February Notes

February felt like a pleasant surprise. The month unfolded with warmer days than anticipated and moments that helped make everyday routines feel a little more special. Between evening walks, picking up an old hobby, and beautiful skies, it was a month filled with found joy and a few unexpected stories along the way.

Favorite Eats:

Meal - Creamy Dijon Dill Chicken

This recipe was surprisingly easy and packed with flavor. If you are looking for a new way to cook chicken breast, give this one a try!

Link to Recipe

Snack - Choco Halos (and Girl Scout cookies of course!)

During our last trip to Costco we discovered Choco Halos. These snacks are puffy, chocolatey, coconut-y, and delicious. If you’re at Costco soon, I would highly recommend keeping your eye out for these.

Adding Magic:

With February turning out milder than expected, with a handful of days in the 80s, I had a small goal to go for a walk whenever it wasn’t rainy. One of the perks of living on a golf course is the scenery is a bit nicer than what you might see from a typical apartment complex, and the golfers ensure I have some entertainment along the way. During these walks I started collecting the golf balls that had been hit out of bounds, turning each walk into a little scavenger hunt for myself. So far, my favorite find has been a custom Titleist ball printed with the City of Stillwater’s logo.

Current Hobby: 

After stumbling upon a new granny square pattern that mimics a half-square triangle quilt block, I picked up my crochet hook again to begin a project that has lived in the back of my mind for years. The pattern is a throw blanket made up of fourteen different colors, which will easily make it the most colorful thing I’ve ever crocheted. At the moment I’ve finished just over one hundred squares, with about one hundred and fifty more to go.

What I am loving most about this granny square pattern is how I will be able to echo the geometric beauty of quilts in my projects now. I’ve always admired quilt designs and the endless combinations they allow, though after trying to quilt a few times myself, I realized it simply isn’t a craft I enjoy the way I hoped I would.

New Experience:

In keeping with my goal of having at least one new experience each month, I decided to attend Moon Over Buffalo, a play performed by a local theater group. I hadn’t heard of it before spotting it on the community events page, but once I learned the original production debuted on Broadway with Carol Burnett, I needed no more convincing. The show turned out to be hilarious, with several laugh-out-loud moments that made for such a fun time. The only unfortunate part was that I went on the final day of the production, otherwise I would have happily returned for another performance.

On top of the play exceeding my expectations, I sat next to a woman who had also come to the play on her own, and before long we found ourselves chatting. She shared a few of her life stories with me, revealing that she might be one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. These stories included; she once lived on a yacht in Marina Del Rey, a few years ago she sailed around the world with one of her sons, and she also spent time volunteering as an usher at a well-known theater in Los Angeles where she met countless actors. Sadly we did not exchange contact information, and I now wish we had, but I’m hoping to see her again at the next production.

February Inspiration:

The Sky - There is nothing like the wide openness of the Great Plains that allows the sunsets to stretch endlessly across the horizon, night after night. More than once I was stopped in my tracks to stare in awe, trying to capture even a small fragment of the beauty with a photo. Previously living in the city meant sunsets were often out of sight, hidden behind buildings or trees. It was rare I got to see a full sunset, and it was something I missed regularly. So having these nearly uninterrupted views of the sky again feels like a gift, one I’m thankful for every evening when the sky decides to put on a show.