Month in Review: February 2023

I know February is a short month but February 2023 seemed shorter than ever! I can’t believe we’re already two months into the year; I swear I’m still putting down “2022” anytime I have to write the date. And yet, here we are. So let’s dive into my Feb 2023 in review!

Highlights

Despite February feeling fast and not involving any travel, it was still a fun month with lots of highlights. Colin surprised me with flowers for Valentine’s Day, which means I got flowers twice in two weeks (he had also gotten me a welcome home flowers from my trip to London and Bath). That week I also had an in-person work meeting and lunch with some co-workers I haven’t seen off-screen for a while, which was so nice.

This month we headed up to Abbotsford to watch Colin’s nephews race in a BMX tournament. As someone who can’t even ride a regular bike on the road, it was incredible to see these tiny kids race up and down the track. And, of course, nice to catch up with family in the stands!

Lastly, we ended the month seeing Jack Whitehall as part of the Just for Laughs comedy festival. He was hilarious and inspired us to start rewatching Travels with My Father. Highly recommend that show and his stand up, both on Netflix.

I also had some lovely meals with my mom this month, but I’m saving those for the “What’s cooking?” section below!

Lowlights

Honestly, February was a pretty great month! It was a nice mix of busy with a few fun highlights. The only lowlight I can really think of is the dumping of snow we got at the end of the month. Just when I thought winter was over!

Best watch

If you’re not watching Australian Survivor, you are missing out on some of the best Survivor ever! This season has been incredible with great strategy, social play, challenges and editing. Australian Survivor has long been my favourite franchise but it’s never been this good. Since it airs three times a week, we’ve spent a lot of February tuning in!

We’ve also caught up on Workin’ Moms, a hilarious Toronto-based sitcom, and decided to watch all five Step Up movies (yes, there are five – there’s even a TV series and a Step Up China movie!). And we got sucked into Perfect Match on Netflix, but I really can’t recommend anyone watch it because it’s complete trash.

What’s cooking?

We had some great meals this month! We started February with a belated Chinese New Year dim sum celebration with my mom. I love dim sum, so this was such a treat. Colin and I fit in a meal at Banana Leaf during Dine Out (technically at the end of January) and my mom and I went on a sushi date at the end of Feb.

At home, we’ve been making some yummy meals too. I particularly liked our rice bowls and lettuce wraps!

Posts from this month

This month on Teaspoon of Adventure I published:

• 7 Day Paris, Brussels & Amsterdam Itinerary
• 23 Packing and Moving Tips for Your Next House Move
• How to Spend a Weekend Break in Bath

Check out any of the posts you’ve missed – and subscribe so you never miss another! 

For my throwback post of the month, I’m going back to Feb 2019: The Best and Worst of Southeast Asia. I wrote this post to sum up our 3 weeks in Southeast Asia, looking back at all the highs and lows. Sadly, we haven’t been back to Asia since that trip in 2019 and I am itching to return. Most of our travel plans for 2023 are spoken for but I’m hoping 2024 sees us back in Asia!

Reads

This month, I’ve finished reading:

Have Mother, Will Travel by Claire & Mia Fontaine
A mother and daughter go on a scavenger hunt around the world and then spend a summer in Avignon. I enjoyed hearing about their travels and liked how the book was told by both Claire and Mia, but felt it could’ve been a lot shorter. The second half really dragged and it felt like they ran out of things to write about.

Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
A “game” for couples to play to equitably split up house and family responsibilities. While I enjoyed some of the ideas in this book, like valuing everyone’s time equally and creating unicorn space for yourself, the actually game seemed complicated and the writing was extremely heteronormative. I could see revisiting this as a parent one day, but even then I think I’d prefer to have the bullet points instead of a 300+ page book to read.

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel
I really loved this story about the town of Bourne, where a chemical plant had poisoned the residents, and how the three Mitchell sisters are dealing with the reopening of the plant. Each sister narrates in an engaging way with such a distinct voice. My friend, Jane, recommended this one to me and I’m so glad I picked it up.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My first historical fiction book and another great read! This is the story of Elizabeth Zott, a chemist in the 1950’s who fights sexism at work and in society in a very unique way. I loved how all of the characters weaved into Elizabeth’s life and we got to see all of their perspectives, even the dog’s! I highly recommend this one too.

The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn
After my visit to The Jane Austen Centre in Bath, I was inspired to pick this one up. Science fiction meets classical literature in this book about a pair of time travellers who return to 1815 London to befriend the Austen family and retrieve one of Jane Austen’s lost manuscripts. I loved the historical research the time travellers had to do and how they tried to fit into Regency life. But the romance and the ending fell flat for me.

Travels

Where we have travelled in February:

• Feb 2015: In 2015, I had a mini reunion with some friends I had met on exchange in Amsterdam – only this time we were in San Francisco! It was so much fun to catch up with friends and see the city together. I’ve been to San Francisco a few times now and love it every single time.
• Feb 2017: In 2017, Colin and I joined his family for an all-inclusive vacation at a resort in Huatulco, Mexico. While all-inclusive resort vacations aren’t my favourite, they are a great way to relax and spend time with family. It was a nice break from a snowy Vancouver winter!
• Feb 2020: February 2020 was a huge travel month: We visited Barcelona, Madrid and Seville with my siblings and then took the ferry to Morocco visiting Chefchaouen, Fes, Marrakech and the Agafay Desert! I’m so glad we got to pack in all of that exploring before the world stopped – and even more glad we got to travel with my siblings and explore the new-to-us country of Morocco.

Gratitude

This is not something I’ve said many times in my life, but I’ve really enjoyed working out this month! I found an awesome channel on YouTube, EmKFit, and have been loving doing her HIIT videos every other day. They’re exactly what I’m looking for – 20 minutes of great music and dance moves so fun that you forget you’re exercising! So I’m grateful for her extensive back catalogue of videos that actually have me looking forward to my next workout.

Coming up next

Next month my stupendous husband turns the big 3-0! I’m so excited to celebrate him and hopefully get up to some new adventures in March, while preparing for our big New Zealand trip in April.

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I hope you had a wonderful February 2023!