Snow Happy - Live the Joy of Winter

Be Well with Mercedes: Friday Favorite Five

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020

It’s #fridayfavorites over here again!! Each Friday, I’ll be highlighting some of my personal favorites that I love and use almost daily!

(This post contains affiliate links, but you can trust that we will only promote products that we use and love!!)

1. Beautycounter Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer with SPF: I love this lightweight tinted moisturizer for its sheer and hydrating coverage. It’s just enough to even me out and create a clean finish. But, the BIG bonus is the SPF 20. And, as with all Beautycounter products, you’ll find cleaner safer ingredients that are good for your skin.

Clean Living

Slow Saturday: How to Cook from Your Pantry without a Recipe

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020

Welcome to Slow Saturday! While I’d kill to run a couple errands today, I’m grateful that there are no practices or games or birthday parties to run off to. I reflect all the time on simplicity and what it looks like to slow down. When we are in “normal” mode (what will THAT even look like in a few months???), it requires an incredibly concerted effort, and quite frankly, pushing against norms to live simply. But, now, we are forced to. It’s our “new normal” and one thing I will be intentional about holding onto when we can go back out into the world.

Beautycounter

Be Well with Mercedes: Friday Favorite Five

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020

Hi!! Happy Friday and welcome to April. Is TGIF even a thing right now since we’re all home anyway?? I’m not so sure, but I’m still looking forward to happy hour in just a short bit and heading into the weekend. What can I say, creature of habit, even when I can’t leave my house to meet up with friends! Friday may look a little different these days, so I thought it was a perfect time to launch Friday Favorites! Each Friday, I’ll be highlighting five of my favorite things! As always, you can trust they’ll only be things we use and love around here!!

And, with a focus on Spring Cleaning, I thought I’d highlight some cleaner safer home and personal products I love and use daily. (This post contains affiliate links, but you can trust that we will only promote products that we use and love!!)

Balanced Skin: I haven’t used a toner in ages, and when I did, I opted for Thayers Witch Hazel. It uses non-toxic ingredients and is super affordable. My skin has been feeling out of balance lately so I recently went back to it and I’m never stopping again! Hello clean. I love putting it in a spray bottle for a post-workout can’t wash my face for a while situation. At home, I swipe on with a reusable flannel facial pad.
Hydrated Skin: Countermatch Adaptive Skin Moisturizer has been my go to since November. Super lightweight and not greasy feeling at all. Perfect on its own or under make up. Here ingredients? Squalene, derived from olives draws moisture to the skin and restores elasticity, while phytic acid boosts radience and helps ski breath for a natural glow.
Clean Home: Young Living Thieves Oil. Diffuse it, clean with it, rub into feet, the possibilities are endless. With cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, rosemary and lemon oils, it leaves an amazing warm spicy smell not matter how you decide to use it. YL oils are pure therapeutic grade oils that are a safe alternative for cleaning and personal care. I recently made the switch from my usual brands and I’ve been really impressed with the effectiveness.
Resurfacing Peel: This is my must have weekly skin refresh. I was without it recently while traveling and boy what a mistake!! I use it one-two times each week at bedtime and wake up with minimized pores and an amazing glow. It has changed the texture of my skin over the last few months. The heroes here are the multi-acid complex and essential fatty acids for cleaner safer results.
Natural Deodorant: My favorite is Primally Pure. How many natural deodorants have you tried or are you terrified of trying them because you’re afraid they won’t work? I get it, nobody wants that embarrassing moment you lift your arms at a concert or when you go in for that high-five at the gym (um, can you tell I’m dreaming of leaving the house?). I tried probably five (that I can remember) and so far, only one of them has stood the test of time…Primally Pure. And hey, we’re all at home for a while so why not give it a shot? You can put through the ringer of your home workouts and the stress of home school for a while! (Use my special code just for Snow Happy readers besnowhappy10 for 10% your order!)

That’s all for this edition of #fridayfavorites! Comment with some of your favorites below!! As always, if I can help you on your journey to be well with cleaner safer skin care and other changes in clean living please reach out!

Uncategorized

The Power of Perspective: Four Healthy Habits for a Positive Mindset

April 1, 2020April 1, 2020

Our perspective is within our control. Ok, let me back up. Here is where, from this day forward, I make a feeble attempt to relate everything I write about to skiing. Skiing, or any of our hobbies and passions provide a great platform to discuss life and how to approach it. Feeling like that’s a stretch? Bear with me!! Doing the things that we love helps us to see the good and find joy. With the quick spread of the Corona virus, our ski season was cut short. We can get bogged down in all the things we can’t do and allow ourselves more and more negative thoughts and down the rabbit hole we go.

Finding Joy

Happy Birthday, Snow Happy!!

March 26, 2020March 26, 2020

I realized as I was getting ready to write about week 2 in quarantine-life that Snow Happy launched just over a year ago!! In all the disarray in our newfound, albeit temporary, reality, I discovered I wrote my first blog article about Steamboat Springs March 15, 2019. We had just returned from a winter adventure with friends from Washington DC, and it made me reflect so much on while we love skiing, what we love best is sharing the joy of winter with others!

Clean Living

Week 1 Life on the Inside: How a Skier Writes about Quarantine

March 18, 2020March 18, 2020

It’s like we woke up one day and the world was different. Our family went from getting excited for spring break to canceling our plans. I went from preparing my template to write an article about our time at Jackson Hole and Big Sky to wondering what kind of content makes sense for Snow Happy in this world of quarantine. We are in a new reality and we have a choice how we want to react to it. Either way, here we are! Now what???

Family Travel

Love Where you Live: How to take a Staycation

February 25, 2020February 25, 2020

I don’t know about you, but when there is the opportunity to take a long weekend away, I am all for it. We steal away to the mountains for a day or two or sometimes even catch a cheap flight somewhere new. But, it can feel hectic and even like you need a break from your break when you get back. Am I right? And you know us around here: We love a good adventure! But, sometimes, it’s nice to get out and explore what’s right in your own backyard.

Family Ski Trips

Ski Safety Rules: Teach Your Kids Early and Often

February 3, 2020February 3, 2020

A friend and I skied together on Friday and spent a lot of time talking about safety on the mountain. We both have kids and have experienced our fair share of near misses as our kids have come through the ranks of skiing over the last decade. We don’t want to scare our kids out of skiing or squash their fun, but they need to learn early on (and all the time thereafter) the rules. I reminded my kids each and every time we are out there (“we know mama”). Adults need a refresher, too.

100 Day Challenge

Part 2: 100 Days of Something Update

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020

Today was my first day back running in a while…I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in the daily routine with the start of the year. I was ready to come into the New Year with excitement and resolve and instead it was more like a roller coaster of colds, back to school, and looking for some balance while trying to accomplish a lot in the first few weeks of the year. And, if you’ve been around a while, you know I don’t do resolutions! No, this was more about feeling really ready to hit the ground running.

Family Ski Trips

Reflections on Skiing: Shared Experiences and Why They Matter

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020

I realized a few weeks ago that I have been skiing on or around my Birthday since I turned 18! My 18th birthday skiing adventure was certainly a right of passage of sorts and I guess I am feeling some nostalgia as I enter into my 40th Birthday Week.