Peak Vlogmas

I don't want to see another ad or shopping guide, please.

I’m so happy we’re at the end of this year, friends. What a doozy of a time we’ve had over these past 12 months. I’m proud of us for being resilient. And I’m hoping you all get to spend the next two weeks of the year resting. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing.

But, first, a look back…

2025 Reflections

Here are a few of my biggest lessons from the year:

• I can’t control the timing of life, but I have more control over the way my life unfolds than I’ve been admitting. It’s easy to feel like we live in a time and work in an industry where we don’t have control over our futures. In some ways, I think that can be true. In other ways, I look back at the way my career has unfolded and realize I’ve achieved everything I set out to achieve…even if it didn’t happen exactly as I initially planned it. I should acknowledge that more.

• A little rowdiness is exactly what I needed. This pittie of ours has wreaked havoc on our quiet little home in many ways. She’s loud and ALWAYS full of energy.

  
  She’s taught my partner and I so much about being a united front when it comes to her care and training. We have made so many strides with integrating her into our family. It turns out, a little rambunctious love is exactly what we needed.

• I’m not giving myself nearly enough grace. Self explanatory and a priority for 2026.

“Atlanta Is…”

How do you bid farewell to a project that has taken up so much space in such a transformative year? So much of my life is different than it was 15 months ago when I first started working on “Atlanta Is…” I’ve adjusted to a new home, a new pet (while grieving the loss of Eleanor, my chi-weenie who died in 2024) and watched my dad transition.

Truthfully, I’m relieved to finally close such an emotional chapter, but it’s also bittersweet. We poured so much into this podcast and the stories that are told within it. We spoke to so many incredible people (even if we didn’t get to include them all). And I believe we became better producers and storytellers in the process.

All eight episodes of “Atlanta Is…” are officially yours to binge. Thank you to everyone who has listened and engaged with the series so far.

Spending Season

Sorry, I don’t regret buying Stella a hoodie.

I don’t like shopping. At all. There are MANY things I’d rather do instead. Lately, though, the act of shopping hasn’t just been a source of anxiety. It’s been deeply frustrating to remember how much of this season is built around spending money.

I typically watch YouTube vlogs on Sundays while preparing for the week ahead. I also have a mildly unhealthy relationship to TikTok. I don’t know why it didn’t hit me in previous years, but I’m realizing how many influencers make a significant amount of money during this time of year by advertising stuff. Vlogmas, to me, used to be about locking in and engaging with your audience. Now, it just feels like more pieces of content with which you can embed more ads. I don’t want to see another gift guide or shopping link, PLEASE!

It’s hard reconciling my frustrations with society’s unhealthy shopping habits with the fact that I do need to be better about shopping and spending money on myself in general. I wear clothes until they basically disintegrate and it would be nice to not have a breakdown every time I’m invited somewhere (which is often during this time of year) because I don’t have anything to wear.

I’d love to know how y’all are navigating the last few weeks of the year.