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!

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!

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

Katie here:

If you’re following along on our Instagram feed, then you already know that it was cold and snowy in Boulder this week! We pulled the sled out of the garage and took Alex for a stroll around the neighborhood on that first morning – he loved it!!! In the photo above he just got on and fell backwards, but he soon figured out how to hold himself up as the sled jerked to a start. It was just as exciting for us to see his joy. Every time we mentioned the sled, he would run for the door. So that’s been our main mode of transport – I pulled him over to his friend’s for a play date, our babysitter took him on a few walks (after teaching him the fine art of snow angels), and last night on the sled, he figured out that waving to the snowplows would get them to honk their horns. Important stuff going on around here!

Meanwhile, inside the house I kept a pot of soup on the stove every day. I think because this blast came earlier in the season than we would have expected, it seamed extra magical having the steamed up windows, fire in the fireplace, candles going on the mantel and the blanket of snow outside. I feel like the week was a slow dream, and other than the fridge of leftovers and “first snow” pictures, I don’t have anything else to show for it, but that’s not a bad thing either. If the snow’s coming your way, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Sarah here:

This week was busy, busy over here! Lots of shoots, editing and meetings, but I did find time to rake the yard and go for a few hikes with the pup.  I also went shopping for clothes, which is a big deal for me. Those pants in the pic are newbies. Like ’em?  I rarely buy threads.  I just hate spending money on clothes, which is hard because I’m always envious of other people’s style, yet I’m not willing to spend money on shirts. First world problems, I know.

I also went on a date this week, whoop whoop! We went to see Interstellar, which is now one of my most favorite movies. I loved it so much. I’ve been thinking about it ALL WEEK and I even had a dream about it.  So, that’s kind of a big deal.  It’s rare that I go that bananas over a movie, but it was just so dreamy and intriguing.  Christopher Nolan is really securing his spot as my favorite director (I’m sure that is his most prestigious award yet..). This movie was just as mind boggling as Inception so if you enjoyed that, you’ll enjoy this. He also made Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight Trilogy and other greats.

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

Katie here  :

I totally felt like this week was recover from Halloween week. As you know, our costumes weren’t even that involved, but not having them done was weighing on me all last week. So, when Monday evening came, it was nice to sit down and work on a project without that Halloween guilt. I started a hat for Calder. It’s a bit of an experiment using the yarn and thread in the photo above… I realized that I’m going to need about twenty more skeins of thread to finish this puppy (in fact, I took the photo so that I wouldn’t forget the numbers for the colors I’m using). If it’s a successful venture, I’ll be sure to share the finished hat here!

My other bit of fun this week was going for our 20 week ultrasound. That means we’re about halfway through this pregnancy. It was so much fun to see the little guy and know everything was developing as it should, but it also makes me so impatient for a few days afterwards – I can’t wait to meet him for real! (and you don’t know how much willpower it took to not use an exclamation point after every sentence in this paragraph)

Sarah here:

Just like Kate, I felt like this week was recover from Halloween week. Chapel Hill is the place to be on Halloween!  There were over 40,000 costumed lads and ladies roaming around Franklin street until all hours of the morning and I was one of them.  I was huuuungover on Saturday, which prompted me to create The Morning After blog.  If you ever have one heck of a night and you’re feelin’ it the next morning, submit your Morning After photos here.

After the great work distraction that is Halloween passed, I got down to business and edited hundreds of photos this week.  Sitting in front of my computer hour after hour got old pretty fast. I started daydreaming about alternate careers and future travels and I decided I really want to complete my yoga teacher training abroad.  For the past few years, I’ve toyed with the idea of getting my RYT200 certification and I think 2o15 is the right time. I’ve been looking into this program in Nepal, but of course I have a lot of research to do about teachers, ashrams and programs.  I’d love to return to Nepal (pictured above), but I’m also open to traveling to whichever country hosts what I think to be the best fit for me. Let me know if you or someone you know has been certified abroad. I’d love to chat about the experience.

Instead of the usual links posts, each Friday we’re going to start sharing 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 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

Sarah here:

This week I had two firsts!  Last night I went to the North Carolina State Fair and the night before I successfully canned a batch of caramelized onions. Simple pleasures, right?  The canning was actually easier than I expected.  I helped with a few canning projects in the past, but this was the first time doing it all by myself, with no instruction and in my own ill-prepared kitchen.  Cutting nine pounds of yellow onions by hand was a bit of a challenge tear fest.  Besides a food processor, my kitchen is also lacking large pots.  This made the whole process a little more time consuming, but nonetheless I ended up with ten half pints of delicious caramelized onions!  If you have a seasonal recipe I should try, please let me know 🙂

The NC State Fair was an equally awesome first.  I’m a big fan of fairs and festivals and this one didn’t disappoint.  It was much bigger than past fairs I’ve frequented, which meant more livestock, crafts, food and games.  I love winding my way through the exhibit halls and seeing the largest pumpkin or most prettiest cross-stitch.  I was a little disappointed in my appetite though.  I only had room for one order of mozzarella sticks! I replaced my time allotted for eating towards playing games.  I couldn’t find the bingo tent (it wasn’t listed on the map-can you believe that?!), but I did throw a few darts and toss a couple ping pong balls.  K even won three gold fish!  We named them Peppy, Grumpy & Stooge.

Katie here:

Late for the second week in a row, I know! For me this week seems to have been all about food and moments of startitis.

On the food front, I can’t help but talk about our CSA yet again, because it’s so amazing how getting a box of vegetables delivered to you each week influences your eating, cooking, and recipe searches (and I know we’ve had a CSA before, but when you take a break and then start again, it’s BAM! vegetables in your face, fridge, and dreams). I could spend my whole day looking up new recipes and experimenting, but I don’t have that time at the moment, so I squeeze it in between moments of work and trips to the playground. This weekend I have plans to make a salsa verde with tomatillos that arrived last night and a cabbage-filled savory hand pie with a recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook. The photo above is from my night of experimenting with new toppings for my favorite roasted veggie soup – more on that soon!

On my terrible case of startitis, this week has been a particularly slow work week, which is fantastic, but I realized that I should be taking advantage of the lull and working on every idea I’ve ever had. Which leads to finishing almost nothing! I started a new sweater for Alex, picked out a pattern for a sweater for me, dug into my fabric stash for a new halloween decoration idea (will share the details next week if it works), cheesecloth is sitting in the middle of the floor because I wanted to make ghosts for the front porch, and that’s next to a pile of yarn tagged for new winter hats for Calder and me. Let’s hope I accomplish one or two of those projects before my motivation wanes!