Welcome January!

Well hello there second week of January, didn’t expect you so soon. As usual, we can’t let the holidays go, keeping our decorations up until at least Russian Christmas.
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Even with the tinsel still up, I’ve started my new year reset. To me, there are two times of the year when I feel like we get a fresh start : January and September (that new school year vibe!). And so, I think we’ll spend the rest of the month sharing some of the ways that we start our year on the right foot. Of course, we totally understand if you’re feeling the post-holiday, mid-winter blues; those feelings totally creep up on us too.

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This month look for posts focused on body, mind, home, and family – all the good stuff. I’m particularly excited (EXCITED) to share with you a new monthly routine that’s super environmentally friendly and completely took me by surprise. We have a few food posts that aren’t fancy-dancy, but they are easy ways to help jumpstart healthy eating routines. We’ll talk about cleaning – both your shower and yo’ face. And, you can bet there will be some book posts, because there’s no time like the present to plan your reading list for the year.

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As we’ve mentioned in previous years, we love to set a few resolutions for the coming year. We have a “resolution keeper” in the family. He gets the conversations going around the holidays, encouraging everyone to think about what they’d like to accomplish in the coming year. He also keeps a running list of everyone’s resolutions from previous years and does a good job of cheering us on or chiding us depending upon how we’re doing. As the years have passed, everyone has gotten into the spirit of setting resolutions. Look for Sarah and I to share a few of ours next week, and we’d love to hear yours.

Going to end this with a little shout-out to my favorite planner. So excited to fill you up.

 

Welcome December!

Hey there! I don’t know about you, but I need at least three more weeks of November. I need time to SLOW down. There’s just too much good stuff to pack into one month. Too much eggnog to drink, too many candles to burn, and too many festive events to attend.

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So, I’ve done what any holiday-loving person would do : I started December by jumping in with two feet. This past weekend was spent hanging decorations, walking slowly among the shops downtown and finding the perfect gifts, and evenings on the couch working on holiday photo projects.

Looking Back/Looking Forward

As the year comes to a close, it’s natural to look back at the previous 12 months. For me, much of that reminiscing starts the moment I start compiling our annual family photo album. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by the thought of a year of photos, putting together a personalized calendar with family photos is a great alternative. I just ordered ours on Shutterfly, and (big surprise) these make great gifts for grandparents! Word is that Sarah’s working on a few photo projects/gifts that she’s going to share on the blog this month.

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The photo projects are always the first on my to-do list because of their early printing deadlines, but once I’m done with those, I have a few other projects up my sleeve. Similar to last year’s coffee mugs, I’m going to work on another project from the boys. This one requires a little bit of work on my part, and I’m excited to see how it turns out. I’m sure I’ll share the results, but it’ll probably be after the new year.

As in previous years, I’m starting to think about my 2019 resolutions. For us, these are part self-improvement, part check-list of things we’d like to accomplish. I’m sure we’ll share our resolutions when January arrives… I just checked my previous resolutions posts, and realized that this year may be a catch-up year, because I have a few unaccomplished goals that are still nagging at me!

Living in the Now

Between the looking back and looking forward, there’s going to be plenty of living in the now this month. For me that involves not over-scheduling our days. I want to enjoy the holidays without getting caught up in having/wanting to do everything. And yet, in the process, our days will feel so full.

There will be plenty of days like today. Our favorite Christmas music will be playing. I’ll set the boys up with a holiday craft or two. I’ll spend a bit of time in the kitchen and a bit on the couch working on gifts. We’ll make sure the bird feeders are filled for our feathered friends. And, if we’re lucky, we’ll take a brisk walk before the sun sets.

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Of course, If you’re starting to feel the angst of being cooped up on these short winter days, the end is near! December’s Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year, and you can take solace in knowing that by the end of the month, we’ll be creeping our way back towards summer and longer days. And definitely mark your calendars for the Christmas Bird Count. It’s a great reason to get outside. Want to do it with a group? Many parks and wildlife organizations hold group bird counts near the end of the month.

There’s no better time than now to decide how you want to spend these precious and oh-to-short December days. We hope yours contain plenty of joy and nog.

 

Seasoned View Vol. 33

Most months 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 everyone! We love this cozy time of year. Sarah loves it even more now that she lives in a mild climate, just yesterday she walked her dog in a t-shirt! What a dream. Even if the outdoor temperature isn’t below freezing, you can still celebrate the season by adding a little snow to your desktop. We’re sharing some of our favorite images from winters passed. The snowy Christmas tree field will probably be Sarah’s favorite set of images until the end of time. The light, the big flurries, the situation just couldn’t be any more beautiful, no Photoshop involved. Scroll down to see the rest and choose one for your desktop.

live seasoned seasoned view snowy december desktopYou 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 (or right click on the image), save, and enjoy!

live seasoned winter seasoned view-1Click here for snowy sunset.

liveseasoned_fall14_novemberseasonedview-3Click here for pastel sunrise.

liveseasoned_winter14_seasonedview-1-3Click here for Gingerbread House.

live seasoned winter seasoned view-1-2Click here for Christmas trees.

liveseasoned_winter14_seasonedview-1-5Click here for Holiday Lights.

liveseasoned_winter14_seasonedview11-1-3Click here for Winter Birch.

_DSC5833Click here for Snowy Christmas Trees.

Welcome November

Near the beginning of each month we like to pause and take a look at what’s going on in the world around us and what we’re looking forward to in the month ahead. Here are previous Welcome November posts : 2014, 20152017.

Welcome November!

How are you feeling? There are so many things that can overwhelm us at this time of year. The shorter days and longer nights, the colder and grayer daylight hours, the anxiety of the holiday-packed months ahead. Should I go on?

Yet on the flip-side, there are so many things that have me excited to wake up every day. At this time of year, I anticipate spending more time inside. I look forward to lighting candles, cozy dinners, and longer dark evenings spent being creative.

Knowing the transition to winter can be particularly tough we make a concerted effort to embrace the good and face the challenges head-on.

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Seasoned View Vol. 32

You can upload one or all of these photos to use as your desktop background or even as phone and tablet wallpapers.  These images were all shot in the backyard of our childhood home near Shamokin, Pennsylvania. We were lucky enough to grow up on seventy acres of mostly woods, some fields of wildflowers, and just a little bit of mowed lawn.

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How To: Plan Your Family Camping Trip Step-by-Step

Dreaming up a trip? Here’s how to create a budget and here’s how you can start saving today.

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I’m not a planner per say, but mention a trip idea and I’ve already booked the accommodations. There’s just something about travel, adventures, and vacation that puts me into planning mode and not the crazy, ‘there are so many things to think about that I can’t even think’ type of planning mode, but the, ‘wow, what wonderful possibilities, let’s go with the best one‘ type of planning mode. I have a certain travel planning chi that allows me to avoid the overwhelm and skip right to the excitement. I started my travel guiding service, Schu Tours, partly because everyone is always asking for travel planning help. Continue reading

Fall Camping

If you’d like to see more of our Colorado adventures, click here.

Once the calendar turned to September, we leapt into fall with all of our hearts. Granted the days have still been warm, but we’ve found that if you climb high enough into the mountains, then the evenings are cool, the leaves are changing colors, and the mornings are perfectly crisp.

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Here are a few snapshots from our recent weekend camping trips. If you feel inspired to hop in the car this weekend, at the very bottom of the post, I link to a few posts to hep you get started, including some of our favorite/essential gear.

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Wildlife Camera

If you’re interested in photography, you can find many of our archived posts here. This is the perfect time of year to review Sarah’s tips for better fall photos. And if you’re curious, you can read about both Sarah’s camera equipment and Katie’s.

It’s no surprise that we’re into photography. We love the art of taking photos and we appreciate it as a form of documentation. We use photos (and this blog) as a instrument for recording everything from favorite meals and drinks to vacations and the mundane.

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Today I’m excited to share with you a new piece of equipment that’s helping me to document (and spy on) the wildlife in our backyard.

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Kids’ Nature Books

We know, we know, it’s amazon prime day. If you’re in the shopping mood, below are a few of our favorite nature books for kids.

We feel that it’s very important to have an understanding of and appreciation for the natural world, and we believe that both of those things should start as early as possible in a child’s life.

One of the easiest ways to help children learn about nature is to spend time outdoors. Most children are naturally curious, and as they play and explore in nature, they will begin to ask questions about plants and animals, the habitats and ecosystems where they live, and the larger world around them. This is a great time to begin answering those questions and to work together to research the answers when they are unknown to either of you.

And that leads to our second way to help children learn about the natural world and our relationship with it : books!

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Books are obviously a great resource for teaching children. They are a reference when helping to answer a child’s questions, and they can provide insights into places and times that we’ve never been, which is awesome for awakening a child’s imagination. Of course, that will likely raise more questions, and the cycle continues!

Below are a few of our current favorite nature books for kids. Some of these are straight-up reference guides, while others provide that magical view into another world (because how many of us have actually seen the hidden world of animals under the snow or experienced the immense pressure and heat at the center of the Earth?!).

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Autumn Adventure in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Hey y’all! Happy weekend! In need of an adventure this autumn? I’m (Sarah) hosting two camping retreats in North Carolina during October and November. If you’d like to learn more you can visit my website where you’ll find the dates, details, pricing, and itineraries for two epic outdoor weekends in beautiful North Carolina. I’ll explain them briefly here too.

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HIKE! For this two night adventure, we’re rustic car camping (no electricity, but we do have showers + bathrooms) at Lake James State Park. Due to park rules, you’ll need to make your own campsite reservation ($40 total), but otherwise I have you all taken care of. Not only will I feed you and build your fire, I will lead you on four separate day hikes totaling about 12 miles, all with breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Think expansive vista views, interesting rock formations, and the height of fall foliage, and that’s where we’ll be hiking.

This adventure is perfect for those completely new to hiking and camping, but it’s also perfect for those wanting to transition to overnight backpacking trips. I will demonstrate the type of gear needed to sleep on the trail overnight and even point out some possible first trips on the trails that we hike together.

Here’s a link to all the info about HIKE! + how to register for this event.

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CAMP! Camp is an overnight at Jordan Lake. Camp is meant to bring you out into the changing yet not too chilly forests of North Carolina during early November. Between day hiking, paddling, hammock hanging, and fire building, we will do a fair amount of conversing about set ups, gear, and best practices. We’ll also share our experiences and learn what works for others and what works for us. Camp will also encourage you to craft easy and delicious camping meals in the future for your own crew as I help demystify camp stoves and cooking over a fire.

CAMP! is perfect for those completely new to hiking and camping, but it’s also perfect for those simply wanted to decompress in the woods for a night. Join us at CAMP! and meet other awesome locals like yourself.

Here’s a link to all the information about CAMP! Dates, pricing, and all the details.