She runs a tight ship!

Welcome to January. She is a spicy one! A little bossy, but she just wants the best for you, ya know?

+January is the girl who wakes up early the morning after the party and grabs a trash bag. She’s loudly throwing cans in the garbage. She’s vacuuming the confetti off the floor. She’s running the dishwasher and wiping the fingerprints off the fridge.

+January is your Virgo eldest sister. She writes a to-do list with full intentions of completing it. You just know she has excellent handwriting and a favorite pen. Also she delegates expertly, so expect some tasks.

+January has never met a self-improvement book she doesn’t love.

+January is a type A and she just wants you to get your shit together as much as she has hers together. She’s looking out for you. She knows you can do better and you deserve better. Case in point:

January is your friend who makes the flash cards to study for a big exam. And then she reads through them with you 100x, taking sips of wine in between until you’re both giggling.
January sets your alarm for 5am and then makes you get up at 5am. Come’on BB, you said you were going to do it, so do it.
January tells you to break up with him.

January is Blair Waldorf. She is Peggy Olson. She is Tracy Flick. She gets shit done and she’s not sorry. She can be a real bish, but only because she’s not interested in your whiny bullshit. Trust, you’ll be better for knowing her.

The Mood

It’s self improvement season gals, but that doesn’t mean we have to be mean to ourselves! Being happier and living joyfully is the ultimate improvement and you know what, a good bowl of pasta makes me happier and my life feel joyful. Maybe our improvement can be eating more pasta.

In much of the northern hemisphere, it’s going to be gray and wet outside, so let’s find a way to make that more cozy than depressing. We’re still lighting those candles we bought in November. We’re leaving up the twinkle lights, and tucking into a good book when it gets dark at 5pm.

And hello! We’re gaining sunlight this month! This is location dependent, but most of us can expect 30-50 more daylight minutes by January 31st. How’s that for a positive outlook?!

The To-Do List

+Literally your first order of business is to put something on your calendar to look forward to. Girls night out. Movie night at home with takeout. An afternoon walking around the mall with an Auntie Anne’s pretzel. A long weekend somewhere warm. Whatever suits your fancy, put it in that new calendar I know you just bought.

+January is for goal setting, but let’s make it fun. Goals don’t have to be hard or boring or in general, suck. Let’s give ourselves at least one goal that makes us more fun, interesting people. Some ideas -

Taste test a new sparkling water flavor every month. Broaden your palette and maybe find a new favorite.
Find the best nachos in your town. You’ll need to bop around to every restaurant to find them, but I mean, shucks. Bring your gal pals. Gossip. You might accidentally find the best margarita too.
Listen to a new-to-you album, start to finish, every week. ←This is my 2026 goal, ps.
Think of three good things that happened to you every night before you go to sleep.

+Perform an epic swap of your daily drivers, refreshing them for the new year. New sponges in your sink. New razor in the shower. New toothbrush. New air freshener refill. Yes you should be swapping these out all year long, but a fresh slate across the board feels very new year, new me indeed.

+Buy cold weather gear. Baby girl, just do it. Having appropriate outerwear can make or break the entire season and you already know it’s going to be cold every January until you die so the ROI is baked in. Just invest in something good so you can go on your hot girl walks or whatever. Let this be a project for as long as you need. Research brands. Solicit recommendations from your friends. Pour over reviews. And JFC, return it promptly if it isn’t right.

+Related, but commit right now to getting sun exposure as much as you can. I know the opportunities are limited, but put your face outside for at least 10 minutes so you don’t drown in the seasonal sads.

What are we wearing?

+Hats, gloves, balaklavas, ear-muffs, scarves, and boots that aren’t totally ugly.

+Beanies in every color.

+Lipbalm, you guys. We are slathering on balm. We like fancy, but truth is nothing gets the job done better than this basic b. But use whatever inspires you to stay consistent.

+I will hear no mall brand slander when Banana Republic and Old Navy are serving as well as they are. Oh and ps - a long, luxurious wander around the mall on a cold Saturday afternoon is ANALOG. Get a coffee and walk slowly, stopping to peer at the window displays and appreciate the familiar smell of food courts and new shoes.

+Taking a note from Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: let the coat be the outfit.

+Speaking of outfits, let’s get a new one for your phone. An inspiring new lock screen to keep you on your game, perhaps? Maybe a good picture from July to remind you that brighter (warmer!) days are coming?

+Related: We love a new phone case. For instance:

Media Diet

+Get thee to Youtube and search something vibey like “library fireplace ambiance” and let that baby roll for the afternoon.

+If you have not read Wintering by Katherine May, now is the perfect time. Trust me, it will help you to appreciate the forced season of rest.

+Find a new-to-you podcast with a good backlog and binge that baby from the start. Bonus points if it started pre-2016 because man, were those simpler times.

+It is perfectly acceptable to comfort watch something, especially so if you’re indulging in all those analog hobbies we swore we we’d start in 2026. FRIENDS in the background while we put together a 1,000 piece puzzle? Perfect. Mad Men while cross-stitching? Don’t mind if I do.

Extras

January may inspire you to go all in, do the hard thing, put in the work, etc. Those are all good things of course - the best things in life are often not easily acquired. But there’s also this thing called Gentle January and if that calls to you more passionately than say, aggressive January, I encourage you to lean into it.

Folks we are animals, are we not? Intelligent and top of the food chain, sure, but if nature powers down in the cold months, perhaps that’s the natural order of things and who are we to fight that? Some animals literally sleep through the entire season. Trees gave up in November. I mean, seriously, if your body wants to sleep more than it wants to do an ab routine at 5am, maybe it’s because we are no more than a bear in a less fuzzy outfit. REST BB, REST.

Enjoying January | 2026