Curing Cabin Fever: Make Some Hot Tea

If you have a case of cabin fever, might I suggest a spot of tea? As I’ve mentioned before, Husband & I try to make an effort to incorporate processes into our lives that have a little ceremony–a little time to slow down and enjoy the moment, the task at hand, and our surroundings. To that end, we’ve started leaving out our tea set to encourage us to have tea in the afternoons.

Idea #3: Pull out your tea set.

It’s been funny because the silver tea set, that belonged to my Aunt Vangie, seems so over the top to our guests. My mother-in-law didn’t quite know how to react when I pulled it out to serve her on a recent visit. Are we the only ones that use our silver on days that aren’t holidays? If you’re trying to stylishly domesticate, and you’re blessed enough to have fun dishes and serving ware, get them out and use them! There’s no reason to have things that just sit on your shelf collecting dust.

How do you unwind in the afternoons?
Tea? Coffee? Cocktail?

Curing Cabin Fever: Unplug

Sometimes the best way to address the winter blues is to unplug and spend a little quality time off-grid. Hannah and I are lucky enough to have a very generous aunt and uncle who allow us to use their adorable little cabin, but we’ve had weekends just like this in our own home. There’s no need for a special place, just self-control.

Sunset at the cabin

Idea #2: Unplug

The cabin is about an hour away from our house and about 30 minutes away from cell service. Family has the phone number to the cabin’s landline, but otherwise nobody can get in touch with us. There is a DVD player and a television that doesn’t receive any channels. There’s a radio we’ve only used once. The moment we get there we start a fire, open a bottle of wine, and start reading. Heaven.

How do you unplug?

Curing Cabin Fever: Happy Clutter

Do you have cabin fever? I’ll be the first to confess that winter is hard for my mental state. I get a crazy case of the Januarys that will last until things finally start to warm up, and we can spend our after-work hours drinking cocktails on the porch, riding bikes, and playing tennis again. Until then, I’ve finally come up with just the right set of circumstances to make my case of the Januarys not quite so bad.

Idea #1:
Surround yourself with Happy Clutter

Clutter is usually treated as such an ugly word in internet land, but I’m not talking about laundry all over the living room and stacks of mail. I’m talking about “happy clutter.” The clutter that’s created by a stack of books you’d like to read, a pile of quilts to curl up under, a stack of records waiting to be played, or a basket for your latest sewing project beside your favorite chair. To me, these are the little touches that can make your home feel warmer and happier.