I am having some serious cabin fever this week. It’s easy to get lost in the cold, dark winter, thinking we’ll never get outside and have fun again. I figure it’s time to focus on the things I’m enjoying right where I am. Here’s my annual list of things I’m loving that you might want to love too! You can get some of my past favorites here, here, and here. This post is not sponsored, although there are a few affiliate links throughout. If you follow one of the links and make a purchase I receive a tiny amount of money, which is one of my favorite ways to earn money while sharing things I genuinely love and use every day.
Kimchi Blue Weekend Cardigan Sweater – I knew at the beginning of winter that I wanted to invest in a really large, heavy “old man” sweater. I get so cold around the house and sometimes blankets just don’t cut it. This one is so warm and looks beautiful over literally everything I own (I got mine in “oatmeal”, pictured above, which they no longer seem to sell). Seriously, I sometimes wear this sweater over other sweaters that already have shirts underneath them. Wisconsin be cold.
Old Navy Slippers – They also don’t seem to sell these any more, but you might be able to find them on clearance at your local store. I’ve never really loved wearing slippers, but I guess I’m getting old. And cold. I usually get cold sweaty feet inside slippers (yeeeah, welcome to my food blog) so I’ve been wearing these with socks and that seems to solve the problem. These aren’t the highest quality and they’ve kind of stretched out a bit over the last few months, but I kind of like that they’re cheap so I won’t feel bad about replacing them every year, which is really what I should be doing with something that’s been on my feet every day without being washed.
POPSUGAR Must Have Box – I know I’ve mentioned this before but I’ll say it again – these boxes are amazing! High quality, full size products that I never knew I wanted until I saw them and now I can’t live without. It’s like a fun little care package for yourself every month, but they’re also great to send to your daughter at college, your friend who just had a baby, or your mom for her birthday.
Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips – I’m in love with all the flavors in the Food Should Taste Good brand, but these sweet potato chips are my absolute favorite. They’re delicious on their own, with a sandwich, with guacamole, and most importantly with…
Muir Glen Chipotle Salsa – I tend to stick to be a Pace Chunky Salsa girl, but something about this one was urging me to grab it off the shelf. And I’m so glad I did. I don’t consider it spicy at all, which is kind of why I love it in addition to my usual salsa. It’s more tomatoey, which makes it amazing with the sweet potato chips and very subtle inside breakfast burritos and grilled burritos.
The Walking Dead Compendium One – So this has probably been out forever, but I just got around to reading it. I needed my Walking Dead fix during the holiday hiatus, and this did it just fine. It’s way more graphic and violent than the tv show, which I don’t love, but it’s interesting to see how they’ve adapted characters and story lines for the screen.
Netflix – Doesn’t everyone love Netflix? We binge watched our way through Sons of Anarchy, which we didn’t necessarily love but got enough entertainment out of. I’ve been watching episodes of Maron while I eat lunch. It took me a little while to get into it. I like season two a lot better than season one, so if you want to start there I wouldn’t blame you. The best movie I’ve streamed lately was The One I Love. I don’t even want to tell you anything about it because that’s how I went into it, but holy crap, I think it was the most unusually scary movie I’ve ever seen. Just kind of uncomfortable and ominous. Now that we don’t have much we want to watch on tv and we haven’t figured out what to binge on next, we signed up for a free trial of the dvd by mail service they offer. This is a great time to do that because we can catch up on all the great movies that came out around the holidays that are just coming to dvd now.
Pilates – I’ve been going to Pilates classes at my gym for a few months now. I didn’t used to like Pilates, but I guess, like the slippers, I’m growing up. Might as well lean into it. These work outs have been amazing for my post-baby belly. It’s totally insane to me how some of the exercises can be super easy and some I can’t do. Like not even a little bit. But it’s good for me. My only real complaint is that I think I have a rounder tail bone than the average person. Is that even a thing?
Color – Is that weird? I still insist on wearing neutral colors, but I love looking at rich, vibrant colors. My Pinterest color boards are my reset button. Check them out for a little eye relaxing yourself. Black & White, White, Neutral, Yellow, Blue, Green, Red, Pink.
Tasty Food Photography – I come back to this ebook time and time again. This winter I switched to shooting in artificial light almost exclusively. I just couldn’t take the constraints of the dark winter any more. This book gave me a great refresher on how to work with artificial light and I’ve been loving the results. Lindsay and Bjork also just released a course on artificial light for food photography on their subscription service Food Blogger Pro. I haven’t watched it yet, but if you’re trying to improve your artificial light game, they are extremely knowledgeable and Lindsay is a great teacher!
Day Designer by Whitney English – I was a little hesitant about buying this planner because it costs a little more than I would like and I’ve only used planners sporadically in the past. I really liked how the theme fit with my whole self discovery quest though, so I went for it. And I’m so glad I did! I feel like owning this planner is actually helping me get more done every day, which is a totally satisfying feeling. There’s plenty of space for a daily schedule and to-do list and I love the little spot to write down something you’re thankful for every day. If time is money, then it’s worth the money spent on this to make more of your time.
So that’s it! What have you been loving? Let me know in the comments and help me get through this terrible winter!
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