but he s a fan of live music but olivia really likes sam smith so she was all about this it ended up being a great concert we left with like five songs left but truly i was fading fast and having to drive another two and a half hours in the dark was daunting we were missing the newer stuff so i was ok with that we had a good time though and i m so surprised it wasn t sold out he s a great live performer and if you get the chance to see him especially at 25 for a seat absolutely take advantage of that the people watching alone was completely worth it i m always a fan of drunk people hanging over balconies and you re just wondering if they are going to go over or puke it s really a toss up you know either way it s bonus entertainment posted by sara strand at 12 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook labels concerts sam smith tuesday september 5 2023 book review ride or die i can t believe i didn t post at all in august we did go on our second road trip of the summer and then the back to school prep kind of took me out i m back now and with one of the best memoirs i ve read in awhile a husband s journey through grief it isn t very long but oh so impactful ride or die jarie bolander modern society has a warped sense of the partner caregiver role especially for men too often men are ill equipped to handle switching from provider to caregiver and the just suck it up advice so many offer up falls as flat as the kansas prairie in the face of the reality of life and death ride or die takes its audience through the intimate conversations and thoughts of a gen x latchkey generation husband a man who has always had to fend for himself and believed that it s up to him to solve his own problems as and after his wife jane succumbs to a terminal disease jarie bolander wrote this raw heartfelt tribute to jane and her handling of her illness to help men and the people who love them through the experience of loss and grief a frank chronicle of how an intimate relationship can change and grow even when the people involved feel there is nothing left to give ride or die offers a detailed exploration of the male experience of grief in the hopes that others suffering through it will not feel so alone right off the bat this reminded me of matt and i sure i don t have cancer and i am not dead but it just struck me that this could have been matt and though i am not dealing with cancer after having lucy i haven t been anywhere near the same i m left with a multitude of ailments and illnesses and complications that are here for the rest of my days and that s meant that matt had to change too where i was once overachieving working and pto mom volunteering us left and right and going out of my way to help everyone while maintaining a perfect home and cooked meals everyday i am now that absolute opposite it is hard to get out of bed i m not volunteering anywhere i m not working i had to quit the pto my house is a mess and i can t cook to save my life but like the author mentions the sickness and health seems like an abstract thought until you re hip deep into it in ride or die we follow jarie at the unexpected start of a cancer battle with his wife jane we know she doesn t survive so its a real arc and you feel like you re on this journey with them i absolutely loved this book and read it in one sitting because i couldn t stop jane reminded me so much of myself and jarie reminded me of matt except i don t know that matt would have even offered to keep my business afloat me fresh out of the icu and matt august 2016 i really loved the circle of friends jane and jarie had and how in their own way each one rallied to support them even in the darker days jane was the strongest woman battling leukemia and i d like to think i can understand what her frustrations were maybe like having been an everything to everyone woman myself and knowing i can t do it but i want to that need never shuts off in your brain you still have those expectations of yourself despite being unable to do it which makes you feel bad and guilty so for her to battle that and leukemia at the same time is just remarkable i d like to think she d be proud of her husband for everything he did for and around her i highly recommend this one it s powerful and just heartbreaking but a true testament to love big thank you to sparkpoint press for inviting me on this book tour all thoughts are my own this post contains affiliate links posted by sara strand at 10 32 am 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook labels 2023 reading challenge books jarie bolander memoir spark point studio friday july 28 2023 book review the wolf and the wildflower you know how i always say i forget that i love historical romance until i m reading it yeah i m no longer saying that i keep reaching for historical romance and i m not hating it this one was such a fun and unique read the wolf and the wildflower stacy reid london is buzzing with the news that james winters the duke of wulverton thought lost at sea a decade ago survived in the harsh wilderness of the yukon now he s been returned to his family his responsibilities and a nightmarish world of artifice and noise he has three weeks to become a refined elegant duke for the queen or doom the entire family to ruin and scandal promising psychologist jules southby knows a lot about disguises she s secretly been living as a boy since birth enjoying the freedoms of men and knowing little about how to behave like a woman when she meets the alluring duke she s unprepared for his raw masculine beauty and icy intelligence or that he can see through her darkest secret jules has very little time to transform the duke into a true semblance of an english gentleman yet his very presence seems to unravel her in every way their attraction is stark and achingly real and forbidden but loving the lost duke would mean losing every sacrifice she s made to earn her freedom let me just get into this james was lost in the wilderness for ten years so when he makes his miraculous return its imperative that he find a duchess in his family...