Currently: 2025-->2026

🎊 Happy 2026! 🎉

2025 has already come and gone! I can't believe it! It's actually been a good year for me. There have been some disappointments, but as a whole 2025 ended on a good note :) 

2025 started off in an unconventional way...I got sick, very, very sick with a 24–48-hour stomach flu that was constant misery! I had never felt so physically and mentally exhausted in my life. I normally don't get sick but when I do it's awful. I was so glad when I could finally get back to work. Then unfortunately a couple of months later I would have a bad allergic reaction to mold which also put me out of work for 2 days.

In happier news, it actually snowed three times last year! Snow in Virginia is rare, but snow three times?! That's almost unheard of. I already have good memories of snuggling up on the couch watching tv while making soup on the stove. Both Christian and I got off from work and there was such a calmness and stillness. It was beautiful ⛄

Seeing Jurassic Park, Superman, The Fantastic Four and Freakier Friday

Now, I've been told that a cold winter will usually merit a cooler summer. Well, the summer of 2025 has proven that theory to be false. It was a miserably hot summer. It was so hot that there wasn't a lot for Christian and me to do except see movies and we saw a lot!

A Minecraft Movie

How to Train Your Dragon

The King of Kings

The Last Rodeo

Lilo & Stitch

The Karate Kid: Legends

Jurassic World

Superman

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Freakier Friday

Zootopia 2

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale 

 (I saw this one with my mom)

It was a great movie year! I had no complaints at all. Superman and Fantastic Four and Downton Abbey were exceptionally good. Christian and I also watch a lot of television shows as well. We get super invested and it's something to look forward to at the end of the night.

Smallville

Full House

Fuller House

Percy Jackson: Season 1 

Stranger Things: Season 5

Percy Jackson: Season 2

Young Sheldon (currently)

Also, when it snowed, I came across a little 90's treasure that they were running on Roku. I've always been a longtime fan of The Man from Snowy River series and had heard of a spinoff series...

This show is so good! Delightlfully sappy and romantic with a perfect amount of drama and wild west intrigue. The basic premise of the story is about widower and famed rancher Andrew McGregor (who is considered the Man from Snowy River) and his life on Patterson's Ridge with his three children. I took a break right in the middle of season 3 (I got busy with other things), but I do plan on finishing it soon and writing a proper review 🐴

Having such a physically demanding job that can leave me utterly exhausted at the end of the day really left me with little time for reading (and less time for writing), but I managed to get some good books in.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon and The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow were book club reads and I enjoyed those immensely. I also read the newest Cormoran Strike install, The Hallmarked Man, which I didn't really enjoy especially after the prior three books, Troubled Blood, The Ink Black Heart and The Running Grave were excellent.

From July 15th of 2024 to July 12th of 2025, I read the entire Harry Potter series out loud almost every evening! It was so much fun! Christian loves Harry Potter, but he has a hard time concentrating on reading, so I decided to read out loud and by all accounts reread the whole series. I'm somewhat proud of this reading accomplishment.

Mentally and emotionally I'm very happy and content. Marriage to Christian, moving out and getting our own place and starting a new life leaves me with no complaints. I love our little apartment and going home is sometimes the only drive I have in me to get through the day. Our home is definitely a place of comfort and peace, and I want people to feel that whenever they come over.

This unexpected gift of hospitality really took me by surprise, but I honed it last year when I hosted three tea parties! One for Valentine's Day, one for spring and one for fall. They were a lot of work but so definitely worth it. 

Learning how to cook and bake has been a wonder for me, but I love coming across new recipes, trying them out and now coming to the point where I modify them to suit my personal preferences. My favorite recipes are chicken pot pie, chicken noodle soup, pork chops with stuffing and apples, pork chops with stuffing and gravy, one pot kielbasa pasta, poppyseed chicken, Salisbury steak, bangers and mash, velvety chicken soup, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies and chess cake. 

My goal for this year is to write more. I've missed it and sometimes I just felt there was no inspiration. I'm hoping to change that and immerse myself back into my love of writing.