i am structuring last year’s recap in a different way from how i usually do — where in past years i have gone through how well i did with accomplishing my goals and then have shared a highlight or two from each month, i decided to go about it differently this time around.

for one thing, i kind of half-assed coming up with my goals in 2025 and then didn’t really put a lot of effort into accomplishing them. for another, i’ve been writing these recaps for over a decade and didn’t really have it in me to do the same thing i’ve been doing [hence it being mid-january before this is getting posted oops].

2025 was a weird year.

it had some really great adventures and it also had some setbacks and trials. it’s been a weird few years for me both personally and professionally, and maybe switching up this post will help switch up my karma as well. it definitely can’t hurt.

but! as i said there were some definite highlights in 2025, and that’s what we’re going to focus on for today. i’m going to do this chronologically because it feels like the easiest way to organize myself, so let’s dive in.

the big highlight of the year came right at the beginning and was of course our three weeks in india. we went to calcutta, surat, coimbatore, bangalore, palolem, and bombay and had the best time adventuring across the country. we ate a lot of delicious food, saw a lot of bio and chosen family, spent some time by the sea, and generally lived our best lives.

following that we had molly’s return to nyc which has been such a joy. having both maggie and molly living in nyc is such a treat for me, and i’m so grateful to have her back.

i spent 12 days in chicago in march and am so grateful to have had the extended time there. i split my time between alex and sarah [our joke was that they shared custody of me] and loved having 1:1 time with each of them as well as group hangs. we had a few 70 degree days and also a few days of snow which made it feel like i got the full experience. i also had dogs in both homes so you know i was happy.

visits from ellie, pranay, marcus, and vishnu were definite highlights across the year. ellie had the world’s fastest work trip but we got to spend the better part of an evening together and it was so nice. pranay was coming to the states to meet a friend in philly and tacked on two days in nyc and we got to catch up for the first time since 2016. we’ve both lived a lot of lives in those intervening years, and i loved having time to catch each other up on what we’ve been doing. marcus was in town for a conference and we were able to get dinner one night and catch up. vishnu was in the states for a friend’s wedding and we were able to have lunch one day and have a wander through central park. i’m so lucky to have so many international friends and also it’s hard to live far away from them, so it was great to have them pass through the city.

katie walsh got married! her wedding brought so many of my favorite people to memphis, and i relished having so much time to catch up with everyone.

dillard and i met amos lee. he played a show at the ryman in april and dillard and i were able to sneak over to nashville for the show. we stuck around after and were able to get our set list signed by each of the band members and got to meet amos as he was on his way out. i’ve seen him perform live 4 times [3 of those with dillard], and it was awesome to get to meet him.

for the first time in almost 30 years, my parents, brother, and i went to the horse races in hot springs. we used to go every year during part of our spring break growing up and various combinations of us have gone intermittently over the years, but the last time all four of us went together was my brother’s final year of high school [1997!]. the timing worked for us to go while i was visiting in april, and it was a lot of fun to go together. we of course had dinner at our favorite, la hacienda, and we had a great time at the races. i’m really grateful we were able to make that happen.

jen and i saw “oh, mary!” and it was incredible. one of the best shows i’ve ever seen.

rcb won the ipl! i might not live in bangalore anymore but rcb will forever be my team and it was so cool to watch [virtually] as they finally won the indian premier league after 18 years. that franchise has been through so much and i cried so many tears when the final was over. ee sala cup namdu!

alexa, larissa, and i had a great time at gov ball, seeing raye, royel otis, imagine dragons, and our favorite hozier perform. getting to attend with the both of them was a lot of fun, all the musical acts we saw were great, and we were so lucky with the weather. great experience and would love to go again.

thanks to rochelle i finally got to see a new york liberty game. she and some of her coworkers share season tickets and lucky for me there was an extra ticket when the chicago sky were in town. if i lived closer to barclays and had the money i would love to be a season ticket holder because the liberty games are so much fun.

a mindy reunion after far too many years. mindy and i were roommates in bangalore in 2005 and have stayed friends but have not been able to see each other we think since 2012. her parents are in new jersey and during a summer visit home she popped into the city for a day and we were able to spend a few hours together.

jane finished grad school and to celebrate we did a trip to outer banks in june. we had a great group of people along for the ride, and i had the added bonus of getting to see the goodrich family since they were there at the same time!

three days in nashville with my wright fam. during my august visit to memphis i snuck over to nashville for 3.5 days to spend some time with lindsay, steve, the kids, and the dog. this one was especially fun because the kids were still on summer break so we had an aunty veen adventure day along with celebrating lindsay’s birthday.

in august i facilitated a staff retreat for choices. my friend caitlin had asked me in the spring if brandon and i would be interested in facilitating a full-staff retreat and we both immediately said yes. we spent the summer planning which activities to do and how to structure the day, and in august it all came together. it was great to flex those skills again, and we all had a great time.

sneha came to nyc! she stayed with her friend andrea since i was dog sitting, but we got to spend time together on her first and last days in town and it was so good to have that time with her.

a return to the us open, one of my favorite nyc events [tied with the marathon probably]. alexa, natasha, and i went the saturday of labor day weekend and got to see naomi osaka play a singles match and venus williams play doubles. we spent pretty much the entire day on the grounds, including wandering through the amex fan experience and taking a turn through the store. i love attending each year and hope to continue doing so for as long as i live in the city.

sarah surprised me with a trip to clearwater beach and i got to spend 3 days with her at her family’s condo. we spent time at the pool, watched the sunset on the beach, cooked a lot of delicious food, watched cheesy hindi movies, and spent a day in st pete. i’m so grateful to her for that gift because it was exactly what i needed.

at the end of september my mother came to nyc for 3.5 days. my father was in denver for his annual conference, and instead of joining him as we had done in previous years i instead invited my mother to come see me. we spent our days eating and napping and watching movies and it was perfect.

i volunteered at the nyc marathon with alexa and maggie. we were able to snag volunteer spots at the same station and spent our time filling cups of gatorade for participants and helping to clean up. it was a lot of fun and i will definitely do it again in 2026.

i worked two election days, the mayoral primary in june and the mayoral general election in november. the june one was outrageously hot [the first 100-degree day of the year in a gym with no air conditioning] and the november one was very cold for that early in the season, but both were really cool experiences that i was grateful to be part of. and i’m so, so grateful that mamdani won.

marathon weekend is always my favorite weekend of the year. this year maggie ran the full, so while i didn’t manage to get a picture of all four of us together it meant i had maggie, dillard, and sarah all in the same city at the same time and it really filled my heart.

new christmas adventures! rochelle and i spent an evening walking around dyker heights, admiring all the holiday decor, and for maggie’s birthday she, molly, and i went ice skating at bryant park. both had been on my nyc bucket list since i moved and i was glad to get to cross both off this year.

christmas eve at abi’s was a delight as always. i spent the holiday with them my first year in the city but hadn’t been able to go the last two years and was happy to return this year. they made us a delicious feast and i loved seeing in christmas with them.

and to close out the year i went back to memphis for a quick visit. my cousin balaji and his wife aarthi were down to visit my parents, so i made the trip to see them and have some extended family time.

in between all of this i also wrote a number of posts about my first years in bangalore to celebrate 20 years since i first moved there and had a great time reminiscing over those adventures.

there were some other small things here and there but this is mostly what the year looked like for me. as i said at the top there were a lot of highlights, and in a very weird year i’m grateful to have had those happy times to look back on and remember.

how did 2024 go for you?

xx