Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!
We’ve finally made it to the end of the line that was 2025, guys – and I must ask a serious and most important question as we get ready to launch into 2026 in just a few short hours: where did the time go? No, seriously – where did it go? Maybe it was the non-stop stress and anxiety whenever I turned on the news or glanced at the headlines. Maybe it was that I was pretty much going non-stop throughout this past year with so many travel, plans with friends and family, and scheduled commitments. Maybe time really is actually an illusion and none has passed whatsoever – but whatever it is, whatever the reason – this year feels like it flew by!
Each and every December since I started ‘Coffee & Chiffon‘, I do a round-up of all the major news stories, pop culture moments, good (and bad!) trends, the best memes that emerged over the months, and everything in-between in an effort to sum up the year that has been. It’s a blogging tradition I usually begin compiling just before Thanksgiving, and this year was no different. I’m going to get into everything in just a moment before I talk about my pending New Year’s Eve/Day plans and my resolutions for next year – but I have to give a tip of my cap to my own experiences in 2025, first – because this year was filled with visiting beautiful destinations, being present for meaningful moments, participating in creative new endeavors and fun, unique collaborations that deserve a time to shine in the spotlight, too!
I had kicked off this past year with my boyfriend Troy in Las Vegas with a quick stop on The Strip before we cozied up to watch the countdown from the comfort of his Henderson apartment. After I’d returned back to the East Coast to resume my work schedule, most of my Winter was spent in typical New Englander fashion – trying to stay warm while simultaneously attempting to remain social. So many weekends and evenings throughout the coldest months of the year were spent visiting new restaurants, high teas or longtime favorite spots with my friends and family while we held out for Spring – although there was the occasional reprieve from fighting frostbite when I traveled to North Carolina to visit Andrew and The Kids (with a more recent visit taking place just this past November!)
I’d also started a new radio gig near the end of this past January, as well- finally kicking off my weekly indie music showcase on Mark Skin Radio with my Thursday night show, ‘She’s With The Band‘. It’s been such a fun and fulfilling project for me, and I’m so grateful, not only to everyone at MSR for being so welcoming, helpful and for giving me the opportunity in the first place- but also to everyone who have been supporting me and the show over the course of this year. I’m so excited to see what this new journey has in store for me in 2026!
Early 2025 marked two important anniversaries in my life, one sad and one joyous. The first, in February, and the more somber of the two – represented five years’ since I’d unexpectedly lost my best friend Kelsey during a complicated heart surgery she had been undergoing. The second anniversary, which occurred just a few weeks later – marked one year since my boyfriend won his defamation lawsuit. I wrote about the aftermath of the 2024 verdict and the (still!) ongoing grift the woman who had been found guilty is attempting to pull off with minimal success. Both of these markers of time have greatly impacted me and changed my life forever, and are events I think back on often as both myself and time march forward, giving me almost daily perspectives about life, love and loss – and hope, too! – in the wake of unfathomable trials and tribulations.
By the time Spring finally arrived and stayed put, I was making big travel plans – including internationally – with a two-week stay in Italy after Troy invited me to join him for a vacation on Lake Garda. It was my first time in the region, and in Italy in general, and to say it was life-changing would be the wildest understatement. I had the most incredible, beautiful, relaxing time in my entire life (and was there when they announced the new Pope, which was pretty neat!) and will never forget a moment of it for as long as I live. I truly hope to return there someday, and I am so grateful and filled with love for Troy for making it such a magical experience – and the people in and around the Lake Garda regions who were so warm, welcoming, helpful and kind to us.
In the Summer, I was visiting the Cape and some of my favorite Coastal spots and hangouts pretty much non-stop when I wasn’t working, including spending a long weekend with my girlfriends for our annual Summer getaway – this time down in Hyannis and Dennis Port. It was a great trip, maybe one of my favorites that we’ve taken so far, and I’m looking forward to what we’ve started planning for Summer 2026. All I know right now is that it involves deep sea fishing, which will be a first for me, so we’ll see how it goes!
When Fall began making it’s grand entrance once more, I headed back to Las Vegas for an extended stay with Troy as he began a change in his own career path and had some free time to ring in September – although it’s a little different drinking pumpkin spice lattes in the desert than it is here in the Northeast. As my inner Autumnal Queen took over, most of the season was spent participating in spooky activities with my friends and with weekend trips to places like New York City and Columbus, Ohio.
And of course, the year began winding down with the holidays as they always do. In mid-November I wrote about feeling the slightest of grips of seasonal depression given the state of the world/country right now, and my active, ongoing efforts to combat it so that I could enjoy one of the most magical times of the year in one of the most magical parts of Massachusetts with the people I love and cherish the most. With plenty of Friendsgiving events, festive arts & crafts classes, and visiting new seasonal locations throughout December – I think it’s safe to say I got my holiday spirit back pretty quickly!
And now here we are, with just a few hours left of 2025, and I’m so ready to begin a new year, open a new chapter, and make some new memories (and hopefully they’ll all be good ones!) So let’s get into what I considered to be the stories and headlines that perfectly encapsulated and summed up this year that was.
This was 2025 – The good, the bad, and the (sometimes) super strange…
The circus is back in town…: I’ve never bothered to hide my contempt for this pathetic, pedophile, rapist con-man in any capacity and I’ve always been vocal about my disdain for him and the utterly insane, unqualified grifter criminals he’s jam packed into his administration throughout this first year of what feels like an agonizingly long second term already. I could have gone my entire life without ever having to look at the overly Botoxed faces of people like Elon Musk, Kristi Noem, Karoline Leavitt and Pete Hegseth – or the rapidly decomposing remains of whatever is happening with Stephen Miller and his receding hairline – and I would have been all the better for it.
Where do I even begin with this clown show? Between the multiple public and social media meltdowns, continually showing signs of rapidly progressing dementia, the tariffs that accomplished absolutely nothing other than making things astronomically more expensive for Americans, ICE raids that did little more than traumatize innocent families and communities, deploying the National Guard into democrat-run cities to wreak havoc, trying to “buy” Greenland and Canada, demolishing part of the White House so he can build what I’m sure will be a tacky ballroom covered in gold, retaliating against talk show hosts that poked fun at him and not following through on any of the promises he made to his death cult back during the election cycle – this post could go on and on and I’d still only be scratching at the surface of all of the horrific damage this idiot has done to the American people and our standing in the world.
… Damage that will likely take years upon years to repair long after he’s done funneling as much money as he can into his own pockets and into the pockets of his equally morally bankrupt family before he finally fucks off forever once and for all.
Perhaps the biggest thing to come out of these first few months of Trump’s second term, however – is that there is no denying he is all over the Epstein files. I know it. You all know it. He knows it – and he has been taking every measure possible to conceal or redact the fact that he had knowingly raped trafficked minors – including deflecting, distracting, gaslighting, throwing temper tantrums that would put even the fussiest toddler to shame, and making his usual round of promises (and threats) he’ll never actually follow through on.
Having to listen to the news every day this year has been completely and absolutely exhausting, and I know the next few years are going to require so much more patience and level-headedness as I/we work our way through this waking nightmare. As tired as I am, and as filled with dread as the days are – I’m still fighting for decency, empathy and common sense to eventually prevail again. I can’t give up hope that there has to be better future for all of us and that we, as a country, are so much better than what we’ve been reduced to.
I’ve had manicures that lasted longer than this woman’s “grief”…: Before September of 2025, all I knew about Charlie Kirk was that he was another far-right “Christian” podcaster who made a profit from being openly and unapologetically racist, homophobic and misogynistic – and for incessantly harassing students on college campuses, where he’d attempt to engage them in debates, only to talk/shout over them or edit the footage he shared with his subscribers to omit anyone that made decent points (or made him look like he had no idea what he was talking about) when they tried to have any kind of dialogue with him. If someone mentioned him to me in any capacity other than talking about what a weirdo he was – I knew it was someone I didn’t want to be around.
And listen, I don’t condone violence for the most part (I will admit there are some people in this world who deserve to get punched in the face but that’s neither here nor there) – so I was not thrilled or jumping for joy when Charlie Kirk was assassinated in front of a crowd during a speaking event in Utah this past Fall – but I wasn’t exactly surprised it happened, either. Hatred breeds hatred, and Charlie Kirk was a hateful man who actively cheered on his political opponents being hurt or murdered.
The aftermath, however, was absolutely appalling – specifically the politicization of his death by Trump and his cabinet who used the act of violence to further divide the Nation and encourage retaliation. When people were called out on their hypocrisy as it pertained to other instances of political violence that happened this year without so much as a National moment of silence – the murders of Melissa Hortman, her husband and their dog at their home in June, or the the arson/assassination attempt of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in April, for example – the efforts to get anyone who criticized Kirk (or who simply reiterated quotes directly from his own mouth) fired from their places of employment or thrown out of their schools began.
Perhaps the grossest thing was the emergence of Erika Kirk – Charlie Kirk’s widow – who wasted no time at all in taking over Kirk’s enterprise and podcast, and going on a public speaking tour to continue perpetuating her husband’s dangerous rhetoric while raising money for reasons that are still unclear with her emotional support Kleenex, which appears to be perpetually dry since she doesn’t seem to be doing much crying these days (and spends a lot more time feeling up JD Vance, honestly.) If anything, Erika seems to be having the time of her life being a widow and grifter, especially when it comes to walking out on stages riddled with pyrotechnics like she’s getting ready to perform at Wrestlemania.
You can’t buy class, no matter how much money your husband made by telling other incels that your place was in the kitchen and nowhere else.
Condemning a genocide doesn’t make you antisemitic, for the record…: In my 2023 and 2024 round-ups, I had briefly touched upon the still escalating situation between Israel and Palestine after years of tension and terror between the two. At the time my post had been published last year, both countries were engaged in an extended ceasefire, although I think myself and many others knew it wouldn’t last long.
Over this past year, it has been absolutely horrific to see the targeted attacks on Palestinian civilians as ordered and orchestrated by the Israeli government and military – and to see refugee camps, hospitals and schools reduced to rubble and ash in what are clearly the very definition of war crimes has been both heartbreaking and absolutely infuriating – especially since the United States continues to fund so much of the violence and suffering.
Children have been murdered. The sick, wounded and elderly have been maimed. Palestinian homes have been occupied by invading IDF forces, and both activists and journalists who have tried to intervene to provide aid, food and medicine to those in need in and around Gaza have been apprehended or purposefully injured to prevent said aid from reaching it’s destination.
Perhaps the most insane twist in all of it this past year was a large chunk of the Israeli media accusing anyone who criticized the ongoing genocide, the IDF, or Benjamin Netanyahu directly of being antisemitic. Included in this accusation were people like Ms. Rachel, a YouTuber and child educator who had been very vocal about her support for Palestine’s independence and had been spotlighting some of the children injured and displaced by Israeli forces on her platform. Her efforts to raise awareness and encourage empathy resulted in her being placed on a pro-Israel news outlet’s nomination list for “Antisemite of The Year.”
But it goes without saying that you can condemn the senseless, merciless slaughter of an entire group of people and the forced occupation of their land by a hostile, invading force, or that you can criticize Israeli politicians, media outlets and their military – or you can want the Palestinian people to be free, safe and able to live their lives without being murdered for it – all while still loving and cherishing your Jewish neighbors and friends. Those two things can and do exist in the same universe.
This year was the only time it was appropriate to clap when your plane landed…: If you had to fly anywhere in 2025, chances are you were paying a little more attention to the safety protocols being explained by the flight attendants prior to take-off than you used to. This year felt like there was an insane amount of aviation disasters and very close calls on the runways as a result of either pilot or air traffic controller communication errors.
In January of this year, an American Airlines passenger flight was struck by a Black Hawk Helicopter during the plane’s descent over Washington D.C., killing all passengers on board each of the vessels. Weeks later, a medical transport flight crashed into a neighborhood in Philadelphia while enroute to Tijuana, also resulting in multiple casualties and injuries.
A Delta flight crashed and overturned on a Toronto runway in February, resulting in a number of injuries but thankfully no deaths, a UPS plane bound for Hawaii then crashed in Kentucky in April, killing everyone on board, and although it didn’t happen in the United States – the Air India Flight 171 crash in June that resulted in 260 deaths and nearly seventy injuries made headlines around the globe – and those incidents only make up a fraction of the disasters this year. I didn’t even get into the helicopter crashes, events involving small and/or privately owned planes not being operated properly, or the mass delays & cancelations that affected both national and international travel during the extended government shutdown this past Fall.
Although the incidents have somewhat tapered off in recent weeks/months and most air travel has returned to some level of normalcy, it was still a very stressful and anxiety-inducing experience from the time you stepped foot in the airport to the time you were lucky enough to grab your luggage from the arrival carousel at your destination.
A cheating scandal that launched a million memes: It feels like it’s been a hot minute since the world and social media have been collectively united or caught up in a scandal that resulted in an onslaught of memes (and the eventual attempted rebranding of the parties involved), but thanks to a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium this past July of all places – another one was born overnight.
During a “Kiss Cam” segment happening while Chris Martin was on stage and doing some crowd work, the Jumbo-Tron captured a couple cuddling up and dancing together in one of the VIP balconies. While the interaction seemed innocent enough, the pair’s reaction to being on-screen of immediately covering their faces and hiding form the camera sparked some speculation that they maybe weren’t supposed to be there together.
Well, the internet wasted no time in identifying them, and both Andy Byron & Kristin Cabot – the CEO and Human Resources Chief of the same company, Astronomer – were located and discovered to have been married…
… Just not to each other.
Almost immediately, the couple resigned and/or were removed from their positions and scrubbed their social media accounts while going into hiding amid backlash and public scrutiny. The memes that resulted in the 24-48 hours after the story broke on social media were shared and spread like wildfire, and they were the punchlines for late night talk shows for quite some time after the fact.
Cabot recently had a piece written about her where she shared “her side of the story” via The New York Times, but the public appears to have since long moved on from it.
True Crime fanatics had a lot to digest this year…: As is tradition each and every year, and only amplified due to the true crime obsession phenomena over time, 2025 had no shortage of courtroom drama and controversial verdicts/sentences that sparked debates and strong reactions.
In July of this year, Bryan Kohberger, in an attempt to avoid the death penalty, entered a plea of guilty as it pertained to the gruesome 2022 murders of four college students in their shared off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho. As more details about the crime scene became available to the public, the case left many feeling like they had more questions than answers, and Kolberger has never provided a motive or an explanation for his crimes. He was ordered to serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Following his arrest in the Fall of 2024 for a number of crimes including trafficking and sexual assault, the trial for Sean “Diddy” Combs was underway as of May. Although cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, testimony and cross-examination of a number of witnesses and victims were recapped almost daily on courtroom TV segments until the jury began deliberations in June, where they reached a verdict after twelve hours. Appallingly, Combs was only found guilty on two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution and nothing else despite what looked like a mountain of evidence against him. He was ultimately sentenced to a little over four years in prison and ordered to pay a paltry fine.
And after the second trial began in April following a deadlocked jury during a first trial last Summer, Canton, Massachusetts’ favorite drunk driver, Karen Read, was acquitted in June as it related to the death of her former Boston Police Officer boyfriend back in 2022, finally putting to rest a media circus here in Massachusetts that involved some of the worst people and most terrible accents you’ve ever seen and heard.
There was also Lori Daybell representing herself in court (and losing), Cardi B’s assault trial, and Brian Walshe of Cohasset, Massachusetts being convicted of the murder of his still-missing wife, Ana, on New Year’s Day back in 2023 – another local case a lot of people here were paying attention to – just to name a few.
Needless to say, there was a lot of content to keep True Crime podcasts in business for a very, very long time.
The weather continued to get more and more wild…: 2025 was not without it’s fair share of natural disasters and unexpected storms that resulted in mass casualties, billions of dollars worth of property damage and the need for people to join together to help and support those who were most affected. As global warming continues to ramp up with every passing season, so does the frequency of these previously unprecedented events.
In January, the Palisades fire that swept through Los Angeles County for 31-days resulted in twelve deaths, the evacuation of over 100K people from the area and an estimated $25 billion worth of damage to homes, businesses and wildlife. It was later determined that the fire was set intentionally, with an arrest of the suspect believed to be involved taking place months later in October. His trial is set to begin in April of next year.
In July, Central Texas experienced significant rainfall leading into the July 4th holiday, resulting in the overflow of the Guadalupe River and extreme flash flooding in the surrounding areas. Within 24 hours, entire communities were underwater or swept away, including a Christian Summer camp for young girls that was located along the river’s edge. Search and rescue efforts throughout and in the weeks following the floods confirmed that 137 people had died as a result and $1 billion dollars’ worth of damage had been sustained.
More recently during the 2025 hurricane season, Hurricane Melissa, which reached Category 5 levels of speed and strength, made landfall in Jamaica at the end of October, making it the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record. In it’s wake after it weakened while moving across and over the island, 102 people were dead and there was approximately $10 billion in damages.
I am begging people to take the climate activists and scientists seriously. I don’t know how many more of these extreme events people can take in the years to come.
We got a new Pope, and he seems pretty cool…: After Pope Francis died in April of this year, I had traveled to Italy for a long-since-planned vacation with my boyfriend and with the expectation that a replacement wouldn’t be announced for quite some time. Well, I was near Lake Garda when they announced that a new Pope had been selected, which was pretty cool to experience in itself, but when we found out that he was the first Pope that was born in the United States and that he hailed from Chicago, it was admittedly exciting to hear.
Now, I’m not a particularly religious person (although I was raised Catholic,) but I always appreciate when someone with influence within the Church actually uses it in a meaningful, helpful way and actively practices what they preach to set an example. While Pope Leo XIV is not without flaws and faults, and I disagree with a lot of his viewpoints and beliefs, particularly concerning women – it’s refreshing to see someone stand up for immigrants, oppose racism, believe in climate change and to not back down even when faced with unhinged politicians attempting to bully or intimidate them into submission in a world where that seems to be normalized.
And what’s even better about a person like that is that they are, more often than not, open to hearing opposing viewpoints and/or coming around on previously held ideologies and beliefs, which means that there’s still room for growth and development and the ability to work together to make things better – not just within the Church but overall, too.
And NYC got a new mayor who seems pretty cool, too…: I don’t even live in New York City, but watching their mayoral race this past November was an absolute thrill, especially when so many openly disgusting, hateful people were pouring their money and endorsements into the campaign for the predatory and corrupt Andrew Cuomo – only for him to lose to 34-year-old, Democratic Socialist, Zohran Mamdani – who is set to become NYC’s first Muslim and first Asian-American mayor as of tomorrow!
With a campaign built on providing residents of the city with affordable housing, free public transport, universal public child care and an increase in minimum wage – things that truly matter to many people right now as they try to get by – Mamdani had taken to the streets to engage with the people of NYC, answer their questions, and remain completely charismatic and personable while doing so. His energy and his aspirations were refreshing in a political landscape that is often overrun with older men who are out-of-touch with the needs and concerns of the people they want to lead.
And his victory has inspired hope that other young, promising leaders will step up to try and move the world in a better, brighter direction that isn’t buried in antiquated policies and outdated ideals.
We lost some good ones this year, unfortunately…: As it sadly goes with every year that has come before, 2025 came with a lot of losses, as well – with so many of them being icons of the big screen, the stage, and musically. Some deaths, while devastating for sure, weren’t as surprising given age or illnesses – such as the passings of Robert Redford (89) or Gene Hackman (95.)
But others seemed to have come out of the blue, like the deaths of Michelle Trachtenberg, who passed away from complications stemming from a liver transplant at the far-too-young age of 39, or the drowning death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner at age 54.
The most recent and most shocking, however – were the December murders of actor/director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, at their home – reportedly at the hands of their son, Nick. While the investigation and legal proceedings are still underway, it was such a horrible and senseless tragedy to have happen right before the holidays.
So many of the people we lost in 2025 were beyond influential and created extensive bodies of work that will undoubtedly keep their legacies alive for generations to come, but it’s still such a downer to look back on the losses at the end of each year and know that we won’t be able to experience or enjoy new creative endeavors from those who are now gone.
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And there we go! Did I get it right? Was there anything I missed? There’s a reason this post always takes the most amount of time to write each and every holiday season and it’s because I’m condensing down a year’s worth of big stories and doing so much research and fact-checking. It’s fun and rewarding, for sure – but I always feel like I need a nap, or at the very least an extra-large latte, by the time I’m done!
As always, though – there were a few other things that caught my attention this year that I wanted to talk about. They weren’t necessarily as big of stories as the ones I’ve shared above, but they still happened and they should still get some of the spotlight, as well!
So, let’s get into the āHonorable Mentionsā of 2025!
– Say goodbye to pennies..: If you’re like me and you instinctively pick up pennies on the ground in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, there’s some truth to them being lucky – you’re going to want to start checking the dates on them. Earlier this year it was announced that the U.S. Mint had ceased production of pennies and that they would gradually be “phased out” since the cost to produce them was more than what they were actually worth.
So, it’s worth going through the pennies you have floating around the house or in your purses, since some of them may be collectible now. Copper pennies produced in 1982 and earlier can be worth more in metal value, while older pennies pre-dating 1982 might be rare and worth a good chunk of change (the type of change that is still being produced, that is.)
– Say goodbye to Forever 21, too…: I have a lot of chaotic memories of buying clothes at Forever 21 in my late teens and early twenties. From inconsistent sizing to even more inconsistent quality, you never knew if what you bought was going to survive a night out or if you could rely on it until the end of days (and I had/still have things from both of those potential outcomes.) It truly was like looking for buried treasure amid a sea of sweaters with weird quotes printed on them, bedazzled ballet flats, jeans that would turn your skin blue even after you washed them four times and tote bags that could outlast a nuclear apocalypse.
So, in March of this year when it was announced that Forever 21 was closing its doors once and for all after filing for bankruptcy, myself and so many other millennials had a collective moment of silence and period of mourning for it. There have been many imitations of it over the years, but nothing will ever come close to leaving the store with eight differently sized things for under $30. It was truly the best of times.
– I’m still not entirely sure what a Labubu is…: I think I’ve finally reached the point where I’d be considered “too old” to younger generations despite my best efforts to look and feel young at heart for as long as possible. The moment I realized it was when one of my friend’s kids asked me for a Labubu for their birthday and I just stared at them like they had three heads.
These little gremlin plushies were everywhere this year, and similar to past toy trends like Tamagotchis and PokĆ©mon Cards, they came in limited editions and rare collectible versions, as well – which meant that people were scooping them up in bulk to trade or resell at a huge markup to those who were desperate enough to pay anything to have one.
Thankfully, my friend’s kid really liked the personalized gift I had made for them, instead – so I saved myself $50 for something they would have forgotten about a year from now.
– There were plenty of engagements and weddings (and some divorces, too.): 2025 was the year of engagement announcements, surprise weddings, and some splits in the entertainment industry, as well. The big ones that broke social media were Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce proposing to Taylor Swift in August and then Selena Gomez marrying producer/songwriter Benny Blanco this past Fall.
The flip side of that joyful coin were the separations of longtime couples like Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, and Dakota Johnson & Chris Martin (although the aforementioned “Kiss Cam” controversy likely didn’t play a role in that one.)
And with hearing every piece of relationship news around the world, good and bad, just made me appreciate my own relationship all that much more. I’m a very lucky girl.
– The most ridiculous trip to space…: I just mentioned Katy Perry and her split from Orlando Bloom, but she’s making another appearance in the “Honorable Mentions” section for her participation in the Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission on April 14. Perry, along with Gayle King, Lauren SĆ”nchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyį» n, and Kerianne Flynn, blasted off for a suborbital, eleven minute trip on one of Jeff Bezos’s shuttles this past Spring, eventually returning to Earth with a parachute-assisted landing in Texas.
And look, I get the significance of this being the first all-female crew in a very, very long time – but the whole thing just seemed like a waste of time, money and resources- and watching six incredibly wealthy women essentially go for a joy ride over Earth for tourism purposes and a photo opportunity felt pretty tone deaf in today’s shaky economy and even shakier political landscape.
– Is the “Ozempic Pendulum” swinging the other way?: I want to go on record and say that I think it’s great that there’s a drug out there that can be truly lifechanging and beneficial for those who are struggling with Diabetes and weight management that contributes to Diabetes. I fully support Ozempic when used in the proper, approved ways. That being said, it’s been jarring seeing so many people who don’t need it overuse it to the point where they look sickly, frail, and thirty years older than their actual age.
2025 saw the influx of Ozempic usage amongst celebrities and public figures reach a fever pitch, although it seems that there is a rapidly growing backlash against it and the harmful messaging it sends to impressionable young people – particularly young girls and women – i.e. that the “heroin chic” and incredibly dangerous “waify” looks from the 1990s are back. I remember those trends. They were miserable, and girls were literally starving themselves to death to try and attain them.
We can and must do better to promote responsible body positivity and acceptance moving forward, guys. It’s really, really important to do so.
And there we have it, y’all! 2025 and all it’s ups, downs, and everything in-between! It’s been quite a ride, which brings me to 2026…
A little later on today, my beloved Troy and I will be heading up north to ring in the New Year from the comforts of Portland, Maine! I haven’t been in ages, so I’m excited to spend some time by the sea, check out some lighthouses and local eateries, and just spend some cozy one-on-one time together with my guy. It’s been way too long and I think we both really need this!
I’m going to be taking the next few days off from blogging to truly rest, relax and recharge since it’s been such a busy holiday season, but I’ll be back next week with some photos and a recap from our trip before it’s time to get back into business as usual. Before I do that, though – I wanted to share some of the resolutions I’ve set for myself in the year ahead.
1. Pay off the last of my debt: While my student loan, my car payments, and the last small remaining amounts of my credit card balances continue to call to me, if not outright taunt me month after month as I attempt to pay them down and off, I’ve decided that 2026 will be the year I finally put most of them – if not all of them – to rest once and for all so that I can enter this new chapter of my life without financial nuisances or stressors as I continue to work towards the things I want for myself.
I’ve developed a plan that I started implementing in mid-2025, and it’s been working out pretty good so far – so I’m hopeful I can keep the momentum going into this coming year, as well!
2. Update/Renovate my family home: For the past couple of years, I’ve watched as my mother began home remodeling projects with the best of intentions, only to get overwhelmed and leave them half-finished since she’s now older, lives alone, and has difficulty doing some of the more heavy lifting and high climbing to reach/move things around. It hurts my heart, since I know how much her house means to her – her and my dad designed and built it when I was just a kid!
So this coming year, I’m taking matters into my own hands and I’m finishing the projects she’s started until they’re completed to her specifications and approval. We’re going to be redoing the flooring, tile work, painting and redecorating throughout 2026 so that she can have something for herself that she can be proud of and content with in her golden years.
And I’m thinking I might share some of the renovation journey here on ‘Coffee & Chiffon‘ along the way! Her house is pretty cool!
3. Be softer. Let things go: With all the unrest peppered throughout 2025, it was easy for me to lean into a more cynical, skeptical version of myself. While I’ve always had a dark sense of humor throughout my life, this past year I could feel myself hardening to the world around me. I was anxious, irritable at times, and indifferent at others – and I don’t want to be like that. That’s not the person I am at my core. I want to keep my heart open, and continue to be kind and helpful, even to people who may not have earned it or may not even necessarily deserve it.
In 2026, I’m going to be focusing on my emotional strength and my mental health, treating them both as a priority (because they are.) I will be actively working on my patience, on keeping any cynicism in check, and may even try to get my road rage under control – although I can’t make any promises with that one, specifically. I do live in Massachusetts, after all.
4. More international travel? Maybe? – And now for my wildcard resolution for 2026! I’m hopeful, very hopeful, that I can head back overseas at some point in 2026 to do more sightseeing and experience a culture that is not my own. I’ve talked about visiting France, or going back to England since I haven’t been in ages, or maybe even trying to get down to Southern Italy the next time around!
While 2026 will likely have plenty of out-of-state travel for me since so many of my friends and family are spread out all over the country – getting more stamps in my passport is the ultimate dream I want to make come true.
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Are you all still there? Are you all still with me? That was a doozy of a post to put together, and I hope everyone who read through it enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing and editing it over these past few weeks. Of course, and as always, I welcome any feedback. If you think I missed a big story or if you want to share your own anecdotes about 2025 – absolutely drop me a line or leave a comment!
This year was tough, for me and for many others at times, and for many big and small ways and reasons – but I’m so thankful for the wonderful memories I made with my loved ones and the experiences I got to share with them, as well. Those are what got me through the hard and/or uncertain periods, and I feel so blessed and appreciative for them. They truly made this year memorable.
And of course, I’m so thankful to everyone who has continued this journey here on ‘Coffee & Chiffon‘ with me throughout 2025. I’m looking forward to sharing more of my life, my adventures, my collaborations and everything in-between in 2026 – and I hope you’ll all stay onboard with me while I do!
So here’s a little toast and a tip of my hat to 2025 and to all of you, as well. I hope that this coming year is filled with love, joy, happiness, prosperity and good times spent in good company (and with great food and music to both fuel and nourish us along the way!)
Cheers to a wonderful 2026 ahead! Happy New Year!
xo
Coffee & Chiffon 