february favorites // a couple small things that I loved from this past month

Hey y’all!

There are a couple of things I want to do today. First and foremost, I want to do a little bit of a recap of this month. I also want to go through a list I made of the lovely things that I liked from February. (and at the end, there is a little announcement! 😀 ) It might be a long post. XD

I always like to do a little walk down through the past month; processing it and looking for the high points, as well as the low points. Sometimes going back through it will help you better plan for the upcoming month in addition to just leaving things finished and tied shut.

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February.

Looking back, a lot shifted this month. Not in a physical, “moving pieces of day to day life around” way- no, it was more of a mental shift.

Maybe it was the fact that my town is no longer freezing. Maybe it’s the feeling that winter is on it’s way out. Maybe it’s knowing that the third quarter is almost over.

Whatever it was, something was different in the past month. Something was positive.

At the top of the month, I knew that in the month of February I wanted to prioritize relationships. And I did. Within the first week, I spent an afternoon wandering around with my mom (which was honestly the best), I led worship/hung out with my awesome friend Connor, and I went to an AMAZING Bethel concert with my twin friend and a couple other people.

I think that started things off right. It got me in the right mindset.

I also made it super important that I was in my bible and spending time with Jesus each morning. That is possibly the thing that made my month so good. Getting up each morning and turning on a favorite worship album, I would just soak in the word and let God speak to me through the songs.

It made getting up feel good. I had reached a point last December where it literally hurt to get up. My new years resolution was to spend time journaling and being with Jesus every morning. I have kept it thus far. (actually i think i missed like two days or something. no one is perfect.)

This month has been a turning point in that I have finally started to make myself feel nice in my skin. I don’t mean like accepting my body type or anything like that. I just mean waking up and going “hey let’s feel nice today so we’re gonna wear this and smell good.” Making an effort to feel pretty for me.

That feeling of being pretty for the sake of just being pretty also tied into trying to be a little more aesthetic. If you don’t know me, I am an aesthete.

Aesthete: a person who is appreciative of and sensitive to art and beauty.

Oxford Dictionary

It sounds kind of weird, but if I see something that is pretty, it will elicit different responses depending on the picture.

But nevertheless, I have tried to be more aesthetic this month. It worked and improved my mood greatly.

Tomorrow, I will get to be on the worship team for my youth group and I’m very excited. It’ll be a lovely close to the month.

So overall, I had a very good month. There were high points and low points, but that is the way with every month. There are things I learned and areas I need to grow in; that will never change and I’m okay with that.

You were good to me, February.

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In the course of a month, one finds many new things to enjoy. Here is my list of things I discovered/really enjoyed in February!

• A little app called Aloe Bud – I was flipping through the app store, just looking at stuff when I saw this cute little app. It’s an adorable pixelated self-care app. It has encouraging little messages, and you can set yourself reminders to take medicine, drink water, and just focus your breathing. I love it so much. (plus it has the nicest sound when you complete something.) ❤

• Jasmine green tea with honey – this is simple and small but seriously, I have rekindled my love for green tea with this blend. IF ANYONE EVER HAS TOO MUCH GREEN TEA, SEND IT MY WAY. I WILL TAKE IT ALL. ❤
• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson – Okay so my best friend got me this book for Christmas, and I’ve been reading it since then, but things started going crazy in the school year and I hadn’t had much time to read it. But this month I’ve been making myself schedule time to read it. Because it is truly art. I can only hope to become an author like him someday. It’s so great. Kelsier is the best. I want a Mistborn cloak. That’s all I want.

• Taking mental health days – I took a couple days off from school in the past month due to stress and from being run down. During these times, it struck me how needed those times of just space are. We as a culture don’t talk about taking care of ourselves enough. Sometimes you don’t need to do that social thing. Sometimes we just need a break. And that is completely okay and needed. So yeah, I learned that this month. 🙂

• Layering t-shirts with dresses – One of my favorite YouTubers (Dodie!) does this a lot and it is absolutely adorable on her, so I’ve been trying it out and I really love it. It’s comfy and it’s super cute too!

• Poetry from Morgan Harper Nichols – I recently just discovered her work and I have to say, it is positively delightful. She makes the prettiest art/word things and I currently have one as my lock screen. Isn’t it just gorgeous?

• Sunflowers – I have had a bit of an obsession with sunflowers as of late, due to a picture I felt like the Lord put on my heart. Anyway, sunflowers have been something that I really like. Well, actually, I have always loved sunflowers and they will forever be my favorite flower. But as of late, I have been doodling them and finding pretty sunflower pics and etc. Here is a sunflower I did in watercolors during bible journaling club at school. 🙂

• Atlas: Eight by Sleeping At Last – This came out this month and I about screamed. I love Ryan’s enneagram series and I’ve even covered a song from the series. But I had been waiting for this one, mostly because eight is the Challenger and a BUNCH of my characters are eights. He’s done such a great job encapsulating the natures of the types. I love it so much.

• Topography by Brett Lee Miller – I found this album back in January but I didn’t listen to it all the way through until a few days ago. It has such a lovely sound and even more lovely lyrics. I highly recommend it.

• Covers In Yellow – My bandmate and I posted a video yesterday that is possibly our best one yet. I have watched it a lot more times than I care to share. She did such a good job on editing. It’s so beautiful. I cried the first time I watched it.

• Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Watch Me, Wednesday! vlog series – I discovered Carrie’s vlogs this month and they’re so good. I love vlogs and musical theatre vlogs are my absolute favorite. Carrie is so sweet and funny and it’s just so fun to see behind the scenes. I binge-watched them in an entire week. XD

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So finally, I’ve got an exciting little announcement for us today! I have wanted to do something like this for a while now but with March approaching, I figured it was as good a time as any to start this!

Introducing TDOP, a way to keep positivity in your day to day life!

TDOP, or thirty-one days of positivity, is a little month-long exercise I’ve created where you find one thing every day that makes you happy or that you like.

I’ll be starting to tag those on to the ends of my posts during the month of March. It’ll be exciting! I’m looking forward to it! 🙂

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Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine 

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What are your favorite things from this past month? Tell me in the comments!!