February Goals and Highlights

I'm going to be honest here- January was kind of a meh month. I feel like after a few months of non-stop activities and fun, I kind of hibernated this month! I don't like it, and I've been feeling in a funk because of it. The start of the month was especially rough for me, but I feel like I'm pulling myself out of it slowly. Just in time too because February is going to be a PACKED month.

A big highlight was checking off a project we've had on our list forEVER- adding a carpet runner to our staircase! These were hard wood and Selma would always slip going down them (sometimes I would too!) so we knew we wanted to do this as soon as we moved in. It took a while to get the runners delivered, and then we were procrastinating on starting. I'm so happy with how they turned out and glad we can check that item off our list!

Let's start with a look at how my annual goals are going.

Annual Goals

Korean Vegan Cookbook

In January I started with the "basics" chapter, which is a short one filled with some simple sauces and bases for other recipes. I decided to make the mushroom dashi and spicy soy dressing, which I used in the Mushroom Juuk. It was such a comforting, delicious dish for the winter, and I absolutely loved the spicy sauce! It was so flavorful and I ended up using it on so many other recipes this month. Definitely going to keep that in my rotation.

Temperature blanket

I just finished the first month and it's been such a fun and relaxing way of ending each day. I decided to go with a very simple single crochet stitch, but I'm thinking about doing a different stitch every other month (maybe a double crochet or a single crochet in the back loop to give it a ribbed effect?) just to differentiate the months. 

Here are some fun stats from the first month of my temperature blanket!

- I used a total of 4 colors

- The highest daily temperature was 71 and the lowest was 44 (just a reminder, I'm only doing the "high" of the day so I didn't record the daily low or average)

- My most used color was teal (used 13 times) which is used for the range 60 to 69 degrees.

Here's what the blanket looks like-

Hike 100 Miles + Check Out 10 New Parks

I went on three hikes this month for a total of 8.52 miles. I also visited two parks in Hillsborough - Occonneechee Mountain State Natural Area and the Historic Occoneechee Speedway (which still has some old race cars left on the race track, seen above!).

Read the Goodreads Best Books

Here are the books that I read this month.

Fiction - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - I did not enjoy this one, which follows a set of lifelong friends who go on to make popular video games together.

Humor - The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer and Angel Kinsey - This was cute! I liked the behind-the-scenes look at such a popular show, along with stories about all of the cast mates.

Poetry - Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman - I'm not really a poetry reader but I enjoyed this- I would read a chapter each night and it was a good way to wind down. I used my favorite piece to fill in a doodle that I made and I like how it turned out.

Work from a Coffee Shop Once a Month

My January shop was Meeples Brew in Morrisville. This is actually right by my gym where I started to go swimming, so I decided to treat myself to it after trying out a boot camp class. It was a great motivation to wake up and go to the class (which ended up being great!). The coffee shop is a great place to work- the wifi is fast and reliable, it's very quiet, and the coffee and food is delicious. The shop also has lots of board games you can rent, so it would be fun to visit after work as well.

Here are my goals for February!

Frugal February (ish)

I usually do Frugal February every year, and this year will be a bit more difficult since I'm out of town a lot this month! I'll still be frugal when I'm at home, and cancel my Netflix subscription, not go out to eat, will only shop at Aldi for groceries, no Target or online shopping, etc. Maybe I'll blur this into March to make up for how much I'll spend out of town?

Run a Half Marathon

This is a goal I haven't had for a while- my last half was in 2019- but I'm signed up for one in just a few weeks. Honestly training has not been great and I think this will be my slowest half ever, but I'm fine with that! I have to remind myself that it's a huge achievement to even be able to finish a race at all, let alone one that is 13.1 miles. I'll be proud of myself no matter what for getting to that finish line and celebrating afterwards with friends!

Take a walk every day

Part of my hibernation this month was not getting outside or exercising very often, and I want to change that this month. I did a run streak in November and December and it was a great way to force me outside, even if it was only for 10 minutes. I think this will also help my mood improve as winter drags on. As a bonus- Selma will love it as well.

Start every morning with a glass of water

I have not been great about drinking water lately. I'll realize sometimes that it's been days since I had any, which is really bad! So- my goal for February will be to drink one glass as soon as I wake up, and hopefully that will keep it going throughout the day.

Write 10 Reviews

This is something else I like to do every February, as a way to "spread the love" to businesses that I enjoy! I'll try to spread it around to different types of places and maybe even do some podcast reviews. I'll be sure to share all of the places I review at the end of the month!

What are your goals for February?

Do you do Frugal February or something similar?