Monthly Roundup: January 2025

This is my second January Roundup, which means I’ve been writing these monthly recaps for a whole year. I’m not going to lie, I’ve surprised myself by sticking with these newsletters for this long. Okay, I wasn’t perfect — I did skip one month because I thought no one was reading them. But then you promptly let me know you missed them, much to my surprise! That feedback was all the encouragement I needed to keep going, so thank you to everyone who reads these and to those who let me know I’m not just shouting into a black hole over here :)

I’m cheating a little this month and including some things from December, since my roundup that month ending up turning into a year-long recap:

On the topic of local sourcing, one of my favorite businesses to support throughout the year (and especially during the holidays) is Ends Meat. While I try my best to reduce my environmental footprint, one lifestyle sacrifice I’ve never been able to make is giving up meat — I just love it too dang much. (To all the vegetarians and vegans out there, thank you, I salute you!)

To reduce my impact (and admittedly my guilt), whenever I have a big Meat Moment™️ I purchase from either Ends Meat or the Meat Hook. Both shops are whole animal butchers, which means they utilize each and every part of any animal they source down to the organs, bones, and fat. They also work exclusively with local farmers who prioritize animal welfare and sustainable practices. My thinking is, if I’m going to make a meat-heavy Christmas dinner, I should at least buy the meat from the right place.

Oh and if you’re curious: I made a roast chicken (using the recipe I mentioned in November’s Roundup), a ham (a la Alison Roman’s Ham Party), and a leg of lamb (this one I just kind of made up using a mish mash of recipes).

Highlights for me included a set of solid gold tweezers (decadent!) by the Calima people in Colombia circa 300 BCE, a CHONK of a buillion disc recovered from a shipwreck in 1622, and a piece of fabric woven from 18k yellow gold.

As is always the case when I see old jewelry in a museum, I was reminded of the incredible enduring quality of gold. It never ceases to amaze me how so many of the pieces could be worn today as is, straight from the museum case, despite first being made and worn in literal ancient times. It’s one of the many reasons why I love making fine jewelry.

I hate wearing things on my head. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m just not a hat person. It’s even documented on Vogue that I’m headwear-averse (lol).

This makes winter a tad difficult, especially when temperatures drop to real-feel negatives like they did in NYC this January. While I’ve always gotten by repurposing my scarves like how I explain in the aforementioned Vogue article, I’ve found myself craving a more elegant solution this year (and looking at my beanie-clad friends with envy). Enter, the headscarf.