Can you believe it’s the end of 2025? WOW. Wowdywowowow. This year has both flown by and crawled at a snail’s pace. Personally, it was full of adventures and joy, and a whole lotta sadness too. But in this little corner of creative space that I share with friends, family, both and everyone in between, it was such a wonderful learning experience! Let’s do a quick breakdown of all the good and the ‘what is to be, hopefully.’
The Good Stuff
Booklet – I wrote and self-published my second zine-y booklet. Go me! (Remember to be your own biggest hype person.) I had on my 2025 yearly goal list to try for five (!) of them but 2024into2025 Jennifer was wildly overambitious with that idea. I truly do hope to have a lot more out in 2026 because I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can present at Fluke here in Athens and to maybe get that book deal I’ve been hoping for. Nothing wrong for wishing for the moon when all you might get is cheese. Cheese is still good.
Photography Shows – How lucky was I that I had two shows toward the end of the year? It wasn’t really on my radar until I was interim art news at work, and then my talented friends in Valdosta have been rising photography stars and they’ve introduced me to so many things. Including the Slow Exposure Exhibition which I will sing the praises of from here to eternity.
I’ve just muddled along and I’m keeping it fairly simple in regards to the format but I’m learning so much. It’s still a ton of work for everyone involved, and I can’t thank The Rook & Pawn and the Oconee County Library enough for hosting my photos. Because of my time at each location I was able to meet so many new folks and to further my online presence in all kind of new ways. Woo!
The Travels – My adventure checklist is never fully complete year-to-year but only because I seriously put wayyyy too much on it. I just love trip planning and this year was no exception! While I didn’t get to everything (Pennsylvania is a heck of a drive from here) I did: get to visit a number of new cities/towns/places and revisit some favorites, see weird museums and attractions, bought gourd pottery, camp and cabin my heart out, see Lyle Lovett in concert, explore dozens of cemeteries and graveyards (DUH), and ate some excellent roadside restaurant noms. I try to make the most of my time traveling and I think I did a bangup job in 2025. I can’t wait to finish up the 2026 list, ohhhh wow. Read below for how that’ll look.
Pssttt. You can find more on the Another Southern Roadside Attraction section including a map of fun things to go see and explore in North Georgia.
The Folks I Met – While I have become wildly introverted in my current life, there’s still enough of that little ol’ extroverted me that is delighted to get out and chat up people. And while a lot might think that taphophile pursuits are a solo pursuit that might not allow for creating community, well, there’s always exceptions to that rule! Here are some extra special people that 2025 brought into my life…
*Big thanks to Jess for creating and hosting the Athens chapter of Death Over Drafts. While I haven’t been able to make it to many of the events due to work conflicts, I feel very connected to the experiences I have had thanks to Jess providing such an interesting platform of topics revolving around death and the afterlife. She also allowed me to talk about funerary art and cemetery pursuits to a captive audience, and I felt so warm and welcomed. I hope to continue this relationship for many years to come. Jess also has the account/business Organizing Death so give her a follow there.
*Luis Vicente-Vazquez from Oconee Hill Cemetery and the Athens Historical Society has been invaluable re: local resources. He’s given me tons of literature and writings on lore, taken our whole office on a tour of the cemetery, and we’ve met up and just chatted about all thing Athens history. Bonus is that he is an absolute joy and delight to be around. Be sure to ask for him when booking a historical tour. Read more about his upcoming interview for the blog in the Goals for 2026 section below…
*Last but not least, Ellen the human & Daisy the cat from Mt. Yonah Book Exchange are the bestest. Ellen is always at the ready to help me find exactly what I’m looking for and she even texts me about the newest acquisitions she thinks I’d like. She’s also had nothing but supportive and kind words about my reads and works, and has been a joyful tour guide when called upon. And Daisy is a cat so she just cats and it’s perfect. I think I visit them at least once a month on average and maybe more!
And thank you. Yes, YOU!
I had over 5,000 new visitors to the blog this year and maybe you were one of them. Or maybe you’ve been sticking around since the quiet beginnings. Regardless, I really appreciate you and I’m glad you’re here.
And if you bought a zine/booklet, thank you. THANK YOU. I’ve been using the monies from those sales to put toward the community freebies – maps, stickers, etc. They tend to fly off the shelves (yay!) and I’m on my 3rd reprint of brochures already. You are helping to connect more people with funerary art and tombstone tourism! How cool is that?!
*Drumroll* Now, The Goals for 2026
Looking ahead I have so many ideas for Southern Cemetery (and life in general) that my brain is full to the brim and I can’t wait to get them out on paper, on the blog and in classes. Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in the new year…
More Photography Shows – Like I said before, hanging my work is a heck of a lot of work but I can’t wait to jump back in. I already have something scheduled at Donderos’ here in town and I’m looking at submissions to exhibitions both local and regional. I have lots of new images printed and I can’t wait to share them both in person and the blog.
More About Athens, Ga – My town is amazing and I don’t feature it enough so get ready for all that to change! I’d love to answer your questions about life in Athens so send them along. But TBH, no football stuff because I’m clueless about these things. This town is much, much more than just sports. Now hockey? I’m all about the Rock Lobsters! *CLAWS UP*
Of course, I’ll still center this site on cemeteries but I also enjoy monuments and history and connections. And you have to admit that if you like cemeteries then there’s a good chance you like a like a lot of other things. I mean, who doesn’t love a ghost town? A covered bridge? I DO I DO I DO!
Live Human Stuff – I’ve started interviewing local educators, researchers and more to be featured for the blog. I really want to highlight the people who are creating the building blocks of my interests and who have taught me new things. I’m a firm believer in acknowledging those who have done the work before me and who share the work they’re doing now. Knowledge doesn’t happen in a vacuum, amiright?
More Posts With Travel Guides – How I usually take a day trip is create a casual itinerary with about 4-9 wishlist stops. Weekend trips might include a bit more. That includes cemeteries, historic places, food options, bookstores, etc. I swear I was a Travel Agent in my past life and I love planning things. Like, just as much as I love taking the actual trip. Ha! And I hope to share more of these with you. (Reminder: I do not have sponsors or affiliates for these things so I’m sharing because I like ’em.)
More Classes – I want to not only teach some classes on funerary art, floriography and gravestone cleaning, but I want to take more classes as well. Maybe even attend some conferences! Please let me know if you would to take a class, join in on a class together or if you know of any classes you’d think I’d like.
More With Intention – If 2026 had a theme it would be MORE but I want to strive for that more to include my authentic voice, and my outreach to local resources and increased support to historically minimized communities.
And That’s All She Wrote
For 2025. Thanks so much for being here. See you next year!
