2017 Resolutions

Want to see how this list compares to the past? Here are my 2016 and 2015 resolutions.

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I know everyone’s not in the same boat, but I love setting intentions and goals for the new year. I like that it creates a challenge within a timeframe. I’m always trying to better myself and create a better home for our family in a number of ways, but saying and writing specific ideas down at the beginning of the year gives me a bit of focus that I don’t have when I just say “become more healthy”, “do more of this or that with the boys”, etc.

I also like that when creating the coming year’s resolutions, we take a moment to look back and reassess how we did the previous year (who am I kidding, since I live with the Resolution Master, our assessing starts in August!). With that in mind, I thought a little looking back would be nice before diving into 2017.

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As I titled last year’s resolution post, it’s always a lot of same same, but different. I’m so SO happy with how well-nourished our family was in all aspects of mind, body, and soul. We ate so well (did you see those farm share posts?!). The boys are growing and learning new physical and mental skills left and right. As a family, we spent so much time outdoors. We filled every weekend and many weekdays with adventures, some big and some little, just like I wanted. Personally, I ended the year feeling really happy and content, and I think this is a reflection of how much I was able to take care of myself with exercise, creative projects, and doing it all while taking care of the day-to-day business without feeling overwhelmed. So, while the world seemed to be crashing down around us (I’m looking at you, presidential election), in our home, all is well.

This year, my biggest goal is just to keep on, keeping on. I want to keep doing all that good stuff, and improve it with a few key goals.

  • 100 sun salutations – last year I wanted to do a sun salutation a day. I kept this up for a long time, but then it fell by the wayside, and somehow I had that mental block where I couldn’t start it again because I had already missed too many days. Why do we do that to ourselves?! Anyway, rather than a daily task, I’m shooting for 100 total (but maybe really 1-a-day, wink wink).
  • sew some clothes with knit fabrics (think sweat shirts, t-shirts, leggings) – I was give a serger for Christmas, and if you know anything about sewing machines, then you know that these are great for sewing clothes (they create the tidy seams that you see if you look inside almost any factory-made shirt). And sergers are particularly handy for sewing knit fabrics because they create a stretchy seam that’s necessary for that material. So, I want to stretch my sewing and clothes-making muscles by making some clothes for myself and the boys.
  • weave! – I also received a table/lap loom for Christmas and am so excited to start using up my crazy yarn stash by learning to weave. My exact goal is to make a wall hanging for one of our rooms. I have this idea to create something that’s actually going to be a combination of multiple individual weavings (more on that in another post!).
  • make a specific curriculum plan for the boys – I’m going to talk about this more in a series of posts, but a quick summary is that the boys are still young and they’re home with me rather than in daycare/preschool. I love it this way, and the educator in me loves to think of ways to integrate learning opportunities in our day-to-day play. It’s been going great so far, but I think it would make me happy to have an overarching plan to some of our play. I know that’s a bit vague, but I’m hoping to explore the idea on the blog in real time.
  • get to Great Sand Dunes NP! – Great Sand Dunes looks like such a crazy place, and it’s in our state! I’m making it a personal goal of mine to get our family there for at least one visit this year. Hopefully it’ll involve camping and a bit of exploring that area of Colorado. eek!

Those are my big goals for the year. I think it’s such a manageable list, but what’s not on it are some of the goals that I keep setting and then not finishing. I’m looking at you, room full of instruments. I would really love to spend more time practicing the piano and violin. I decided not to make it a specific resolution this year, but I’m hoping that as I spend less time changing diapers, I’ll eventually find more time for making music.

I’ve also taken this excitement of the new year to make a few simple changes. I was getting tired of my old exfoliating face wash, so I picked up an alternative that I’m loving (more on that after a few more weeks of testing). I also decided that I want to drink more water, but somehow this seems too lame to be a resolution. I’m doing it and tracking my progress in Streaks (also tracking my daily sun salutations and how much I read), and I hope that’s enough to make me more aware of my water intake, and that in a few weeks it’ll just become habit… hope springs eternal (ha! pun intended).

What about you? Any resolutions that you’re excited about this year? Any that you’re re-doing from last year?

The Upside of Quitting

This post was inspired by this podcast, which I listened to a long time ago and tried my hardest to ignore until I couldn’t anymore.

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We all do it. Nope, not quit, I mean we all hang on too long. We grasp at various things in our lives as if we can’t go on without them when really those things may not be serving us anymore. Jobs, projects, relationships, material items..

This year has been really strange. To be honest, I feel like I’ve been in a fog since January. Lost. Confused. Paralyzed by options and decisions. Unable to move forward yet unable to stand still. Unsure of my path. Constantly telling myself that change is inevitable and good (I truly believe it) yet still uncertain about where the fuck I’m going. I know that’s okay. I tell myself that every damn day. I’m telling myself that at this very instant. I’ll tell myself that first thing when I wake up tomorrow and right before I close my eyes to sleep.

Over the course of the last seven months, I’ve shed most things. I’ve quit multiple jobs. Jobs that I once loved. Jobs that used to feel fulfilling, but suddenly seemed hollow. I basically quit this blog, a project I was dedicated to for over two years straight.. until one day I just wasn’t anymore. My boyfriend (and best friend) and I decided to break up after more than three years together. I moved out of the best apartment I’ve ever lived in. I gave or tossed away most of my things. I downsized.

I sheltered myself from the outside world and focused on making it through the weeks and weeks and weeks. Quitting, giving up, abandoning areas of my life that I once valued highly and dedicated myself to felt a lot like failure. It didn’t feel good, but deep down it did feel right.

It’s hard to manage when it feels like everything is churning, but eventually the sea will settle and everything will stop. Even then the calm is terrifying. Maybe more so than the churning. It’s like the silence after an enormous crash. Something, everything, has just happened, but now it is still and where do I go from here? I’m not sure, but I know there’s an upside of quitting. I can’t say for certain that I’ve found it yet, but I’m trusting in the process. I’m going with my gut and I’m pushing the fear of uncertainty aside each day until opportunity presents itself.

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I hope when you are dealing with enormous change you will allow yourself the same space to heal and grow. I also hope you will take long walks in the woods with friends and allow others in so they can encourage you to come out once more.

These images were shot by Saleem Ahmed & Katherine Albin. Two wonderfully talented photographers and friends.

 

A New Season

Hey there, we’re still here! Somewhere.

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As the weather has changed, we’re finally enjoying spring in the mountains and have turned our attention outside. Breakfast on the deck, planting a little bed of veggies, cleaning up the pond, afternoons at the park, which morph into evenings and dinner in the park. It’s all amazing, but it’s pulled me away from the computer, which is both good and bad. I love all of the time in the sun and fresh air, and there’s nothing that puts a bigger smile on my face than digging in the dirt (especially when the boys help), but I do miss documenting our days. So, I’m hoping to get back here, even if it’s at a more relaxed pace over the next weeks/months.

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The photos in this post are from a Mother’s Day hike that Alex and I took up our mountain to the old cabin in the woods. I wanted to spend one-on-one time with each boy on Sunday, and when I asked Alex what he wanted to do, “hike to the cabin” was his idea. It was so perfect. There was only one moment when I threatened to leave him in the woods – three year olds are tantrum masters. But we recovered, and then had a great time exploring that cabin.

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Every time I visit the cabin, I’m in awe of what it must have taken to trek all of the materials to that spot, and I’m also left with so many questions. Who was it? Why there? when did the cabin start to fall apart? It looks like such a quality piece of work, not a temporary shack. And it’s so cool that I wish I could freeze it in time, but I know that we just have to let nature take its course.

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On this particular trip Alex came to the realization that “maybe this was a house!” and “maybe somebody lived here!”. It was amazing to watch his little brain grasp these big ideas, especially as he started to wonder what happened to the cabin, where did its floor go, etc. etc.

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And in other news, little Luc started walking over the weekend! Soon the three of us will be taking that hike together.

And with that, I’m signing off to get back out in the garden. I’ve been working hard in that space and am so excited to share/document the work.

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Two Bits

We want to break down these internet barriers and invite you into our lives and we’re hoping you’ll do the same.  You are welcome to share a bit of your week or day in the comments, or if they’re better represented by a photo, tag us on instagram @liveseasoned

Katie here :

Confession – during Thursday’s happy hour, we were those parents with their kids in a bar. In our defense, it was a bar disguised as an arcade, and if the babysitter were free, you can bet I would have been playing skee ball by myself. But then I would have missed out on an amazing moment with Alex where he got his first ever gutter ball (after about 15 minutes of rolling the balls up the ramp only to have them roll back to him). You should have seen the excitement on his face the first time the ball actually went in the gutter! After that, it was just one gutter ball after another. The kid was on fire.

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In other news, I’ve been having one of those weeks where I want time to slow.down. and then speeeeeed up!  Luc turned one. How can that be? At least he’s a tiny one year old, so he still seems a bit more baby than toddler, but the walking is going to start any day now. Ugg. I’m not ready. On the other hand, I’m soooo ready for time to speed up so that I can get out in the garden and start planting. I have some big plans for our flower beds and pond this year, and I can’t wait to put everything into motion. But I’m biding my time, because I know the threat of frost is still strong in the mountains.

Slow down. Speed up. How are you feeling?

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Sarah here :

It’s 11:43pm – I can still contribute to two bits, right? In response to Kate’s question, I wanted work to speed the f**k up today while I worked a twelve hour day and now that I’m finally home and facing that same hurdle tomorrow I want it to slooooow down. No complaints here though, I promise. Today I shot possibly the coolest assignment of my short career! I worked in Henderson, North Carolina at the Girl Scouts Camp Graham Tree Houses. Yep, that’s the cool sh!t your cookies buy! These bunk houses are supreme and seeing two troops of little ladies running around and having a blast in them today made it that much more spectacular.

Other than the tree house shoot, I’ve been working a bunch of hours in the darkroom lately. Working alone with the ancient enlarger, hundreds of negatives, and all those smelly chemicals is an art form as well as meditation to me. I listen to podcast after podcast in that small space and these were my favorites this week:

Stuff You Should Know: How Dark Money Works – Holy shit. I mean, I knew, but this podcast just spells it all out. THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED LISTENING. I had to shout that because I learn so much every week from podcasts and this one had me captivated, horrified and pissed off (in the best way) the entire time. Please listen to this, please.

Stuff You Should Know: How Nitrous Oxide Works – As always with these dudes, a funny, entertaining, and enlightening podcast. I had no idea what the hell was happening when I did whippets and now I know! Probabbbbly should not have done so many that one day, but at least it was only that one day…

Joe Rogan #646 featuring Dr. Dan Engle, MD a practicing psychiatrist, board certified in psychiatry and neurology as well as Aubrey Marcus a fantastic writer, entrepreneur, and adventurer. Engle and Marcus talked a bunch about drugs I’ve never heard of before – drugs that have the potential to treat addiction, which is what made this podcast so fascinating to me.

Joe Rogan #629 featuring Andrew Hill, PhD, a lecturer, scientist, explorer, and also the lead neuroscientist at TruBrain. This podcast focused a lot on neuroscience pertaining to the treatment and understanding of addiction, ADHD, depression, and other diseases and mental disorders. Extremely interesting and Dr. Hill is knowledgable across the board so just enthralling all around.

It’s now 12:02am, I’ve failed. Slow down time, geeeeze.

 

Welcome Baby Luc!

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While we’ve mentioned that the newest member of the Live Seasoned family arrived, we thought it was time to formally introduce the little guy! Meet Luc Turning Muir D.

I was 41 weeks and 2 days pregnant (more on that in another post!) when I went into labor with the help of the full moon. Luc arrived on Easter after a relatively easy labor, weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces and measuring 19 inches long. In his short time on the outside, he’s been a champion eater and sleeper!

More about his name ~

  • His first name is pronounced like Luke.
  • His big brother Alex calls him baby Luc, and now we do too 🙂
  • He’s named Turing after Alan Turing, the inventor of the computer
  • And Muir after John Muir, the naturalist

I hope you’re ready for a few more baby-related posts because we’re having too much fun photographing and caring for this little guy.