✨ Highlights of 2025

To close out 2025 in review and reflection. I’ve started taking stock of the highlights, acknowledgments, and some of my favorite things from the past year.

Tomorrow I’ll curl up and dive into my favorite parts of the Reflection Ritual.  Perhaps you, too, will get some time to reflect on the highlights, challenges, and lessons of 2025. 

✨ Highlights of 2025:

• 50th Birthday weekend with Amara
• Leading a special 50th Birthday Ritual to honor my friend Heather during her girls' trip to the mountains 
• Family trip to New Orleans

•  Ippies Visiting- Stacey, Fern, Kimberley, and Phil  

•  Trip to Chicago and a visit with the Herbert family

•  My cousin’s wedding in Western NY

•  Weekend getaway to St. Augustine for Shannon’s 50th

•  Annual spa day with Lisa and Penny, Dinner on the Avenue- Elvis Edition, and so many gatherings, activities, shows, dinners, and fun outings with friends and family  

    ♥️ Watching Ethan grow and perform is always a top highlight. This year, he was in the UF production of Macbeth, taught himself guitar and started booking gigs, sang his first operatic aria at his recital,  played Roger in Rent, and made his NYC singing debut in a 70s cabaret show at 54 Below.

Other Celebrations and Acknowledgments:

• Teaching the Ready, Set, Trailblazer Course for IP Trainers
• Started the first Midlife Reclamation 6-month circle (with a retreat next month)
• Led two IPC Conferences with two amazing crews. 
• Finally got a Costco membership!😂
• Read 30 fiction books!!

What were your highlights? Send me a DM and let me know!

Books and Stories: This year, easy fiction books kept me sane during the heaviness of world events. I really enjoyed The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett, Happy Place by Emily Henry, Fairy Tale by Stephen King, The Frozen River by Ariel Lawson,  Nightingale and the Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, Dark Wild Shore by Charlotte McConaghy, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and yes, I read the whole ACOTR series. By far my favorite book of the year was My Friends by Fredrik Backman. 

I did read one non-fiction book, Strong Ground by Brené Brown.

What was your standout read? What should I add to my list for 2026?

TV Shows: I enjoyed new seasons of The Bear, Hacks, The Diplomat, Morning Show, Severance, and Nobody Wants This. I finished the series of The Handmaid’s Tale, Somebody Somewhere, and tomorrow I’ll finish Stranger Things. New favorites included Stick, the Residence, Paradise, Loot, and the Studio.

What were yours?

I'm not quite feeling the New Year energy. I remind myself that in cyclical living, this is time for hibernation and restoration. We are in the fertile void before we enter into what’s next. I'm going to ease into the new year by continuing to reflect on last year, cleaning and organizing a few things, and, when I'm ready, starting to imagine what I want from 2026. No need to make a list of ways to improve myself or start a new regimen tomorrow.   As many of you know, I don’t really start my “New Year” until at least my birthday, which is February 1st. Feel free to join me in that, while we take January as a trial month. 

Check out the upcoming events below that might support you in this yearly transition.

As always, thank you for reading my love notes every Thursday. I’m grateful for your comments and support.