I am officially on vacation! Considering how 2025 behaved itself, its only possible redemption was ending on a chill note. I plan to spend its final two weeks relaxing at home with the fam. Becoming one with my couch. Or my bed. Reading and watching movies. Trying not to obsess over the fact that my book is coming out in three weeks. Trying, in fact, not to think about writing at all. A tall order, that.

I got a bit of a jump start on my holiday watching this week by bingeing through a season of Columbo. It felt like stepping into a literal time machine and whizzing back to my teen years. Made me miss my mom a lot; we used to watch tons of murder mystery shows together when I was growing up. I also watched Wake Up Dead Man, the third installment in the Knives Out franchise. I loved it! It’s the most thematically layered story of the three, exploring the meaning of faith and the various ways religion operates in modern society. I’m not religious, but I appreciated the way Rian Johnson handled these themes, particularly through the characters of Father Jud and Benoit Blanc. Josh O’Connor’s performance as the former was the standout for me – along with Blanc’s fabulously stylish outfits. I will say that it was very confusing to see Andrew Scott in a movie where someone else was playing the Hot Priest 😉

As a Golden Era mystery fan, the Knives Out movies always hit the spot for me. In this one, Johnson gave a bigger nod than usual to the tradition: one of the clues was a list of classic mysteries, including The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, which Blanc deduced provided the inspiration for the (very complicated) murder plot. Having read 4 out of the 5 books on the list, I had so much fun trying to figure out the components of the murder plot based on similarities to the books. Especially since Johnson also used the same books to sprinkle red herrings and misdirection into the movie. Anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet, def check out Wake Up Dead Man. I think I’m going to add a Knives Out marathon to my holiday watching list now.

This week, I also read Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and it destroyed me. Well, OK, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it did make me super emotional by the end. It’s as if Ishiguro took Never Let Me Go (one of my fave books) and mashed it up with Remains of the Day (also brilliant) to write this book. It’s beautiful and poignant and devastating. As someone who has very strong (negative) opinions on AI, I have some mixed feelings about the fact that the book got me choked up over the fate of a robot … but that being said, I think its actual theme is what it means to be human and how we define that as we move into a post-humanist future. This ended up being one of my fave reads of the year.

Last weekend, I ended up going to the mall – something I’d been putting off for a few weeks – and it went about as expected. Which is to say, I hated it. These days, I hate malls at the best of times, and the holiday season is not the best of times. It was incredibly crowded, which was no surprise, but what still surprises me is how tiring it now is for me to spend any amount of time in that kind of environment. I think I was there for less than two hours, and afterwards I felt like I’d gone on a three-day bender. It took me the rest of the day to recover.

Anywhoo. I did some damage at Uniqlo – some of it planned, some not. I’m not here to hype it up (it’s fast fashion, at the end of the day), but I will say that Uniqlo has become my go-to for basic staples that I can’t find at the thrifts. The quality is decent for the price point. This time, I went to pick up those cashmere blend Heattech turtlenecks that I mentioned in a recent post. I got three colours – brown, navy blue, and burgundy – and so far, so good. I really like the material; it’s very soft, lightweight enough to layer but still fairly warm, and has nice stretch. It remains to be seen how they hold up to wear, but I’m cautiously optimistic. I also ended up with an impulse purchase, buying a pair of barrel jeans. It’s the same cut as the navy pants I bought a few months ago, which I’ve been loving. I’m hoping these jeans will prove equally versatile, and give me another denim option besides the Wranglers I’ve been wearing non-stop lately.

Have a great weekend!

It’s the time of year for retrospectives, so let’s continue the tradition with a look-back at my favourite outfits of 2025. I am going to say this upfront: the amount of brainspace I devoted to fashion this year is a fraction of what it’s been in previous years. I don’t think I need to tell you why, but just in case you’re new here: 2025 was my Year of Writing. I wrote and wrote and wrote, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else except my family and work. There’s a deep streak of ‘obsessive loner’ in my DNA, and writing is one of those things that can absorb an endless amount of obsessive energy given the opportunity. It’s, like, a match made in heaven … but it did leave me with little to give to my other hobbies.

The good thing is that, by now, me and my personal style are old friends. We know each other inside and out, and we’re there for each other even when we (that is, I) don’t have a lot of time to spend together. Years and years of experimenting, learning, reflecting, and refining have paid off. I know how I want to show up in the world and I know how to translate that into what I wear. As I write this, I start to wonder if it’s not a coincidence that 2025 was the year I turned all of my creative focus to a different channel (my original passion) that allows me to experiment and learn all over again.

While I don’t think (or write) about style as much anymore, I still get joy from dressing up and I still ‘put together outfits’ almost every day. Including the days I don’t leave the house. Dressing is still something I do for myself, as a form of creative expression – even if it’s not my primary modality anymore.

I don’t think anyone who’s been following along this year will be surprised to hear me say that no new fashion boundaries were explored in 2025. It was more of the things I’ve loved for a while, remixed again and again. If anything, my style has been stripped back to its core elements. Less patterns, but more texture. Layering. Subtler colour palettes. Strategic accessorizing. 90s revival. And Ralph Lauren, obvi.

Let’s dive in!

Clearly, my obsession with Ralph Lauren everything is still going strong. As is my love of midi skirts and the colour brown. Putting these photos together really shows my favourite silhouettes, proportions, and outfit formulas. You can see how it’s all about remixing and layering rather than reinventing the wheel.

Seriously, I love brown so much. I was a black-loving girlie for yeeeears, and while nothing beats its crispness, I think brown suits me better – and I’m not even talking about seasonal colour analysis here.

Don’t get me wrong, I still wear quite a bit of black as well. I love pairing it with white (and adding lots of texture) or leaning into my inner goth princess. Yes, she’s still alive and kicking it alongside the Ralph-loving bougie 40-something.

Colour did not disappear from my closet entirely though!

Summer is all about boho, prairie, and western vibes. Again, you can see I have certain silhouettes and styles that I gravitate towards … though I did experiment a little bit with mini skirts this year. I love pairing them with boots, both of the cowboy variety and my Docs. I have short legs and short skirts don’t usually do them any favours, but the proportions work when there’s a tall boot involved.

One last, random collage – though, even here, you can see I’m a creature of habit. Midi skirts for the win!

And that’s a wrap on another year of outfits. Bring on 2026 … and more of the same 😉

One week closer to my holiday break — only three more workdays to go. That’s it. That’s the highlight. Otherwise, there’s not much to say. The weather was hella cold, it snowed hella hard, work was hella busy, I was hella grumpy. I’ve been inching towards burnout territory for a while, and this week I tried to reverse course a little, but of course, that’s easier said than done. I forced myself to slow down physically at least, but the mind is another beast. She’s stubborn and she doesn’t always listen. Let’s just say, I’ve been leaning hard on all the lessons and progress I’ve made recently with my therapist.

My (long distance) bestie and I exchanged our Xmas presents, which is to say, we sent each other money so we could treat ourselves like the lazy, 50-year old bougie b*tches we are. [That’s a Pedro Pascal reference for those of you who don’t internet as much as we do.] She’s buying fancy soap, and I ordered myself a bunch of books. We love that for us.

The hardest thing is going to be to not start reading them before Christmas Day. I feel like I’m in a reading slump — probably another symptom of burnout, tbh — and none of the books in my current TBR pile look appealing. I’m a mood reader, so this is a real problem, ok? But I’m very excited about the ones I just ordered. Maybe I’ll allow myself one little pre-Christmas treat? Isn’t it a perk of adulthood that one can make up the rules as one goes?

I’m also very excited because I ordered a DVD of Ten Things I Hate About You for my daughter as part of her Xmas present. We’ve been trying to find this movie at the thrift store for months without success. I can’t wait for us to watch it together over the holiday break. Re-discovering old faves from my teenage years with her, as she’s starting that phase of her life, is one of the highlights of this stage of parenthood. She’s also getting a bunch of books for Christmas because we are basically the same person. Except, in her case, it’s all hockey romances, lol! We listen and we don’t judge.

Ever since Variety announced the line-up of their Actors on Actors interviews, I’ve been sat for the one between Gwyneth Paltrow and Jacob Elordi. Are you kidding me? My OG celebrity obsession and my current pop culture rabbit hole (that sounds wrong, oh well) competing for oxygen in one room? Sign me up. Well, I watched it and … meh. It was a snoozefest. Like watching two people make polite conversation in a dentist’s reception. Or paint dry. I’ve seen other interviews with them, so I know that, individually, they’re both capable of being funny and charming. Together, they somehow turned into a charisma black hole.

One of my fave anecdotes from Amy Odell’s biography of Gwyneth is about how she once explained the different types of caviar to Brad Pitt in a restaurant. [Because, evidently, he was a Midwest hick or something.] I was hoping she’d bring that energy to the interview, for dramatic purposes. It would have been fun to see that square off against Jacob’s earnest ‘I think deep thoughts’ energy. [To be clear, I find this endearing about him. People who are not afraid to talk about their intellectual curiosity, in a culture that tends to characterize enthusiasm as “cringe”, are cool in my book.] Alas, all Gwyneth did was nod a lot and make valiant attempts to get a word in edgewise. Jacob was a total chatty Cathy. Maybe he was nervous. They both looked hella uncomfortable/stiff.

Oh well. At least the Jonathan Bailey / David Corenswet interview did not disappoint. So. Much. Energy. So. Much. Chemistry.

Have a great weekend!