This summer our family had a rather large transition on our hands. We moved from New York back to Alaska and whew, has it been a transition. We left New York in June and arrived in Alaska in early August, which means we had quite a bit of travel time between locations. Routines? What routines? Since arriving in Alaska it has been nice to get mostly unpacked, get the kids back in school and start to get back to some sort of rhythm.
If you are also in a season of transition (naturally, most of us are following summer anyways), I thought I’d share today the steps I’m taking right now to help me ease back into routines that nourish and support. And it’s Self-Care September!
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Meal Planning.
Meal planning has always been my thing (you probably knew that), but with the kids getting older and more active, I needed a new strategy to get a real dinner on the table each weeknight. And I found one!
These past few weeks I’ve been testing out a new cookbook titled, “Cook Once, Eat All Week”. Cassy Joy Garcia of FedandFit.com takes three main ingredients and turns them into three meals to spread out over the week. By simplifying ingredients, it cuts WAY down on the meal prep for the week (big win!), lowers the grocery bill and makes a real dinner possible for those crazy-busy nights. Another win, my kids have really enjoyed the meals! They even loved last week’s meal series that relied heavily on kale.
Cassy has a sample 4 week series on her website that you can check out first before ordering the cookbook.
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Taking Pilates, for me!
I think in the last three years I may have taken 2 Pilates classes for myself. I still do Pilates multiple times per week, but to actually take a class with someone else telling me what to do? RARE. This has been delightful. I’m totally addicted.
I was very much missing being in the studio and this has been a great ‘reframe’. Not to mention, it is allowing me to finally work on strengthening a couple of areas that I have needed to focus on to help re-balance. So good.
Scheduling this time to head into the Pilates studio has been so good for my body in helping to get realigned after a very long travel summer. It has also been really helpful in getting grounded during a time that feels anything but grounded. I can easily slip into thinking I ‘should’ be doing something else or feel guilty for taking this time to focus just on me, but it is paying dividends.
This fall are you getting back to a hobby you have loved? Is there something you know you’ve needed to work on that you are finally getting to? I’d love to hear about it!
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Plants
Having new plants in the house has given me reason to stop, pause, notice new growth and be more present. In this period of transition I have moments of wishing that time would go quicker so we could get out of the discomfort of ‘settling in’ sooner. Seeing new growth helps me recognize that time is passing and with patience we are feeling more settled. Don’t rush it. (The kids are growing fast enough!)
And who doesn’t love a new plant in their house? I found a couple of great youtube channels that help break down plant care for various types of plants. Check out Summer Rayne Oakes for her 365 day series of One Plant a Day or the Planterina, because she is just a crack-up. You may also come away with a long wish list of new plants to buy. You’ve been warned!
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Better Skin Care Routine
This summer I totally let my regular skin care routine go slack. It started strong, but as the weeks wore on, well, not so much. And my skin paid for it. By the time we got here it felt rough and totally out of sorts. After moving in I started being more diligent again and it really makes a difference in how you feel when your skin looks good. I never go without Beautycounter’s concealer or tinted sunscreen but now have added back in the Charcoal Bar and the Charcoal mask to help detox my skin from all that crazy travel and maybe some stress…. This fall I also started using their new anti-aging line Countertime that uses Retinatural to combat fine lines. (Win!) Beautycounter actively avoids using endocrine disruptor ingredients such as pthalates and parabens and consistently work to make the industry at large, cleaner for all of us.