January & February 2025
Hi all,
I’m a little late for a January update. Blame it on the new year crazies, right? I plan to keep this site primarily accessible to friends and family for updates on my life, movie/tv show recommendations (so I’m not constantly rambling about them in person), and gathering the recipes that I try, love or use on a regular basis in one place. My life looks quite a bit different than it looked this time last year. From the place I live and the foods I like, to my hobbies and who I am as a person, my life is virtually unrecognizable, so I wanted to write about it here for friends and family to follow along.
For this year, I have several new years goals, mostly in regards to personal development.
Walk more.
Read more.
Cook at home more.
Compile my favorite recipes in a cookbook - yes, I will counting this blog as my “cookbook.”
Make more friends and connections.
Spend more time outside.
Take more intentional pictures.
More positive self talk and less comparing myself to others.
I’m aiming to do “more” this year rather than having specific goals in mind and judging myself for what I do or don’t accomplish. I find a lot of beauty in stillness and cooking, so prioritizing nature and cooking are high on my list this year. When I started introducing daily walks into my regimen (though I’ve fallen behind lately), a lot of physical stress and anxieties I attempted to get rid of for years slowly alleviated. Some of that is thanks to my old therapist, but getting proper levels of Vitamin D by walking in the sunshine helped a lot.
I’ve also been trying to find my adult style (I’ve landed on street chic coastal grandma?). After much trial and error I discovered I’m a soft summer for my color analysis, which has been really fun. While perhaps a vain pursuit, I had always marveled at how celebrities and even certain people I’d meet in real life had this “look.” Where everything they wore looked as if it were made for them both in color and style, but also down to their choice of hair color and the type of makeup they did. Of course, for famous people this can have a lot to do with wealth and having a stylist, but regardless, I heard about color analysis and dove deep into trying to understand it. If you’re curious about color analysis for yourself, I’d recommend Carol Brailey. She’s amazing and her videos helped me settle on which season of colors looked best on me. Small things make a big difference in feeling confident in your clothes!
A few really beautiful things from this year so far:
I baked a bagel for the first time.
Austin and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together.
I joined a local women’s group and have already met some really cool people.
I finally hung up pictures and decor on the wall!
I went to New Jersey for the first time and was able to meet Austin’s extended family (they were amazing).
I went shopping with various gift cards I got for Christmas and was able to get some cute clothes and shoes… in my soft summer colors of course.
I’m getting to build my dream life with my best friend. It’s really beautiful and I can’t believe this is my life. Honestly, at some points I thought I would never find anyone and then, of course, I went and met my soulmate unexpectedly.
I’m growing out my natural hair color and loving it! I haven’t had my natural hair color since I was in middle school and started highlighting it. I’m excited to see it fully grown out.
I started painting with watercolors and sketching again. (See photo gallery below!) It’s a calming hobby and I love crafting cards for special occasions.
Random adulting things & other thoughts:
I struggled a lot in my mid-twenties (didn’t we all?), but my late twenties have been really special. I’m really looking forward to 30 at this rate! And while I feel the most joyful and settled in myself that I’ve ever felt, I also feel mournful of the people I thought would still be present in my day to day life. Whether it’s due to our walks of life changing, moving states, or differing views that caused our paths to separate, there are some people and friendships that I find myself still missing years later. I’m not sure that will ever pass.
I still feel uncertain in where I stand with my career because I want to grow more in my role and beyond, which takes time. In January of 2024 I started my current job (which is in a different field than I was previously), that I want to be in long term. It felt like I was starting over while everyone else was taking off and becoming more successful. (The comparison game sure is something, huh?)
Growing up is weird. They say you peak developmentally after your frontal lobe finishes developing at 25, but personally, I saw the most growth from 27-28. I’m realizing now that I’m capable of more than I ever gave myself credit for. I feel for the younger me who believed a lot of really negative thoughts about herself.
Baking bagels is hard. Recipes that say “easy” are lying.
That’s it for now! For the rest of February and into March I plan to dive into the women’s group I joined, bake some new recipes and savor some really sweet mornings of coffee on the patio with my best friend and, of course, Sadie!
- Shelby