February. I’m so glad it’s FEBRUARY! Because, January. January. It’s my least-favorite month of the year. The post-Christmas let-down and the dark, cold days and our damned virtuous ritual of frugality, where we don’t shop or eat out or “indulge” during the month…it’s the worst. I want to welcome the fresh year with wide-eyed optimism and excitement, but the reality is that I am always exceedingly eager to turn this first page of the calendar. And January 2018 felt particularly hard. Work was more intense for me than it has been in a long time – too many nights my job was the last thing on my mind before I fell asleep and too many mornings I woke up with a ball of stress in my chest. Shane and I spent our free time trying to make good on our decision-making resolution, visiting open houses and elementary schools in an effort to gain some clarity in our family’s crystal ball, but all our research left me feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. And since Shane goes “dry” in January and doesn’t drink any alcohol for a month, we couldn’t even unwind together over a bottle of wine. I had to drink alone! The despair of it all!
<<end rant>>
In the midst of the darkness and the latte-deprivation and the long hours at the office, though, there were glimmers of light. (C’mon, you knew this was all leading up to a photo-dump of Juliette pictures, didn’t you?)
The sun came out twice last month and when it did, we were OUT, biking or walking or jogging. We spent one bright Saturday afternoon at Seward Park, brushing the dust off Juliette’s pink bike.
It had been two or three months since Juliette was last on two wheels, so it took a mile for her to find her groove. Once she did, though, she was jammin’.
On rainy days, we were IN, watching movies or tea partying with friends. This girl’s got some mad hosting skills.
She’d hold an apple slice up to panda’s mouth and then turn her head and secretly devour it herself, desperately wanting me to believe that her stuffed animals were really eating their snacks.
Cheers, kiddo. Way to be my sunshine when skies are gray.
I broke our no-spend rule for a Boba date with Juliette one Friday afternoon. It had been a long, lazy morning and we were both itching for a little something special. The look on her face when she sucked that first tapioca ball into her mouth was priceless.
I mean, how can you resist?
The Seattle Women’s March on January 20th was another ray of sunshine on an otherwise dreary day. Shane, La Verne, Jules, and I made the trek from Capitol Hill to Westlake Plaza to take a stand for kindness and inclusion and respect. Though this year’s march felt smaller and quieter than 2017’s event, the streets were still a sea of friendly faces, reminding me that unity and empathy do still exist in the midst of these divided, distrusting times. Hope is not lost.
And finally, the slough. Gosh, how I love a January stroll through the Mercer Slough. We drove over there last Sunday after a particularly dreadful open house tour in Bellevue, and this boardwalk was the perfect place to shake the scent of mildew and cat pee.
I don’t know that we’ve ever actually visited this place in the summer, but I can say that winter suits it well.
And then, as if the skies knew I needed a little extra pick-me-up, SUN.
And now, it’s February. I have a big deadline in a couple of days that will significantly lighten my work load once it passes. The 10-day forecast shows only a couple of days of rain. Juliette and I have been to the bakery and the coffee shop, and Jack cracked open and shared one of the finest wines I’ve ever tasted a couple of days ago. January had its small handful of good days, but February is looking predominantly good.