50 things that made my year (2025)

Hey there!

I did a round up of my year in illustration, but this is the very first of a yearly round up of things that brought me joy during the year. (This was inspired by Austin Kleon's 100 things list!)

Here's my list:

1. Getting into the swing of things with this blog!
2. Starting the year off with a piece of personal art, which I wasn't able to do a lot of in 2024.
3. The entire GNX album by Kendrick Lamar, which I replayed nonstop.
4. Oshún and Me being released on January 14th and it getting a Kirkus starred review (my very first Kirkus star).
5. The Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Nothing but love for my QB1, Jalen Hurts. GO BIRDS.
6. Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show. The layers. Turn the tv off!
7. My cousin Mia inviting me to read at the 2025 African American Read-In at Evergreen Avenue Elementary School. Shout out to the Zetas!
8. The boy that yelled, "THAT'S IT?!" after I finished reading All the Greatness in You to his class.
9. Babysitting my one year old niece. Forgetting how to set up her playpen, once again. (The locking mechanism is so finicky!)
10. Decorating the living room in my mom's favorite colors for her birthday.
11. Watching my dad sing in his church's Male Chorus on YouTube, taking a video of said performance, and texting it to him so he can see himself sing. Hilarious.
12. Seeing our magnolia shrub bloom early. The flowers smell like perfume!
13. Virtually visiting Chyna's first grade after school art club and reading All the Greatness In You to them. They also showed me their own stories, one on one! They were amazing illustrators and storytellers.
14. My mom and I starting Severance, (shout out to Jazz for her flawless TV and movie recommendations) and very quickly becoming hooked on the lore and Mr. Milchick too. (We later realized that we already visited the real life Lumon Industries building because we went to Chyna's wedding there!)
15. Seeing the finished cover art for Prayer Is for the first time.
16. Visiting my 86 year old cousin in North Philly and bringing her her favorite treats. She boasts about it to her son.
17. "I like baked beans cold from the tin."
18. Hearing Suzette by Nami Ondas and 300 Dreams by After for the first time. Just when you think you've heard it all, you hear something else that's amazing.
19. Seeing Sinners in theaters! That juke joint scene. The online takes! What an experience.
20. Watching Ryan Coogler talk about the differences between aspect ratios in film.
21. Seeing freshly hatched baby ducks in an incubator at a local farmers' market. The folks at the farm correctly estimated their birth day!
22. Fresh soft serve ice cream from that same farmers' market. Large please. Cone please.
23. Down on the Bayou AND Cooking Up Change being released in May.
24. Buying an extendable cartoon hand pointer and IMMEDIATELY annoying everyone around me with it.
25. Starting work on Onward, We Marched, written by Erica Martin and published by Flamingo Books/Penguin Young Readers. Erica's poems are absolutely stunning.
26. My mom and I getting Covid for the first time didn't bring me joy, but our neighbors checking in on us daily absolutely did.
27. Our hydrangea bush, which we lovingly named Large Marge, blooming bigger than ever.
28. Learning how to use my Cricut machine and starting a sticker shop on my online store.
29. My very first solo storytime and book signing at Hamilton B&N!
30. Working around the clock on my debut author-illustrator picture book, O Holy Night: A Modern Christmas Carol, with Bloomsbury Children's Books.
31. Clipse's album rollout! I absolutely loved their Tiny Desk, the subsequent Malice memes, and all the interviews they did. Here's my favorite interview.
32. Let God Sort Em Out. I actually played the album more than GNX. I didn't think that was possible.
33. "Penne a la vodka. Panama fishing village, visiting with papa..."
34. Women Who Draw's legendary run.
35. Tom Scott's informative YouTube videos. They scratch my deeply nerdy itch.
36. As much as I hate to say it, Top Dog Law radio commercials. They're so bad, they're good.
37. While we're talking radio, I love The Lady B Show on Philly's Classix 107.9. I love hearing folks calling in and telling Lady B and DJ Touchtone what gets on their last nerve.
38. Summer sunshowers.
39. My niece making me sit in the middle of the driveway with her. No reason, just toddler vibes.
40. My 90s era Eagles Starter jacket. Whenever I wear it, people yell, "GO BIRDS!"
41. Wilbur buds.
42. My braided hairstyle illustrations from Oshún and Me going viral on TikTok and people of all ages commenting what braided styles they wear.
43. Watching Beyond the Gates daily with my mom. It's cool to be able to watch a soap opera from the very beginning. We also dig the theme song.
44. My niece's 2nd birthday at Smith Memorial Playground in Philly. I didn't get to go down the legendary wooden slide, but it was a good time. Guess what the theme was? Western. "Not her first rodeo, but her 2nd." GENIUS.
45. Ochún y Yo (the spanish language version of Oshún and Me) getting picked for the 2025 New York Public Library's Best Books for Kids list!
46. My mom's deviled eggs.
47. Getting back to sketching in my handy dandy sketchbook!
48. Baking my famous iced lemon loaf, which is a Starbucks dupe. I've heard mine is better. That's what I've heard.
49. Watching Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man. I love the Knives Out series and Benoit Blanc's drawl.
50. Watching the last season of Stranger Things and explaining fan theories to my dad. Thinking about how we've spent 10 whole years in the town of Hawkins, Indiana. The feels.

Thanks for reading! If you want, tell me the best thing about your 2025 in the comments. (To leave a comment, you have to subscribe to the blog. Don't worry, the main tier is free!)

Here's to an amazing 2026, y'all!

Waving from across the cafeteria,
Alleanna