Well, y’all, it’s finally happened….I graduated! After what has felt like the longest three years of my life—perhaps because I never had a break between classes? I was truly not built for the summer semester lol—I completed my master’s. Yay!

While there’s no fall graduation ceremony and my diploma won’t be mailed ’til January, I’ve still found ways to evoke a sense of finality and celebration since Sunday afternoon, when I took my final final exam. I started making dinner and dessert almost immediately after pressing “Submit”: mostly to decompress, but also because I love food as ~fanfare~. (On a side note, I’ve really leaned into cooking as a form of relaxation this semester—I’d made soup shortly after turning in a stressful assignment on multiple occasions now.)

Simple yet hearty, I made this vegetarian chili and these fruity muffins. My boyfriend brought flowers, a balloon (hehe!), and mini bottles of sparkling cider for us to enjoy during dinner. We did our weekly NYT quizzes, as we do every Sunday, and then watched the first hour of Conclave, which I’m so excited to finish. (I was dozing off from exhaustion, not boredom!) It was a wonderful, calm evening to mark the end of this program.

In the days since, I’ve 1) relished the feeling of having SO MUCH TIME now, especially in the mornings, 2) reached out to friends who I’d been too busy to see the past few weeks (sorry y’all, I was drowning!), and 3) begun planning my 2025 hobbies. Several come to mind: learning languages, ice-skating, running, reading, traveling, and getting back into movies, to name a few. The possibilities are endless! I wanna make sure I don’t overcommit, but at the same time….everything just seems so fun, y’know?

I’ve also been re-thinking my relationship with technology, which you could probably tell from my last post. This past month, I did another round of Cal Newport’s digital declutter, which involves avoiding optional, typically attention-grabbing technologies like social media. The goal is to rediscover more meaningful ways to pass time and fulfill one’s values. Everyone can have different rules for their declutter, but mine were:

• No Reddit, Youtube, Pinterest, or Substack (the app—emailed newsletters were fair game).
• No streaming TV shows unless I was watching with someone else.
• Email and texts could only be checked twice a day.
• No listening to podcasts or music except while exercising.
• Walks with Coconut must be phone-free.

Some rules were easier to follow than others, though that didn’t correlate with how often I broke them. For example, I didn’t break the first rule at all, even though it was by far the toughest for me. (I loooved to binge-watch vlogs…though note the past tense. 👀) Towards the end of the month, when things were getting pretty stressful at work and school, I let myself check emails more often and during evening walks.

Texting has never been a huge issue for me, so I didn’t feel the need to adhere strictly to that rule — I love texting my sister at random points in the day lol. I really enjoyed the no-podcasts-outside-of-workouts rule and will probably reinstate it. In the morning, I’m a huge fan of phone-free walks, so that’ll probably stay too — I’m fine with budging for nighttime walks, though, since I don’t want my boredom to cause me to rush Coconut (he’s particularly slow during these because he can’t see as well).

Speaking of Coconut, he continues to be obsessed with the fire station next to my apartment. During the summer, the firefighters would often sit in the garage and give him treats, but now it’s so cold they keep the garage doors shut. It doesn’t stop him from waiting outside every time we pass, though. One time they even opened the doors just for him, which was really sweet, but now he thinks he just needs to wait it out… After a while I carry him away, but gosh it’s adorable. How could anyone resist that face!?

Okay, back to the digital declutter! I’d decided to do it again because it was my last month of grad school and a tough one no less (this was my first time doubling up on classes). I also just didn’t like how distracted my days felt. There was always something playing in the background, and while that was comforting, there is also so much value in silence and focus. And as fun as it is to mindlessly surf the web at night, I never feel super well-rested the next day.

Despite some broken rules here and there, I thought the digital declutter was a huge success. Below are some of the things I did this month—whether they were all direct effects of the declutter isn’t clear, but I definitely had a lot of more variety than usual:

• Got back into ice-skating. I signed up for group lessons at my local rink and have gotten really into it. I did lessons years ago but barely practiced at the time, so this felt like starting from ground zero. Now I’ve been going to the rink a few times a week to work on skills, and it’s been a blast—I’m currently working on backward crossovers and one-foot three-turns. It helps that my rink is less than ten minutes away by bike and that their public skating sessions are only $5.
• Completed my first sewing project. I finally broke out the sewing machine that I’d bought two years ago (but never used) to complete a long-awaited home improvement project: convertible curtains! I loved the aesthetic of my long curtains, but when drawn they would block the window unit. I sewed a few toggle clasps to the back such that, when engaged, the curtain folds right above the top of the A/C. I’m not using it in “short mode” a ton right now, but during summer this’ll be fantastic.

• Hosted a friend. One of my college roommates stayed with me for a weekend, which was SO fun. We watched Wicked and Jennifer Lopez’s brainchild/masterpiece/magnum opus (!?!?) This Is Me Now. So many feelings.
• Cooked a ton. As I said earlier, cooking and baking became somewhat of an outlet for me this semester. These photos don’t even cover everything I’ve made recently: sweet potatos with tahini butter (the rice bowl variation was my sister’s idea), pumpkin soup, Yossy Arefi’s oatmeal chocolate chip cake, a Thanksgiving feast (can you spot the Hawaiian salad!?), classic veggie soup, and pineapple-coconut baked oatmeal.

• Took Coconut to the dog park multiple times. It hasn’t been easy to watch Coconut age. His loss of vision in one eye, declining hearing, weaker bladder…all of it makes me sad and want to hold him closer than ever. Surprisingly I can still get him to run—sprint, even—at the nearby dog park, and for those bursts he’s just like a lil’ puppy. 🐶 The park is only ten minutes away, but it takes us at least half an hour to get there because Coconut’s such a stop-and-go walker. I’ve been taking him on the weekends!
• Read a new manga. I hadn’t read a new manga since Fruits Basket in middle school. When eating alone at home, my default was to put on a video or show — during the declutter, I decided to read the famous manga Assassination Classroom instead. (It was so good I’d also read it outside of mealtimes.) The series was absolutely incredible; I cried my eyes out when I finished lol.
• Aaand finished my master’s. It all comes back to that! Certain steps along the way—like studying for my exams or writing my final paper—would’ve undoubtedly taken more time if I were distracted.

Even though the digital declutter’s over, I haven’t fully reverted to old habits. I mean, there’s no way I’m not catching up on vlogs—the Q4 resets! The Christmas home transformations! The gift-shopping hauls! I love it all—but I’m also not inclined to watch outside of carefully prescribed times, such as for an hour on weekends. My stance may change, but for the time being, I’m enjoying this flexible approach. ✌️

On an unrelated note, I wanna recap my Cyber Monday purchases! In general, I try not to buy a ton of stuff, a statement I know seems contradictory to what I’m about to list. I’m pretty pleased with this haul though:

• Treats and supplies for Coconut. It seemed like a good opportunity to experiment with new flavors of Bocce’s Bakery: Fish & Chips was a hit, while Sauvignon Bark fell flat (love the name though). Also got him some daily chews for joint health and a replacement toothbrush.
• Darn Tough socks, which were recommended by a friend. These wool socks from Amazon lasted me almost five years, but now they’re full of holes. Darn Tough has a lifetime guarantee where they’ll replace any of their socks that you send back, even after years of wear!
• A foam roller to address achey muscles.
• A print subscription to Elle magazine. I miss print magazines! This might not beat the glory days of Glamour, but I checked out some of their online articles and liked them enough to give it a try.
• A gift certificate for a class at CCAE, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Hoping to use this on Beginner German in January!

I thought about getting clothes—I was eyeing a few SKATIE tops in particular—but decided against it because I’m really trying to pare down my closet. (I already don’t wear everything in it!) I’m also intrigued by the idea of a no-buy challenge…maybe in 2025? 💸

As usual, I’ll end with an assortment of photos from the last couple months: an outfit I loved featuring one of my grandpa’s sweaters; remains of my stolen bike (*sigh* Always lock the bike frame, not just the tire…); Coconut as the butler Alfred for Halloween; a candid from my boyfriend’s company holiday party; a minimalist unscented candle — I spent so long in an antique shop to find the plate that it’s resting on (isn’t it a perfect fit!?); and trying to get Coconut more comfortable with the dog backpack (peep his silly face!).

🤘🤠🧡 (hook ’em!)