Quotidian

Breakfast by candlelight

 On the walk to the store

Almond-date breakfast bars (someone posted the Smitten Kitchen recipe here)

 Experimenting with hot rum (orange black tea + spiced rum + orange liqueur + cinnamon stick)

 Killer salad combo (blood oranges + avocado)

 Margot lingers on the bathtub edge (and is still a bit miffed about her new collar)

February is a grab-bag month. Sometimes the weather feels like spring; other times, like this morning, it snows. Anything can happen, but mostly nothing happens. You have to make things happen, and you only have 28 days to do it.

So what do you do? Eat breakfast by candlelight. Take in the stately, leafless trees and other nature-y things on your walks. Make a hot drink to take the edge off. Try recipes that will keep on the counter as a special treat for a few days, or ones that make you feel at once healthy and exotic. Take baths that make your cat wish she wasn't so afraid of the water.

Not pictured but very important: spend time around people you love, who make you laugh, and who inspire you. February has long been difficult month for me, but each year it gets better and better.