January Recap

Why hello there, February. I thought you would never come. January seemed to last 84 days – at least – and it was cold and gray for far too long. Allow me to recap January? 

One of the highlights of January – that became a “is it ever going to end?” moment – was the snowstorm that rolled through Knoxville on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It started to snow Sunday evening and Knoxville woke up on Monday to maybe an inch or so of the white stuff. I was giddy. I hadn’t seen snow since December 2018 and I was all in. The weather folk on local TV told us heavy snow was moving in and to expect up to five inches. 

We got nine inches. 

At first, it was so fun. Snow! Lots of it! UT closed – closed! – and I had nowhere to go and nowhere to be. It was frigid out – the high was in the teens – and let’s just say Knoxville is not equipped to handle snow. The south in general is not equipped to handle snow but Knoxville? Knoxville seems especially ill-prepared. The thrill of snow wore off and by Thursday evening, I had to get out of the house. So I braved my roads which hadn’t been touched and slipped and slid my way to a Pure Barre class. 

Honestly? I should have kept my booty at home. The roads were terrible. I didn’t leave again until Saturday late morning, not that the roads were much better. 

I also did my annual January Whole30. I’d like an award for staying on Whole30 throughout the Snow Apocalypse. Shoutout to my weekly grocery shopping trip the day before the storm hit and having prepped my pantry to be Whole30-friendly at the beginning of the month. I felt great throughout the last half of Whole30, and came out of it six pounds lighter. I really need to stay away from the gluten and dairy, y’all. 

I had a goal of hitting 10,000 steps daily for the month of January, but alas – snow. And cold. And then rain. You only have to look at my tracker to guess when the weather turned. I did manage to get my fifteen Pure Barre classes in for the month as part of the Platinum Challenge. 

Another thing I’m proud of? I went to church every Sunday of January, even if two Sundays were online due to snow/logistics of the day. I have found a church I love and I am so excited to lean into this new chapter. I have so much to share in this area, but that’s another post for another day this week. 

THE highlight of January? 

I released my first book, Off The Record. 

I. Released. A. Book. 

I can’t believe it. 

You can go buy my book on Amazon. My actual book. The ebook is available now and the paperback releases tomorrow (February 6). It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited. It has exceeded my expectations and it has been an utterly terrifying process. I’ve been chronicling my self-publishing journey over at my Between The Pages Substack if you want to follow along. 

Buy a copy of Off The Record here.

What else? 

I did a Duolingo lesson every day, pushing my streak to fifty-plus days and counting. I also read three books: Lovelight Farms, Divine Rituals, and Ruthless Vows. While I recommend all three, Divine Rivals made its way onto my favorite books of all-time list. Ruthless Vows is the sequel and is very good, but Divine Rivals is just – chef’s kiss. 

January wasn’t all sunshine and daisies. I had a pretty rough mental health day on the day my book released, which seems so very unfair. I also found myself struggling with the isolation of being snowed in alone. I did the only thing I could do, which was sit in those feelings, explore what caused them, and let them run their course. 

And now, it’s February. I’m oddly excited about February. Let’s see what magic the month of love holds, shall we?