8 Activities to do on a Rainy Day to Relax and Rejuvenate

I just love rainy days. I wrote a blog post earlier this month about enjoying rainy days with toddlers, but if you are so lucky to enjoy a cozy day with precipitation without the pitter-patter of toddler feet around you, this one is for you! So, grab your coziest sweater, brew a cup of your favorite tea, and let's explore the enchanting world of rainy-day activities that will warm your heart.

Go Outside! Put on your coziest raincoat and venture into the world outside. Rain-soaked streets and glistening leaves offer a unique charm that's often overlooked. Take a leisurely stroll, breathe in the air, and relish the simple pleasure of being present in the moment.

Craft to Your Heart’s Content. Time to bring out your creative spirit inside! How about finally completing that scrapbooking project you started ages ago or trying your hand at watercolor painting? The pitter-patter of rain on the window can provide the perfect ambiance for nurturing your artistic side.

Culinary Adventures Await. Rainy days and comfort food are a match made in heaven. Whip up a batch of homemade soup, or bake some bread or a decadent cake. The aroma of your kitchen creations will fill the air, spreading warmth and joy throughout your home.

Read and Rejoice. Remember those unread books sitting on your shelf, patiently waiting for their moment to shine? Well, it's their time to shine! Curl up in your favorite reading nook, wrap yourself in a cozy blanket, and dive into a captivating story. The gentle sound of rain outside will transport you to new worlds.

Spa Indulgence. Rainy days are a great excuse to slow down and pamper yourself. Fill up your bathtub with aromatic oils, light some scented candles, and treat yourself to a spa day at home. Let the raindrops outside set the soothing rhythm for your relaxation.

Write Your Heart Out. Rain has a way of stirring emotions and inspiring introspection. Grab your journal or open a blank document on your computer, and let your thoughts flow like raindrops. Writing can be incredibly therapeutic, whether it's poetry, a short story, or simply jotting down your feelings.

Movie Marathon Magic. Remember all those classic movies you've been meaning to rewatch? A rainy day is the perfect excuse for a movie marathon. Create a cozy movie-watching corner complete with soft blankets and pillows, pop some popcorn, and lose yourself in a cinematic adventure.

Greenery and Growth. Rain is the lifeblood of nature, and what better time to tend to your indoor plants or start a new gardening project? The rain outside will be a gentle reminder of the nourishment your plants are receiving, and watching them thrive will fill you with a sense of accomplishment.

Isn't it a delightful revelation that a rainy day is not a day to dread but rather a chance to embrace life's gentler side? I believe that each day – sunny or rainy – is an opportunity to savor life's beautiful nuances. So, the next time the heavens bless us with rain, remember that you hold the key to a treasure trove of cozy, creative, and heartwarming experiences. Until then, may your spirits stay high, and your teacups stay warm!

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What do you like to do when it’s raining outside?

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Daily Habits for your Thirties (with Vegamour)

Now that my thirties are well underway, I’ve reevaluated my daily habits. It turns out that time goes by much quicker than one would think and how I am more than halfway to my sixties is a pretty insane thought. I have seen so many posts about habits to start in your twenties and thirties, so I thought I’d share some habits I’ve adopted in this decade as well. Number 3 is my current favorite, thanks to Vegamour.

There are affiliate links in this post

Skincare Routine

Having a skincare routine is important! I realized this soon after quitting makeup, and I haven’t looked back. I started taking my skincare routine seriously a few years back and was reminded when I was at another friend’s thirtieth how important it was. Someone was sharing advice for her to take into this decade and she mentioned having a good skincare routine! It doesn’t have to be a thirteen-step process, either. Just consistent, and with clean products to get the day off your face (this is my favorite system and you can get it on Amazon!).

Get Outside

Fresh air is good for the lungs and good for the soul. It’s amazing how a mood can change if I just get outside every day to take some deep breaths and enjoy the nature around me. It doesn’t have to be a long time or even involve a walk, either, though it can! I love my daily walks.

Haircare Routine

Hair is another thing to take care of. I always have to think about the Bible verse about how hair is a woman’s crown. I always feel better when my hair is taken care of, and not neglected and then thrown into a top knot. I can definitely tell my hair is aging with me, even if the greys are far and few in-between. I was also a little nervous about the infamous hair loss after giving birth.

The fine folks at Vegamour sent me their GRO serum and lash serum to try out and let’s just say I’ve found a new haircare staple. Both serums are fantastic. Vegamour is a vegan, cruelty-free, hormone-free, and clinically tested serum that claims to give you fuller-looking hair in 90-120 days. I’ll admit that even though I had been looking at their products for a while, I was rather skeptical. How could a serum combat thinning hair and reduce hair loss? After some research, I agreed to give it a try and after just a few months of daily use, I definitely notice a difference in thickness and growth (especially after that dreaded postpartum hair loss!). I don’t shed as much hair either, with no weird side effects. My hair definitely appears and feels much healthier too. Plus, the serum itself is not sticky or gross and smells fantastic. The lash and brow serum are equally as fantastic. I will continue using everything they sent!

Of course, it’s important to implement a lot more like stress relief and nutrition to maximize hair health, but Vegamour is definitely a great natural supplement to try! I can recommend Vegamour. They also have tons of great information on their website about healthy habits that affect hair (as well as amazing before and after pictures from other satisfied customers!).

Exercise

Even just 15 minutes of loving movement (what I’m calling exercise in this season of life) a day is something. Carving out time to consistently move your body is so important - especially if you’re living that stationary desk job life like I do most days. I always feel great after a workout - even if I don’t feel like getting one in. My favorite thing to do if I’m short on time is sneaking in a quick Pilates routine, which leaves me feeling strong and flexible. (Try my favorite membership for $20 off!)

Drink Water

I’ll pair this with “and drink less sugary drinks,” which is probably harder for me than increasing water intake. Growing up, I heard the narrative that water is gross, so I never gravitated toward drinking it. Turns out that water isn’t gross at all, and is actually super necessary for our bodies! And sugar is terrible for us. I recently also found out that our brains are made up of 73% water and that dehydration has been linked to depression and anxiety. So. Drink up!

Morning and Evening Routines

These are nothing new for me, but it turns out that morning and evening routines are fluid and change depending on what season of life you’re in. For me, that looks like adding in starting a load of laundry every morning in this season and factoring in an infant’s nighttime routine into my own evening routine. It also means that I need to learn to be more flexible when things need to change and require adapting. Change is hard for me, and routines are required for my sanity, but without them in place, they can’t help when I need them.

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What are some of the routines or habits you adapt? I’d love to hear about them!

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More Sustainable Practices We Use and Some I'd Like to Implement

In this post a while back, I talked about some of our favorite low-waste practices. I’ve kept trying to add more sustainable habits into our everyday lives, especially now that there are three of us (well, four, including our firstborn cat!). None of these practices are going to singlehandedly save the planet, but our small steps add up. We want to make sure we are doing what we can to be better stewards of the Earth God has given us. 

Cloth Diapering

I plan to talk more about our cloth diapering journey, but honestly, this has been a great practice for our family. There are billions of disposable diapers taking up space in landfills and while it may seem that our contribution of approximately 1500+ diapers a year doesn’t help, I think if we all take steps we can make great strides of progress. And if you are concerned about the water and electricity usage when cloth diapering, doing it full-time, we only added 2 loads a week to our usual load and since our washers are very efficient you could compare it to the times a potty-trained person would flush the toilet! The math has been done.

We used the Esembly brand system, if you are interested (try it for 15% off by using this referral link)

Making Food

Trying to avoid foods that come in a lot of packaging really makes us make a lot of our own food. Honestly, though, foods that don’t come with nutrition labels are the best, so we know we are getting the nutrients we need this way too! 

One of my favorite sustainable food practices is saving my veggie scraps and making vegetable broth. It’s sooooo easy, tastes better than the store-bought stuff, and does not take much extra time at all. 

Cooking our own food comes with the necessity to plan properly, of course, so that there are no good excuses to eat out. 

Shopping Less

We shop as little as possible. Groceries and otherwise. This requires planning ahead so we aren’t running to the grocery store, but it’s worth it. Freezing things helps a lot with this, as does keeping stock of everything we have. It’s better for the earth, but saves our wallet as well! (Pssst: purchasing food you normally buy when it’s on sale and then shopping your pantry when you meal plan is a great money-saving strategy)

Related: Eating Cleaner on a Budget

Reusable Dinnerware 

We love camping, beach days, and picnics and we love that we’ve ditched disposable dinnerware and can keep enjoying these things sustainably. The Alps to my Maple got me the cutest picnic basket when we got married with, yes, ceramic and glass dishes, and we love busting that out. Otherwise, we have sets of washable dishes that we use when doing outdoor activities. With some planning ahead, it really is worth it!

Also, I started carrying around this great reusable utensil set with me! If we ever get takeout, or we need to eat out, it’s easy to opt out of the single-use plastic and to whip these babies out!

Period Underwear

I’ve talked about using a menstrual cup in full detail here, but period underwear is also a fan favorite! With the cup, it replaces pantyliners, and without, they are great alternatives to pads. I prefer the Thinx brand (you can get them on Amazon too!) but there are many out there. Bonus, they also have come out with really high-waisted ones too that were fantastic postpartum.

Plastic-Free Shaving

Get rid of those disposable razors and choose a plastic-free version. I haven’t found my favorite completely plastic-free shaver yet, but I love the Venus Deluxe (purchase on Amazon here). It has a heavy metal handle that seriously feels indestructible and works great. 

Some things I would like to incorporate

I’m far from being a zero-waste person, but I’m taking steps to get there. I just want to be transparent and maybe some of you can offer some advice in the following areas I would like to start doing! Some things I would like to start doing:

Get rid of paper towels

It’s going to be hard to convince everyone in my household to go for this one, but we already use reusable paper towel cloths (you know, those Swedish dish cloths). It’s just a matter of replacing them all in a way that makes sense for us!

Cut back on toilet paper

Postpartum, I realized how easy it would be to use a bidet (the TUSHY looks good), and honestly, I used that peri bottle much longer than needed (TMI?). It would really cut back on TP to go full-on bidet. 

Compost

Because we don’t have much of a garden, composting was not very practical for us. We do have a compost bin that gets picked up, it’s really just a matter of finding our flow and creating habits that work.

Sustainable Fashion

Fast fashion is so convenient for those of us in the western world. Even though I’ve started to, I would like to choose more sustainable pieces in the future! 

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What are some sustainable practices in your life? In what areas would you like to improve?

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I’m PREGNANT?!

I will just come right out and say it: we are going to be [human] parents! It’s kind of crazy to think about, and life has been mad crazy the last few months with preparations and figuring out this next season of life. Another reason I’ve been so silent around these here parts. And no, I didn’t mean for me to be 2 weeks away from the due date before sharing. Things have just been nuts.

A first picture from this Summer in Corsica at twenty-something weeks!

Experiencing pregnancy in the midst of a global pandemic has been interesting and strange added to the dynamic of not living near family. Nevertheless, we are grateful and anxious, and seriously just all the feels about what comes next. 

I’ll be sharing some more about how things are going/went. The baby gear has been rolling in, and final preparations are being made to welcome our new little bundle, and everything is still very much unbelievable, but we are happy nonetheless. 

6 Reasons to Add Greenery to your Surroundings

I don’t know about you, but I have a black thumb. It seems, however, that with practice, my plant killing tendencies are slowly reversing and turning into plant nurturing ones. Granted, I have not been successful in keeping many plants alive - I am just so forgetful and one of those over thinkers when it comes to keeping them alive! I used to fear for any added pets or children, but it turns out that cats are easier to keep alive than a sweet little succulent plant. Go figure.

My mother and grandmother always had plants, and they were gorgeous, so it’s amazing to me that that knack of keeping small trees and flowers alive did not transfer over to me. Too bad. Guys, I even struggle with keeping fresh basil alive!

I used to cringe when people gave me potted plants as gifts, because I knew that if they ever came back, that plant would not be a thriving thing of beauty. No, it would be shrivelled and black - or worse, the pot would be left and the plant dumped out.

Anyway, now that I have experienced some success in keeping some small plants alive, my eyes have been open to how wonderful having some greenery around can be! I mean, I always knew it was a good thing but I guess I never truly embraced it.

If you’re like me and hesitant to bring home (or accept as gifts!) some greenery, this post is for you!

Improves air quality. By reducing carbon dioxide and increasing humidity. Even NASA had a study on this years ago. Check out this excerpt:

“Both plant leaves and roots are utilized in removing trace levels of toxic vapors from inside tightly sealed buildings. Low levels of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde can be removed from indoor environments by plant leaves alone.” When talking about the relationship between plants and space travelers, NASA notes that plants, "provide nourishment for the body when eaten as food, and they improve the quality of indoor air. Plants take the carbon dioxide from air to produce oxygen that humans can breathe."

Pretty cool!

Creates a mood. Especially when your plant pots are super cute and match your decor. Am I right or am I right?

Fosters creativity. I don’t know about you, but when I’m in a space with natural settings, I feel much more creative. In the Summer I love working on my deck for this very reason. I do some of my best writing outside, and when I can bring the outside in, it fosters my creativity.

Reduces stress. Or is this just me?

Adds life to your surroundings. Plants are living things. Add some literal life to your surroundings by putting some plants out.

Creates appreciation for nature in general. I promise once you start taking care of these, you’ll start appreciating others’ gardens and houseplants more! You may even start recognizing and putting a name to the leaf!

So you’re sold. Now you want to get out and buy all the green things. There are still some things to consider, however. Here are some tips to choose the best houseplants for you:

Consider your plant abilities. Are you like me with a black thumb? Find some easy-to-care-for plants that will take talent to kill. Succulents are a good start. Do some research as to My personal favourite are snake plants, as I can successfully keep them alive, PLUS they are gorgeous.

Consider the size of your home. How much space do you have in your home? Can you handle having a larger plant, or are smaller ones better? Plants need space to get breathing air too! Do you have a lot of windows to let in sunlight, or do you need to get a plant that prefers shade?

Consider the humidity and temperature. Some plants require more humidity than others. If you want a tropical plant, this is definitely something you will want to consider as they need more humidity. Keeping plants that require more humidity away from your heat and air conditioning units is definitely something you’ll want to think about as they dry the air and change the temperature, obviously.

Consider your family and pets. Does your family have any allergies to any of the plants you plan on bringing home? Are the plants toxic to your fur babies? Do your research before bringing home your new plant friend.

Do your research, whatever you decide. Know how to water, fertilize, and care for the plants you bring into your home. Like people, each plant has unique needs for the best care. Most importantly, have fun learning and don’t give up!

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Do you have houseplants? What kind? Any tips for someone with a black thumb?

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