Martha Stewart Living January/February 2019

ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS about growing older (and hopefully wiser) is you get the chance to perfect your approach to New Year’s resolutions—or anti-resolutions, as the case may be. And by perfect, I mean do away with all intentions that pursue daily, absolute perfection. This includes resolutions that involve the word every, such as “I will wake up every weekday morning at five a.m. to hit the gym,” as well as grand pronouncements about things you will never do (say, drink wine on weeknights) or will always do (go to bed before 10 p.m.). In my experience, these are surefire strategies for total failure by January 15. Instead, I think of this as a time to reassess what’s working—and what isn’t. And the conclusion I come to isn’t to cram…

| WHY NOT? | FREEZE TIME Flurries turn into a scene out of Frozen at the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The four-day extravaganza kicks off January 30 with nine-foot-tall cylinders of compacted powder. Teams chisel them into giant animals and dancing figures as forty-five thousand spectators ogle the emerging art. Here, a few more frosty contests. BRECKENRIDGE, COLO. Squads from as far away as Japan compete in the International Snow Sculpture Championships, morphing 25-ton blocks into colossal carvings. Jan. 25–30, gobreck.com. ST. PAUL, MINN. Creations at the Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition are colorfully lit each night during the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Jan. 25–27, mnsnowpark.com. JACKSON, N.H. At Black Mountain, you can ski 45 south-facing trails and admire wintry marvels at the Jackson Invitational Snow Sculpting Competition. Jan. 25–27, jacksonnh.com. | ON OUR BOOKSHELF | Take in…

LAST YEAR WAS A VERY EXCITING travel year for me. Without a doubt, the highlight was February, when I traveled to Svalbard, Norway, an archipelago about 650 miles from the North Pole, and a week later ventured to Antarctica on a photography tour, coming very close to the South Pole. The back-to-back timing of these trips was challenging, but as I think back on them, it was incredible to go to the opposite ends of the globe within such a short period. The contrasts were so vivid, and the memories so intense, that I would do it all over again if I could. Svalbard is surrounded by glaciers and home to approximately 1,200 people, 2,400 polar bears, and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the largest collection of food seeds in the…

| DIY DÉCOR | First Blush Some things of beauty are a joy forever, but delicate flowering quince—a traditional symbol of love and abundance—lasts only a week or two. This blooming-good imitation is the exception: Snip petal clusters off pink or red freeze-dried hydrangeas, and craft-glue them to branches. They’ll look fresh well past winter, and keep your household in the pink. THE DETAILS: Arte Flor natural preserved hydrangeas, in Light Pink, $20, gorgeous flowers.us. DriedDecor.com decorative birch branches, $7 per bunch, drieddecor.com. | RECIPE REMIX | New Flames There’s no need to wait till Memorial Day. Enjoy all the toasty feels of s’mores in mid-February, no campfire required, by making a few tweaks to a standard batch of puffed-rice-cereal bars. Cook the marshmallows under the broiler for a minute, so they’re nicely charred, and stir…

THE ME SUITE An ideal setup has warmth and style that’s on par with the rest of your place. (In other words, you’ll actually look forward to settling in with your coffee.) Consider this IKEA desk, with its soft-gray finish and molded trim. It’s a far cry from standard-issue office furniture, but it gets the job done with six shallow drawers, plus two deep ones for files. More mindful touches: gray frames that echo the desk and unify a gallery wall; plants; a small, sleek printer that passes for a lacquered box; a good table lamp instead of a blaring spotlight; and an upholstered chair that’s adjustable, so you can keep your knees at a comfortable 90 degrees and protect your back while you conquer the day. THE DETAILS: IKEA Klimpen light-gray…

SWITCH to online billing for credit cards, cell service, utilities, and bank statements. Follow the “touch once” rule for the rest: Act on it, file it, or recycle it right away. (Keepers include paid bills from the past year, IRS tax records and bank statements from the past seven, and active deeds and contracts.) SCAN must-haves with apps that use your phone camera, such as Scanbotor CamScanner. You can then share the docs via email, or upload them to a cloud storage provider, like Dropbox. Cloud storage is very secure; for extra protection, set up two-step verification. SHRED papers that list your name, address, or phone or social-security numbers; old insurance policies; and receipts. To keep your shredder handy but still hidden, store it in a tall basket. THE DETAILS: Omnitech 14-sheet cross-cut…