Justice for February birthdays
POOF.
Does anyone else with a February birthday feel personally victimized by the short month?
I mean really — how are we supposed to maximize birthday-month coupons when we’re robbed of three whole days?
January takes 47 years. February? Gone in a *blink*.
It’s been a whirlwind over here too, and I’m almost ready to exhale into March… despite the coupon injustice.
We did, in fact, go get birthday ice cream at Jeni’s. We each shared a scoop. My favorite is coffee, but I chose peanut butter this time because it had to sit politely next to Bonnie’s scoop of banana pudding flavor. I will not be the one who gives the energizer Bonnie even a hint of caffeine. I value sleep.
Peek Bonnie’s birthday card creation for me:
Inside My Studio
Okay hear me out:
Automations.
I want more time to create and less time performing for social media. But I also need people to find me. Slighttttt dilemma.
Etsy? It’s complicated. The rising fees, the copyright takedown nonsense (some of it wildly bogus), the general chaos…not my favorite direction.
But.
They have a built-in audience. If you have a good product and good photos, Etsy can bring traffic without you dancing on reels at 9pm while scrubbing mac and cheese off the stove.
And a tiny PSA: if you ever find an artist on Etsy, please check their About page. Many of us link our own websites there. Shopping directly from their site can mean they keep 97% of the sale instead of losing up to 25% in fees. Same price for you. Much better margin for them. We love a quiet power move.
As for me — social media has been, well, sparse.
Not because I’m not creating.
I am. I’m drawing. I’m cooking. I’m deep in the studio.
But I’m doing it with full focus. I cannot pause mid-sauté to capture the aesthetic angle of elbow macaroni while a small, very opinionated human demands dinner immediately.
If you know me, you know I’m borderline obsessed with efficiency. There is always a system. There is always a smarter way.
Spreadsheets? My best bud. Systems? I’ll talk your ear off for hours.
So February has been a little lab experiment in expanding my reach without expanding my chaos. And I think I’ve found something that might just work.
If you’re in the same boat (creative but allergic to content burnout) hit reply. I’d genuinely love to compare notes.
The word of the year for me is momentum.
Also something about the power of the year of the fire horse, which feels aggressively on-brand.
Bring it on, big red.
What I’m Cooking
Is the Pioneer Woman the reigning queen of casseroles?
I think yes.
My mother-in-law made her chicken spaghetti and it was dangerously good. I’m officially declaring it a Friday night, “turn on the oven and do absolutely nothing else” meal.
We’ll snuggle up and watch The Parent Trap and pretend we are at a Napa summer camp with impeccable taste in cable-knit sweaters. Truth: Chessy is my style icon.
She also made Ree’s chili, another two thumbs-up, and while it’s still slightly chilly here I may run that back once more before spring fully commits. As a note/pro-tip, she doubled the tomato sauce amount because Ree’s video shows it doubled but the recipe only calls for one.
What’s Inspiring Me
Paris.
I’m currently daydreaming about wandering into tiny shops, eating croissants without apology, and ordering champagne with questionable pronunciation confidence.
There’s an account I adore, @ainsleydurose, where she bakes the most stunning desserts and documents her life in Paris. It feels cinematic in that “this is slow and beautiful and intentional” way.
If the timing aligns, I may try to stop by her coffee stand while we’re there.
If nothing else, I’ll be aggressively romanticizing my morning espresso.
What I’m Reading
I just finished Rose in Chains by Julie Soto. It started slow, almost a DNF situation, but redeemed itself halfway through. Final rating: 3.5/5.
Not bad, just not transcendent. Like a croissant that’s from the grocery store… it’s not Paris-good.
I’ve started BK Borison’s Good Spirits. Yes, it’s technically holiday-coded. Yes, it’s February. But it finally cleared my library hold and I refuse to be governed by seasonal reading rules.
I’m saving a few short Amazon romances for the plane ride to Paris and may download backups because I don’t trust myself to choose wisely at 30,000 feet.
Coming Up…
If February vanished too quickly for you too, consider this your permission slip to stretch March out a little longer.
More creating.
More systems.
More croissants.
Less scrambling.
And if you happen to see me wandering Paris with coffee in one hand and a watercolor palette in the other — just know I’m doing it for research.
— Katie
