Issue 97: 100 things that made my year (2025)

As anticipated, 2025 was a relatively light writing year, with most of my time dedicated to planning my wedding. Similar to 2024 and 2023, here are my annual reflections in the vein of Austin Kleon:

1. Our wedding!!! All the friends and family who supported us, and all the vendors who made it possible!
2. The mantra of “make it recurring”
3. Powerpoint parties
4. Local news, New York history, and event roundups from newsletters like Big City, Little Friend and Park Slope Living
5. Starting a gratitude journal with daily doodles
6. The Cowboy Carter tour
7. Pips!
8. My sister for being the best maid of honor and listening to me crash out about a messed up eyebrow wax, planning an amazing bachelorette, conducting weekly wedding check-ins, and using Trello even though she hates it
9. The shelves E hung near our TV so I can display my Lego builds
10. Dance workshops that were more about performance/dancing on camera
11. Paxlovid
12. “What if contentment has to come first?”
13. Restaurants with morning cafes and pop-ups
14. Green-Wood Cemetery after hours tour with friends 
15. Mutual aid groups
16. Stocking up on Mariage Freres tea while in Paris
17. All the cinnamon rolls! My favorites in New York were from Petit Chou, Welcome Home, and Noa
18. Embarking on a second draft of my novel, but this time, safeguarding my creativity
19. Instapaper, which had a very seamless way to import all my saves from Pocket
20. Lunch and museum dates with E’s parents and aunt and uncle
21. Designing and seeing our save the dates out in the wild
22. Karaoke for E’s birthday
23. The Pitt and Severance for being great watercooler shows
24. Music League, particularly the Diva and 80s rounds
25. Writing Excuses episodes as writing warm ups
26. My wedding dress and shoes (which I wore the entire day and night!)
27. Finally seeing an Alvin Ailey performance
28. Saving takeout Tupperware for holiday cookie gifting
29. Keeping up my five year journal for another year
30. Thinking is writing
31. My bachelorette, complete with donuts, escape rooms, creative activities, and sleepover vibes
32. Visiting E’s film set and being shushed (a rite of passage apparently!)
33. Having a good cry with my dad as we rehearsed our father/daughter dance
34. Haricot Vert earrings
35. High speed trains
36. Buckeyes, or any new combo of peanut butter and chocolate
37. Sidewalk jazz
38. “Hitting pan” - a term for finishing what you buy, aka using a makeup product until you “hit the pan.” I bought and completely used up an Ilia foundation and concealer stick, Laura Mercier caviar stick cream eyeshadow, and Huda Beauty kohl pencil.
39. Our wonderful officiant, Sarah
40. Late night movies at Alamo
41. Keeping a writing log, inspired by Nina Michiko Tam’s
42. Mayor Mamdani
43. Seeing my mom perform with her choir
44. Friends’ book launches: The Original Daughter, Our Lake, Homeseeking, Soju Party
45. LEOG: Lay Eyes on Gate (my airport tradition)
46. Getting day of tickets for Charli XCX
47. My Oura ring
48. Wegman’s bakery, which allows you to print pretty much anything on a sheet cake
49. The nurses at NY Presbyterian who took great care of E after his hernia surgery
50. A Short Hike on the Switch
51. Finally making it to The Met Cloisters, a NY bucket list item
52. Old Navy, particularly their sundresses and cardigans
53. Canva Pro
54. A physical timer for Pomodoro sessions
55. Maple creemees!!
56. Taking photos on disposable cameras
57. Getting to meet my high school best friend’s kid
58. Batched cocktails and canned cocktails
59. Trying more neighborhood restaurants with E
60. Continuing habits that work and feeling less destabilized when my routine is disrupted
61. The Things All New Yorkers Should Know (But Most Don’t)
62. Fortnum & Mason tea and biscuit advent calendar
63. The United Healthcare rep who helped me understand why my therapy claims were being denied (turns out I was missing one digit from the diagnosis code, which was updated last year)
64. This fantastic oatmeal latte cookie recipe
65. Reading the book and watching the movie: Hamnet, Carrie, Holes, Pride & Prejudice
66. Hanif Abdurraqib: “I am asking them, as I am continually asking myself, to imagine a heart that feels a connection to the hearts of others, even others you do not know. I would like to think that this is what nudges me forward, more than some mythological concept of ‘hope.’
67. Manuka honey
68. Baking with a scale and pre-measuring out dry ingredients a day in advance
69. Kat Lewis’s Writing Advice Remix series
70. Blundstones, which held up amazingly well in 3.5 hours of Beyoncé’s rain show
71. The best movie-going experiences of the year: Sinners, The Naked Gun, Weapons
72. Giving away a bunch of books to friends and coworkers
73. Transferring Chase points to partner hotels like Hyatt to maximize their value
74. Being more honest with my friends about boundaries and disappointments
75. Celebrating our nephews and new niece
76. Court Street Grocers’ seasonal sandwiches
77. Seeing high school friends at our September weddings and talking into the early AM hours
78. My walking pad
79. clinamen, an aquatic and musical installation by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot
80. The few remaining un-yassified Barnes & Nobles
81. Yesterday’s News for old postcards and magazines
82. Latkes with chutney
83. Wax ear plugs whenever I travel
84. Switching dentists
85. TikTok recs that were worth it: Comfortland, Edith’s Sandwich Counter, Danny & Coop’s, YuanYang, Caffe Paradiso
86. Cameos as gifts
87. Being able to regularly finish a Wednesday crossword on my own, and the occasional Thursday or Friday crossword
88. Joey Morof
89. Fiber!!! Dense bean salads, Carb Balance tortillas, and chia seed pudding
90. Experiencing Montreal’s first snow of the season
91. The three person group chat with E and my sister
92. Night swimming
93. Gifting experiences, like a distillery tour with my parents and E
94. Catchy songs I couldn’t get out of my head: Soda Pop, Delete Ya, LoveDrug, Dracula
95. Poker nights and seeing LCD Soundsystem with E and his high school friends
96. This Diet Coke and dumplings combo
97. Friends watering our plants while we’re out of town
98. Custom emojis and stickers
99. Attending and hosting themed parties
100. Independent bookstores

As a new owner of a Hobonichi Weeks, I’m riding high on the energy of a planner solving all my problems. At the same time, I’m remembering that a “habit is built on the movement of return.” My sister says I need more whimsy in my life, and this is certainly true in my writing. I’m most excited to make serious progress (without sacrificing fun!) on my second novel draft. I’ll also be refocusing some time on this newsletter, so you’ll be seeing more interviews with authors in addition to the usual monthly creative reflections. What does 2026 hold for you creatively? Hit reply and share your intentions!

Creative resources

• “The Art of Time in Fiction, and in Life” by katie zhu
• Start off 2026 with 31 Days of Creative Resilience by my friend, Carolyn! She’s been exploring different topics related to creativity (“documenting like a voyager”) and sending daily prompts.
• Seven easy steps for being a good literary citizen from Maris Kreizman: buy books, talk about books you love, read widely, don’t gatekeep, remember that authors are people, support librarians, and be a good regular citizen.
• Jami Attenberg reflecting on Lisa Ko’s 2025 writing life: “Our creative life doesn’t always match up with the time invested, or at least not always on a specific schedule.”
• McCormack Writing Center is now the new umbrella organization that houses all the programs formerly known as Tin House Workshop! They’ll continue to offer their regular slate of workshops, residencies, and craft intensives, with plans to expand both online and in-person programming.
• Mutual aid and resisting ICE in Minneapolis, as well as where you can donate

Recent reads & other media

I read 38 books in 2025! Here were some of my favorites:

• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
• Memorial by Bryan Washington
• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
• Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
• Rainbow Rainbow by Lydi Conklin
• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

So far this year, I’ve read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh and See Friendship by Jeremy Gordon.

I made my AMC A-List worth the money by watching a lot of movies in December. Avatar: Fire & Ash (yes I’m an Avatar apologist because Big Jim gets me with the spectacle), Marty Supreme, and Zootopia 2 again. In Christmas movies, E and I rewatched The Holdovers and for the lolz, some friends and I saw A Very Jonas Christmas Movie. My family watched A Fish Called Wanda and Prisoners (poor Paul Dano catching strays from Quentin Tarantino and Hugh Jackman).

My sister and I watched the final season of Stranger Things and as a Christmas gift, E got us tickets to see The First Shadow, the prequel Broadway play. It wasn’t the best writing (which wasn’t a surprise given the last few seasons of the show) but it really utilized that Netflix budget for some amazing effects in the production.

Recently read short stories: Nothing recently

Note: Book links are connected to my Bookshop affiliate page. If you purchase a book from there, you'll be supporting my work and local independent bookstores!

~ meme myself and i ~

Amazing/lightly worrisome 2025 Diet Coke Wrapped. Every Psychology Today headshot. Being a hater is embarrassing…except when I do it. This mole slammed the door on this person’s face. That one guy the second the plane lands. You can create anything you want!