‘Twas the night before vacation, when all thro’ the house, not a creature was stirring, not even Moose the bulldog. Steel cut oats were warming in the slow cooker with care, in hopes that warm weather would soon be there. The parents were nestled all snug in their bed, while visions of pumpkin pie danced in their heads.

‘Tis the season for story time. The Shookman household is readying for a warm winter’s nap in New Orleans before the Thanksgiving holiday. And with the days getting shorter, the air getting a wee bit chillier, and more chairs at the table, these Slow Cooker Pumpkin Oats are just what’s needed to warm bellies while allowing you more shuteye. Read on for the dEATs, along with some tips on warming the mind & body if the changing seasons are impacting your mood and energy levels.

There’s nothing like a cozy bed, a hot cup of cider and long nights by the fireplace with family as the first snow falls this time of year. It’s the quintessential picture of hygge, the Danish concept of all things comforting and cozy. This concept of cozy contentment and enjoyment of the simpler things in life is part of the Danish DNA. It’s credited for being one of the reasons Denmark is always listed as one of the world’s happiest countries, despite miserable winters.

I’m a sun and summer lover, so while I love the cozy comforts of fall, I start to feel the energy dwindling as the daylight hours wane. This year, I’m going to try to embrace more hygge with a few simple tips to beat the winter blues (or seasonal affective disorder, as it’s more formally known).

Embracing Hygge

1.) Investing In Relationships: Home is a place we return to this time of year, but it’s only a geographic location. It’s family, friends – the people, who truly make that geographic location feel like home. This year, I’m going try to focus more on my surroundings and the people by dedicating just one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening to tech and the rest of the time to being present. There’s no hygge without home and no home without the people.

2.) Sharing the Food I Love: Food is my love language, so I’m planning to cook up a storm of comforting foods through the winter. But, I’m going to focus on simplifying – doing more slow cooker meals, more one pan or sheet pan dishes, so that I can enjoy the limited daylight hours and time with friends and family.

3.) Breathing Fresh Air: It can be super easy to get lost in Netflix and chill this time of year, which isn’t a bad thing, but the body does need that mood boosting Vitamin D. My goal is to take the bus less (do more walking, while bundled up!) and to try to take a brisk walk over my lunch hour to get a breath of fresh air, some sunshine on my skin and to get the blood flowing in between meetings and loads of desk time.

4.) Indulging in Self Care: I’ve taken to “Selfish Sundays” with a pampering session that I plan to continue through the winter months, warming a nice bath withessential oils like lavender to calm and epsom salt to relieve tension or a revitalizing mask at home. This winter, I’m going to infuse more of this self care in my daily routine using orange peel essential oils to awaken and revitalize in the morning, adding maca to my daily bowl of oatmeal to relieve stress and listening to inspiring podcasts on my walk home rather than business books or music.

5.) Planning Wellness: I’m generally very diligent about being active most of the year, but when it’s constantly dark “outside office hours” it can be hard to find the motivation. This year, I’m going to be diligent about planning my workouts in advance to hold myself accountable and schedule those workouts in the morning to set the right tone for both mind and body at the start of the day.

Now that we’ve fully embraced hygge, let’s make some hygge food!

What I love about these slow cooker oats are 1.) versatility 2.) set and forget 3.) feeds a crowd for the day or a two-person household for the week! While I’ve infused this recipe with the epitome of the season (pumpkin and spices) you can adapt this recipe as you see fit, or go plan jane allowing for customized toppings. The only watchouts are to make sure not to let the kiddos (or significant other) lift the lid too soon to steal a sniff (every lift of the lid will set you back an hour) and also note that in the morning, the oats will seem more liquid until you give them a good stir. They’ll continue to thicken as they cool.

Enjoy one of my favorite recipes for some hygge vibes!

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats with Pumpkin & Spices
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:
-2 C of Quaker steel cut oats
-6 1/2 C of water
-1 1/2 C of Blue Diamond unsweetened vanilla almond milk
-1 can of Libby’s pumpkin puree
-1/4 C of brown sugar, packed (option to sub coconut sugar)
-2 tsp of pumpkin spice
-1 tsp of cinnamon
-1/2 tsp of salt
-1 tsp of vanilla

Directions:

Step 1: Prep the slow cooker by spreading a layer of butter or coconut oil on the sides and bottom of the bowl to avoid the oats sticking. Add all of the ingredients with the exception of the vanilla. Stir to combine.
Step 2: Turn the slow cooker to low for 8 hrs, covered. Get a good night’s rest and awaken to the sweet scents.
Step 3: Stir the oats after 8 hours have passed, adding the vanilla. Enjoy with your favorite toppings (shown: brown sugar, pecans, pomegranate and pumpkin seeds).

To make plain overnight oats, simply add an additional cup of water, remove the pumpkin puree and the seasonings. Adapted from ChowHound.

The post Warm Heart & Belly {Full of Slow Cooked Pumpkin Oats} appeared first on The Shooks Life.

Some days you go to the gym and eat salads, Sundays you eat Fruity Pebble cookies and don’t put pants on. You gotta nourish to flourish, ya know?

It’s another SMonday…that time when it stops feeling like Sunday, and starts feeling like Monday. All that weight and baggage can be heavy. And so there’s a reason we call it “Self-Care Sunday”. But what about all the others days of the week? Are we treating ourselves like sh*t day in day out? What if we practiced a little more positivity, a little more self love and care…each and every day of the week? In this week’s post, I’m sharing some of my favorite practices for adding a little more positivity to every day. Because you deserve it!

What spurred all of this yearning for a bit more self-care was a healthy dose of madness this month. Starting a new role at work, while playing double duty with my old role, annual review season and selling our house had me brimming with businessness and yearning for…less. Less noise, less negativity and less of the stuff that wasn’t adding value to my everyday. So I made a choice. To not get lost in the madness. To not get overwhelmed. And to focus on a practice of positivity. Here are my top 5 tips. I hope this helps bring a bit more joy in your day as we face a new week and new month.

Top 10 Tips for Living a Life of Positivity….Every Day of the Week

1.) Write Yourself Love Letters: Nope, not the kind that you silently passed to the boy (or girl) next to you in middle school. The kind that set the tone for a kick *ss day. Notes like, “I can do all the things” or “Everything always works out for me.” I like to put post-its at my desk as a reminder that “Hey, I got this!”. Or, you can use these little love memos as the labels for your daily alarm (as shown above). Who likes to wake up to, “Alarm”?That just gives me all the heebies jeebies. Wouldn’t it be so much better to wake up to, “I am in charge of how I feel today.”? Heck yes!

2.) Limit Social Media: It can be so easy to get lost in comparisons or feel so dang depressed when you look at everyone living their best life on social media. News alert: your friends aren’t doing exciting things 24/7. To give yourself a reality check, think about either 1.) taking a few days off social media 2.) restraining from immediately scrolling through your social media apps as soon as you get up or 3.) limiting your time spent on social media each day. The new Screen Time and App Limit features on iOS 12 are pretty cool. You can see how much time you’re spending on certain apps and also set limitations. Once your limit is reached, the app is blocked on your phone. Check out on these features here.

3.) Get Inspired Through Podcasts: There’s a reason you shower every day and a reason to practice positivity each day. All that negativity can build up and needs to be cleansed on the daily. I often find that I start a lot of books and never finish them. So I’ve turned to podcasts, which I can listen to during my daily commute rather than getting lost in emails or social media. Some of my favorites for empowerment, inspiration and entrepreneurship are: TED Talks, Courage & Clarity, She Did It Her Way, The Turnaround and How I Built This.

I also just started using Audible so that I can listen to books. I simply never get around to finding the solitude to read a book in hard copy or lose my spot because I never use bookmarks, so this has been a game changer. I just listed to “How Will You Measure Your Life?” and highly recommend. Plus, I heard you can share books with friends on Audible, so if anyone would like to listen to this book, let me know!

4.) Let Go of All That Excess Stuff: I’ll admit. I’m a hoarder. I just always think there will be a use for something down the road! Like those scrunchies from middle school that are making their way trendy again! Selling our house has been a bit of a godsend in nudging me to JUST LET GO! Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter so I’ve made a practice of picking one room each weekend to purge. And already, I’m feeling the levity. So where does all this stuff go? I’ve either donated the clothing or, I’ve been using two apps: letgo and OfferUp to make a little side cash on things that weren’t providing me much value anyway.  We literally sold a bag of rocks. There’s someone out there who will pay $5 for anything – anything!

5.) Express Gratitude: The real secret to having it all, is realizing what you already have. Each night for the past week I’ve said thanks for 3 things that brought happiness to my day. No matter how small. Like, I found a parking spot so I wasn’t late to my 6 a.m. fitness class like I was last week. Or how lucky I am that when I get home late at night, my husband has dinner waiting. It would be easy to grumble about working late. But when you frame it in a positive, it washes over the negativity. If you keep a journal, write down the 3 things that you’re grateful for each day. If that’s not your jam, say it out loud. There’s something about writing it down or saying it out loud that gives it more lasting meaning. After all, feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is liking buy a present and never giving it. Gift yourself gratitude and see just how great every day truly is.

Put yourself first today…and every day. Self love isn’t selfish. It’s necessary each and every day. Let’s do away with Self-Care Sunday and make every day a celebration.

Have additional thoughts on living with positivity? I’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment below or send me a message.

The post Self-Care Sunday…and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. appeared first on The Shooks Life.