Rattling Those Pots & Pans

Heyyyyy! I hope everyone is doing well! I didn’t do a check-in for March because, honestly, I forgot. (Whoops.) I was dealing with a few things and struggling a little emotionally, and no one wants to read about that anyway.

However, my April has started off great! I’ve been spending a lot of time with family and I did an interview with an artist that I’m a pretty big fan of (which will be posted next week), so yeah. I’m killing it right now.

I wanted to mention a few things I enjoy outside of music – and it’s mostly because I’m going to post some pictures below and I wanna give the background for them 😏

If you’ve been following/visiting the blog for a while, then you already know I love to read. I also play video games, explore cemeteries, and try to find nature trails to walk with my mom. But what I have been doing quite a bit of lately is cooking.

Both of my parents are fantastic cooks, as are my brother and sister-in-law. My grandmothers were, my aunts on my dad’s side, a couple of cousins, my best friend… You get the point. I’ve been around delicious, and almost exclusively homemade, food my entire life. Obviously I’ve spent time in the kitchen. But recently, my brother and sister-in-law have been letting me experiment. I haven’t done anything, like, out there, creatively, yet I’m proud of a couple of meals I’ve fixed, or contributed to, over the last few weeks.

I’m not gonna lie: it’s really basic shit at the moment. I did help my brother and his wife make pasta from scratch a while back. I like being in the kitchen. It relaxes me. I’m going to continue to learn and try new things, so y’all should prepare yourselves for more food blogs 😄

Life in Color [January/February 2026]

Hey, y’all! I hope 2026 is treating you kindly. For me, personally, it’s already been a weird year. More ups than downs, if I’m counting, but man, the lows are…low.

I started – and binged all of – “Alice in Borderland.” I’ve fully dived into this year’s reading challenge. Mostly, though, I’ve just worked. I have some concerts on the horizon, both big and small, which keeps me going.

Anyway, I just wanted to hop on and check in and share a few photos I snapped in January and February. Haven’t taken a lot of pictures in March yet, but I have two shows in the next week and a half, so I’m sure there will be a deluge of images by month’s end, ha ha.

January

My BFFs’ cat, Church
Pork loin wrapped in bacon, smoked by my brother 🤤
My BFFs’ other cat, Autumn
My brother and sister-in-law’s cat, Hanzo
My brother and sister-in-law’s other cat, Lucifer

February

Hello 2026

2025 was a rough year for me on a personal level, but I would like to celebrate two of my victories here.

First, it was a banner year for the blog. I’ve had Mostly Music up and running for a decade (woooow), and in 2025, this little page garnered the most views I’ve ever had.

So, THANK YOU to everyone who has checked out or shared my posts, and to all the musicians/artists who released kick-ass music for me to share.

The second victory is on a more personal level. I started working out back in…April. I decided I just wanted to tone up a bit. My reasoning was pretty dumb: I didn’t want to disappoint this guy I was talking to, and I feared I wasn’t skinny enough for him. Whatever the cause, I found a couple of low impact, at-home workouts and dedicated myself to them (with a few lapses here and there).

Sometime in the early days, I ordered a dress. A dress voted on by my Facebook friends, and one I absolutely never would have worn out when I first purchased it. This dress became aspirational. The day I could put it on and be comfortable in front of the mirror, I’d know I reached a goal. And, well…

I’m down about 10 pounds, and I’ve lost at least a couple inches. The guy that inspired all of this is still in the picture, somewhat, but my goal now has very little to do with him, and honestly, I’m pretty fucking proud of that.

It’s the first page of a new chapter today. Let’s make this book worth reading.

Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful 2025 and that 2026 is even better ❤️