how I'm wintering this year

and why winter is a verb, not just a season

before we jump into today’s post, here’s what you might have missed on Hyphenated by Hitha:

• a new home for the latest and greatest posts published on Hyphenated by Hitha

• this month’s ‘take care of yourself’ plan

• how to create an evening routine

• I learned more from the numbers I didn’t hit this year

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A lot has changed in the past two years. But every word and goal from this years old post remains the same.

Aside from the first, the other goals have become life priorities:

1. hitting our biggest milestone to date at work

2. continue taking care of my health

3. prioritizing family time

I’m also entering my second ‘wintering with intention’ season. After a beautiful week in the Bahamas with my parents, we’re settling into our cozy routines and slowing down in general.

Here are some of the rituals I’m prioritizing:

• outdoor walks every day (as long as it’s not raining or the temperature is in the teens, or I’m not sick). These headphones sit comfortably under my beanies and earmuffs, this coat keeps me really warm without extra bulk, and I slip on these sweatpants over my leggings. To borrow a Scandinavian idiom, there’s no such thing as bad weather (only bad gear).

• tidying a drawer or cabinet while listening to an audiobook (especially when I have the impulse to scroll on my phone).

• Sunday stew. Sri is taking the kids to karate so I can do some meal prep for the week. I’d like to make a stew that I can enjoy for lunch, or if I don’t have the energy to make dinner. In addition to my veggie chili, I’m going to add the following soups & stews to the mix:

  • tomato and white bean stew (I’ll use plant-based sausage instead)

  • lobia masala (I made this on New Year’s Day, and it was delicious!)

  • butter masala beans

  • Avgolemono (using Abbot plant-based chicken)

• drinking more tea. I love my tea-for-one set, and my tea drawer is overflowing.

• reading more high fantasy and mysteries. I have Dawn of the Firebird, Murder in G Major (also a Hallmark adaptation with Tia Mowry), and Death by Dumpling on deck.

• Stay home! My dad is staying with us for most of the winter, and I look forward to watching many Hallmark movies while he’s with us (our favorite holiday tradition has now become a favorite hobby for us both).

How do you plan on wintering this season?

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things I’m loving right now:

• A few travel lifesavers from last week: this portable battery, this sticker-by-number book (and the activity book I regretted buying), and my favorite sun hat (a bit expensive, but it’s outlasted all of my other ones).

• I think it’s time to give this parenting approach another try

• These are my top recommendations (based on your purchasing) this year: a hydrating protein, my favorite notebooks, Caroline Chambers’ excellent cookbook, the water bottle of the summer, and an extremely niche sweatshirt (Go Birds!)

• This is the only time I refuse to believe the science.

• This spray has saved my skin this winter.

• I can’t believe I haven’t watched this with my kids (or any of those films, for that matter).

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Wishing you a wonderful week.

xo,
HPN