2025 "Dump"
some photos never posted, some creative accomplishments, some memories I lowkey forgot about, and some reminders to self (a few serious, many silly) for 2026
I get weirdly anxious about reflecting at the end of the year. Even when the year was good, something about looking back makes me nervous? And don’t even get me started on the end of the year Instagram post. Do I have enough worthy moments to fill up a perfectly crafted dump post that sums up my entire year? I start picking out photos and videos in preparation but then realize these are images I’ve already posted to the grid over the year (a very trivial problem to have I know). I feel like I already share the big moments in my life as they’re happening as a chronic social media user.
So after going through my entire camera roll in 2025, I picked photos that are kind of random and maybe from the surface could be seen as mundane. Some of these I just forgot to post and selfishly wanted to squeeze it in there before the year ended; some of these are things I accomplished and was proud of this year. I also included some “reminders to self” of things I did in 2025 that I want to continue doing in 2026. Although most of them are silly like “wear more blue eyeshadow”, I think it’s important to note the things that you enjoy and continue doing them.
[Going off bit of a tangent here, but I feel like the emphasis is often put on making new resolutions, planning change for the new year. And while that’s great, I feel like it’s also important to remember the little things that make you happy and to remember to keep doing them going forward. We’re conditioned to always be thinking about change but forget about some of the simpler things that bring us joy.]
Okay, onto the dump!
1. digi photo of me taken by Belle that I never posted. This was our first time meeting in person and we had the cutest morning at a farmer’s market in williamsburg.
2. BTS from Love at Seashore shoot with Ari and Karina. I had so much fun that day pretending to be a love island contestant girl dressed in Zara Larsson-approved summer looks.
3. reminder to self to wear those uhmstudios hairclips more!! a last minute look i put together for a fashion week event in February.
4. a delicious slice of a cake from Bakeri, reminder to self to go back for it and to read more. I did not read as much as I would have liked this year.
5. BTS from my first styling project with Dawang, Ally, and Karina. This shoot, including the planning portion, overlapped with the busiest time of work for me so it was stressful but ultimately so rewarding seeing the finished product.
6. reminder to self to do things outside during winter even though its cold. This was in January, Alexis and I planned a day in Dumbo to see the aftermaths of a snowstorm. We were freezing by the end of it but it was so fun and pretty.
7. just a silly picture of me trying to cut my bday cake after too many drinks. It looks like I’ve never cut a cake in my life lol.
8. that's me on the Charlotte Stone website homepage! We actually did the shoot at the end of 2024 but wasn’t released until early 2025.
9. reminder to self to wear more blue eyeshadow. Sounds so silly but I genuinely forgot about this makeup look and I loved how it looked!
10. a cozy lovely cottage dinner by chef Emily. We picked out the veggies at a local farmer’s market earlier that day, roasted everything, and watched Twilight while we ate.
11. BTS of me and Sarah for For the Ages NY on a summer day in Beacon. Such a fun, casual shoot where we walked through Beacon with our cute little bags. And I always love taking the Metro North upstate.
12. selfie with the sweetest cottage cat. We named him Pumpkin.
13. diy bouquets for Alice's bridal shower, love celebrating my friends. Also my first time planning an event as big as a bridal shower but it turned out to be such a heartwarming day!
14. reminder to self to still do touristy things from time to time. I was having a not so great day so decided to see the Rockefeller tree on the way home from work. It still felt magical even though I’ve seen it multiple times before.
15. the best show i saw this year. Such a heartwarming but also bittersweet story, may have shed a tear in the theater.
16. reminder to self to style bikini tops as bras in the summertime. Specifically this polka dot bikini top with this pink halter, it reminds me of a pink dragonfruit.
17. reminder to self to go with the impractical shoe choice sometimes. Trekking home from a fashion event in kitten heels in the snow, I felt like Carrie Bradshaw.
18. film photo taken by my mom of me in upstate ny with my red bonnet. Haven’t been using my film camera as much, want to more in 2026.
19. reminder to self to spend as much of the summer season as possible at the beach. Beach days give me a level of serotonin I can’t even explain. Me being dramatic in my Clemence Mountain bikini.
20. reminder to self to always invoke brat summer energy. Cheesy but don’t tell me you didn’t feel absolutely confident during brat summer.
After all this talk about reflection and my mini tangent lowkey bashing on new years resolutions, I’ll contradict myself and share one of my 2026 goals as a way to end this post.
One of my goals for the new year is to write more, however seriously or casually it may be. When I started this Substack, I wanted to challenge myself to write more “serious” fashion-related pieces. While I still want to do that, that pressure to have every single post be a whole big ordeal prevented me from writing anything at all at times. I would sometimes get so wrapped up in my head that I couldn’t even open up my laptop to start an idea. So hopefully alleviating that pressure will allow me to just get back to writing and sharing my thoughts, which was why I started writing anyways.
Look forward to some fashion hot takes, ideas maybe I haven’t fleshed out yet but want to tease, and posting straight from my phone. Speaking of, I typed out this entire thing on my phone (in my pjs, at my parent’s house, during the limbo period between Christmas and New Years), which I would have never done before. Not every post needs to be written on a laptop I’ve learned, it’s 2026.