Ig sided for Febrauy

Those of you on Facebook likely saw my post this week wherein I shared a journal entry I made in kindergarten. My sister had some leftover journal pages, and I filled out a few of them. On January 30, 1995, I wrote that I was "so ig sided for Febrauy."

See, I've been interested in calendars and holidays for longer than I can even remember!

I'm not sure what it was about February I was so excited for. Probably Valentine's Day. And I seem to remember being tired of winter in kindergarten, so maybe that was part of it, even though February is definitely still winter.

I like every month except January and February. But February is better than January. It's slightly warmer and lighter. You get Valentine's Day. Of the nine holidays I formally celebrate, Valentine's is my least favorite, but I still like it. And this year, it's refreshing to have a Valentine's Day where I'm no longer hoping to find a wife. And once Valentine's Day is over, the season of everything green begins—and I like green better than pink. So February's not so bad.

I suppose the most interesting day this week was Friday. Since I work part-time, I have lots of free time. With my free time on Friday, I decided to take my parents up to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge near Brigham City. I visited there in July 2021, and I wanted to see it at a different time of year.

It really is a lovely drive along the Bear River, and I'm sure ornithologists would love it more than I did. We saw lots of pheasants, hawks, great blue herons, Canada geese, and other birds. I'm sure more birds are visible at other times. I think this is an amazing, underappreciated place—but I'm not complaining that it's underappreciated. I think it would be fun to bike the auto tour sometime, though I imagine the bugs would be pretty bad during biking season. I thought it looked exactly like February was supposed to.

This week I started my next session of swim lessons. I'm in the intermediate class, but we meet at the same time as the beginner class, and there are a lot of beginners this time. Our regular instructor is good at balancing the instruction for both classes. But we had a substitute on Thursday, and she's not as good at balancing, and she also doesn't know our skillsets as well. So I'm not sure how helpful this session will be.

Now, my favorite thing about Valentine's Day season is its sweet treats, so that's mostly what the remainder of this post is going to discuss, with some tangents. If that's not your jam, you might want to close the tab now.

I like to support small businesses, so I decided to get breakfast at Annie's Cafe, which has red velvet crepes. They have expanded since I last visited two years ago. I thought it would be like a fast-casual restaurant. But when I went in, it's now a typical "Please wait to be seated," look-at-a-menu restaurant. How obnoxious! Sometimes you just want to order your food and move on, you know? So I got them for take out. But then I felt extremely guilty, because it came in a plastic container, and I hate single-use plastic. I should have just eaten at the restaurant! At least I declined a plastic bag and plastic silverware. And then I ate it in my car, which is a major no-no, because it was too cold to eat outside. I ate in the parking lot of TJ Maxx, where I bought a Valentine's rose Squishmallow and an orange t-shirt with skulls.

The major flavors for Valentine's Day are red velvet and chocolate strawberry, but I've often wondered why there aren't more things inspired by boxes of chocolates. I was happy that this year Dairy Queen did a Triple Truffle Blizzard, which definitely is inspired by a box of chocolates.

I told them I didn't need a spoon, because I still had one I got last time I was there.

I also have wondered why we don't see more rainbow stuff at St. Patrick's Day, and DQ also has a seasonal rainbow shake, complete with a shamrock in the marketing. I'll have to go try it after February 14. Props to DQ for being creative this year!

While I was at Dairy Queen, there was an awkward woman who asked the cashier, "Do you have sausage? It's Groundhog Day, and I eat sausage every Groundhog Day." 😆

I also had to make a stop at RubySnap, because I think February is the best month of the year for their seasonal cookies. I like Chip and Goodly cookies better, but RubySnap wins for creativity, hands down. Too bad the location is so inconvenient.

Top row: cherry chocolate (available year-round), red velvet, grapefruit
Bottom row: sugar cookie (available year-round), beet, rose

I have a few other seasonal things I could show you. But then you would judge me and wonder why I don't weigh three hundred pounds.