Welcome to the New Year
updates, recommendations, home progress and style musings
Hello! Thank you for coming back to my Substack. Today I’m catching you up after a slow start to the new year (happy 2025!).
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Hi from 2025! New Year, no new changes.
I’ve taken January so slow this year. Normally I feel a deep urge to come up with goals and create my vision board the moment the calendar changes to January 1st. This year it has taken me two weeks to get back into somewhat of a routine. Since we got back from celebrating New Years Eve in LA, I went ghost mode. I didn’t see anyone for weeks and instead decided to hermit up in our house. Lots of soup, TV show bingeing, reading, dinner at 4:30 and winding down for bed at 7:00.
Full winter hibernation mode over here.
I’ve been trying to get my life in order so far that has looked like dental work, strategy calls for 2025, contractors bids for house projects, and cleaning out my office from our move 3 months ago.
It doesn’t help that my husband and I both got sick after LA and spent a lot of time miserably laying around in a cloud of brain fog.
Los Angeles thoughts & recommendations
Prior to the sickness, we had a great time with friends ringing in the new year in LA filled with food explorations. On New Year's Eve we visited McCalls Meat & Fish, an indulgent and gorgeous market filled not only with the highest cuts of meats but also produce and pantry items that had me swooning. We opted for a very special occasion Wagyu Tomahawk steak that ran us a pretty penny but ended up being the best steak I ever tried.
We also had some memorable bites at Dunsmoor- the cornbread skillet was exceptional and was my husband's favorite bite of 2024!
My non-negotiable stop will always be courage bagels. I am willing to wait 45 minutes in line for that exceptionally chewy, crunchy perfect bagel goodness. The California tomatoes really shine in that one. I also loved the stuffed pasta from Spina and the breakfast burritos from Wake & Late. The final bite of the trip were the Michelin star rated tacos from Villa’s which were out of this world. I can’t forget the life-changing cucumber agua fresca that brought me back to life after a night of drinking.
All that to say, LA is a very special place to us. A lot of our best friends live there and seeing the devastation from the wildfires has been horrific. Donations have been pouring in from all over, and it warms my heart to see people band together in the face of tragedy. For now, I feel my efforts are best in the form of donations, which I have made to the Wildfire Recovery Fund . We are nothing without community care, we must keep looking out for one another.
Upcoming travel
I have been craving a winter wonderland escape, so next week we’re headed to the Timberline Lodge. While I wish I was a winter sport aficionado, this escape will be geared towards looking at the snowy mountain over a cup of tea, reading my book next to a fire and enjoying the newly renovated pool, hot tub and sauna at the lodge. If we feel up for it, I want to try Cosmic Tubing as an alternative to skiing because it looks so fun!
In March, we’re set to visit Oaxaca, Mexico for my husband's work. It will be my first time and I am beyond excited. It will be a necessary thing to look forward to throughout the winter months, when it's cold and gray here I will be dreaming of posting up on the equator sipping on mezcal and eyeing pottery.
Every year we plan a big trip, and for 2025 we’ll be in New Zealand for 15 days. I really hope to do some exploring via hiking to huts and seeing those epic landscapes. If you have recommendations for either Oaxaca or New Zealand please let me know below!
House updates
One of my goals this year is to share more with you about the house and the design process. However, one of my biggest roadblocks is I have trouble sharing before things are done. I want it to be picture perfect, but where is the fun in that? The vision to transformation is the part I am most interested in, so why not share that with you all?
Most importantly, I have been sourcing as much as I can secondhand. Which takes time and knowing where to go. I have been compiling a list of my favorite thrifts and resellers that I plan on posting later this month. I recently posted a thrift haul of some of my favorites which a lot of people loved. Since our house is 104 years old, it just feels right to source things that are also old to give the space some balance. If you get everything from a big name store, I believe the home feels like it can be replicated which is not the vibe I am personally looking for!
But new items are inevitable, here are some of my favs:
Since Christmas we’ve added a few area rugs to the space which really transforms a room. I love the new collections from Rugs USA - specifically the Arvin Olano and Ashley Tisdale collections.
We also have been replacing the lighting which makes such an impact! Schoolhouse Electric, one of my most favorite Portland brands, gave us a few lights and I am thrilled at the change and feel of the house with them installed.
Right now it definitely feels like I have many pieces to puzzle but we’re still far away from any finished result. Why is picking window treatments and blinds SO hard? Same with furniture shopping. We need a new couch and I cannot seem to land on one that feels right despite looking each and every day,
My approach needs to center back on what I originally said, Take it room by room! That way my energy and budget isn’t spread thin and it removes the feeling of not making progress.
Style Musings
My personal style feels like it has taken a back seat in exchange for cozy clothes. I am not really a hoodie/ sweatshirt kinda gal so I have been living in my Babaa sweaters! Last year I bought no. 17 (i am wearing it as I type this) and this year I went for no. 23, a button up cardigan. The quality and warmth of the wool keeps me warm throughout these chilly PNW days. I would rather have a handful of sweaters I love vs. A closet chalk full of clothes I feel only meh about. They really are worth the hype.
Ordering vintage off eBay has been another obsession of mine. Recently I found a pair of leather gloves for $6.50 on there and the uniqueness of them is unmatched. I also want a pair of earmuffs for our snowy trip, so to eBay I go!
I have so many updates, so little time. I am excited to jump into this new year with you all. Thanks for being here.
So much goodness in NZ, if I did it again I’d do 3 weeks. Here’s my recs: https://open.substack.com/pub/devinvonderhaar/p/design-destinations-new-zealand?r=2hp95t&utm_medium=ios
I won't take off my Babaa sweater either!!!