Slow Living in Winter

Coming to you today from the couch in our living room, sipping a cup of earl grey (my current favourite tea) and with a view of the golden leaves outside.

Though there are still a lot of leaves still clinging on, with the arrival of June I consider winter to have arrived with it.

This winter, as I mentioned in my last post, I want to be intentional to slow down, enjoy the seasonal delights and use the time to rest and work on some projects. I want to fully embrace the season for all it's beauty. 

So I decided to put together a list of some slow living activities to do in the winter months.

Knit something (scarf, sweater, blanket etc.)

This is perhaps my favourite winter activity! I am working on a throw blanket at the moment and I love pulling it out in the evenings to work on while a watch a TV series or listen to an audiobook.

The process and time that goes into it makes the end result worthwhile & pleasing too!

Bake a sourdough loaf

There is nothing like the smell of fresh bread to warm the home! 

Again, the slow process of mixing simple ingredients, kneading or folding the dough and producing a warm, fluffy loaf holds so much satisfaction. 

Take some time to master the art of bread making if you are new or experiment with a new recipe if you are a seasoned baker.

Read a beloved book series

Take the time to revisit an old favourite book series and read through it during the cold months of winter.

I am currently reading through The Chronicles of Narnia and I am quite enjoying them. They are light reads but full of nostalgia for me.

Go for walks 

Despite the cold, I still want to get outside to get fresh air in winter. I have to take Molly, my little dog out for walks daily anyways so I want to take the opportunity to embrace the rain & cold and get outdoors!

Fresh air support the immune system, cleans your lungs and even boosts your mood. So it is especially important to get lots fresh air in the winter to help ward of the winter bugs.

Unplug

To full be able to rest, set aside a day to fast from social media or limit your usage in general.

I decided a little while ago I was going to keep my Sunday's social media and YouTube free and it has been truly a blessing. 

I am so much more present & in the moment when I forget that my phone exists!

Spend time in front of the fire

Sit by the fire with a hot beverage and simply watch the flames while sipping. Or play a game with your family while the fire warms you up.

A wood fire crackling in the room certainly adds a homely & cosy ambiance for winter. 

Eat seasonally

Instead of shopping for imported or out of season produce, opt for in season root vegetables and groceries. It may differ depending on where you live but typically pumpkin, kumara (sweet potato), cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, silver beet, leeks and potatoes are in season around autumn/winter.

There are so many delicious recipes to make with winter veges. I'll link my recipe board (link) on Pinterest so you can see some of my favourites. 

Do you have any activities you would add to this list?

keep blooming,

Reading, Knitting & Golden Leaves // Autumn Seasonal Journal

Hello darlings!

Welcome to a new series on my blog!

In series I will be documenting the beauty and little joys of each season throughout the year.
I will be sharing projects I'm working on, highlights of the season, recipes, photos, and any other interesting tidbits I feel like including.

So lets hop right in!

I think Autumn has to be my favourite season of all!
I think it's so beautiful and peaceful. The leaves start to softly fall, woodpiles are stocked up, the scent of wood fires burning penetrates the crisp air.
Produce is in abundance which means soups, pies, crumbles and stews are on the menu.
The following links are to some delicious recipes I have enjoyed this month:

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chilli

Spiced Baked Fruit (I haven't gotten to making this one yet but it is a easy and quick dessert to enjoy on these cold evenings!)

Swedish Cardamom Buns (These are some of the best things you will ever bake if you try them!)

Ultimate Sticky Buns

This season I have been filling my room with flowers, fresh and dried. I found these ones by the footpath on one of my many walks in the past few weeks.

I have been reading a lot in that past few weeks and have somehow manged to get 5 books on the go all at once!

One of those books is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which I felt would fit the season perfectly with its slightly dark and Gothic theme. So far I'm finding it a great read and I can't wait to finish it!

It is the perfect book to read while the rain is pouring outside, except we have not had much rain this month so I read it outside on a blanket with a cup of coffee instead.

After finishing a vintage cardigan I was working on for over a year earlier in the season, I couldn't wait to get started on a new knitting project. Knitting is a very appropriate autumn & winter activity for me and once summer comes around I usually put a hold on it. 

My current project is a throw blanket, made with a soft cotton in a lovely oatmeal colour.

I have since knitted quite a bit more than what is pictured here. We have been watching a lot of different TV series and I like to knit away while I watch.

Quick story: I remember when I first started learning how to knit. My Nonna had come for a visit and she helped me to knit my first wobbly rows. That evening out family settled down to watch a movie and she brought out her knitting and began clicking away with her needles with her eyes on the screen. I figured I'd be able to do it too, so I got out my knitting. But my Nonna discouraged me saying I would need a bit more practice before I could both knit and watch a movie.

Well Nonna, I can do it now and quite well if I do say so myself! 

This past weekend I intentionally made time for rest & restful activities.
One thing that I really enjoyed was doing some simple sketches of leaves and other little things in nature. It was really fun to just sketch. I didn't worry about making them perfect and just tried to capture the simplicity of each leaf.

Little Things
~ the fire burning in the fireplace
~ hot cups of tea & coffee
~ plaid shirts and jeans
~ Birkenstocks
~ colourful leaves pressed in an old book
~ sketching in the sunshine
~ stewed apple
~ feijoa jam making
~ baking lots of goodies
~ staying in my warm bed on crisp mornings
~ blooming zinnias
~ sugar and spice
~ pumpkins, apples and sweet potatoes
~ turning the pages of a book
~ making coffee in a french press
~ acoustic music

Music: I've really enjoyed listening to acoustic songs and instrumentals this season. The warm, deep tones of the guitar really warm my heart and I love the mood they create. I'll link to some of my favourite playlists:

morning mist and coffee {autumn}

Sweater Weather Instrumentals

Into Freedom - Lovkn album

I hope you enjoyed my highlights of the season so far.
Let me know your favourite Autumn recipe in the comments!

keep blooming,

Christmas is coming and It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!!

You may be thinking "what....it's not Christmas yet and it's only November". But I think that it is just the right time to start thinking about it.
I think that it is the most wonderful time of the year, better even than my birthday!

I am having no trouble in getting into the Christmas mood.
I just love it so much!!

This post is just an excuse to show you all the pretty, glittery, Christmassy, pictures I found on Pinterest!

With Christmas around the corner everybody will start bustling around getting ready. I have started decorating(post coming about that) and making Christmas gifts. I always make my Christmas presents because it's easier. I don't have any money to use so I am really making them on a tight budget. I kind of spent all my money on books!
It's actually quite hard to think of ideas to make so I'll share a few ones that hopefully will spark some creativity in you if you are thinking of making some gifts.

1. A coupon booklet. Compile a booklet of little 'coupons' that the person receiving it can use. For example, if you are giving one to your mum, some of the coupons might say: this coupon entitles you to 1 breakfast in bed. Just all things that you are willing to do for with that person.
2. Wall art. Print out anything from a photo to a quote in a pretty font. Frame it and it can be a meaningful gift. Photos are always special. If you are a talented artist you can paint or draw something too.

3. Anything with photos. Absolutely anything!
4. Gift baskets. Pick a theme. And fill a basket/some sort of container with things corresponding with your theme. Examples: Pampering basket, movies night basket, foodie basket, ice cream sundae kit basket or a craft supplies basket.

When a new season rolls around I have to get all the things that go with that season. Like yesterday, I really craved some candy canes. But they didn't have any in the shop yet so I settled for some Candy Cane Hershey Kisses. They are yummy!

I will be taking some photos of my room in all it's Christmas-ness and posting them soon.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about what my family does at Christmas time.
My grandparents on my mother's side are Swiss so we do most of our celebrating on Christmas Eve. Leading up to this day we bake cookies, make presents, listen to Christmas carols, wrap presents, decorate, make more food and get excited!
On the day we arrange the presents under the tree. My grandparents, Nonna (Italian for grandmother) and Grandad, and my Mother's sister Viv and her family and my Mother's brother all come over. We used to have it at Nonna's house but now it's easier to have it at our house. Most of my memories of Christmas are at their house, with her knitted nativity scene, lots of treats and sitting in their nice garden on Christmas Day, still eating!

On Christmas Eve, we gather around the table and eat a delicious dinner. What follows is usually sitting in the lounge where the tree is, singing carols and reading the Christmas story from the Bible, and finally opening and giving the presents.
When I was little, the singing and reading seemed to take forever as I anticipated finding out what was concealed by all the pretty red and green paper.

On a more serious note, this Christmas I wanted to try and keep Christ at the centre of everything.
I saw this on Pinterest and it gave me an idea.

Candy canes are quite cheap so we're going to buy some and tie tags on them that say something similar to the above. Then we'll drop them into the letterboxes on our street.


This is only the beginning of my Christmassy posts so there will be plenty more soon.
I hope this wasn't too boring for you. I feel like I rambled on a bit.

~Hannah

My 14th Birthday!!

 Yay!

💮💮💮💮💮💮💮💮💮

Thursday the 3rd of August was my birthday.

My family brought me my presents in bed and sang 'Happy Birthday to you' to me. We always do this on birthdays in our house.

I opened them one by one and read my cards. 

Here are all my lovely handmade cards!

These are the things I got given:

My Aunty gave me Christy Miller Volume 2.

I love how fun,summer-y and bright the spines look together.

I got these from one of our neighbours. I think there are so pretty.

My little brother made the small cardboard thing,it's a camera. The chocolates were from my Mum and my younger sister made the little purple soap.

My parents got me this skirt which I really like because it is comfortable and simple.

The rest of Thursday was spent at home reading.

I chose Italian Cream Cake for my birthday cake. We had never made it before. I had heard about it when I read 'The Icing on the Cake' by Janice Thompson and looked up a recipe.
Here the link to the recipe we used: Italian Cream Cake recipe

I really liked it. It's fluffy, vanilla-ry,and the icing is lovely and creamy!
I definitely recommend you try it.


Questions:

What did you get from your most recent birthday?
How do you like to spend your birthdays?