Seasoned View: Vol. 13

April 6, 2015April 5, 2015 by Sarah | 2 Comments

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.

Happy Monday Ya’ll! Seasoned View: (lucky) Vol. 13 today! I can’t believe Kate and I have been on this blogging adventure for over a year now. Thank you SO much for following along and remember if there’s something we do that has been driving you crazy this past year, you can tell us in the comments. We are already aware of how horribly we spell, but besides that bring it on. Tell us what is up.

Oh yeah, PS. I’m an aunt times two now!! Yep, Katie had her second baby boy yesterday! Once she is rested I’m sure she’ll give us an update on his stats and the little guy’s name. Until then, 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!

Click here for blooms on black. This image was inspired by this fine lady.

Click here for the nest.

Click here for sun on seed.

Click here for macro Mike. Sidenote: I name all the spiders that live in my house and most bugs I meet on the street. Anyone else do this?

Click here for full bloom.

Wondering what my desktop actually looks like? I’m a leeeeetle bit embarrassed to show you, but here goes:Initially it looked like the photo above, but I was able to trash a bunch of things and pare it down to this photo:

Ugh. I know it’s ridiculous, but at least my actual desktop doesn’t look like that, right?! If you look closely, you’ll see one of my folders is “entire desktop” well that little baby also contains folders with the names “everything ever” and “OMG so much stuff” this is what happens when you take and edit photos for a living. So. Much. Stuff.

Happy Friday!

April 3, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Happy Friday folks! I hope the daffodils are blooming wherever you are!

Black Walnut Shortbread Cookies

April 2, 2015January 29, 2016 by Katie | Leave a comment

Nuts are our ingredient of the season. You can see our full archive of nut posts here!

We have the perfect treat to compliment all of the sugar and chocolate that is sure to be passed around this weekend : black walnut shortbread cookies. Sure, shortbread cookies have quite a bit of butter, but a little fat never hurts, and with only a half cup of sugar in this batch, they help to balance those peep and jellybean filled baskets.

Since we’re all about nuts this season, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to talk about walnut varieties. If you’re eating a walnut right now, chances are it’s an English walnut, also known as a common, Persian, and California walnut. That variety is native to the Eastern hemisphere from China through parts of the Middle East (where it’s Persian name comes from), was spread throughout the world on English trading ships (thus the English moniker), and by the 1700s was being grown in groves in California! If you’ve eaten a walnut, it’s likely that it was the milder common walnut rather than the black walnut used in today’s recipe.

Eight Natural Egg Dyes

April 1, 2015 by Sarah | 1 Comment

Hey there! With Easter only days away, we wanted to remind you of a fun, easy, and most importantly, natural way to dye eggs. This time last year, Katie and I decided to experiment with common kitchen ingredients to make our dyes. Here are Katie’s eggs using purple onion skins, tumeric and purple cabbage. For eggs dyed with coffee, cherries, cumin, paprika, and brown onion skins follow my instructions. Other than your dye ingredient, you’ll just need some water and vinegar, but as you’ll see in Katie’s post, you can also use a few drops of vegetable oil to make your eggs shine.

This is a great project to do with kids, because you can turn them into scientists ~ they’ll see these foods in new ways and may even want to experiment with dyes from other foods and plants (you may want to start with just a couple of the foods on that list, and then do some guided exploring to have them test out the other foods).

Let us know how it goes!

How To Use It: Coconut Oil

March 31, 2015January 30, 2016 by Sarah | 2 Comments

Hey all you nutty kids! Katie and I have a bunch of products that make their way into our daily lives in some form or another and one of those is coconut oil. We thought it might be helpful to explain how we use coconut oil in case you’re at a bit of a loss. Personally coconut oil is used so often in my house that I have a jar in my kitchen, bathroom and car! I can’t get enough of the stuff and while I like other oils too like argon and olive, coconut is so cheap and versatile that I find myself using larger quantities of it than the others.

Preparing for Baby #2 ~ Mamma Care!

March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 by Katie | 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, we shared some of the gear that I consider essential for the first few weeks of a wee babe’s life. Today I wanted to share a few ideas for the new mamma, even if it’s not your first time to the rodeo. It was hard to break these ideas into two posts, because some items in the baby post may look like they’re for the mom (hello, nursing tanks), but really, few moms are excited to wear those things ~ we’re wearing them to give the little ones easy access to their food. Likewise, I have a few things on today’s post that seem like they are for the baby, but when you really think about it, we’re using them to make the mamma more comfortable, and that’s so important.

I think that the best thing a mom can do after a pregnancy is to relax, make yourself comfortable, and give your body the time to heal. You’ll see that my priority items really focus on those ideas. I also believe that addressing every aspect of mamma care is equally important (from physical to mental), so don’t think of this list as being in any sort of order ~ all items would come first if they could!

Two Bits

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 by Katie | 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:

What a week. I’m glad everyone in the house made it to Friday, people weren’t kidding when they thought moving while days away from my due date was a bad idea. All-in-all, it wasn’t *that* bad, but it really took us the whole week to start to feel like there was any sense of order in the house again. From storms knocking out our internet, to a cold knocking me out, and other technical challenges, we were a house full of first world problems, and it was rough! Luckily, today the sun’s shining through the windows and we’re looking forward to a more relaxing weekend of piddling around the new house and unpacking a few boxes as we enjoy the calm before the new baby storm, which is right around the corner!

Sarah here:

Hmmm, actually, it’s Katie again. I don’t know where Sarah is, but she’s been knocking it out of the water with her amazing posts lately, don’t you think? In case you haven’t caught them all, check out her list of not-to-be-missed Travel & Adventure Documentaries, and then her mouth watering profile, in two parts, of North Carolina’s Fair Game Beverage Company! And don’t forget to stop by their spirit release party tomorrow!

*hours pass* Good Morning! Sarah’s here! I was asleep. Go figure 😉 I’ve been running around ALL week, but it’s been fun stuff so no complaints here. I’m just really tired and want an entire day to sleep, which is going to happen on Sunday – can’t wait!! This week, other than day dreaming about sleep, I went on a bachelorette party wine tour in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It was a lovely trip with lots of ladies, which reminded me I should make an effort to plan a big get-together like that at least once a year. Uninterrupted friend time is SO important and something that definitely gets pushed aside as you get older, get married, have babies, move to other states, etc. There’s no way you can get into the conversations we touched by just meeting for a cup of coffee, you need days and wine. Lots of wine. So mental note: plan friend weekends!

I also stopped by another friend’s home to visit her and her family, get a tour of their new (ok, new to me) house and watch her (six-year-old) baby blow out candles on a birthday cake. It was such a nice celebration and I’m happy I was able to be a part of it. Making a tiny bit of effort to see friends goes a looooong way. It also reminded me how quickly SIX years can fly by. I was blessed enough to hold that little sweetheart on the day she was born. I also loved seeing how this family’s birthday traditions formed over the years. Simple, but really special stuff going on. I may have to have her share them with Seasoned in case other moms out there want to do something a little bit different that focuses more on family, tradition and time well spent. Just a hint: no disney-themed parties were held.

Now I’m off to the pottery studio to do a bunch of packaging and studio shots for the day. I hope you have an awesome weekend and like Katie said, join me tomorrow at Fair Game Beverage Company’s spirits release!

In The Field: Fair Game Beverage Company – Part II

March 26, 2015March 26, 2015 by Sarah | 2 Comments

Every once in awhile we interview someone doing interesting work In the Field, where we tag along and pick their brain. See past In The Field interviews here.

Yesterday we focused on Fair Game Beverage Company’s current products, but today I wanted to a dig a bit more into where Chris finds inspiration as head distiller. If you didn’t catch Part I go ahead and read it! Like any sustainable business, Chris looks at what is readily available to him. Instead of getting hung up on fruit that isn’t local he thinks up creative concoctions for what’s around.

In The Field: Fair Game Beverage Company – Part I

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 by Sarah | 3 Comments

Last week I had the opportunity to take a tour of Fair Game Beverage Company and talk with Chris Jude, the head distiller. I’ve been interested in talking to Chris for a while now. I attended the Fair Game Beverage Company circus-themed grand opening last summer and it was such a good time! I knew I had to meet the minds behind Fair Game and get a better sense of what’s going on in their distillery. Fair Game Beverage Company is having a spirits release this weekend, Saturday March 28^th so it seemed like a great time to visit and learn a bit more about Fair Game Beverage Company.

A Little of Our Lately

March 24, 2015 by Katie | Leave a comment

So, Sarah sent me the gentlest of nudges last night, that the blog looked “sleepy”, to put up a post already. I have to admit, the combination of pregnancy, moving, unexpected technical difficulties with cameras and a new internet connection, and a certain 2 year old made posting a challenge!

Anyway, I’m excited to share a little bit of what we’ve been up to lately. Last weekend Calder and I totally indulged in the calm before the storm(s) that are moving and new babies. So, we drove up to Nederland and happened upon Frozen Dead Guy Days! We knew nothing about it before then, and if you haven’t heard of it, take a moment to read the story of the crazy cause for the festival. While there, we always give Alex a ride or two on the Carousel of Happiness, and this time we tried to capture some shots of my big belly before it’s gone again :-).

This weekend was a whole different story, we closed on our new house and moved in! Saturday was our first night in the house, and so on Saturday we christened it with a french toast breakfast and the raising of our Jolly Roger flag.

I can’t wait to give you a full tour, but the aforementioned technical difficulties mean I haven’t taken many indoor shots yet. Until then, I have a sneak peak of the outside. The house is located in the foothills of the Rockies, just above Boulder (on a favorite biking hill for the hoards of road bikers in town – Calder’s in heaven). Our yard is basically the mountainside, but if you do a 180, we have fantastic views of the more gently sloping property of our neighbors’ with horses in the pastures.

I think that living on the side of the mountain would drive the gardener in me crazy if it weren’t for the fact that previous owners did a fantastic job of installing a number of large, tiered beds, both off of the deck and around the sides of the house. Most of these are filled with perennials, but there are a few open spaces for annuals and herbs/veggies. Calder’s only request or “house prenup” as he calls it was that I plant strawberries and raspberries, well, as luck would have it, we already have mature beds of both! So this spring I’ll likely take it easy and focus on the annuals both in beds and in pots around the porch and deck.

And there you have it, a little snapshot of our crazy life this past week. Like any good crafter/schemers, we have a few projects that we want to do in the house, so I can’t wait to share more details about the inside of the house and our project inspiration in another post. Until then, we’ll be busy unpacking boxes and waiting for our newest little guy to make his appearance.