Month One of 2019 is History

Fluff and nonsense post ahead. Read with caution. January. Not a month I particularly love other than it holds my youngest's birthday. Sure, it is a month for new starts, a fresh calendar, and a clean slate, but it is long, and cold, and still dark. February, now it holds some promise with around two and 1/2 minutes of day light added each day, resulting in an hour more. It means by the end of the month, on most days, I will not be driving home from work in the dark.  I don't suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD, but I do get cabin fever and just down. January, despite the weather, had highlights though. I need to make sure I am appreciating the wonders, large and small which helps keep me in better spirit. This list is quite boring for you all, I am sure. It is mostly my mental recap of the month put down in blog form. 

• Our older two are doing well in their jobs. DD1 has been making short films as part of her job that are more interesting and with more energy than I saw her company produce before she joined in September. She is still looking for more opportunities to stretch at work, but works on her own creative endeavors. DS got a lucrative one month assignment with  travel to several US destinations. Of course he will be working to line up the next gig upon returning to LA. He's happy his adopted home town team the LA Rams are in the Super Bowl.
• I am very thankful for DD1 being willing to stay with pup. I hate how sad he looks when we leave, but he loves his other girl and gets undivided attention from her when she comes to stay. 
• We spent a lot of money on weekend trips for our daughter. But hey, seeing your kid perform  and win two Grand Champions is worth every penny. We had fun hanging out with other parents and had a whole lot of "quality" time in the car. 
• DD2 survived finals and kept her GPA at a respectable 3.87. Considering she has 8 classes, no study hall, and four of the eight are either AP or college level, we couldn't expect more. She is a smart kid, but she has to work for her good grades-there is no dialing it in with her, particularly her calculus class which has been brutal. 
• Speaking of proud, I'm also proud of her and her friends for volunteering as part of her birthday gathering to make food packs for Feed My Starving Children. 
• I love my yoga mat, a Christmas gift from DD1. I liked the class she signed us up for and have been doing a bit of yoga on my own. Minimal, but February  will be my Yoga focus month!
• I'm on book two for the new book club. I'm not sure yet if the club has the energy I am looking for, but with anything new, it takes time to gel. 
• I've been keeping my notebook going with ideas and plans for summer adventures. We're hoping to book , meaning put our names on the calendar, for the second cabin and have friends up for a few days. I've got a list going of day trips I'd like to take, hopefully keeping low cost by packing a cooler, but with an intent to splurge on a stop at a coffee house or a wine bar. I want to approach this year with the intent that all of summer is a vacation! My notebook is a good January diversion. 

We survived the polar vortex. Things were back to a normal 0 degrees this morning. Our day trip with just one overnight tomorrow to another place in Iowa should be uneventful weather wise. I'm using my blog as a place to wrap up the prior month, sort of a month end journal. What were your highs, lows, and in-between for the month?