Stephany Writes

Categories: Best Of

Best of 2025 | The Year in Blogging

It’s my last post of my “Best Of 2025” series! I’m always a little sad when I come to the end of this series because it always fills me with so much joy to go through these posts every year. I’m concluding this series by looking at my blogging stats and posts from 2025. This is the only time I ever look at my stats because I don’t find it very interesting to keep track of stuff like this on a regular basis. But it’s fun to take a gander at the end of the year and see what’s going on in that side of my blog. So let’s get into it!

By the Numbers

  • 100,860 unique views
  • 25,656 visitors
  • 1,001 words per post on average
  • 3,113 comments
  • 165 posts
  • 153 countries represented in my views (with the United States, Canada, and Germany being my top three)

It was another wonderful year for the little blog of mine! I cracked six digits in unique views, which has never happened before, and my visitors went up by almost 6,000 from 2024. For someone who does absolutely nothing to market my blog, I’m pleased to see that I’m still gaining views and visitors! I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing? My words per post average was nearly identical to 2024, so I guess 1,000 words is my sweet spot when it comes to my blog. Apparently, I have a lot to say!

For the past few years, my top three countries were the United States, Canada, and Poland, but this year, Germany took the top spot. (Poland actually dropped all the way down to #6 and had just under 2,000 fewer views from 2024. What did I ever do to Poland?!)

I wrote four fewer posts, but the comments stayed right about even, so that’s fun!

My Top 5 Blog Posts of 2025

(Blog posts written in 2025, in order of most pageviews.)

1) A Wednesday Morning Coffee Date – This was the first post I wrote after coming back from a blogging break, so I guess you were all excited to see me back in your feed! I didn’t talk about anything exciting here, just filled you in on some big life updates, like talking about my London trip and getting the keys to my new apartment.

2) Thirty-Eight – It makes me very happy that one of my most navel-gaze-y posts was my second most-viewed blog post of 2025! I love writing a yearly reflection on my birthday and while last year was a really tough one with all of my physical ailments, there was still so much goodness and happiness to talk about.

3) Some Thoughts on Motherhood, as a Childless Thirty-Something – This might be my favorite post of the year, so I love that it broke into the top five. I’m in my late thirties and still childless, something I could have never predicted when I was that little evangelical Christian girl who was praying for her future husband and keeping a list of her favorite baby names. I have some complicated feelings about motherhood, and those feelings came into full focus when I learned I have uterine fibroids and the best option to get rid of them is endometrial ablation, which would severely limit my ability to get pregnant. Even though I am 90% sure I don’t want children, it’s that 10% that had me turning down this procedure. For now, at least.

4) My 2025 Goals – So fun that my annual goals post made the top five! I love making my annual goals, even though I don’t complete MANY of them. Thankfully, I’m not the type of person to beat myself up about that. I find goal-setting to be fun, and I don’t put a ton of pressure on myself to complete everything on my list.

5) TGIF (v. 79) – Since this was the post I wrote right before going on a blogging break for a few weeks, it makes sense that it got more views than a typical TGIF-style post would get. I like to imagine you guys just kept rereading that post every few days as you patiently waited for a new post from me. That’s what happened, right?!

My All-Time Most Popular Blog Posts

  1. I’m 27 and Scared to Move Out (+504 views)
  2. On Being a Socially Anxious Introvert (+163 views)
  3. 10 Things I Like About Myself (+1,278 views)
  4. “What is meant for me is already mine.” (+515 views)
  5. Rules for Living with a Dachshund (+120 views)

Once again, there was no change in my top five posts of all time. They remain in their same positions, although “10 Things I Like About Myself” made a huge jump in pageviews in 2025 and is only a few hundred views away from taking over “On Being a Socially Anxious Introvert.” I love that my dachshund post is still hanging in at number five because I love clicking on that post and rereading it every month. Oh, Dutchy-Boy. I still miss him every day!

Other Favorite Posts

1) The FIG Collective – In February, Elisabeth hosted the Finding Joy in Gratitude Collective, aka The F.I.G. Collective and every week, I published a post detailing my daily gratitude. It’s really fun to look back on those posts to see the bright spots of February and I am really excited that Elisabeth is hosting this gratitude challenge again this year!

2) My Mundane Bathroom Details – This post was based on one Diane wrote, detailing all of her mundane bathroom details. So I did the same! I talked about the products I use, my styling routine, my skincare and makeup routine, etc. It’s 1,500 words because that’s the kind of person I am.

3) A Tour of My Bookshelves – This was another post I wrote based on a blogger’s post, and this is Elisabeth’s second mention of the day. She talked about how she organizes her library books, and I wrote a long comment that I eventually turned into my own post, where I took you guys around my apartment to view all my different bookshelves. I love having books as decor!

4) Reasons I Love Traveling with My Mom – After a getaway to Orlando for a few days with my mom, I wrote this post upon my return that detailed why we travel so well together. I know not everyone would enjoy traveling with their mom, and I am very grateful that’s not my reality. She’s my favorite travel partner!

5) Ranking My Favorite Books – Yet another post that I wrote because of something I read or listened to, ha. This one came from an episode of the Currently Reading podcast where the hosts listed out their top books of the past six years, and then ranked them in order of their favorite favorites. I thought it would be fun to do this on my own blog. I went all the way back to 2011 for this post! My #1? Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Always and forever, that book holds such a special place in my heart.

Categories: Best Of

Best of 2025 | My Reading Stats

I have been keeping a detailed reading spreadsheet since 2017. This year, I thought about using the reading tracker that Sarah’s Bookshelves Live offers to her Patreon members, but I found it a bit cumbersome to use. Still, there were certain parts of the spreadsheet I really liked (tracking debuts, having a separate DNF tab, etc.), so I combined my old reading tracker with the parts of Sarah’s tracker that I liked and wanted to use. I’m always happy to send my reading tracker to anyone who wants it! Yes, it’s a lot of info, but you get to choose what you want to track.

So, let’s get into my reading stats for 2025!

Nitty-Gritty Details

  • Number of books read: 105 (-5 from 2024)
  • Number of pages read: 37,463 (-85 from 2024)
  • Number of books abandoned: 13 (-3 from 2024)
  • Overall rating: 3.9
  • Audiobook hours: 398 hours, 58 minutes (equivalent to over 16 days!)

Format Breakdown

It’s wild to see that my print and audiobook reading were almost neck and neck! (In terms of actual books, I read 46 print books and listened to 40 audiobooks.) From 2024, my print reading is down 4%, my audiobook reading is up 8%, and my e-book reading is down 4%. I would like to do more reading on my Kindle this year, especially because I just got a new one, but I usually only read romance on Kindle, since it’s easy to borrow romance e-books from Libby. I need to be better about checking Libby for non-romance reads!

Genre Breakdown

Genre Percentage Average Rating
Romance 28% 3.7
Fiction 22% 3.6
Mystery/Thriller 22% 3.8
Nonfiction 17% 4.1
YA 5% 4.3
Sci-fi/Fantasy 3% 4.8
Historical Fiction 3% 3.8

Lots of changes here! My romance reading went down by 9% and the average rating fell from 4.0 to 3.7. It’s still a successful rating, but also shows I slogged through more 3-star romances than 2024. My fiction reading was also down significantly (8%) but the average rating stayed the same. Mystery/thrillers stayed steady and the average rating improved slightly. The biggest difference, though, was my nonfiction reading, as it was up 11% from 2024! I mentioned in last year’s post that I wanted to read more nonfiction, and yay!

Source Breakdown

Once again, the library reigns supreme in my most-sourced location. If I combine my library percentage with Hoopla (which is essentially the library), then I’m at the exact same percentage as 2024! This is the year I discovered Hoopla for audiobooks and I am so glad I did! I listened to 18 audiobooks using that app. Amazon kept its place in the top three, but my percentage is down 3% from 2024. I try not to rely too heavily on Amazon for books, but sometimes I use them for e-books if I can’t get a copy at my library.

Month Breakdown

My reading was pretty stable throughout the year, averaging around 8-9 books per month just like last year. My highest reading month was April with 11 books and my lowest reading month was September with 6 books.

New Release vs. Backlist

This chart is identical to 2024, which is crazy. I am definitely not someone who reaches for all of the buzzy new releases quickly. I like to take my time! I drilled down into what genres I read the most backlist, and it was an even split between thriller and romance, comprising a combined 50% of my backlist reading. Following close behind was nonfiction.

Recommendation Sources

Recommendation Source # of Books Read Overall Rating
Sarah’s Bookshelves Live podcast 12 3.8
Currently Reading podcast 9 3.6
Lisa 6 4.0
The Popcast 3 4.25
Katie 3 3.3

I love tracking my recommendation sources! This has become such a delightful part of my book tracking process. Once again, the same three podcasts topped the list. Sarah’s Bookshelves Live continues to reign supreme, and I read double from 2024. The overall rating dropped from 4.3 to 3.8, but this is still a very successful rating! Currently Reading’s overall rating improved from 3.0 in 2024 to 3.6 in 2025. It’s still not a successful rating, but it’s improving. Maybe I’m getting better at knowing which books will work for me from their recommendations?! And The Popcast continues to be an excellent recommendation source, even though I’m not reading a ton of books they recommend. But their overall rating improved from 4.0 to 4.25 this year!

I’m excited to see that Lisa continues to be my top non-podcast recommendation source! And with an overall rating of 4.0, I will continue to trust Lisa’s reviews and recommendations! And it was fun to see an IRL friend sneak into this list. While the overall rating wasn’t successful, this friend is always so enthusiastic about the books she reads and loves, so I always want to give them a try!

Author Breakdown

For the first time, I tracked the type of author I read—debut authors, repeat authors, and new-to-me (non-debut) authors. Almost half of my reading was repeat authors, which was kinda surprising. I had no idea I read so many repeat authors, so this will be fun to track in other years to see what the trends are. I’m also surprised that only 20% of my reading were debuts, but then again, I read more backlist than new releases, so I guess it makes sense. (Although not all debuts are new releases, and not all new releases are debuts!) My star average between all three categories was nearly the same – between 3.7 and 3.9 – so there wasn’t a markedly different category. Interesting!

Alignment With Goodreads Ratings

This year, I tracked how differently I rate books vs the average Goodreads rating. Turns out, I’m very aligned with Goodreads reviewers! Just over 50% of the books I read were within a half-star differential. I rated more books lower than the Goodreads average (27%) than higher (18%), which is probably because Goodreads ratings tend to skew on the higher side. My average alignment was .13.

Odds and Ends

  • Oldest book (by pub date): The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (1926)
  • Newest book (by pub date): Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (June 3, 2025)
  • Author I read the most: Lucy Parker (3)
  • Longest book: 11/2/63 by Stephen King (1,104 pages)
  • Shortest book: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (218 pages)
  • Longest audiobook: The It Girl by Ruth Ware (17 hours, 9 minutes)
  • Shortest audiobook: No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler (4 hours, 44 minutes)
  • Book that took me the longest to read: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (32 days)
  • Average number of days to read a book: 8.5 days (nearly a whole day longer than 2024!)

In 2025, did you read more or fewer books than 2024?

Categories: Best Of, Books

Best of 2025 | My Favorite Reads

Here it is! One of my favorite posts to put together every year—my favorite reads of 2025! Like always, I have split this post into three sections: my overall favorite books, favorite books by genre, and superlatives. I stole most of the genres and superlative categories from Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, so any SBL listeners will find many of these categories familiar.

It’s always funny choosing my favorite book of the year because I truly never know what it’s going to be until I’m reviewing my reading spreadsheet and writing down all of my five-star reads. Nine times out of ten, one book will stand out. Sometimes it feels like a literal gut punch in my abdomen when I come across the title on my spreadsheet, or I exclaim (out loud, to no one), “Aww, I loved that book!” It’s that visceral reaction that solidifies it as my favorite read of the year. That happened again this year, as I was so certain what book was going to make it to the top of my list… until I got to the book that I did name my favorite. My reaction was so emotional that I couldn’t choose anything else.

Overall Favorites

Favorite Overall Book

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (2024, audiobook) – It was really a toss-up between this book and The Correspondent as my favorite book of the year, but I just couldn’t get this book out of my head. It’s about three sisters who are grieving the loss of their youngest sister to addiction. It’s a gritty book with wholly unlikable characters, and I didn’t expect this book to touch me as deeply as it did. In fact, for the first half of the novel, I struggled with the novel and wanted to abandon it. But I kept going and my perseverance paid off. It was a spectacular read and it’s one I’d love to reread someday. I think of the line in this novel frequently, “I miss her and I miss her and I miss her … And I wait for the feeling to end because every other feeling has ended, no matter how intense, no matter how hard – but this won’t. There’s no end to the missing.”

Favorite Fiction

The Correspondent (2025, audiobook) – This book was everything it promised it would be. It was delightful and thought-provoking and funny and heartwarming. It lived up to the hype! It’s an epistolary novel about a woman in her 70s who is writing letters (and sometimes emails) to family members, new friends, neighbors, and authors she admires. It made me want to start sending a note to authors after reading a book that touched me!

Favorite Romance

Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (2025, print) – I loved this novel, although I’ve seen a lot more mixed reviews than some of her other recent releases. I just remember getting so caught up in the romance and wondering how the author was going to solve the big issue at the heart of the novel. I also appreciated the way she handled caretaking and the topic of dementia.

Favorite Nonfiction

All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen, M.D. (2024, audiobook) – I’ve been an evangelist about this book since I read it last January, and it remains my top nonfiction read of 2025. The book is broken down into sections, each referring to a different system of the body. Then, within each section, Dr. Comen talks about how each system works, the history of medical thought, and the issues left unaddressed. It’s eye-opening and thought-provoking.

Favorites by Genre

Favorite Contemporary Fiction

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025, print) – I loved this road trip novel that was darkly comedic and heartwarming. It had some tough themes, but there was a lightness to the story, so it didn’t feel too heavy. Plus, there’s a cat!

Runner-up: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

Favorite Literary Fiction

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (2010, print) – This novel is heavy. It is not an easy read, but there’s still something soothing about Anna Quindlen’s writing style that kept me turning the pages, even though the plot made me very sad and emotional.

Favorite Historical Fiction

Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (2023, print) – What a beautiful story of resilience and bravery! Crow Mary was a real woman, a Crow Native woman named Goes First who is married off to a white fur trader in 1872. From there, Mary learns more about the white man’s way of living.

Favorite Contemporary Romance

Back After This by Linda Holmes (2025, e-book) – I couldn’t get enough of this sweet romance, involving a podcast producer who starts a dating experiment for a new podcast series. It’s fun, sexy, smart, and just goddamn delightful.

Runner-up: Wild Love by Elsie Silver

Favorite YA

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (2024, audiobook) – This book completely transported me. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did because I don’t generally love magical realism/fantasy novels. But there was something so captivating about the world Meg created and the found family element.

Runner-up: Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales

Favorite Mystery/Thriller

Look Closer by David Ellis (2022, audiobook) – This story had me on pins and needles the whole time! There were so many great twists and turns, and it was so wild to be rooting for the bad guys to get away with what they were doing!

Runner-up: The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Favorite Memoir/Essay Collection

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (2024, audiobook) – I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from this book, but what I got was a fascinating story about Kelly Bishop’s life. From her early days as a dancer to her dating escapades to her time on Gilmore Girls. She is warm and funny and open-hearted.

Runner-up: This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir by Zarna Garg

Superlatives

The Most Disappointing DNF

On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen (2023, audiobook) – One of my friends raved about this book, so I was excited to read it. She was so effusive in her praise! But ugh, I basically hated the author from the beginning and my notes on this DNF say: “privileged white lady complaining about her life, blahhhh.” So yeah. 

The Most Disappointing Book I Read

Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (2023, audiobook) – It’s not often that I give a book 1 star (I would normally DNF any book that I hated that much!), but I kept reading this book for reasons I can’t quite articulate. Maybe because it was so short? Maybe because I like to torture myself? I’m not sure, but it was so boring and the characters were insufferable.

The Book I Was Surprised to Love

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (2021, print) – I didn’t love the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series. There was a lot of setup happening and I felt like the ending was really convoluted. But I started the second book, hoping things would improve, and boy did they. I devoured this book! It was an easy 5 stars and I couldn’t get enough of these characters and the plot!

The Book I Thought I Would Love More Than I Did

11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011, e-book) – Ugh, this book was such a slog. In 2025, I challenged myself to read four books over 500 pages and this is the one I was looking forward to the most. I had heard such great reviews, so I was excited to dive in. It was not what I expected at all and there is no reason it needed to be 900+ pages. Get an editor, SK!

Most Deserving of the Hype

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025, e-book) – I am all aboard the TJR hype train. I was super excited about this one, since it involved NASA and had a queer love story at the heart of the novel. It totally delivered for me, and I found myself tearing up at the end.

Least Deserving of the Hype

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (2025, print) – I can usually count on Emily Henry, but this book did not work for me. It felt like it was straying a little too closely to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but doing a much terrible job. I thought the romance was lackluster and the story-within-the-story to be pretty boring.

The Book I Loved That Other People Hated

Making Up by Lucy Parker (2018, e-book) – This can be a hard category for me, as I don’t often love books that have low Goodreads ratings. (I won’t typically read a book if it’s less than 3.7 stars!) But Making Up by my fave romance author, Lucy Parker, has a 3.69 average rating, which is just a travesty. I loved this book!

The Book I Hated That Other People Loved

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones – Oh boy. I haven’t reviewed this book yet because it was one of my final books of 2025, but you guys, I slogged through this short audiobook. I thought I would love it based on the premise, but I needed the author to dig a little deeper and be a little more introspective. I was so bored!

Underrated Gem

The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation by Suzanne Stabile – This is a very niche book, as it’s all about the Enneagram. And, really, it’s for people who already know a lot about the Enneagram and want to dig deeper. I enjoyed this book a lot because I find the Enneagram to be endlessly fascinating, and it even helped to clarify certain parts of my personality that I didn’t realize were linked to my Enneagram number! With only 1,400 ratings on Goodreads, it is definitely the least-reviewed book on my list!

What was your favorite book of 2025? What books do you think were most and least deserving of the hype?

Categories: Best Of, Life

Best of 2025 | A Month-by-Month Recap

January – The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

  • I got bloodwork done and the results were not pretty. My A1C was high enough to earn me a diabetes diagnosis, but my doctor gave me three months to see if cleaning up my diet could bring down my A1C. I was really frustrated with myself for letting my health get to such a bad place!
  • I was diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa, after getting yet another infected cyst in my underarm. It was my third cyst in as many months.
  • Jenny was in Tampa and we met up for a fun afternoon! We went to a cat cafe, a bookstore, and then got coffee/tea and chatted away the afternoon.
  • Bri and I met to do some brainstorming for the podcast. We had taken a long hiatus due to Bri’s busy schedule, and I was worried we were going to have to shelve this podcast.
  • I went to an author event with my friend Lynn, and the author was so warm and personable. It was a great time!

February – Investing in Friendships & FIGs

  • Birchie came to St. Pete! We had a fun day exploring my city: brunch at The Library, a bookstore visit, the Dali Museum, and coffee flights at my favorite coffeeshop.
  • I visited the new romance bookstore that opened up in my area, Steamy Lit. A few girlfriends joined me and we all bought Blind Date books. After the bookstore, we all went to a nearby restaurant for dinner where we opened our blind date books one by one. So cute!
  • Bri and I had our annual Galentine’s date. We went out to dinner (pierogis!) and then saw Paula Poundstone live, where we were the youngest people in the audience by far.
  • I participated in Elisabeth’s The F.I.G. Collective, where every day, I wrote down at least one thing I was grateful for that day.
  • I got into a fender bender. It happened as I was pulling out of my parking space, and luckily, there was very little damage and the most damage happened to my car and not the other person.

March – Brought to You by the Number Two

  • 2 tea parties, 2 new-to-me bookstores, 2 new pets to dote on, 2 birthdays to celebrate, 2 cute pet portraits made, and 2 podcast episodes released after a 6-month hiatus
  • Bri and I spent a weekend in Orlando with her best friend Jackie where we helped Jackie put together a couch, perused bookstores, and had a fancy tea party at Disney Springs
  • I had a massive anxiety spiral and reached out to my friend Mikaela. She sat with me for an hour on the phone in the middle of her crazy morning.
  • Chip turned 7 years old and Lucy turned 4! We celebrated with ice cream at our favorite dog ice cream shop!
  • My mom and I went to Painting with a Twist to paint portraits of our pets. Thank goodness for the artist because she really helped us turn out portraits into works of art!

April – When Hard Work Pays Off

  • My mom and I did the Fight for Air Climb, which entailed climbing 914 stairs. It was hard and I never want to do it again, but we finished!
  • I got follow-up bloodwork done and was so relieved to see that my A1C came down and my fasting glucose was finally in the normal range. No diabetes diagnosis for me!
  • My tub got refinished and I had to relocate myself and the cats for a few days. We went to a nearby VRBO and while it wasn’t exactly relaxing, it was my first attempt at a solo reading retreat.
  • I started dealing with digestive issues (that would last through late July). Yayyy.
  • I had two days of off-site meetings that were really exhausting but also incredibly productive. And then my manager told me that I impressed our VP with my ideas and solutions, which felt very good.
  • Eloise turned 7!

May – New Experience, New (Fur) Nephew

  • I went to my first drag show with my friend Kim. And now I’m obsessed with drag!
  • My brother and his family adopted a second dog. His name is Moose and he is PRECIOUS.
  • I had a lovely day at my mom’s pool with the dogs. Chip loves jumping on and off the floats, and Lucy wants nothing to do with the pool!
  • I started tapering off Lexapro to start Prozac, and the anxiety levels were high this month due to the transition.
  • I went to yoga at a local cat cafe, which is truly the one way one should do yoga. (Provided one is not allergic to cats.)
  • Lila turned 7!

June – In My “I’m Falling Apart” Era

  • Thanks to some wise advice from Michelle, I got checked for uterine fibroids and found out I have TWO, which is why my periods have been terrible lately. There’s nothing to be done, unless I want endometrial ablation, which would severely limit my ability to have children, and I’m not willing to do that right now.
  • I met with a GI doctor to discuss my ongoing GI issues and underwent several tests in June, including bloodwork to rule out food allergies, a stool sample to rule out bacterial infection, and an ultrasound to rule out any serious underlying conditions. Everything came back clean!
  • I had more cysts pop up in my underarm, none of which got infected, thankfully. But they were annoying/painful to deal with.
  • I got to dog-sit for my fur-siblings, which is always a good time. I love hanging out with my babies!
  • Bri made me taste a TON of terrible food combinations for an episode of our podcast. I still have not forgiven her for this!
  • Eloise got her teeth cleaned for the first time!

July – The Best of Times, the Worst of Times (Part II)

  • My mom and I spent four days in Orlando to celebrate her birthday. We mostly enjoyed the resort-style pool and the poolside cabanas. We lived our bougiest lives!
  • I had my colonoscopy! The prep was terrible, and I threw up so many times because I was so nauseous from hunger. But my colon was clear, no polyps or indication of IBD. Yay! (Also, they aren’t joking about that nap. It’s incredible!)
  • I started birth control and had an immediate reaction, falling into a long depressive episode.
  • I spent another weekend in Orlando with Bri and Jackie. We had a low-key weekend, lots of reading and napping and doting on Jackie’s pets. We also went to an alpaca farm for a painting event, which was super fun!
  • I went to Ben Schwartz & Friends with Bri and Sean! We had such a great time and cried from laughter.
  • I saw Superman and was forever changed. David Corenswet 4 EVAH.

August – The Quiet Month

  • I took my mom to my new favorite local tea shop for a belated Mother’s Day gift. We had a great time, even though we got caught in a torrential downpour leaving the shop!
  • I was still going through my depressive episode and had an emergency appointment with my psychiatrist. We decided to start me on a fast-acting depression medication. (However, once I realized it was the birth control that caused the depression, I stopped taking both birth control and this new medication.)
  • We took Chip and Lucy to the dog beach! Chip had a blast running around with the bigger dogs while Lucy barked at every dog that dared to approach her.
  • Bri came over for a low-key lady date. She brought Greek food and we worked on a puzzle together while listening to Christmas music.
  • My favorite HIIT instructor was fired and I was so sad. He was such a great instructor and really pushed me to do things I didn’t think I could do. I miss him a lot!

September – Let the Pain Begin

  • I developed trigger finger in both index fingers and got steroid shots that took away the pain for about three months.
  • My mom and I took the dogs to the Tampa Bay Weens September meet-up, which was such a delight! Lucy was a little shy, but Chip was a social butterfly!
  • I applied for a gorgeous two-bedroom apartment and started the packing process.
  • I started dealing with upper back pain so I went to urgent care and got muscle relaxers, which helped a bit. I also started noticing that my IT band on both legs was very tight and I was having some hip pain.
  • On the last day of September, my mom and I left for our trip to London! We upgraded our seats to premium and had so much space to spread out on the flight!

October – Laurie & Steph Take London

  • My mom and I spent the first week of October in London! While it wasn’t the trip we planned (my mom got sick on day 3!), we made the best of it and had a great time still. Favorites: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and seeing Wicked at the West End!
  • I got sick shortly after coming home from London, but it cleared up within a few days. My mom was down for the count with strep B and Covid for a few weeks.
  • I spent most of the month moving into my new apartment, taking over small loads of items every few days. On October 30th, the movers came to move all the boxes and furniture!
  • Mikaela and I went to our local No Kings protest, which had a great turnout and we got lots of appreciative waves and honks from drivers.
  • My back and hips continued to hurt, so I saw an orthopedic who prescribed me an anti-inflammatory and physical therapy. I also started getting twice-weekly chiropractor adjustments. Nothing worked.

November – Settling Into a New Home

  • I turned 38 years old on Black Friday and celebrated with a massage, a nap, and a Christmas adventure with my mom and older nephew.
  • I did NaBloPoMo again, fifth year running! It was a blast like it always is and I was delighted to meet some new bloggers who were doing the challenge.
  • I spent most of the month settling into my new space. It has been incredible to have my own office. My tub is a dream for this bubble bath girlie. And I love that the girls have more room for their zoomies!
  • I got an EKG after having some weird chest pain while I was working out. Everything is fine! I still don’t know what that pain is about, though.
  • I continued to have back and hip pain, and then my shoulders decided to join in the fun. I continued PT and chiropractic adjustments – no relief.

December – A Season to Remember

  • I went back to the orthopedic, armed with the idea that I had hip bursitis. I got steroid shots in both hip bursae, which gave me about 36 hours of relief before the pain was back.
  • Kim and I went to A Drag Queen Christmas, which was sensational! I got to see some of my favorite queens from season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race!
  • I spent a weekend dog-sitting Bri’s sweet greyhounds. They were incredibly easy to take care of. The worst part was having to walk them and pick up their poop, and that’s only because my hips were so stiff that weekend, ugh.
  • The holiday season was another beautiful one. I enjoyed a few Christmas-themed activities, made Christmas cookies with my nephews, and went to a fancy steakhouse on Christmas Eve, per tradition.
  • I rang in the new year with my mom. We had a low-key NYE, watching episodes of The Celebrity Traitors UK and playing Yahtzee.
Categories: Best Of, Goals

Best of 2025 | Wrapping Up My 2025 Goals

HOME (4/5)

1) Itemize everything in my home. Burn through one candle every month. Complete! I was very good at my candle goal. Let’s see if I can keep it up in 2026!

2) Buy a new area rug, coffee table, bookshelf, and throw pillows. Mostly complete. I didn’t buy a new bookshelf or coffee table, but I did get a new nightstand and a second area rug for my bedroom so… it counts? Whatever, this is my list. I’m counting it!

3) Move to a two-bedroom apartment. Complete! YASSSSSS.

4) Stick to a weekly cleaning routine. Not complete. Oof. I keep my apartment clean, but I could definitely do a better job.

5) TBD Declutter one space of my home every week. Complete. Maybe I didn’t do it every week, but most weeks, I got it done and I had so many bags of donations to Goodwill!

ADULTING (1/5)

1) Change my primary email address. LOL, this was a complete bust. I changed it for a few accounts, but then just… stopped. And now I keep forgetting to check that other email address regularly, so I probably just need to move everything back to my stephanywrites email. Sigh.

2) Spend 50% less in online takeout from 2024. My goal is to spend less than $100 a month in online takeout. I accomplished this in January and then failed miserably for the rest of the year. (I don’t have October, November, or December numbers, but I’m sure I failed in those months, too.)

  • January: $78.38 ✅
  • February: $205.51 ❌
  • March: $173.07 ❌
  • April: $131.79 ❌
  • May: $172.49 ❌
  • June: $179.77 ❌
  • July: $269.93 ❌
  • August: $156.66 ❌
  • September: $146.51 ❌

3) Pay off my LASIK bill. Complete!

4) Save $3,000 in my emergency savings. Not complete. I was up to $1,500 before the move and then I pulled out $500 to help with some expenses. I’m slowly building this back up and I’m at $1,235 now.

5) Complete the “I’m Dead. Now What?” book. I completely forgot about this goal!

HEALTH (1/5)

1) Improve my posture. Not complete.

2) Lose 20 lbs. Mostly complete. I lost 18 lbs and I’m considering that a huge win, considering it’s the first year in many years that I’ve lost weight.

3) Move my body every day. Not complete.

4) Work on my daily routines. Not complete.

5) Be able to do a sit-up without help. Not complete. I was well on my way, but my joint pain has stopped all workout progress, womp.

HOBBIES (4/5)

1) Read one 500+ page book every quarter. Complete!

  • Q1: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (★★★☆☆)
  • Q2: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (★★★★☆)
  • Q3: Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge (★★★☆☆)
  • Q4: 11/22/63 by Stephen King (★★★☆☆)

2) Go to at least 6 Silent Book Club meetings. Download and organize all of my photos on Facebook. Complete!

3) Read 125 books. (105/125) I did not meet this goal, but it was definitely a stretch goal for me. I’m happy that I read over 100 books, though!

4) Remove all the spammy links that have been added to my blog. Complete! I hope so, at least. These spammy links are so creepy!

5) Complete the Taylor Swift reading challenge. Complete!

FUN (3/5)

1) Watch four movies – one from 1987, one from 1988, one from 1989, and one from 1990. Not complete. I watched Dirty Dancing and loved it so much! And then just stopped watching movies. I’m just not a movie girl!

2) Take a trip to London. Complete!

3) Watch the entirety of these series: Suits, New Girl, and a TBD series. Try my hand at three different baking recipes: cookie dough cupcakes, a three-layer cake, and some kind of pumpkin treat. Not complete. I made a pumpkin treat, but forgot about the other two desserts, ha.

4) Repierce my nose. Complete!

5) Do one new thing every month.

  • January: Tried mushrooms, decided I didn’t like them
  • February: Visited a romance bookstore
  • March: Went to a new-to-me grocery store, Aldi (successful trip, although there are definitely certain items I’ll still need to use Publix/Target for)
  • April: Cheesy JC Penney photoshoot with book club
  • May: My first drag show!
  • June: Tried a whole lot of weird food combos for the podcast
  • July: My first ultrasound and colonoscopy (how fun)
  • August: Tried peppermint tea, found out I like it a lot
  • September: A dachshund meetup
  • October: Visiting London
  • November: Visited The Book Lounge, a new bookish community space in my town
  • December: Made peanut butter balls for the first time

Final Thoughts

In the end, I accomplished 13 of the 25 goals I set for myself. If I’m grading myself, that means I get an F for my annual goals for the year, eeks! But you know what? I accomplished some big goals this year: moving to a two-bedroom apartment, losing 18 lbs, paying off my LASIK bill, taking a trip to London. And I successfully tried one new thing every month (even if that “new thing” was medical-related; it still counts!) and read four big chonkers that have been on my TBR list for a while.

I wish I could have saved more money, spent less on Ubereats orders, read more books, and figured out my cleaning routine, but alas. This was a hard year and I’m just glad I was able to accomplish a few things from my original list.

How did you do on your 2025 goals (if you set them)?