Author Archives: Sarah

Bedtime Stretches To Relieve Lower Back Pain

by Sarah | 24 Comments

Want more yoga and exercise? Become a woods warrior, try this lower body workout, then end the day with bedtime stretches that relieve lower back pain. Check out my 200hour yoga teacher training experience and read about the school I attended here.

liveseasoned_sp15_BedtimeBackYoga-19 Ohhhh lower back pain and pressure. How many times have I groaned, moaned and cursed at you?  In fact, here I sit, back throbbing and hips aching, worrying about my future.  I have to admit, I don’t stretch or do yoga each day like I should and it’s evident in the way I feel when I lay down at night.  While these eight bedtime stretches are not a cure for lower back pain they help sooo much! Instant relief.  My tightly, tangled ball of rubberbandy back muscles relax into alignment and allow some comfort before bed. If you’re in the same back pressure out your ass predicament, go stretch out!

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Two Bits

by Sarah | 2 Comments

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 your 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:

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Oh boy, I know it’s been a crazy week when I barely have a photograph to show for it! Other than the photo above, even little A was spared from the spotlight this week. Somehow our days went from long and lazy to crazy. It’s not going to slow down anytime soon, but don’t take any of that as a complaint – we have so many exciting things going on over here. As Sarah mentioned yesterday, our newest little family member should make his appearance sometime over the next couple of weeks. AND in just two short weeks we’re scheduled to close on a house! (wow!) It’s the house we hope to stay in for a long time, with many exciting features for our little fam, like a large lot size (on the side of a mountain) that we’re hoping to make into a little wonderland with meandering trails, hidden swings, and other bits of fun. And, of course, I’m excited to do some gardening. We have plans for berries and other fresh veggies along with plenty of flowers. I can’t wait to share pictures and tell you more about it when everything is finalized.

Sarah here:

liveseasoned_twobits-1-2Whewww. So glad it’s Friday. I require LOTS of sleep and unfortunately I had to wake up early every day this week. Rough life, I know.  I started working at HAAND, an amazing ceramics studio, way out in the woods of North Carolina.  I’ll be taking over their instagram so follow along if you like pretty haandmade dishes, bowls, mugs, vases and such.

I also helped #cashthedog create his own instagram account, so that you’re not inundated with Cash pictures on @LiveSeasoned.  You can see his cute and crazy moments by following @Catahoula_Cash.  I promise I do other things besides post to instagram all day.  Fortunately/unfortunately that is the nature of photographs these days. *Insert old photojournalist’s geezer rant here*

This old geezer is going to make a cup of tea and take some photographs today. Happy Friday errrrrrbody!

Seasoned View

by Sarah | Leave a comment

Each month we share our Seasoned View.  Snapshots of nature and daily life taken by the Seasoned sisters. Find last month’s here and past months’ here.

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Happy Monday!  Hope you’re having a good start to the week!  Here are some sweet treats for your desktop enjoyment.  If you don’t feel like looking at donuts all day there are also nature shots to feast your eyes on 😉

You can upload one or all of these photos to use as your desktop background or as phone and tablet wallpapers.  Simply click on the download link below each photo and save the image.  Enjoy!

liveseasoned_s14_seasonedviewMARCH-1-4Click for A Frame.

liveseasoned_s14_seasonedviewMARCH-1 Click for Donuts Forever. Remember this donut roundup? You should probably make these.

liveseasoned_s14_seasonedviewMARCH-1-3Click here for Full Snow Moon – read about moon names here.

liveseasoned_s14_seasonedviewMARCH-1-2Click for Lake Jordan.

liveseasoned_s14_seasonedviewMARCH-1Click for Winter Foliage.

Peace out cub scouts!

Garlic + Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

by Sarah | 3 Comments

liveseasoned_winter14_chickpeas-5I’m a big fan of crispy, salty snacks, but I feel pretty bad about myself when I eat an entire bag of kettle cooked chips.  Maybe you don’t, which I applaud you for, and that case go open another bag while you read this recipe.  I think these garlic and parmesan roasted chickpeas are the perfect substitute for potato chips because they provide the crunch and the salt that I’m craving, but they also pack some protein.  They’re baked, not fried like chips, and really you could season them however you see fit.  I recently kicked my chips and dip habit (thank you, thank you very much) and I found I’m baking these up quite often to satisfy my salt tooth. Is that a thing? It is for me at least.

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How To: Save for Travel

by Sarah | 1 Comment

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Hey travel bugs!  I’m extremely amped to write this post full of tips about saving money for travel because I’m in the midst of a big savings year right meow!  I have a huge trip planned for the end of 2015 and if I want to make it a reality I need to keep it at the forefront of my consciousness.  For me, a big part of successful savings starts with being mindful of it.  If I’m always thinking about the trip and being frugal, I’m much more likely to skip the little extras: the cup of coffee, the random tank top, the $4 bar of delicious dark chocolate, you get the picture.  This post applies to any big ticket item you want to save for not just a trip.  Maybe you want to splurge and get a fancy new DSLR (and by you I mean me), or pay off a huge chunk of student loans, or put aside money for your snazzy wedding, whatever you’re planning, you can save for it and these tips can help you!

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Step One: Estimate Your Travel Costs

First things first.  How much do you actually need to save? I get questions like this all the time: ‘how much should I save for a cross country road trip’ or ‘how much do you think I need for two weeks in Brazil’ and at first these questions seem unanswerable, but in truth, they’re pretty easy requests and they can be worked out with a pen, paper and a tiny bit of research. The short of it: what I need for a cross country road trip is probably not what you need for a cross country road trip. Why? Because we all have different lifestyles and ways of traveling.  That’s why it’s important for YOU to estimate your own travel costs and don’t worry, it’s not as intimidating as it sounds.

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Two Bits

by Sarah | Leave a comment

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 your 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:

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I have to admit, this is a week I’m happy to put behind me. Nothing bad actually happened, just a consistent flow of minor stumbles. And since this is all I have to share, I’m sharing it ~ maybe you’ll get a laugh, or you can commiserate if your week was equally blah. The babysitter arrives, I leave the house with my laptop to work, sit down at the coffee shop and realize that my laptop’s COMPLETELY (won’t even turn on) uncharged and I don’t have a plug. Next day, I finally try on a sweater that I knit for Alex, photo above. He looks sooooo stinking cute, but I know that the sweater’s going to fit him for about three days before he grows out of it. We had to take our car to the garage, and what should have been a 30 minute trip turned into a 2.5 hour adventure because of the silliest traffic jam at a freeway onramp. Yesterday the little man gets sick. Today, he wakes up at 4:30 throwing up, so I wake up at 4:30 to be thrown up on. awesome. Fortunately, the high note of the week is that he seems to have the bug out of his system. How do I know? Around 9 this morning he requested cold refried beans for breakfast (no joke!). I was hesitant to serve them, but then I figured, maybe his little body knows. He ate about a quarter of a can, and he’s been as happy as a clam ever since. Ending the week on a high note!

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I almost feel bad writing this after I read Kate’s Two Bits, but this week may have been the best of 2015! These past two months work has been slooooooow.  To keep the cost of my business low, I don’t advertise.  I get a lot of work through referrals or by seeking it out myself and for the most part that works out really well for me, but sometimes there’s nothing going on.  Fortunately my luck changed and last week I worked in Houston, Texas and this past week I had a really cool gig at the North Carolina Central University Art Museum.  Those jobs left me feeling motivated, which is so much better than how I’ve been feeling about work and my own self worth.

Besides the photo gigs, I accepted a new part time position at a local pottery studio!  I’m super excited to work on production as well as all their media materials.  I can’t wait to have a project to work on that isn’t so personal.  It’s nice to be a little bit removed so that I can clearly look at the brand and figure out how to represent it in the best possible way.  I’m also pumped to get out of my house and into a studio a couple days a week.  The studio is way out in the country side near the Haw River, which is a really pretty drive from my house.  No more hermit-working-from-home lifestyle for me! Well, at least for two days a week. 😉

Gnocchi with Herbs, Peas, and Parmesan

by Sarah | Leave a comment

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I’m certainly not the first person to pair gnocchi with peas, parmesan and herbs, but it was such a great combination that I had to share it here in case you haven’t tried it yet.  I made gnocchi the day before with vodka sauce and it was AWFUL. Like so bad I couldn’t finish it so I tried again with an even easier take on the sauce.. garlic and herbs all day in this house. I was able to put this all together in less than twenty minutes, which means it’s the perfect ‘I don’t wanna cook, but I want a nice warm meal’ type of dish.  If you’re vegan, leave out the parmesan and maybe substitute in some toasted pine nuts.  You’ll also have to replace the butter, but that’s an easy one.

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Sarah’s Warm Winter Drink

by Sarah | Leave a comment

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I really didn’t know what to call this warm milk creation.  I certainly don’t want to call it that.  It is kind of a mix between horchata and Spanish rice pudding, but I wouldn’t want to offend anyone by calling it that because I made this recipe up. I don’t really know if it is anything like authentic Spanish rice pudding or Mexican horchata and that’s why we’ll refer to it as Sarah’s warm winter drink, a name that’s completely non-descriptive, whoops. It’s a pretty awesome drink though and you can make it several different ways so don’t let its disappointing name discourage you.  Vegan? We got you covered too.  Like most recipes and projects on Seasoned, we try to give you the gist of the recipe, but encourage you to make it your own. Katie and I cook depending on seasonal ingredients and what’s in our cupboards, which means lots of these recipes are adaptable.

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Homemade Lotion Bars

by Sarah | 7 Comments

I feel like these homemade lotion bars should be rose scented to keep with this week’s unintentional theme.

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Does your skin resemble dry, cracked, dusty earth? Mine does.  It’s the worst, especially in the winter.  Poor, poor me.  No, but really, my entire body has dandruff and I know you probably didn’t want to hear that, but I said it.  It is disgusting and it plagues me.  Dry skin is the monkey on my back.  You might think I’m being a little dramatic, but applying lotion six times a day (REALLY) is no joke!  This is my life. Welcome. Instead of spending a quarter (maybe I’m being a little dramatic here) of my annual income on lotion, I mixed up a double batch of this homemade version and called it a day well spent.  This easy lotion bar concoction only requires three ingredients! Yeah Kate, we know, your no-heat rosehip jam only has two. Congratulations.  No, congrats to YOU after you read through this lotion bar recipe and immediately order the supplies. I applaud you.  Happy moisturized skin to you my friend.

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