Holy cow!  We’re already one week into March, and I haven’t even posted my February Favorites yet!  Now that Old Man Winter has made his exit, the days are passing more quickly again.  I need to highlight my favorites from last month before it’s time to look back on THIS month!

Favorite #1

It always makes me so happy to see the daffodils in bloom.  I posted a picture in my January Favorites of the first few blooms.  The picture above was taken during the first week of February when they were almost at their peak.  It was amazing how long they lasted this year…far longer than most years!

 

Favorite #2

Book club was the second Tuesday of February, and my friend Lynn was the hostess.  In our book club the hostess provides lunch and dessert, and Lynn knocked it out of the ballpark this month.  She made a super yummy one-pot chicken pasta dish and then this dessert.  LOOK at this dessert!  A chocolate lava cake with ice cream.  YUM!  And she made it from scratch!  Not only was it delicious, but the presentation looks like something you’d get in a high-end restaurant.  As an extra little touch, she gave us each a cute little container with Sweet Tart hearts inside.  She is definitely the hostess with the mostest! 😋

 

Favorite #3

All winter long I had been wanting to try the featured shake at Chick-fil-A.  I loved the peach shake they had in the summer.  This winter they offered a peppermint chocolate chip shake.  Finally stopped in there on Valentine’s Day while I was out shopping.  At first I was worried because it wasn’t listed on the menu, but when I asked if they still had them, the girl behind the counter said she could still make one for me.  Yay!  It tasted just as good as I thought it would.  So glad I was able to get one before they disappear for the season.

 

Favorite #4

I think Valentine’s Day was my favorite day in February.  Not only did I have that shake, but we enjoyed a fun evening hosting friends for dinner that night, AND it was the day that my son Danny and his new wife Erin were able to get off the ship they work on and resume their honeymoon!  Danny texted me this pic of him relaxing in New Zealand.  I’m so happy they get to kick back for a good while and continue their honeymoon adventure before resuming their employment later this spring.

 

Favorite #5

This girl!  I was so surprised to learn that, at 9 years old, my granddaughter Helen completed her first triathlon!  My daughter Cara sent these pictures.

There she is in the foreground doing her swim.

Looking happy during the cycling portion.

 

And giving it her all during the run!  When I was 9, I don’t think I even knew what a triathlon was!  Ha!  So proud of Helen! 😘

 

Favorite #6

Here’s where you’re probably going to think I’m a little crazy, but that’s okay.  It’s me, what can I say?  I didn’t take a picture of these tulips when they were fresh and beautiful, but when they started to get past their prime, I decided to keep them until the first couple of petals fell off.  This picture was taken a few days before I finally trashed them.  The petals never did fall off!  I wonder how long it would have taken.  But I thought they were really still quite beautiful even at this stage.  This was my favorite bouquet of the month.

 

Favorite #7

What a wonderful surprise we got in the mail on the second to the last day of the month!  A homemade card from Helen!  And I thought it was so clever of her.  She did a tri-fold, and you can see at the top of the card where she indicated that if you open it to the right, you find her message to me.

 

 

But if you open it to the left, you see her message to Big Eagle.

 

 

And if you just flip the card over, there’s a message she wrote for the two of us.

 

What a keeper of a card!  I have such big love for my granddaughters. 😍

 

Favorite #8

On the very last day of February, we went and got mushroom compost to amend the soil in the vegetable garden.  It may seem strange to view this as a favorite, I know.  The thing is, every year Big Eagle and I work together to get all of this and more into the garden, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow.  Last year when the day came to do this job, I was out on my bike getting in the training miles for RAGBRAI, and Big Eagle completed the bulk of the work on his own.  It actually felt good to me this year to be working together again on this annual task, so yep…it is on the favorite list.

I will say however that Big Eagle and I both found ourselves reminiscing about two years ago when we had an extra pair of hands sharing the work.

That was the year that Danny was here on a break, and he took part in the tradition.  He shoveled, he pushed the wheelbarrow, AND he took a turn at the tiller.  His dad and I were both remembering how nice it was to have that extra help.

Now we are well into March, and here the weather is just gorgeous!  The days are truly feeling like spring, and we’ve been blessed with some good rain, too, already.  But I would still love to hear about any highlights from your February, or anything at all really that you’d like to comment on.  So feel free to do so!  I hope you are having a GREAT weekend!