Sunday, January 4, 2026

101 Things to Do in 2025 - End of Year

 


Once again, I completed about half of my list. I always feel like the whole dang list is so possible in January and then before I know it it is October and I feel like I have no time left! If you're new around here, a quick intro to this little project - instead of setting a resolution, I like to make a list of the things I'd like to accomplish throughout the year - 101 things to be exact. I go in expecting not to finish the list, but it helps keep me accountable to myself and prevent me from saying "someday I want to do this..." by actually doing it! I've been doing this since around 2012 I think (maybe longer?), but I've only published them online for the world to see since 2018. Anyway, here are the adventures and experiences of 2025 - stay tuned for my hopes and goals for 2026!


1. Tour Paisley Park

2. Travel around Iceland 


3. Stay at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico 



4. Go back to Sea Camp 


5. Go to a Minnesota Timberwolves game


6. Go to a Minnesota Frost game

7. Take Ike skydiving

8. Eat at Sippi's

9. Grab a drink at Lafayette

10. Get chicken and waffles at Fork & Fable (I tried, but they stopped brunch early!)

11. Remove all the old car wash tags from my front windshield

12. Earn enough gift cards from my various rebate/point earning apps to buy a new Apple Watch

13. See Wicked Part 2 in theaters

14. Explore Chichen Itza 

15. Walk through the Rotary Lights in La Crosse 

16. Read 100 books (only made it to 87 this year!)

17. Visit a Laura Ingalls Wilder site

18. Visit my friends in Tennessee 

19. Attend Ashley for the Arts 

20. Try the Nelson distillery

21. Complete my 2024 scrapbook

22. Get a massage at least 4 times (turned into once a week - best decision ever!)

23. Visit the Polish Museum

24. Go axe throwing

25. Label grandma's old family photos

26. Celebrate at Luke & Lacey's wedding 

27. Meet my newest nephew

28. Earn enough Marriott points for a free stay in Hawaii (found a better deal than using my points!)

29. Go to a Minnesota Vikings game

30. Ride on Fly Over America at the MOA

31. Visit the new Epic Universe park

32. Have a no-spend month (not counting groceries)

33. Complete my TEACH Grant requirements

34. Earn the max amount of points to redeem in BlueCare (50 points away!)

35. Share a written review on Goodreads

36. Add books to a Little Free Library

37. Use all my product samples/minis

38. Complete my Taylor Swift diamond painting

39. Finish a puzzle

40. Buy a new cowboy hat

41. Go to a paint class

42. Win a giveaway

  • Rush Week by Michelle Brandon (from Goodreads)
  • Stay Away From Him by Andrew DeYoung (from Goodreads)

43. Bake with the kids and a box from Bake It Books (turns out they can't ship to Minnesota)

44. Eat somewhere new from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

45. Make something from my HP cookbook and eat it while watching HP and drinking Butterbeer

46. Get my pressed penny collection hung up

47. Take mom to see the Broadway production of Purple Rain in Minneapolis

48. Meet my bestie's newborn

49. Eat a hot dog from an Icelandic street vendor


50. Go to a Minnesota Twins game

51. Set up our Harry Potter wand remote

52. Go snorkeling



53. Swim in an underground cenote 


54. Relax in the Blue Lagoon 

55. Walk across a black sand beach 


56. Explore lava tunnels 

57. Pick my own lavender

58. Explore downtown Red Wing 

59. Complete my LETRS training

60. Get a tattoo

61. Eat pizza at The Stone Barn

62. Unsubscribe from all the junk emails

63. Unsubscribe from all the junk texts

64. Get Aaron’s DNA tested on Ancestry

65. Read all the books on my Goodreads TBR (I need to stop putting this on my to do list)

66. Read all the books I own that I haven’t read yet (I also need to stop putting this on my to do list)

67. Read a book from the library every month

68. Send Christmas cards

69. Install a bidet in our upstairs bathroom

70. Go to a yoga class

71. Add the max amount of $ allowed into my HSA account

72. Earn the sign up bonus on a new credit card

  • Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card - 130,000 points
  • IHG One Reward Premier Business Card - 140,000 points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred - 100,000 points

73. Read every day (I did every day until August!)

74. Swim 1,000 yards without stopping

75. Put a new MN Wild decal on my car

76. Label craft supplies

77. Organize mom’s craft space

78. Take a road trip somewhere

79. See the new Final Destination movie in theaters

80. Complete all of my unfinished scrapbooks (only one left!)

81. Update my “Artists I’ve Seen in Concert” list with dates, locations, and meet & greet photos

82. Buy a new Cricut

83. Get my migraine injection every month - no skipping!

84. Get dad a passport

85. Visit Wisconsin Dells


86. Scan all of my papercraft scrapbook pages

87. Create digital albums with my scanned in papercraft scrapbook pages

88. Take my nieces to the beach


89. Have a sleepover with my nieces

90. Try a food I've never tried before (smoked salmon and cavier - I did not like either!)



91. Update my scratch off maps

92. Paint the upstairs bathroom

93. Go sledding

94. Watch Tony & Ziva

95. Explore downtown Galesville

96. Get a bidet for the basement bathroom

97. Buy more bookshelves

98. Get my girl scout patches made into a pillow

99. Go to a Disney park other than EPCOT

100. Get my Winhawk patches made into a pillow

101. Figure out next steps for loan forgiveness


Total Completed:  58 / 101

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Tuesday, December 30, 2025

#gretchensbooks2025 - End of Year


I'm pretty certain I listened to more audiobooks in the last few weeks than in the last 6 months combined. FWIW, I finished all 350+ episodes of Crime Weekly and had quite the build-up of suspended holds in my Libby account. Also, my Clarksville library card officially expired this month, so I no longer have access to the Tennessee Reads books on Libby 😭.

I also finished many of the other projects that have been taking up my time this second half of 2025, so I actually got some physical reading done too! This is the first time I have read under 100 books in....years. My interest has really turned away from fiction this year in a variety of aspects. I still like to read fiction, but I prefer listening and watching documentaries, docu-series, true crime/news podcasts. Perhaps I need to look into some non-fiction audiobooks next year.


Book 76 of 2025 📖 The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose (5/5⭐️)


“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”

Alexis Spencer will use any inspirational quote to rationalize her failures and shortcomings. Her closest friends are a distant memory, and her college debt is still as high as the day she left. But that’s all fine and dandy, because “whatever will be, will be.”

However, when Alexis loses her job and her relationship on the same day, there’s no quote strong enough to get her through that. In typical fashion, she blames the world for her problems, including her younger self, who should have tried harder.

Feeling sorry for herself, Alexis finds a bottle of vodka from her college days and goes on a bender, blacking out in the process. Only this time, she doesn’t wake up at home, or in the right city. In fact, she isn’t even in the right year.

Alexis is back in her college town in the year 2002.

Convinced this is her chance to do things over, she heads to her dorm—and comes face-to-face with her eighteen-year-old unruly self, who goes by Lexi because it’s “sexier.” Getting acclimated to life in the early 2000s is the easy part. Dealing with Lexi is where things prove difficult.

They might be the same person, but they couldn’t be more different from one another. Now Alexis and Lexi must learn to get along and come to terms with the fact that alone, they will never make things right, but together, they could change their life for the better.


Oh my goodness I just loved this story. It made me sob in public and I wasn't even embarrassed about it. What a bittersweet story this was. I had no idea this wasn't a typical Jeneva Rose thriller, and while I'd normally be disappointed about that (I love her thrillers), I love this book just as much. 


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!




Book 77 of 2025 🎧 Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano (3.5/5⭐️)


Finlay Donovan is—once again—struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she's dealt with lately is that of her daughter's pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like.

Meanwhile, Vero's keeping secrets, and Detective Nick Anthony seems determined to get back into her life. He may be a hot cop, but Finlay's first priority is preventing her family from sleeping with the fishes... and if that means bending a few laws then so be it.

With her next book's deadline looming and an ex-husband to keep alive, Finlay is quickly coming to the end of her rope. She can only hope there isn't a noose at the end of it...


This series was sitting suspended in my Libby account and I figured I'd give it a listen again. Just as I said about the first book, this series reminds me so much of the Stephanie Plum books. They're definitely different - and I am enjoying this series just as much!


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!





Book 78 of 2025 📖 Beach Read by Emily Henry (4.5/5⭐️)


Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. 

They’re polar opposites. 

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.


I bought this book over the summer because I’d recently read a couple other Emily Henry books that I’d picked up at Goodwill. I started this one at the beach with intentions of finishing it on the airplane (where I slept instead). 


Anywho, I loved this story. It’s so emotionally raw. My heart was happy and my heart was sad. I loved the characters - I wish I could know them IRL. And I envy the lifestyle - I love my job, but it sounds so wonderful to just write all day and live by the beach (even if it is just on Lake Michigan!)


The epilogue was sweet, but unnecessary. Not in a bad way - I just didn't really feel like it added to the story.





Book 79 of 2025 📖 The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (3/5⭐️)


As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it’s suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.

Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless… Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?

This book was probably my least favorite in the series. It took me two months to read. Which isn’t to say it was bad, it very well just could’ve been my reading mood. I enjoyed the characters and their story, it just wasn’t a page turner for me.

FREE on Kindle Unlimited




Book 80 of 2025 🎧 Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson (3.5/5⭐️)


Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.


I reserved this book because I've enjoyed this author in the past. I didn't know what it was about when I started it - which sometimes makes audiobooks harder to follow. This one was not the case. Even with the reversed storytelling format, this was a captivating story.






Book 81 of 2025 📖 25 Icelandic Ghost Stories by Jón R. Hjálmarsson (3.5/5⭐️)


In the old days, Icelanders´ belief in ghosts was widespread and deep-rooted. Much of the country´s folklore is decoted to ghost stories, in which various types of phantasms feature. The most common of these otherworldly beings are spectres and zombies, as well as the so-called „family“ ghosts, and, of course, poltergeists.

In this collection, educator an tale-teller Jón R. Hjálmarsson (1922-2018) retells many of the most famous of these stories and brings these ghosts back to life.

I love to pick up ghost story books from wherever I travel, and Iceland was no different. I could tell this book was translated, but it didn't take away from the story. The hardest part of me was my complete lack of ability to pronounce 98% of the places (and probably the people's names as well). I found if I abbreviated them when reading, it made it easier to comprehend the story. The interesting thing about the Icelandic ghost stories was that there is a lot of sorcery involved. (Or maybe that is just how the translation was, and that's not exactly correct? I'm not sure, but I wonder!) 



Book 82 of 2025 🎧 Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano (3.5/5⭐️)


Dating. Diapers. And dodging bullets. Who said single moms can't have fun?

Finlay Donovan has been in messes before—after all, she's an author and single mom who’s a pro at getting out bloodstains for rather unexpected reasons—but none quite like this. She and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they “borrowed” in the process of saving Finlay’s ex-husband. The Russian mob handled her debt, but that means Finlay now owes them.

Still running the show from behind bars, mob boss Feliks has a task for Finlay: find a contract killer before the cops do. Problem is, the killer might be an officer. Luckily, hot cop Nick has started up a citizen’s police academy, so Finlay has the perfect cover-up to sleuth out the real criminal as she does some “research” for her new novel. Nick is more than happy to get close to Finlay, but he’s also getting dangerously close to the truth.

As Finlay and Vero dodge potential spies and juggle the daily trials of parenting, they can only hope they find the crooked cop before Feliks catches up with them—not to mention revealing Vero’s mysterious past, Nick’s growing interest in Finlay, and the threat of her looming book deadline.


See previous comments on above book! The same applies for this whole series. I do adore these characters - they seem fun!


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!




Book 83 of 2025 🎧 Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano (4/5⭐️)


Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are—seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car—it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all—he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for—Marco's already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike—and after Finlay's night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?


Again, see above comments! 


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!




Book 84 of 2025 📖 Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal  by Meghan Quinn (4.5/5⭐️)


Atlas "Max" Maxheimer did not sign up for this. One minute, he's anxiously trying to keep his family's Christmas tree farm from imploding. The next? He's passed out in the snow after getting clocked by a suspiciously strong bottle of soda.

Enter Betty: new in town, full of holiday cheer, and helping her uncle open a rival tree farm next door. Max is convinced she's out to destroy everything Evergreen Farm stands for. Betty thinks Max might be one sleigh short of a winter parade.

Cue the holiday chaos.

Between blizzards, blown reputations, wildly misguided romantic plots, and one stolen ornament with a seriously tragic backstory, this small-town war turns into something far messier―and much more delicious―than either of them expected.


I only bought this book because I was already placing a Target order and this book was 50% off making it like 5 bucks. And I'm always in the mood for a good holiday read! This book was steamy! And it took my brain a moment to leave these characters behind. When I picked up the other holiday romance I was reading I had to re-calibrate a couple times to remember these characters were not in that story. I'm glad I grabbed this one! 


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!




Book 85 of 2025 🎧 The Wedding People by Alison Espach (4/5⭐️)


It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years―she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.


This is NOT a book I would normally think I would enjoy, but I kept seeing it recommended as a 5 star read so I saved it on Libby. Oh, it was so good! What a sweet story this was. I wanted a happy ending so badly, but wasn't sure how it would play out - or IF it would play out! The characters were delightful and fun - I'd say I'd love to read about them again, but I feel like this story ended perfectly and to continue it in any way would be a mistake. (Also, I don't think the ending really lends itself to another story..)




Book 86 of 2025 🎧 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (4/5⭐️)


Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.

Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge....



Book 87 of 2025 📖 The Gingerbread Bakery by Laurie Gilmore (4/5⭐️)


As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street.

Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s wedding coming up, they're about to spend a lot more time together.

As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?

When I read the author's note at the end of this book, she said readers had described her books as a "hug in a book" (or something along those lines), and that is a great description. The series in general isn't super steamy, and the romance is sweet but nothing to deep (well this one made me cry, so maybe that's not true) so they're easy reads and good palette cleansers to heavier (or smuttier!) books. 


*This post may contain affiliate links, which means when you purchase something through that link, you're helping support this blog (and my reading addiction!) at no additional cost to you!*

(Summaries are from Amazon, but all thoughts about them are my own!)

Reading Challenge: 87/120 books read in 2025

You can find previous book reviews here and add me on Goodreads here! Also, if you use StoryGraph, you can add me here!

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