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FEBRUARY — short and sweet, and for good reason! February is a tough time of the year in the Midwest. It’s cold, dreary and gray! That means it becomes more important than ever to create a bit of your own sunshine (or go find it, if you’re lucky!).

In this journey to craft a more elegant life, I’ve found that it’s helpful to plan out out different activities, events and hobbies I want to try or experience. I strive to plan something that will bring beauty, joy, art and connection — whether that’s a nature walk with my family, afternoon tea at a new or favored venue, travel or taking a class.

If the idea of crafting a more elegant life sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to revisit this space often. You may also be intrigued by my annual Elevate Your Everyday Challenge. What is that? It’s my signature 31 day challenge focused on creating a vision for the most elegant year yet. I am fortunate to share this time with wonderful likeminded women from around the world. Together, we define our personal values, set smart goals toward accomplishing our dreams and identify small, ingenious habits we can add to our day to create what we all strive for: a more elegant life.

If that sounds interesting to you, send me a quick note to join the waitlist for next year.

I want to take you on my journey to create my most elegant year yet, and I hope the things I share inspire you to create an elegant life you love!

Join me and take a moment to reflect on FEBRUARY: An Elegant Month in Review.

Building on the foundation that was set in January, February brought the opportunity to continuing practicing good habits while striving to embrace new experiences and make progress toward my personal and professional goals.

We also had a lot of extra time together as a family, as we had snow days and mid-winter break. It’s not always easy to be snowed in, but with a mindset of keeping things simple, we were able to embrace the unpredictability of the weather and joyfulness of being at home.

Did you know? The first known archery competition took place in Finsbury, England in 1583. Since then, archery has remained a favorite sport amongst outdoorsmen and women alike. You might remember, Prince William and Catherine, The Princess of Wales, tried their hand at archery during their 2016 visit to Bhutan (archery is the national sport) and we’ve seen Catherine try archery with her children at other Scouts events .

A Scouting family ourselves, Conor and I decided to take formal archery lessons to improve our skill! We shared four weeks of beginner archery lessons at a local community center, learning safety, shooting and aiming with the bow and arrow.

It was fun, surprisingly challenging, and most of all, we now have a shared hobby we can enjoy together!

February is perhaps best known as the month of love, with St. Valentine’s Day being the feature holiday. While the children enjoyed making their Valentine’s Day cards for their school parties, I enjoyed celebrating Galentine’s Day with an exceptional flower arranging class at The Flower Alley. It was a lovely evening full of laughter, connection and gorgeous flowers. I shared the lessons I learned and flower etiquette tips every elegant woman should know in this recent post.

Coincidentally, the children did not have school on Valentine’s Day, as it was the beginning of their Mid-Winter Break (which had an early start with a snow day the day prior!). Both Conor & Alice have been asking for a holiday tea party, something we often did when they were younger and home more often. It had been a while since our last tea party, so I promised that we enjoy a special Valentine’s Day tea party to celebrate.

Planning the tea party and running about to collect all of their requests was just as much fun for me as the actual tea party itself! I love taking time to make things special and memorable — with all of the pieces secured ahead of the impending storm, I was confident that we would have a great afternoon.

However, another storm began to brew, and with an estimated 10 inches of snow predicted, we found it necessary to rearrange our long weekend plans to try to make the most of our time before we were snowed in!

So, we took our tea party to Grandma’s house, where we were able to share our tea party with my mom and grandmother. In the end, sharing our special treats with Great Grandma made the day even sweeter.

Throughout the rest of Mid-Winter Break, we caught up on some family movies. We watched Wild Robot and went out to the theater to see Dog Man. Both movies were cute, family friendly, and the kids enjoyed them immensely.

What else did we get up to? February was filled with birthday parties, wrapping up winter sports and playing outside in the snow.

Continuing with the theme of love, Bryan and I enjoyed a date night at Sur la Table, and Bryan and Alice also got to enjoy the annual Daddy Daughter Dance!

February, while short and sweet, can feel long with the bleak, frigid days. However, with this month nearly behind us, we can reflect on the simple joys that made the month and breathe in the promise of a new season just around the corner.

This month I re-read my ultimate comfort novel, Jane Austen’s EMMA. This year marks Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday, so I’ve determined to re-read a few of my favorite JA novels this year as well as grow my hard copy collection with the gorgeous Chiltern Classic editions. Don’t be surprised to hear more about Jane Austen this year as the literary world celebrates her milestone!

The tea I’ve been drinking is Whittard of Chelsea 1886. While this brand is new to me, it’s clearly been around for a while! I was thrilled to find it and I’m looking forward to enjoying the sampler box I brought home from The Flower Alley.

I am also excited about the new iteration of one of my favorite podcasts: The Luxury Podcast hosted by my own etiquette coach, William Hanson, alongside radio personality Jonathan Vernon-Smith. William has a wonderful sense of humor and he and Jonathan have the gift of being able to make you laugh about everything from bedsheets to security systems all the while giving you the insight on just what to do to stay ahead of No. 10. (IYKYK!)

Overall, February was a wonderful month filled with elegant events and joyful time spent with friends and family. While there was plenty of time to enjoy our friends and family, I also had the opportunity to share the secrets of modern etiquette with many clients! I had the joy of working with amazing people of all ages and backgrounds, from ages 6 to 60+ including school children, debutantes and farmers!

Teaching etiquette brings me so much joy, but it’s seeing these timeless tools foster confidence, community and connection that truly lights me up and continues to drive my passion for making modern etiquette approachable and accessible to everyone.

As you look toward the year ahead, remember that elegance is a state of mind; a simple and ingenious approach to a charmed life. If you desire it, you can create a life filled with beauty, elegance and connection. It simply requires a bit of intention, effort and a willingness to try something new.

Take time to plan out a few things just for you to enjoy next month. Maybe lunch at a new restaurant, meeting a friend for coffee, or trying a new hobby. Whatever it may be, an elegant life is yours to create!

What was your favorite thing about February? Did you experience something new? I’d love to know!

Leave a comment and share your most elegant moment this month.