Month: December 2025

2025 Year in Review and 2026 Goals

Standard

Hard to believe that yet another year has come and gone!

Without a doubt, by far the biggest highlight this past year has seeing my little one grow up! He is now just over 14 months old, and it’s been such a life changing experience seeing him develop one day at a time. 

Travel: 

22980 miles flown, 1 New Country Visited, Visited Mexico 3x this year! 

January – Day trip to Portland

Visiting the Japanese Garden in Portland

February – Day Trip to Pasadena 

Visiting the Gamble House in Pasadena

June – Long weekend in Puerto Vallarta & Long weekend in Ireland

First trip after little one was born! Visiting Hyatt’s Dreams Resort in Puerto Vallarta!
Dining in Belfast!
Hiking along the Irish Sea around Dublin City

August – Long weekend to Mexico City, and 2-night work trip to NYC

Meeting up with friends while traveling for work in NYC!
Visiting Casa Luis Barragan (famous Mexican Architect) in CDMX!

October – Long weekend visit to Cabo San Lucas

Weekend escape to Cabo San Lucas

November – Thanksgiving week in Los Angeles

Hanging in the common space at Google Spruce Goose office in Playa Vista

December – Southern California (Palm Springs, San Diego) 

Checking out the murals at the Thompson Palm Springs
Walking along Mission Beach Promenade in San Diego

Parenting: 

  • Surviving the first full year as a parent !!
  • Mason in daycare 
  • Mason’s first road trip
Catering from Jolibee for our little one’s first birthday!

Health: 

  • Lowered my A1c from 6.1 to 5.8 
  • Ran three half marathons, two of which were sub 2 hours. 
First half marathon of the year in February, and it completely rained out!
First half marathon where I finally ran a sub-2 hour time! The SF Half Marathon!

Final half marathon of the year in October in San Jose!

Career

View of Downtown New York from the Google NYC’s St John Terminal Office
  • Working on web projects instead of email-related projects
  • Building agentic solutions for marketers
  • Getting shoutouts at work

Spiritual: 

  • Continued going to Grace Cathedral
  • Attended events through Temple Emanu-El 
Sunday mornings are for services at Grace Cathedral (parenting schedule permitting!)

Language Learning: 

  • Completed 20+ hours of French classes via Babbel Live, though stopped after I returned from parental leave in April 2025
My 2025 youtube recap! Many of the travel vlogs and exploring cities are
French-speaking YouTuber channels!

Reading

Read / listened to five books this year:

Reading all about zoning in Ellickson’s America’s Frozen Neighborhoods
  • High, Erika Fartland (January) 
  • America’s Frozen Neighborhoods, Robert Ellickson (February)  
  • Wounded Tigris, Leon McCarron (March)
  • White Rural Rage, Paul Waldman (October) 
  • Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (December)

2026 Goals

Life has certainly changed especially now that I’m a parent. I’ve continued to reduce my travel aspirations and instead focus more on what I can do closer to home. Here’s what I’m hoping to do in the new year!

  • Visit all the SF Public Libraries (28 total) with little one 
  • Visit a new country 
  • Bring down my A1C from to 5.6 
  • Bring down my cholesterol from 133 back to 108
  • Continue my running / strength training routines
  • Continue going to Grace Cathedral and Temple Emanu-El 
  • Run another half marathon, maybe complete a triathlon 
  • Continue doing B1/B2 classes with Lingoda
  • Read at least five books this year!