Feburary 2026

 

Happy February! It's my second most hated month of the year (the winner being August). But as I write this, we're almost done with it so that's exciting. 

This is the first book I read in February. A young adult kind of mystery thriller. I have read another series by this author (The Inheritance Games) and it was a fun, easy read. 

I started eating gluten-free oatmeal with chia seeds in it for breakfast to help me poop. It's definitely fine, I like the taste of it okay. But breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and it just will never stand up to a bagel or a breakfast sandwich so it's hard for me to keep up with it. 

I watched all of Bridgerton! Have you watched it? I watched the first two seasons when it came out (I didn't love the first season, but I really enjoyed the second season) and I got bored with the third, so I didn't finish it originally. I finished it this time and it was okay. I like season 4 alright but they split it in half and I HATE that. 

I'm not really into Valentine's Day as a romantic holiday but I love Galentine's Day and I love the general aesthetic of Valentine's. Hearts and pink! I had this cute earring stack for all of February. 

A beautiful Valentine's sky. 

Every Thursday is my telehealth day which means I spend usually 3-8 hours doing sessions virtually. I am grateful to have a day to be home with my dogs but I find it very draining to be on the computer all day and I find telehealth sessions to be much harder than regular sessions. 

Valentine's nails! I also have started wearing more mixed metals jewelry. I have a lot of gold jewelry, but when we first got married I really only liked silver, so Buddy remembers that and only buys me silver jewelry. I like to wear both because I have silver and gold jewelry that are special to me. And I think it looks funky and cool together. 

Sometimes on telehealth days, I get restless to get out of the house so on this day I took the girls and myself to Culvers for an ice cream treat. Aren't their little vests so cute!

I just thought this was a precious picture of her in all the pillows :) 

My second book of February. Do you remember this actress? She was in Cheaper by the Dozen and she was on the Disney Channel. I love autobiographies like this, I think they're so interesting. And parents should never let their kids be in show business. 

For some reason one night I was really into rewatching all of the "Silly Songs with Larry" from VeggieTales and made Buddy watch with me too. Did you watch VeggieTales growing up? Do your kids watch it? They're so nostalgic for me. 

I thought this rainbow was so pretty on my program for church. Our church has beautiful stained-glass windows; the whole sanctuary is really pretty. 

Our congregation is TINY, like 25 people would be a super busy day. But I love the services and it makes it really easy to get to know the people in your church. 

Curly hair! I feel like my hair has grown out to a length I'm really enjoying! I like my short hair; it was just a little TOO short for a while there. 

I bought myself this ring with Mother Mary on it. I've been really into religious iconography and liturgy this month. I think it's because we're moving towards Lent, one of my favorite times of the year. 

We hosted a Superbowl party for my family and I have nothing to show for it except for pictures of the food leftovers :) I'm still pretty bad at remembering to take pictures. It was really fun though. A lot of years someone gets sick and so we don't get to hang out but this year all ten of us were together at our house and it was amazing! We made dips and weenies, and I made roast beef sliders. The halftime show is always my favorite part and this year it was especially amazing - Bad Bunny. I didn't know a single song of his, but his performance was theatrical and cultural and so heartwarming. 

My third book in February. I LOVED this one, my favorite book this year so far. It's a murder mystery and it's written by a British author and it's just so British. Dry humor, great characters, witty phrases. I loved it and I would recommend it. His most famous book is called The Thursday Murder Club, and they made a show about it for Netflix, but I haven't been able to find that book yet, so I read this one instead. 

I bought this vest this month and I am obsessed. I am a vest person now. I feel like I'm wearing the world's softest, puffiest blanket. It's actually obnoxious how much I wear it. I need to buy more. 

I'm re-reading Calvin and Hobbes. Have you ever read them? We grew up on the comic strip and I adore it. So do my siblings and my nephews. This isn't a great example of how funny it is, but this was an inside joke picture that I took for my siblings. I would highly recommend these books for you and your kids! Calvin does exhibit bad behavior though so maybe you wouldn't like that influence. 

I met Abbi for a coffee date for Galentine's Day at ZouZous which is Chelsea's local coffee shop. I love it there so much. Coffee dates at cafes are my love language. 

My friend, Chene, (the secret shopper) took me on a brunch date! This is a place called Beau's Grillery and the vibe there is so cute and fun. 

My first espresso martini! Decaf, because I'm still not really doing caffeine. 

Crab cakes 

My egg sandwich. These fries were like possibly the best fries I've ever had in my life. 

And dessert. They're known for the chocolate chip cookies (honestly, they were just fine) and we also got an oatmeal apple cobbler with cinnamon ice cream. 

These moon and star nails might be my favorite nails I've ever had. They are very much my vibe. 

I always try to get paczkis for Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras)! Buddy really likes the apple ones, and I love a classic custard. 

I've been interested in learning how to pray the rosary and reading about it. I told one of my clients about it because she's Catholic and I was asking her some questions and she just happened to have one in her purse. At the end of the session, she gave it to me! I am so grateful and I think it's incredibly special to have one given to me by someone. It's also special because I've seen this client for four years from when she was a freshman in high school to now as a senior. Next year she'll be going out of state for college and it will be so nice to have this to remember her by. I have already memorized the Hail Mary prayer just from reading through it 50 times for one day of the rosary. 

I just really liked the look of my glasses and the tendrils of hair that I curled. I felt like a princess. 

On Tuesday nights I go to choir and someone has an emotional support dog, Ellie. Ellie is often the highlight of my night. 

Ash Wednesday with the fam! Sadly, my mom wasn't feeling well so she did not go. But the Ash Wednesday service is maybe my favorite of the whole year so it was really special to attend with my family. Zeb was there too but I didn't manage to get a picture of him. 

I'm so glad to have Noah back in Michigan. He works for a flooring company and sometimes he measures houses in South Lyon. When he does, we meet up to hang out for a little bit. We get bagel sandwiches from McDonald's (which we have nicknamed the Breakfast of Champions). I just love getting to see my family for little snippets like this. 

My fourth book of February. I do not think you would like this one. It was labeled as feminist horror. I'm trying to read things more outside of my comfort zone (non-fiction, fantasy, and romance) and I actually really enjoyed the experience of reading this one. 

Met Courtney and Dawn at The Laundry for a breakfast date!

That night, I went to Chelsea for a girls' night at my friend Amanda's house. Before that I went to the library and dinner with Abbi and the nephews. At Amanda's I hung out with her and our friends Carly and Kaci. It was just nice to have a few hours of girl talk. Amanda is in her second trimester, and she is struggling physically and mentally. She's not experiencing the nice energy and wellness that a lot of people experience in their second trimesters. I feel bad that she's having a rough time. But she got us each these beautiful flowers and I hope she was uplifted by our time together. 

Went to the planetarium for the Chinese Lunar New Year show. Every year, Buddy partners with the Center for Chinese Studies at UofM and they put on an amazing show for the lunar new year. I love seeing Buddy's work and I especially love this show because the integration of astronomy and culture is so cool and interesting. 

Most people know that there are 12 animals on the Chinese zodiac, but I think not as many people know that there are also elements that go with each year as well, so the Chinese calendar only resets every 60 years. This year is the year of the fire horse which is the year my mom was born so it's a special year for her - 60! I was born the year of the metal goat which I hate (I actually have a lot of characteristics of a goat so that's pretty accurate, but metal just doesn't seem like me). Since you were born in January and the lunar new year is a little later (often in February) you are actually the year of the metal horse which is way cooler. I think Isla is an earth dog, Ewan would be a metal rat, and Eleanor would be a water tiger (if I'm remembering their birth years correctly, which I very well may not be). Those are all pretty dope! I think Michael is an earth snake, but again, I can't be sure I'm getting his year right. 

Afterwards we went out to dinner on a date and obviously had to have Chinese to continue celebrating the lunar new year. It was so freaking delicious. I ordered enough food for 4 people and now I have delicious leftovers. 

My hair is finally long enough again to make tiny space buns so I'm starting to feel like all is right in the world again (pardon the mess on my dresser). 

Buddy bought me surprise Mukluks! Buddy's not really a surprise person so I thought this was really sweet. Especially because I never asked for them. They're very warm and cozy though. When we first got married I would make PowerPoint presentations as a joke for things that I wanted to buy in order to "convince" Buddy (he never cared, the PowerPoints were because I thought they were funny). This time he made me one when he gave me the Mukluks! See image below of a hilarious PowerPoint. 

Took myself out for an iced tea and to read and journal. This is the number one way that I feel refreshed and restored, when I go out to a coffee shop and get a treat and listen to music and I read and journal and think my thoughts. I always feel so good after. I did this right before meeting my grandparents at IHOP for breakfast (which I, of course, forgot to get a picture of). But I had a lovely time with my Grammy and Grampy. 

One of my clients is 11 and she brings her stuffed animals to session so I told her I would bring one of mine. Here is Mr. Cow (I am not creative with names) at my office. Buddy got him for me from Memphis, Tennessee when we were in college and he went on a road trip. 

Noah came back to South Lyon and we got to go to lunch together! This was amazing because I've really struggled emotionally this month (lots of anxiety, negativity, and crying) and seeing him helped SO MUCH. And I got to go to my favorite restaurant in South Lyon, The Lyon Grill (it's just fine, South Lyon doesn't really have amazing restaurants). 

I bought these wine glasses because they look like flowers and I thought they were so cute!

My mom and Abbi came over on a Friday morning for breakfast and to watch Little Women together! I forgot to get a picture of the table all set (it is really so hard to remember to take pictures) but I made a breakfast casserole and my mom made a Danish and we had orange juice and it was lovely. We watched the movie and then walked around outside because it was sunny and 50 degrees! I took this picture of what my table looks like right now without the breakfast. It looks kind of valentine-sey but to me it feels springy and Eastery so I'm leaving it! 

Friday night was DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) and Noah is in our group so I saw him AGAIN (we hung out like three days in a row. They usually all come over and we play in our basement at the game table that Buddy built (you can kind of see it in the picture). I feel mixed about DnD. Sometimes I'm really tired and it's hard to get into it. But I love everyone in our group (Buddy, Noah, and our friends Amanda and Myles) so I always enjoy seeing them and socializing. This night happened to be super fun, I had a great time. 

I tried out these drinks that are non-alcoholic but they use like supplements and vitamins and they're supposed to have some effects. There's one that's supposed to make you feel alert, one for joy, and one for sleepy time. I felt absolutely nothing with the first two but the sleepy one definitely knocked me out. I want to get more of those. I really enjoy having drinks and I often want to drink alcohol but it just effects me too much to have it regularly (I definitely still drink on special occasions). So I'm trying new things and trying to find things I like. 

Buddy worked all day Saturday in the last weekend of February and I had the whole day free and was feeling just down about being on my own with nothing to do. So I decided that I wanted to do something that I would have thought was fun if I was with other people and I went to the movies by myself! I have only done this like 2x before. When I got there I accidentally sat in the wrong seat and this older couple were kind of just standing in front of me and they must have thought I was an idiot. So that was embarrassing but they got me to move into my actual seat and they were really nice about it. The movie was fine, nothing that interesting, but it really helped my mood to be out and about and to eat popcorn obviously. I want to try to keep doing things by myself in the next few months because I just get so bummed sitting at home. 

This is the last book I read in February. It was truly not very good. It's the third book in a series and I liked the first one a lot. The last one wasn't great and this one was even worse. I skimmed most of it and was really ready to be done with it quite early. So I would not recommend but I like keeping track of my reads. 

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If you're interested, I listened to six albums in February for my year of albums challenge (I really slowed down in February):

1. Hot Mess - Cobra Starship (Buddy)
2. Wanted on Voyage - George Ezra (Bethany, my cousin)
3. 2112 - Rush (Noah
4. This Empty Northern Hemisphere - Gregory Alan Isakov (my friend, Myles)
5. The Essential Mahalia Jackson - Mahalia Jackson (my friend, Chene)
6. I Can Build a Fire - Autoheart (my cousin, Sam) 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! <3