This month was intended to be a quiet February at home — and for the most part, that was what it was. A nice, low-key period to build my energy reserves before beginning a busy year of travel.
But then the best thing happened — Lewis the cat started crawling into my lap. And it was SO good.
Table of Contents
Destinations Visited
- Prague and Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Highlights
A major breakthrough with Lewis. After five years of living with us, Lewis has started climbing into my lap. And I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have him show me so much love.
I sit on the couch and Lewis climbs on the shelf behind it, then starts climbing down my chest. He sticks his butt in my face (that part is not as fun) and kneads my legs for awhile, then he turns around, sits on my lap, and kneads my belly. Then sometimes he just stays, putting his paws on me and looking deep into my eyes.
This is so wild and unusual, especially since Lewis has always loved Charlie the most and he often shrinks away when I try to pet him. But now he loves me.
Best of all? He’s been doing this almost every day. All I have to do is sit on the sofa and he’ll be climbing on me in no time.
My first zabijačka! A zabijačka is a Czech pork roast that takes place in February. They butcher whole animals and serve every part of it, nose-to-tail, which is super sustainable but makes for some adventurous eating! (I had some bread topped with pig brain and scrambled eggs. It was good.)
I feel like many of you would be put off by a zabijačka, in part because they usually hang the pig carcass or head outside the event, but this is a very Czech event that teaches you so much about the culture here.
All the nonalcoholic beers! Charlie and I are on a 75-day sober period from January 1-March 16. Before Valentine’s Day this year, I had never tried a nonalcoholic beer in my life — I usually just get a sparkling water. But I tried a nonalcoholic beer at the zabijačka, and I was shocked what a difference it made.
Nonalcoholic beers makes it feel like I’m actively participating, not being the token sober person — and they don’t alter my mind at all. What an achievement. In the last few weeks, I’ve now tried six different nonalcoholic beers, from options at microbreweries to Guinness 0.0, and I’m thrilled at how good they are!
A day trip to Hradec Králové. Charlie and I were in the mood for a day trip, and people always say good things about Hradec Králové, a town just over an hour’s drive away.
It’s a nice little town! You can climb to the top of the bell tower, stroll along the river, enjoy some parks, and eat at a variety of restaurants. I had the impression that Hradec Králové values taking good care of its town. A lot of what we saw felt new and refreshed, and there was even a covered staircase that pumped in classical music!
I wouldn’t name Hradec one of the best day trips from Prague, but it’s definitely a pleasant day trip if you’ve been living here for awhile.
Our first outdoor coffee of the year. The weather warmed up JUST enough to get a few coffees while sitting outdoors — and what a pleasure it is, after the coldest winter I’ve ever experienced here.
Good times in Prague. I visited the Museum of Communism for the first time (SO MANY PARALLELS TO THE US GOVERNMENT TODAY); we saw a wonderful performance of Our Town by the Prague Shakespeare Company; we found a new restaurant we love (Sensa). I still love living here.
And I bought a sewing machine! I’m excited to start some new projects.
Challenges
There was a scary incident with Murray this month. I had bought some skincare products at the new Korean skincare shop at the Palladium Mall, and after bringing them home, I put them in my cabinet.
Except for a free sampler packet of a serum. Which I didn’t discover until I found Murray chewing the packet, the serum leaking out of the holes his teeth had punctured. (Of COURSE he was chewing it — it was shaped like a Churu.)
I immediately freaked out, especially once I googled and found out some ingredients in that serum are toxic to cats. But because it was such a small amount and he was acting normally, I decided to just keep a close eye on him.
And he was fine. I was told to wash the area around his mouth, give him water and food, and watch for drooling, vomiting, and weakness in his back legs. Well, Murray got a lot of Churu that night, served up high so he would always stand on his back legs.
Overall, Murray showed zero symptoms, and while I’m incredibly grateful, I’m also devastated that I could have seriously harmed my beloved cat. Especially when I’m so careful about keeping toxic items out of their reach.
My advice to pet owners is to put those free samples somewhere your animals can’t reach as soon as you get home. Honestly, I don’t even LIKE the free samplers, but they always give them to you, and it feels like a waste to throw them away…
Posts of the Month
- What’s it really like to travel to Madagascar?
- A Typical Day on a Star Clippers Caribbean Cruise
- Star Clippers Grenadines Review: A Royal Clipper Adventure
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I visited 13 Caribbean islands this winter. Which ones were the best? — I needed to do a post about the whole trip that fit together! I really enjoyed my time in the Caribbean, and feel like I know so much more about the region now.
What I Watched This Month
The Pitt. Are you as obsessed with The Pitt as I am? Is this the most addicting show ever?!
Anyway. Season two has arrived, less than a year after season one ended (please do more of that, TV executives!), and it dives even deeper into the awful conditions caused by the US healthcare system, and the impossible choices that healthcare workers are forced to make each day. It’s SO good.
In other news, I finished watching Better Call Saul this month, many years after the series concluded. I’ll just say one non-spoiler thing: it was SO REFRESHING to watch a show about a middle-aged man who respects his partner SO much.
He doesn’t say one bad word about her behind her back, ever. He doesn’t denigrate her publicly or privately. He doesn’t let the chores piles up for her. He respects her brilliance and sees her as an equal. And he even keeps that up as he’s pulled deeper into the criminal world.
That is so rare. And it shouldn’t be.
What I Listened To This Month
I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which I am enjoying immensely. I am loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve somehow missed my entire life until now!
In February, I listened to albums number 135-113.
Favorite Discovery: This Year’s Model by Elvis Costello. I’ve never really listened to Elvis Costello before, but I really enjoyed this album, which sounds like a rock & roll throwback even for when it was released, in the late 70s. A fun album and a great listen for walking or driving.
Other Favorite Discoveries: Hejira by Joni Mitchell, Disintegration by The Cure.
Favorite Revisited Album: good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar. This is Kendrick’s first major label album, and it announced him as the unparalleled new artist.
good kid is a concept album — it tells the story of a teenage boy living in Compton, a good kid who nonetheless feels himself being pulled into crime. It takes place in a single afternoon and is told in a nonlinear way.
Kendrick grabs his mom’s van. He and his friends rob a house. His friend is killed. And he realizes he needs to break away from the cycle of violence and create a better life for himself.
This album contains what I consider the saddest hip-hop song ever written, which always brings tears to my eyes — “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst.” It’s told by Kendrick’s peers, who know instinctively that they’re going to die young, but they want him to sing about them when they’re gone.
Other Favorite Revisited Albums: Late Registration by Kanye West, The Joshua Tree by U2.
Favorite Songs: “Money Trees” by Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock, “Little Red Corvette” by Prince, “Pump It Up” by Elvis Costello, “We Major” by Kanye West, Nas, and Really Doe, “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2, “Fu-Gee-La” by the Fugees, “Amelia” by Joni Mitchell, “I’m the Only Woman” by Mary J. Blige, “Lovesong” by The Cure, “B-Boy Bouillabaisse: A Year and a Day” by the Beastie Boys.
Get the playlist: I’m creating a playlist of my favorite songs from the 500 albums — maximum one per album — on Spotify. You can listen to it here.
Random Music Thoughts: As we get down into the final 100 albums, I am SO glad that I decided to do this challenge. I can’t tell you how much of a positive impact this project has had on my life. At this point, it looks like I’ll finish in June or July of this year.
*Disclaimer: QUITE A LOT of the musicians featured on this list are problematic in various ways — there’s even a murderer in the mix. I’m looking at their music solely from an influential perspective.
What I Read This Month
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (2024) — Forty years ago, Carl Fletcher, the patriarch of a wealthy Jewish family in Long Island, was kidnapped and held for ransom. While he was released mostly unharmed five years later, the family’s inability to deal with the trauma has had a debilitating effect on all three of his children.
One of his sons attempted to replicate his family’s life and lives with paralyzing anxiety. Another son, a failed screenwriter, is careening through sex and drug addiction. His daughter, a contrarian disgusted by her family’s wealth, has thrown herself into union organizing. And then a major change happens to their lives and things intensify.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. It’s one of my favorite novels I’ve read in quite some time, and I can’t recommend it more highly. I really love deep dives into dysfunctional families, and this one is just so rich with so many well-drawn, specific characters.
There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone (2025) — This book reveals what it’s like for the working homeless people of America. We have images in our minds of homeless people being in that position due to mental illness or addiction, but the truth is so much more bleak than that.
The actual number of homeless people in America is about six times higher than the official reported numbers. Why? They don’t count people who are temporarily crashing with family, or staying at an extended-stay motel. But a lot of people end up in these situations because there is literally no housing that they can afford or that will accept them.
This book focuses on five families living in Atlanta. They adults all work. But between bad credit, evictions on record, and the fact that Atlanta is gentrifying at a lightning-fast rate, so few landlords accept Section 8 vouchers, and there are so few housing protections in the mostly red state of Georgia, people fall through the cracks fast.
This book is the spiritual sibling of Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, a book that hits many of the same themes (and was one of my favorite books of the year when it came out). I recommend you all give it a read.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Quilting by Laura Erlich (1998) — I’m learning a bit about quilting, and though this book is pretty old-fashioned, it was nice to get all the steps laid out in order in a way that complements the modern resources I’m finding online.
Coming Up in March 2026
The month began with a three-day visit to Berlin for the ITB travel show. I go to this event every now and then, but this might have been the best year yet, with lots of great networking and fun times with my blogger buds.
Up next is Charlie’s birthday trip! We’re going to southwest France with a few of our friends!
The main event of the trip is eating at Les Grands Buffets, an incredible buffet of fine French food that is somehow ridiculously good value for money. (Just look it up on Instagram or YouTube and you’ll see why people are nuts about this place.)
We are starting our trip with a day and a night in Toulouse, followed by Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne, then two nights in Montpellier, then flying home from Marseille.
While I’ve been to France more often than almost any other country (except Italy and the UK), I have never been to France’s southwest, and I’m excited to explore a new region in a country I love. I’m also excited to Eat All Of The Things.
What are your plans for March? Share away!
The post AK Monthly Recap: February 2026 appeared first on Adventurous Kate.
