Hello, friends! We’ve almost made it through January!!! Why does it always feel like the longest month of the entire year?
I’ve gotten all of our holiday decorations tucked away for the year, but I kept out the more general “winter” decor (greenery, pinecones, etc.) to ease into the new year because I get so melancholy when the house doesn’t have that holiday twinkle anymore. I also feel a bit cheated out of enjoying this year’s holiday decorations because we hosted Thanksgiving (which was wonderful, don’t get me wrong!) so I kept our autumn / Thanksgiving decor out longer than I probably would have if we hadn’t hosted, and then we traveled for Christmas and we were gone for half of December. I know some people are just OVER Christmas by the time January rolls around, but I personally could have used a little more sparkle for a bit longer.
Today’s Five Things are items that have piqued my interest or things that have been on my mind / going on in my life recently!
LUNAR NEW YEAR FUN
With Lunar New Year in just a few days, I wanted to share a bit about that celebration (and cultural elements) with Sophie! Lunar New Year isn’t something I personally grew up with, but we live in an area with a large Asian community and I think it’s important to explore other cultures and expand your horizons, especially for kids!
This little lantern kit is sooo cute and would be a great activity for older kids to assemble. It was a bit advanced for our three and a half year old, but she loved decorating it once I put it together for her.
I also picked up this adorable decorative dragon for the playroom. It’s really cute and we’ll reuse it every year when we talk about Lunar New Year! To that end, we also have a book from Lovevery that covers both getting a haircut and intertwining it with some Lunar New Year cultural traditions.
One of our favorite activity creators just shared this free printable Year of the Snake activity for Lunar New Year — get it while you can!
I also loved this list of local resources if you happen to live in the Greater Seattle area and are looking for ways to celebrate Lunar New Year with your family!
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NEW YEAR HOME REFRESH
I’m not a resolution-making “new year, new me” type of person. I believe that winter is meant for slowing down and taking it easy… BUT I do like to start the year off with a bit of a home refresh so that I can comfortably continue my hibernation lifestyle until spring emerges.
I recently shared a post with my personal checklist of home maintenance items that I like to reset at the start of the year — you can find it here.
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Ravioli Lasagna
As I mentioned in last month’s Five Things, I’ve been trying to come up with SUPER simple dinner ideas that can be made at home (with leftovers that can be easily reheated).
This dish seriously couldn’t be easier, especially if you aren’t interested in spending a ton of time in the kitchen. You layer everything and then bake it — and it turned out to be delicious! Highly recommend for a lazy weeknight dinner.
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CBD
I’m starting to feel my anxiety creeping in the way I did in 2016 and if I start thinking too much about the state of the world, my mind starts to spiral. That spiraling anxiety was tough enough to navigate before, but now as a parent I’m more anxious about the world because it feels like even more is at stake. However, even though that anxiety feels more intense I can’t allow that anxiety to consume me because I have two tiny ladies to care for.
When my anxiety has previously been at an all time high I’ve leaned on Equilibria CBD to help calm my racing mind. It was super effective and I really appreciated the results, but I stopped using CBD when I was pregnant with Sophie and just haven’t felt the need to use my products again until now. I will definitely be restarting my subscription as soon as my existing supply starts to dwindle.
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“MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS” PODCAST
I love podcasts, but I rarely get the opportunity to listen to rambling 45min+ episodes… this daily ~5 minute update is a nice little snapshot of the day to stay generally informed, but in a super digestible format and length. I can listen to an episode (on the Apple Podcasts platform) while I wash my face and brush my teeth in the morning.
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Cheers to nearly being done with the month of January!
Sending hugs —
xx, Natalie