February 2026, Annotated
Welcome to Ammie Annotated, a closer read on the life of a small business owner, art journaler, queer cutie, book lover, and enthusiastic Instagram story poster. In this free issue, I’m sharing what I’ve been up to this month plus everything I’m loving, planning, and recommending lately. If you love this, consider joining the paid tier for even more. Thank you to the paid subscribers who make it possible for me to keep this space thoughtful, personal, and running.
👩🎨 Creative
While January was about consuming art, February has been struggling to create it. I’m a couple weeks behind in my Hobonichi Cousin but I’m not too bothered. I’ll catch up this weekend. Or not! (Editor’s note, I did not.)
In 2023, I got really into puzzles, or at least, buying them. I thought I could just jump into 1,000 pieces and this puzzle in particular broke me. I’m still scared to get it out of the box. While on my Winter Break, puzzles started calling to me again and I wisely dipped my toe back in with a couple 500 piecers. I won’t let myself buy another puzzle until I finish a couple on my shelf, so I’ve been hacking away at Winner, Winner for a couple weeks now. It’s keeping me off my phone. It’s scratching that creative problem solving itch. It’s bringing me so much joy. I do worry our coffee table will just have a permanent puzzle attached to it, but as long as Elaine’s fine with it…!
I’m in that weird limbo between work trips where I feel like I can’t start a big project even though I absolutely can. It’s the same feeling of having a 3pm doctor’s appointment therefore you can’t make any plans or run any errands. You must simply sit at home and worry about being late to the appointment. That’s not just me, right? I have promised myself I will bring back Word of the Year mugs this month (but with a redesign) so that’s my main goal for February. Get that design nailed down and samples made so you can place an order!
What’s your word of the year?
📚 Reading
I’ve only gotten 2 books down so far this year. One was great and one was boring. I just don’t enjoy old people main characters. I’m sorry! No Ove or Frederick Fife or Murder Clubs or Bright Creatures (though I did like that one) for me, please.
The book I read and loved so far this month was Unprecedented Times by Malavika Kannan and I have a whole reading vlog dedicated to it if you’re interested!
My book club read The Road to Tender Hearts this month and all in all, I really enjoyed it, despite what I just said about old people main characters. We also did our annual Book Swap/White Elephant- an old December tradition we moved to February so we could all have something to look forward to. I brought the latest Kevin Wilson, Run For The Hills (a 5 star read for me) and I left with Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Long Island Compromise. Fun fact, Fleishman is in Trouble is the first book I read after a stress induced month’s long reading slump in the early months of the pandemic. I think because of that, I’ve been looking forward to picking up Long Island Compromise but a little wary.
🍿 Watching
My Letterbox has been getting a workout this year. I love going to the movies or putting a movie on while I’m working on the couch and here’s a run down of what I’ve seen so far this year:
Sweethearts on HBO Max (5 stars)- I watched this movie at the end of December while I was home sick and editing a virtual workshop. I knew Elaine would love it, so I made her watch it on New Years while we were playing Rummikub. I’m a big fan of Caleb Hearon and Cranford, New Jersey and those two really shined in this movie. Bonus, watch Kiernan and Nico be charming and hot on So True.
Marty Supreme in theaters (4 stars)- My Letterbox review says “Timmy’s mouth is always a lil open”. Penn (of Teller) was great! I’m tired of Kevin O’Leary making the rounds on my podcasts! I want to have (biblically) and also be Odessa A’zion! I respect the color orange! That mostly sums up the movie for me. Glad we saw it, hope to never have to see it again.
Eternity in theaters (5 stars)- A delight! I have complicated feelings on Miles Teller (is he hot? I mean, of course he is, but is he Hot?) but I love Elizabeth Olson (see previous Odessa feelings) and I loved this purgatory love triangle. Plus, I’ll do anything for John Early and I hope Da’vine Joy Randolph gets everything she could possibly want in this world. I googled the English boy mid movie to find he’s Dula Peep’s betrothed. Cute!
Wake Up Dead Man on Netflix (3.5 stars)- My nail tech and friend, Paola, loves Josh O’Connor, and I admit, I first gave a very Arrested Development response to this info (“Her?”) but after a couple Youtube deep dives of this boy (he’s a journaler! He has a favorite glue!! He collects pottery!) I can firmly say I’m on the O’Connor train. Plus, I LOVED Challengers. I leaned over to Elaine during Challengers and said, “This is my favorite movie! Also, how does tennis work?” She smiled politely instead of telling me to stop talking during the movie. Oh, right, I’m supposed to be talking about Dead Man. Listen, I love a hot priest (I don’t have time to get started on Fleabag. Your browser/app/email/whatever you’re consuming this on will explode.) and a stacked cast and Rian Johnson, but I despite enjoying it, I will never remember this movie or probably watch it again.1 May I instead recommend my favorite, The Brother’s Bloom.2 Additionally, I wish they’d let actors keep their accents when it just doesn’t matter, re: Josh and Andrew Scott.
People We Meet On Vacation on Netflix (3 stars? 4?) I will never forget my reading experience of PWMOV. It was my second Emily Henry (A Million Junes was my first- read on the beach on my 30th birthday) and I was excited to continue the vacation reading vibe. It was 2021, I was in the pool at the Ace Palm Springs and when I realized the book was set in Palm Springs, I squealed.3 I reread the book last year in preparation of the movie, and I gotta say- I would have fared better not doing that. As a romcom, the movie is a solid 4. As a faithful adaptation, the movie is a 2.
The Housemaid in theaters (3 stars)- I read the book a few days before so I could see the movie and honestly, that book gets a lot of shit, and sure! It’s bad! But I’ve read so much worse. I thought the movie was fine but I felt like there were a lot of nods to things just mentioned in the book that probably didn’t make sense to someone who had not read it. For instance, she gets out of the room and says, “I need a fucking sandwich.” How amazing would it have been if they included like 3 seconds of her living out of her car lamenting how she could not eat another sandwich. I think I’m being too critical, but when in Rome (writing my own Substack).
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in theaters (5 stars)- As you can imagine, this movie was huge for me from 2004-2009, so when The Plaza (the coolest, oldest theater in Atlanta) posted about showing it, I was sooooo ready. And extra excited because they offer a ton of popcorn seasoning for free at concessions, and that’s the easiest way to my heart. The movie is perfect: sad, weird, messy, funny, and heartbreaking. I think I smiled the whole time.
The Moment in theaters (5 stars)- Elaine and I continued our Friday afternoon Valentine’s date tradition at the movies and getting mall Chinese after. I LOVED Charli xcx’s fake-ish documentary about the brat tour. It’s so funny and cool and I didn’t know that guy was Alexander Skarsgård until the end. Bonus, one of my favorite comedians, Richard Perez, plays the gay assistant. The Moment has reignited brat for me, as well as playing party 4 u 2-29 times a day. You know what, let me go ahead and queue that up.
Lightning Round:
Winner while working in my Hobonichi. Bit of a bummer!! America, please!! Zach Galifianakis, please!!
Model Comedian, Caleb Hearon’s hour on HBO Max. I can listen to him talk about anything.
A Sense of Urgency, George Civeris’s hour on Amazon. George is one of my best friends who only vaguely knows I exist. Add his podcast, Stratiolab, to your rotation.
The Spectacular Now while puzzling. What was that? Okay…James? (Filmed in Athens, Georgia, though, so that ruled.)
🎧 Listening
When I’m not listening to party 4 u, I’m spending a lot of time with MUNA. They just released a new single that I looooove.
🍴 Eating
We’ve had a fun new change to our schedule kick in this week that has required going to the grocery store intentionally and, gulp, meal planning. Elaine made this on Sunday and it’s good! I don’t know if she doubled (tripled) the garlic or what, but if you make it, make sure you have some gum for any after lunch meetings.
We’re planning on making this tonight (I’ll report back):
And it’s on my list to make tuna salad once we run out of our other lunch. My tuna salad recipe is just vibes unfortunately. Kewpie mayo, mustard, onion, broccoli, red pepper, jalapeños, pickles, banana peppers. I’m sure there is something else I’m missing. I’ll also report back on that if you need me to, lol.
🛍️ Shopping
I’ve been trying not to mindlessly buy things lately (is that true??) but there are a few recommendations I’ve got plus a few things on my wish list. The Amazon links are affiliate but the Sephora ones aren’t because I simply have no idea how to do that.
Shocking no one, I’m about to talk about puzzles. I promise I am still cool. This lamp is super handy and this mat allows me to roll up and store WIP puzzles when Elaine needs our coffee table back. I got the 1,000 piece one (it’s kinda huge) and I have it sitting on top of an old puzzle board (glorified cardboard) so I can rotate it with ease. Don’t throw away that foam roll that it comes with. Ask me how I know! Oh, I also could not puzz without puzzle trays. I like these.
I’m dying for a trip to Sephora. I’m out of a lot of things and I really want some new blush, my favorite part of my makeup routine. I want to try the new Milk concealer (I’ve been using Dior Backstage for a few years and I’m ready for something lighter, though that concealer is gorgeous) and I need to re-buy this Nars liquid blush. The employee who suggested it to me described it as looking like you just ran through a meadow and I couldn’t agree more. It’s pretty sheer, so I add two dots per cheek and tap it in with my fingers instead of using a brush. I also love Sephora’s blush and Fascinated4 is my fave. It’s a bright orange that you think you can’t pull off but I think it’s super flattering. Also on sale! Do you have a contour you like? Let me know!
Lastly, I recently had my friend Gabi come to the studio and take some pictures for my upcoming rebrand and website overhaul. I got a lot of messages about my shoes so I’m linking them here! They are surprisingly comfortable.
✍️ Journaling
I’ve been away from my journal for a couple of weeks (I’m not going to say the p word!!) but I’m still loving the practice of balancing fun and mundanity in my weekly spreads and daily pages. A true creative diary and place to hold all my memories, even if it’s just an illustration of a conversation with my nephew where I tell him something and he responds, “oh durn”.
You can see January here:
Side note- do you like the dual camera view? I’m protective of this format because it’s how I first began sharing my journal and I don’t see others using it. I think it’s more engaging than hands-and-pans style, but it does take a while to edit. If you like it I’ll keep doing it. If you don’t care, I guess I’ll just keep the view mostly hands? Lemme know!
Okay, I’m off to edit Friday’s Youtube video where I go through my 2026 Journaling Ecosystem5. Hope you’re having a great day and taking care of yourself. Let’s both take a long sip of water right now….Did you do it?6
Talk soon!
Ammie
P.s. this is the free issue of Ammie Annotated, something I’m trying out this year. If you liked it, you’ll love the stuff that’s behind the paywall, just saying! Also feel free to share with a friend who may enjoy this issue!
Is this because I puzzled through the movie? No one can know.
In college I downloaded and printed out the script of this movie and carried it around, publicly reading it. So.
I also connected with a cutie Bear reading The Guncle in the pool, a book also set in Palm Springs! I said, “I’m a Gant!” I’d had several margaritas, idk. He worked in publishing. I regret not getting his card.
Oh! It’s out of stock, I’m sorry. Here is a close swap: https://www.sephora.com/product/P433005?skuId=2496172
I already have a Substack about this if you want an early peek!
Because I did! Brainfreeze!
I love the dual camera view!
I love the dual camera view! This way I can see you talking, which is arguably the best part of your videos…your facial expressions are so awesome 😂