Friday Extras: Thanks, January

January, month of new beginnings, draws to a close. Here are some of the "extras" I've been thankful for this month:

Coffee+Scrabble+Family+Friends+playing and listening to Beatles songs = a super fun night at Dallas Does the Beatles this month.

Back-to-school time. I'm teaching a new class this semester, which is turning out to be lots of fun. And back-to-school also means new outfits.

New music! (on vinyl, too!)

Beautiful weather so sunny and warm it'd be a shame not to sip a latte on the balcony. January in Texas tends to have a few days of "pre-spring" before the temps dip back into normal winter levels. Today, things are returning to back to "normal," but I've definitely cherished these gorgeous, golden days we've had in the last week.

Also, it's Girl Scout cookie time. Those boxes are so tiny! Those cookies are so addictive!

I've had a lot of precious time this month to plan and read and settle into a new routine for the semester.

This month, I've enjoyed:

• My new blogging habit of writing 5 days a week. I've found that the more I write, the easier it is to write. 
• The time I've spent hanging out with old and new friends, having conversations about things deep and shallow, personal and universal, serious and funny. 
• Planning a new class, and meeting new students
• Making and eating hot, cozy comfort food
• Reading for fun
• Girl Scout Cookies and Lattes on the balcony
• Continuing to celebrate Epiphany -- just when I started to forget about that ongoing season of remembering Christ's incarnation, I found a bunch of pictures from Christmastime that I had completely forgotten:

Thanks, January. 2015 is off to a solid start!