Mostly April

In my last post, I talked about January and February being the slow months. But now that I look back, I think I should also group March into that mix. It was very much more of the same - puzzles, baking, reading, matcha! It's not a bad thing, but it doesn't make a very interesting blog post. So this blog post has hints of March, but it's mostly about April. Spring is finally here and really that's all I want to focus on anyway.

But let's catch up with March real quick.

The main March event was that I cut my hair. While generally speaking this should not be big news, as someone who has a complicated relationship with getting my hair cut, it felt like a big deal. And like every time I've chopped my hair, I didn't like it. Lol. Oh well. It will grow back. I wish I could report that I am getting used to it, but that is a lie. But as I said, it will grow.

Other things that happened in March: I went with my in-laws to the comforter making event at their church. Ever since my Grandma died, I have been interested in getting into comforter making in her honor. And while I do not have the space to really try and dive into quilting, I can, at the very least, tie a comforter for MCC - something Grandma was very keen about.

I went on my first "big walk" of the year. I started doing this last year as a way to get to know the city and as well as to "train" my feet to get ready to walk around on the international trips I had planned. Turns out, this might just a 2024 thing I did. But! I did go on two big walks in March. Will that be all for 2025? Maybe. But at least I got out there and walked a bit. (You can see a video about it on my Instagram). My first (and best) walk was to German Village. It was a bit rainy, but I did it anyway (since most of the weekends thus far had been rainy). I went to Pistacia Vera to get a matcha, headed to the Book Loft and got sucked into buying a book and a puzzle, and finally went to 3rd & Sycamore to buy a bar of soap. It was very cute of me.

March ended with me doing my least favorite activity - traveling to Pennsylvania for work. Yep, once again I had to go to Akron for meetings. (I was literally just there in February. So I was not very pleased). But this time was better. Thank goodness. For one thing, I met with my friend/colleague Tina from Kansas and together we tried out public transportation from the PHL airport to Lancaster. (We had a very delicious Vietnamese meal once we made it Lancaster). I was so grateful to have a buddy with me as we navigated this. Other highlights included seeing colleagues that I haven't seen since before the pandemic (6 years!) It also had a fun team building evening where we did escape rooms and went out for Thai food.

Phew! We finally made it to April. And, as per usual, a big highlight of this month was seeing everything bloom. I can never get enough.

Also in April: Mom and Dad stopped in for a visit on their way to and from Illinois again. A main highlight on their first time (before heading to Illinois) was going out to dinner at Osteria, the new pizzeria in our neighborhood and just a few blocks from our house! It was delicious and I am so pumped to have it nearby. When Mom and Dad came back through (on their way back home), we went to Franklin park and walked around looking for blooms.

Photo bomb by Dad

Another April highlight: Going to Virginia for Easter. Almost my whole family gathered for the holiday (minus my sister-in-law). Highlights included lots of good food, a trip to the farmer's market, a little bit of disc golf, coffee/matcha breaks, thrifting, and games. Levent and I also went on a little breakfast date before we headed back home on Easter Monday.

Finally, the last few highlights of the month were going to the first farmers' market of the season in Clintonville with Levent, reading the latest Hunger Game book (so. many. feelings!) and going to the Sakura pop up at Law Bird with Blake and Brendan and Levent. (I was very pumped about this last one because Law Bird recently won a James Beard Award. It was a pretty cute experience).

They had a hot dog on their menu. So of course I had to get it.

And that was (March and) April! I am looking forward to the summer months and to whatever they may bring.