January

monthly bloggity blog chitchat

Hi friends!

What a month it’s been. All I wanted to do was hibernate, which I did get to do, in spurts. But I was also rather busy, and definitely more than I expected to be. Let’s get into it, yeah?

Blog cover photos: aka cold as shit

Pretty city/nature pics:

I got a new tattoo! This is the next piece I needed to start building my top half-sleeve on my left arm, which is esoteric/myth/magic themed. To me, those are all connected, but I can’t get into that right now lmao. The view from the table:

If you know me, you know I love the greek myth of Hades and Persephone, and this tattoo is for them <3

The following weekend, I ventured out of the house to Flushing, Queens, with my roommate Tre and our friend Cemre. It was a chilly, rainy day and I was vastly under-dressed. Alas, I still had a smashing time. We ate kimbap, perused various trinkets and treasures, then stopped at a tea spot which was busy, signalling I must come back to try the tea again.

We then made the perilous journey to IKEA, which is very far from our apartment, which is why we had not visited this IKEA yet, but it was fun! Tre found the Krispy Kreme donut lamp, and at the end of our journey, Cemre and I shared a raspberry cream cone. Deliciouso!

The next weekend was spent shopping in K-town. Tre and I went to H-Mart, a cute bookstore, then to Tesso, where I secured a pair of butter yellow corgi slides (not pictured :( ).

New coffee obsession:

This day was also my roommate Kristen’s birthday, so we celebrated them at their tattoo studio, Lucky Dog in East Harlem! The look for that night included my blue velvet set, my faux fur vest, my grandmother’s crab necklace, and a graphic eye liner look achieved with silver and blue tones

The party was a blast! Such a unique idea to throw it in a tattoo studio! They had flash tattoos available, as well as pool table. Guests brought snacks and alcohol, and I spent time oscillating between different groups of Kristen’s friends and got to know them better!

The piles of coats made me giggle

Kristen requested my baking skills, and their choice of cake was a Chocolate Turtle Cake! I happened to make it while getting ready for the party, so I mixed up a few of the steps, but that didn’t seem to matter because that cake got DEMOLISHED. I happened to forget about it as soon as I delivered it to the party, but i got to finish off what was left, so I’m not mad ;)

The following weekend, NYC (and most of the US) expected a major snowstorm. Tre and I went out Saturday morning to get provisions (snacks and ahem gardening supplies), then Cemre came over later and we had a great hang session. We played Monster Prom, in which each of our separate characters ended up meeting Damien across the entire school. It wasn’t even my intention to romance him, he just kept showing up where we chose to go, so I concluded he was a stalker. I asked Scott, the jock werewolf to prom, and alas, he said no :/

The snow started Sunday morning and just kept going. I went out for a walk that morning after it had just started, and it was magical to experience. It felt like I was in a snow globe. I went to the park near my apartment, and saw people playing badminton on the sidewalks, while kids sled down the huge hill and made snow angels. When I was young, I played in the snow quite often, and my favorite activity was to sled!

Later when we hunkered down, Tre and I binged the entirety of Yuri! on Ice. Wow. What a journey. I loved it tbh. I don’t care what the show’s creators said, that show was even more gay than Heated Rivalry…. and that was Gay with a capitol G. Victor and Yuri fully kissed. I SAW THEIR LIPS TOUCH. That is no hug between two friends! They are gay ice boyfriends!!!!

The following Thursday, Tre and I attended a queer open mic at The NonBinarian Bookstore in Brooklyn! The open mic was hosted by L’or, and the event is called Intimate Fragments. This one’s theme was smut, so I read a sexy poem or five when I was called to read, and shamelessly plugged my subs

tack. If you’re reading this, hi! :) And my poems were well-received :)

The Lewk

The Event

The last weekend of January included a lot of partying, which is crazy considering the fact that I like to be in my bed by 9 pm, pillows and blankets around me like nest, skincare done, jammies on, sleepytime tea steeping while I read by the ambient yellow of my string lights with my humidifier and air purifier blasting… but I digress.

So on Friday night, we have a y2k party, then on Saturday, we have my friend Kelsey’s birthday party and then a visit to The Bush to round off the weekend.

And on Sunday afternoon, I write to you, having done only one of these things. When I tell you it’s cold as the devils’ scrotum here in New York, I mean every word. It is actually colder here than it is in some parts of Canada. Alas, we only went to Kelsey’s party at Spritzenhauser 33, Greenpoint Brooklyn. We drove Cemre’s car, and there was nary a parking spot near The Bush. What was available was blocked by an 8 foot snow pile, so we turned in early lol. But! I chatted with Kelsey’s parents who were so sweet, Kelsey’s roommates, and their friend Collier, pictured below! All were a vibe and half :)

The Look for Saturday night:

Lowkey… maybe I’ll start posting on my makeup instagram again. Real ones remember @ holly_amber_mua

And now, onto the

CATTY COMPILATION: (featuring special appearance from Nugget, my neighbor’s cat. She is the sweetest, most chatty cat. I would die for her.

Wilbur, how many dabloons?

featuring Tre, not saving any pussy for the rest of us

MEME CONSUMPTION: (warning… it’s a lot. I might have a problem)

Not a meme, but I found this gem on Pinterest and it casually caused me to mourn the trees in my parent’s yard that I no longer see on a daily basis

Also…

We should all be allowed to hibernate in the winter. I said what I said.

WHAT I’M WRITING:

a distinct poem (not written by me) I found this past month that moved me very heavily:

I launched my online store on my website! Also, you can get your first order discounted at ten percent with the code FIRSTORDER10 :)

Aaaaand I received my first online order of Letters! :,) Here she is before she was mailed out:

My poem “November’s Nihilism” was selected to be included in Poetry Haven’s Fall 2026 issue!

At the start of the year, the frequency of the Muse possessed me to write a prophecy poem, in which I first shared it with Wild Soul, which garnered this reaction:

Which was then selected to be published in Fresh Words International Literary Magazine! My work is overseas :’)

I’m still using my writing planner diligently, although I’ve broken my weeks down into different parts. First week is spent querying COFAF (my fantasy romance), than the third week I do poetry submissions and the last week I take to put my blog together. I mean, you’re reading this, so you know how extensive it is lmao

WHAT I’M READING

Finished:

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

The Dark Planet Patrick Carmen

The Odyssey by Homer

by Amanda Nguyen

Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Life As No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence by Sara Imari Walker

Currently Reading:

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma

Tenderheaded: A Memoir by Michaela Angela Davis

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Up next:

WHAT I’M WATCHING

gLee! (real gLeeks know the show’s title ‘is spelled that way. I will not elaborate.)

One Battle After Another

New Girl comfort rewatch

Finished True Blood!

Hostile

honestly…. it’s been a long month and that’s all I remember lol

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

My self-curated playlists, titled Chill, ON MY KING SHIT, 2010’s pop bops, respectively. My On Repeat playlist, mostly because I love to repeat a song as many times as I want. I’m still wanting to move away from Spotify, but I have not found a good app to transition to yet. I have over 18,000 songs saved in Spotify. Music is very important to me, so I have to find an app and some sort of way to transfer my Spotify data over to the new app, because I’ve built my playlists over years. That is a decade of artisanal playlist craftsmanship, and I would just hate to start from scratch, ya know? If you have a good idea/alternative, please let me know!

vinyl - gerswin, cowboy bepop and the bleach score

WHAT I’M PLAYING

quite surprisingly… nothing. I have started Bloodborne, but have not returned it to it. I will one day, but I’m more in a reading kick right now, if you cant tell from above lol.

Welp, I think that’s all for now, friends. Keep fighting fascism and keep loving and showing up for one another.

With Slay,

Holly