Sending a heartfelt thank you for your outpouring of love and support, both in public and private, in response to my last blog post. It was difficult to write, and I was terrified to hit that publish button. But here we are, and I appreciate all your kind words more than I express.
Moving Forward Through Creation
Many of you have asked how I’m handling things and moving forward. The answer is – the best way I know how. Through creation. While some things have been surprisingly difficult (like making simple plans), I’ve felt good about digging back into my creativity through blogging, photography, and now video editing.
I’ve felt absent and a bit stuck for awhile, but I’m inching forward. Bit by bit.
I may even try taking an art class of some sort. Maybe painting?
Today I visited one of my favorite coffee shops, Culture Espresso, for a delicious (and hot! It’s so cold outside!) latte to enjoy whilst video editing.
I’ve been trying to figure out where to take The Chic Life. So far, I’m studying my statistics and trying to create the most value-producing content. Today, I finished filming, editing, and uploading a video for one of my most popular posts that will probably pick up major steam as we approach the new year. It’s all about my 5 essential planner supplies for you planner lovers out there. Here’s the video if you want to check it out. Plus, I linked it on the original post.
This took me about 45 minutes to film, 4 hours to edit, and 1 hour to upload / make finishing touches. Videos can be much slower to make than blog posts, but I’m enjoying them. Plus, it’s fun to see when one of them takes off. My how-to on decorating your planner with washi tape has been on the move in the last couple days, with 200 visitors in the last 48 hours. In 4 weeks, it’s already the second-most-liked video on my YouTube channel with 34 likes*. Yay!
*If you ever watch one of my videos and enjoy it or find something helpful, liking it and/or leaving a comment will really help my channel out. Not to mention it helps me understand what type of content to produce more of!
In addition to continuing with creation, I’m still working on maintaining a positive attitude and looking for happy little signs everywhere. Today I noticed that the coffee at Culture is apparently called “heart”.
And I did one of those screen capture games on this Instagram account (@mindsetofgreatness). I think these are so fun. I did one for the new year that was really interesting. Following uplifting Instagram accounts and filling my world with positive messages has helped a ton because it keeps my mindset in the right direction.
I’ve also been pinning a ton of great quotes on my Pinterest quote board here.
And I’m really wanting to make time for a daily 5 minute meditation. Which reminds me…I should wrap up this post and get offline!
Oat Milk Coffee Trend in NYC
My coffee sesh earlier reminded me that I’ve been seeing a new coffee trend here in NYC. Though oat milk has been out for awhile, I’ve only recently started seeing it pop up in coffee shops left and right. Some coffee shops, like La Colombe, have completely switched oat milk in for others, like almond milk.
Dairy -> Soy -> Almond
Of the many milk options out there, I’ve made my way through most of them. I started with dairy milk and eventually moved to soy. Remember those vanilla soy lattes I used to have all the time? After reading some not great articles about soy, I decided to lessen my consumption of it and made my way to almond milk. This is what I’ve been drinking for awhile now. But, there’s a new sheriff in town.
Oat Milk is the New Black
Oat milk is apparently better for a few reasons, but these two jump out at me:
- It’s more eco-friendly
- It tastes more like milk
Regarding the first point, I found this on the La Colombe blog:
Oatmilk typically uses 85-90% less water than the water consumed to produce and peel almonds. In addition, oatmilk produces roughly 35% less greenhouse gas emissions than other dairy alternatives and about 80% less than cow’s milk.
Okay, but what I really want to know is – will oat milk be more affordable than almond milk since oats are usually pretty affordable?
How Does Oat Milk Taste? Will I Switch?
I’m actually considering switching from almond milk to oat milk. It has a great taste. It’s similar to almond milk to me. But maybe somewhere between dairy and almond? So perhaps it’s a good compromise?
Plus, I’d love to support the more eco-friendly option. And yea, I’m still hoping it will be more affordable.
More Non-Dairy Milk Options
And there’s a whole other world of non-dairy milks out there, many of which I enjoy drinking. Though they can be hard to find in most coffee shops. They are: hemp, cashew, and macadamia. The latter is a personal fave. I actually have some in my fridge right now, and it’s delish!
Let’s hear from you!
How do you move forward in tough times?
Do you have a favorite type of milk? What is it?
So … I guess I am in the stone ages and still enjoy dairy milk. I feel like in today’s society it is a “bad thing” to enjoy the original coffee creamer. HAHA! I mean in the past 3 -5 yrs people have gone from LOVING soy milk to hating soy milk; loving hemp milk to hating hemp milk; etc, etc. Now people still do NOT drink dairy milk as a favorite BUT I will keep the dairy’s employed because I need my milk. 😀
What do you think will be the next non-milk craze?
Haha I hear you! I still drink dairy milk now and again. I mostly dropped it recently because I heard dairy milk could be inflammatory and I was trying every single thing I could to reduce inflammation in the hopes it would help my injury. I still think a nice local dairy milk latte is lovely. Now I mostly drink non-dairy not because I have anything against dairy milk but because I like the way non-dairy milks taste. I’d heard dairy could be bad, but it was via word-of-mouth, and I haven’t taken the time to research it, though that’s on my list. Health stuff is so confusing. Like you said…one minute something is good and then the next it’s bad! Eesh! As for the next non-milk craze…I’ve been enjoying macadamia nut milk recently. It’s really good and starting to pop up in some coffee and tea shops I frequent. So maybe that? 🙂
I guess that I’ve not experienced the inflammation from dairy milk. I have tried soy milk and honestly thought it tasted chalky BUT that might be because I got the unsweetened plain stuff. When I go to a small coffee shop next time I may try some other non-dairy milks BUT I will not have my coffee without some kind of “milky-ness”! 😉
I’ve noticed a lot of variation with non-dairy milks in general from brand-to-brand. Some are definitely more chalky than others, among other differences. But, I’m with you – I need some kind of milk in my coffee too! 🙂
Love love love oat milk! I think you’re right, it does taste more like dairy milk – probably because it has quite a neutral flavour, whereas almond and soya milk have quite a distinctive taste to them. I’ve found that oat milk works better for coffee as well because it never seems to curdle when heated. Haven’t tried macadamia milk but I’m definitely adding it to the list now 🙂
Hi Freya, I haven’t tried oat milk at home yet! Well, I may have a few years ago and forgotten. lol. Hope you like the macadamia nut milk! 🙂