My February photo recap is a mix of casual snapshots and tidbits from my life, mostly shot through my camera phone.

I skipped last month’s recap because January is basically the Monday of months and not much happened, except for a fun weekend trip to San Diego and THIS passion fruit gin cocktail situation:

But February was all about WERK, honey. And several lunches that were thrown together in 5 minutes and eaten at my desk in 2 minutes, like this current vegan favorite: rice cakes with smashed avocado, sliced tomatoes and micro greens (plus a drizzle of olive oil, flaky sea salt and crushed red pepper flakes, because you know I had to doctor it up a little).

But no complaints here, no sir. Because what I get to call work mainly involves coming up with yummy recipes like this S’mores Latte,

and making yummy things for my clients, like Nutella Cheesecake and Raspberry Rhubarb Cobbler,

and receiving yummy samples in the mail to try out in my recipes, like when Manitoba Harvest sent me ALL the hemp hearts last week. Seriously, hemp hearts for life. You’d better believe there will be some hemp fueled recipes coming to the blog very soon!

Also, the weather in Santa Barbara has been warm and sunny and just phenomenal, so a good deal of my desk/computer work took place in the backyard, where the ideal selfie lighting makes me prone to distractions.

Also distraction inducing/intoxicating is the aroma from the orange blossoms that are about to pop right outside my office door.

It wasn’t all work and no play, though. Especially lately as life seems to get busier and crazier and super adult-ish in general, I’ve realized the importance of balance and taking time to be in the moment. So there were also a couple of lovely hikes and sunrise beach walks,

and donuts (always donuts)- fancy schmancy ones from Sidecar!

and a belated Valentine’s Day date/day trip to Los Angeles where we attempted to visit The Broad Museum…

but since the line was literally around the corner we hopped over to MOCA instead. It was great.

And so was brunch at Otium, nestled right in between the two museums. There was pork belly and house cured smoked salmon and crispy potatoes with aleppo pepper creme fraiche, and pretty ceramic plates and a really nice margarita that went down quite smoothly. All you could ever want as far as brunching goes.

What else am I forgetting…? A CAT PIC!! February had lots of kitty pics and even more kitty cuddles, which is by far my favorite part of any month.

What was your favorite part of February? What are you looking forward to the most for March? I’m looking forward to an extra hour of daylight, even though it means adjusting to waking up early, because it also means an extra hour for good food photography lighting, early evening walks and eating dinner outside!