How I Survive The February Blues

Winters are rough, trust me I get it. I know all about it, what with temperatures teetering close to the low eighties here in California and breezy afternoons reminiscent of late spring and having to open up our windows at night lest we start sweating.
How badly do you want to slap me?
I'm SORRY. But again, all of you have an open invitation to come stay on my couch and experience this wildly mild winter for yourselves. I'll bring the ice cream, you get us some iced Cokes and a romcom. 

Okay, but hang on.

Even though it doesn't feel like winter 'round these parts per se, we still go through bouts of the February blues. This time of year simply isn't as hopeful as January or as delightful as the spring or as carefree as the summer or festive and cozy like around the holidays. It was the little month that ... couldn't.

My coping mechanisms?

Well, I'm glad you asked!

I try to make sure that I have a work-from-home day every now and then. This is when I schedule apartment maintenance, big deliveries, errands that've been on the To Do list for much too long, and

ROOMMATE BREAKFASTS. 

Because the weekend brunch scene in SF can be infuriatingly crazy, and because I'm still dying to try all the SF restaurants that I've read rave reviews about, my roommate Susan's and my solution has been this: aim for weekday breakfasts when we both have the day "off," and drag along any other (somewhat) willing roommates.

So far, we've tried Plow and Brenda's. Last week, we beelined for Mama's on Washington Square. Though we arrived a whole forty minutes before opening, the line already snaked halfway down the block!

Our favorites: the carrot cake, the famous Mama's Monte Cristo, and the breakfast sandwich. Outrageously good, and it made me positively chipper for the rest of my day answering emails.

Other go-to ways of dealing with the "blahs" of February:

Carbs.

Sugar.

Weekend getaways. I spent the long weekend in Seattle (more about that soon!) and this next one will be in Los Angeles.

Snuggle sessions with the cutest cats.

Retail therapy. February goal: un-memorize my credit card number.

Sprucing up my room. 

"Burrowing."

It's what I call holing up in bed and savoring the nothingness.

Filling the void that fall TV has left, with cheesy, soapy Chinese TV dramas and other finds such as Chelsea Does, You Me & The Apocalypse, and that new OJ Simpson docu-series.

Slurpable noodles.

Caffeine.

It's what's keeping me alive and barely thriving.

Daydreaming about upcoming travel plans. 

Friday night FaceTime dates when we all curl up on someone's bed and go about our evening with long distance friends present as well.

CANDY.

CARBS.

Repeating my mantra "at least I don't have to shave my legs" over and over and over again.

Grooming myself.

Well, not really, but I went and had my eyebrows threaded for the first time in months last weekend and emerged a whole new person, ready to conquer the world.

Buying booties. Being bootylicious. Nabbing Beyonce tickets.

Hoarding Girl Scout cookies. 

Tuesday nights. Tuesday nights are my sacred nights: I order in a favorite takeout, wait for Pretty Little Liars to come on, and proceed to decline each and every one (so, one) of the queued up Facebook invitations for happy hours and cool SF events and whatnot.
Ain't nobody got time for that on a PLL night.
Fluffy robes and slippers, appreciating the snow from afar (on this side of Snapchat), and browsing bikinis under the security blanket of knowing that's something for summer me to deal with.
Winter's not so terrible, eh?