February Bucket List

I hope you’ve had a fabulous month of pink, hearts and love. I swear I spend more in February on random crap because everything is pink than at any other time of the year. I have pink kitchen utensils, pink yard gnomes, pink office supplies.... just random pink stuff EVERYWHERE and I love it! I had a great month and truly enjoyed the bucket list for this month.

Get a Valentine Manicure

This manicure is definitely more in my comfort zone of how my nails typically look though I tried to make it somewhat themed. These little hearts, which are in fact the most fiddly things EVER, are from Icing. I bought them there in the late nineties when body glitter and stick on rhinestones were perfectly acceptable daily wear for the average middle schooler.

Make a Super Bowl Soup

I love soup because it is such an easy thing to throw in a pot or slow cooker and call it done! One of my favorite soups is to take taco type ingredients like beans, corn, chicken and tomatoes and put it in the slow cooker with salsa verde, taco seasoning and ranch seasoning. It’s the cheapest thing ever and you can basically get the ingredients at any store. It tastes yummy and freezes well while taking no effort at all. Great for a busy work week night.

National Pizza Day (2/9)/Valentine Movie Day/Spa Night

This is the moment I fall in love with Darcy...when she says she loves to walk and he's like I know (with a little smirk).

If you have ever been to my house then you know I love doing a pamper night. I literally have a basket filled with face masks, lip masks, hand masks, foot masks, teeth whitening strips and more. You never know when you just need to come home and throw your feet up for fifteen minutes to keep your sanity and these products are a cheap yet rewarding way to experience relaxation.

As far as my pizza I decided to give cauliflower pizza a whirl because I’ve never tried one and I was curious. I have several thoughts. First, are these pizzas handmade by 100 year old Sicilian grandmothers with the finest ingredients Italy has to offer? That’s the only reason I can figure for these suckers costing $7 at Walmart. Like I have no issue paying for good food but this is a frozen pizza and that price is absurd. Two, it was really good. It smelled vaguely like cauliflower but it had the taste and consistency of a thin crust pizza. I was impressed but not enough to pay $7 for a cheese pizza.

Finally, when it came to picking a Valentine movie I fell back on a favorite of mine which is the 2005 version of “Pride and Prejudice”. I can be somewhat cynical when it comes to romantic movies but I love P&P because both, Mr. Darcy and Miss Elizabeth, are kind of a hot mess. I honestly find them totally relatable in their awkwardness and inability to handle a romantic situation. I mean who couldn’t sympathize with Mr. Darcy when he said she “bewitched [him] body and soul” or with Lizzie when she claimed that she didn’t know when she fell in love with Mr. Darcy because she was, “in the middle before [she] knew [she’d] begun” ? Not to mention I think we have all met or gone out with a Mr. Collins and Jesus take the wheel! (Plus, Matthew MacFayden is a beautiful Mr. Darcy. I love Colin Firth’s version but he’s sometimes too aloof and suave where as MacFayden’s version is just the right amount of awkward to help you see how he got himself in that situation to start off with.)

Act of Kindness Day (2/17)/Send Valentine’s/Do an Act of Love

It’s always fun to do little happys for others that could brighten their day. Whether it’s Valentine’s or not, look around for ways that you can encourage others. Write a short note, leave a candy bar, pay for someone’s coffee. All are tiny but can turn someone’s day around.

Read Love Letters or Sonnets/Read Song of Songs

Anyone who thinks the Bible is boring has never read Song of Songs (or Solomon). This book is proof that the Lord designed love, romance and sex to be a beautiful and rewarding thing that we have warped. It’s lovely to read some of the ways these two lovers refer to each other. My favorite is Song of Songs 3:4, “I’ve found the one whom my soul loves.” Can you imagine?

When trying to pick a set of love letters or sonnets my mind originally went to the classics. I considered Shelley and Shakespeare but then I remembered this title…”Dear Future Husband” by Grace Kao Ong. I started this book years ago but didn’t finish it because it wasn’t as “inspiring” as I hoped at the time. I was hoping by reading a book of letters a woman wrote to her future husband I would find some mystical information on patiently waiting for God’s timing. The truth is you learn faith and trust by going through challenging times and seeing God’s provision. Years later I thought I ‘d give it a try again because my perspective has shifted in regards to marriage and the wait. I found the book to be very endearing, much like looking back at an old diary, and very relatable. Truly an exercise in patience and God’s timing. Something, that ten years ago, I wouldn’t have found to be nearly as relatable as now. I also love when you can look back and see how all of the puzzle pieces fit together. God’s plan is not random just because we can’t see it.

Read Jane Austen

I’ve only read two Jane Austen titles, “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion”. I enjoyed both of them immensely and I love how Jane’s view of the world is timeless. While she wrote over two hundred years ago, she makes it quite clear that the issues surrounding life, family, friends and love have not really changed all that much. When I was deciding which Austen book to read this time I chose Northanger Abbey for two reasons. One, it is short and two, it has this quote…”The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid”. Miss Austen just lays it all out. I love her! (I did a book review on this title earlier this month.)

Wear a Valentine Themed Outfit

I made myself a promise that I would not specifically purchase something to wear for this. I am a woman who loves the color pink so surely I could put together an outfit out of my closet with little effort. What I forgot was that I don’t wear pink or red for that matter because I don’t have the proper undertones. Outside of a few very select shades I look like a big ole tomato when draped in either shade so I typically steer clear, however, I felt this outfit appropriately reflected the overall feel of Valentine’s Day

Purchase a New Decor Piece/Buy Flowers

Sometimes it’s nice to get flowers and gifts and who’s to say you can get them for yourself.

National Margarita Day (2/22)

I rarely drink because I hate drinking my calories and if I’m honest, the older I get the more liquor gives me heartburn. I seem to just collect bottles used for various events and they end up on my shelf. That being said, I do love a good Margarita, however, I don’t want to keep mixers for the few drinks I make a year. What’s a girl to do? Well, I make what I refer to as a “White Trash Margarita” or Mt. Dew and Tequila and I can do Diet Mt. Dew to save on calories. So that’s what I did...at home...by myself… You wish your life was this exciting! (Still gave me heartburn!)

Here is this month's bucket list. I hope you'll joy me!