So Long 2025!

Hello 2026! Please be kind! 

Here we are, the start of a new year. A clean slate. Time to reflect and plan. I gotta admit it's my favorite time of year. The beginning. One of my favorite song lyrics is from Linkin Park's song "Waiting for the End" and the lyric is "The hardest part of ending is starting again." 

So let's get into it

Reading

This year I blew the roof off my reading goal. I set a goal of 45 and read 61. I did the Book Bingo challenge again - I selected the prompts like always. I have some that are easy and some a bit more challenging. Of the list, the Cher book was the worst in my opinion. I can't really pick one favorite, but Summer of 69, Luckiest Girl Alive and People We Meet On Vacation are among my favorites. 

For the A-Z list; so many good books. The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris, The Things We Leave Unfinished, and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches were my top three. 

I've set my goal for next year at 50. Along with a goal to stop scrolling so much. Together I should reach my goal. 

Cooking

I didn't officially set a goal this year, but thought it might be fun to try to meet or beat last years number of 170 recipes. When I say that number out loud I'm a bit blown away to think I tried ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NEW recipes. 

This year I had 170 in mind and I was well on my way to hitting that goal. Doing Hello Fresh for several months really helped to get there. But then, the hospital stay in December completely derailed it. My final number for this year was 159 New Recipes. That's still a ton of recipes and so many good ones this year. 

My Top 5 Favorites this year - in no particular order, but if I had to choose it'd be the Vegetable Beef soup followed closely by the Garlic Steak Sandwich.

1. Doner Kebab
2. Jenn's Kick Ass Vegetable Beef Soup
3. Garlic Steak Sandwich
4. Country Style Beef Ribs
5. Crispy Sweet Chili Shrimp Tacos with Cilantro Slaw

June and July was when I started Hello Fresh. I'm not surprised to see those months so high. I was cooking 4-5 new recipes a week when I started Hello Fresh. 

This is how 2025 stands up to previous years. It's pretty clear Covid got me cooking more. 

I'm gonna keep my goal at 150 for next year. I'll probably do more, but if one thing I've learned lately, the best laid plans can get shot to hell in a moment. 

Scrapping

My scrapbook goal hasn't really changed over the years. My focus at the beginning of the year is all about not spending on new and using the old. I find I am often very motivated at the beginning of the year (aren't we all?) and then a favorite manufacturer will come out with a new collection I "can't live without" and it all goes down hill. 

I have a LAUNDRY list of projects I want to do/work on and I'm going to really focus on using what I have. 

My goals this year: 

1. Using my enamel dots stash on at least 20% of my pages. The result: 15%.
2. Stamp on at least 25% of my pages. The result: 10%.
3. Use Washi Tape on at least 15% of my pages. The result: A pathetic 3%!
4. Use Frames on at least 10% of my pages. The result: 8%

All these goals are designed to use up stash that I have a LOT of. The washi tape on, in particular, is difficult for me, because washi tape is usually an after thought. It rarely goes into the planning of a page. I'm gonna have to work on that one this year. 

The stamping goal has always been about using the amazing stamps I've purchased. I have a ton, almost too much if I'm being honest, and I really wanted to work on that skill. 

Bottom line; I'm going to keep the same goals as last year for my stash. 

As for total pages, last year I did 537 pages. I had a lot of big projects last year though, so that number wasn't surprising. This year my goal was 500 pages. And I fell short. Again, I'm blaming December being toss aside due to foot issues. 

The Year Over Year chart doesn't tell me anything new. Clearly the summer is when I'm most prolific in my scrapping time. It's usually following a big trip in May so that makes sense. This year without any travel planned, it may be difficult to hit my 500 pages goal. 

So to sum up, I find that my goals are reasonable, achievable, and yet a challenge. And I'm ok with that. I used to be very serious about my goals, but I've found that these days they are just something to try to achieve, but not required. The only goal I find I'm very competitive with myself is reading. 

Other goals are always in the forefront too; eat better; save more and get out of the house more. I'm going to focus on saying yes more again. I didn't do too well this last year on saying yes. But you'd be surprised how motivated one gets when one can't actually do anything at the time. 

Hello 2026! I'm ready for you! Let's do this.