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.

Sexy Tiger Mama Stretch Mark Cream Recipe

September 30, 2014

Stretch marks. Those beautiful tiger stripes that tell everyone you brought life into this world. I think there is nothing more beautiful than these stripes of honor. That said, a little stretch mark cream on rubbed onto a mama-to-be's belly as the baby grows nourishes the skin and fades stretch marks. Rubbing your belly with this also, according to my pregnant sister, becomes enjoyable mother-baby time (and yes, sometimes mother-baby-father time).

I adapted my recipe from Wellness Mama, swapping out some oils with vitamin E oil and adding beeswax to help lock in the healing moisture as you rub that perfect baby belly. This is also great for skin in general, especially if you have scars. I tested this concoction on myself before whipping up a batch for my sister and found that one of my scars (from a run-in with a jellyfish--another story, for another time) actually began to fade under the repeated application of this cream.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Shea butter

1/3 cup coconut butter

1 tablespoon vitamin E oil

1 tablespoon beeswax

Place the saucepan on low heat and fill halfway with water. Then place the clean tin can in the center of the saucepan. Put the beeswax in the tin can and let melt on low, about 5-7 minutes.

Slowly add other oils one at a time into tin can with beeswax and melt on low until fully combined. The new oils may cause the contents of the tin to solidify for a little bit, but just keep itti on low heat and it will eventually mix and melt. Remove from heat and pour into mason jar. Store in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.

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!

Nettle Tea

September 29, 2014

The nettle leaf is one of those plants, like the dandelion, that is often overlooked as a useless weed but is really one of the most amazing plants with health benefits out there. The tea it produces is my new favorite daily cup of goodness. I recently fell in love with the brew again after I found myself struggling with allergy symptoms last month. My sister-in-law, an amazing healer, told me to try drinking nettle tea. Luckily, I had some on hand. After a few cups of the herbal steep, I was feeling fit as a fiddle again! In fact, I realized that my symptoms only showed up when I had stopped drinking my nightly mint, dandelion, and nettle leaf tea blend.

Drinking nettle tea daily is worth it just to prevent any cold or allergy symptoms, but I also drink it because it boosts your immune system; relieves hypertension, bloating and cramps; reduces inflammation and allergy symptoms; contains vitamins A, C, D, and K, iron, and other important vitamins and minerals; builds energy; and even acts as a mild diuretic. What a power-packed herb! In fact, the only downside to this plant is that it might cause irritation (mild rash or upset stomach) for a few people, so it's a good idea to try just a little tea at first before committing to a cup a day. That said, I've never had any adverse effects from drinking this tea.

Ingredients:

Nettle Leaf

To brew, use one tablespoon per 8 oz hot water. Steep for 3-5 minutes. Can re-steep leaves. Enjoy!

Cinnamon-Apple Cocktail

September 28, 2014

Fall is officially here! What better way to celebrate than to whip up an autumnal cocktail? You'll get to learn about my Apple Cider Margarita later this week, but perhaps you are looking for something a little more sophisticated for Saturday or Sunday night...sophisticated or bourbon-y. This cocktail tastes like autumn in a glass: spicy cinnamon, tart apples, caramel-like bourbon. Bliss!

The surprise ingredient in this drink is apple cider vinegar. I tiny splash of it adds brightness and contrast to the drink, preventing it from being overly sweet. But be careful: more than a hint of the vinegar and your drink will be too tart.

If you want to give it a little extra sparkle, you can garnish it with a cinnamon-sugar rim and a dried apple piece as pictured here. Simply mix together equal parts cinnamon and sugar (about 1/8 cup total) in a shallow bowl or plate; next dip the rim of your cup in water and then place it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Finally, slice a dried apple piece almost halfway through and perch on the side of your glass.

The drink, of course, tastes equally delicious without this fancy wrapping!

Ingredients:

dash of cinnamon

1.5 oz bourbon (I used Maker's Mark)

3 oz fresh apple cider

1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

ice

Prepare garnish on glass, if you want to make your cocktail hour an event. Then place a dash of cinnamon at the bottom of your empty glass. Combine the remaining ingredients in a shaker and shake until combined. Strain shaker over cocktail glass until empty. Enjoy! Serves one--so double the batch and drink it with a special friend while enjoying the fading autumn light for the evening.

On Hippie Baby Showers

September 27, 2014

It is a gathering of goodwill and love for the life about to enter this world. Although we are more likely to celebrate with burning sage and rose quartz for the mother-to-be than with balloons and baby games, we come ready, yoga hippies that we are, to shower this baby with good vibes.

We do not celebrate this new life in conventional ways, but merely--after our private yoga and meditation, no doubt--unite to pay tribute to this woman's right of passage in the old way--honoring the cycle of womanhood and using our collective energy to nurture mother and child.

Like fairy godmothers in a folk tale, we all gather round and offer gifts to this new creature: happiness, love, creativity, enjoyment--each gift sealed with the good intentions of the sender. They come in the shape of clothes and diapers and toys but are no less the embodiment of the life and grace this baby will have. Though she is not in this world yet, she will absorb the feminine conjuring around her and know, even before she left her mother's womb, that she is loved.

5 Things Hobbits Taught Me about Living the Good Life

September 26, 2014

Imagine my glee when I found out that it's Tolkien Week! My little nerd heart went pitter-patter at the thought of a whole week devoted to the awesomeness of Tolkien (although really, isn't every week Tolkien week?). Then I almost passed out when I found out that this past Monday, September 22, was Hobbit Day, in honor of Bilbo and Frodo's Birthday! What can I say? It's the little things in life that make this bookworm happy.

I did have a moment of chagrin, wondering how on (middle)earth I was just finding out about this yearly celebration of one of my favorite authors and book series of all time. Still, I felt like now was a good time to talk about all the things I've learned from my favorite creatures and kindred souls: hobbits.

Seriously, I grew up reading (and re-reading) these books, long before the movies (which I watched and re-watched) came out. These books shaped the hobbit I now am: from my love of good food and even better conversation, bare feet and wild adventures, comfortable homes and long walks...the list goes on and on. But for today, I'll settle for telling you the top five things I've learned about living the good life from hobbits!

1. A hobbit hole means comfort. It is not enough to have a place to sleep or stash your stuff. A home should always be a sanctuary filled with the things you love, a refuge from the world where you can nestle in your study and read a good book or head to the kitchen and always be sure of a good meal from your well-stocked larder.

2. It's always a good time for a meal. Life is not just about surviving. It's about enjoyment. So too with food; it is not just about gulping down nourishment, but an important ritual, a pause to savor and enjoy the bounty of your life. There is no better way to appreciate this than over a good meal with family and friends.

3. Barefoot is the best way to travel. I'm not even joking about this one. After having spent one summer in my youth walking around barefoot so I could develop hobbit feet, I've grown to love my shoe-less meanderings. Even though I was later glad that I never got those hairy leathery feet, I still can't wait to kick off my shoes (cute as they are) and feel my soles firmly planted on the earth.

4. Adventure will always find you...so enjoy it! The Baggins family aren't just about enjoying the richness of home--they've been known to have a taste for adventure too. I've learned to let life take me by surprise and enjoy unexpected journeys.

5. It's the small things that matter most. This is what my blog is all about. Our lives are built on simple pleasures, like smoking your pipe on your porch--drinking coffee in my case--or relishing the everyday magic that surrounds you. Sometimes the biggest adventure of all is living your everyday life with gusto!

On Descending into the Underworld

September 25, 2014

As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, as the autumnal sun sets, bathing the earth in a honeyed glow, you begin to make your descent into the Underworld.

Not hell. Not Milton's proverbial nine layers, nor religion's antidote to heaven (it might be the final resting place of vice, but what a relief not to be perfect!). Nor is it Florence's Last Judgement safely nestled in the bosom of its canonical dome and foretelling the dangers of sin. Not hell nor any of these.

The Underworld. That quiet place which is not a place, both a cave below the earth and deep inside yourself. The still place. The silent place that you retreat into when the world gets too loud and you have been too long on its surface. Like Persephone, you make your yearly transition from the spring above to the winter below, feeding upon rich pomegranate seeds and turning away from external revelries to your inward gaze. You are bound to this cycle just as Persephone is to hers; you cannot change it any more than she can. The earth pulls you into its embrace, thick roots easing your passage into your deeper sense of being, sweeping away the debris of surface living.

It is there, there in the quiet and the shadows that you may meditate, contemplate the you that is you after casting off your worldly shell. You will navigate the dark--the shadows of the yet-to-be-revealed, the wisdom courted with your solitude. That secret you waiting to be heard. Like Persephone with those pomegranate seeds, you gobble up this underground knowledge one tiny morsel at a time, feeding the flame nestled within your ribcage. Feeding the you that goes beyond day in and day out, and exists in dreams, in caves, in the Underworld. Always waiting. Always ready to welcome you back to your roots and the rich earth from which you came.

On the Apple

September 24, 2014

The original forbidden fruit, at home with Eve and wicked queens, Aphrodite, and writers looking to sink their teeth into something. It is the promise of knowledge, desires slaked, immortality, and a full belly. And yet so unassuming.

What is it about this small lumpy fruit like the one perched on a stack of books at your desk, streaked with gold and red stripes, a fat nub sticking out of its top, that makes the world run mad after it? It is sweet, yes, and pleasant to bite into, with the satisfying crunch and smack of the lips as you make your way to its core.

But even now, as you stare at its hour-glass form--its full body a faint memory of teeth marks along its edges--you wonder at its ability to tempt us, to seduce us into grasping for things beyond our private Edens. And wonder still if it is wise to submit to that temptation, to look beyond this oasis of books and words and a delicious view of a tree in its autumnal glory outside your window.

You realize it then, what power the apple holds: wonder. The ability to make us want and wonder and dream beyond our own havens, to taste a little bit of life just outside your doorstep.

So, go ahead, you tell yourself as you turn from your words for the day. Be tempted.

Dried Apples

September 23, 2014

I am sitting at my writing desk, crafting my next blog post, and enjoying the autumnal scent wafting from my kitchen: apples baking in my oven. Apple slices dusted with cinnamon drying in my oven, to be exact. I wish this scent could be bottled because if it was, I would wear it as perfume; it has the tangy sweetness of apple cider and rich earth, with the spicy heat of cinnamon. My mouth is watering with the knowledge that in just a few short hours, I will be able to pull these apples from my oven and enjoy these dried morsels resembling fruit chips as a mid-afternoon snack (naturally with a cup of autumn harvest tea).

When I was younger, my family had a dehydrator that we would use to make beef jerky and these dried apple slices. This time of year, I find myself longing for those dried apples; they are a perfect grab-n-go snack or an ingredient that can enhance everything from a tea blend to cocktails to salads. They are also a good way to preserve apples when you find yourself with more than you can eat. But alas, I have no dehydrator. This lack makes me get creative, and I've found I can get these same dried apples by using my oven. The crisper you want your apple slices, the longer you keep them in the oven.

Feel free to dry as many or as few apples as you would like for this recipe. As a general rule of thumb, I don't work with less than two apples at a time, but you can dry as many as six in the oven at a time. I don't skin or core my apples; the skin provides healthy nutrients and not coring the apples leaves a pretty star shaped center. It's best to make this recipe when you can spend several hours at home. The prep is under ten minutes but then you need to let the apples slow bake in the oven for a couple hours to dry out. The cinnamon here is optional, but a great addition if you want the full flavors of fall.

Ingredients:

2 large apples (at least)

cinnamon for dusting (optional)

Preheat over 200 degrees. Slice apples about 1/8 inch thick. Lay slices on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Dust with cinnamon if desired. Place pans in oven and let cook for at least two hours (the longer they are in the over, the crispier they get). Remove from heat and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Stores for one week on the kitchen counter or up to a month if in the fridge. Makes approximately one cup of dried apples. Enjoy!

On the Autumnal Equinox

September 22, 2014

It is a celebration of the year's bounty, the richness, and abundance that came from months of living in the sun. But now it is time to descend into the underworld. A dark place, yes, but not made of darkness; it is the home of the inward-turning gaze, the refuge of introverts, a sanctuary of gentle solitude where you can reflect on the abundance in your outer life and nourish your inner one.

It is a union with both halves of ourselves: the balance of external and internal mirroring the equal length of night and day, bringing wholeness. The sun and the moon are aligned in you. For one moment, one shift of the earth on its axis, one shift of you on yours, you receive this gift. A gift that allows you to taste what year-long union with self would be like, one whole year of honoring your dreaming and waking lives in equal parts, one whole year of your world above mirroring your world below.

The dying rays of the sun plant the seed of balance within your fertile soil. Though it will seem you are dormant in the coming months as you retreat to the underworld, you are really nourishing yourself, tending that seed, cultivating your soil. Come spring your seed will unfurl into the plant it's meant to be.

5 Ways to Celebrate the Autumnal Equinox

September 21, 2014

It has been a few weeks since we felt the first kiss of autumn settling over the land, bringing with it all the glories of the season: apples, crisp mornings, cozy sweaters, pumpkins, hot mugs of tea, hearty stews and, in New Mexico at least, the chile harvest. But autumn will officially be here tomorrow on the equinox--an event worthy of celebration. Like the harvest moon or other important dates on nature's calendar, the autumn equinox represents a time for us to be more aware of our connection to nature and the natural cycles of life. Every equinox and solstice, I like to pause and take the time to relish the bounty in my life and the importance of my connection to nature. This ritual helps to both ground me and give me wings, as I feel at once rooted to this earth and yet capable of continued growth.

Given the importance of the autumn equinox--historically and symbolically a time of harvest and turning inward as the coming months pull us indoors--it is important to celebrate this new season so we can transition gracefully into the colder, more contemplative months. I offer you five simple ways to celebrate this autumn equinox; you can do one or all of them or invent your own!

1. Sage burning. Traditional sage burning, best known from its Native American roots, is about cleansing a space using a smoking smudge stick (or densely packed bundle of sage). Sage has long been considered an important healing herb and, magically speaking, offers protection and wisdom to the user. Sage is also considered an important autumn herb because it thrives in this weather, symbolizing abundance for the next harvest cycle.

2.Celebrate your abundant harvest. Typically, when we think of the harvest, we picture farmers market stalls overflowing with squashes and pumpkins and apples, or gathering the last of our garden goodies before the first frost. This is an important part of celebrating abundance, true, but not the only one. It is equally important to reflect on your emotional, spiritual, personal harvest--what do you have in abundance in your life? What are you grateful for? By honoring these things, events, and people, you welcome future abundance and wellness into your life.

3. Feast! What better way to celebrate fall than with a lovely feast featuring the produce of the season? In older traditions, people would pour cider or wine on the roots of trees and plants to thank them for the food they bore. Think of feasting as another way of honoring the way nature nourishes us.

4. Spend time in nature. Go for a walk or hike; you might even be able to enjoy the turning leaves. Linger outside in your garden. Sit under a tree and just let your mind wander. Soon the cold will make it harder to venture outdoors, so take time now to relish nature.

5. Turn your home into a sanctuary. Since autumn ushers in winter, it signals a turning inward, both literally and metaphorically; it makes sense then to tend your home, preparing it for when you spend more time inside. Decorate it with autumn by collecting gourds and other signs of fall. Pull out your knitted blankets, roll out the autumnal table cloth. Give it a good cleaning. Create a cozy space that feels like a sanctuary you can retreat into for the coming months.

How do you celebrate the coming autumn?

On Belief

September 20, 2014

The deepest form of magic. It's how we conjure day after day, crafting our lives through a series of routines, thoughts, actions, dreams. It creates our reality and paves the road to our future. It is the strongest yet most ephemeral of things: belief.

Yes, magic. Often cast without conscious intention or a clear purpose. Rather, it is like a well-worn road made by the repeated tread of footsteps. But like any magic, it is capable of both dark and light. Sometimes used to stop yourself short of fulfilling your own potential. Stuff like that just doesn't happen to people like me, that's not real life, that's just how things are. Or used to conjure a deeper way of living. Let's bring this dream into the waking world, this will happen sooner rather than later, what I am searching for will find me in its own time.

If not a well-worn road, let it be a butterfly's wing, so fragile and yet capable of making you fly. Still not convinced? Then think of your belief as the silky wisp of a spider's thread: breakable with just one strand but when spun with others, over time it becomes a home that protects and nourishes. Belief, any way you choose to think of it, is the backbone of our existence, making its home in your spine and radiating outward to craft your world from hopes and dreams and fears and what-will-bes and what-might-have-beens.

So what will you choose to believe in? What path do you choose to create? For belief at its strongest, at its most unbreakable, is a fluid thing shaped by nourishing the dreams of our most authentic self.

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 Normalcy

September 19, 2014

Normal.

It is a curse disguised as a cure for your soul-sickness, wrapped in a perfect package like a dainty chocolate truffle dusted with gold leaf and neatly cradled inside a ruffled liner. It is hard to resist the temptation to slide that little morsel between your lips and feel the immediate satisfaction of giving in to what is expected of you.

It promises everything: safety, community, release from the burden of carving out your own path. Just one taste and you can have the illusion of being just like the others. Just one taste and you can strip away your accountability and sense of self, your teeth and your bite for the simple comfort of not having to question anything, least of all your place in this world.

That's the problem with poison: it always seems like such a good idea at the time. And it always looks so lovely: an apothecary's cure-all dram poured and stoppered in a vial just for you. A quick fix for something that will only heal by prying loose the stitches used to hold colorless clothes together (all the better to blend in). Or better yet, to wear your bright colors like a second skin, as loud and untamed as your unruly hair. Still better, your remedy is in reveling in the dusty hue of your skin (there is no need to hide from the light, no need to keep yourself interminably pale like those parasitic grub worms). But that takes work. And so much heart. You simply want to taste that rush of sugar and feel-good tingles up and down your spine...that quickly fade, leaving you with a gnawing hunger stronger than ever before.

Let that emptiness be your wake-up call. Let the gnawing hunger in your belly be the reminder that you were never normal and so normal will never be for you. There is no cure for being who you are. There is no cure for your whispers that sound likes shouts to people not used to listening or the way you seem to live in a technicolor dream. There is no need to be less.

So forget about normal. That dirty, filthy excuse for a word. Forget about condemning yourself to a life of cheerful oblivion. And don't you dare demean yourself for being other. (It is a gift, not a punishment.) Be the weed that grows--thrives--from a crack in the earth no matter how hard other might try to uproot it. Be the sliver of moonlight peeking through bedroom curtains illuminating a dreamer's heart. Be the wind's wild and restless song, without end, implacable with its message.

Simply let yourself be.

Odes to Self-Care

September 18, 2014

It seems to me that there have been a lot of conversations floating around the office this week about how to make time for self-care and really give ourselves over to living a healthy, balanced life. I've also talked about ways to make self-care a priority when your scheduled gets busier. It can be tempting--albeit an awful practice long-term--to think of self-care as a luxury rather than an essential part of our lives. But over the years of actively developing my wellness routine, I have come to view self-care not as an indulgence but a necessity; to see it any other way is a form of self-inflicted violence.

Sounds extreme, I know. But really, if we don't take the time to tend ourselves--our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our souls--we deprive ourselves of living fully, deeply, meaningfully. Why shouldn't we take as much pride in our self-nourishment as we do in our hard work? Why shouldn't we carve out time to tend ourselves the same way we pencil in time to grade papers?

In honor of these office conversations and my renewed efforts to tend to my personal wellness, I offer you three past blogs that celebrate self-care:

1. On Things You Do to Unwind

2. On Self-Care

3. On Healing as Art

How do you care for yourself?

On Rainy Days, Miles Davis, & Whiskey

September 17, 2014

Today was a day of low steady drizzle--the kind you used to dread when you lived in Seattle, but that is now somehow more romantic, more cozy for its rarity in your desert home. It brings back perhaps one of your few good memories of when you lived in a land coated in fog and frost: listening to jazz, drinking whiskey, watching the rain roll down your window pane.

Yes, those were those moments of bliss, when after a week of work and trudging through that rain you knew you could come home, put on some Miles Davis, and, after warming up in a hot bath, pour yourself a little whiskey and get lost in the sounds of Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud, the jazz record of all jazz records. The movie it plays soundtrack to is incidental, forgettable even. But that is not the case for that woozy, intoxicating drone that Davis teases out, hitting your system harder and faster than any glass of whiskey--and all the more dangerous for its richness, no fire, just cottony bliss that soothes away the thorns of the day and melts the frost building up around your heart--a side effect of living among the frozen.

You enjoy a similar moment today, but somehow much more wonderful than when you did in those long winter days in that damp land because you do not need to hold that record quite so tight, nor seek the refuge of your home quite so hard to chase away the frost. You are one with your land now, as warm and as feeling as you are, as full of richness and depth as that soundtrack.

This rainy day calls to you, begging you to play that jazz record, which you now realize you haven't played in so, so long. Even though the rain has faded into a mere suggestion of moisture and cloud cover outside, you are still drawn to Miles Davis, a glass of whiskey, and gazing outside at the world softened by jazz and rain. This time from the comfort of your patio.

Teacher's Survival Tea Kit

September 16, 2014

I love my tea--brewing it, drinking it, blending my own healing mix--all of it! Of course, this should come as no surprise, considering how much I write about it; for those of you who see me beyond the writer's desk, you know I am never without a good cup or thermos of this magical elixir. And I love teaching, too---the lesson plans, the classes, yes, even the grading. But most of all, I love the way tea helps me stay refreshed and nourished while tackling those important teacher duties, especially this time of year when the first term papers beginning to rolling in.

I look to my herbal tea to revive me in (healthier) ways that caffeine or sugar just can't, to sooth me to sleep at night, or to keep me from getting that bug going around the office...the list goes on and on. Tea is my personal toolkit for self-care during a busy workday. So here I offer you three of my favorite teas every tea-lovin' teacher should have in her stash to help her plow through those first round of papers or take a breather between classes.

1. Warrior Tea Blend: Teachers are warriors of the mind, right? Whatever your answer to that, this warrior blend is chock-full off nutrient dense herbs to keep your body nourished between meals while you go from class to class.

2. Winter Wellness Tea: This tea is the miracle cold and allergy prevention blend to drink the very second you think you might be coming down with something. The elderberries, especially, ease congestion while the tulsi helps your body adapt to stress.

3. Sleepy Time Tea: A teacher needs her shut-eye if she's going to be a grading wizard and look good doing it, so this tea helps you unplug from your day and wind down for an evening of sweet dreams.

What teas do you drink to keep going through the day? What else is in your Teacher Survival Kit?

DIY Ironing Spray Starch

September 15, 2014

I will be the first to admit that ironing is not always on my list of priorities. As much as I love cleaning my house (and yes, I really *do* love it!), ironing is one of those things I always put off...so much so that I think I've only ever used my ironing board and iron maybe a dozen times in the past few years and only in dire need.

Cut to me with a pile of dresses--absolutely adorable dresses, mind you--that I wanted to wear but hadn't because (you guessed it) they need to be ironed. My default excuse was that I didn't have any starch to iron out all the wrinkles and smooth out the pleats of my clothes. Then one day I bit the bullet and commit to an afternoon of ironing so that I could finally wear those dresses. I even learned how to make my own spray starch so I wouldn't be tempted to put off my chore with my go-to excuse.

Now here I am with a closet full of well-ironed clothes and a new addiction blooming: ironing! Yes, it's true, I've fallen in love with the soothing routine and all because of making my own starch. It is a simple mixture of cornstarch and water, but there is something about mixing up a batch (way cheaper and eco-friendlier than anything you'll get in the store) and spraying it across my wrinkled dresses feels so right. Now I can't stop myself.

And you should try it too. All you need is a clean empty spray bottle and cornstarch, and you've got yourself a household miracle. If you want a heavier starch, use more cornstarch--less, use less. Use cold water here to keep cornstarch from clumping.

Ingredients:

Heaping tablespoon cornstarch

1 pint cold water

Add ingredients to an empty spray bottle and shake well until cornstarch dissolves. Store in fridge. Shake well before each use. Enjoy wrinkle free clothes!

Heaven is a Weekend at Home

September 14, 2014

Time slows down.

You have no schedule, no place to be, no pressing plans. Just as you like it. You can let your imagination unfold as you tend your writing--those beautiful words and phrases you've been itching to polish during the week as other demands took you away from pen and paper. You can lose yourself in a good book--or two--and simply nourish your soul as you devour one story after another, filling up on words and tea in the comfort of your sanctuary.

Then there is the yoga. You get to let your body breathe and stretch into its fullest self, no longer confined by high heels or restrictive clothing (or, let's be honest, any clothing, if you so choose). It is in caramelizing apples for Saturday pancakes or making pasta from scratch for your Sunday dinner. That is the joy of being at home.

It is in disappearing from the outside world for two whole days and two whole nights. You retreat into your own world of dreams and stories that often feel more real to you than your waking world. You tend that inner landscape as you are safely sheltered in your sanctuary relishing the solitude that makes your healing and rejuvenation possible. Between crocheting on your couch and retiring to your patio to read, you decide that heaven, truly blissful, divine heaven, is in a weekend at home.

On the First Kiss of Autumn

September 13, 2014

Yesterday the wind whipped through your land, chasing out the heat of summer and bringing with it the first kiss of fall. The day had started out warm, hot almost, but slowly cooled as the wind pulled clouds down from the mountains and over the city. You had been out in the bluster long enough yesterday to feel the chill in your bones that only a bubble bath and cup of tea could cure.

This morning, the wind is gone and in its place is the heady aroma of autumn. You linger on your porch, enjoying the cool air and the gentle cloud cover. You inhale that almost undefinable smell synonymous with this time of year: crisp air tinged with the bright green of leaves and the dusky overripe scent of your garden about ready to curl in and retire for the year.

The weather promises a day of delicious slowness. Autumn is slowly snaking its fingers through the earth and your heart, pulling you inward, deeper into the quiet of the season.

This Lady Needs Some Pampering Spa Kit

September 12, 2014

Oh yes, you know it sounds so right to be thinking of some lovely spa time right around Friday afternoon. Sometimes a lady--or let's be honest, a gent--needs a little TLC and time to be pampered. When you have the energy, it can be fun to have a home spa day, but sometimes even that feels like too much work and all you want is a gentle routine to help you transition from work to play. So if you're looking for a way to kick off your weekend with a relaxing start, or just get some ideas for how to include a little more self-care during the week, check out my favorite end-of-the-week spa kit. (And yes, I look exactly like the woman pictured to the right when I take a bubble bath, jewels and perfect hair and all.)

1. Weekend Head Start Bubble Bath

2. Honey Face Mask

3. Hydrating Hair Mask

4. Lavender Foot Scrub

5. Women's Soothing Mint Tea

These recipes are made from simple ingredients found in your kitchen and pair well together for a total self-care experience. The hair mask and face mask are perfect to try while you linger in a hot bath--which you should do since my Weekend Head Start Bubble Bath actually detoxes your system. After time spent drinking tea in the bath while letting these potions and lotions do their work, you will feel radiant and rejuvenated. What bliss!

A Homebody's Love Letters to Her Home

September 11, 2014

This week has left me craving some home time; it's been a lot of out and about, a lot of this and that at work--all good stuff, mind you, but it has kept me away from my little hobbit hole for longer stretches than I would like. I found myself missing my home this week, eyeing my patio garden that needs a little TLC and gazing fondly at my couch, piled high with yarn for the baby blanket I haven't had the time to work on this week. This feeling has grown so much that I am beyond excited to be tucking in after tomorrow for a quiet weekend of crocheting, reading, puttering, and writing.

These thoughts and others made me realize how much I depend on my home, my sanctuary, to ground and replenish me after making my way in the world day to day. So I offer you three posts I've written about the love of home. Enjoy!

1. On Home

2. On Returning Home After a Long Journey

3. On Reasons I Love My Home

What do you love most about your home?