Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark.
A whimsical garden cottage powered by sheer determination. January nearly broke me, but my 2026 temperature cross stitch project is officially underway. 🌱
This year, we’ve officially left the cats behind. Well, the cross stitched ones, anyway. Muffin still insists on being involved, or at the very least adjacent to, all of my projects. She may not be the focus of this one, but she is absolutely part of the process.
For 2026, I’m stitching a cozy garden — complete with a charming cottage and a few adorable critters — with tiny patches of flowers and plants that change with the months. Each day adds to the landscape. Each temperature shifts the colors. By December, the whole little world should feel alive.
And honestly? It almost didn’t happen.
The Struggle to Start
I knew this project was ambitious. It’s large. It’s detailed. It’s whimsical. It’s exactly what I wanted for the year. Never mind that I bought two other patterns before finally landing on this one. Indecision is apparently also the theme of 2026.
What I didn’t fully account for, though, was how much front-end work this would require.
The pattern itself is lovely. Truly. But for my brain? It wasn’t quite detailed enough in the places where I needed clarity. Which plant goes with which day? What do you mean I can just decide whether the squares marked 1 or 2 represent the high or the low temperature? I need more structure than that. Instead of diving in, I stalled.
Eventually, I did what I always do when a pattern doesn’t work exactly the way I want it to: I rebuilt it. I recreated the entire thing in MacStitch so I could see it the way my brain needed to see it. I mapped out each plant. I clarified the layout. And because I clearly enjoy making things harder for myself, I also created cheat sheet PDFs for every single month so I know exactly which flower or plant gets stitched each day.
And then, because apparently we were committing fully to the bit, I built a Google Sheet. Now I enter the daily high and low temperatures, and it tells me exactly which DMC thread colors to use. No second-guessing. No flipping back and forth between charts. Just tidy, color-coded certainty.
Last year’s temperature project was fully analog. Paper charts. Manual tracking. Vibes. This year? I have spreadsheets.
Was all of this necessary? Debatable. Did it give me peace? Absolutely.
There’s something about a temperature project that feels deceptively simple. “Just stitch the daily color.” Except this one isn’t just color blocks. It’s landscaping. It’s garden planning. It’s high and low temperatures layered into petals and plants. It’s an entire ecosystem supported, apparently, by a small but mighty data management system.
I may have slightly bitten off more than I could chew at the start. Once the foundation was set, I was excited to stitch. Then I spent half of January racing to catch up, which almost undid all that excitement.
January Update
January’s temperatures in Burke ranged from 7.3º to 64.6º. Quite the range, right? The biggest single-day swing happened on January 21, when we jumped from 13.3º to 45.7º.
That made for a surprisingly dynamic color spread right out of the gate. Most of the palette stayed in cool purples and blues, but those warmer days added little pops of yellow that brighten the garden in unexpected ways.
Because I’m tracking both highs and lows this year, each day brings double the data and double the stitching. Most days leaned icy and muted. Others surprised me with small hints of warmth that feel like early whispers of spring.
Sticking With It
I know this project is going to be beautiful when it’s finished. I adore the palette. I love the cozy, whimsical vibe. I can already picture it framed and hanging somewhere it can catch the light.
But this year is teaching me something different than the cat project did. This one isn’t just about showing up daily. It’s about building structure first. It’s about problem-solving. It’s about giving myself permission to adjust the pattern so it works for me.
And maybe that’s the real January lesson.
I have a feeling there will be other lessons along the way, too. This project is big enough and detailed enough that I’m sure it will challenge me again. When it does, I’ll share that part, too.
We’re caught up. The cheat sheets are printed. The MacStitch file is organized. The Google Sheet is doing the heavy lifting. The garden has officially begun.
January always puts me in a reset the vibes kind of mood. New year, fresh start, let’s clean out some chaos. But instead of tackling one giant, overwhelming declutter project, I decided to gamify it.
Enter: a spinning wheel.
I found an iPhone app that lets you create customized spinning wheels and I thought that would be fun to use. Every day in January, I spin the wheel. Whatever number it lands on is how many items I have to get rid of that day. Once a number is used, it’s removed from the wheel. No repeats. No bargaining. Just spin, declutter, repeat.
By the end of the month, I’ll have tossed, donated, or passed along 496 items. (Yes, I did the math. No, I did not want to see that number before starting.)
What Am I Getting Rid Of?
This isn’t a full Marie Kondo, “touch every object you own and thank it” situation. This is a practical, realistic declutter focused on the places that quietly collect clutter without us noticing.
I’m zeroing in on:
Cabinets, closets, and drawers
Old nail polish and expired cosmetics
Clothes I don’t wear (and realistically won’t again)
Books I’m never going to read, or ones I don’t need to keep on my shelves anymore
That said, I am taking joy into consideration. If something earns its space and still makes me happy, it stays. The goal isn’t emptiness. It’s breathing room.
Trash, Donate, Repeat
Yes, some of this stuff is getting thrown away. Old cosmetics and dried-up nail polish have reached the end of the road, and that’s okay.
But a surprising amount of it is finding new homes instead. I’m passing along usable items through my local Buy Nothing group and donating what makes sense to a local organization.
Books are getting a special treatment in this declutter. Any titles I’m ready to let go of are being donated to the library, where they can find new readers and help support the library’s all-important programming through book sales. Libraries give so much to a community—resources, space, access, and connection—and this feels like a small, tangible way I can give something back while clearing my shelves.
Clearing space for myself feels even better when I know those things might be useful, loved, or helpful somewhere else.
Why This Is Working (So Far)
The spinning wheel is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Some days it’s merciful. Some days it chooses chaos. But because the number is random and non-negotiable, I don’t overthink it. I just do it.
A little every day feels manageable. Even the big numbers get easier once you realize how much low-effort clutter exists in your life.
January isn’t about becoming a new person. It’s about making space for the one you already are. And right now, that starts with 496 fewer things.
At the end of the month, I’m planning to do a full declutter wrap-up to share how this actually went—what worked, what surprised me, and whether the spinning wheel was a brilliant idea or pure chaos. Mostly, though, it’s a way to keep myself accountable. If I say it out loud (and on the internet), I’m much more likely to follow through. So stay tuned for the final tally, a few lessons learned, and proof that January really did leave me with a little more space to breathe.
And just like that, my 2025 temperature cross stitch project is complete. What started as a “sure, why not?” idea at the very beginning of my cross stitch journey turned into one of my favorite creative projects of the year. Over the course of 365 days, 2,250 stitches, 30 colors, and 12 little cats, I stitched the average daily temperature in Burke, VA for all of 2025. Seeing the entire year come together at the end feels incredibly satisfying. Just look at these colorful little cats!
Looking back, there are a few big lessons I’m taking with me from this project.
First, fabric really matters. I chose a Fiddler’s Cloth from Michael’s because I wanted to avoid white fabric, knowing this piece would be handled daily for an entire year. Unfortunately, that choice did not age well. The Loops & Threads brand was rough, inconsistent, and honestly kind of trash. Do not recommend.
Second, my stitching improved so much over the course of the year. When I started this project, I had been cross stitching for less than a month. Watching my tension improve, my stitches get cleaner, and my confidence grow as I learned better ways to start and finish threads was one of the most rewarding parts of the process. You can literally see that progress stitched into the piece, especially when you look at the first cat next to the last.
Another big takeaway is how important it is to keep up with a project like this regularly. When life got chaotic toward the end of the year, this project slipped to the back burner, and I ended up stitching almost all of December at the same time. It turns out this is far more fun when you’re doing a little bit each day, or at least every couple of days. The daily rhythm is part of what makes a temperature project special, and I definitely felt the difference when that routine disappeared.
I’m so glad I decided to use a Q-Snap frame for this project. Being able to mix and match pieces to fit the slightly odd fabric size meant I could see almost the entire piece at once, which made a huge difference over the course of the year. Pairing it with a grime guard also helped keep the fabric clean through months of regular handling.
I also loved how simple and analog this year’s pattern was. Tracking temperatures with pen and paper felt refreshing in a world where everything is digital. There was something deeply satisfying about writing down the daily average temperature and physically marking my progress as I went.
That said, I’m already switching things up for next year. The 2026 pattern is more complicated, and I’ll be tracking everything digitally this time. It feels like the right evolution after finishing a project of this scale. More on that very soon.
This temperature cross stitch will always be special to me. It represents an entire year of learning, patience, and showing up creatively, one tiny stitch at a time. Now I need to decide how I want to frame or mount it and give it a spot on my wall.
Singular. Uno. A lone champion on my Goodreads list.
I wish I could say I was savoring stories with the refined palate of a literary sommelier, but truthfully? I just didn’t read. At all. And not for one neat little reason. It was more like… a collage of distractions. A mosaic of chaos. A scrapbook of “oh, I meant to.”
So in the spirit of transparency, here are ten extremely valid, deeply serious reasons I read only one book in 2025:
Turns out I did read a lot — I just read lyrics, liner notes, easter eggs, subreddit theories, and the occasional lyric analysis essay written by a 19-year-old music major. Also: I logged 107,033 minutes of Taylor Swift on Spotify, placing me in the top 0.002% of global fans, and the 4,851st top listener, so honestly? That counts as continuing education. I am basically an academic at this point.
Every time I sat down to read, my brain whispered, “Or… hear me out… what if you stitched seasonally costumed cats and Taylor Swift lyrics instead?” So I did. For HOURS. I shopped for patterns. I designed patterns. I charted “Men will let you down. The Eras Tour never will.” in a fabulous font with Eras Tour-inspired hearts. My Kindle collected dust while my embroidery scissors thrived.
3. I made hundreds of bookmarks.
Which is objectively ironic. Because I, a person who does not read, have become a (nearly) full-time bookmark maker. Some people create art that reflects their lived experience. I make bookmarks for a hobby I no longer participate in.
4. Muffin, my fluffy little chaos demon, required enrichment.
I cannot read when Muffin is awake. I cannot read when Muffin is asleep because then I am staring at Muffin like a creep. So, no reading. Only Muffin.
I learned. I absorbed information. I became smarter, wiser, more informed. Just not… in a bookish way. If my Goodreads challenge included documentaries about cults, historical events, and nature being terrifying, I’d be thriving.
6. I fell into a rewatch hole I cannot climb out of.
I could’ve read a new story. Instead, I chose comfort. So yes, I rewatched The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the approximately 807th time each. Do I know every line? Yes. Do I mouth them along? Also yes. It’s a ritual now. A lifestyle. A commitment.
7. My brain is tired.
2025 has been a lot. Good things. Hard things. Work things. Creative things. Things that made time blur. By the end of the day, the idea of parsing words felt like a group project I didn’t sign up for. I did try to read. I picked up books. I started them. A few were even great. I just didn’t have the capacity to follow through, and I’m learning that’s not failure — it’s just the season I’m in.
8. I think the one book I DID read might have cursed me.
It was good. Too good. I wasn’t emotionally prepared for the vulnerability of starting another. Better to just… stare at it across the room like we have an unfinished conversation.
9. My attention span evaporated.
Every time I opened a book, my brain said, “Let’s think about literally anything else instead! Like that time I was awkward in 2013 or whether raccoons have best friends.” Spoiler: I Googled raccoon friendships instead of reading. They do have friends.
10. The most important reason:
I just wasn’t in a reading season — and that’s okay. Hobbies ebb and flow. Passions shift. Sometimes you’re devouring books; sometimes you’re devouring all things Taylor Swift and counting cross stitch stitches like they’re breaths.
So, what’s next?
Will 2026 be my triumphant return to reading? Will I finish TWO books? Three?? A novella??? Or will I simply accept that my life’s work right now is vibing, stitching, all things Taylor Swift, and navigating the daily Muffin-induced chaos with love and bandaids?
Time will tell.
Until then, if you need me, I’ll be stitching, listening to Taylor, and rewatching The West Wing and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, again.
I fully intended to get this posted weeks ago, but December was one of those months where everything piled up at once. Instead of stressing about being behind, I’m just going to celebrate the fact that this sweet little kitty is finally getting its moment.
In Burke, the average high temperature in November was 58.7ºF and the average low was 34.6ºF. The cooler weather meant a return to the most beautiful palette. These colors are officially my favorites of the entire year of cats. Purples, teals, and even some light blues appeared this month, and the whole combination made November such a joy to stitch.
Eleven cats finished now, and I cannot believe there is only one left to add. December, you are up next.
I know, I know… this update is well overdue. Life has been a little crazy lately, but better late than never, right? And honestly, I couldn’t skip posting about October since it’s my favorite month of the year! Between the cooler weather, cozy vibes, and changing colors, it’s always such a reset moment, and that definitely came through in this month’s stitching.
October brought a definite change in my temperature cross stitch palette. After several warm, orange and yellow months, it felt refreshing to return to cooler tones. Most of this month’s stitches were soft greens and teals, reflecting temperatures that were significantly cooler than I expected for this time of year. That’s on tracking average temps instead of high temps.
In Burke, the average daily temperatures ranged from 47.8ºF to 72.1ºF. The milder days and crisp evenings made for a calm and cozy month of stitching, and I love how those cooler shades stand out beside the warmer summer colors.
Ten cats down and only two left for the year! I can hardly believe how close this project is to being complete. Here’s hoping November brings even more of those pretty teal tones before winter really sets in.
Somewhere along the way, and for reasons I can’t totally explain, I traded my love of reading for some combination of sewing, cross stitching, documentary watching, and all things Taylor Swift. It used to be that I could count on getting some solid audiobook time in while commuting, doing chores, or even working, but these days most of my listening time has been spent with Taylor’s albums on repeat. If you’ve ever seen my Spotify Wrapped or any of the stats I’ve shared in my Instagram stories, you already know this isn’t exactly shocking.
Lately, though, I’ve realized how much I miss the stories and the emotions they bring out. There’s something so comforting about getting lost in a good book, whether it’s an old favorite or a new discovery, but I just haven’t had the time or desire to sit down and read. So over the last few days, I’ve been making a conscious effort to turn off the TV and press play on an audiobook instead.
And wow… I forgot how much I love it. The right narrator can bring a book to life in a way that feels completely immersive. It’s been such a good reminder that sometimes all we need is a small shift in our habits to reconnect with the things that bring us joy.
The audiobook I’m listening to right now has me totally hooked. I went in knowing almost nothing about it, but it’s set in 1997 (which just so happens to be the year I graduated high school 👀), and that alone was enough to pique my interest. Combine that nostalgic setting with a great cover and an engaging story, and I’m all in. Happily, the story itself is living up to the rest of the package.
So here’s to rediscovering old favorites, whether it’s an artist, a format, or a feeling. If you’ve drifted away from audiobooks lately, consider this your little nudge to dive back in. You might just fall in love with them all over again, too.
If you caught my August update, you probably remember getting a little sneak peek of September’s cat. Now here’s the full reveal—and it was worth the wait! This month’s kitty brought a more subtle shift in color as we eased out of the peak summer heat.
The average daily temperatures in Burke ranged from 62.4ºF to 76.6ºF, so we had limited oranges and no blazing reds this time. It felt like a calm, steady transition into early fall, and I really love how that shows in the stitches.
Nine cats stitched and only three left to go for the year! It’s amazing to see how much of the piece is filled in now, and I can’t wait to watch the final months come together.
As a relatively new, but no less passionate, Swiftie, The Life of a Showgirl will be only my second new (not a rerecord) album since I entered the Swifterhood. Before The Tortured Poets Department released last year, I did my “definitive” ranking of her first ten albums. I thought it would be fun to do the same for TS1–11 before we welcome TS12 this coming weekend. (I think I can officially call this a tradition now, no?)
My rankings and favorites are based solely on vibes and what’s speaking to me the most right now. I’m not getting into whether or not an album is “sonically” good. There are plenty of people far more knowledgeable about music who can break that down better than I ever could.
My album rankings are totally scientific, however. I use a super fancy spreadsheet someone (I have no idea who at this point) shared online about three albums ago that literally calculates a score for each album based on your rankings for each song. I’m not going to share my scores, but my final ranking reflects them.
Are you ready for it? Let’s rank some albums.
#11 – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (2023)
I know this might be controversial, but something has to land at the bottom. I love the songwriting on Speak Now, especially considering how young she was at the time. As a full album though, it just doesn’t call to me as much as the others. There’s no denying it gave us some true classics. This rerecord also gave me one of my favorite vault tracks ever, Electric Touch featuring Fall Out Boy. It’s also the album that convinced me to buy a vinyl player and start building my collection, so it’ll always be special in that way.
One of the best country-pop crossover albums ever, even if it’s not high on my ranking. I love the sparkly-dress-and-cowboy-boots vibe, but there are a few songs that drag this album down for me. I’ll never not smile when I hear Fearless, Love Story and You Belong with Me, though. Even though I wasn’t a Swiftie when the original version or Taylor’s Version released, I have fond memories of hearing those songs on the radio.
Red (Taylor’s Version) was my gateway album into the Swifterhood. I still remember many days and nights sitting on my balcony after it released, listening to All Too Well (10 Minute Version) on repeat and feeling absolutely wrecked in the best way. The album is full of nostalgic radio hits that I will always adore, but there are plenty of others that just do not land as high for me these days. Her version of Better Man is one of my all-time favorite songs in any genre by any artist. It took my breath away the first time I heard it. Red (Taylor’s Version) will always be close to my heart, no matter where it lands in my rankings.
The album that started it all! Well, not for me personally, but generally speaking. This is probably the album I struggle with the most at times. I love the songwriting and there is something charming about her baby voice, but the songs do not speak to me the same way a lot of her newer releases do. I think that makes perfect sense since I am nearly thirty years older than she was when she released it. The Eras Tour surprise songs gave me a whole new appreciation for many of these tracks, which is why it moved up in my rankings. My new appreciation for songs like Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) and Should’ve Said No, combined with nostalgic radio favorites like Tim McGraw and Our Song, makes it a solid album even if it is not my favorite.
Lover is pastel-colored joy with a sprinkle of heartbreak and a pinch of anxiety, and I love it for that mix. It is warm and romantic, then suddenly swings in to punch you right in the feelings. I do not always listen straight through, but the tracks I reach for are some of my most-played favorites.
The pop music bible! The sparkling pop era evoked by 1989 (Taylor’s Version) never fails to put me in a good mood. I adore the freedom and brightness of these songs, and the vault tracks were a treat. This album feels like driving with the windows down in the middle of summer. I will never forget the night she announced this album during the Eras Tour. I knew I couldn’t stay up until three in the morning to watch the whole show, so I went to bed at my normal time and set an alarm for around one. When I woke up and opened TikTok, I saw the blue folklore dress and knew it was happening. There was no way I could go back to sleep after that. Watching her emerge from the stage in a sparkly blue costume for the 1989 set and feeling the collective joy of the roughly 120k people in that live stream (not to mention the elated screams of those in attendance) was a top-tier Eras Tour memory, even if it happened through a screen.
Midnights feels like staying up way too late overthinking life but also dancing in your bedroom at the same time. It’s glittery, confessional, and a little dreamy — basically a night owl’s soundtrack. Midnights was the first new album Taylor released after I had entered the Swifterhood, but I wasn’t quite at the level of fan I am now and I didn’t understand the release hype. I didn’t preorder anything, I didn’t get wrapped up in Midnights Mayhem with Me, and I didn’t stay up late to listen at midnight. In my defense, I had just discovered a new artist I loved and she had nine other albums that were keeping me busy. All that said, I listened on release day during normal waking hours and I was totally enamored from the very first notes of Lavender Haze.
#4 – The Tortured Poets Department/The Anthology (2024)
The Tortured Poets Department is what I consider my first true new Taylor Swift release. I was watching the Grammys when she announced it. I preordered every vinyl variant. I soaked up every piece of content I could find about the release. I stayed up and started listening at midnight. I saw the two a.m. drop for The Anthology but had to tap out and sleep for a couple of hours. Ever since that morning, TTPD has been my ultimate crash-out album. If you see me scream-singing in the car, chances are it’s a song from TTPD. Most likely culprits are “The Black Dog” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.”
Fun fact: the first Taylor Swift songs I ever purchased from iTunes were from reputation, all the way back in 2017. ESPN was using snippets from … Ready for It? and Look What You Made Me Do in college football promotions that year and I just couldn’t help myself. Even back then reputation spoke to my very much non-Swiftie soul. Both of those songs were on heavy rotation in my gym playlist. Since then, my love for the album has grown exponentially. Those two songs will always be favorites, but I’ve also come to enjoy the softer and more romantic side of reputation, especially tracks like Delicate and Call It What You Want.
It’s hard for me to explain just how much I love evermore (and folklore) without going on and on forever. Both of these sister albums have such a special place in my heart. They’re the ones that made me accept my fate as a Swiftie for real. They spoke to me in ways her other music didn’t always. I wish I’d listened to them back in 2020 when they first came out because I think they would have changed me then. I mean, they did change me a couple of years later when I finally gave them a chance. evermore is the perfect late-fall and winter album, which means it’ll be on heavy rotation in the coming months.
folklore! My ride-or-die number one from nearly the first time I heard it. The cozy cardigan vibes, the cottage-in-the-woods storytelling, and the perfect mix of wistful and magical completely own my heart. This is the album I reach for when I want to feel wrapped in a blanket of words. It feels impossible to put into words everything this album means to me, and even if I could, I probably wouldn’t because it feels too personal. folklore is one of the few albums I regularly listen to from start to finish with absolutely no skips. I don’t even dislike hoax that much, but something had to be labeled my least favorite. It’s the perfect album, and it’s in heavy rotation on both my Spotify and my vinyl player.
Whew, that was a long one. Thankfully my handy-dandy spreadsheet made ranking the albums themselves a lot easier, but picking my favorite and least-favorite songs for each one was another story at times. There are just so many feelings wrapped up in all of these albums that it’s hard to narrow them down. Still, it was so much fun to revisit each era and remember what they mean to me. Now I can go back to counting down the days until The Life of a Showgirl drops so I can dive in, see how it speaks to me, and figure out where it lands in my next round of totally scientific rankings.
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