It’s November 11th and yesterday was the official first snow here in Denver. I was with my sister and she was complaining about the cold weather: “Ugh, it’s sooo cold.” I’ve been living in Colorado for 19 years and for the first 17, I would do the same thing as my sister – complain and hide in my house when the snowflakes started falling. It felt so overwhelming and exhausting to get dressed and be outside – it was just easier to hibernate like a little bear every year.

Well, last year, I decided to make a change. I decided to EMBRACE the cold weather. Embracing the weather is a simple attitude change. It means looking on the bright side of things – I mean there’s a lot of great things that come with coldness such as hot drinks, skiing, fires, and comfy sweaters. One of the most important factors when it comes to embracing the cold weather is good, quality clothing that keeps you warm. It’s nearly impossible to embrace the cold when you are freezing. This includes boots, hat, long johns, gloves, the works. You have to have clothes that you are comfortable in and keep you warm, otherwise, you are going to dread the snow every time, when instead, you should be excited to get outside and build a snowman, followed with delicious hot chocolate, right? Right.

I have to tell you, after 2 years of practicing my new philosophy – embracing the cold is much better than hibernating. One last thing….

As I was preaching to my younger sister about my cold weather beliefs, we were running through a Whole Foods parking lot towards the entrance, trying to escape the windy, snowy weather, and I said “Embrace it Julie!” right as I slip and land in a big slushy mess of snow. My boyfriend, Greg, came to the rescue and picked me up and we all had a good laugh. Have a great winter and check out my “brrr…cute winter outfit ideas” blog for some fashion inspiration.

Cheers,

KTB

There is nothing like a good facial scrub to perk you up after a fun weekend with friends. This simple recipe includes sugar, apricot oil, and bergamot essential oil. The apricot oil and bergamot essential oil can be found at any natural food grocery store (I use Vitamin Cottage). In addition to the ingredients, you will need a 2oz container to hold the finished product, measuring spoons and a 1/4 cup measure.

sugar facial scrub recipe

Mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of apricot oil. Then, top off the recipe with 1/4 teaspoon of the bergamot essential oil. When you are finished mixing the 3 ingredients together, put them in your 2oz container.

how to use facial scrub

Facial scrubs should be used about 1-2 times per week. They remove all the dirt and dead skin cells from your face so that your facial cleanser can actually do its job. Be careful not to overuse your scrub because that could result in scarring. For a tutorial on how to wash your face properly, click here. 

benefits of bergamot oil

Bergamot oil comes from orange peels from southern Italy. It has powerful antibacterial properties (good for acne) and is known to help heal damaged skin. It also stimulates and regenerates your face, making you look more alive. Bergamot is best known for treating oily skin, acne, psoriasis, eczema and cold sores. It also smells great! Bergamot as a aromatherapeutic oil is most commonly used for the treatment of depression.

Please give this recipe a try and let me know what you think!

Cheers,

KTB

Dolf, short for Rudolf, read my palms last night. I’m not a spiritual fanatic by any means. I, for the most part, base my beliefs off of scientific studies or things I have personally experienced. I’ve always had a hard time believing in God because we’ve never hung out (not to say that we won’t eventually).

But, with that said, I really believe what Dolf had to say. Here’s why. There was no hocus-pocus about it. He didn’t light any candles or try to distract me in any way from what he was actually doing. We just sat down at the dining table, with his daughter, Fem, who translated between us (Dolf spoke Dutch because he is from the Netherlands). He’s been a psychic palm reader forever and people come to his home for spiritual healing as well – such as curing migraines.

When I first met Dolf, before the palm reading, he said to me, “Marketing and communications is very important to you.” I didn’t know he was a psychic at the time and thought that someone had told him about my job, so I simply said “Ya, it is.” Anyways, I wanted to document everything Dolf told me last night so I can check back on it in the future and say “Oh my gosh! He was right!”  So, here goes, in no specific order:

Holy Smoke

• He guessed that I was in a skyscraper between the 20^th and 30^th floor (I’m on the 29^th).
• He guessed my brother’s name was Michael on the first try.
• He guessed that I was or would be in Hong Kong (I’m going next April).
• He asked if I was going to Australia. (I’m going there next October.)

The Future

• Julie (my sister) will date a guy with dark brown hair when she is 19. He also said that if she pursues a communications job with travelling, then she will be happy.
• My career will take off when I’m 32. There will be a high pony tail, nice dress clothes, a good salary, tons of travelling, more education, and a career in communication, management and/or economics.
• I will be a successful children’s book writer in my 40’s.
• I’ll have 2-3 kids. Likely only 2 because I will feel overwhelmed with a career and children.
• I’ll be a working mom.
• He saw a pretty ring on my finger but couldn’t figure out when it would be there – maybe next year, he said.

My Personality

• I’m very independent.
• I enjoy feel-good movies.
• I use my sense of humor to deal with things.
• I’m uncomfortable with compliments.
• I need to practice saying no and I get upset with myself when I don’t say no.
• I’m more emotional than other aquarius’ except I don’t let people see that. He told me that I need to allow people to see my emotional side, especially in my relationships.
• He said that I prefer one quality friend to many not-so-quality friends.
• He said that I’m very suspicious of people when I first meet them and don’t trust what they say. Then, once I trust them, it’s all good.
• I have spurts of energy and then need to lay down on the couch. He said that this will become even more important as I get older.
• I am blessed with luck, as long as I take advantage of opportunity.

Funny Stuff

• He said I could have been a great ice skater.
• He told me to be careful in traffic (He said this several times and I’m already a little anxious when I drive, thanks Dolf).
• He asked if I like the colors beige, blue, and brown (I love all colors but beige, really?)
• He thought that I had had 2 accidents with my ankles (I have super weak ankles, I’ve lost count of how many accidents I’ve had with those stupid things.)
• He saw me falling down the stairs and then asked if I’ve done that before (well, ya, hasn’t everyone?)
• He said I have a birthmark on my special spot (I think this got a little lost in translation but I do have a birthmark on my butt).
• He thought one of my brothers was a competitive racer. (Hmm, I need to talk to my brothers more often).
• He said my brothers and I would become closer once they grew up into adults but that this would take awhile. (Haha, so true).
• Thought I had a boss who wore glasses and was very strict about being on time. (I think this is a fact about all bosses, not just mine.)

Time can only tell if I will be a successful children’s book writer  Have you ever had your palms read by a psychic? What were some of the surprising things they told you?

Tonight was one of those nights that was purrfect. I came home around 6pm just like most nights, read my book on the couch for about 30 minutes, finished it, then took a quickie nap – with a mason jar full of home-brewed ice tea in hand. The people who know me closest know that I can fall asleep faster than you can blink an eye – seriously.

I have fallen asleep in a bar before, sitting at a barstool with my arms outstretched to the countertop.  I’ve taken a  snooze at a concert – standing up. I’ve even fallen asleep halfway on my bed (picture me in a bathing suit folded over the edge of the bed with my feet still on the floor), and that’s only three of the many times that prove I have a narcolepsy problem. Anyways, I woke up from my nap and after walking around the house, pondering what I should do with the rest of my night, I decided that the dogs and I needed to get out.

Birdwatching Lady

We wandered over to the nearby lake and we were greeted by many beautiful birds including two very pretty egrets. There were baby ducks chasing their mom around and we even saw a turtle! I thought the night was good then, but it got even better Three-fourths of the way around the lake, we ran into a woman with a rather large camera so I naturally asked her, “What are you taking pictures of?” She responded, very excitedly, that she was looking for the baby coots. I didn’t know what a coot was but I could tell that I had found myself a fellow birdwatcher. Ok, so this blog is becoming a bit of a confessional but ever since I was born, I’ve been obsessed with nature.

I tried to write a book on animals when I was very young, I was one of those kids who wore those animal shirts, and to top it off, I joined a birdwatching club in 4^th grade. I’ve even managed to find myself a nature-loving boyfriend. Did you know Greg got his masters in biology? Now you do. He loves to geek out every time we hike and teach me about all the plants and animals – which I love about him. So, back to the woman. We talked more about the different species around the pond and then she randomly decides to tell me that she is a holistic vet and that I shouldn’t vaccinate my dogs – odd.

Butt-tums

What’s even more odd is for the past month or two, I have been begging Greg to take Buckley to see a vet because Buckley has a tennis ball sized tumor on his butt and it worries me. So, me being an opportunist, I asked Jan, the birdwatching lady, if she knew what was up with Bucko’s butt-tum (pronounced “toom” or “toom-toom”), as we like to call it. You don’t want to know the gross details of it all but we agreed to further examine it in her office later. Turns out Jan’s mom’s name is Katie. Go figure.

Gazela and Sewing

Now, I’m back home. I decided to grab a bottle of our new favorite wine, Gazela, go for a quick run, take a cold bath, write this blog, and then do a sewing project which I’ve been thinking about for awhile. You want to hear about it??? I’m really excited. I am cutting the sleeves off this old floral vintage dress I found at a thrift store (duh) and I’m going to repurpose the sleeves into a cute pocket that I’m going to sew onto this plain purple t-shirt I have. Can you picture it? I hope so. It’s my attempt to be the next Versace. Yes, I will post pictures – thanks for asking.

Hey all,

It’s a rainy day in Denver and I am using it to clean up the house and RELAX. I started my day off by sleeping in til 10 and then rolling out of bed to casually cook up a delicious Dutch Baby (I know it sounds weird but it will change your life), topped with blueberries and a lemon-powdered sugar glaze. Yum.

Greg isn’t feeling the best – stress is getting to him today so I decided to mix up some lavender bath salt for him so he could soak his worries away. My word of the day is tranquility – don’t you just love the sound of that? Anyways, I just wanted to quickly write you, because a Facebook status just wasn’t enough. You should take the day to relax with me – generally I like to be going 110%, getting stuff done but occasionally it’s good to stop and just breathe and enjoy all the stuff you’ve done. Enjoy your “rainy” day off.

Cheers,

KTB

dutch baby recipe

1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1 splash of vanilla, 3 egg whites, 2 eggs, a dash of cinnamon and I like to add oatmeal, too. Blend all these ingredients together and put in a giant pre-buttered pan. Bake in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes. Then, remove from the pan, slice it into eighths, just like a pizza. Top with fresh berries, lemon juice and powdered sugar. Trust me on this one. This is a Barstow family recipe – the only place we’ve ever seen them sold is the Pancake house and they are to-die-for