None of the promises I’ve made to myself this year are new. No outrageous resolutions that I have to grow accustomed to, no random hobbies that will pack up the gyms and clubs of those who already call them home. I’ve actually decided to go backward and work on some things that I’ve lost touch with, and find myself missing from time to time.
Oldies, but New to 2025:
1. Picking up my French.
At one point in my life, I could read, understand, and (very basically) carry on a conversation in French. It has been the only language class I have taken in both high school and college, and I’ve always wanted nothing more than to be [almost] fully fluent, in the way that someone practicing in an English speaking country can be. But like most languages that you don’t use every day, it has been fading from me. To practice, re-hash, and re-learn, I have found and grown to love the following French Youtube channels, whose creators have dedicated their videos to speaking French slowly but in the way French speakers typically converse, with subtitles and explanations. I put their videos on at work or in the background of anything I’m doing at any time throughout the day.
These two amazing ladies are my favorite French speakers to listen to and learn from with their videos about their day to day lives, and get ready with me’s. I personally don’t prefer channels that are actively teaching you a lesson. I love to passively listen, translate, and repeat as I go. I have also been listening to Ben Nevert’s “Entre Potes” videos, meaning “Between Friends”:
I love to hear what French speakers sound like in their daily lives, or when simply speaking with friends. Entre Potes contains French that is a lot faster than my brain can comprehend at the moment, so I do slow down the playback speed, which helps so much.
Alors, j’ai decide de reapprendre ma Francaise cette annee (yes, I wrote that from memory if you were wondering), and I will remember to update on my progress as the months go by.
2. Coming to terms with and accepting that my favorite book genres are changing.
Looking at the Young-Adult Fantasy books in my apartment is like living with an ex I’ll never get back with, but they live here and they stare at me endlessly with a Florence Pugh-like sad face.
My top author of this year was Taylor Jenkins Reid. There is no other world that I love to be in but hers (not even our own). When I first opened the pages of Malibu Rising and found references to Celia St. James from The Seven Husbands, and band members from Daisy Jones and the Six, I freaked out like these fake famous people were real, standing in my living room, and it was actually 1983. I have decided that January 2025 is the year I reflect inward, and truly acknowledge the following things:
a. The Fantasy books I last bought probably won’t be read unless I force myself
b. I don’t like Sally Rooney
c. I don’t always want to read a romance story where everything ends nicely and sweet
d. I like my main characters in their 30’s.
e. I need more Taylor Jenkins Reid in my life.
3. Turning back to creating art, and using this blog as one of my personal expressions of it.
I’ve always imagined creating all of the art pieces I have wanted to hang on apartment walls. Like everyone, time gets away from me, and other priorities of life tend to take precedence, but I made a promise to myself that I would dedicate a few hours of my week to creating the wall art I’ve always wanted, and maybe sharing them with the world.
As for this little blog of mine, I would like to stop calling it Little, because it is the one hobby that I enjoy the most. Like most eldest daughters, anxious persons, and children of immigrants, I have never known a day with the absence of a million thoughts racing through my mind.
I am glad to have a place to jot down my likes, dislikes, and life experiences, and have those words resonate with other people.
This year, I hope to buy it its own domain, be consistent with my posts, and share more of myself here, not just the troubling times I desperately need to write down and release. I want to schedule post days, have consistent segments, and try and grow it as much as I can. And I hope to see you here for it all.
4. And although I said I wouldn’t crowd anybody’s gym or club, I have been loving pilates so much that I would like to try Barre classes, and [maybe, hesitantly] Solidcore.
I’ve really enjoyed my time at Club Pilates, [thank you to my friend Anna for introducing me to something I never thought I’d do], however, because I want to expand my workout horizons a bit more, I’ve decided to move on to a ClassPass membership instead of keeping my membership at Club Pilates. With ClassPass, I can book both Barre, Solidcore, and at other Pilates studios in my area, more than 4 times a month, for a much lower price, ($89 per month). I found that Club Pilates memberships were pretty expensive, starting at $130 per month for 4 classes a month, and $220 for 8.
I also feel that, in my experience, the group classes aren’t really that intensive for me, so I don’t think they are going to tone my body in the way that I’m looking for. I don’t sense my body being sore after my Club Pilates classes, nor do I feel it in one muscle or another, but I definitely always leave both more relaxed and energized. Sorry to the Barre and Solidcore girlies if the waitlist is one person longer [hopefully we can both make it in].
My Furniture Can Talk (An Interview)
“She comes home from work so exhausted. I swear, as soon she lays down, it takes a village to get her back up again. She’ll aim the remote right at me, and suddenly I hear those same housewives she’s always watching. I just sigh at what I already know is shining bright on my screen: Brie baking something no one’s ever heard of and fighting with Andrew, Susan divorcing and marrying again, Lynette having more babies, and Gaby looking beautiful as ever.”
–TELEVISION, JVC, older model.
“Has she glanced my way recently? I’ll tell you what, she’s lived here a year and a half and she’s only ever put me up to 375 degrees five times, either to bake chicken or a Ghirardelli Double Chocolate brownie. No in between.”
-OVEN, pissed and unused.
*In tears, sobbing*
“She bought me for inspiration, to draw, to create, and be more organized. She hasn’t picked up her apple pen in months!”
*more sobs*
“I could’ve stayed at the apple factory. Young, brand new, and in my box for what little I am appreciated in this place. I’m not getting any younger!”
-IPAD, depressed, saw a wrinkle in its own reflection this morning.
“I just always feel terrible. She’ll keep opening and closing my door searching for ingredients to cook something. And her grocery list is smack dab in the middle of my door, held down by those cute little magnets she always gets to decorate me with when she travels. I think she might just … forget to go grocery shopping, or maybe she’s just too tired, I can’t really tell. She never talks much when she’s here. She’ll maybe be in the kitchen for a few minutes, tops, then I never see her again until the morning. It happens all over again the next day.”
–WHITE REFRIGERATOR (came with the apartment), indifferent.
“I am literally ripping at the seams! Look, look, this is the small hole she keeps stitching back up just so she can keep wearing me. Have you spoken to Dresser? To Rack? They are overflowing and she still won’t use any of the clothes they have.”
-Overused, Oversized Beige Sweatshirt from Urban Outfitters.
“She is definitely trying, and I am so proud of her. She never used to branch out and make many recipes. When she first moved in, she never even used all four of my burners. Now she makes meals, she measures ingredients, and buys fresh produce from time to time. I know with those New fancy Appliances, it might be easy to forget about me, but I see her trying. And yet all anybody in this place can hear is those New Appliances complaining whenever she’s a bit too tired to do the whole pots, pans, cutting board fiasco of cooking a meal.
Huh? Do I like the New Cyan Blue Appliances? Those guys are real a**holes, I’ll tell you that.”
-STOVE, also white, (has been in the building for ages), took off her mic right after this interview.
“I already told everybody I was her favorite. I mean, I am the only one she gave a name to. She does shed a ton, I mean, a TON of hair. Every afternoon, I’m programmed to go and pick up some more of it, but I always sneak into the kitchen to hear the New Cyan Blue Appliances complaining and watch Stove roll her eyes.”
-Lady, (ROOMBA VACUUM CLEANER), giggling and mischievous.
“Oh god, are we tired?”
“I can’t even believe you’re asking us that.”
“I mean, literally, it’s every single day.”
“You would think she has no other appliances for Christ’s sake.”
“How many meals could you possibly make without a real Stove and Oven?
“THEY ARE RIGHT THERE!”
-RICE COOKER & AIR FRYER, talking over each other. (New and Cyan Blue, bought together, attached at the hip).
DOCUMENTARY CREW:
“After some more angry words from both Oven and Dresser, we decided to hear from Apartment as a whole, to paint a clearer picture of its occupant: Gabriela. Here is what she said: “
APARTMENT, (1 BEDROOM, COZY):
“She toured this apartment on her own. The key was not in the lockbox. The real estate agent did not show up, and she still didn’t let that stop her. She applied on her own, she got it on her own. She bought the greenest couch I’ve ever seen, unapologetically so. When she purchased the red rug, we were all skeptical, and then it came. And it was perfect. Everything Gaby visualizes, it’s unaltered, exactly the way she wants it. She is creative in a way that can visualize an ugly red patterned rug, a velvety green couch, long beige curtains, different colored wooden shelves and tables, and orangey-red dining chairs together, and still know that they will compliment each other perfectly. She watches the same shows over and over again. She overwears her sweaters. She loves consistency and sticking by what she loves. She turned me into a home. Her home. “
“Apartment said I was too green?”
-COUCH (Sofa), appalled.
Gabriela:
“What would your furniture say about you if they had the ability to?
How many years and versions of you have they seen?
Have they watched you let them go? Have they grown with you?
A main resolution of mine—the only one, really—is to be someone my clothes are proud to be dawned on; to use everything that I am more than lucky to have; to try new recipes, new hobbies, and most importantly; to get out of bed.
To make everything I own proud, as if they could speak.”
2024 Favorite Awards:
My Youtuber of the Year Award goes to:
Ms. Birta Hlin herself!
She has become my favorite travel and fashion vlogger. I’ve never watched someone’s Youtube channel as consistently and dedicatedly as I have hers. She has made me absolutely fall in love with Copenhagen, a city I have never been to but definitely will be visiting soon. Her and her fiancé have recently moved to Australia for a bit, and her two most recent videos of their life in Sydney were so good. I will be just as tuned in as I have been all of last year.
My Book of the Year Award goes to:
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Close runner up: Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.
Who was shocked? I was not.
I thought Malibu Rising was the most perfect book to read from start to finish. I ADORE a page turner, and this was the page turner that made my year. My favorite plot set up is this:
- Author telling you something insane is happening in the first chapter,
- then going back and forth between past and present, all leading up to the very end of the book where you finally find out what caused this absolute insane thing you read chapter one,
- while also setting up this very rounded and complete world that you now have a perfect background of, as you simultaneously know what is happening in present day, yet you’re still yearning to get to the future point of this insane thing occurring.
It’s the perfect lock and key method of writing that has me hooked from start to finish, every single time. Some of my favorite books with this set up are:
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides & Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman.
Elissa Sussman is another author that loves to write about fake famous people you end up Googling by the end of the story, because how could they not be real? If you love Taylor Jenkins Reid, you will also love Sussman’s novels.
Rookie of the Year:
DEPOP
Depop’s algorithm has made the most stunning comeback, and it seems like everyone is completely unaware. The first portion of its homepage is clothing suggestions for you based on what you’ve liked, purchased, and searched. I’ve never bought more on Depop than I have in 2024, and it is now my first stop when I need to shop for new clothes.
The hack to Depop shopping is to interact with all of the items you like. Add them to your cart even though you have no intention of buying them, like them, bid on them, and continue to search key words of what you’re looking for. The Depop Suggestions section in the home page will eventually be exactly what you would have been searching for without even knowing it.
These are some of my best Depop finds of 2024:
In honorable mention, my other favorite things of the year:
Shoes of the Year!!
These beautiful Betsy Johnson’s I found at DSW.
Trinket of the Year
My Dominican Republic flag bottle opener
Decor of the Year
These teeny wall chairs from Ikea!!
Makeup of the Year
Dior Lip Glow Oils for Life.
Thank you so much for reading this update of mine. As we enter this new year with what seems like tragedy, chaos, and a presidency that nobody except the obvious wanted, I hope that the remaining months bring everyone light and love, and move easily through our world.
Love,
Gabriela
On The Green Sofa 
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