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Home » Loving Life » Smitten With: Bears, Books, & Broncos

01/30/2016 · Leave a Comment

Smitten With: Bears, Books, & Broncos

Loving Life

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Post Contains Affiliate Links - You pay the same price, I get a small commission. High Five!

TOTALLY SMITTEN WITH: Brown Sugar Bears! MANY years ago, my husband’s grandma gave us a little terracotta bear. At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate the wonder of the gift. A couple weeks ago on Instagram, someone saw my pantry labels and asked how the heck I keep brown sugar soft in the container. I had forgotten hard brown sugar was a super annoying problem and realized that not everyone knew about these little gems. And they are only $5 on Amazon!

To use them, you soak them in water for 20 minutes and then pop the cute bear in your brown sugar container. They magically keep it soft, and will even soften it if it’s already hard. I haven’t tried them yet for crackers and chips, but the packaging says you can use them dry and they’ll keep dry goods from getting stale. I suspect I’ll be ordering more bears very soon.

Ever wonder how to soften brown sugar and/or keep it from getting hard in the first place? This ONE tip will save you so much frustration. And it's a CHEAP solution too! READING: Essentialism by Greg McKeown – I just started this one after seeing it recommended pretty much everywhere. So far, so good and seems like it’s a must read for anyone trying to juggle a million “priorities,” but feeling like they don’t have time to be great at any of them.

The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life Into a Work of Art by Edwin McManus – I just finished this one and found it super-interesting. It’s beautifully written encouragement that we were all made to create and dream and then WORK to achieve those dreams. Here’s a quote that stuck out to me “We hope that discovering our talents, and even our calling or purpose will lead us to effortless success. I propose that the exact opposite is true. If God created us to be successful at something, then he has called us to work hard at it.”

CELEBRATING: The Broncos are headed back to the Super Bowl. The only thing better would be if my Vikings were going (fun fact: I was born in Minnesota). I actually have TWO Bronco’s related posts from their last trip!

If you need something to wear, here’s a fun idea:

Caution - This project did NOT bring good luck to the Broncos!

And this host gift COULD work for any team if you change out the colors. I don’t know WHY you would want to do that, but I guess it would be boring if everyone was cheering for the same team.

Perfect Super Bowl Host Gift

MILESTONES: This has been a crazy month of milestones for the blog. This blows my mind, but I passed 20,000 followers on Pinterest.

Polished Habitat on Pinterest

Somehow, in the same month, I’ve also passed 5,000 Facebook followers, reached a new high number of visitors to the blog (over 100,000 different users!), and my ETSY shop had its’ best month ever. Hooray!

Taking a moment to recognize and celebrate milestones like these sure helps me move forward when things aren’t growing or I need a little extra motivation to finish a task. I’ve got a lot of work to do and a ways to go before I’m fully replacing my income from before my jump to entrepreneurship, but tracking milestones keeps me focused on the successes instead of dwelling on the things that I haven’t achieved yet.

That’s what I’m smitten with this week, what are you celebrating?

How To Keep Brown Sugar Soft

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melissa

Melissa George

In 2013, Melissa founded Polished Habitat to share her passion for intersecting style and function to make everyday life more beautiful and less stressful. She does this by sharing easy home organization tips, home decor tutorials, and creative ideas to help readers think outside the box, no matter their budget. Her work has been featured in print in Better Homes & Gardens and Room to Create Magazine, and online by HGTV, House Beautiful, Buzzfeed, & more. In 2018 & 2019, Melissa was named as a Style Maker by Better Homes & Gardens. In 2019, Polished Habitat was shortlisted for the Amara Blog Awards Best Interior Styling Blog - International. Read more...

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Welcome!

In 2013, Melissa started Polished Habitat to share her skill of mixing decor & organization to add style & function to everyday life at home.

Her work has been featured in print in Better Homes & Gardens and Room to Create Magazine, and online by HGTV, House Beautiful, Buzzfeed, & more.

In 2018 &  2019, Melissa was named as a Style Maker by Better Homes & Gardens. In 2019, she was also short-listed by the Amara Blog Awards for Interior Styling, International Division.

Need to reach Melissa?
Email: Melissa @ PolishedHabitat.com

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