February 2025 Life Updates
- ashey9111
- Feb 27
- 9 min read
Hello! February always feels like such a short month (I mean, it is the shortest) but it always feels extra short - maybe that's because January was really long this year. This blog post is my February 2025 Life Updates. What have Ashy, Benji, and Luke been up to this month?
Enjoy! #lifeupdates #lifestyle #valentinesday
Previous 2025 Life Updates (if you want to check out previous 2024 life updates, check out my "life updates" category page):
January 2025 Life Updates (9 min read)
PIN IT
February 2025 Life Updates
I'm starting this life updates post quite early in February because SOOOO much has happened and it's crazy.
We went to see Jack Whitehall's comedy show The Whitehall's Live and I was not expecting it to be SOOO funny. It was way better than I expected, but you'd know that if you're subscribed to my weekly newsletter email hehe. I did not expect Jack Whitehall to be making Diddy jokes or Kevin Spacey jokes or some of the crude ones he did and it worked because he was in Melbourne. Honestly, if you ever get a chance to see a comedy show like this one, I highly recommend it. It exceeded my expectations.
Our current lease was officially renewed for another year (it technically got renewed in December but this is when the year starts) and our rent went up, although not by very much. We spoke to someone who lives near us and takes their dog to the dog park for Benji to play with and they said their rent went up by $500 a month which is crazy to me.
One of my bestest friends back in CHCH "Panda" got married to his sweetheart at the start of February. I was very sad I wasn't able to go but also very happy for them. I believe they also went on their honeymoon to Fiji. We sent them a wedding present that I believed arrived today so hopefully they enjoy it.
We had our 6-monthly inspection and a tradie came to look at one of our leaking A/C units and he thinks there is a leak in the roof (I don't quite get how it works), and then we had a random tradie fix some of our balcony sealant AND the worst one was that one afternoon I was having a shower because I wanted to wash my hair and then when I got out, the hot water tap wouldn't turn off. It turned into a bit of a nightmare evening. We were told to turn out water metre off and we accidentally turned everyone's off (oops) and then when the PM rang me, she sent me on a wild goose chase looking for the water metres. I asked if it was the ones out the front and she said no, and then I sent a text about the gas ones, she said no. Anyway, the plumber came and stopped the water in the evening and came back and fixed it in the morning. He replaced the taps and now it's working great. And now we know that the water metre was the ones I thought in the first place that I had been told weren't. Apparently, none of us were expected to know where they were LOL. Ironically, I've been spotting water metres in other people's houses on daily walks. I don't like not having water - I can deal with just cold water but no water triggers the 2011 earthquakes back in CHCH for me. 6 weeks with no shower was a long time, but at least I was a teenager so being greasy was normal.
In addition to all the rental stuff above, on the 19th of Feb, we got an email/call to say we're getting a new Property Manager (PM) because our current one was changing properties so that was odd, I've never had that happen before.
So I can't remember which life updates I posted it in or if it was just in an email but I did buy a new gaming chair from JB HiFi and was waiting a month for it to arrive only to be told that it wasn't coming at all, the item had been deleted (dw, I got a refund) so now I feel really sad that my new gaming chair isn't coming and have to look for another one. It looks like there are some cheaper ones on Temple & Webster so I might check them out but we'll see. I'm just so fussy but I do think a gaming chair is the way to go with how long I sit when I'm writing.
I've been struggling with IBS symptoms a bit more with regards to taking iron again and lots of unexplained dizziness (although I have a feeling that's caused by my reflux meds). So next time I see my doctor, I'm going to ask her about all that. Sometimes I wonder if I have IBD and IBS because every time I get a blood test, something is inflamed and they've never been able to pinpoint it. But again, I'm not a medical professional so I won't diagnose myself, it's just a suspicion/speculation. If I take my meds with food, it's a bit more tolerable and it's all a lot more tolerable than last time.
My 2nd blog was officially launched (well at the end of Jan but ya know). Make sure you check out www.eatswithash.com. It's slowly coming together.
The YouTube videos I put out are as follows: Weekly Vlog: Launching my 2nd blog + deep cleaning the house // VLOG: Bunnings, Blogging & Bites // We Followed Randonautica and Found THIS?! // Benji's Gotcha Day Vlog. I would love it if you checked them out!!
The Freaky Friday Files I put out are as follows: The Burnt Toast Theory // The Dead Internet Theory // The Disappearance of Brian Shaffer and I'm not sure if I'll get to one tomorrow but I'll add it in here if I do manage.
The books I have read are as follows: 1. The Never Game - Jeffrey Deaver 2. The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman 3. How to Talk to Anyone - Leil Lowdnes 4. The Visitor - Lee Child (#4 Jack Reacher) 5. The Housemaid - Freida McFadden You can check out my February 2025 book reviews "here".
We tried some novelty hot cross bun flavours that you can get in Australia. These were Caramilk, Biscoff, Fairy Bread, Wagon Wheels, and Vegemite. I loved the caramilk ones and the vegemite ones just tasted like yeast. Check out my "Easter Cadbury Caramilk Hot Cross Buns Review" on eatswithash. I think the only ones I would go out of my way to eat again would be the Caramilk and Wagon Wheels because the chocolate ones are great.
Benji started back at obedience school! He's doing good. I always feel like I'm in the way if I go as the trainers don't like it when you have two people there and I've never been made to feel comfortable, like the first few times they just got mad at me so Luke takes Benji and I think it's good for them to bond. Benji did an assessment to see if he could go from class 1 to class 2 but he didn't go up yet so still a few things to work on.
We celebrated Luke's mum's birthday with a dinner at Okami and a Strawberry and Chocolate Cake. It's interesting to me that lots of people get cake every single birthday every single year. I only times I ever got cake for big events or if I had a party. Like I remember having a cake for my 5th birthday, a cake where I had a picnic party, and a 16th birthday cake but I don't think I got cake other times. I'm not a big cake person anyway, I would probably prefer a brownie tbh. Maybe that's to do with growing up not super rich or being an only child (although stereotypically, only children are spoilt rotten). We did get 2 cakes for my birthday last year to turn 29, but I was kinda disappointed in them. But anyway, maybe this year I can get the cake I want and not have to worry about dietary restrictions, I just don't like when people miss out.
We finally played Randonautica and it wasn't as scary as I thought. Check out my thoughts in the blog post about it "here" and watch the vlog if you have time, it's worth it.
SAVE TO PINTEREST
One day I was making smashed avo on toast and I just wanted one poached egg to go on top, but I ended up getting an egg with a double yolk so I thought that was random. Update on this - from the same egg packet, Luke also opened two other eggs that had a double yolk. So we had 3 double yolk eggs. Apparently, getting a double yolk is a 1/1000 chance, so that was pretty crazy.
For Valentine's Day, Luke got me a few surprises - sunflowers, chocolates, a teddy bear, ice cream maker, and tarts from Tarts Anon. We went out for dinner in the city to Ludlow, which was delish! On the train home, we saw this random guy who answered his phone and he was swearing and these other people on the train just started laughing and it deescalated the whole situation and made it so funny. And then I made eye contact with the person laughing and we all started laughing again. If I ever see that lady again, we'll be able to bond over the weird swearing guy on the train HAHAH.
We celebrated Benji's Gotcha Day on the 18th February - 1 whole year with Benji Bear. He was spoilt with some treats and had a play in the playground at the park LOL. We also got him a new bed, and took him to the corgi cafe in Brunswick called "Augies Place".
Benji also spent some time at his favourite dog park Kingsford, down in Glenroy (such nice dog park) and he ended up digging and eating some of the gravel while we were down there and 8 hours later, he was busting for the bathroom and was passing it. I was a bit terrified at first until I realised what had happened and thankfully it didn't take too long for it to get back to normal. Wish my guts were like that sometimes hehe.
My psychologist wants me to try a new therapy technique called EMDR to help process trauma from my past which we're going to start next session and every time I hear that, I just think of the show Severance because of the department being called MDR (that's not a spoiler).
TV Shows that I have been enjoying are season 2 of The Recruit, Reacher season 3, and Severance obviously. I'm also still waiting for the rest of Tracker season 2 to drop on Disney+ but it hasn't arrived yet. Speaking of Disney+, they went up in price! From $18 AUD to $20.99, stupid inflation. It used to only be $14 and I thought that was the cheapest streaming service lol. And apparently they're adding ads LOL.
TV Shows that Luke and I have been watching together have been QI, Nevermind the Buzzcocks (yes, still), Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and Penn and Teller: Fool Us. We also finished I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. I was sad that Reggie didn't win, but the winner was still deserving nonetheless. I also found out that they film multiple endings to reality shows so that people can leave earlier so the finale wasn't really "live" at all LOL.
I made mango sorbet in the ice cream maker. You can check out the recipe "here." And yay for another 2025 goal ticked off!! My next goal is to make chocolate ice cream!
As many of you know, I've got a lot of health issues and struggle with anxiety so sometimes I find it hard to leave the house because I worry about things like "oh, what if I faint?" or "what if something happens to me?" so I've been trying to force myself to leave the house a bit more.
There was a random skip outside our house for a while and I was confused at first, but it turns out some people were moving out so that's what it was for.
Luke had a reverse raffle fundraiser for his cricket club and he won a bottle of wine and I came 3rd and won a cash prize (we also won last year too - a meat pack and a cash prize) so that was pretty cool to win! I didn't go myself as I was looking after Benji but I like winning stuff. Maybe I should enter more competitions. I believe Luke's got his last cricket game for the season this Saturday so hopefully we'll be able to spend a bit more time together.
We finally went to the Pawfect Treats shop in Glenroy and they were so nice there they gave us so much free stuff, we will definitely be going back!
Last night I headed out to my old haunt Richmond to get dinner at Fonda with one of my friends and on the way back, well, the trains were delayed and then there were alleged trespassers at some of the stations so Luke ended up coming to pick me up from the city so I got home much later than anticipated.
Tomorrow Luke is heading out to a board games night with some of his uni mates so tonight and tomorrow will just be Benji and I at home.
Things I'm looking forward to in March
The new technique my psychologist is going to try
Being able to spend more time with Luke as there will be less cricket
Sam Pang's TV show starting
Reading more books
Making more types of ice cream with my ice cream maker
Working on all my content, my blogs, my YouTube, and other social media
The start of the Melbourne Comedy Festival (so far we've booked for Sammy Jay and Gillian Cosgriff)
Thanks for reading this month's life updates
Ash x
PIN FOR LATER
Comentarios