I want to remember February 2019 as the best winter weather we've ever had in Gilbert. It was rainy, it was cold, we saw the distant mountains blanketed in thick snow. I've lived here for nearly eleven years but I chatted with others who grew up here and even they said they've never seen the mountains covered in snow like we had last week. So in the dead of summer, around the end of August when we're still looking at two more months of 100+ degrees, help me remember that it's not always deathly hot here.

Even with glorious wintry weather aside, February was just a good month. I had some fun events, Chris and I had three date nights, Erica and I recorded some fun podcasts. Our weekends weren't very full and that's the pace of life that I love. It seems that this short month surprises me every year with its goodness. It's early enough in the year that I still feel excited for my goals (and am not off track). There's Galentine's Day which my book club always celebrates and often chilly sunshine.

I was starting to include the lists below reflecting on February in my March goals post and it was feeling like too much. So I thought I would try a monthly wrap up post separated from a monthly goals post. We'll see! I love that blogging is flexible and forgiving.

Update on February goals:

+ Send birthday cards. They were late but I sent out the birthday cards I wanted to send.

+ Consistent progress on my book proposal. I had a couple of good writing sessions this month but not as many as I wanted. If I don't get my Monday writing day then I'm not as motivated for book writing later in the week. Last month Monday included a holiday, a Girl Next Door Podcast recording session, and chaperoning a field trip.

+ Field trip to look at materials for my card catalog entry table. I did some research and had an unfortunate discovery. I can't get countertop cut to fit my card catalog at Lowe's or Home Depot. They only install countertop on actual counters. So that's a setback. Now I need to reach out to local contractors, cabinet companies, and granite suppliers.

+ Complete our 2018 family photo book. Yes! The boys played with Legos so well on the Presidents' Day holiday that I got the whole thing done in one sitting. Here's how I manage our family photos and create a book for each year.

+ Sew my tunic. Nope. Didn't schedule a specific time to do this so it didn't happen.

+ No added sugar! For my daily health challenge. Yes! I ended up enjoying this challenge a lot. Here's a post about what I ate during the month and a few Trader Joe's favorites with no added sugar. Although I did have two dreams about cookies (ha!) I didn't feel that it was too hard to cut out added sugar. Now that I can have added sugar again I've enjoyed eating some desserts but so far a modest amount is satisfying and I'm not craving sweets. I'm thinking about doing two more no added sugar months this year, maybe in May and in October. As a regular practice going forward I'm considering only having added sugar on the weekends (with a couple exceptions like ketchup, the hot and sweet jalapenos we love, and when we eat at someone else's house).

+ Migrate content for Matrimoney website to Wordpress. Also no. I had a day set aside to start this and let other things get in the way.

Other February wins:

+ Donated blood. I was a pretty regular donor before having kids and would like to get back to it 3 - 4 times/year. If you are local you can find out how to donate here.

+ Recorded and published a bonus Girl Next Door Podcast episode on bathroom cleaning which was fun to do, got great listener engagement, and we had a sponsor for the show (lovely Turkish Towels from The Bali Market, with a discount code if you'd like to order some!). To promote the show Erica and I also recorded ourselves in Erica's shower – I love laughing with her!

+ Hung out with Michelle Obama one night and Jad Abumrad (of Radiolab) on another.

+ Cozy and delicious Valentine's date to Garage-East and The Uprooted Kitchen, all planned by Chris.

+ Impromptu family day trip to play in the snow!

+ Replaced all the vent fan covers in the house. Plus we duct taped wire mesh inside them and caulked around them because we learned this is one way scorpions can get in the house uggghhhhhhh. We get a few inside every summer and I'm really hoping this helps. We followed instructions from this video if you'd like to do the same.

+ Booked summer travel to Austin. The boys and I will go for three weeks! Chris will join us for a week or so. Having the flexibility to do this was a factor in my changing my career path. It's exciting to take advantage of my schedule and spend so much time with my family and Austin friends.

I hope you had a lovely February!