Enchantment Learning & Living Blog

Welcome to Enchantment Learning & Living, the inspirational space where I write about the simple pleasures, radical self-care, and everyday magic that make life delicious.

On Drinking A Glass of Wine on My Patio

March 31, 2014

The day is at an end. You have turned your teacher clothes over for yoga pants and a comfy top. Your hair is loose around you. Your bare feet enjoy the feel of the earth kissing their naked pads. All thoughts of school are fading quickly under the magic of the evening's cool air, the soft cooing of doves, and the chilled glass of white wine in your hand.

You sip from your glass, savoring the dry flavors of grapefruit and basil. The cool liquid rolls over your tongue and down your throat, just as the sun sets a little lower in the sky. You know you should probably turn your attention to the news soon but for now your relish the simple quiet after a day of noise and bustle.

The city itself seems to be winding down for the night, relinquishing its fast pace for calmer hours as if it were a person, undoing its neck-tie before unlocking the front door. You take another sip of wine, relishing how the herbaceous flavor warms your belly and loosens your limbs. For a moment, you are nothing more than you--a quiet soul, enjoying a quiet night.

You take another sip and close your eyes; underneath the mellow birdsong, you hear the gentle murmur of traffic as people head home, looking forward to a hot meal and a couple of hours doing nothing. Nothing--nothing more than gazing out at the world from the humble perch of your patio, mind blissfully focused on nothing in particular, nothing but the gentle grace of a day coming to a close.

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!

On Pulling Out Your Warm Weather Clothes

March 30, 2014

It is one of those chores that inevitably follows after the days get longer and warmer. Suddenly, your wool sweaters are too thick, your winter coats too cumbersome to wear. You find yourself looking for this thin sweater or that breezy tunic--both tucked in storage.

Then the day comes when your closet is a mess of half-open boxes holding summer clothes and almost abandoned winter things hanging limply from your hangers. It is time--time to say goodbye to the long, dark days of winter and greet the spring that is already at your doorstep.

One by one, your heavy clothes go into your storage, just as each polka-dot dress and floral skirt tumbles out of its box. You shake them out as if waking them from a long nap, even as you tuck your winter clothes in for their seasonal sleep. As you pull each item out of its box--a forgotten yellow sundress, bought late in the season, or a favorite pair of ladybug pajama shorts--you marvel at how these clothes are a reflection of you.

Each brightly colored scarf and vivid A-line skirt is a drop of your essence expressed to the world. You hang these concrete tokens of that ephemeral thing that are you, already looking forward to when you can don these summer feathers and swan into the world full of light and playful bounce.

On Saturday Night at the Movies

March 29, 2014

You know for most people it is a simple jeans and t-shirt affair, just another night watching another big screen movie.

But for you, Saturday night at the movies will always conjure up visions of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby or Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve--the whole screen filled top to bottom with black-and-white glamorous hijinks. It is the layered history of a new form of storytelling; the theater, a continuous work of art made up of the imprints of each story whose reels have played upon that big, blank screen.

There is even a part of you that wants to don a mink coat and long evening gown for the event, your hair worn in the stylish waves popular among those the silver-screen vixens. You know, of course, that you would be as terribly out of place as you were stylish, but it wouldn't matter--you would be paying tribute to those old gods of the new narrative.

You ponder this as you prepare for your evening out, wearing a mix of old movie glamor staples and new movie-night-uniform jeans, happily anticipating the night's feature. You realize as you apply your last swipe of mascara, that each time we prepare ourselves for a movie--in jeans or jewels--it is part of the celebratory ritual of entering our modern day kiva to listen, to watch, to fill ourselves up with narratives--to heal.

On Self-Care

March 28, 2014

You use to consider it an indulgence--the thing you got to after everything on your seemingly never-ending to-do list was crossed off. You even prided yourself on this fact.

And then the long hours at the computer, staring at your word document hoping to pile on more words upon your other words in an effort to be a good student caught up with you, as did the too-often ignored yoga mat. Your body cried out; it resisted your anxious busyness, your insistence on committing to just one more daily professional task to prove your worth. You now had no choice but to take care of that shoulder misaligned from too much time in front of the computer, or that hip ache from gluing yourself to your seat.

You no longer felt the need to brag about not taking care of yourself. It was no badge of honor to be working round the clock. Only self-harm.

It was many months after that--years even--that you slowly began to learn the necessity of self-care. It was a hard lesson. One that taught you the patience only daily care to mend your body can teach you. When it seemed as if you would forget, your body was there to remind you with little aches and pains, old injuries flaring up like ghosts stirred to life.

Now you look back at that part of you stretched beyond your limit as if it were another lifetime. Now you no longer consider self-care an indulgence. That to-do list is no longer never-ending, but a contained list of tasks that are never, ever quite as important as time in the day to heal yourself, care for yourself so that your body sings with light and your heart beats strong. No longer are you afraid to commit to caring for yourself.

Apple Cider Vinegar Detox Bubble Bath

March 27, 2014

Apple cider vinegar, like baking soda, is one of those all-purpose miracle kitchen staples, good for everything from salad dressings to facial toners. For it to really work, though, you need to make sure that you buy only the raw organic kind, like Bragg, because of the natural minerals, vitamins, and enzymes in it. Apple cider not only reduces inflammation in the body and draws out toxins, but also soothes and moisturizes the skin. It is likewise the all natural secret to brighter, clearer skin--it has long been purported to cure acne and fade sunspots. What most people don't know about apple cider vinegar is that it also absorbs and neutralizes odor, making it one of the best forms natural deodorant, right up there with baking soda.

...which is my long way of saying that it makes a great detox bath--bubbles optional (but really, what bath is complete without bubbles?). If you are worried about smelling like you spent the day in a pickle jar post-bath, don't be! The vinegar smell doesn't stick to you like most people think. You can always add some essential oils to your bath to balance out the vinegary smell as well.

Ingredients:

1 cup apple cider vinegar

essential oils of your choice (optional)

favorite bubble bath (optional)

Simply add one cup of apple cider vinegar to your bath, along with your essential oils and bubbles if desired. Plant to soak for at least half an hour to get maximum benefits. Enjoy!

On the First Bird to My Bird Feeder

March 26, 2014

I would like to thank you, brave soul, the first to venture into my homemade bird feeder.

Built from a small blue colander, fishing wire, and more gumption than crafting know-how, it was my ode to spring, my gesture of goodwill to you lovely birds that fill my mornings with sweet songs and my nights with quiet lullabies.

How long I have been courting you, dear birds! How long have I been scattering seeds around the perimeter of my little patio--advertising the new restaurant in town. Yet still my feeder sat, filled with too much birdseed, forlorn and untouched by anything but this brash March wind.

I know the perils you face dear birds--the cats living above me make no secret of their desire to have you visit their patio. I spied them one night, sipping wine after a long day at work. I looked up to find their little heads peeking over their patio awning to peer into mine.

Aha! I told myself. It is the cats that have scared you birds away. I will give you a safer place to feed. So I put my bird feeder safely inside my patio, away from the prying eyes of cats. I scattered more seed. I waited. I hoped. Eventually, I began to reconcile myself to the fact that none of you would visit.

It was in that frame of mind that I once again went out to my patio to enjoy a glass of wine. And there you were--my brave little friend! My one lone adventurer who risked the cats and dove into my bird feeder and gobbled up seeds. I thank you. What's more, I'll put out more bird seed for you. For you and your friends. Please come again--soon!

On Limits

March 25, 2014

It has taken you some time to realize that you don't have to do everything--that you shouldn't. You knew your heart would sing at the thought of doing less and yet, when you cleared your time, you found yourself filling it back up again, like adding bricks to a wall you had just been trying to take down. Before you knew it, you were walled in again, your life a series of activities at break-neck speed. You were moving so fast you didn't even know it.

Then one moment you stopped and looked around and realized that even in your attempts to do less, you had cluttered your days with things to do, business things and recreational things and healing things, but nowhere did you leave room to breathe.

And so began your task: to set limits. You could let go of this and that event, that one extra little task or the squeezed in errand. You watched each of these unnecessary activities fade away until you were left--blissfully left--with only blocks of unstructured time to breathe, to let your mind wander, to leisurely complete one task.

In finding these limits, you found your expansiveness, your memories of a life that is more than just one thing after another. It is a series of delicious experiences and wild musing, rich lessons and always, always pockets of pleasure that can only be plundered when there is unfilled space--time to simply be.

Check Out My New Recipe Index!

March 24, 2014

Now that I am finishing up month three of my daily blogging on simple pleasures and life lessons, I've decided to put together a recipe index to help readers (and me, to be perfectly honest) keep track of the DIY beauty recipes, tea blends, and healthy treats I post on my blog.

So if you've wanted to try that body scrub or tea blend, but don't remember what day I posted it, you can check out my new Recipe Index here, rather that sift through past blogs. Woohoo! Of course, this also encourages me to keep cooking up fun in my kitchen--from more DIY beauty treats and teas, to fun summer cocktails (and mocktails!) and simple, healthy meals.

As always, thanks to everyone for your support!

Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational collection of musings touching on life’s simple pleasures, everyday enchantments, and delectable recipes that will guarantee to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe here.

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On Returning to Work After a Break

March 23, 2014

It seems so far away: that last day where you stacked up all your papers, wrote your last email, and washed your tea mug. You had pulled out of the office parking lot, listening to country music, leaving your lesson plans and paper grading behind, if only for a week.

Between then and now there has been long afternoons reading novels, late mornings sleeping in, and stretches of hours cooking and yoga-ing and home improving. There were no high heels or stockings or tailored clothes. Only loose shirts and leggings. No hair wound into a perfect bun held together by too many pins--only long tendrils of hair splayed against your back, falling as they will.

As the hours unfold into days, you begin to let go of the little snags and hooks that clung to you during the last few months. You see them for what they are: little tiny ephemeral bits of your job and that come as go as often as the semesters. Slowly you begin to realize that these pieces do not make up you, do not make up your job. They are merely the dust and crumbs of your day.

Now you see, in the time between watching old movies and goofing around, that you have washed off that debris and, in fact, are looking forward to dawning your teacher clothes and your long necklaces and the many rings your naked fingers long for. It is time to return to your calling, time to once again enter the world as a force for good.

On Home Renovation

March 22, 2014

You peel each roll of old wallpaper from the walls, marveling at how years of history unravel as you help the kitchen shed its skin. There goes the thirty-year-old wallpaper, equal parts vinyl and cooking smells and the glue that held it in place for so long. There goes the cheerful blue and white backdrop to so many family dinners, so many evenings spent learning how to cook or roll out flour tortillas with your mom's wooden rolling pin. There goes the kitchen of early childhood.

In its place is new life. The walls are cleaned of glue; the kitchen grows lighter and brighter with each new coat of Venetian plaster. These are new memories being made. Together we let old versions of our family fade to leave room for continued abundance, renewed joy. On goes the butter-cream plaster to the walls, just as if new life is brought into the family.

The kitchen, in the home as old as you are, is the epicenter of your family life. It is the place of Sunday night dinner and holiday gatherings, afternoon tea and summer grilling. You meditate on this as you help wipe down the walls--a daunting task that must be done before the plaster goes up. Together you and your mother reinvent this space, you open it up to light. Already you can imagine the celebratory feast your family will have to celebrate this new era of family life.

On Letting Go of Past Lives

March 21, 2014

It happens all at once and yet slowly over time like water licking a rock until it is a smooth round pebble.

The layers of you that need to be shed like a snake's dead skin slip from your body revealing a new incarnation of you with unblemished skin and better eyes with which to see the world. It is easy, sometimes, to bury the dead; you move or get a new job and the life that came before it is gone, a wisp of memory that your reborn self can look back on and be happy she is no longer there.

Yet there are those old selves that no longer serve a purpose, the selves that need to be put to rest but are all too easy to keep around because, dead as they are, worn and gone, they are comfortable if only because they are what you know. They are the threadbare and ill-fitting coat that you know you should give away--but that would mean you'd need to find another skin to fit your frame just so...and that takes time and energy, those things you are half-afraid you don't have enough of. They are the ghosts that keep you company at night, the ones that won't leave until you want them too, the ones you don't even know you're keeping around until one day you stop, having stumbled into an old life, a space you would never willingly enter now.

Then all at once you see how you have been holding on so tightly and yet now find it is harder to keep holding on than it is to let go. The threadbare coat has finally fallen apart from overuse. So you gently pry your hands loose from those past selves--those final stray strands--those versions of you that are no longer you, and embrace this new skin. It is, after all, the only one you need.

On Goofing Around

March 20, 2014

You don't have any set plans. All you know is that you woke up feeling ready for something. A trip to Santa Fe maybe. Or a cruise down Central. Or even a double feature downtown. The day is calling to you, inviting experiences unfettered by schedules or set plans, only the sweet, buoyant energy of mischief.

Your only promise to the day: to lose track of time. So you do it, and you do it with abandon.

Here is the chocolate shop, where you hem and haw over your options, knowing full well that you will finally settle on your favorite caramel and almond dark chocolate lobos. Then your fancy takes you to the rock and mineral shop--any day is a good day for looking at stones and crystals and finding a new piece of bling to wear. It is the smokey quartz crystal that seduces your first, then the hematite and the lapis laluzi and the howlite and the list goes on and on. You run your fingers over each and everyone one of those stones, feeling the healing vibrations, the strong earth energy that grounds and invigorates...

...which leads you to think of gardening. Or was it the sun and the fresh air that got you thinking this way? No matter. You allow yourself to be swept up in another adventure, on the hunt for supplies for your potted garden--interrupted only by a pit stop at your favorite used bookstore because, well, you could.

Soon your attention is drawn to the idea of refreshments. Lunch, perhaps, or some tea. It doesn't really matter where you go or what you do, only that you don't think too hard about any of it. It is the pleasure principle guiding you from one indulgence to the next.

On Hot Yoga

March 19, 2014

It starts when you unfurl your mat in a hot room--the heater is on, the sweat already beginning to trickle down your back. It's your personal sauna, a detox hot box. You need it. You have been made up of too many hard thoughts lately. Too much given out. Not enough taken in.

You know not everyone can take the heat--not everyone can float through sun sals while feeling as if that same sun coats their skin. But you know that the heat, fiery beast that it is, goes beyond just dragon's breath and hot coals under your feet. It is really a gentle mistress--albeit under the guise of a hard-hearted dominatrix. She wants you to feel good, even if it has to hurt a little first.

Slowly, you feel your muscles melt under the heat, the cares you've carried around in your tendons and tissues weeping out of your skin, coating it in a healing balm of salt and sweat. Even if at first your mind hums, your thoughts racing from past to present to future, the heat inevitably slows you down, pushing you back into your body. Connecting you to your spirit.

You are beyond rational thought. Beyond the need to focus on the small events of your day, only the heat on your skin and the flow from one yoga posture to the next. You have found your way back to yourself. And that is enough.

Spring Break Shenanigans!...and Website Housekeeping.

March 18, 2014

So my website is almost back to its normal self--should be fully back in action tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm still tinkering with it and taking some time today to indulge in spring break shenanigans! Thanks for your patience!

On Technological Glitches

March 17, 2014

You have no idea how it happened.

One moment, everything was fine. The next, the bottom half of your blog page on your website has taken on a mind of its own. No longer confined to the clearly outlined crisp white area, the words of each daily meditation sprawl across your window, taking up every extra piece of space--and the few images you have soon following suit.

You take a deep breath. Then another. Then attempt every little trick you know about technology to fix it (granted they are few); you play with your admin gadgets and your style options, you restart your computer, you pray to whatever tech gods hide inside your computer. But nothing works. You are left with no other options but to contact the web host powers-that-be so that they can fix it. They will look into it, they say. It will take time, they say.

So you sit at your writing desk and ponder. And as you gaze at the mason jar full of daffodils on your desk, your mind goes back to the other little electronic glitches that have come up in the past week: an iPod that temporarily stops working, a light that shorts out when you turn it on. All of which lead you to one realization: it is not the tech gods in your computer that need appeasing or the lights in your home that need a change. It is you.

Your battery has run low. There have been too many days in a row glued to a desk, too few opportunities to let your mind rest. The energies around you pick it up, absorb it, and then power down, short out, unravel. So you do the only thing you can when life has taken so much effort to show you your own reflection: you turn off your computer. You leave your desk. You take a walk.

After a while, your mind remembers what it is like not to be in front of a computer screen.

Blog Temporarily Down due to Tech Glitches!

March 16, 2014

Sigh. Yes, it's true, somehow little tech gremlins did something to my website in the middle of the night and turned the formatting upside down on the blog. Frowny face. But fear not! I'm going to figure out how to clean it up and be back in action by tomorrow--hopefully! In the meantime, I will choose to see this experience not as a setback but as some divine life lesson given to me in the form of shenanigans pulled off by mischievous tech gremlins. Thoughts on this experience to follow...

DIY Home Spa Day in 5 Easy Steps

March 15, 2014

Sometimes I find it hard to transition from being all work to being all play. Even though I *want* to play and am physically removed from my work environment, I need a little time for my brain to catch up. I've found over the years that one of the best ways to make this transition is to have a home spa day--it's simple, fun, low cost, and relaxing. It has all the perks of a fancy day spa without the bother of needing to leave the house (yes, sometimes that is too much for me when I need to recharge my batteries!). So I've compiled a list of five easy steps to help you make your own spa day. Enjoy!

1. Set the mood with music and aromatherapy. You know how all those spas have that gorgeous mellow music play in the background to help you relax? Well, that's what you need at home, too. I like the Bebel Gilberto station on Spotify or a calming instrumental station. Another thing spas do well is the aromatherapy--they have that soothing smell of gardenias or lavender wafting through them. Scent your home with candles or essential oils that help you relax. I personally love lemon or lavender oils, especially in the spring.

2. Keep it clean....and by 'it' I mean your food. One of the most important parts of a spa day is detoxing, so treat yourself to simple light meals and fresh fruit. You want to finish your day feeling lighter and brighter.

3. Hydrate. I'm a big fan of lemon water (sparkling water too!) or water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it. Both drinks help your body detox and re-energize. I also like a mellow herbal tea like mint or chamomile to help your body adjust to your more relaxed pace.

4. Take a detox bubble bath! Plan to be there awhile. We seldom get to linger and just be so really take some time to do that in the bath. Bring a book--or two--and a big glass of water or tea. Now would also be a good time to indulge in my honey face mask or other simple beauty treats like my easy peasy baking soda face scrub, which can also double as a gentle body scrub.

5. Ritualized the spa day. Start it with a gentle exercise, yoga, or meditation (or all of the above!). Really take the time to consciously focus on your personal wellness. End the day with a long nap and simple dinner (chia seed pudding might even make a healthy evening treat).

At at the end of the day, what you are doing is creating a soothing healing zone in your home using all five of your sense. A spa day is a good day to indulge in self-care and quiet--two things the world seldom values over busyness and noise. Yet if we don't take time to care for ourselves, we cease to enjoy the pleasures of everyday life.

What is your favorite home spa day ritual?

A Love Letter to Spring Break

March 14, 2014

Dear Spring Break,

I don't normally write these kinds of letters, but something about you makes me want to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and describe, in graphic detail, all the things that make you delectable.

Let's start with the length you: ten whole days of freedom. Ten whole nights of staying up late watching old movies. 240 whole consecutive hours in which I don't have to wear real clothes or even shoes for that matter. 14,400 minutes to take long naps and even longer bubble baths. 864,000 seconds to lose track of--afternoons to get lost in pulp novels, mornings to while away over a cup of coffee.

But that's not all, Spring Break. I've only just scratched the surface of your deliciousness. I haven't even gotten to your luxuriousness, like a mink coat or velvet on bare skin. Every inch of you begs to be saturated in pure, unadulterated enjoyment. Yes, you say, to drinking wine on the porch! Yes to locking away your teacher-self, as you do your teacher wardrobe, in your closet--no need to feel so downright responsible all the time. Yes to indulging in your introversion! Yes to rejecting firm schedules! Yes! Yes! You are E. M. Forster's Yes to the everlasting Why.

Spring Break, you are the biggest flirt that ever lived, egging me on with your promises of fun, your coy hints at bottomless pleasure. Spring Break you seduce me with your no-nonsense approach to hedonism--nothing must be done that is not thoroughly, completely enjoyed.

Life, you tell me, is a celebration.

Sincerely,

Maria

PS I like you. Do you like me? Please circle one: Yes No Maybe

...& 10 Things I Will Actually Accomplish Over Spring Break

March 13, 2014

....Yes, there is always the lofty plans, as I said in yesterday's blog. And then the Friday before spring break comes. You grade your last paper, send off your last email. Suddenly all the excitement that has been building up inside of you, waiting for this moment of freedom is released, leaving you with nothing more than a gentle tiredness. So here is my more realistic list of what I will *actually* get done!

1. Sleep in--a lot. Like a lot.

2. Read for fun books. I've got a cozy mystery I need to finish and an epic fantasy novel I want to start.

3. Take naps. Long, deep naps. The kind where you lose track of time and when you wake up, you don't know what day it is. Those kinds of naps.

4. Stay up late watching old movies and favorite TV shows. Yes, I love stories. I need them always, in any form. It also feels kind of exciting to stay up past my bedtime when I don't have to teach.

5. Drink wine on my patio. Because watching the birds and enjoying the sight of my healthy herbs plants is wonderful...especially when I don't have a stack of papers to grade.

6. Take long walks to feel the sun on my skin and hear the birds singing.

7. Take long bubble baths. Books and wine welcome.

8. Do yoga. Hot yoga.

9. Cook--but only easy, simple meals inspired by the season (goodbye plans for ambitious cooking experiments). Radish-avocado salads, here I come!

10. Rest and goof around. This is the most important one.

Let's face it, spring break is all about recharging your batteries, literally shaking off the wrinkles and responsibility of your usual routine and losing track of time. To all my teacher friends out there, I hope your spring break is as full of lollygagging as mine!

10 Things I Say I Will Accomplish Over Spring Break...

March 12, 2014

It's that time of year again--the time when spring is at your door and almost begs you to make lofty plans to soak up some of the extra energy and lightness you feel. Spring break is always like a second round of New Year's Resolutions for me; I get inspired by the time change and the birds chirping and want to do spring cleaning and tackle all sorts of long-put-off projects and adventures. So, here is my granted over-the-top-hopeful list of things I'd like to accomplish over spring break (assuming I don't just sleep my way through it).

1. Spring cleaning! It's time to dust all those nooks and crannies again--what better time to do it than when I have a whole week off from teaching?

2. Get caught up on those lesson plans! Yes, all teachers at one time or another have the faint hope that this will be the break they get completely caught up on all grading, planning, and organizing.

3. Wash the car. Seriously, it needs it.

4. Bake. Fresh bread, healthy-for-you muffins, delicate tea scones.

5. Make more body butter. Yes, it always feels great to whip up another batch of my favorite body butter, especially when I can lace it with the smell of spring. Mmmmm...lavender-lemon body butter....

6. Organize all those files that sit in my closet, slightly disheveled and feeling more or less abandoned.

7. Try new recipes--cook up a storm. Maybe even be wild and attempt some veggie sushi.

8. Tackle that new crafting project. Hell, if glitter is involved, what's *not* to enjoy?

9. Practice my Spanish. Who knows--it could very well come in handy for travel.

10. Begin organizing my planter garden. Pots need to be picked, seeds purchased, soil gathered so that I'm ready to plant when the time is right.

Ambitious? Heck yes! But sometimes these wild fantasies of what we hope to get done are half the fun of anticipating a mini-holiday.