The Best Bits: My January 2025 Favorites
The Best Bits is a monthly series where I tell you what I’ve been up to! Things I’m doing, media I’m loving, and products I recommend! Here’s a fresh batch of favorites for your reading pleasure!
DISCOVERING | Making Cheese
This month I made cheese for the first time, and it was so satisfying! David and I saw a video about Belper Knolle, a firm Swiss cheese that is infused with garlic, rolled in black pepper and then aged. That checked off all of our flavor boxes, so we knew we’d have to make it! So far we’re about 3 weeks into the aging process and it smells SO good. I can’t wait to taste it!
READING | The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
I’ve always been fascinated by the Tudors, and I’ve had this book on my radar since the movie came out back in 2008! I’ve attempted to pick it up numerous times over the years but never fully committed for one reason or another. According to Goodreads I started reading it last July (with fits and starts and other books in between) and I am STILL working on it! That doesn’t really make it sound like I’m enjoying it, but I promise I am! The book is quite a slow burn, and since I know the history I’m not in a rush to wolf it down. Now that I’m about 60% of the way finished, I think I’ll be wrapping it up shortly, but if another flashier book comes along, why hurry?
WATCHING | Squid Game
Season 2 of Squid Game came out a few weeks ago, and we gobbled it up pretty quickly! I loved the different perspectives they added to the story this time around. I won’t spoil anything but that ending definitely left us needing season 3 to hurry up!
LISTENING | Hozier
Last year David and I attended our first concert together (it only took 6 years!) Boy was it worth the wait, since we managed to get tickets to see one of our favorite artists, Hozier! I’ve been to quite a few good concerts in my day, but Hozier may just be the best performer I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing! He is just as good live, if not better, than he is on his albums. He recently added a few new songs to his “Unending” EP, and they’ve all been on constant repeat for me this month! If by some fluke you’ve never listened to his music, stop what you’re doing and get on that now!
PLANNING | NYC Trip
This month my best friend Emily and I took a quick trip to New York to attend Vogue Knitting Live! We were able to shop from a ton of different yarn vendors, rub elbows with other knitters and crocheters, and we even got some pretty sweet swag bags! We also visited some of our favorite haunts in the city, Joe’s Home of Soup Dumplings most specifically!
CRAFTING | Stripe Hype Sweater
Sadly I hadn’t been knitting much since Christmas, as my wrists needed a nice long break after my holiday gift knitting marathon! Once my wrists were back in fighting shape and I had some spare evenings, I picked my Stripe Hype Sweater back up again! I had been a little afraid to work on it with a yarn loving (and yarn HUNTING!) puppy around, but so far I’ve been able to get quite a bit done without too much trouble. I completed the upper front and back portions, constructed the neck hole, and now I’m working on knitting the body in the round. From here, I just need to finish the collar and the sleeves and I’ll have my first ever completed sweater on my hands! I can’t believe it!
GROWING | My Journal
I went light on resolutions this year and decided my main focus would be to keep up with a journal. I’ve always tried to become a journal person, but I fall off the habit so easily. I’m always a sucker for a new notebook, so I had plenty of empty journals on my shelf to choose from. So far, I’ve written an entry just about every single weekday. Weekends are tougher because my schedule varies so much, but I have gotten a few weekend days done as well. I find that stream of consciousness journaling really does help me push through my random thought spirals. I doubt I’ll ever spend much time revisiting them, they’d be hard to follow and I’m sure terribly boring, but you never know, maybe there’s a few nuggets of greatness tucked in there with all the babble!
APPLYING | Mac Devoted to Chili Lipstick
Another one of my focuses this month has been to use up some of the products in my makeup bag. I generally keep my makeup routine pretty simple and utilitarian – I only have one or two foundations or mascaras floating around at any given time, but BOY do I have a lot of lipstick! I think a late adopted resolution of mine will be to use up at least one lipstick IN FULL this year (something I’ve never actually accomplished unless you count lip balm!) and the one I choose may just have to be Mac’s Devoted to Chili. It’s the perfect muted brick red, has a soft powdery finish that makes it easy to wear, and it just looks good on me! Have you used up a full lipstick before? Let me know in the comments!
WEARING | Thrift Store Scores
Earlier this month I took a turn about the thrift store on the hunt for some new tops. I must’ve hit on a good day, because I left with about 15 new shirts for less than $50! They’ve steadily creeped their way into my closet. I’ll definitely be going back and hunting for some more good finds!
EATING | Chocolate Cake Trials
I’m getting a chocolate cake recipe ready for Valentine’s Day and it certainly took some trial and error to get right! My first round was much too dry, crumbly and had a weird acidity that was just plain off-putting. It was so bad my fiancé threw it off our back deck into the creek 😂 and he’ll tolerate just about ANY cake so I knew that meant this one was truly atrocious. My second attempt was WORLDS different and had just about anything you’d want in a chocolate cake. That is the recipe I’ll be sharing, so keep your eyes peeled for that one soon!
SIPPING | Lychee Black Tea
On most mornings, I tend to reach for the same tea because it’s what I know and love, but as someone who holds the esteemed title of tea lover I’ve amassed quite a lot of tea from gifts in the past few years! Lately I’ve been reaching for teas from my stash, and it’s been quite fun to mix it up! I love all things lychee, so this tea has been a delight to drink! I just used it up, so it’ll be exciting to see what I pull from the tea drawer next!
INDULGING | Ravelry’s Yarn Stash Feature
Usually I put something shopping related in this category, but this month’s entry is a TIME indulgence. I took a few hours this month to catalog all my yarn on my Ravelry account. I entered each skein and added a photo, and now I have this little digital yarn library that can follow me anywhere I go (especially to the local yarn store when I’m tempted to make an impulse purchase!) The best part is that I can designate any yarn to any project, so I know exactly what I have that is spoken for, being used, or needs to find a purpose! For any knitter or crocheter, this is well worth the effort!
ADMIRING | Friends and Creatives
This month has given me the opportunity to love on those in my real life and online circles in many meaningful ways. Be it supporting their businesses, offering a shoulder, crying together, sending love from afar, or sharing a meal and a b*tch sesh. In a roundabout way, those friends helped keep me in the moment and reminded me what life is all about!
OBSESSING | Notion
Oh how I LOVE Notion! I find it hard to describe what Notion actually is, because the idea is that Notion is what you make it! Basically it’s a site/app and is everything Google Docs wishes it was! You can make charts and spreadsheets, workflows and databases, and pages within pages that can all link internally. It’s available on desktop and on mobile, and I truly can’t get enough of it. It’s where I’ve organized my entire garden, keep my recipe and blog post plans, have a spending tracker, and update a list of weekly dinner ideas! I’ve only scratched the surface with all the things Notion can do, but I’m so excited to dive in every time I use it!
CELEBRATING | Wedding Planning Progress
Now that it’s 2025 we can officially say we’re getting married this year! Wedding planning has been going well, we’ve nailed down the venue, a caterer, a coordinator, a photographer, and have some leads on bartenders and DJs! The centerpieces are mostly decided and some of the decor is too. Bridesmaids and groomsmen will be choosing their attire shortly and I try on dresses next month. It’s all coming together!
What are your favorite things this month?
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