Welcome to the part of the year that always tends to make me feel bleak!
Christmas? Over. Tree? Down. Lights? Out.
To get me through the hump (Black Eyed Peas reference not fully intended), I’ve been relying on two things.
Hump Reliever #1
This is my daily smoothie. To make it, I pour eight ounces of dark chocolate almond milk into a cup, place spinach on top, pour on some frozen raspberries, and cram it all down with a banana. I then let my immersion blender (also known as Mama Bird) premasticate everything for me so I can digest it with minimal effort as I lie in my nest of sherpa blankets (these have nothing to do with the people of eastern Nepal and everything to do with something cozy I found at Target).
Hump Reliever #2
This is my essential oil diffuser. If you need exact information, it’s a ZAQ Dew. Jeff gave it to me for Christmas, and now I’m spending my days inhaling the scent of lemons and peppermint and lavender and rosemary and sweet orange, and it’s really helping me to not hate everything. (As I sit here and type, I am breathing in rosemary and lemon, and my mental energy is fresh and if someone tries to poison me with fish? I AM IMMUNE!!! SUPPOSEDLY!!!)
(Although I hate to say this sort of thing, if you landed at Fluid Pudding because you sell Young Living or doTERRA oils: Good luck and No, thank you. Okay then. Let’s clear our throats and minds and move on.)
A good friend of mine shared the concept of hygge last week, and it has been on my mind ever since because it encapsulates everything I love the most—coziness and candles and positive energy and mittens. Good things. Good people. Baked potato bars inside when it’s snowing outside. Hot tea and Cary Grant.
My word for 2015 is Hygge.
Hygge.
Hygge.
Hygge.
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That smoothie looks yummy and now I’m walking around saying “hewg-gay”. My accent is awesome (terrible).
I’ve been in a smoothie rut for about a year now and just bought some fresh peanut butter un-sullied by sugar’s sticky hand. Generally, I’m an almond milk, banana, wheat germ, blueberry, whey guy, but recently had a peanut butter version that made angel’s sing.
Also, if you could provide details on that delightful infuser, I’d be in you debt.
Also also, the main squeeze is on the road to becoming a knitting fanatic. I mentioned you and she was wondering if it’d be OK for her to contact you to pick your brain. I mentioned a store called The Loopy Ewe and she was intrigued.
For me it’s getting all three children working on some kind of craft (knitting, peg loom, etc.), turning on the fireplace, some hot tea of an evening, and lots of blankets and throws under which to snuggle. I also love the feeling of a big stack of blankets on top of me – but a cool pillow!
You need to get your Valentine on! The Christmas wreath comes down and the Valentine wreath goes up! The white lights are still up on the porch (and will stay up as long as I can keep them up because they make me feel cheerful). Red and white dishes in the cupboards. I’m contemplating making a garland with paper heart doilies. It’s after Valentine’s day that the winter doldrums really set in for me if the weather stays bad.
I want to hug this post. The photos are gorgeous. I love seeing frozen water falls. Looking forward to sometimes thought of as the little things and some times folks take for granted are actually the big things in life:) I’d like to tell myself so anyway. And potato bars yum!
Here are a few ideas for making winter less bleak:
http://caroleknits.net/2015/01/13/13370/