A new year! Ugg/yay. I’m feeling so many feelings about the flipping the calendar from 2015 to 2016. Excitement about all to come while wanting to slow down time because I don’t want to miss a moment and there’s so much to do, but I’m sure many of you feel the same way. I’m assuming that this is a sign of old age? blah.
This! This little concoction has made my days in Colorado a little bit better. I suffer from chronic sinus pain and pressure. When I travel to locations that are particularly dry like Colorado, my sinuses swell and create intense pressure in my entire face. I mixed up this invigorating essential oil solution for instant sinus pressure relief. On a daily basis, it basically feels like my head weighs fifty pounds and whichever way I move it I feel the pressure shift and it causes pain and irritation. You know that feeling when your ears pop when you travel up or down in altitude? How about the feeling when you know your ears need to pop, but they won’t? Like your entire head is full of something? That’s what it feels like too. It’s kind of a bummer and it puts me in a bit of a fog. I become irritated easier and instead of enjoying moments of calm, I’m focused on the nagging pain.
Dealing with sinus pressure is really a way of life for me. Sinus pain interrupts my favorite activities like yoga and hiking so I’m always seeking relief. At home, I sleep with a humidifier running. I’m always downing liquids in hopes that I’ll hydrate my system. Anywhere there is steam, you’ll find me standing over it. I’m constantly putting wet washcloths in the microwave and then laying them over my face in hopes of a few minutes relief. Sometimes I even resort to Aleve or some other pain medication. If it’s really bad, I’ll stand under a scalding hot shower until the water runs cold. Even with access to a steam room here in Colorado, I was looking for a quick solution that would be easy and safe for multiple uses throughout the day. I looked in a few homeopathic guides and this invigorating essential oil solution is the best remedy I’ve found for instant sinus pressure relief.
Happy New Year everyone! We have a nice mix of sunny and frosty for your January edition of Seasoned View. All of these images were taken my Katie or myself in Colorado over the past two weeks. As you can see, we went on our fair share of wintery hikes and we’re suggesting you do the same- you won’t regret it. Bundle up and get out there!
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!
Happy New Year! Here’s my resolution list from last January. I totally kicked ass in some areas and in others I completely slept. On that note, I still sleep a whole ton – probably an average of ten hours a night. It’s just something I can’t kick. Anyway, I decided to cross off the goals that I didn’t meet and instead focus on the ones that I did. Like any year, there were ups and downs, but I’m so thankful to have this blog and my images to look back on. Here are some sweet moments from 2015.
This snowy afternoon brought about some of my favorite weather images from 2015 and the background my my resolutions list. I’m currently in Colorado freezing my butt off and coming down with a cold, but if it snowed like this tomorrow and the light was just right, I would shoot for hours.
Happy New Year’s friends! This morning we took a few minutes from our hectic, kid-wrangling schedule to create some quick and delicious shrub and champagne cocktails. Shrub is pretty much our favorite mixer and champagne is hands down the alcoholic bevy of New Year’s so boom – this post was born. If you’re having a dry New Year’s, no worries, just swap out the champagne for seltzer and ignore the liquor suggestions or stir up some of these delicious mocktails instead! If you’re down to drink, read on!
It’s Christmas week!!! We’ve been having so much fun with Alex this year since he really understands that Christmas is something special, but he’s still asking a lot of questions and trying to make sense of what’s going on around him. “When can we open the presents?” “We get to put the tree in our house?!” “It’s Christmas season, but not Christmas day, right?”
I’ve traveled plenty, most times with the wrong gear, but when it’s right, I’ve never felt more comfortable and relaxed in an unknown environment. Today I’m sharing my most beloved travel companions, in the way of gear, so you can scope out a great present for the adventurer in your life. All these items are highly practical and while they may be on the expensive side, they’ll last for half a decade or more. If you want your wanderer to think of you while they’re abroad, scope out one of these premium gifts and have them travel in comfort and style. I’ve traveled without most of these items at least once, but never again, never again.
A quality, packable down jacket. I was absolutely unprepared and frozen in this photo (and for the next few days) taken in Halong Bay, Vietnam. On my recent trip to Nepal, I made sure to pack a down jacket and it’s a good thing, because I wore it for a week straight on the Annapurna Circuit.
Somehow it’s turned into a busy week around here, but some people have more on their to-do lists than others. I mean, Calder’s laughing at us because he hasn’t even started his Christmas shopping yet! How does he do it?
Boulder got hit with a big snowstorm today and I was totally unprepared. I should have bought that molasses yesterday so we could be making ginger cookies today. Or ran to the craft store so I could put together some other little gifts. Instead, we’re just playing with play dough and eating leftover tortellini. #lifeishard
So, while the boys nap I’m working on a plan for the next few days.
And that’s our snow day, a whole lot of scheming going on over here.
When Sarah was in town last week, we made it a point to visit Boulder’s Ku Cha House of Tea. We’re excited to tell you more about the shop and its tea house in another post, today I wanted to share some photos and details about the Pu’er tea in a dried tangerine that we took home for our afternoon tea.
To make this specialty a fermented tea is stuffed into the whole rind or mandarins or tangerines. The stuffed fruit is then left to dry, allowing the tea to absorbs the light citrus aroma. The tea leaves can be brewed alone or with broken pieces of the dried tangerine peel, thereby amplifying the citrus flavor.
Sarah and I don’t have two bits to rub together today (hah!), but we are working behind the scenes scheming up some fun stuff for the season.
In the meantime, our sister Kris sent us a picture early this morning, and she’s totally winning the race on getting crafty with tea. Those are chamomile & lemon bath balms. They look fantastic, and we are so excited to do some product testing for her ;-).