so much winter yet

homemade braided bread with fresh herbs and olive oil poured on top

before it was bread, on my recently-oiled cutting board

fresh sage and rosemary sprigs/garlic/grassfed butter

we finally got a snowstorm! almost two weeks off from school between two of them 

as you can see, road crews are uncommon in this part of va. this is our street looking away from our house

five or six inches on the bedroom balcony

crazy icicle outside my bedroom window!

peaceful snowy marsh

I've been trying to live as slowly and gently with as much time at home as possible. Some of it's been just given to me by the weather! I've entered the "dreamy" phase of winter as a result. Thinking and planning for the near future when things will rev up again and our lives are going to change once more. Ah. Life, it's change for sure. 

I've created a bucket list of sorts for the rest of winter, which for me lasts until the end of March. So much time yet. Trying to flow with it and when I feel a bit down I just take in more sleep/elderberry syrup/vitamin D/b complex/maca powder in smoothies. We have not been sick yet ... not even one cold. I credit exercise and amazingly healthy food (however I'm still keen on much reducing my portion sizes! Tell that to my hibernate-y body .... ). And loads of sleep though I do find myself playing catchup on weekends. Mostly from getting up before the sun. Very, very hard. 

anyway, here is my semi-composed bucket list: 

bake a great cake

crochet lesson

meditative art

felted bowls

dishcloths

finish 2 shawls

daily yoga stretches

dinner out to a NICE intimate cafe for john and i in march (our only dinner out)

more fresh air

make elderberry syrup from scratch (my elderberries from Mountain Rose Herbs just arrived!)

send tiny care packages to five best friends

make lavash wraps from scratch

make healing salve

make face cleansing oil

1-2 more all-day home retreats

every now and again, a hot towel scrub or dry brushing (both with lavender or tea tree oil) prior to a shower -- remove toxins and increase circulation

make more time to read books. feeling a bit of screen burnout again which is funny considering i'm really not online as much as most people (and just about 5 percent of my work involves the computer at present)

how's that? i don't think it's too much at all ... just enough to keep me busy for the next 6-7 weeks till spring comes 'round once more. I'm thankful for taking such a lovely, intimate online retreat with Heather (Hiberate). So many wonderful ideas, some of which have helped to form the list above. 

tonight i took about three hours and made a slow grassfed beef stew over rosemary sage mashed potatoes for john and i. last night i made grassfed beef chili with kidney beans and veg and took it to dinner with my knitting friends. it was a cozy, warm evening. wine has featured both nights! it's my favorite time of year for hearty, rustic, simple dishes that are filling and energizing. i have an easier time with eating mostly vegan in the late spring and summer (in fact i plan to live off my vitamix in a few months!! love that thing!! we've been enjoying many a blueberry-banana water-based smoothie with cashews for breakfast recently). that's probably what i'll do. for now, i find i'm doing well with good meat once a week or so in very small amounts. we buy only the best, budget be damned. it's so important that we eat unprocessed, whole foods. 

eat food. mostly plants. not too much. 

i think our only processed "sin" is the occasional bag of health food store potato chips/blue corn tortilla chips. john is haagen-daas (i don't like ice cream, only crave it once or twice a year, mostly in summer and i think that's nostalgia). we eat almost no dairy, but i recently found out sour cream is fermented so that's allowed for me again esp. as i just don't like yogurt plain, in a bowl (i do use it a ton in other things). trying to adhere to the adage "nibble cheese like a mouse" of course that goes out the window on homemade pizza night fridays ;-) 

whew enough rambles about my diet!! it's good, though. really, really good. i feel so blessed (although budgeting is a nightmare .... it basically just doesn't happen). 

i hope to update very soon with some exciting news. remember we have some major life projects in the works for this year? yeah. it's been moving along behind the scenes. 

if you are a knitter i'd love to meet on ravelry. i am karbear1103. 

i hope you are enjoying winter as much as i have. i'm pretty proud of myself though i do feel an undercurrent of impatience with it at present. this, too, shall pass.

have a happy week! I'm headed to TEXAS midweek (70 degree temps, oh my!!!) for an amazing montessori conference. 

blessings,

k. 

xxx