A friend told me that she’d declared 2025 “the year of more spontaneity.” She’s been using the intention to guide her decisions, pushing herself to say more last-minute “yeses” in pursuit of a little more give and delight–more room for the unexpected. It made me wonder: for me, what is 2025 meant to be? At the beginning of the year, I wrote about an oddball resolution to spend less time tidying up, but I wouldn’t say that 2025 has exactly unfolded as “the year of more messes” or “the year of less tidying.” I still find myself twitchy when “the kitchen papers” stack too high, and the children’s rainbow looms and perler beads spend more than a week constellating the dining room table. Some days I simply can’t function until I put everything back in its place. But I do think my resolution has made me more likely to prioritize what matters: whenever I find myself instinctively drawn to neaten up the kitchen or the coffee table, I ask myself, “is this tidying task displacing something more important?” And even if I continue in my frenzied decluttering, at the very least I’m aware of what I’m doing and what I’m not because of it.
So — what has 2025 been?
As usual for me, any attempt to hunt an answer by spear gives way to fishing by net — and so the year stretches into a litany:
2025 has been a year of:
American poetry // natural light // wayfinding and self-finding in friendships // Jo March energy // replacing punishing exercise habits with gentler, more realistic ones // John Philip Caulfield (love interest in the fictional project I’ve been working on in the margins of my life) // collaboration with other artists // birding // embracing “fractionality” across many realms (something is better than nothing) // humbling, giving motherhood // reminding myself to “go lightly” — not take myself too seriously! // the “joys” of perimenopause and the way it has forced me to re-learn my own body // continuing my unlearning as a “bad book girl” (i.e., reading dozens of romance novels in bed) // the fox — my animal signary for the year // dating my husband // reminding myself I’m right where I’m meant to be // revision
After drafting this list, I discovered that if I had to summarize 2025 in one word, it would be revision. I spent the months of March through July shuffling through drafts of my book (coming out in May 2026!) in my little studio. I’d blow hot and cold. I’m told by other authors that it is common to love your work one day and hate it the next when you are writing against a deadline. Sometimes I could barely look my own page in the face. (A sentence that could easily be re-written as: “I could barely look at my own face in the page.”) Revision is humbling work; it feels a bit like looking at a mess of wires and saying, “who the hell thought this was a good setup?” and then fumbling around with them until they’re in a slightly more ordered state. Then coming back the next day and asking the same question.
But I also found myself very much in editing mode in other realms: looking for ways to dial up and down my involvement in various aspects of my children’s lives, trying to draw and re-draw the lines between work and family life, letting go of low priorities that somehow felt high-stakes, and editing my own self-regard when it comes to my aging face in the mirror, my body and what I ask of it, my tendency to self-chastise.
We’re always in revision, but this year has felt particularly exfoliating, in ways humbling and clarifying.
What about you? What has 2025 been the year of?
Post-Scripts.
+How are you doing with your New Year Bingo card?
+Our favorite offbeat seasonal rituals.
+What we love most about our homes.
Shopping Break.
+The ultimate LBD. Wear this everywhere/anywhere. Dress up with big jewels and heels, dress down with a flat sandal and belt.
+Spectacular new arrivals at VB: this silk midi for a fall fete, this striped knit, this plaid jacket. And OH this suede skirt.
+Tuckernuck has a great faux-seude skirt in a similar chocolate color here for much less, and also LOVE the silhouette and color of this faux-leather skirt from their latest drop. You might remember that I wore this Goop skirt with a cashmere cardigan and some glitzy jewelry to several events last fall — I felt like a million bucks in that set-up!
+If you don’t yet have one of these waffle bed blankets, tis the season…treat yourself! I’m obsessed with ours! Perfect weight, and so cozy in the cooler months. Also currently 15% off.
+LOVE the laces on these sneakers from TB.
+Love a good stripe.
+We’re almost to cord and turtleneck season — two of my FAVORITE fashion cornerstones.
+Speaking of: Minnow just launched a tight edit of bright knits in collaboration with Liz Adams. I love the joyful colors in this cardigan! (Also comes in kids’ sizes.)
+We need new chairs in our dining room – our kids have destroyed ours. I’m eyeing these in the new sage color! These aren’t even really my style, but I also keep thinking about these! They are so sleek! I have also wanted to replace our chandelier for awhile and I keep coming back to this, this, and this as inspiration points.
+These suitcases come in the best colors.
+Fun lace pants. Imagine pairing with black satin / silk details.
+Love the vintage pattern on this intarsia sweater.
+Reminder that this perfect colorblocked, sherpa-detailed vest is on sale.
+Cute patterned sheets!
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