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February 2026
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What filled your glass this month, Subscriber?
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February has been a doozy, let me tell you. I cannot decide if it dragged on or flew by. It was kind of both. There were times that February felt like it was never going to end. However, it was also PACKED with so much that I went from "When will this month be over?" to "How is it the first Wednesday of March?!".
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February's bizarre time zone aside, I have some very very exciting news to share. I teased this last month in the "Behind the Cobwebs" section of this email, but didn't want to announce it until I knew for sure it was actually happening. And it's happening!
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You get to be the first to hear that I am self-publishing a children's book! Yup! Yup! It will drop in time for Be Kind to Spiders week THIS April. I will post an official blog announcement on March 13th during Save a Spider Day. Honestly, I should have probably given myself more time, but as an Aries, I am personally notorious for bailing on long-term deadlines. This short-term time frame works so much better to ensure I actually get things done. Many many thanks to my husband and editors for putting up with these aggressively last-minute deadlines. If you want to know more and see some samples of what will be inside the book, you can check out "what I'm weaving behind the cobwebs" below. If you want it to be a surprise, I would recommend skipping that section and just check out the blog on March 13th!
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If you are interested in the rest of my random gossip, you'll have to keep scrolling. But before you continue...you didn't forget to pour your own glass of boos, did you? Let's raise it to an exciting month ahead.
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Life Occurrences & Creative Ventures— February 2026
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Although this month seemed to drag on, at the same time it felt rather full and nonstop. I was invited to the Winchester Mystery House for a very exclusive media-only event, hosted an intimate winter-themed tea party, survived two back-to-back three day holiday weekends with my littles, continued my mommy dates with my little ones, and ran out of unemployment benefits. Bleh.
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That last one was extremely unexpected and I am now rushing to find some sort of work that will bring in some income to supplement, but not totally upend our home routine. I feel like we were just getting into a rhythm again too, so this is a minor set-back. Fortunately, it's not completely negative as I have had two very promising interviews in the past week with two other offers pending on the workplaces' needs.
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Speaking of Mommy dates, this month included visits to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History and the MBARI Exploration Center. Our third Friday was spent enjoying time doing things with our hands. We played "Happy Little Dinosaur" then brought out sketchbooks while I worked on my own book and it was delightful. Since we took a business trip with my husband in the middle of last week, I decided to skip the final Friday and give my littles some time enjoying the backyard. Once the husband got home, he took over so I could finish my book
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February Highlight:
Private Séance with Patti Negri
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The game day prediction experience was so amazing, and the evening wrapped up with a very intimate seance following the prediction.
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Guests were invited to the twin dinning rooms for a chance to connect with past loved ones. Due to the very intimate nature of this portion, I decided to keep this a Gossamer Gossip exclusive. Check it out by clicking on the button below!
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February Highlight:
Dinner Date with Spooky
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I have been looking forward to this evening since we marked the calendar with it. As fun as conventions and markets can be, intimate times with spooky friends is always the best. It was such a wonderful time, however brief, and no, of course we didn't have three mai tais...I just couldn't take a decent picture. 👻
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Did you know that Spooky currently calls Minnesota home? With everything happening in her state, she had dedicated all profits of her 2024 magazine to her local food banks. Purchase a copy to do a little good in a state hurting a lot.
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Our cryptid episode featured the Lizard Man. This was such a fun cryptid to learn about and I am genuinely considering planning a trip to the Lizard Man Stomp festival after what Erick shared.
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Our next episode will release on St. Patrick's Day's coattails. We will be returning with our "Questions from the Beyond" segment where we answer audience questions. You can reply to this email or email contact@sipsnspirits.com to submit your questions.
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Mood Check
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Older Goodies for my Gossips
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I gain too much pleasure from loading these emails full of random toasts and teasers. However, I understand email newcomers may have missed out on something here or there. As such, there is a special page to explore, exclusive to my email subscribers. It is filled with all the goodies I have tucked away in emails since 2024, in addition to an email archive of past newsletters.
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Use the password: GossamerGossiper
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What I'm Weaving Behind the Cobwebs
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A little before the final week of January, I proposed the idea of creating a children's book in honor of Be Kind to Spiders week to my husband. I asked him if he thought this was an overly ambitious idea or one he thought I could actually pull off. Don't put two Aries together to be realistic about an idea because he green-lit the project and I was off to work!
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Cover and Title Page Design
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This whole project has been a month full of new experiences. I've never written or illustrated a children's book before, although it has been on my wish list for quite some time. I had to decide how I wanted to storyboard, if I wanted it to be a rhyming story, what exactly the story was about, how I wanted to illustrate and how I would compose those illustrations to make it engaging and compelling for families. And that was just the creative side of it! The actual publishing part included learning about ISBNs, how to submit my book to the Library of Congress if I wanted to do that, deciding between using a print-on-demand service like KDP or Barnes and Nobles or going with a legit book printer with custom options, creating a manuscript in InDesign and MORE.
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Jumping Spider progression
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I thought just the writing and illustrating was going to be the hardest part, but nope. Apparently, there are a LOT of pieces to getting a book out into the world. And also the main reason this newsletter is a week late. To ensure this book releases on time, I had to get EVERYTHING done by the end of February. And I did. Well, sort of. Here I am, fingers crossed that my proof copy turns out ok. But it's already been flagged three times by the printed with errors. Ugh!
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Two-page spread from story
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Still, all the new aside, I'm actually rather thrilled over all the new skills I have garnered from this experience! From artistic means to file preparation to even learning how to create an eBook! What a flurry of a month it has been. I cannot wait to officially release this. And if you're interested in getting your hands on this book in person, I will be vending it the first weekend of May (more details coming soon). If you're not California-based, no worries! I will be reopening my online store and will list these on release day too.
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Want to be a part of my book launch team?
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If there is one thing I suck at, it is marketing myself. I am looking for help with promoting my book by giving early access to the eBook for reviewing. If you choose to join my book launch team, you will receive updates on the book launch, printable activities, and a chance to win a FREE physical copy of my book. More details will come in an email after March 13th. If you are interested, please join the list by clicking on the button.
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