In December I shared a post about my plans for getting through what I felt would be a long, cold winter by embracing hygge vibes. So far this winter, I’ve made lots of soups, done some home canning, and even tried my hand at making a loaf of crockpot bread with a recipe from Brooklyn Farm Girl (it was delicious, and oh-so-easy!).

Each year as we slide into February, two things happen: I always think about flowers, wishing spring was closer than it actually is, and thanks to Hallmark, I tend to focus on love during this month. Since I’m writing a historical romance, I picked up a historical novel from the library called Hester, which is a fictional take on a romance between a woman named Isobel who gets abandoned by her opium addicted husband and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Isobel is a seamstress who “sees the colors behind words” and sews hidden messages in her designs, and though their romance is doomed from the start, she becomes the inspiration for Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter.

And when I haven’t wanted to read, I watched the film adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, I read the story in my British literature class in college, and I also watched Rebecca. I enjoyed both movies and they made me hungry for more historical romance, so I started the second season of Outlander (I watched season one about six years ago!). Although I love seeing the costuming and characters come to life in the TV adaptation of Outlander, I’m a reader through and through and still prefer the books to the show.

For the remainder of the month, I plan on cooking more yummy things (I’m making my hubby’s favorite pasta dish for Valentine’s Day), writing 20k words in my not yet titled work in progress, reading The Scarlet Letter (reading Hester made me want to read the classic novel), I’m also reading Grow More Food, and planning my spring garden. What are you doing this month? Let me know in the comments or on social media!