Welcome March

On the first Wednesday of each month we like to pause and take a look at what’s going on in the world around us.  We’ll highlight some nature and environmental news, give you a bit of inspiration, and ask you to partake in a monthly sustainability initiative with us.

I think Sarah and I are both suffering from a case of seasonal identity crisis, for lack of a better term. We excitedly anticipate spring on every warm day, and yet, aren’t quite ready for winter to end. I think it’s mainly because the year just seems to be passing so quickly and we have so much we want to accomplish, all while snuggling with these little boys that are growing right before our eyes. Are you in the same boat? Do you feel like the year has pulled the rug out from under you? Or are you just ready for spring to arrive in all of its blossoming glory?

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Best of the Season : Winter 2016

At the end of each season, we take a look back and highlight our favorite posts. See previous Seasonal Bests here.

What an odd winter of posts its been. We would have expected to see quite a few soups and warm comfort foods shared over the winter months, but there’s not a single one! It just goes to show how much our ingredient of the season can dictate the posts we write. This winter it looks like we did nothing but drink and eat tea, in everything from our milkshakes to our cupcakes! And maybe it’s a serious case of cabin fever that had us writing a wider variety of travel posts than we have in previous seasons? Either way, we’re always happy to have this space as a record of every well-lived season.

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Best of Desserts

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Best of Drinks

  •  Katie’s pick: Oh, Garden Gin, you’re so complex.
  • Sarah’s pick: Kate’s Kombucha post got me geared up to make a batch.

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Best of Tea

  •  Katie’s pick: I’m a big chai fan, so the Masala Chai it is for me. And in that post, I praised the simplicity of the recipe, but also mentioned that it’s a nice solid foundation for experimentation. Just this week I made a cup of chia with cardamom, cloves, star anise, and fresh ginger. And now I have a new favorite.
  • Sarah’s pick: This Rose Tea is so pretty 🙂

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Best of Crafts

  • Katie’s pick : Floral Lip Balm for the win! And since the balm turned out so nice, I’m excited to experiment with a few other floral potions.
  • Sarah’s pick : How to create a care package was not only the most fun post to produce, but I felt so much love and gratitude from the recipients of these brown envelopes.

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Best of Health & Beauty

  • Katie’s pick :  Kristin’s DIY Bath Bombs! I don’t take baths enough, but these awesome balms make me make time for a soak. 
  • Sarah’s pick : I’m a big fan of the Invigorating Essential Oil Sinus Pressure Relief Rub.

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Best How To

  • Katie’s pick : The sewing kit for preschoolers was such a simple gift idea, but turned out to be a big hit with everyone. I’m glad I took the time to put it together. 
  • Sarah’s pick : Everyone needs to know How To: Photograph Pets!

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Best of Travel

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Best of Yoga

  • Katie’s pick :  Being that I haven’t been traveling much in the past few years, I do a lot of vicarious travel through Sarah, and I loved hearing every detail about her Rishikul Yoga 200 hour teacher training.
  • Sarah’s pick : Reawaken your yoga practice with this Easy Yoga Flow.  It’s a perfect way to end a month’s hiatus. 

Tea for Two

Just popping in to share some of our favorite tea accessories with you. Most are perfect for a pair of tea drinkin’ fools. XO

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If your valentine loves tea, start by simply buying them their favorite blend (or the luxury blend that’s a splurge) and give it to them in a beautiful storage tin.

We love this electric kettle for our tea, coffee, and hot chocolate needs. There are a variety of cute designs out there, but if you know a tea aficionado, get them one with temperature control.

Thinking about flowers for Valentine’s Day? This poppy drink cover puts a smile on Katie’s face every time she uses it.

These Numi organic blossoming tea sets with a glass steeper pot make the sweetest gift too.

For someone who loves lose-leaf tea, an infuser is always useful. Win them over with this pixelated heart infuser.

Valentine’s Day = chocolate + tea. AMIRITE? We’re excited about these matcha dark chocolate bars from a company that’s working hard to produce chocolate with high ethical and environmental standards.

Can’t find a tea-flavored chocolate bar in your market? Try infusing their cup of hot cocoa with tea.

Serve your sweet their tea (or infused cocoa) on these beautiful marble coasters or this marble tray.

How about something for their apartment? A simple tea print for the wall? Or you can go for the absurd 

There are so many great mugs out there, we had to do a little round-up:

  • Have a Star Wars sweetheart? Why not tell them “yoda one for me“?
  • Katie’s one for understated love. You too? Get a “Meh” mug.
  • And she’s totally over hearing that moms love their kids “to the moon and back” (sorry if you’re one of them!). So this mug made her chuckle.
  • If you want to get all the adults chuckling, pick up this Animates mug.
  • Or if you want to keep it PG and stylish, grab a Haand cloudware mug.

Tea on the go is our favorite. How nice is it to open a steaming jar in the middle of a meeting or class? Pick up some biodegradable Tea filter bags, fill up your ball jar and throw an American made Holdster leather jar holder on it and you’re good to go.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Somehow it’s turned into a busy week around here, but some people have more on their to-do lists than others. I mean, Calder’s laughing at us because he hasn’t even started his Christmas shopping yet! How does he do it?

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Boulder got hit with a big snowstorm today and I was totally unprepared. I should have bought that molasses yesterday so we could be making ginger cookies today. Or ran to the craft store so I could put together some other little gifts. Instead, we’re just playing with play dough and eating leftover tortellini. #lifeishard

So, while the boys nap I’m working on a plan for the next few days.

  • We’ll make those ginger cookies.
  • I want to make some of this English toffee (scroll down).
  • I’m waiting for our Christmas cards to come and hoping to pop those in the mail.
  • We don’t include a letter with our cards, but Plum Organic’s holiday letter template has me cracking up. Ours is above. You just answer a few quick questions and the letter is made for you.
  • I just burned some Palo Santo because it makes the fire in our gas fireplace seem a bit more real and rustic.
  • I’m almost done with Luc’s stocking and then I want to start new winter hats for Alex and Luc. While working on this year’s design, I came across Tricksy and think it could be really helpful for future colorwork projects.
  • I’m now in the last-minute personalized gift stage of my shopping, so I’m spending quite a bit of time here and here. How about you?
  • Yesterday I reserved tickets for our first Christmas ride on the Georgetown Loop RR. Santa’s going to be there! I asked Alex what he’ll say when he sees Santa. “I’ll say ‘ho ho ho’ back to him.” Fair enough…. and yesterday he was going around saying “Merry Christmas Everyone!” to everyone. <3

And that’s our snow day, a whole lot of scheming going on over here.

Pumpkin Links

Pumpkin is our ingredient of the season. We’re a big fan of pumpkin desserts (cookies, and popsicles, anyone?), but we also like our pumpkin in the form of brews and stew too!

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I’ve been stumbling across a lot of great pumpkin links and wanted to share my favorites.

I can’t wait for some cooler weather to make some pumpkin chili… and then we’ll counteract the hot with some pumpkin butterscotch sundaes!

I love (love, love!) this cast iron pumpkin pot, but think I have to host at least a few more Thanksgivings before I’ve earned it.

And this pumpkin loaf pan is pretty cute too. I think cooking with Alex is encouraging my lust after all sorts of cute bakeware.

And since we’re blaming things on kids, I love browsing the Oriental Trading catalogs. Seeing things like these pumpkin erasers bring back all of the best memories of being a kid!

Why was the jack-o-lantern afraid to cross the road? It had no guts! More pumpkin jokes here. We were trying to teach Alex a few jokes last night, but I think he’s still a little young (meanwhile Calder and I were cracking up!).

What about you? Have any pumpkins caught your eye lately?

 Image from the Library of Congress archives.

Summer Essentials : Park Days!

From the popsicles on Monday to cooking with Little A on Tuesday and Sarah’s tips for taking sibling snapshots yesterday, it inadvertently turned into a kid-themed week over here. Meanwhile, Alex, Luc and I are in the middle of an awesome summer of kid fun. What does that mean? Playgrounds and parks. Between naps and rainy day visits to the library, we try to spend as much time outside as we can, so I thought I would share our park/sun essentials.

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Swim/sun suits are the way to go if you have little ones and a park with a fountain. The suits make sunscreen application so easy! … and they aren’t just for kids, my mom just gave me this suit for my birthday. PS. everything on that site is 15% off with the code SUMMER15.

I love all of the cheap options for prescription glasses these days, and am thinking about ordering these sunglasses.

Homemade sunscreen? Check!

Word on the playground is that skorts are a mom’s best friend. I never thought I’d say that, but luckily, there are a lot of great looking and fitting skorts out there. Unfortunately, my current favorite is now sold out, so I can’t buy a dozen more, but this is the “sport” alternative.

Keens are awesome for active little kids. Socks aren’t necessary, they keep feet cool, they are great on dry or wet days, and they dry quickly. The only bummer? They’re targets for stray pebbles.

I always pack a hat, and my favorites are the inexpensive floppy ones.

No matter where we’re going, staying organized is the key to getting out the door quickly. I just bought this small Timbuk2 bag and am so happy to be back on the messenger bag train again, especially when there are so many pockets involved.

And the key to keeping everyone happy in the heat is water. At Christmas time I used Cafe Press to make us a couple of personalized water bottles – they made great stocking stuffers, and now they’re in constant rotation for our park trips.

Little A is such a tough guy that he rarely needs more than a kiss to get back on his feet, but I picked up a couple of these first aid kits just in case we happen upon a bandaid moment. They are compact enough to keep in my bag and in the glove box.


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As is my nature, I try to keep things simple when we head out for the day; it gets us out the door faster and there’s less to keep track of when we’re at the park. Of course, we always pack a snack and my camera :-). What about you? What are your park essentials?

Using Essential Oils

This is the first of a multi-part series on using essential oils in the home and on your body. Excited to make some potions? We already have some essential oil uses in our archives.

Wherever I can, I’ve been trying to eliminate chemicals from our home, and introduce more natural alternatives, whether we’re talking cleaning products for the bathroom, cosmetics, or even pharmaceuticals. What I’ve found again and again is that essential oils are often recommended as a natural source for ingredients in many of my replacement recipes. The world of essential oils is vast, and I’m just starting to really explore all that these oils have to offer, but I thought it would be fun to start a little series this summer where I share with you what I’m learning and the useful resources I’ve found both online and off. As I’m just starting this series, I think it’s important to note that even if you’re buying high quality essential oils, while these are natural products, if used incorrectly they can be just as dangerous as manufactured chemicals.

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In this post I wanted to cover some basics about essential oils, focusing on what they are and a few examples of how they can be used. At the bottom of this post I share some of the resources that I’ve found particularly helpful. And we couldn’t end the day without a recipe, so in a second post this afternoon I’ll share one of my favorite potions for keeping our shower clean and smelling fresh.

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Best of the Season

At the end of each season, we take a look back and highlight our favorite posts. See previous Seasonal Bests here.

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Even though it doesn’t feel like spring, we’re happy to turn our sights towards longer days, warmer weather, and a variety of new topics starting with the introduction of our ingredient of the season next week! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy clicking back through our favorite posts of winter. If you had a fave we didn’t mention, we would love to hear in the comments!

Best of Soups & Sides

  • Sarah’s pick: I’ve been eating this crab chowder recipe for the past twenty years, but it is still one of my favorite soups of all time.
  • Katie’s pick: I never thought of myself as a creamy chicken soup fan, but we were introduced to an amazing version this winter!

Best of Desserts

Best of Drinks

Best of Crafts

  • Sarah’s pick: I have no idea how to knit, but I still love reading Kate’s Project Sweater Updates.
  • Katie’s pick: I loved everything about our new Christmas stockings, that they were so easy and fast to make, and that I know they’ll be hanging on our mantel for years to come!… now to think up a forth design for next year.

Best of Potions

  • Sarah’s pick: I know this Natural Orange Cleaner isn’t for your skin, but this potion is so cheap and helpful around here!
  • Katie’s pick: Lotion bars, as they’ve now become a staple in our dry Colorado climate!

Best of Nature

  • Sarah’s pick: I say this with painful pangs of jealousy in my heart: I love reading about Katie’s snowshoeing adventures in the Rocky Mountains.
  • Katie’s pick: I (finally) got one of the ENO hammocks for Christmas that the rest of my siblings have been raving about, so Sarah’s tips for winter hammocking really struck a cord.

Best of Travel

  • Sarah’s pick: I had so much fun writing this post about How To: Save for Travel and creating a budget and savings plan for my trip to Nepal later this year.
  • Katie’s pick: The German Christmas Markets post was such a fun read for me because it took me right back to our trip, and made me wish that I could steal away a week to visit the markets every December!

Science News

Even though our days are packed, one of the things that we always make time for is keeping up with the news. We think it’s important to be well informed citizens, so we read everything, but by far our favorite articles are those covering science, environmental, travel, and adventure topics. Today we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite sources of science and travel news, and we would love to hear yours!

  • Science Daily – I think this is one of the most comprehensive sources of science news on the web. It covers every topic from environment (our favorite) to health and physics to technology, making their subject lists extensive and easy to browse for the precise topic you are interested in. I also love that they start each article with a brief summary of key points. I dare you to go to their site and not waste a few hours skimming articles.

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  • NY Times – who doesn’t love the NY Times Science section? I particularly love their videos, illustrations, and interactive features (like this one explaining the higher number of earthquakes associated with drilling for geothermal energy in California). If you’re a teacher, those short videos can be such a great supplement to lessons; I would use them all the time at the college level, but since they are writing for the layperson, I think the material works at the high school level too.

Beyond the sites listed above, we like to follow a number of organizations doing good work. These entities all have their own websites, which is what I’m sharing below, but realizing that I don’t have time to visit their sites regularly, I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep up with their work by following them on Facebook (i.e. liking their page). This makes my Facebook feed so much more interesting and educational, and you’ll often find us sharing stories from these sites on our Live Seasoned Facebook feed. In fact, I find myself opening it with the intention of “reading the news”; crazy, huh?!  Anyway, here are a few of our favorites:

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  • National Park Service – Being lovers of national parks, it’s a no-brainer to follow this feed. They share bits of history as well as current events happening in the parks across the country. For example, the photo above was posted last week and introduced us to the Yukon Quest!

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  • Specific National Parks – similarly, we follow some of our favorite national parks, like Canyonlands so that we get all updates (from road closures to animal sitings) from our favorite parks.

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  • IFL Science – and finally, one of our favorite Facebook pages, with the best name is I F*cking Love Science. They often share some of the more bizarre science news as well as hot topics.

So that’s where we get a lot of our science news. Hopefully we’ve introduced you to something new and exciting. And we would love to hear from you! If you’ve discovered something that we haven’t mentioned, please tell us about it in the comments.

Best of the Season

At the end of each season, we take a look back and highlight our favorite posts. See previous Seasonal Bests here.

I don’t know about you, but for me fall seemed to creep along during September and October, and then November passed in a flash! I can’t believe that Monday will be December. I can’t put my finger on exactly what’s making it seem different this year, it probably most definitely has something to do with Little A being old enough to start enjoying the magic. Anyway, while we’re excited to jump into winter with both feet, we also love taking a moment to look back and relish all things fall.

Best of Main Dishes

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  • Sarah’s pick : I’m a big fan of Katie’s Roasted Root & Squash Soup for three reasons.  First, it is a dish that spans two seasons and can easily be modified to include whatever roots and squash you have on hand.  Second, it is packed with veggies and can be vegan if you leave out the cheese garnish.  Third, it is a great recipe for a beginner cook.  No tricky steps or hard to find ingredients in this dish.
  • Katie’s pick : Sarah’s Thanksgiving Inspired Tapas! Every time I look at that post, I wish I were a guest at the table. It’s a perfect twist on the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and looks delicious. And I have to admit that I usually shy away from tapas restaurants because I assume that I’m going to leave hungry, so I really like the idea of serving tapas at home, and know that I won’t be craving more because the leftovers are in the fridge.

Best of Desserts

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  • Sarah’s pick : I’m in love with the mini no bake pumpkin pies.  They’re creamy and chewy and they are packed with protein.  I’m not going to pretend that I always eat healthy desserts, but these pumpkin pies are my new favorites.
  • Katie’s pick : I’ll take a good apple crisp any day, especially one with cranberries! And yes, I’m totally cheating, because this should be in the “Best of Breakfasts” category for me.

Best of Alcoholic Drinks

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  • Sarah’s pick : Katie served me my first Apple Sidecar and I remember taking a nap immediately afterwards.  This time I took her advice and added a big chunk of ice to my drink. Delicious and festive, this apple sidecar deserves a spot on your holiday cocktail menu.
  • Katie’s pick : It’s been a long time since I had an Appletini, but Sarah’s post took me right back to a bar in Philly where we would get cheap appletinis at happy hour. I’m sure they have nothing on Sarah’s well-garnished drink. I’ll just add it to the growing list of post-baby drinks!

Best of Non-Alcoholic Drinks

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  • Sarah’s pick : There was no contest here, Kate’s Sparkling Cider Mocktails are by far the best non-alcoholic drink of the season.  I wish I had a little crew of kids to serve up these special drinks to.  I know they would really appreciate them.  I always loved Shirley Temples growing up, but they’re no comparison to these special sparkling holiday mocktails. Without any kiddos around, I make these mocktails during the middle of the day as motivation to keep editing and accomplishing menial tasks around the house.
  • Katie’s pick : I’m eyeing Sarah’s Fresh Apple, Carrot, Ginger Juice. That sweet and spicy combination, just seems so perfectly refreshing at any time of year, but especially have a good fall hike… and really, really miss when Sarah and her juicer lived with us!

Best of Cheese

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  • Sarah’s pick : My favorite was the first cheese we featured, Nut Crusted Brie. I love the gooey baked cheese along with the crunch of the nuts.
  • Katie’s pick : Brie with Truffle Honey. I want to eat it every day.

Best of Crafts

  • Sarah’s pick : I loved looking back at the craft category and seeing how many natural crafts we made this fall.  I enjoyed making the leaf garland and outdoor twig wreath, but my favorite has to be Kate’s dried fruit garland.  I just love the look of sliced oranges and apples, if you haven’t made it yet, turn on that oven!
  • Katie’s pick : I had as much fun making the witch window silhouette as I did seeing it every night in our window. I also think it’s a project that was worth the time and effort, because we should be able to reuse it for years to come.

Best of Style

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  • Sarah’s pick : We don’t do many fashion features on Seasoned, but I do give glimpses of my daily threads.  I’m loving these dressed yet comfortable pixie pants that I picked up at Old Navy.
  • Katie’s pick : Admittedly most days you’ll find me in yoga pants, but when I do get dressed to leave the house, I’m wearing some version of my Fall Favorites. So maybe I’m picking it not necessarily because it’s the best style, but because it’s my perfect fall wardrobe, and it never gets old.

Best of Potions

  • Sarah’s pick : Even though this potion was a tiny bit smelly, I enjoyed making my own pore strips.  Super duper cheap and really easy too.
  • Katie’s pick : I’m going with the Dandruff Shampoo because it was so stinking easy to make, and it worked!

Best of Nature

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  • Sarah’s pick : Can I cheat and mention two posts? First, I loved researching and writing about the Boulder Flat Irons Hike almost as much as I enjoyed the trek itself.  It is so much easier to take photos and really enjoy the landscape when you don’t have a crazy hound dog along for the walk. Second, I had a great time making the photograph and turning it into a quote celebrating the Autumnal Equinox.  Celebrating natural holidays is very important to me so spending time outside this year and creating this image was my way of thanking the earth.
  • Katie’s pick : I found Sarah’s Tips for Taking Fantastic Fall Photos to be so helpful. It’s not specifically a nature post, but it’s the type of post that inspires me to get out there and enjoy nature a bit more, even if it is through the lens of my camera.

Best of Around Town

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  • Sarah’s pick : While this better suits the category Best of Around the World, I had a great time revisiting Thailand for this Bangkok City Guide.
  • Katie’s pick : I loved our visit to the local Kombucha brewer. Getting the chance to taste-test so many flavors at once was a great exploratory mission. I now know that I love so many flavors beyond my old stand-by. And it was awesome to discover this Boulder gem with Sarah.

Any favorite posts that you didn’t see on the list? Let us know in the comments 🙂