In and Out for 2025

An opinionated and non-binding list I wrote in order to amuse myself when I couldn’t sleep, and which entertained me sufficiently to share. The fact that I’m publishing it so far into the new calendar year ought to tell you roughly how seriously I take it. You may or may not agree with any of it, of course… but you can always write your own!

IN:

• Buffed and filed natural nails

• Skirts

• Heirloom breed sheep’s wool (Rambouillet! Corriedale! Bluefaced Leicester!)

• Navy blue, tangerine orange, arsenic green

• Fiori di Sicilia

• Half sour pickles

• Dark (real!) maple syrup

• Terra cotta tile floors

• Screened porches

• Bees

• French milled soaps

• Pearls worn unironically

• Pink shirts for men

• Wit, enthusiasm, and curiosity

• French cuffs

• Happily paying for the creative content you enjoy

• Buying the best version you can afford of whatever it is, ONCE, and using it forever

• Urban walks

• A big stack of clean washcloths so you can always have a fresh one

• Shawl collars

• Wisteria

• Laughing out loud with other people

• Eating full meals alone while reading, in real sit-down restaurants

• Unabashedly, joyfully niche podcasts & newsletters

• Rescue pets, especially old or weird or goofy-looking ones

• Artichokes

• Conversation

• Always keeping a permanent marker, a safety pin, and a nail file in your handbag

• Geraniums

• Mending things, and learning how to mend things

• Taking a day off and not using it to catch up on a million other things

• Aprons

• Laugh lines

• The Oxford comma

• Reading multiple books concurrently

• Factchecking

• Clothes brushes and lint removers

• Carrying cash

• Always enthusiastically saying “DOG!” when you see a dog

OUT:

• Jumpsuits

• Billionaires

• Athleisure in settings neither athletic nor leisure

• Ahistoricism

• Cheap cashmere (if it’s cheap it’s not good and if it’s good it’s not cheap)

• Beige, sage green, dusty rose

• AI

• Feeling compelled to engage when someone is Wrong on the Internet

• Drive-throughs

• Anything banana-flavored that isn’t a banana

• Frozen French fries

• Organizing books by color

• Eating at your desk

• Throwing things away without seeing if they can be fixed or repurposed

• Calling things that aren’t martinis “martinis” just because they’re served in conical glasses

• Patios and decks without shade

• Men worrying about whether something they wear, say, or enjoy makes them seem gay (dude just get over it)

• Snobbery

• Buying crap you know deep down you won’t really use

• Eating four snacks you don’t really want but that are “healthier” than the one snack you really do want, then also ending up eating the snack you wanted in the first place

• Not returning, donating, or rehoming purchases that don’t work out

• Mistaking nastiness and cruelty for humor

• Lobster

• Knowing exactly how much you weigh on any given day

• Anti-intellectualism

• Drinking cocktails with meals

• Aggressively scented laundry products that other people are forced to smell if they are within 10 feet of you

• Fake fireplaces

• intentionally unopenable windows

• Selling yourself short

• Microwave ovens mounted directly over the cooktop

• Patriarchy

• Backing into every parking space (who hurt you?)