On a High Note Vol 35

Hi friends!

Happy Monday! Happy February!

Let’s fill up our coffee cups and start a fresh new month off On a High Note: Our weekly roundup series full of inspiring, interesting, fun and/or helpful snippets and ideas to try, read, make, cook, drink, do, shop, and so on! Let’s jump into our favorite highlights to check out this week!

Discover ...

Creative Ways to Start Your Morning On a Good Note

Image via Wit & Delight

“I thought this piece from Wit & Delight was especially fitting for this series! If you’re looking to shake up your morning routine, check out these 8 creative ways to start your day. I think airplane mode and ditching your phone’s alarm are especially important during a pandemic winter, and I love the idea of reading a short story or sending a friend a compliment each morning. Little tweaks go a long way when our days feel very similar during this season!” — Kendall

Try ...

Air frying your bacon and frozen hash browns!

(Sorry for the janky photo, I didn’t think to take a better one at the time, I too excited to eat! 😂)

“As you know, I recently got an air fryer. (I upgraded my toaster oven to this combo toaster oven/air fryer (highly recommended by you all!) to be exact, because I didn’t need another giant appliance on my counter!) It has changed how I cook but in particular, our weekend breakfasts, let me tell you. I air-fried bacon and frozen hashbrowns over the weekend and they came out so delicious and crispy with hardly any mess, way less effort and way less time!

To make the bacon:

Place bacon in air fryer basket (mine has a basket tray that sits atop a stainless steel bottom tray, just FYI, yours might be different) air fry at 400 for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove and wrap in paper towel.

To make the hashbrowns:

Now that your bacon is done, drain most of the excess grease (but leave a little if you’re feeling indulgent because it makes your hash browns taste so good) and then lay out hash browns on the baking sheet tray (not the mesh tray). I drizzled a tiny bit more olive oil, added salt and pepper. Then I’d recommend air frying at 400 degrees for another say, 7 minutes and see where they are. Toss and pop them in if they need a little more time to crisp. Exact time will depend on how hot your air fryer runs and how much food you’re trying to cook.

The trick with the air fryer:

(or at least mine) this is another huge benefit to having an “oven” vs the “pot” style air fryer–I can watch the food through the window and easily monitor it! Just keep an eye on it and you’ll never burn your food, but if you put it in and walk away and don’t come back until the timer goes off, you’ll risk it burning. The longer I use it the more I get a feel for the timing, so eventually I know I will be confident setting it and walking away, but it’s just a learning curve, like anything else!” –Jess

Shop...

Tretorn Sneakers on sale!

“Jess influenced me to get the Tretorn sneakers last spring for my for daily quarantine strolls, and I just saw that they’re on sale at Nordstrom Rack! They are equal parts cute and comfortable, and I can’t wait for the day that I can wear them while sightseeing in a new city (sigh). They are going fast, but there are still quite a few sizes left in the white/green pair!” — Kendall

Decorate...

Heirloom Print Shop on Etsy

“As you’ll probably remember, I am really horrible at choosing art. We have literally not one piece of art hanging in our house aside from the photo ledge in our dining nook and we have lived here for going on five years. 😂 But I have finally decided (I mean, please, hold me to this) that I want a classic-style oil painting to hang above the bed. But then the decision paralysis set in–which ONE? Also–where do I get it? Also–why are paintings so expensive? I don’t WANT to spend hundreds of dollars on said painting I might get sick of. BAH.

Then I found this print shop on Etsy that sells downloadable prints of classic oil paintings for just a few dollars each and I thought it was the most genius thing ever created. I have narrowed it down to something in this store. I think I may even get multiple for other rooms of our house! They have so many beautiful “painting prints” to choose from! I had to pass it along.” – Jess

Practice...

Self-Care Tips to Lift You up This Winter

Image by Getty via Marie Claire

“While we have much to look forward to in our *hopefully* near future, getting through this winter can be difficult — especially for those who deal with seasonal affective disorder or live in very cold/dreary climates. Here’s your reminder to give yourself a lot of grace and double up on taking care of yourself. If you need more self-care ideas, Marie Claire recently rounded up a bunch! — Kendall

Bake...

Kelly’s Mom (AKA Cathy in the Country’s) 3 ingredient sugar cookies:

via Kelly in the City

“I know, I know. I DON’T BAKE. And I hate baking. (To me, it’s all math and no creativity and therefore, a pain and a bore in my eyes. 😂) BUT I think being cooped up in our condo for a YEAR (and specifically, leaving the house like once in the last week because of so much snow) has really worn me down and I feel as though making and decorating some Valentine’s Day sugar cookies might be a fun project to tackle. Maybe.

Most of the reason for this positive thinking is that Kelly’s mom (we call her Cathy in the Country–get it? 😂) has a sugar cookie recipe with three ingredients. THREE. I can totally handle that. And I don’t even need to go grocery shopping.

I also have to give a shout out to my friend Jill for alerting me to this cookie recipe’s existence. She posted the most delicious looking (and adorable) heart sugar cookies she made with her daughter Athena and I commented saying “I WANT THOSE!” and she said, “It’s Kelly’s recipe from her blog!” and I was like, “MY Kelly?!” (Kelly has been what I like to call Kitchen-averse most of her life, although I will say the pandemic has allowed her to make some major strides.) Turns out, it was an old guest post from Cathy, so that made more sense. 😉

Anyway, this is my reallll long-winded way of telling you, if you want a REALLY easy cookie recipe, this is the one I’m making. I think I shall tackle it this week. Stay tuned.” –Jess

Smile...

With Good News!

“I was going to share this sweet story on CNN that I stumbled upon about a boy scout who created hug booths for nursing home residents who couldn’t touch their loved ones (!!!), but then saw CNN has a whole newsletter dedicated to “good” stories like this!. If you’re looking for more good news stories in your feed/inbox, sign up for their Saturday newsletter — The Good Stuff!” — Kendall