Hello, Sunday. Hello, January. Hello, 2025!

That’s a lot of new starts there. 

Let’s start with 2025. If you’ve been following me through the years, you’ll know that every year my friends and I pick a word of the year to guide us and our actions. Subconsciously maybe, but after reflecting on years’ past time and again- there is some magic to this madness.

For example, this year I randomly put a Nordic-looking building on my board (see above, upper righthand side), having recently become intrigued and excited to bump the Nordic countries up on my to-go list. A day later, V messaged me and asked if I was up for a trip to see the Northern Lights and…to Norway we go in a few weeks.

All that being said, this year’s word is JOY. I had a hard time coming up with this one. Not that there aren’t always areas in my life that can stand improvement, but many of the big checklist items from the past 8 or so years have been well, checked. House. New Job. Awesome trips.  (The romance part keeps getting passed over by the universe, but we aren’t dwelling on that and honestly, I’m not even bothered by it.)

I realized that not every year has to be one where the Earth shakes and planets trouble. Some years are about the quiet moments and that’s where I am now.  Hell, the world is enough of a shit show in general, and I don’t need to add that sort of chaos and grand upheaval to my own life.  

In some, I’m taking the Marie Kondo approach to life, looking for joy in even the smallest and most unlikely places.

As for January itself? Let’s see where my head is as I’m kicking off the month:

wishing: christmas had been just a little bit longer…and work didn’t loom on monday.

hoping: the fecal transplant that crawley and I have been suffering through the last three weeks ends upworking.

thinking: of how very lucky I am.

praying: 2025 treats us all well.

planning: the last few parts of our norway trip.

dreaming: of a gentle snow to get us through gentle january.

wearing: these pants, nonstop.

watching: shrinking.

reading: the nordic theory of everything.

eating: these orange rolls, nonstop

drinking: mom’s chai.

sending: you all good vibes for the new year!

Hello, Monday.

Well, we’re coming to the end of the holiday season and in some ways, I feel like I failed it. Yes, I decorated my house and played Christmas music, but I’ve barely watched any of the famous (infamous?) bad/cheesy holiday movies, and as you can tell from these pages, I have failed you as a food blogger.  I just haven’t had a chance to get into the kitchen to come up with dishes to make your (and my) holiday table shine. Despite my best intentions when October rolled around a few months ago…but you know what they say about the best laid plans. It does make me sad since it’s my favorite time of the year and mentally, I guess I just couldn’t enjoy it.

I’m looking forward to taking a breather in the next few weeks. I mean, yesterday I TRIPLE booked myself (the reason this post didnt’ go up on Sunday), as I have done more than once the latter half of the year.  As for this week, I’m working here and there, but it should be quiet and I’m embracing the slowness.  The days are going to start incrementally getting lighter and that’s definitely something to celebrate. I hope you find little things to celebrate as well.

Also, with the weather being what it is, I’m back on my mall walking BS. Picture above.

Shall we get to it? Here’s to reading non-depressing things:

This week, R and I have our annual vision board ritual, and I admittedly am having trouble coming up with my word for 2025.  I did like this read however, on how to customize your life to have it be just what you want it to be. Some good questions all of us can reflect on in the new year.

We up in the northern parts have a lot of winter left, and here are some ways to embrace the season even though there is A LOT of it left.  I started decorating for winter a few years ago, and I really look forward to it all year- and lessons the blow when all the Christmas merriment comes down.

I do love a year in review post – here’ s a fun one, month by month.

Believe it or not – America is getting healthier? Seems so.

There are a lot of bad parents out there, no doubt. No need to target ones that aren’t. People need to MYOB.

Food comas are not just a turn of phrase, apparently.

Some good nuggets- how not to freak out everytime you read something terrible in the news (which, let’s face it, is every day).

How’s this for a delicious looking post-holiday leftovers recipe?

I never knew this was an actual well-known thing, but H and I, who both have different autoimmune diseases, have for years lamented our occasional moon faces. Turns out, we were on to something.

Here’s a great Christmas day breakfast idea!  Oh wait, so is this one!

That’s all I’ve got. Have a great week!

Hello, Monday.

Hi!

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. I was down in Florida doing the Disney thing, and stepped off the plane into a winter wonderland. Snowy, it was not but that wind chill is always no bueno.

In other news, the Holiday Hustle season is real. I hadn’t even unpacked from my trip when my inbox at work acted like I had been gone for weeks.  It’s made for song long, very busy days, and I am looking forward to time off in a few weeks to be still like vegetables, lay like broccoli.  But first, we hustle.

I’ve barely been able to do anything productive in the kitchen, and have mostly been relying on eating out and others to feed me, which is never my preference. I did a full grocery run yesterday for some good batch meals, and even left some wiggle room for sweet treats since, it is the holidaze after all.

Caramel nut crunch…it’s coming.

Anyway, here’s what caught my fancy this week. 

I love Dick Van Dyke. 

Long live all the magic we made. Thank you, Taylor. I had the time of my life…with you.

If you’re like I am and planning a trip to the UK in 2025, an FYI.

The decline of American romance. I co-sign this.

Call me old (I’ve been called that more than once recently…by someone who is actually older than I am), but I agree that online shopping sucks. I’d much rather go out and about to find gifts but…stores don’t stock everything anymore and so I’m send to search online anyway. (This being said, I’ve got some local faves to share below)

One of my favorite small businesses here in town is Rock Paper Scissors. If you or someone you know is a Swiftie, into all things Gilmore Girls or just has more snark than she/he/they know what to do with…this shop is for you! I have a really hard time not buying everything in here when I stroll through.

Also, if your loved ones love food, I’m pointing you towards another favorite local business, Zingerman’s (you’ve seen them before!).

Yes, I believe in horoscopes and apparently next year is a doozy. As if we didn’t already figure that one out.

Yes to this. I eat 90% of my meals out of a bowl.

Finally, it’s soup season! Let’s get after it.