I’m cozy on my couch.  Outside the window, tree branches are weighed down by the snow.  We’ve entered February with a series of rare snow storms and it falls peacefully. I could watch it for hours.

Below are the things I’ve been using and loving since January.

iMovie

I recently had the house to myself for 5 days while my boyfriend was on a snowboarding trip.  I dislike being idle so I thought I’d challenge myself to learn something new.  I’d been seeing the iMovie icon on my desktop for years but had never really tried using it.  I took my camera along on a hike in the forest with my sister and made it a point to take footage with the intention of trying my hand at video making.  I had no idea where to even start so after a few Youtube tutorials I slowly started piecing together my first video which I named “A walk in the forest”. I uploaded it on Youtube and shared it with my friends on Facebook and have been bitten by the video making bug since.  I am going to continue learning and hopefully make better videos in the future of all my adventures throughout the Pacific Northwest.  This is my latest video.

Midwinter

Juicing

I got a juicer as a gift from my sister in law and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  I used to have one years ago but it broke and I had missed my fresh fruit and veggie juices.  Right now I’m obsessed with ABC juice:  Apples, Beets, Carrots. I also add 1/2 a lemon and a big chunk of ginger to it. Sometimes a full orange as well.  I even add a TBlsp of Fire Cider to it to give it an extra kick as well as immune boosting properties.  To learn more about fire cider go to http://www.firecider.com.

Trip Planning

I know it’s only February but I recently read about these two spots and they inspired me to start thinking of where to hike and camp this summer.  The first photo is of Jones Lake near Chilliwack BC.  There are camp sites and apparently good fishing for trout and crayfish.  The road isn’t too great to this spot so a 4×4 is needed. The second photo is of Joffrey Lake near Pemberton BC (north of Whistler).  This is a series of lakes which take 4 hours to hike (approx. 10kms). They are glacier fed which give them their signature turquoise colouring. They say you should be an intermediate hiker to do this trip and you can camp as long as you’re ok carrying everything in and out with you. I’m so going to both of these spots this summer.

Fitness, Diet & Weight Loss

I saw a friend of mine recently and noticed immediately how much slimmer she was. So I had to ask what she was doing.  Apparently not much aside from counting her calorie intake.  Enter, MyFitnessPal, an app you can download on your phone for free that keeps track of the calories you consume daily.  When you sign up you just add your height, current weight and your ideal weight.  Leave the rest up to MyFitnessPal.  It keeps a food journal for you and has a very large archive of foods including brands so all you do is add your daily meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks) as well as exercise and it tells you how many calories are in each meal (which helps you gauge what you need to cut down on). You earn calories based on how much exercise you do.  Water and herbal tea you can have as much as you want.  At the end of the evening you get your report which includes how much you’ll weigh if you keep it up for X amount of weeks.  What I like the best about this is that it’s a gentle way to lose weight without depriving yourself which usually leads to binging. http://www.myfitnesspal.com

Knitted Headbands

My mother is a knitter and she’s made me so many different things throughout my life from mittens to scarves that I honestly completely forgot about this gorgeous headband she’d made me a couple of years back. It wasn’t until I recently saw a video of one of my favourite vloggers at the moment (Jonna Jinton from Sweden) and saw her wearing one that I remembered I had one in my basket of knits.  So I pulled it out and have been wearing it from the past few weeks.  It keeps my ears toasty without the “hat head”.  Made by Black Cat Knits.

Beauty Faves

I have oily skin and although it would seem counterproductive to add more oil to it, I find massaging my face with essential oils balances it out and helps prevent wrinkles.  I purchase a regular face oil like this one by Jurlique and then custom blend it with Essential oils for toning and rejuvenating my skin. Oils like Cypress, Petitgrain, Rose and Fennel to name a few.  I like to massage my face while taking my nightly bath and let it sink in overnight.
I also just purchased a bottle of Apple Cider Shampoo by Live Clean.  It cleans the hair of product residue and leaves my hair so soft and shiny.  It also helps your regular shampoo and conditioner work better.  I use it once or twice a month when I notice my hair going flat from product buildup.  It’s 94% natural, doesn’t contain SLS, Parabens or Sulfates.

This concludes my January favourites.  Thank you for reading.

Love,

Jennifer