January was back to work, back to school, back to extracurriculars,  back to our regular routine. I was a bit hesitant about the "back to school" because my son was showing some signs on anxiousness before the break, and it did show up again a few weeks into the month. I decided not to wait, and I reached out to his teacher. She was quite surprised by what I had to say, she didn't realize that my son doesn't do well with change, that he likes to attach to people who he feels comfortable with, and it was a very productive meeting. Once he felt like he was heard, and that we were going to work with him, we started to see improvement pretty quickly.


Going into the new year, I didn't know what I was going to do with this blog. I didn't want to keep writing beauty product reviews, I didn't want to give up blogging and I didn't want to start over. Before this blog, I had a book blog for years and I didn't want to start over again. I decided to keep the domain and write about whatever interests me. This will be my creative corner, where I can focus on the small things in life that make me happy. I'm excited about the possibilities.

I read 7 books in January, and I made reading a priority. When I'm reading, I'm doing something that I love and that's how I unwind. Books have always been my form of entertainment and I picked up some amazing reads. I'm not sure if I want to review all the books I've read or only the ones I loved. I'm still figuring out how I want to include books in this space. I've been using the app Forrest; you set a time and a tree will grow in your Forrest. I like to use this to track my reading time. You can also turn on deep focus, and if you touch your phone during that time it will kill your tree. It helps you not be distracted by your phone and I like seeing the progress.

The Canada Reads 2020 Shortlist announced, and I'm so excited about this battle of the books. I read 3 of the 5 books so far. From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle is the book I'm hoping to win. While I have two books left to read, I don't see myself changing my mind. That's how much I loved From The Ashes. If you don't know about Canada Reads, it's an annual competition that takes place over the course of 4 days. 5 books are shortlisted, 5 Canadian panellists debate why their book should win. This year the topic is "One book to bring focus into Canada."

Weather-wise it was pretty good here in Montreal, you never know what you're going to get in January. We didn't have much snowfall, and we didn't have many deep freeze days. Deep freeze days are the -30 degrees celsius in my book.  Our morning walks to school have been comfortable and enjoyable which I really do appreciate. The picture above was the sky one morning, and the clouds were so gorgeous. One mild morning, I was locking my front door and I could smell the trees, it was so comforting. My son even mentioned, "Mom, it smells like the woods." I live in a big city, but my heart belongs to my small town along the Gaspe coast.

I really want to continue with these monthly wrap-ups, I'll probably keep notes throughout the month as reminders. Often you think back on the month and think "nothing happened" but life did happen and it's nice to note the day to day stuff.