Last year, Emily Freeman from the blog Chatting at the Sky did a monthly series in which she shared some things she had recently learned, from bits of trivia to valuable life lessons. Emily encouraged other bloggers to share what they were learning as well, so I’ve decided to join in.

In no particular order, here is my rather eclectic list of what I learned in January:

1. It is incredibly difficult to meet the recommendation of walking 10,000 steps per day. I recently downloaded a pedometer app on my phone and found that, even on days when I felt I had done a good amount of walking, my total step count was well below 10,000 (which is equal to about five miles). In spite of what the fitness gurus may tell us, simply taking the stairs or parking your car at the far end of the parking lot will not get you to that magical number of 10,000 steps.

2. The temperature at which both Celsius and Fahrenheit are the same is -40 degrees.

3. Because I live in Southern California, it is highly unlikely that I will ever experience a day when Celsius and Fahrenheit meet.  This fact makes dealing with horrific traffic and impossibly high home prices seem totally worth it.

4. Highs in the 80s – in January! – make me very happy.

5. I seem to spend quite a bit of time thinking and talking about the weather.

6. Fear is a natural emotion, but I shouldn’t let it rule me. I was inspired by Jeff Goins to conquer my fears by standing up for my convictions.

7. Other than February 29, Christmas Day is the least common birthday in the United States. The top ten most popular birthdays are all in September, with September 16 being the most common.

8. Helping somebody else move is significantly easier than moving yourself. Also, refrigerators look much bigger in the back of a truck than they do in a kitchen.

9. Packing your things into boxes before you move seems to make moving day much easier for everyone involved. I’ll have to try that next time.

10. Walking through the clearance aisle of Target’s shoe section always makes me wish I had very small or very large feet. Size 8 shoes never last long enough to be marked down.

11. Not all cheeses are vegetarian: Parmigiano-Reggiano (among other cheeses) is made from the enzymes of a calf’s stomach. I’m not a vegetarian, but this has me seriously second guessing my Parmesan consumption.

12. The creator of Barbie designed her so that she could not stand on her own; this was meant to encourage girls to interact with the doll. I learned this fact through a Bible Study, in which the speaker used Barbie as a metaphor: just as Barbie’s best chance of play was to be close to the person who created her, our best life is lived in God’s hand, showing us how to live and reminding us that we are not alone.