January 14, 2025

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

It’s hard to believe we’re already two weeks into 2025–I don’t know about you, but it feels like we’re still playing catch-up from the holidays, while simultaneously trying to ward off and battle illnesses, and put plans into motion for the exciting year ahead.

If you’re in the same boat–here are a few things that are currently helping us…

Illnesses: Between the stomach bug, the cough, the fevers… you name it, and everyone’s got it. We’re washing our hands religiously (love Milk + Honey handwash for this), and disinfecting surfaces with our favorite Koala Eco sprays, and we’ve also turned to some trusty remedies to help us power through when the germs prevail.

**Always consult your healthcare provider before starting any new wellness routine to ensure it’s right for you.**

1. Zizia Botanicals Vapor Balm: Put this on your chest or the bottom of your feet to help with stuffy noses and congestion.

2. Liposomal Vitamin C: Use this preventatively to ward off sicknesses, or for knocking germs out while currently sick–for us, Vitamin C is an everyday staple.

3. Cough + Cold Elixir: Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, Oregano and more! Use this every few hours to say goodbye to your cold, naturally!

4. Manuka Honey Lozenges: Boost immunity and coat sore throats with these all natural honey-filled lozenges.

5. Activated Charcoal: Soothe uneasy stomachs with activated charcoal.

6. Immunity Ice Cubes: Delicious and Nutritious, these immunity ice cubes may help you ward off future sickness!

Catching up and planning ahead: I (Colette) am a calendar person, and a planner person–I use a few different planner methods and calendars, depending on what it is that I’m trying to accomplish. Here’s what works for me, and might work for you too! 

1. Google calendar: I use my google calendar religiously to ensure that my day is time-blocked for work, personal commitments, and kids calendars. For certain work meetings I used the integrated note taking features for action-items or to-dos. To some, my calendar may look scary, but for me, it’s comforting knowing that I’ve carved out time in my day for things that need to get done.

2. Written calendar (different from written planner, below): I use a written monthly calendar to track personal payments and expenses, so that I can see what’s coming with a quick glance. It’s not something I need to be constantly looking at, so I like to keep it separate from my digital calendar. I love mine from Wilde House Paper #foundathaskillcreek 😉

3. Written planner: I use my written planner to keep track of big things on my calendar  like long meetings that might require prep and events that are one-offs or outside of my normal routine (dinner with friends, kids birthday parties, etc.). I also use my written planner to keep track of longer term goals and track daily to-dos and check them off my lists. I like to separate the to-dos by category, for example I might separate out, and have to-do’s for each of these: Haskill Creek retail buying, Haskill Creek marketing, Cafe planning, Personal to-do, Trip Planning, Holiday Prep, Gift Lists. These buckets change weekly depending on the season and the priorities for the week. 

Depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with your planners (are you trying to prioritize gratitude, meal plan for the week, get your finances in order, or simply get sh*t done) there are a ton of different ways to track & plan. We’ve got travel planners, finance planners, daily planners and more in-store to help you accomplish whatever your goals may be!

Speaking of goals–in this week’s blog on resolutions (part 2 of 3), we’re talking about consumption habits. If you’re rethinking your relationship with alcohol, or are curious about the NA beverage movement, click here to read more.

If one of your goals in the new year is to eat healthier (I mean… whose isn’t?) you might find some of these strategies interesting: Delay, don’t deny; Cooking at home; boosting your metabolism; and thinking about adding nutrition IN rather than taking food AWAY. Read more here.

We’re also taking a look at our spending habits (see: finance calendar above) and making small changes that can have a big impact. 

Another thing on our lists for 2025 is further demystifying ingredients. A big part of what we do at Haskill Creek is ingredient research, and making sure that the products we have in-store are of the highest quality, with no hidden garbage. But, just because we know an ingredient is “bad” doesn’t always mean that all of us understand exactly why or even… what it really is. So, we’re taking a dive back into all of our “no list” ingredients to try to break it down in an easy to understand way–if you’re curious about what these ingredients actually are, you might be interested too! First up, we’re tackling Pthalates. Read more here.