WATCHED
- The Celebrity Traitors UK – I started watching this with my mom on NYE and finished it within the first few days of 2026. It was excellent! Bonus: Nate from Ted Lasso was part of the cast, and he was brilliant.
- Next Level Chef, season 3 – I hate cooking but love cooking shows. Riddle me that, Batman.
- Only Murders in the Building, season 5 – I’m finally caught up with Only Murders! I enjoyed this season a lot. It felt like a love letter to NYC.
- The Cutting Edge (1993) – I am once again attempting to watch one movie every month. And in January, I did! (Yay!) I watched The Cutting Edge since The Popcast is recapping the movie for one of their bonus episodes. I loved it! TOE PICK.
In progress: The Traitors US season 4, Friends season 5 (rewatch), and Survivor: Cook Islands.
LISTENED TO
- Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend (album) – Another small goal for 2026 is to listen to one new album every month. I did this in 2024 and really loved listening to music that was not Taylor Swift. I enjoyed this album a lot. Favorite songs: Manchild, Nobody’s Son, When Did You Get Hot?, and House Tour
- The Last Invention (podcast) – I have many complicated feelings about AI, and this podcast explored the good and bad that will come our way as it rises. I work in digital marketing, so I have to be well-versed in AI and understand how consumers are using it for search. It’s not something I just can’t use because GEO (generative engine optimization, aka optimizing content for AI search) has become a big focus in the digital marketing space. But I can still use it responsibly, and that’s my goal. This podcast was fascinating and very well-produced.
- Is Oprah Winfrey a Bastard? (podcast) – I’m still catching up on older episodes of Behind the Bastards, and in early 2025, they did a six-part series on Oprah, and it was enlightening to say the least.
BOUGHT
- Nightstand – I love my new nightstand so much! It’s the perfect height so I can easily lean over and turn my CPAP machine on and off every day, and it has lots of great storage. And it’s pretttty!
- Fluffy rug – Once I had my perfect reading chair (excuse me, Eloise’s napping chair) in my office, I needed a rug and I wanted it to be obnoxiously fluffy. I found the perfect fluffy rug that is so soft and luxurious under my feet.
- End table – I had a different table next to my reading chair but I wanted something smaller, so I found this perfect option on Amazon. It’s small, inexpensive, and took five minutes to put together. Right now, it’s a little bare while I try to figure out how I want to use the bottom and second shelf.
LOVED
- Having a diagnosis – I am so relieved to finally have an answer to my chronic pain. Even though it’s not ideal to have an autoimmune condition that will affect me for the rest of my life, I am mostly just glad to be on a path towards feeling better. I really loved my rheumatologist’s office, too, and they have an all-female staff, which is super cool!
- My new morning and evening routines – I love my new morning and evening routines! My morning routine will need to shift once I’m ready to go back to the gym since I prefer early-morning workouts, but right now, it’s been nice to have a slow start to my morning and a solid evening routine that ensures I’m getting to bed by 10 p.m. every night. Plus, each routine includes an hour of reading time, which makes me oh-so-happy.
- A bookish date with Jenny – It was so much fun to take Jenny to my favorite bookish spots when she was in Tampa. We went to three different bookstores, one brewery, and one coffee shop! We had a great time together, as always.
LOATHED
- Stiff, painful joints – January was a really hard month because I was in so much pain for so many days. The whole month was basically counting down to my rheumatology appointment. “Only two more weekends to get through.” “Only one more full week of work!” The appointment felt so far away, and the pain was so intense that there was a point where I wondered if I could go to urgent care for a short dose of prednisone before the appointment. I opted against it, sticking to my high dose of meloxicam, which lessened the intensity of my symptoms but never took them away.
- Tough family dynamics – An unbloggable situation, so all I will say about this is that I need people to be better.
- Work stress – I came into January with a whole lot of work from December that I didn’t quite manage to finish before taking some time off at the end of the year. This meant that I was constantly trying to take care of December tasks while January tasks started piling up. It was very stressful and I do not recommend!
SUPERLATIVES
- This month’s chapter title: The One With the Diagnosis
- Weather notes: We had weather in the 80s and weather in the low 30s. When we went putt-putt golfing for book club in early January, we were sweating by the time we finished. And then we ended January with snow flurries in parts of the Tampa Bay area (I didn’t see any, wah!). A very up-and-down month in terms of weather.
- Favorite meal/snack: Peanut butter crackers. I bought a box as part of my emergency snack kits and I’ve become obsessed with them. Who knew chemicals were so tasty?!
- Something I learned: Some fancy Excel tricks for my budgeting spreadsheet
- An unexpected delight: Spending these cold January mornings sipping a hot cup of coffee and reading my book is the best way to ease into my day!
What chapter title would you give to January? What was something you watched?
Your nightstand is sooooo pretty!
January was a full month for you, but what a relief to be ending it with a diagnosis and a clear(er) way forward.
January: A Month to be Survived or January: A Buttload of Snow
It was a big month. Let’s hope February can be something like, The One With No Pain!
I’m excited what your chapter titles will be when you’re traveling!
Lol at “The One With the Diagnosis” – very Friends themed, and we always need to find humor even when the situation is not funny.
My January title is Laissez les bons temps rouler – let the good times roll, which is the slogan of New Orleans/Mardi Gras. I loved spending time there, and I loved coming home to hibernate. I loved seeing Doggo play in the snow, but other than that, winter is very overrated.
Winter must be BRUTAL living up north. It’s my favorite time of year, weather-wise, for us in Florida. We even got the excitement of snow flurries, ha.
I love your January title!
Lots of good things! And I really laughed at “Who knew chemicals were so tasty?!”
My January title would probably be Cold Weather and Heated Rivalry.
Ooh, that’s a great title! January is such a great month in Florida for weather. I’m loving our cold weather!
The Cutting Edge! You are definitely choosing some GREAT classic movies. Well done picking!
January: 2026 Is Not Better Than 2025 (So Far)
How’s that for telling 2026 to suck it?
Gosh, that’s an excellent title and I completely concur. 2026 needs to get its act together, that’s for sure.
My title for January is “The World is on Fire”. Sigh. It was not a great month. And the melancholy vibe continues into February.
I am so glad you got a dx and that you like your rheum’s practice! I only see females at my rheum’s practice! I think Rheumatology must attract more females that other areas?
My favorite show I watched in January was episodes of The Pitt. I am still on season 1 as I don’t get much of a chance to watch it since it’s not something I can watch around the kids and Phil isn’t interested as he doesn’t like intense shows. There have been things I’ve had to look away from – like 2 episodes had burn victims…
January was a really hard month, wasn’t it? I am ready for 2026 to improve, but I feel very hopeless that it will. Sigh.
My mom loves The Pitt, but I’m more of a Phil person as intense shows don’t suit me. I wish I could watch it, though!
I need to watch Cutting Edge! I was thinking that when the Popcast mentioned it on today’s episode too. Glad you liked it!
I am so glad you have a diagnosis too. We were all really sad you were in so much discomfort most of the time! UGH! And it sucks that you had a to wait for an appointment for so long!!!
I can appreciate keeping family dynamics off the blog. I have that policy too. Sending you love for the situation and hoping you can find grace & patience in your reactions… because if I know one thing it’s that people generally don’t do better.
Are you all caught up on work now?
I am mostly caught up with work, but not entirely. I feel less frazzled now than a few weeks ago, so that’s a win, right?!
The Cutting Edge was really good! I had it confused with Blades of Glory, HA, so I thought I was settling in for a funny movie, not a 90s rom-com!
Wait- IS Oprah Winfrey a bastard??? I guess I need to listen to the podcast to find out.
I love that fluffy rug so much!!! I’m trying to figure out where I could put it- I guess my bedroom so I step down on in when I get out of bed.
Yes, our weather- what is even happening??? It was CRAZY cold here! Colder than I’ve ever felt it in the entire time I’ve lived here. And, a couple days before that we got up to 90. I’m so confused.
Sadly, Oprah Winfrey is indeed a bastard. She has platformed people like Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil who have gone on to do irreparable harm. She does a lot of good, but also a lot of bad.
The fluffy rug is soooo soft and cozy. I love it!
I love that you were able to meet up with Jenny and your daily routine – including 2 hours of reading – sounds wonderful! I want a leisurely morning, but I don’t want to get up earlier than I already am (5 am). LOL
I am so glad you have a diagnosis and a treatment plan.
Omg, you can’t get up earlier than 5am! That’s the middle of the night! I’m glad I get to have a leisurely start to my mornings. It wasn’t like that at all when I worked in an office!
Yeah for a reading date with Jenny.
Also year for a diagnosis.
Double yeah for making routines work for you.
Ooh, I love that nightstand AND that and table! I absolutely hate putting furniture together, so I keep trying to buy stuff on Facebook Marketplace, which has been kinda unreliable…