Eye to Wonder

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Look Ahead: February

I’ve really enjoyed reading everybody’s monthly recaps, and I will write my own soon. I’m looking forward to completing my monthly reflection in the new cute keepsake book that came with my planner, but for the past week or so I’ve felt a little out of sorts. I’m not quite sure what’s at the root of this, but I think a lingering cold with low energy is not helping, nor is a toddler who has had several intense tantrums this week, nor is the sense that the world feels tumultuous. I’ve broken some of my good habits around phone usage, and have been scrolling news headlines again, so I’m going to reinstate my phone experiment rules of no browsing on safari or using the substack app. I’m going to keep exercising, reading, writing, going outside, playing with my kids, and seeing friends and trust that this mood will pass as all do. In the meantime, I want to look ahead to big events this month. There is actually a lot to look forward to! I’ve been trying to focus on monthly planning this y...

Friday Favorites: January

Happy Friday! This week has been more routine than usual, and I’ve been trying to notice and appreciate all the ordinary, sweet moments: the kids playing with dolls on the trampoline, a little free library find I'm enjoying, So much Mo Willems, and my older daughter reading to her little sister. The news and current events are horrifying, everything wasn’t perfect, but there were lots of good moments in our little corner of the world. In the spirit of noticing the good, I thought I’d share a roundup of some favorites this month. Here they are, in no particular order. 1.) Listening to the New Music Friday playlist by NPR on Fridays and throughout the weekend. One of my intentions this year was to listen to more new music and make a playlist of favorite songs for the year. One easy thing I’ve been doing is throwing on the New Music Friday playlist each week. I don’t listen to the entire thing since it’s really long, but I usually find one or two artists with new music that I enjo...

New Year Catch Up

Last week, I wrote a lot about big picture goals and themes of 2026. But, like many of you, we had our share of post-holiday pain points that piled on! So today, let’s do a quick catch up. Here’s what’s been going on lately. *Last week where everything broke, all at once, and all the small annoyances piled up. While we were potty training my toddler, our oven broke, the car got a flat tire, the bumper broke after the car was towed, our garage flooded, and I got food poisoning. Many dollars and repairs later, everything is fixed minus the garage which we still need to trouble shoot to avoid future flooding. There were a lot of days last week where I plopped onto the couch after the kids went to sleep and felt completely wrung out. Fortunately this week is much more routine, and I’m feeling grateful! *It definitely felt cognitively dissonant to spend time setting goals amidst what felt like a less than ideal week, but I think the process of writing about goals and having them fresh in ...

2026 Goals

Earlier I wrote about my word of the year, and how I haven’t set annual goals in a long time. This year, I decided to try it out again and see how I liked it. I tried to focus on goals that related to habits or things I was already doing that I wanted to maintain or deepen this year. Other goals are more focused on things I want to try or experiment with. A lot of them tie back in with my word of the year, place : connecting to the place I am in (home, neighborhood, and environment), putting everything in its place, and having my important relationships in a good place. Personal: *100 strength training workouts. I’ve been averaging 3 strength workouts a week in the last few months of 2025, and I want to continue this habit. 100 seems like a manageable goal that accounts for weeks traveling, sick, etc. but still demands a regular routine. *Experiment with the Read Harder Challenge. I used to love doing Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. It has many different prompts for the year,...

Word of the Year: 2026

I’m generally a person who enjoys the energy a new year brings. I find it helpful that the new year prompts me to reflect on life as it is now and any changes I hope to make. However, since having my younger daughter, I haven’t set annual goals or a word of the year. I did use a planner and would sometimes set monthly goals and overviews, but a year seemed like such a long time to imagine with two little kids, and I got out of the habit. As 2025 came to a close, I found myself listening to many of the year-in-review episodes and feeling inspired. I always love the Happier podcast’s end of year episodes, and the Girl Next Door reflection episode is often one of my favorites of the year. Then I read the first few chapters of Best Laid Plans , and felt inspired to delve into annual planning since it hasn’t been part of my routine the last few years. So, this year I decided to pick a word of the year and set goals. My word of the year this year is place . I have a couple of associations...

Favorite Books & Music of 2025

I love hearing about what media people are engaging with and love seeing the best of the year lists come out. I don’t always go back and review my favorites from the year, but this year I decided to join the fun and list my favorite books and music of the year. Reading is my most established (and favorite) habit, so I had a lot of great books to choose from. I’m trying to get back into listening to more new music, so I had fewer favorites. I hope next year that I have more new music I’ve listened to a lot and love. I also added in the Goodreads graphic of all the books I have read (to date) this year. My favorite books of 2025: 5.) These Heathens by Mia MacKenzie. I really loved this short book set in the south during the 1960s. It follows Doris, a seventeen-year-old from rural Georgia, who travels to Atlanta for an abortion. The story takes place over the course of one weekend, and features several Civil Rights leaders (Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, and Malcolm X among ot...