Here's To The Year That Is

And so long to The Year That Was, in no particular order, here’s the vaguest of plans…

A year of adventure

I love a list. Because I am a procrastinator, I write a To Do List every single day. Some days I only add items to this list so that I can tick them off as ‘done’. Tell no one. As an adult, I understand this is deeply inefficient, but alas, I am unstoppable.

At the start of every month, I make a wee little list of goals. They often say something about travel. I am not a saint. They are not changing the world. Just wishful thinking and work, mostly. And yoga.

Anyway, when I get to look back, it feels just like any old year… Like nothing much happened! But when you stop for a hot second and take stock, there’s plenty of small things. I think The Internet is still calling them Glimmers. Well, a glimmer is a small positive moment.. These are maybe part Glimmer, part major life milestone, part yay-2024-you-beauty and part ola-2025-lets-go!

Grazia editor's pics: 2012

Left my career

After a squillion years in media and heading up magazines, I packed it in. I was first made editor at the age of 29. I am 50 this year. That’s 21 years. I know I am a maths genius. My first editorship came with a secretary and an Apple monitor and a huge round table where we all had lunch together every day. I didn’t know what to do with the secretary, but I adored the job. Still do. Being an editor indulged my obsession with pop culture and my love of words while allowing me to grow up, learn on the job, do something different every day, work under pressure, across time zones, countries and publishing houses and lead incredible teams of creatives.

Started a biz

A work bestie and I started our own biz. It takes everything we know and learnt in corporate and in media and packages those same content, commercial, project management, leadership skills for others… We’ve called the new biz Happy Culture and if you need employer brand content and other amazing things created, managed and produced for your biz that sit somewhere between marketing, comms, HR and good vibes, then find us here.

We keep trying to chart what it is like started a brand new biz but then we get caught up actually doing the work and we forget that we are supposed to be posting inspiring Tiktok vids to others. This, in a nutshell, is also a service we run for other businesses. Being consistent is giving major 2025 mood board energy.

Travelled across the world to see my favourite band

Who knows how many of these trips we have in us? Certainly Depeche Mode cant have too many. They already look like sexy vampires. We gathered the troops, booked the tickets and headed across the globe to scream-cry-sing along for three uninterrupted glorious hours. As Dave Gahn and Martin Gore swirled across that Spanish stage in March last year, we could have all been 16 again. Bliss beyond. Please someone tell me which world tour I need to be tapping into next… Am obvs running off to Robbie Williams and Goo Goo Dolls, but who else? PS No one wanted to come along to Offspring and Green Day. Find new friends? Discuss.

Celebrated my oldest bestie’s 50^th

This does, de facto, mean that mine is coming in hot – I see you ’75 babies! But sweet fork, the utter privilege of having been part of someone’s life for 45 years. How wild is that? Old friends are the secret keepers to every good and bad and sad thing you’ve ever experienced. They were there for the first kiss. They remember boyfriends’ names that even you have forgotten. They know the words to your songs. They know your family inside and out. They know you can’t ride a bike. They know you will always dance. They just know. I am 50 in April. Watch this space. My existential crisis is gathering speed.

Eldest started varsity

Here’s a rite of passage. You know how in your head you’re still only ten years out of varsity. It’s not true. This year my punk starts second year. I remember not going to tutorials because I went to The Boz instead. I went to The Boz because there was a hot engineering student that I liked. I knew of the hot engineering student because he caught the bus with me. I caught the bus because I didn’t have a car. But there I was. And now there she is! Shite. That was fast. The Youngest turns 17. She is hot on her heels.

Drank tequila on the rocks…

… In the backseat of a chauffeured car through the streets of downtown Hong Hong. That’s the fun bit. Not many firsts once one is almost 50. That was a first. Hopefully not a last. I also jumped on a train and travelled into China… The biggest, most unexpected adventure. Read more about it here

Became an aunt

Another first. Yes, my baby brother became a dad.

Women’s Health-era yoga shoot: 2016

Tried to go to yoga every day

Kinda almost did. It is very good for the soul. Once upon a time when I was younger as a mom and younger as a much busier full-time editor, I exercised at 5am. That became 6am. Then 7am. I now join an 8.30am yoga class. I am not sure what Old Me would have to say about New Me, but she would be appalled… I have coffee and work in leggings beforehand, just to be clear, but I feel sorry for that poor gal who had to get up in the fours to make gym by 5am. She was a brave one. I could not be her now if I tried. It sounds exhausting! If there is any fitness wisdom that Women’s Health imprinted on my soul it is this: find movement that you enjoy, not that you think you should be doing but something you actually look forward to doing. And get a cute outfit. And a workout buddy.

Rarely wore heels

Again, Old Me would never. Embarked on a love affair with sneakers. Many pairs have now been stolen by the punks. Said goodbye to skinnies and hello to barrel jeans. The first part about the skinnies was less of a goodbye and more of an intervention staged by the punks. According to them, skinnies, side partings and snapping a selfie from above are apparently surefire signs that you have lost the plots as an Aging Gen Xer.

Interviewing authors David Walliams and Samantha Shannon

I read at least a book a week

A few faves not to be missed from last year (and one that I am hotly looking forward to, along with the rest of the globe) …

There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shayk - an unbelievably researched beauty of a book that skips timelines, continents and civilisations as ancient Mesopotamia weaves through Victorian England, contemporary Middle East and present day London through the medium of water and story telling.

What A Way To Go by Bella Mackie - a darkly funny murder mystery as the scion of a Succession-style wealthy family is found dead at his own birthday party and everyone in the family is a suspect. Funny because the story is told from the victim’s point of view as he sits in a bureaucratic admin office in limbo between heaven and hell unable to leave until he solves his own death.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult - the conspiracy of whether William Shakespeare wrote all his own works is given light in this fantastic book as a brilliant female writer of Elizabethan England’s story unfolds in a parallel to her contemporary New York-based family member who is penning a screenplay about her ancestor. The themes are as pertinent today as they were 500 years ago

Margot’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - Quirky, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny, Margo drops out of college and starts an OnlyFans account to generate income as a 19 year old single mom. She is eventually joined in her unlikely quest to make money by her estranged father who is an ex pro wrestler - so he’s great with a good back story! Sounds crazy, but is wonderful.

Costanza by Rachel Blackmore - More from the historical fiction bank and women still getting shafted throughout the ages. Costanza is the beloved mistress of Bernini in Renaissance Florence until her fall from grace. The story is wildly detailed, beautifully told and infuriating in its parallels of modern day abuse of power and how little has really changed for women.

Next on my list is Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros - it is the third book in her dragon riders’ trilogy and releases end January. Book lovers have set their calendars, HR teams have been warned. For many of you, the thought of sexy dragon riders having it off (in the spiciest of terms) with their militant colleagues might not your idea of a good time, but you would be wrong! Start with book one. Don’t cheat! Keep up to date with new reads by following my bookclub on Insta here

Wrote about menopause. A lot

More of that this year! And many more newsletters! Here’s to 2025, new year, old me… The odd hot flash, excellent books, travel adventures, good sneaks, beach days. What else am I missing?! Let’s go!