It’s winter! Time for another “Stuff I Like” post!  I LOVE the change of seasons.  I don’t think I could live somewhere where the seasons didn’t change.  Summer is definitely my very favorite time of year, and winter is definitely not my very favorite.  BUT, I do like being cozy.  Winter is very, very cozy.  It’s a time for lingering over good food and wine with good friends.  Time for books, movies, and lettering and card making in my woman cave (read: basement).  It’s a good time for lots of coffee and pajama pants and knit hats.  There are things to love all year round, even if where you live it is ugly and grey and SO COLD in winter.

So, what am I into on all these chilly, grey days?  Here we go!

Read

I just wrote two whole posts on this subject (Books Read in 2018 as well as my 2019 reading list), so I’ll keep it brief!  One book I didn’t mention in either of those posts is Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic.  I’m just wrapping up Abandoned to God, and I think I may read this one in its place during my early morning reading time.

Watch

We love Victoria!  Season 3 is airing on PBS right now, and we are into it!  Last winter I watched seasons 1 and 2, and when I mentioned to Matthew that I was going to watch it, he said, “Oh, I’ll do email in the family room while you watch.” And then a little while later, “So, do you want to watch another one?”  I was so thrilled that he liked it, and now I don’t watch without him!  Good, clean BBC TV…and the costumes.  Oh, the costumes.

Bake

Croissants!  (And pains au chocolat)  I’ve been meaning to try my hand at these for some time now.  They seemed hard.  A friend of mine shared her recipe with me.  It was FIVE pages long.  Good golly!  These suckers took me all weekend to make.  I was not sure they would turn out.  And, whaddya know, they were pretty good!  Not perfect, but we polished the whole dozen off in less than 48 hours, so they must not have been too bad.

I’ve been cooking and baking since I was five years old, and I feel pretty confident and competent in my kitchen, but even I felt overwhelmed and unsure when it came to making these things.  Turns out, I just needed to dive in, and then it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  Will be making these again in order to smooth out a few minor mistakes I made.  Definitely not gluten free/dairy free, so I can’t make these often, but they were definitely a fun treat for our Sunday night Victoria watching.

Play Sports

I am back to playing soccer!  When we moved here to Michigan, I started playing indoor soccer with my husband’s work’s co-ed team (he doesn’t play, but the team always needs more girls).  Last year around this time, it kind of looked like I had put the soccer ball under my shirt, so I did NOT play, but this year I am back!  It is not so much that I absolutely love soccer, but I love the accidental best-workout-of-the-week thing.  It makes me SO sore!  I think the best workout for someone is probably the one that comes least naturally to her, and for me that is sprints and agility and lateral movement.

Work Out

These sliders!  I’ve used them at the gym from time to time, and I really like them.  In lieu of sliders at home, I’ve used towels or paper plates for years, and I finally decided to just get some actual sliders for my home gym.  Great for ab exercises since I am a no-crunch ab workout kind of person, and at only $10, you can’t beat it!  (Look for a workout post using these things soon!)

Be Crunchy

Nothing too crazy going on here actually (other than my usual craziness).  I’ve been supplementing with this Vitamin D supplement after some standard bloodwork showed I was a bit low.  (We have not seen the sun for quite some time now, so this is not too shocking.)  My doc recommended 5000 IU’s for a month, so I’m following her advice and doing that.  I like this brand of supplements since I know they don’t sneak funky ingredients in (like dairy!).

Letter

I am loving my Cuttlebug!  I’ve been enjoying hand made cards for almost three years now, and I wanted to make some that looked a bit more professional. This die cutting machine is really great for cutting out stamped and water colored images and applying to cards.  Also, I love learning new techniques from Jennifer McGuire on YouTube.  She is great.

Style

I am in love with these yoga jeans these days!  When I want to look more put together than yoga pants, but I want the freedom of movement that comes with yoga pants (because playing with kids!), I reach for these jeans.  I just got another pair for Christmas.  I promise you can’t even tell how stretchy and comfortable these things are.  They hold their shape excellently.

Also, did I mention the polar vortex?  Good golly.  Good thing I am a hat person!  My winter hat collection grew a bit more this Christmas.  Loving this one.

And then this eyeliner.  Sometimes I want pencil eyeliner (always mechanical pencil…who wants to actually get out a pencil sharpener for eye liner?), and sometimes I want liquid eyeliner (doesn’t bleed, doesn’t smudge, can look more dramatic if I’m performing on stage or something).  This pencil is two in one, and I really like it! I’m on a quest to clean up my beauty products from chemicals, but I have been unsuccessful when it comes to mascaras and eyeliners.  For now, using this one!

So, there you have it.  Stuff I’m into right now.  Tell me what you’re into these days and all the ways we can cozy up and deal with the dark, cold days.  I always love to know!

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