no place like home.

i just returned from a quick work trip to colorado. nothing like a long plane ride, a little motion sickness, and a nap-free 22-hour day to shake you up and give you a little perspective. i travel a few times a year for work and while i'm always grateful for the chance to pack my bags and head out on an adventure, i always count the days until i can come home. there is a certain thrill to travel--a sense of adrenaline pumping as the plane takes off and lands, a sense of wanderlust as i scour the area guides looking for mini-adventures to take in between meetings, a sense of freedom and exploration, a sense of awe a new places and faces (like this one).  there's a kind of alter ego that lets loose on the road.  my inner road warrior goes to work setting up shop in the hotel and the rental car--she feeds on to-go meals at whole foods, iced coffee, mini shampoo and conditioner refills, hot coffee, driving one-handed as the other punches new destinations into the gps, and any other form of coffee-induced beverages.  but there truly is no place like home.  there is a certain calm at home--a sense of belonging, a sense of rest and peace as the road warrior goes back into hibernation, a sense of loyalty in making coffee from the same pot each morning and turning the sheets of the same bed each night.  friends, it's good to be home.

i was grateful for the chance to meet up with a good friend while in colorado this time.  we used to work together when she was a student (she has since graduated, moved, married, and landed a great job with lots of potential).  in terms of personality and vision, we are on very similar pages, so i usually leave our conversations filled with inspiration, project ideas, and new thoughts on living and lifestyle.  this time, i'm particularly inspired by her commitment to pursuing creativity, living healthily, and commanding adventure in the every day.  my mind's wheels have been spinning for some time about how to be more committed to things like this, to things that i love (see november's resolutions).  this is my current list...

be more faithful in doing yoga. pilates. back issues have banned yoga for the time being, so i'm pursuing pilates instead.

write at least once a week and do a better job maintaining my blog. still working on this one. the christmas season gave me lots of creative inspiration, but i've been experiencing a drought in my creative juices recently; they have given way to the busyness of life. i started volunteering to write for a local non-profit to help keep me accountable in writing, and my blog continues to be a great avenue for creative expression.

create margins of time to just be. just not part of my personality makeup. augh.

fully embrace the seasons rather than complain my way to summer. winter has been a consistent 50 degrees here, so this resolution hasn't been too tough to keep up with so far! 

read. yes!  as busy as traveling can be, it lends itself to book completion quite seamlessly.

be intentional about investing in the here and now, take advantage of moments to talk with complete strangers, and be a part of where we live.  once again inspired to keep at this one. i'm realizing that this takes lots of patience, time, and perseverance.

given that it's january (at least for one more day), and the season of resolutions is upon us, i have a few other things to add to the list...

live simply and healthily.

train for a half marathon.

there's nothing like leaving home to breathe new life into perspectives and priorities; and there's nothing like coming home to live out the inspiration.

homemade holiday: chai tea concentrate

remember this photo from my homemade body scrub post?

things got a little out of hand after that post and i made about a million of them...

because they are just so cute. what's a girl to do? well, this girl had to figure out a way to use all of these newly-chalkboard-labeled mason jars. 

hello homemade chai tea concentrate! fav holiday bev for sure.

what you need:

1 quart mason jar
4 1/2 c. water
8 bags orange pekoe black tea
1/2 c. coconut sugar, date sugar or raw cane sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
3-inch section of fresh ginger, cut into pieces
10 whole cloves
8 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
2 whole star anise pods
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. fresh orange zest
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. of vanilla extract
1 small 6″ square section of cheesecloth
kitchen twine

what you do:

remove any tags from the tea bags and tie them all together. prepare the spices (cinnamon sticks, ginger, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, anise, peppercorns, and orange zest) by laying them out on the cheesecloth square. pull up the edges of the cheesecloth and tie them shut to make a pouch.  in a saucepan, boil water and sugar over medium heat. once boiling, reduce to simmer and add the tea bag bunch and the spice pouch. simmer for 20 minutes, then remove the bags and pouch. add honey and vanilla extract and stir until dissolved.  allow the mixture to cool completely, then pour into your mason jar.  keep refrigerated and use within one week.  to use, mix one part chai with one part milk and serve warm or iced--both are so tasty!

i tripled this recipe because i had quite a few jars to fill...

 

homemade holiday: vanilla coconut body scrub

thank you pinterest and fellow bloggers for more creative inspiration this holiday season! i found this recipe for warm vanilla brown sugar and coconut body scrub and thought i'd give it a try.  living simply and naturally appeals to me, but i've never been to into the homemade hygiene products; the idea of rubbing food on my skin and in my hair honestly causes a gag reflex. i am fully aware that hair and skin products have all kinds of chemicals in them, and i don't like that. i do like composting, recycling, thifting, crafting, couponing, etc., but i'm still working my way into the all-natural hygiene thing. this recipe was a great introduction. i have a sweet tooth so the idea of scrubbing with sugar and coconut oil sounded much better than scrubbing with lemons and avocados. some day.

the supplies: a 2-cup mason jar, organic unrefined coconut oil, brown sugar or raw sugar, and vanilla fragrance

place 1 1/4 cups of brown or raw sugar in a bowl

coconut oil is rock solid at room temperature, so heat the jar in a pot of water over medium-high heat (warning: this takes forever, so don't do this if you're in a rush)

add 6-8 tablespoons of the liquid coconut oil to the brown sugar and mix well. add 15-20 drops of vanilla fragrance, mixing well after each addition.

pack the scrub into your mason jar.  i ended up having some extra room at the top so i made another mini-batch of scrub and added it in. 

 and now we get to my favorite part--decorating the jar. i tied kitchen twine around the jar (any kind of burlap, vintage lace, etc. would work well) and bought chalkboard paint to create a label on the top of the jar.

paint a circle on the top of the jar (stay away from the rim or you'll paint the lid together). since it's a thin layer, it will dry to the touch quickly, but be sure to let the paint dry for at least four hours before writing on it.

 the finished product! more to come...

homemade holiday: teacup candles

i love crafts. i get giddy about taking on projects and creating new life out of old things. this christmas season, we decided to go with homemade gifts because, let's face it, spending hours in my kitchen beats spending hours in my car looking for a parking space at the horribly overcrowded mall. 

so, this christmas i skipped the mall and i skipped online shopping.  instead, i shopped for craft ideas on pinterest.  i admit...pinterest has sucked me in. [my name is heather and i am addicted to pinterest.] time waster? yes, but so is facebook and my iphone and lots of other things. creative inspiration? heck yes! check out these adorable teacup candles that i found.

this is a super easy craft that cost me around $10.  i picked up a couple of vintagey tea cups from a local thift shop ($1-$2 each) and some candles ($.50 each) and wicks ($2) from the craft store.  you can also use old candles that you have lying around the house, but we didn't have a huge stash of those.

 

 to prep, place the metal part of the wick at the base of the teacup, wrap the extra wick around a pen and tape it into place. the pen should lay flat across the tea cup and the metal part of the wick should touch the bottom of the cup.

using a metal can to protect your cookware, heat the candles in boiling water until fully melted (the wick and metal won't melt so you don't need to worry about removing those first).

when the wax is completely melted, pour it into the cup but leave a few centimeters between the pen and the top of the wax and be sure that the wick stays in place. if you want to make scented candles, add a few drops of fragrance at this point (i used candles that were already scented).

the wax will start to get cloudy right away.  let it set for a couple hours before trimming the wick and removing the pen.

 the finished product!  more to come...

belated thanksgiving post

i'm thankful for paint and the power it has to transform spaces with a bucket, a brush, and a ladder.

take for example this space:

 this was the dark and dingy hallway leading up to our apartment...

 the hallway that we had to quickly shuffle friends through as they came over for dinner in hopes that they wouldn't notice the grimy fingerprints and furniture dings lining the walls...

 

BUT thanks to paint...

 and a very handy, handsome, hard-working husband...

 (don't judge...i promise i painted too)

 we now have a beautiful, glowing, pristine, clean hallway!

 friends, you may now slowly saunter upstairs to our apartment and join us for dinner...

...thanks to paint, sore legs, a wonderful husband, an entire saturday, and take out.

dear old man on union street,

thank you for so generously offering that hefty round of applause as i limped past you on my morning jog. when i first turned the corner from perkins street onto union street, i saw you making your way down the driveway...shuffling in your slippers, bathrobe tied gently around your waist, trash can following your left hand's guidance.  i was envious.  why did i exchange my cozy slippers and warm pajamas for running shoes and achy legs?  you started shuffling your way back to the house, with a bit more ginger now that the trash can had been dropped off.  out of the corner of your eye you saw me coming.  and you stopped.  you watched me, and you lifted your hands and started clapping.  "you're doing great," you said, "it's a beautiful day for a run...keep up the good work!"  maybe you saw the twinges of pain in my face.  exercising with a bum hip is no fun.  perhaps you can understand?  maybe you're just a genuinely nice old man who would say that no matter who was running or walking by.  i don't really know.  but i do know that i needed a cheerleader on my jog today and i'm thankful that you chose to take out your trash and stop at the end of your driveway.

november's resolutions

this post is either coming really early or way too late, you decide. i've recently been feeling the urge to change things up a bit. as you may know from my last post, life has gone from about 95mph to a more steady pace these days. while i'm grateful that the absolute chaos of wedding planning is over, i'm starting to feel the itch to take on some new challenges. so, rather than new year's resolutions i am making november's resolutions. the motivation is here now, so better to take advantage and start before hibernation-mode sets in than wait until the dead of winter to try and re-muster the motivation. so here we go with a few resolutions...

be more faithful in doing yoga.

write at least once a week (and do a better job maintaining my blog, hence the makeover today).

create margins of time to just be.

fully embrace the seasons rather than complain my way to summer.

read.

be intentional about investing in the here and now, take advantage of moments to talk with complete strangers, and be a part of where we live.

the last resolution stems from an experience josh and i had going out for ice cream last week. we were in line trying to decide which of the plethora of flavors would satisfy our sweet tooth for the night. this takes concentration, right? hard ice cream vs. soft serve, healthier low fat version vs. indulgence, cone vs. cup, and other such weighty decisions. engulfed by the concentration required for these choices, i didn't even realize that the woman behind us had started up a conversation.

"oh, this is new! do you know if they keep this up all winter?"

pause.

her pondering look broke my concentration and i realized the question was addressed to me.

"oh, i'm sorry. what was that?"

repeat the question. "this is new! do you know if they keep this up all winter?"

"uhhmm...i'm not really sure."

turn back to the ice cream list. before i can even re-focus on my selection process, she asks another question.

"so, tell me about the low fat option over there. do you think it's good? does it taste like the real thing, or can you tell it's watered down? have you ever had this one?"

whoa. calm down with the questions. this is only my second time at this place and i have no idea whether the low fat version tastes watered down. we were motioned up to the window to place our order before i could respond to her trail of questions. as we finished, i quickly responded "i've never had that kind before" as she moved over to the second window to place her order. we grabbed our cones and headed to the car to blast the heat while we eat (after all, ice cream in november in new england doesn't make much sense). once in the car, we both said, "she must not be from around here." how sadly adjusted to new england culture are we that we can't reciprocate a conversation started by a stranger in the ice cream line? we get suspicious about questions, skeptical about eye contact, and turned off by smiles. the whole thing sounds pathetic, right? like guys, c'mon, is it really a big deal to talk to the lady in the ice cream line? but seriously, this IS counter-cultural in new england. and in all honesty, i don't think she was from around here. regardless, the encounter was a wake up call to how sadly adjusted we had become in just a few short years of living here. embarrassed by our reactions to the woman, we started talking about how great it would be to live in a place where it was normal to greet strangers and strike up conversation. life would be more joyful and less cold (in reference to emotions and the weather). well then, we resolved, if we can't relocate to that type of place right now, let's be more intentional about living that way right here, right now. and thus began the november's resolutions.