This morning I woke up to snowfall and Coconut resting his chin on my arm. After taking him out, I studied German for about an hour before making whole-wheat pancakes for breakfast (all in PJs, of course). It was such a nice, quiet morning. I mean, seriously, does it get more peaceful than this?

Last Saturday I took the commuter rail to Wilmington to get fitted for a new pair of ice skates, and it was a completely different experience from when I’d bought my first pair a couple years ago. The shop where I’d gotten those skates is now closed, and at the time, the owner had measured my feet, sold me a pair that matched my shoe size, and then “punched out” the area near my bunions to give me more room. A total newbie, I didn’t have any reason to think skate fitting was more involved than that.

Turns out, I wasn’t fitted correctly! At Cookes Skate Supply, a skate technician took a lot more time to measure my feet and told me I should wear a whole size down. Apparently, it’s common for skate sellers to accommodate for width (ahem, the bunions) by sizing up, but then that makes the skate too long. They warned me it’d feel really different skating in a 5 instead of a 6, but having been in these skates for a week now, I can say they are definitely an improvement from before.

The toe box of my last skates was so roomy that I had to lean super far forward to engage the toe picks, which is the spiky part at the front of the blade. In ballet terms, it had felt like I was getting on pointe just to use the toe picks, whereas now I can do so with the slightest pressure. The rest of the “boot” also feels more comfortable because my new skates were heat-molded, which is apparently a customary part of skate fitting (who knew?). At last week’s appointment, my skates were warmed up in an oven before trying them on. Once they were laced up, I sat for about 10 minutes for them to cool and “mold” to my foot shape before walking around. Then, the skate technician made custom adjustments — for me, it was punching out the bunion area of the skates, whereas for others it might be changing the alignment of the blade to account for pronation, etc.

The first time I skated in this new pair, I fell twice within twenty minutes. It felt like relearning how to skate — I kept tripping on the toe pick because I wasn’t used to it engaging so easily! Now though, I’ve gotten the hang of how to properly rebalance my weight and am pretty much back to skating normally. I even had my first group lesson in the new skates this afternoon, and everything felt good! ⛸️

Aside from skating, I’ve been using my free time to learn German. My weekly, 90-minute Zoom class has been going well, though I wish we could cover even more material. I do love the element of struggling through a new language with others, but when this class ends, I wanna try a course with a faster pace. While intensive language classes here can be pricey, there are actually many German resources online that are offered by German-speaking governments for free. This is in part because many German-speaking countries like Austria have large migrant or refugee populations who they want to help integrate. (Shoutout to my boyfriend for pointing me to these resources — I wouldn’t have known about them on my own!)

When I mentioned I was learning German to a coworker, she told me her high school German class had a song to remember the 16 different ways to say “the.” I thought she was joking but…it turns out there are actually that many ways to say it. And just when I think I’m getting the hang of conjugating verbs, I come across an irregular one. That’s just how it is with languages, isn’t it? (I’m having fun though, which is the most important part!)

In other news, Coconut’s still doing well! His latest echo showed no changes from the year before, which was great news. Because of his age (and also, I suspect, the cold weather), his walks have gotten much shorter (think: a few strides in the front lawn), but occasionally he’ll spring for a longer one — for example, yesterday he walked around the full block! His appetite goes in and out too, which typically matches how much he’s walked that day. I’ve been doing my best to not stress too much about him and just meet him where he’s at — and honestly, I think he’s more at peace when I’m not constantly monitoring him too. He is a teenager, y’know…

Lately I’ve been winding down at night by knitting while watching Bob’s Burgers, my favorite comfort show. I’ve been working on a cardigan for my sister, and recently I crossed a big milestone in the piece. (Keeping things vague and photo-free because I want it to be a surprise!) I’m not using a pattern since none of the ones I found online matched the look I was going for. While I regularly consult Youtube tutorials and knitting blogs, the ad-hoc nature and lack of prescribed instructions have made this project feel so personal and satisfying. I can’t wait for it to all come together!

Ending with some recent snapshots: a few office OOTDs (my company started catering lunches on Thursdays, so that’s when my Boston-based teammates and I go in!); WFH with Coconut; baked oatmeal (I love this recipe with additional blueberries); Alice Medrich’s coconut macaroons from the cookbook Genius Recipes; messy but good oatmeal raisin cookies; winter Bluebiking (pro-tip: keep a grocery bag on hand to cover the seat in the event of rain or snow); a snowy view; and enjoying pho with my boyfriend to celebrate Lunar New Year!

✌️