girlfringe diaries #16 ★ stepping into ‘25 & this year‘s winter wrapped

hello & welcome to my first 2025 blog post !!

as usual, let’s start with a silly little mixtape that sums up my mood so far this year: fun, 80s-synthy, romcom-girly, romanticizing life kind of vibes xx

MY 2025 WINTER RECAP

daily life updates happenings

This winter has been both quiet and eventful for me. I’ve been navigating my first experience with winter blues and seasonal depression, which was a bit of a surprise ?? I’ve always been a winter person, usually it’s the summer that gets to me, but this year really hit differently and I found myself needing a lot of offline time to recharge and figure out a new routine.

One of my personal goals for the year was to read more books and watch more films, as I’ve always gravitated toward tv shows as my main source of entertainment (I recently made a list of tv shows I watched and they’re like 87?? that’s wild lmao), so I decided to shake things up a bit & the winter blues seemed like the perfect time to dive into something different to keep my mind distracted.

That being said, I put together an ambitious watchlist for the year (that, let’s be real, I’ll probably never finish because I tend to keep adding more titles until it’s completely unrealistic, haha). I started with a few cinematography-focused films, since I’ve recently begun studying & considering pursuing a master’s in photography and film, so it’s been a fun way to catch up and learn more about the visual side of filmmaking. One of my faves was ‘Days of Heaven’ which is apparently a must-see for cinematography & let me tell you, the visuals are absolutely stunning !! Scenes like paintings, golden hour lighting and dreamy landscapes…. pure aesthetic perfection. I found myself pausing the film just to screenshot some scenes, thinking, "I need to turn these into illustrations asap!!!”, haha. I’ll leave you with some snapshots from the movie because I couldn’t resist, they’re just too beautiful not to share.

As for some other daily life happenings, this winter was all about personal photography time. I spent a lot of time exploring the city, capturing some cool shots at night and at the metro. February also treated us to a massive snowstorm that lasted two weeks, and it was absolutely everything to me, as you already know i am IN LOVE with the snow. I took a ton of pictures during that time & I’ll share some of my favorites with you so you’re not left wondering.

artsy projects happenings

My first 2025 art highlight was the insta-collab with the School of Creative Thinking, where I got to talk about my art page, illustrations, work process and inspirations. It was such a fun and exciting opportunity, I’ll leave some of the slideshows I made in case you missed them:

This winter was also all about Valentine’s Day commissions. The month of love really hit me this year and I had the opportunity to create cute, personalized illustrations for several couples & honestly, it was EVERYTHING !! I’ve realized just how much I love doing personalized illustrations, especially because in the past I was a little hesitant, feeling like I wasn’t “good enough” or unsure if I could effectively convey the emotions and details that others might want. But the more I’ve done it, the more I’ve discovered how much I truly enjoy it. Literally everyone I made personalized illustrations for was so kind and excited about the final results, which made the whole process even more rewarding <3 And here are some snippets from one of my faves:

Also, a funny story from the beginning of the year: couriers were super busy, so my print orders were getting delayed BIG TIME. I ended up having to deliver some in person, which was such a silly but necessary thing to do xx And one of my favorite moments from that week was meeting a girl who ordered one of my prints, she was with her bestie and they looked EXACTLY like the girls in my illustration. It was such a wholesome moment I can’t even explain !! I found a video & pic from that day, haha, enjoy my girlboss walk and my completely overwhelmed with emotions face after meeting the girls x

aaaand that’s a wrap on my first 2025 post <3

Just wanted to update you on everything that’s happened this winter & now that we’re all caught up, I’ll see you with my next post, which will be all about entering spring mood xx