Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

My Favorite Fall Activities

By Leave a Comment

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, it’s time to look forward to my favorite fall activities. I thought I would share a list of my must-do’s for the season, just in case someone out there is looking for something new and fun to do!

Favorite Fall Activities

Favorite Fall Activities

I think autumn is probably my favorite season. I love that it starts to cool down without getting cold. I also adore the look of the mountains with colorful leaves. Plus, who doesn’t appreciate a good gourd or two? I realized that I could separate this into three portions, based on the location they take place: home, at local places, and traveling away from home. So, that’s how I’m going to organize this post.

Fall at Home

These are the types of things I enjoy doing at home during this season.

  • Decorate the house. For those who don’t know, we bought our first home in 2021. Since then, we’ve really enjoyed getting into decorating our home for each season/holiday. We also host the holidays and family birthdays now. So, I really like going all out for Halloween and Christmas. We decorate the outside of the house with lights for both holidays as well as put up decor inside.
  • Watch seasonal movies and shows. This usually includes “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” as well as some other supernatural shows. I also sometimes watch some classic horror movies.
  • Bake. I love to bake anytime of the year. However, baking with pumpkin (like my Pumpkin Fluff Pie Recipe – Easy and Healthier) or sweet potato is particularly fun. I also enjoy decorating any seasonal cookies or houses I find at Target.

Fall at Local Places

We are lucky enough to live in a location that has several fall happenings. We typically:

  • Visit a pumpkin patch. I love attending the pumpkin festival at a local farm and picking out pumpkins for our home.
  • Try fall foods. Truly, I’m a sucker for pumpkin flavored food and coffee drinks. I also like apples and baked goods made from them.
  • Look at leaves. We’ve been known to just drive around and look at the leaves on the mountains.

Autumn Away From Home

I also enjoy traveling away from home to visit other fall events. This includes:

Fall Festivities

So, that’s a good idea of my favorite fall activities. What are some of yours?

You can view a list of my favorite winter, spring, and summer activities here.

Cheap Hobbies for Adults

By Leave a Comment

It is healthy to have at least one hobby. However, lots of them can be expensive. So, just in time for the long holiday weekend, I thought I would share a brief list of cheap hobbies for adults based off of my own interests. Hopefully, this will help someone else find a new passion!

Cheap Hobbies for Adults

Cheap Hobbies for Adults

If you are looking for something new to do, perhaps you should give some thought to things you enjoyed doing as a child. I know that has helped me re-discover old interests. Otherwise, here are some of my suggestions based on experience.

  • Puzzles – You can typically get these pretty cheaply and they provide hours of entertainment. My husband and I started doing puzzles during the pandemic. Now, we complete several a year. It’s a fun and nice bonding experience that helps us complete something together. Plus, we enjoy picking out new puzzles to conquer. We prefer Buffalo Games brand of puzzles since they come with a poster and are of pretty consistent quality. Plus, you can find them at Target and on Amazon.
  • Read – New books can be expensive. However, if you are willing to wait, you can save loads of money by borrowing a copy from your local library! I encourage you to Google your town + library to see where your nearest one is and get a library card. Most libraries even offer e-books now! I’ve read literally hundreds of books from my local library since 2019!
  • Watch Shows or Movies – Again, this can be expensive. However, you can also find new-ish movies and shows at your local library. Additionally, if you have your eye on a particular streaming service, keep an eye out for a promo before purchasing it.
  • Play Video Games – Personally, I’m not really into video games. I played some as a kid, but haven’t found anything worth sticking with as an adult. However, my husband really enjoys them. Once again, you can save money here by checking out video games from the local library! You can also buy games used to save money if you are willing to wait.
  • Make Crafts – Late last year a friend invited me to a painting craft class at a local business. I had forgotten how much fun I have painting items. Since then, I have ordered lots of “blank door hangers” or “diy door hangers” to paint and assemble. In fact, I even painted and gave one to my mom for Mother’s Day. They are relatively affordable and make the house look nice. I’ve even found some awesome paint by number canvas prints at stores that have been pretty cheap as well. The Instagram post below shows an adorable bunny I painted for Easter!

Other Hobby Ideas

Other hobbies I enjoy include travel (obviously) and baking. However, travel requires a good bit of money. Baking is more affordable than travel, but can drive up the grocery budget. So, I’m leaving it off this list. So, what are your favorite cheap hobbies for adults?

Tips to Protect Your Skin from the Sun

By Leave a Comment

May is Skin Cancer (and Melanoma) Awareness Month. I hadn’t posted about it here yet, but I’ve had a few atypical or pre-cancerous lesions removed over the past couple of years. After those experiences, I started taking steps to attempt to prevent that from happening again. So, here are my tips to protect your skin from the sun, so you don’t have to endure what I have.

Protect Your Skin from the Sun

Protect Your Skin From The Sun

Unfortunately, I didn’t grow up wearing sunscreen frequently or really thinking about protecting my skin. However, ever since my surgeries, you can bet you will find me wearing everything I can to cover up when I’m outside. While I am not a doctor or expert, I am sharing what I have found works for me in hopes that it helps someone else.

  • Wear sunscreen. I will start with the most obvious way to protect your skin from the sun. Sunblock. I think mineral or physical is best because it sits on top of the skin to form a protective barrier. These sunscreens will contain Zinc Oxide and/or Titanium Dioxide. However, it is more likely to cause a whitecast or white shading on the skin. So, I highly recommend trying one before wearing it out. In fact, I recommend purchasing Sephora’s annual Sun Safety Kit that comes with a great assortment of sunscreens to try! This year’s kit is pictured in my Instagram post below. It’s also important to look for something with SPF 30 or higher for full coverage as well as re-applying frequently. I like to use a powder sunscreen to re-apply on my face as it helps with oiliness/sweating and is easier to apply when it’s hot. I’ve linked the one I use as I also avoid talc in my beauty products now.
  • Wear a hat. Even though I wear sunblock, I also wear a hat to cover my head and ears. The more closely woven the fabric is, the better it is. I have two hats. One for regular travel and another with a neck flap if I’m planning to be in a swimsuit or working outside. It doesn’t always look nice, but I prefer that to getting burned.
  • Wear UPF clothing. I wanted an option that was easier than remembering to re-apply sunblock, so I discovered UPF clothing. I also love a good theme park shirt and didn’t want to quit wearing one when I travel. So, I have purchased several UPF sun jackets from Amazon and wear them over my shirt. I also keep them near the door of my home on a coat rack, so I can just grab one whenever I head out. I wear these even if I’m just riding somewhere now. I feel a little weird wearing jackets in the summer, but I’m getting over it. I also have a pair of pants for around the house and a skort. When we visited Discovery Cove, I wore a swimsuit with UPF (and a rash guard) from Land’s End.
  • Avoid being outside between noon and 3 o’clock. This is when the sun’s rays are the most intense. It’s also when it is the hottest. I typically take a mid-day break out of the sun to rest up.
  • Get regular skin checks. Due to my history and my family history, I’m currently going every 6 months to the local dermatologist for a skin check. If you can’t afford to go to the doctor, you should become familiar with your own body and check for anything new or changing.

Do you have any other tips to protect your skin from the sun?

How to Remember Loved Ones at a Wedding

By Leave a Comment

Anyone who has been a long-time reader of the site or follows me on social media knows that my dad passed away in 2012. So, when I got married in 2016, I had to plan the wedding without him. I’ve been wanting to write this post ever since, but I’ve never gotten the nerve up to do it. I guess there’s some guilt for having a celebration without him there. However, there are lots of ways to remember loved ones at a wedding, which helped me on my big day.

How to Remember Loved Ones at a Wedding

How to Remember Loved Ones at a Wedding

Weddings are supposed to be happy days. However, when a loved one is no longer around to celebrate, it can make for a bittersweet event. I found it helpful to remember my dad while forgoing some of the more traditional aspects of the big day. Here are some ways that I discovered to memorialize loved ones at a wedding.

  • Attach a picture to the bouquet. I bought a small photo frame on Amazon and put a picture of my dad on his wedding day in it. Then, I attached the photo frame to my flower bouquet. That way, it was almost like he was walking me down the aisle. I have also seen other brides simply display a photo of a loved one at the wedding.
  • Play a special song. I was initially supposed to dance the traditional father-daughter dance with my dad’s dad. However, my grandfather passed away two weeks before our wedding. So, I danced to a special song with my cousin instead. It was a song that both my dad and grandfather would have appreciated.
  • Serve a favorite food. I didn’t intentionally pick it with my dad in mind, however we served a peanut butter pork at our wedding. My dad loved peanut butter, as do I. So, I think he would have enjoyed that meal.
  • Acknowledge them in the ceremony. It doesn’t have to be something long and complicated. It can be a simple moment of silence to remember those who couldn’t be there. However, not acknowledging their absence can be awkward.

Do What Feels Right

No one can tell you the 100% right way to remember loved ones at a wedding. Do what feels right to you and your family. However, I hope these ideas are good enough to get you going in the right direction.

A Look Back at 2022

By Leave a Comment

Wow! I can’t believe that the year is ending! Years ago, I enjoyed doing a little year in review post at the end of the year. So, I thought I would do a look back at 2022!

Look Back at 2022

Look Back at 2022

I swear this has to have been one of the shortest years ever! Ha! Personally, I always felt like time was slipping by me this year. It seems like it was just March and then all of a sudden it was September! I don’t know what happened to summer at all. Although, I do think traveling and planning trips (looking forward to stuff) seems to make time pass quicker for me. That being said, here’s a look back at 2022!

2022 Travel

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a Dollywood Annual Passholder. I decided not to renew my pass for 2023, but I visited the theme park 4 times in 2022! That allowed me to experience Flower & Food Festival in the springtime (I plan on blogging about it in 2023), Smoky Mountain Summer Celebration, Harvest Festival, and Smoky Mountain Christmas! I truly enjoy the seasonal festivals and celebrations that take place at Dollywood. My favorite is the summer one with the drone show, which is shown in the collage above!

Back in February, my mom and I made a last minute decision to visit SeaWorld Orlando to dine with the orcas and Universal Orlando to experience Mardi Gras! We had so much fun that we decided to become annual passholders at UO! I also became one at SeaWorld, which came with bring a friend passes. So, we were able to visit each park 3 times this year! My favorite festival at SeaWorld Orlando is the Christmas Celebration with all of its festive shows and entertainment. I simply love every season at UO. I even enjoyed Halloween Horror Nights! However, Christmas at Universal Orlando is wonderful too! We already have a trip to UO planned for February 2023, so stay tuned for some Mardi Gras posts next year! We may also be heading to a different SeaWorld owned theme park in 2023!

Return to Blogging

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the biggest event in 2022, as far as this site goes. After being away for years and years, I returned to blogging! I had been thinking about returning for a good long while, but just never did it. In fact, the mere thought of returning made me nervous! I actually wasn’t sure how to even write a post since my site had updated versions and plug-ins so many times. Ha!

I was also concerned that it was silly and no one cared what I had to say. To get around this, I no longer look at analytics much. That way, I can simply be proud when I’ve produced a post I feel is good. Writing has always been somewhat therapeutic for me. I also enjoy keeping a content calendar and being organized. It definitely gives my life more purpose and makes my trips seem more meaningful now. I suppose this is more of a travel diary now.

Personal Life

I guess the one big event from my personal life in 2022 was the loss of my mom’s mom. I wasn’t close to her since she tended to be mean. However, she was my last remaining grandparent and I know it makes my mom sad. Loss can be difficult, even when the relationship is complicated.

2023

As I look ahead to 2023, I hope to continue blogging about my travels. I haven’t decided what I will do if/when I run out of travel post ideas to write. Although, I hope to travel at least a few times a year. So, that alone should give me a few posts to write. Do you have any places you’d like to see me visit and blog about?