I have to say that it’s the strangest thing to me that we’re already transitioning into February. There are so many great things happening in 2016 that I find myself saying, “Is it summer yet? Can it be July already?” when really, January went by in a flash. (Speaking of which, anyone else obsessed with The Flash? I’m getting hooked!)

February has me excited for a couple of things. I’m looking forward to being with my family for Super Bowl Sunday, which I admit to loving for the snackage and for the awesome commercials for M&Ms, Doritos, and Budweiser. I’m looking forward to finishing a round of edits within the next two weeks. I’m looking forward to the coming wave of books that have been on my list for a while, most notably Krystal Wade’s Asleep and Victoria Aveyard’s Glass Sword. And for Valentines Day, I may just order a pizza, throw on my Wolverine blanket, and spend the day watching 500 Days of Summer, featuring my true love, Zooey Deschanel.

On the subject of Valentines Day, has anyone heard of the Locks of Love (I know them better as “i luchetti d’amore”) throughout the world? Google this term and look at the pictures sometime. I’m absolutely mesmerized by the photographs of the bridges on which couples inscribe their initials on a padlock, lock it, and throw away the key. In Paris, so many of these locks accumulated that they collapsed a bridge. Somehow I’m just barely finding out about this. Cooler still, there is a Taiwanese legend that dubs these as “wish locks”. In Fengyuan, these locks are attached to an overpass, and the superstition says that the passing train’s magnetic field will imbue the padlocks with enough energy to fulfill the wishes. I think I’d rather just blow out a birthday candle, but I have to admit, a wish lock is a pretty cool concept…

One of my characters particularly loves this Song of the Week, and I think it’s entirely appropriate to use for the beginning of February. Thank you to my friend Alicia for introducing me to this song!

Happy February to you!