tea time ritual

i have come to appreciate winter more than years past. it's a season of rest on the farm & i so appreciate seeing my farmer rest. i love creating cozy spots within our farmhouse during the winter months. of course, nothing's quite as cozy as a warm cup of tea.

i've always appreciated tea from afar, but up until this summer's adventures throughout europe, i never was much of a tea drinker myself. this winter, i have been trading in my afternoon cup of coffee for hot tea. 

i recently visited my local tea shop & purchased a handful of loose teas that i love. i also grabbed a box of kusmi tea while in nyc & it's by far my favorite. the taste is perfect & i adore the cloth bags. 

in an effort to stay more present this year (my word for 2016), i am spending just a few present moments each winter day with a cup of warm tea in hand. it's a moment of pause & an opportunity to regroup among a flurry of to-do's. 

i'd love for you to share your thoughts on your own tea time rituals & perhaps your favorite teas that you think i should try!

love,

natalie

the shop is open!

great news! the shop is open! yay!

click HERE to shop right now!

enter code "BLOGFRIEND20" to receive 20% off your order of $10 or more + FREE shipping always!

love,

natalie

january's shop update

hello, friends! i am so excited to share a few goodies from my shop that will launch this thursday (tomorrow!), 1/28, at 8am cst!

i just love this month's set of valentine's day-inspired happy flags. pop one into a mason jar of fresh flowers or atop a pretty gift for a friend. i also love adding happy flags to my plants throughout my home for a casual, seasonal look. 

we'll also have a variety of flannel options in both bowbands & skinny bands! i can never get enough of flannel.

i couldn't help but add just a hint of spring to this month's shop opening. the pink side is perfect for any valentine's day attire & the mint green floral is a fun pop of color amidst such a neutral winter palette. 

we'll also have valentine's day-inspired bowbands & skinnybands just in time! gift one to your bestie or wear one throughout the month of february. the red gingham & denim heart fabrics are my absolute favorite.

and just a heads up - this is your last chance to grab a coffee cozy until next october! they're so cute & the perfect green-alternative to those paper cozies we often get at the coffee shop. 

thanks so much for all of the support as we grow & learn each month! as a thank you, i am offering 20% off to my blog friends! just enter "BLOGFRIEND20" at checkout to receive 20% off any order of $10 or more. and as always - free shipping all the time!

click HERE to shop! xo.

love,

natalie

the great purge... thoughts on "stuff"

oh, finally a quiet morning to sit with my thoughts for just a bit, sip tea & snap a few corners within our home! 

i was prepared for a busy january, but i had no idea it would be quite this busy. thankfully i had a little time yesterday to tidy up & fluff our nest. it's true, i don't feel like myself when our home is a mess. my studio is just off the back bedroom so it's important that our home remains a place where i want to spend most of my days. 

i've been thinking a lot about our home & the items in it. it might just be time for another great purge! i've jotted down a list of areas that i want to target in february when our schedules lighten up a bit. some of those areas include our linen closet, the bathroom & the pantry. for now, as i find something we no longer use/need/like, i put it in the bin to take to goodwill. i have a load i am dropping off tomorrow morning while running errands.

"have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." - william morris.

how do you approach "stuff" within your home? i'd love to read your thoughts!

love,

natalie

three gift ideas to brighten the january blues

hi, friends! 

this week i am over at shindig paperie's blog sharing my passion for crafting up pretty gifts & brightening other's days! head on over to the shindig blog right here for three gift ideas to lighten up yours + other's january blues!

love,

natalie

our sunday routine for a better week

i have found over the years that habits stick around for much longer when we make space for them in our daily life & set a sustainable daily rhythm.

such is true for my sunday routine. at the end of the weekend, after a bit of rest & play, we prep for the following week. this helps to calm the chaos of monday & prepare me for the week's family, social & work activities.

today i thought i'd share a quick list of things we do on sunday to prepare for the week ahead!

1. meal plan: i always research meal ideas & plan out our dinners for the week on sunday ( click here to learn the basics of how we meal plan). this is a practice that i absolutely try to keep every week because it helps us stick to our eating habits & saves me so much time during the weekdays. i use this meal planner & jot down our meals along with any extra steps that are needed (i.e. prep meal for crockpot in the morning). i then create a grocery list & shop on monday afternoons.

2. family calendar/budget meeting: every sunday we sit down together with our calendars & share events for the week. this helps us to know what our evenings look like & when i need to make dinner each week. this also helps us to be more intentional about making time to have others over & share a meal. if we need to revise the budget, we also sit down for a quick budget meeting.

3. clean the home: i like to pick-up, wipe down the counters, wash the dishes & sweep on sundays. there's nothing quite like a clean home on a monday & this practice often takes me only an hour from start to finish. 

4. catch up on laundry: because we don't have children & luke does his own laundry, i only wash laundry once a week (all the praise hands!). this typically happens on sunday.  i start a load or two before heading to church & finish up in the evenings. i also fold & hang my pieces so i can easily get to them during the week. i love how easy it is to pick out nice outfits throughout the week when this simple step is completed on sunday.

here are some other ideas you might include in your sunday prep: grocery shop, meal prep (if you grocery shop on sundays), plan out outfits, pack a gym bag for the week & make a weekly to-do list

how do you prep for the week? please share! i'd love to read your sunday strategies! 

love,

natalie

p.s. i thought it might be helpful to share some of my favorite organizational tools. here's a blog post dedicated to just that. 

the best of 2015: a photo book

traditionally, at the mark of a new year, i share my top favorite memories of the previous year with you. (here are my favorites from 2014, 2013, 2012 & 2011!) 

this year i changed things up just a bit! in between christmas & the new year, i spent several days collecting photos & making a photo book to mark 2015: a year of adventure for our family! 

i absolutely love how it turned out! 

i have heard great things about artifact uprising, blurb & mpix photo books, but in the end, i chose shutterfly. the shutterfly photo book builder was compatible with facebook & instagram, allowing me to quickly click & place photos in order of when they were shot.  i mostly used snapshots from my phone with a mix of dslr photos & our professional family photos.

i was overall impressed with the quality (shutterfly has greatly improved over the years)! it cost just under $70 & the photos turned out great. i used the white modern theme & a simple grey font. overall, it took me about 10 hours to learn how to properly use the website, gather my photos & build my book. 

i chose small & big moments of our year. i included snapshots of what we baked during the summer & weekly dates with my nephew.  i included photos of our home & our new pool. i chose photos of our loved ones & our family gatherings. it was such a sweet process to relive our europe trip & sort through photos of my grandpa's life in his last few days. 

i cannot wait to share our yearly books with our future babies in years to come.  i'm sure we'll look back & laugh at our haircuts, our outfits, our home decor & why we took so many photos of our feet! 

i'd love to know how you organize & print/share photos every year! please share!

love,

natalie

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just a friendly reminder - today (friday) at 8pm cst is the very last day to take advantage of the amazing epantry deal! when you sign up for epantry, you will receive this FREE mrs. meyer's cleaning kit! check out my blog post right HERE for more details or click HERE to sign up right now!