Pic on the front: our yearly holiday selfie, technically taken yesterday, 01/01/2026 but s’all good.

My 2025 word of the year was FOCUS. I really liked that word, it felt grounding, and served as a good reminder of what matters and what doesn’t. I had a Post-It note with that word at work, and looked at it every day.

I did not look at my wish list of goals every day. Not every week, or month, or season. That could have been part of the problem?..

So, on my wish list for 2025 I had the following items. Some were kind of vague, others more concrete, some were just plain stupid.

reduce phone time: yes. My phone use really got under control, plus I kind of got over myself and made peace with the fact that some things like podcasts and Google maps should not count toward “bad” screen time. I wrote about my most used apps during NaBloPoMo and, truly, none of those things are bad. Kindle? Libby? Podcasts? Monarch? All good stuff. On average, my phone time is about 2 hours per day, including podcasts and other apps.

read more physical books, not Kindle: nope. Another revelation that, as long as I read, who cares what the medium is?

learn a new skill – what skill? I did not learn anything “new” per se, but I did put myself back on skates, after YEARS of wanting to pick skates back up, and I bought myself a small portable water color set but my “paintings” were truly hideous.

continue writing: yes! I love to write and I love our blogging community. I successfully blogged at least once a week, sometimes two or three.

have a weekly family meeting where we talk about the upcoming week: that happened exactly ONE time. So, fail.

lift weights 2x per week: I did lift weights in our basement but I was not consistent. There was no “twice a week”, or even “once a week” situation. It was sort of like “hmm, I feel like I should do it, because it gives me energy, and I need an angry run/angry weights.” No pattern or cadence at all. In October/November, for instance, I feel like I did a lot, in the summer, when I was traveling, not at all. Exercise continues being a sore subject in my mind. Fail.

continue yoga 3x per week: HA. After my yoga studio closed in February, I triiiiied doing yoga at the house and, welp, you can take a guess what happened. So, fail.

continue 1 on 1 time with L and R: yes! I feel like I had plentiful 1 on 1 time with L and R. We went to the theater a few times with L, then R and I had the whole weekend together when L when to Maine with my husband. On a smaller scale, we had plentiful times when one of them was at school or activity, then T or I would do little things with the other kid. L went to NY ComicCon with T!

I don’t know why I made it my goal. It’s not like my kids are starved for attention or overlooked in any way. They’ve got amazing lives.

eat cleaner: what does this mean exactly?… I already eat quite well, not sure what I meant exactly by that goal. Success?…

try 4 new recipes – elevate your cooking: don’t even remember writing that one down. Fail.

go on a road trip: yes, TWO! A week-long road trip to the Outer Banks in the spring, and a month-long road trip in France.

hiking in 3 different parks/trails: yes. Our road trip in France gave more than 3 trails/parks.

1 camping trip: fail but no fault of my own. I had it booked in June but had to cancel since that’s when my unexpected Russia trip happened.

Reduce coffee, opt for green tea: bruh. Fail. Why?

Get cultured – theater and plays: yes. Went a few times in the spring.

Date nights – monthly, 12 new restaurants. Partial fail. We went on a date in January, February, March, May, and June. Did we try 12 new restaurants? We did try a very memorable tasting menu restaurant for our anniversary in June. Additionally, during our stay in Paris, we tried quite a few new places to eat. But in Paris, we had kids with us, soooo not a date.

Some thoughts on 2026…. I do not have the word of the year yet. I have brainstormed A LOT on this winter break, writing and re-writing some words. Some similar to FOCUS, others very different, like QUIET. Nothing is sticking for now. I am very attached to my 2025 word but feel silly repeating that word again. I may not be selecting a word for this year at all.. Something to think about…

Same with goals/intentions. I know how I want to live my life, I know what is good and what is bad. I know what I need to add and I know what I need to let go of. So, maybe another “wish list” of sorts with reminders of what I need/want/love. At the moment of this writing, I only want to list my items, without going too deep into the HOW and the WHEN – those can come later.

Take good care of my physical health.

Take good care of my mental health.

Take a road trip for spring break (leaning toward Outer Banks again).

Take a roadtrip to Northern Italy: Milan, Venice, the Lake district and the Dolomites (for now, looking at 10-12 days). Summer.

Visit my family in Russia. Summer.

Take a camping trip with the kids. Summer.

Read books. Write blog posts.

Monthly dates with T.

See friends more. (Think about what “more” means. Monthly, quarterly, seasonally?)

Get social (what does this mean?).

Get cultured (theater+movies+concerts) and don’t be cheap.

Celebrate and delight in the little things.

Give myself slack, lots of slack, during solo parenting (and not only).