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Energy Givers for When you need a Pick me Up!
We all have low moments. That just goes without saying. Sometimes we’re simply not “feeling it!” But chin up buttercup, you can give yourself an energy boost by simply enjoying these energy givers!
You can change your energy at any moment. You can shift your mindset and change your momentum. Try these energy givers to shift your day and get back to that best version of yourself!
Energy Givers:
- Sunlight and Twinkly Lights
- Comfortable & Cozy Hygge Space
- Hydration (Naturally Flavored Waters or Tea)
- Good Restful Sleep
- Nature
- Dance, Yoga, Movement
- Decluttering
- Fresh Outdoor Air
- Journaling
- Thinking or Writing Positively about the Future!
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Pumpkin Soup Recipe
The Best Coziest Healthy Pumpkin Soup!
Who has been craving pumpkin everything?! It’s the absolute best for this time of year, so cozy and rich and gives you that hygge Autumn feeling!
Here’s our recipe for the yummiest pumpkin soup:
Ingredient list:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, very finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 tablespoon fresh sage
3 cups pumpkin purée
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons half and half
5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon umami powder
Toasted sunflower seeds for serving! (optional)
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, sauté for 5 minutes or until onions start to brown, add in garlic and cook another 5 minutes.
Add the Thyme and sage stir to combine, next stir in the pumpkin puree, salt, cumin, pepper and ginger.
Cook over medium-low until fragrant, about 5 minutes. At this point mix in the chicken broth and stir to combine.
Remove from heat, mix in the maple syrup and half and half, stirring constantly. Add Worcestershire sauce and umami powder. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Taste it and adjust salt and pepper accordingly.
The flavors meld as the soup sits so it’s best to cook this 3-4 hours before serving. Garnish with toasted sunflower seeds!
Enjoy, and be sure to save it to your Pinterest recipe board!
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Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs!
Don’t you just LOVE Easter? It’s one of the very best weekends of the year. It’s all about rebirth and renewal, thankfulness for our beautiful word! In preparation for a great weekend packed with egg hunts, treats, Easter baskets and more, we made naturally dyed Easter eggs! The colors came out well, so lovely and pastel.
To make them yourselves add the following to 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt!
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Blueberry: 2 cups boiled
Yellow onion: 2 cups boiled
Coffee: just black coffee
Beet juice: a cup of juice and 1 tbsp vinegar
Turmeric: 2 tablespoons ground
•The best thing about naturally dyed Easter eggs is that if you decide you’d like to eat them, then you have no worries about only good things being inside. Happy Easter You Guys!!
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Tips to Keep your Manicure from Chipping!
Lately, I’ve been really into neutral nail colors, they’re versatile, classic, and don’t show chips as well (I’m a stickler for good-looking nails without chips). I’ve been painting my nail since I was about 12, and I’ve learned a thing or two to keep them from chipping!
Essie Colors listed in in photos:
Hubby For Dessert
Here is what I have learned:
- The shorter the better, I usually cut my nails just to the tips of my fingers, which leaves plenty of nail for color and less area for chipping!
- Use good quality polish, my personal favorites are Essie and OPI- they usually only require one coat but I typically do two since I’m a sucker for nice nails
- If you like, use a neutral color, that way if your nails do chip, it will be less noticeable! This is also a great choice for travel- since a nice manicure always goes great with a vacation (and all your Instagram worthy photos!)
- Top with a clear coat for extra protection and shine!
- Don’t rush and shake between coats for optimum coverage.
Best ‘at home’ manicure ever- #nailedit
xx,
T
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Pumpkin Soup Recipe
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Add a little more “fun” to your work supplies!
This post is inspired by back to school supplies shopping time. I don’t know about you, but as kids we always looked forward to going back to school, being in a routine and well, of course, the best part was picking out school
supplies! We would wait for our “supply” list to come out and the minute it was out my mom would drive us to Target to pick out our new swag for the year!Since I’m not in school anymore and don’t have a “set” supplies list I find that I purchase “work supply” items WAY too often. I’ve found that work supplies are sadly a bit less fun. It just felt different than that excitement I felt as a little one. Yellow legal pads and number 2 pencils just don’t do the trick. We have complied a list of work supplies to add a little more fun to your day to day work life!- We stumbled across these and HAD to have them, Fun file folders will brighten up any desk and even if you don’t use the paper inside of them but once a year, they can still bring a pop of Joy every day! Click here to check out some Grace Girl approved folders!
- For those of you who are still a ‘kid” at heart, we found the perfect thing to put a smile on your loved ones face. These lunch box notes are the perfect little surprise to stick inside a friends purse, your significant other’s computer bag, or in a lunch! Or, you can leave one in the morning if you’re the first one up. What a nice treat for someone to wake up to a cute little note to have with morning coffee! Check ’em out here!
- Paper Mate mechanical pencils – if you’re like me, sometimes you just need to write with a pencil, and these are truly the best. They don’t break, are a good width to hold and are brightly colored too! The fact that they’re brightly colored makes them fun and also helps you keep track if someone ‘borrows” one and doesn’t give it back. You know who you are, lol!
- If you’re a list maker, then this is the thing for you. Instead of having to carry around planner, I keep a little “my week” notepad on my desk which helps me remember items that I need to follow up on. No matter how hard you try, you can’t keep everything stored in your head. There are many fun options out there for weekly notepads.
- We use paper clips quite often for their ‘reusability” factor, and I don’t know about you but I get bored with the same plain clips. I recently purchased some of these cuties! Everyone needs animal shaped paper clips in their life right? Just wait for the smiles when you hand the entire boardroom your proposal stuck together with a turtle paper clip.
We would love to hear what your favorite work products are! Leave a comment below!xx,gracegrl -
Style, and what never goes “out”
Guest Post by Gail.
Bell bottoms, cropped, tapered, leggings (don’t get me started on leggings, at least not now). Styles come and go, in today, out tomorrow.
But there are things that NEVER go out of style. Ooh you think, what could that be? Anoraks? MooMoos? Jellys? Dickies (not going there).
Good grooming. Never goes out of style. Nowadays, I’m sure there are a bevy of womenfolk looking at the menfolk thinking, “love to donate a razor, pair of scissors, and perhaps a good scrubbin’”.
My Father-in-Law at 92 years old, still woke up each morning and did his daily grooming. We lost him in December, but even that day he was wearing a crisp clean button down, ready to seize the day. He was one classy guy. Always clean shaven, with his few hairs combed to perfection and clothing that didn’t scream, “Hey, look at me, I’m going to spend the day on the couch”. I’m not saying that the few days of beard growth isn’t good looking on a Hemsworth, Eastwood (S.), Gosling etc. I’m just saying pride in appearance is a very desirable trait. And never giving someone else the opportunity to think, “I wonder when he/she last saw the inside of a shower stall…”Growing up, my father, also a clean and classy guy, always encouraged us to “dress the part”. He said when I was going to take an exam, “Dress up, you’ll sit up straighter and think more clearly”. There’s truth to that (of course back then I looked at him like he was crazy). Have you ever needed to just run to the store, looking like the Peanuts character, “Pigpen”, thinking, I’ll just zip in and out and hope that I don’t see anyone I know. And you always do.
Make the extra effort, first thing in the morning, to get “ready for the day”. Then you’re all set, you’re in control, cool and classy. It really will improve your posture. When you feel proud of yourself, you walk straighter, hold your shoulders back and hold your head high.
Hate “getting ready”? Make it better. As in my last post, “You have to live in your own mind, make it a nice place”, use the tools you have: play music, sing, do a little Mambo (not when applying mascara), listen to talk radio, or NPR, have Good Morning America playing in the background, whatever lets you slide into the land of the living with a smile on your face.
Ladies – hair, nails, makeup, clothing, I’m not saying never be casual, I’m just saying be spiff. Oh, and in my humble opinion, I’d rather see no nail polish at all than the “I painted my nails a month and a half ago, and this is what’s left of it” look.
Gents – if you want to be “one of the guys” and rock the man bun (scrunched up face emoji) and a scruffy, too long beard to show the world you can, at least be clean and don’t make the ladies wonder whether you’re single handedly bringing back hair pomade and brylcreem or if your hair and a daub of shampoo haven’t met in awhile. And if you’re one of those guys who dares to be different, shave or trim and groom, you will have a better chance at melting a lassie’s heart.
Get up, Dress up, Show up..!
xx,
gracegrl
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Bringing back the “Laura Petrie” Pant
The other day I was shopping with my mom, I tried on some pants that were so cute, coincidentally I also had on flats and a cardigan…Mom said, “you’re wearing Laura Petrie pants”. I didn’t quite know what she meant by that so I whipped out my handy dandy handy (in Germany the youngsters call a cell phone a handy!) and googled it up…turns out that she was correct, I WAS wearing Laura Petrie pants…Ha!The actress, Mary Tyler Moore, played Laura Petrie in the Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). The classy, fun loving and witty lil’ lady rocked these pants, fitting of the 60’s! Funny how style goes because Laura Petrie pants are totally ‘in’ now!Here are a few different ways to style your Laura Petrie pants…
They look great with flats and a button up blouse, or a light sweater for a more casual look or my favorite, a blazer and sparkly flats!I think Mary would approve!Try the look and let us know how you style Laura Petrie pants!xx,T -
Feeling “Thrifty”
I know, I know, you’re probably thinking…”ick” they want me to go to a thrift store…but just wait, you can find great things at the thrift store for great prices, and mixing ‘pre owned’ pieces with new ones can be just the ticket for the “budget” conscious. I have had some great finds at thrift stores, here’s what I’ve learned
1.Location, location, location– think about where the store is. Is it in an uppity area where people tire quickly of ‘old’ items? Visit thrift stores in the high rent district, around universities and maybe even in resort towns, apparently the thrift stores in Jackson Hole, Wyoming are out of this world!2. Check brands– If you’re intrigued by an item but are unfamiliar with the brand, google it. I have found some great “designer” items that I didn’t know were designer until I googled them!3. Try things on!…Thrift stores often have strict return policies (if any) Try items on, make sure they fit, and then think about what you can pair with them that you already have, if you have at least three different combinations you can make! GET IT!4. Clean it! Once you get it home, wash it, clean it, vaccum it! Most stores clean clothes before they get them but it feels more like your own after it’s washed and worn by you!5. Keep looking, don’t look for anything specific, go in because you’re in the neighborhood and don’t get discouraged if there’s nothing good this time. Pop in from time to time and see if there something you can’t live without!Tweet to us or instagram a pic @peanutbutterandjellychronicles of your recent thrift store finds!Happy Shoppingxx,T
