Hello! Just to let you guys know, Google Reader is no more. You can follow us on Bloglovin HERE!
But what is Bloglovin' you ask? Bloglovin' is an easy tool to follow all your favorite blogs.
Here is an excerpt from Living Montessorinow.com:
1. It’s easy to follow blogs through bloglovin’. For blogs that have a bloglovin’ button, you just have to click the button and then click “Follow.” You can search for any blogs within the bloglovin’ site and follow them even if they don’t have a bloglovin’ button.
2. You can move all your blogs on Google Reader to bloglovin’. It’s amazingly simple. I just followed the directions on bloglovin’ when I signed up. They were clear and easy to follow. Be sure to check that you follow us and your other favorite blogs when you do move your blogs.
3. You can organize all the blogs you follow into categories. I need to do more with this, but I plan to do it in the future.
4. You can discover new blogs easily within bloglovin’. I love this feature! I set my emails to notify me whenever someone follows my blog. Then I can follow them if I wish as well as check who they follow and find new blogs to follow. There are also “top blogs”in different categories and “popular posts” features at bloglovin’ that enable you to discover new blogs as well. When you follow a blog, there’s even a “Similar Blogs” tab, which is really fun and helpful.
5. Bloglovin’ is faster than Google Reader. I had actually stopped using my Google Reader because it simply took too long to scroll through entire posts. With bloglovin’, I typically see the title, short excerpt, and an image. I can easily tell if I want to click on the post to read more.
6. You can get an email with the updates from the blogs you follow on bloglovin’. I’m overwhelmed with emails, but I still really appreciate this. It’s so easy for me to scroll down through the blogs I follow to see the latest updates. I try to keep on top of the latest activities and posts in my niche, and this is the easiest way I’ve found to do it. (I still use my Parent/Teacher Twitter paper, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Sulia as my top ways to keep up with and share the latest posts as well. I do share on Google+, although not as often.) It’s totally impossible to keep up with everything, of course, but I want to be as knowledgeable as I can. Even though this is my dream job (except for the pay), it is my job … and I like to be as informed and competent as possible.
7. You can get a free app to follow bloglovin’ on mobile devices such as your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad: Free Bloglovin’ App.
8. Blogs get pageviews when you read their posts through bloglovin’. That isn’t the case with Google Reader. Many bloggers are trying to help support their families through their blogging. We tend to put in way more hours than we’re actually “paid” for, but pageviews really help us. You can also “like” posts on bloglovin’. It’s always nice to get “likes” for encouragement and to see which posts are especially popular. If a post gets enough “likes,” it could be seen in the “popular posts” feature on bloglovin’, which helps even more.
Food Staple pt1
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| Josh & Maria from the food blog Two Peas & Their Pod |
A couple years ago we came across the food blog Two Peas and their Pod. The blog consists of a super cute culinary duo: Maria and her husband Josh. We literally spent hours looking through all the amazing mouth-watering recipes that were destined to be made in our kitchen. From vegetable spring rolls with peanut sauce to strawberry dark chocolate hand pies, there are 100's of recipes to choose from. They also have regular give-aways from brands like KitchenAid, Epiphanie, and Albion. You can also follow them on Facebook, Pinterest, and/or Instagram!
Two of the recipes we've made the most, by far, is the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars and the Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
For the most part, we've followed the recipes rather closely with delicious results. We don't have a regular-sized oven nor a regular-sized baking pan, so we put the pumpkin chocolate chip bars in a 6-muffin tin in the toaster oven for twice the amount of time. It takes a few hours to put that little 6-muffin tin in multiple times to use up all the batter, but its well worth the wait for the warm gooey-ness that results! YUM!
Yesterday during the 24th straight hour of intense rain and flooding, we experimented with the recipe of our long-standing diet staple: Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. We probably make this at least once a week. It's quick to make, doesn't take a lot of dishes, and has a lot of fresh fruit & veggie content. You can find the ingredients and instructions below. I'm not much of a food photographer, so please bear with the crummy photos.
This recipe mades two whole sandwiches.
Hardware:
Panini Press
Fork (to mash and mix the fruit & veggies!)
Knife (to cut up fruit & veggies!)
Software:
4 - small slices of 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Thinly sliced Extra sharp cheddar cheese - enough to cover two of your bread slices
1 - ripe Hass Avocado
1 - plum tomato - chopped
1/2 - small sweet onion - finely diced
1 tbsp - Cholula Hot Sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
1 tbsp - Light Sour Cream
1 tsp - Paprika
1 tsp - minced garlic
1 tbsp - Lime or Lemon Juice
1) Cut avocado in half, remove seed, scoop out avocado from peel and put in a bowl.
2) Mash avocado with fork until creamy.
3) Add sour cream, diced onion, chopped tomato, hot sauce, paprika, garlic and citrus juice.
4) Stir until all ingredients are mixed evenly. Voila! Guacamole!
5) Place cheese on bread
6) Spread desired amount of guacamole onto two bread slices and cover with the remaining slices
7) Heat panini press and place sandwiches inside.
8) Wait about 1 minute or until bread is slightly browned.
9) Serve warm
Let me know if you make this and what you think! I'd love to hear about it!
Mindful Music Mix pt.1
Music has the incredible ability to communicate with us, no matter what mood or stage of life we are in. Everyone has the ability to enjoy music at some level. Music resonates beauty, enjoyment and gives us an emotional outlet for expression. It can lift spirits and bring people together. It can allow us to connect to something inside ourselves and gives us the courage to create through love and healing.
While designing for the Sailor's Omen summer collection during the past few months, I have been largely inspired by music. I thought I would post the playlist I have been listening to:
Song 1: "Tighten Up"
Artist: The Bluegrass Tribute to the Black Keys
Album: The Pickin' on Series
Song 2: "Here Comes the Sun"
Artist: Yuna
Album: Savages (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Song 3: "Fortuna"
Artist: Kaki King
Album: Everybody Loves You
Song 4: "Wolf Like Me"
Artist: Lera Lynn
Song 5: "Mission"
Artist: Beats Antique
Album: Contraption Vol. 1
Song 6: "From Here to Where"
Artist: Blktop Project
Album: Blktop Project
Song 7: "Tonight You Belong to Me"
Artist: Eddie Vedder
Album: Ukulele Songs
Song 8: "Even After All"
Artist: Finley Quaye
Album: Maverick A Strike
Song 9: "Dark Water & Stars"
Artist: Natural Calamity
Album: Peach Head
Song 10: "Rope & Summit"
Artist: Junip
Album: Fields
Song : "Crystallize"
Artist: Lindsey Stirling
Album: Lindsey Stirling
Song : "Bring Back the Sunshine"
Artist: Miss Li
Album: Proud to Be Woman Vol. 3
Song : "Remember My Name"
Artist: Yuna
Album: Yuna
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Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. -Plato
The Power of Perception
Perception is a strong influence on how we see ourself and the world. Through beauty trends and personal thought, we transform our minds and slowly - without knowingly- to create filters to see and think through. It is rare that we stop to reflect and question the basis of those observations.
The following YouTube video by Dove shows us how our perception isn't everything, but sometimes it's all we allow ourselves to have. I urge you to give yourself more and don't always believe your thoughts. You deserve more beauty in your life.
Wishing your warm seas & a gentle breeze,
Ashley
The following YouTube video by Dove shows us how our perception isn't everything, but sometimes it's all we allow ourselves to have. I urge you to give yourself more and don't always believe your thoughts. You deserve more beauty in your life.
Wishing your warm seas & a gentle breeze,
Ashley
Sincerely, Kinsey Yoga Mat DIY
I LOVE this tutorial from the Sincerely, Kinsey on how to make your own yoga mat! You can find it here.
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