As a kid, I never liked reading. It’s not like I wasn’t good at it. I just thought it was boring. I would rather be playing sports or hanging out with friends. The older I get, the more I absolutely love reading. It has truly become a part of my life.

The books I read each year always seem to leave a little impression on me. Thanks to my beloved book club and a friend who dropped a bag of books on my doorstep over the summer, I read a few books this year that I may not have otherwise–particularly fiction books.

I am not a person with a lot of free time, so I really don’t buy the excuse that “you don’t have time to read.” Once reading becomes a part of your life, you find ways to sneak it in here and there.  I read most of these on vacations or by just reading a few pages at bedtime.

Almost every single one of these books came from the recommendation of a friend, so I thought I would pass along the favor and share my 2019 reading list with you. Those with an asterisk were my favorites, but each and every one of these is worth reading.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

I’ve Been Thinking by Maria Shriver

Originals by Adam Grant

*Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everybody Always by Bob Goff

*You are a Badass by Jin Sincero

You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Love Lives Here by Maria Goff

Educated by Tara Westover

*Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

*Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo

*The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Here are a few of my favorites from Evereve right now, all of which would make excellent gifts for a friend, wife, mom, sister, etc.! You can count on Evereve for high quality pieces and fantastic customer service. You can just feel the love when you walk in that store!

One of my favorite time and money savers is doing my own gel polish at home. It’s incredibly easy, and the cost of a starter set is about the same as one gel manicure at a salon. Below are a few of my favorite designs. You can check out my IGTV tutorials for most of these and stay up-to-date on my latest nail designs by following me on Instagram @overanalyzedthat.

Below are the products I use, including my exact light. I recently came across the Beetles Gel Nail Polish brand on Amazon, and its quickly becoming my favorite. I love that they sell the polish in 6-pack sets. They also have a great starter kit, which is linked below.

Every year I put a lot of effort into our family photos. I can’t lie, I love them. I love everything about them. From planning the outfits to spending hours deciding on which photo will make our annual Christmas card. Unfortunately, I am the only one in my family that actually likes participating in said family photos–lol!

This year I put together (what I thought was) a really chic combination of fall outfits. I’ll share those here below. I started with my daughter to see what she thought, and she immediately, without hesitation, nixed my whole vision. From there, I let her scroll online to find something that would work for her, and then I built the rest of the outfits from there.

My son is super sporty and wears a Kansas City Chiefs jersey to school most days. I found this great Nike jersey, the colors of which matched Brooklyn’s dress. My husband loves Travis Matthews gear, so I found a top that I knew he would wear beyond family picture day. Lastly, I had to have this red jumpsuit from Anthropologie to give a little pop of holiday color to our look.

Oh, and did I mention I also let the kids talk me into bringing our dogs to family pictures this year?!? It was complete chaos, but the photos turned out great.

If you are local to Kansas City, Monica Erdmann from MEPhotography shoots our family photos each year, and I cannot say enough great things about her. She has the patience of a saint and a true gifting for getting kids to smile in photos.

This pumpkin craft my daughter and I did together was super easy, and I love that the end result could actually be used with our Halloween decor. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating your own painted pumpkins:

WHAT YOU NEED:

• Small White Pumpkin
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Modge Podge
• Glitter

HOW TO:

1. Make sure your pumpkin is clean and dry.

2. Using a small paint brush, paint the entire stem with Modge Podge.

3. Dip the stem into the glitter.

4. Shake off the glitter and use your hands to sprinkle more glitter on any spots you missed.

5. Use a clean paint brush to paint the acrylic paint onto the pumpkin, using the natural lines of the pumpkin as your guide.

6. Let everything dry, and that’s it!

*You can use any variation from this, so use your imagination. My daughter just painted the whole pumpkin black and then added glitter. Have fun!!

It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year AGAIN! As I write this, it’s the last day of September, which means tomorrow kicks off the last 90 days of the year.

Around this time last year, I first heard about this “Last 90 Days” concept from Rachel Hollis. Essentially, rather than waiting until the first of the year to start those New Year’s resolutions (which I had always done before), you start October 1st. You can read more about it here and sign up for Rachel’s emails.

I loved this idea, perhaps because I was notorious for slacking on my workouts, eating habits and spending habits, knowing I would make a big change at the start of the New Year. Why throw away all this time I could be working toward my goals?

So, last year I bought into this concept, and it really worked! I started 2019 in a much better spot than if I had just coasted into the end of the year. One of the best things about it, is that I was not out of shape! Working out is so much worse when you are starting from ground zero. Here’s the challenge:

I saw huge changes in the way I felt and some big things in my life started falling into place. Since starting the 90-day challenge last year, I continued to get up an hour earlier, and I have consistently worked out. I never really stopped doing these. The thing I struggle with the most is drinking all that water. It may seem like the easiest on the list, but not for me!

I highly, highly encourage you to implement these five things into your routine for the next 90 days. Finish the year strong! It may seem impossible, but it’s not. One of the things I love about it too, is that if you miss a day or screw up, just get back up and keep going. This is not something you can fail at–just don’t quit!

September is a great month for a lot of reasons… but particularly because it’s my birthday month! I may be turning thirty (cough) six, but I still love to celebrate my birthday.

I have always loved shopping other bloggers’ birthday or Christmas wish lists, so I thought it might be fun to share my own. My husband and parents always ask for a list, and I think it’s nice to get something you actually want and will use. Anything I don’t get from this list will just be moved to my Christmas wish list!

In my job as an attorney, I had to dress up A LOT for work. Because of the nature of my job, it did not always lend itself to wearing trendsetting outfits to work. If I had court or depositions or an important client meeting, I wore a full suit and heels or a dress. Most other days were business casual, with the occasional jeans + blazer combo.

I loathed spending good money on clothes that were not overly exciting. Over time I learned to buy good, affordable basics that I could mix in with cute tops and accessories that felt more like “me”. Below are some of my favorite basics (click to shop!).