New Year, New Goals.

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Happy New Year! I finally got around to thinking about goals for this trip around the sun. Each year I make a whole host of goals and if I feel like I’m slacking, I make mini new moon resolutions too! Fingers crossed that I abide by this list in 2015.

Establishing a daily routine is of PRIME importance this year. I work as a freelance photographer so most days I’m at home editing photos or simply taking a day off. I find I get a bit anxious and unhappy if I’m just ‘sitting around’ all day even if I’m doing something I enjoy like reading or cooking. I’ve read that ‘happy’ people often have morning and/or daily routines. What about you? What do you do when you roll out of bed?
Ugh. The subject of sleep. I love sleep SO much. I could sleep at least 16 hours a day and often times I do sleep eleven or twelve hours a night. Why am I complaining, right? Well, most times I wake up feeling lousy instead of well rested. I feel like I’m wasting the day and the last few hours of slumber are usually punctuated by alarms and crazy dreams anyway. On that same note, I think creating a regular sleep pattern will help with my overall health. Hopefully I’ll feel more energetic and ‘ready’ to go in the morning even though I only need to cross the hallway to get to work.
I finally made a budget. I’m sure some of you have had budgets for years and others want to go run and hide at the mention of it, but I’m pretty excited about it. I’m extremely thrifty and therefore I always have enough money for the essentials, but I realized it is important to know how much you’re spending and saving each month. When I travel I write down EVERYTHING, like every single thing, that I purchase and it is so helpful. I can see how much I spend in each sphere of life, which is really helpful for future planning and squashing buyer’s remorse. Budgets are also super, duper helpful if you are a freelancer like me. It is easy to sit back and relax and kind of slack off for a couple weeks, but if you have an earnings goal you’ll actually know if taking a few days off is a good idea.

Make soup once a week! Possibly my most favorite goal of all time. I’ve been wayyyyy into soups lately. They’re so easy to make, usually only take one pot and they reheat so well. Some of the tastier soups will be featured on the blog so sit tight 🙂
I need to camp more often. This year I went for a bajillion day hikes. I probably averaged four or five a week, but I only camped out a couple times. In 2013 I slept in a tent for over three months! The disparity is insane, so I plan on fixing that. Oh and I got an AMAZING new tent for Christmas.
I think I’ve had more yoga and meditation on my goal list every year since 2011. Last year, I started strong in January by practicing 27 days in a row, but on the 28th day I came down with mono. That was a big bummer and definitely signaled that I need to practice more, but also pay attention to what my body needs. This year I plan on doing all that and traveling to Nepal to become a yoga teacher! I’m over the moon about my yoga-centric trip.
I spend a lot of time on Instagram. I used to feel guilty about it, but then I remembered my professors were always saying something like, ‘look at photos, decide why you love them and go out and shoot.’ Now I think of my IG habit as an investment in my work! I see so many beautifully styled photos on my feed and I realized I want to create some of my own. I’m a trained photojournalist so I was taught not to manipulate the scene at hand, but now that I have a blog those rules are out the window.
I have at least four books started at all times. My goal for the year is to read at least two a month, which shouldn’t be too hard, but we shall see. What are your favorite books?! What do I absolutely need to read?
I feel like I’m pretty good at taking time to get inspired. I have at least a dozen ideas floating around in my brain at all times, but I completely fail to write them down. If I don’t write them down, I usually forget them and a majority of the time I never act on them.. I have a ton of cute notebooks and this year I’m puttin’ em to work!

Guys! Podcasts! I’ve been listening to them for years, but these past few months I’ve really started to nail down some favorites, which makes driving an absolute breeze! No idea what the hell a podcast is or how to listen to them? It is SO simple, which is why I want to tell everyone! Podcasts are basically episodes of radio shows. You simply subscribe to each one by going to their websites or subscribing in iTune or the Google Play Store. Once you subscribe they will show up on your device without you doing a damn thing! (Go on and google it, you know you wanna) Over the past few weeks I have driven approximately 2,705 miles. Actually, more than that, but whatever, that’s a lot of miles. During those drives I listened to just about every Freakonomics podcast and lots of Stuff You Should Know, That’s Deep Bro, This American Life, Your Mom’s House, and a bunch of others. Find your favorites and enjoy your time in the car. Stop scanning the awful pop radio, please!
These next two goals seem relatively simple. Gather my friends at my house and listen to what they are saying. Doesn’t it feel good to get something off your chest? Don’t be that friend that only calls for that reason, be the one that calls for no reason at all 🙂 If you’re any friend of mine, you know that I hate the phone. I hate dialing, hate answering, just hate it, so this goal will be a test for me, but I’m hoping I’m successful. I realize, gathering friends at my house is kind of a test for others, but if you fail you’ll still get a phone call and a sticker 😉

Say #NOPE to self-inflicted guilt, external expectations and silly societal norms. I don’t think this needs too much explaining, it is basically an ~~excuse~~ goal of mine to be easier on myself. Please, please, please adopt this goal too. I need to constantly remind myself that others’ paths are not my own and that is fine. I’m vowing to focus on mine this year, but LOTS and lots of luck on your journey too!
Be mindful. Think big. Act with intention. This will be my daily mantra and again, it’s just another step to self love so if you’re ready, get on the love train with me 😉
Am I living a balanced life? Am I taking care of myself? Am I following my inner voice? Personally, these are all important questions concerning my individual happiness. You may have another set of questions. I’m urging you to figure out what YOU need to ask yourself in order to start living a happier and healthier life. Although we post lots of recipes, crafting and adventures on Live Seasoned, you may have guessed that our daily lives are not always pumpkin pies and snowshoeing. We sift through the muck of daily living too and for me sometimes it’s a struggle. These few questions bring me right back to square one and basically force myself to identify why I’m feeling just so so. Find your own set of questions. Be honest with you and remember, “Our first and last love is self love.” so be a better lover!

We are interested to hear if you made any resolutions this year or if you’re anti-resolutions, tell us more! Xo

Seasoned View: Vol. 10

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

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

Happy New Year! Katie and I took a major blogging break over the holidays. We were both busy traveling and celebrating with family, but not each other! During Christmas and New Years, Kate hung out with her in-laws in Colorado and I visited my boyfriend’s family in Pennsylvania. Our family get together starts today, just in time for Russian Christmas! I can’t wait to see Katie and my little nephew along with the rest of the Schu crew. Bear with us this week, the blogging may be slow due all the hugs and conversations we need to catch up on. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, these photos will seem a little unrelatable and hey, good for you! If you are currently freezing your bum off in the Northern Hemisphere, know that we’re with you.

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

Click here for Snowy Branches.

Click here for Happy New Year.

Click here for January Hike.

Click here for Frosty Sweetgums.

Click here for Greenery.

Click here for My View.

Click here for Winter Bouldering.

Christmas Candids: A few tips!

December 24, 2014March 24, 2016 by Sarah | Leave a comment

I just watched a video of people unwrapping puppies and I’ve never been more grateful for family photographers. We all want to capture the cheer and joy during holidays and gatherings so here are a few tips for photographing this year’s festivities. First off, it really doesn’t matter if you’re shooting with a phone, point and shoot or a DSLR, these tips will work for you. Second, have fun while photographing, try to capture candid moments and remember to put down your camera for a few hours and really enjoy the moment as it is unfolding. Happy Holidays!

White Balance

Check it! The camera’s default setting is Auto White Balance, but that may not be the best option for the scene at hand. Change the white balance to Incandescent or Fluorescent to see which setting works best for your home and lights. If that sounded like Chinese to you, check out this Photography 101 post.

Point of Focus

Pick one. There is SO much going on at the holidays that you might see cookies, presents, lights and decorations all in one scene. Decide what the point of focus is for your photo and zone in on that. If it’s a little boy unwrapping a present, the photo is about his expression not the christmas tree behind him so frame the boy, not the entire living room. Think about what you want to stand out about the photo and choose an angle that will highlight the subject not distract from it.

Shooting on Burst Mode

Anytime you’re shooting action like unwrapping presents, a New Year’s toast, someone blowing out candles, shoot on burst mode. It might also be called continuous mode and depending on your camera and settings it will take anywhere from a couple to a dozen shots each second. Shooting on burst mode is the perfect way to capture every expression especially in candid situations.

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Out-of-focus Christmas Lights

Lots of folks are always asking me how to achieve a bokeh effect with Christmas lights – good news, it is super easy! Simply choose a low aperture a.k.a. fstop number and that will effectively blur whatever you are not focusing on, in this case it’s the lights. An example? If I’m photographing my nephew in front of our Christmas tree, I want the tree to be visible so I can set the scene, yet he is the main focus of the photograph so I would set my aperture to f2.8 and focus on his sweet little face. The tree behind him would be out of focus and therefore the lights would attain the bokeh effect. In the photos above, all three photos are of the same scene, but the light circles grow bigger as they become more out of focus. I simply pointed my camera at a Christmas tree and turned my focusing ring just out of focus, a little out of focus and majorly out of focus.

Photographing Outdoor Lights and Decorations

There are a few things that are relatively difficult to photograph. Outdoor Christmas lights are one of them. You basically have a really bright object (the lights) against a really dark object (the house and sky), which makes a tricky situation to expose properly. I feel like we have all been here before. You see an amazingly gorgeous sunset and you think, ‘family photo opp!’ only to be completely disappointed by the results. You either end up silhouetted against the sun or you use the flash and hate the unnatural outcome. It’s the same type of deal, dark and light competing for a proper exposure.
Head outside during twilight when the sky is nice and blue – right after sunset, but before it gets dark. You have a small window of time for these shots, only about twenty minutes. Set up your camera and tripod. Choose a low ISO number like 400. Also choose a slow shutter speed somewhere around 1/25 of a second or slower. Set your aperture according to your light meter and then experiment from there. I usually set up the shot, ISO and shutter speed and then take a dozen shots adjusting my aperture by one stop (click) each time. Then I’ll scroll through the shots, decide which I like the best and set the aperture accordingly. This time I’ll play with the shutter speed a little bit by adjusting it a tiny bit faster or a tiny bit slower. That way you get a good variety of exposures.

Good luck and let us know if you found any of these tips useful by posting your pics to IG and tagging us 🙂

German Christmas Markets

December 22, 2014March 24, 2016 by Sarah | 2 Comments

In October, we revisited our adventures in Thailand. We thought we should give you a glimpse of what we were up to a few Decembers past. In 2010 Katie and I went to visit Calder, her fiancé (they’re married now), who was living and working in Germany. Our trip was amazing and I think it had to do with a few key factors: Katie, C and I all get along really well, C is fluent in German (hellllllo helpful!) and we kept the trip spontaneous and largely unplanned. Mix great buddies with little stress and lots of snow and you have a Christmas adventure that will never be forgotten. Oh and breakfast! Almost every hotel offered a complimentary breakfast, which consisted of a big deli platter with lots of yummy meats, cheeses and the best baked bread. You are also offered eggs, cereal, yogurts and fruit. We started each day with coffees and cheese, please tell me how we could have possibly had a bad time? I actually had such a blast that I completely forgot to e-mail a final paper to a professor during the trip! Yep, I wrote a ten page research paper and forgot to turn it in that’s how awesome our Christmas trip to Germany was.

Now when I think of Christmas traditions, I actually think of the German Christkindlmarkt. I feel like visiting the markets is the most historic lens I’ve ever looked through when it comes to the holiday season. The markets are held in the center of villages, towns and cities. The backdrop and surroundings of each market is historic and stunning in itself. Every Christkindlmarkt has a variety of gifts and holiday goodies. The markets are a glimpse of the past; you won’t find tacky Christmas commercialization here. Over the course of a week, we visited five markets ranging from enormous to quaint. Each market had crib figurines, ornaments, toys, wood carvings, decorations, candles, furs and a variety of other crafts and goods. The markets also had the most amazing food. It kicked any American fair food’s behind. We usually ate some type of bratwurst and sauerkraut on a fresh, crusty roll. We kept warm by sipping glühwein and sampling dozens of treats throughout the day. Each city’s market had a slightly different vibe and while I loved visiting every one, Esslingen’s medieval market may have been my favorite. Read on to see why…

Citrus Champagne Spritzers

December 18, 2014January 18, 2016 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Cheers to citrus season! Growing up, my mom would order a half dozen boxes of oranges from the marching band fundraiser, which meant orangeade all winter long. I miss those big boxes and that orangeade so today I made something a little reminiscent of my childhood + alcohol 🙂 This citrus champagne spritzer has fresh squeeze oranges and lemons, but don’t fool yourself, it is still winter.

This bubbly and fresh drink turned my cheeks pink! It was the perfect pal for present wrapping today. Do I sound like the loneliest person on the planet?! Wrapping presents with a drink that I’m calling pal? Don’t answer that. But hey, if your holidays are hectic and you need a mocktail, try this recipe sans champagne and cointreau. Replace the alcohol with sparkling lemonade or use the sparkling orange and lemon soda as the base, but whatever you do, ENJOY IT!

Citrus Champagne Spritzer Ingredients:

Prosecco (1 bottle makes six+) refrigerated
Cointreau refrigerated
3 TBSP orange juice
lemon or orange sparkling beverage refrigerated
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
12 sprigs of thyme rinsed and dried

Some notes:

I use a one ounce shot glass to measure the ingredients, but if you don’t, one ounce equals two tablespoons.
You can leave out the cointreau if you want. The flavor is wildly different, but just as amazing.
You could use Korbel Brut or a riesling instead of Prosecco.
This is a perfect big batch cocktail because there is no ice!*

The how:

In a sauce pot, stir together a half cup of sugar and a cup of water. Turn onto medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, add four or five sprigs of clean thyme and place a lid or plate on top of the pot. Let steep for ten minutes. After ten minutes passes, remove the thyme sprigs and strain simple syrup if necessary (all my thyme leaves were intact so I didn’t have to strain).
In a tumbler, mix 1 ounce thyme simple syrup, 2 ounce fresh squeezed orange juice, 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and half ounce cointreau. Stir well. Add prosecco (I didn’t measure, just pour accordingly)
Top with a splash of sparkling lemon or sparkling orange soda.
Garnish with a thyme sprig or two and serve.
*If you are making these citrus champagne spritzers for a crowd, stir up a big batch all at once. In a large pitcher combine 3/4 + 2 tablespoons simple syrup, 1 + 3/4 cup orange juice, 1/3 cup lemon juice and a 1/3 cup cointreau. Stir well, add the champagne and top with one can of sparkling orange or lemon.

These sparkling citrus champagne spritzers are perfect for a holiday party *ahem champagne toast ahem* or in my case a preholiday wrapping party. Mix up a whole batch or put on Mixed Nuts and drink one by yourself 😉

Embroidered Christmas Cards

December 15, 2014December 15, 2014 by Sarah | 2 Comments

I like to call them stitchmas cards. I wanted to make cards this year, but I don’t have a printer so I had to think of an easy way to add a design. I drew a few doodles, messed around with some graph paper and I came up with these simple card ideas. Depending on how detailed you want to get, this is a great kids craft as well. Add a few cute and easy stitches to your handmade Christmas cards this year. I dare ya.

Supplies:

Piece of cardboard or foam to work on
Card stock (I used scrapbooking paper and these in neutral)
Blank cards or folded card stock
Paper cutter (optional)
Scissors
Thread
Needle
Thumbtack
Pen
Paper
Tape
Glue

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The How:

Doodle a design on a piece of notebook paper. It’s up to you how complex you want to make your cards.
Tape the design onto the card stock and the piece of cardboard you are working on. Use the thumbtack to poke holes at every angle in your design. If you’re using graph paper, poke holes in each corner of the squares.
Carefully remove the tape and doodle. At this point, I poked secondary holes onto my tree design adjacent to the original holes. I did this so I would not have to backstitch the entire design; instead it is similar to a running stitch. The design and hole placement is really up to you. There’s no strict rules for stitching cards, just a general practice.
Once you are finished stitching with a particular color, use a small piece of tape to secure the thread. If you’re using paper with an adhesive backing leave the thread loose until the entire design is stitched. Carefully remove the backing, pull the threads tight and stick them down. Adhere the sticky sheet to the front of your card and place it under a stack of books. If using regular card stock, use rubber cement to glue the design to the front of your card and place under a stack of books.

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Have you already mailed out your holiday cheer this year? I like to wait until the last moment so that my friends and family open their card closer to Christmas and New Years. That or I procrastinate until the week before where you’ll find me hustling to make them all in time 😉

Two Bits

December 12, 2014 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:

I had a fun time and learned a lot at an herbal-infused chocolate class that was put on by our local apothecary. As well as coming home with some amazing chocolates and a head full of ideas for Christmas, I learned how to make rose hip jam! It was something completely new to me, so it was fun to both learn about it and sample it in some of the chocolates. Now I’m making my own in hopes of recreating that deliciousness ~ more details to come. A chocolate making post is definitely in the works!

I was also busy this week finishing up the photo book that I give to Calder every Christmas. The book is fill with photos taken over the course of the year. They always start with the previous year’s Christmas and end with the current year’s Thanksgiving – that way we don’t miss any holidays and there’s some consistency. This is a little tradition that both of us really look forward to. While it’s hard to fit the time in to make one, it’s so much fun looking back over the year in photos, and Calder loves opening it on Christmas morning and taking a moment to slow down and flip through the pages. At close to 300 pages and over 400 photos, this is our longest one yet, but with a kiddo as cute as A. Max, it was hard to keep my photo number down! We’ve also found that with all photos being digital, this is a great way for us to print out a selection and having them on the bookshelf. Do you have any fun photo-related traditions that get them off your computer and into your house?

Sarah Here:

I had a pretty relaxing week at home. Christmas came early when my UPS man delivered a brand new vacuum cleaner to my door on Monday. Receiving an enormous unexpected package was really exciting! I love mail and I send care packages a lottttt, but it’s rare that I receive one myself. The new vacuum gave me an intention for my week: clean. everything. I finished up my cleaning spree by carrying my weight in cardboard and recyclables to the center tonight. I also took a trip to the laundromat where I had eleven washers running simultaneously. I was in and out of there in an hour and a half. It was pretttttty sweet. Yes, I just wrote a whole paragraph about the joys of cleaning one’s home. I love this vacuum cleaner more than I thought was Sarahly possible.

In between elving Christmas projects, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this week. I shared the almost vegan jam muffins yesterday. I made sloppy joes for the first time in at least a decade and I realized, they are not that good. Just a pile of saucy crumbly meat. I also channeled my brother Jeff and made a pizza casserole that was delicious and devoured within 24 hours. I also made some pasta e fagioli soup and lots of cookies! I’ll be sharing some of those recipes with you at some point soon. Right now I’m snacking on a big bowl of couscous that I seasoned with cumin, tarragon, ground cloves, salt and butter. Happy weekend! If you don’t have breakfast plans for the next couple days, whip up those jam muffins!

Almost Vegan Jam Muffins

December 11, 2014January 18, 2016 by Sarah | Leave a comment

A couple months ago, I was invited to a JAMboree hosted by a dear friend. She described it as, “a sweet swap and contest of sorts.” She had us all cook up a favorite jelly, jam chutney or conserve and bring eleven quarter-pint or half-pint jars of our entry to her home. She served wine as everyone had a taste of all the entries. After all the wine sipping and socializing all the guests voted on their favorite and a winner was chosen.

I’m not here to tell you I won. Before this, I had never canned solo. I’ve done it plenty of times in my mom’s or Katie’s kitchen, but never in my own little apartment. I was a little bit intimidate and overwhelmed by the possibilities. I went to the farmer’s market to purchase supplies and I came home with 12 pounds of onions. I was in a burger with blue cheese and onions phase. I decided to can caramelized onions, which I now realize was the most unexciting offer, but at the time I was really excited about to make a big batch of them. I cried. A lot. It was glorious. Anyway, I mailed in my entry because I couldn’t attend in person (you’ll see me at the 2nd annual JAMboree!) and a month later my mom gave me eleven jars of delicious and interesting jams to try. I had totally forgotten that I would be receiving jars of jam in exchange for my caramelized onion slop. I’m over my blue cheese burger phase and well into my what do I do with all this jam phase.

I intended on creating a vegan jam muffin recipe, but in my morning daze I added honey to the muffins. Technically honey isn’t vegan, which is why I hereby name this batter creation the almost vegan jam muffins! You could swap out the honey for maple syrup or another preferred sweetener, but I love them just the way they are. For the milk, I simply used almond milk; you can use whatever you prefer. Instead of adding an egg, I created a flax meal egg substitute, the easiest and most reliable in my experience.

Ingredients:

1 + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup almond milk (or whatever milk you prefer)
1/4 honey
1/4 vegetable oil
2/3 cup jam (I used a friend’s strawberry balsamic)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBSP ground flax meal
3 TBSP water

The How:

In a small cup stir 1 tablespoon of ground flax into 3 tablespoons of water and set aside. This will transform into your egg substitute.
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a standard-sized muffin tin.
Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, honey, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
By now the flax and water mixture should have a gelatinous texture resembling that of an egg. Incorporate the flax egg into the wet ingredients.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flours and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour the jelly into the batter and stir just a few times. You want the jelly to appear in large swirls throughout the batter. Add some more jelly if you want sweeter muffins.
Fill each muffin tin about 3/4 of the way. Batter should make 12-15 muffins.
Bake for 16-20 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick into the center of the largest muffin. If it comes out clean they are done. Remove the jam muffins from the tin and set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with tea, coffee or juice 🙂 These almost vegan jam muffins are hearty enough for breakfast, but delicious enough for dessert too! The strawberry balsamic jam was SO tasty. I was tempted to add nuts or oats to the muffins, but I really wanted the jam to shine in this recipe and it really does. These whole wheat muffins have the perfect about of moisture and sweetness for a breakfast snack. Now that they’re all gone, I’m left wishing I had more strawberry balsamic jam!

Two Bits

December 5, 2014December 5, 2014 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Each Friday we share some tidbits from our week. 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

Sarah here:

I started the week in Florida hanging out with my childhood best friend. We basically had a sleepover for ten days straight, complete with giggling, crafting and lots of catching up. The weather there was amazzzzzing – eighty degrees amazing. So nice and warm that we even went for a couple runs, something I don’t do too often.

I also bought my first pair of grown up running shoes! By grown up, I mean I didn’t pick them based on color. I went to Fit2Run, a great store, where they tested my motion mechanics, my arch height, and where I apply the most pressure when I stand and run. It was an eye opening experience and I feel like I ~~walked~~ ran away with the most comfortable shoes on the planet, at least for my feet. Now running is actually comfortable instead of painful. Fingers crossed that it stays that way 🙂 The friend I was staying with is actually running a half marathon tomorrow, so good luck and wishes to her!

Even though I had the best time catching up, it was nice to come home and hug my pets and bf. On Tuesday we picked out a tree (bigger than last year, yipee!), bought another string of lights and decorated for the holidays. How do you like winter Frankenstein? I bought him at Michaels for $4 during Halloween, but I love him too much to pack him away until next year. He’s going to be like those geese that you put different outfits on for each season.. just wait until you see Easter F-stein!

Katie here:

Like Sarah, I started the week in one location, California, and ended it in another, Colorado… the funny thing is, as a kid whenever I heard the word California, I imagined sunshine and beaches, instead we had snow! And whenever I heard Colorado, of course I imagined the snowy rockies, but we came home to 50 degree days. We had such a great time sledding and playing in the snow with Alex, but I was happy to come home to our “warm” city. I feel like the rest of the week was spent falling back into our routine and chipping away at some of my ambitious Christmas crafting plans. Our house is currently filled with the scent of cloves and oranges, and I decided that it’s never too late to try to put together a simple play teepee for Christmas morning (although my scheme is for something even simpler with less cutting and sewing). Am I crazy? Wish me luck!

Seasoned View Vol. 9

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014 by Sarah | 1 Comment

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

Happy December! If you are in the northern hemisphere these photos will look familiar. Snow, snow and more snow. If you happen to be in the southern hemisphere, your summer is nearing and these photos might give you a little relief from the heat! Looking at years past, I’d say I’m pretty successful at skipping out on winters. It was hard for me to round up these snowy pictures because I seem to be hiding out somewhere warm during December. This year I’m embracing the cold (well, minus last week when I soaked in the eighty degree temperatures that Florida had to offer..) by wearing lots of knit hats and wool socks. You can find me drinking tea whenever I’m awake and if it is a work from home day I will most certainly be wearing my fuzzy robe over my clothes 🙂 How do you stay warm and cheery during the winter?

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

Click here for Frozen