January and February

 

It's leap day!

I always feel like I should do something special for the bonus day we get every 4 years. But I can never think of anything cool to do. It is just Thursday after all. (I guess I am marking this leap day by actually blogging).

It's almost spring here in Ohio. Although whether it's really almost here still remains to be seen. I know in Kansas, spring always started in March, but I imagined mid-west winters were a bit longer. Maybe climate change has seen to that. All I know is that February has been gloriously sunny (almost every single day) and the weather keeps hoping up to the 50s and 60s before swinging back down.

January was pretty rough. It was mostly grey day after grey day and I struggled with the notion that I gave up the prairie sun for some solid lake effect. But there were actually a lot of great things that happened in January, now that I reflect and look back on it. 

We got our first "donut day" snow and Mom and Dad came to visit.

The U.S. National Figure Skating Championships were in Columbus this year and Blake, Brendan, Levent and I got tickets to go see the pairs free skate. It was so magical and fascinating to see skating in real life (rather than just on tv during the Olympics).

February has actually been a wonderful month, thanks, in part, to all those sunny days. 

I baked semlor, a Swedish pastry, and I continue to be extremely proud of them. (We had gotten some from a local bakery prior and they were not good. So I thought, "I can do better than that." So I did!

Blake, Brendan, Levent and I went to Belle's Bakery, a French-style Japanese bakery and it was like zipping back to Japan. It was so fun to try all the cutie (kawaii!) things.

I've started going on long walks around the city. Mostly, so I can get to know Columbus a bit better, but also so it gives me something to do and gets me out of the basement on the weekends. The secret reason for the long walks though is that I am "training" for going to Bolivia and Turkey this year. When we went to Japan last year, I realized that I don't wear shoes very often. As a remote worker, I mostly just wear slippers. So, in Japan, my feet got tired and sore really quickly because I wasn't used to walking around so much. Pathetic, but probably true. So I am trying to fix that. I've gone a few "big walks" so far - usually heading to areas with coffee shops and a place to get a snack so I have motivation to keep going. It's been fun.

We hosted the Miller family in our basement apartment for a Superbowl dips party. And Kansas City won! It was so fun.

I went to Akron, PA for the first time since the pandemic. This was not really a great highlight but I guess it was nice to see some of my colleagues in person again and to get out from behind my phone and computer a bit.

I found out I am going to Bolivia with work! Wow! I am both excited and very nervous about it since I am tasked with gathering content for social media. Regardless of how I am feeling, it will be so nice not to be tied to a computer for a whole week of work.

I've hung out with my cousin Betha. She invited me to join her and her friends for her birthday dinner. We also got coffee together another weekend. It's been so fun getting to know her better and I think we are starting to become friends in real life. Since I am really missing my female friends back in Kansas, this has been a very much needed development here in Ohio.

Levent and I celebrated 11 years together by going to a Turkish restaurant. Life has been so transitional lately for both of us, and I am so glad to have him as the constant in my life.

It's been a good winter, sans the seasonal depression and the moments where I've felt like we've made a mistake by leaving comfortable, cheap Kansas. (I don't actually regret moving here but I do miss my literal home in Kansas a lot. There were so many windows! And my friends of course).We've been in Columbus for 7 months now, which feels both so long and so short. For the most part, I feel adjusted - or maybe that's not quite right. I feel myself adjusting - it being a more active process.

March is going to be a wild month. Here we go.