2025 A Year in Review: A Newish Start

PersonalYear in Review
Written By Joel

I’m writing my year-in-review from my Eames chair in our living room in Newport Coast, California. It's hard to put myself back in my own shoes writing this same post a year ago. It feels like a different life, and maybe even a different person. I remember waking up after an exquisite dinner at The Modern, in a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Elle was sleeping much better after her Christmas cold, and Jake was visiting from California. I had a few months left at my job at the hedge fund, and in April, we’d be moving out of Manhattan and back to California. At that point, I was still in denial and pretending that, like in 2020, we’d eventually move back to New York.

And yet, as I write this post from California, back in a city/area we’ve called home for over a decade, I can honestly say that I’m so grateful for how everything has worked out. But that’s not to gloss over the fact that I struggled for much of the first half of 2025 with letting go of my old life. The long work hours, the international travel, and the prestige of working for a company of the caliber I was at. It weighed on me heavily. I took a lot of pride in it, and I was stubborn in letting it go. But slowly, as we moved out of New York and said goodbye to the life we’d made for the last 8 years, I started to revel in the new one we were creating. And so, through that lens, let's look back on 2025. A year when we made some big decisions, had some incredible adventures, and, most importantly, watched our daughter, Elle, grow into the beautiful 1.5-year-old girl she is today. 

It wasn’t the most fun start to the year. After enjoying a quiet New Year’s Day with a long walk in Riverside Park, I went in for surgery on the 2nd. Jake was kind enough to take me, and by lunchtime, I was home, resting up and back up a few days later. One of my favorite memories of our last few months in New York was visiting The Met, which we did both in January and March. I’ll never forget how, within two months, Elle was better at crawling to the point where, in March, we brought her into the kids' area, and she loved playing and crawling all over. 

We made it out to our final Broadway performance in January. We asked Tamar (Elle’s nanny at the time) to watch her on a Saturday while we went out for lunch at Ci Siamo in Hudson Yards and then to The Majestic Theater to see Gypsy. We somehow managed to get front row seats to Gypsy, and in a moment I’ll never forget, right after intermission, Audra McDonald had one of the most visceral, heart-wrenching, moving performances I’ve ever witnessed live. She seemed to be performing with her entire soul, and the audience, including Jenn and me, was mesmerized.

Elle hit some significant milestones in early 2025. By mid-February, she had graduated from swimming on the ground to crawling. So many parents told us it would get much harder once they could move, but I can speak for both Jenn and me when I say it actually just got a lot more fun. Elle’s development, which has always been ahead of the predicted milestones, started to unlock with her crawling. She quickly began to clap, and play became more interactive with her. You could begin to glimpse what we now know to be her personality at 1.5 years old. She continued to do amazingly with Tamar and almost always slept through the night without a fuss. 

I had two international work trips to London and Paris in early 2025. The first was the last week of January, when I met Jake in Paris for the weekend before a week of work. We stayed at my normal hotel, the Hyatt Paris Madeline. On Saturday, we spent the day wandering around Paris, eating great meals, and seeing some of the city's most significant sights. I took him on my standard walking path around Paris. On Sunday, we took an early train out of Paris to the Champagne region to visit two incredible wineries, then ended the night with dinner in Paris at one of my favorite restaurants in the world, Colvert. Jake explored Paris while I was at work, and we left the next morning on the Eurostar for London. There we stayed at the stunning Four Seasons Trinity Square and were upgraded to a massive room. Jake had a few free days, enjoying London and a few massages, while I worked and met him for dinner. Originally, I was going to go with him to Copenhagen, but sadly, Jenn, Elle, and our Nanny got very sick, so I flew home while he enjoyed himself. A month later, I went on my last work trip to Paris and London. I did my best to capture every moment and enjoy it. I promised myself when I left Paris for the last time that one day I’d live there. It’s a promise I plan to keep with Jenn one day and maybe even Elle. One of my favorite things from 2025 was asking Elle, “Do you want to go with Dada to Paris?” And she will look at me with a slight smirk and say one word, “no.” It’s now become a running joke that continues into 2026. 

I slowly ramped down at work through February and into March. Jenn had a few work trips to San Francisco, and used those as opportunities to go to Orange County to find our next home. On the first trip down, she went to find us a house. After looking at a few apartments and homes in Newport Beach and Newport Coast, we landed on a Townhouse in Newport Coast. After watching the video tour of the house, we both agreed and signed a lease when she returned home. Later in March, on her second trip to Orange County, she purchased our Volvo XC40. Looking back, it's surreal to rent a place without ever seeing it, but now I realize that I’ve done it for the last three places we’ve lived, and it's worked out great each time.

As our time in New York drew to a close, we made it a point to return to some of our favorite restaurants (Rezdora, Frenchette, and Le Coucou) and took as many walks at both Central Park and Riverside Park as we could get Elle and Frasier to do. One of my favorite photos and one that will symbolically always remind me of home was a picture of the 4 of us. We took it on our last walk along Riverside Park (we would start at 60th street, walk through Riverside Park, and “make the turn” at around 92nd), and the smiles on both Frasier and Elle’s faces in that moment meant the world to Jenn and me. We were always confident in our decision, but it was that moment I felt the most peace. 

Packing with a 9-month-old baby was far harder than it had ever been for any of our dozens of moves before. But we managed slowly but surely, while Elle napped or late at night, to pack up our NYC lives. Not only did we have to pack up our apartment, but we also had to pack up Jenn’s office near Lincoln Center and our storage unit. By the time the movers arrived on March 31st, we were exhausted. We all spent the night at the TWA Hotel before Jenn and Elle flew back to California to stay with her Dad and Joan, while I picked up Frasier from Camp Canine for the last time and drove cross-country back to California. We stopped in Newark the first night, then went to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, picked up Jake in Louisville on the way to Kansas City, Denver, Saint George, and finally back to the Pendry in Newport Beach. We listened to tons of audiobooks, had some pretty good winter storms, and eventually made it home.

After only a few days at The Pendry, our boxes arrived on April 9th, and we began moving into our Newport Coast home. It's hard to remember this now, but at the time, we had a lot of trepidation about being in a house again. The last one we were in was broken into a month after we moved in, so this was a big step for us. Jenn was primarily given free rein to design the house, and it turned out beautifully. From Elle’s pink oasis to our office/den combo to our incredible living and dining room, it quickly became home. Later in 2025, the owners of the house asked to come by for an inspection so they could refinance it, and the first thing the owner asked was which designer we used to decorate. When I said Jenn did it, she, no joke, wanted to hire her. Sadly, Jenn’s pretty busy with her day job!

We began to settle into our new routine. When I left the hedge fund, I was given a 12-month garden leave, which meant I was being fully paid not to work. That meant it was time to become a stay-at-home Dad for the foreseeable future. Elle and I got into a routine while Jenn and Frasier went off to work every day at her new office in Fashion Island. It wasn’t the easiest transition, but eventually we found our way. Elle is an incredible little girl; she’s very sweet, easy-going, and, more than anything, loves to learn. I’d usually start my day by either going to the gym (Kinetic at Fashion Island) or playing tennis with Jake at the Newport Beach Tennis Club, where we became members. I’d come home, take a shower, and we’d start our day. We’d go to the park near our house nearly every day, we’d meet Jenn for lunch at her office once or twice a week, and often go to the library to find new books. We met my parents for lunch once a month and went down to Riverside several times so she could spend time with her cousins.

In early May, we joined Jenn on her work trip to Las Vegas, our first time going there in many, many years. We stayed at Resorts World and would walk along the strip and through some of the hotels while Jenn was busy at work. A few nights while we were there, we had dinner with Jenn, which was always a highlight. One of the highlights of the trip, though, was taking Elle to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay, the first of many, many aquariums this year. I don’t think any of us need to ever go back to Vegas.

The highlight, though, of our first few months back in California was Elle’s first birthday. Jenn made it very clear she wanted to do something big, and after considering a party, she settled on a full-family trip to Disneyland. On May 26, Jenn Elle and I had a day at California Adventure. It was a perfect day. It was slightly overcast but not too busy, so we used our premium passes to get Elle on a bunch of rides. She loved it way more than we thought she would. On May 27th, all of my siblings, their kids and spouses, plus my parents, Jenn’s Dad, Joan, and cousin Holly came to celebrate Elle’s first birthday at Disneyland. Jenn got everyone matching hats, and we rode some rides together; for the rest of the day, we parted ways. Later that afternoon, we all met for dinner at Paseo. We had a massive table on their balcony, perfectly decorated to celebrate our little girl. She ate well, but didn’t love it when people sang her Happy Birthday. Jenn once again knocked this out of the park. It's a birthday celebration that Elle might not remember, but Jenn and I will never forget. 

A few days later, on Elle’s actual birthday, we boarded a 2-hour flight to Denver for another work trip for Jenn. It was surreal being back in Denver a little over a month after Jake, Frasier, and I stopped there on our cross-country drive. Jenn was really busy on this trip, so it turned into more of a father/daughter trip. After we went to the Denver Art Museum as a family on our first day in Denver, Elle and I squeezed in a family trip to the Denver Zoo and the Science Museum. Elle did great the entire time, and the two of us saw more of Denver than I did when I drove through it a few months earlier. It also gave us some tips and a measure of confidence for our upcoming trip to Europe. 

Speaking of Europe, two weeks later, after arriving home from Denver, we boarded a Swiss Airlines flight from LAX to Zurich and then to Barcelona for Elle’s first (of hopefully many) trips to Europe. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn when I say we had zero expectations going into this trip. Jenn had four of the seven days of our time in Barcelona tied up with work (the reason we were there to begin with), but otherwise, we wanted to make the best of it. After a rocky start at the W Barcelona (a room in the middle of summer with no AC on a high floor), the rest of the trip was one of the most magical we’ve been on. Elle was an angel the entire time, and Jenn and I did an unbelievable job of navigating Europe with a 1-year-old and working as a team.

Looking back six months later, I can say we found a balance between enjoying our vacation and making sure Elle was well cared for. What that usually meant was getting up early, enjoying the morning, coming back for naps, and going back out again later in the afternoon. Elle did amazing with all of the airport transfers, flights, busy streets, and museums. Was it as relaxing as previous trips? Of course not, but we were able to see two new cities (Munich & Stockholm) and experience them as a family. I look back at these photos and marvel at what we were able to do and see. To experience this with Elle as a family, and to have as many great memories as we did from our 2+ weeks overseas, was a dream come true. 

We arrived home from Europe on July 5th, and our first summer back in California began. Gone were the 100% humidity days, and what arrived were warm but manageable sunny days and a lot of fun excursions for Elle and me. A couple of highlights were meeting Amy, her kids, and my Mom at the Santa Ana Zoo, taking Elle to the Newport Beach library, meeting my parents for lunch, and once, Jenn taking a morning off, and we as a family going to the Huntington Dog Beach to let Frasier run wild. I tried to keep things fresh, keep Elle and me out of the house, and enjoy my time off from work. My real goal all summer, though, was to get Elle to walk, and we made slow progress, beginning with her getting comfortable with a walker. 

July quickly turned into August, and it was time for us to celebrate our birthdays. To piggyback on a work trip to SF for Jenn, we decided to start our trip in Paso Robles. We drove up on Friday, August 1, and spent the weekend at Allegretto Vineyard Resort. We arrived, had wine and dinner at the hotel, before going to a few wineries and a nice dinner for my birthday. Jenn has been begging me to go to Hearst Castle for years, and we finally did it with Elle on her birthday. Elle loved it and was the hit of our tour. When we wrapped up our tour, we drove to San Francisco, where we spent the week at The Jay. Like our trip to Denver, Elle and I explored San Francisco while Jenn worked, and we had dinner together most nights. The city was beautiful and more vibrant than we’ve seen it since the pandemic. We switched hotels to the Ritz on Friday and stayed through the weekend and into the early part of the week before driving home. Elle did incredibly well; she loved being back in the city, and every chance we got, we took her to places where we could park the stroller and let her practice walking. She refused to walk without holding our hands, but we cherished that for as long as it would last. 

On August 28th, 2025, Elle took her first independent steps. Jake was over and captured the moment, not even knowing that she’d finally let go of Jenn’s hands. It wasn’t for several days after that that she began taking more steps, and within a few weeks, she was walking like she’d been doing it all her life. We had a lot of moments like this throughout 2025, where you realize that one phase of Elle’s life is over and the next is beginning. We were so stressed about taking away her formula and waited until after Europe to do it, and she never cared once. She now loves milk just as much as she did formula. We were so stressed about her learning to walk. At some point, she got comfortable with the walker, then with holding our hands, and now she’s running. 

This was on September 2nd, a few days after her first few steps. She refused for a few days to walk again, but on September 2nd on our nightly walk she did it!

September may have been my favorite month of the year as a stay at home Dad. I was starting to interview with some great firms, and with Elle walking, it meant we got to play a little more, especially at the park, which she loves to run around. After celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary at Ocean 48, we were back up in San Francisco. Jenn flew up on September 21st, and Elle and I drove up a few days later. It was a much shorter trip to San Francisco, but another fun one. Elle has become such a seasoned traveler; usually, after one night of struggling to adjust to a new crib, she goes back to being a great sleeper. 

When we got back, it was almost October, and my job search was in full swing. I still had six months left in my non-compete, but I knew if I wanted to start a new role before the end of the year, September and October would be critical. At the same time, I knew my time of tennis in the mornings, full days with Elle, and a life off of Slack and Outlook was coming to a close. It reminds me of those last waning moments of a great vacation. You try to bottle it up in every possible way, but you know that at the end of the day, nothing you do will ever be able to capture that specific feeling again. I’m so dang lucky to have full pay and to spend time with Elle. I cherished every single second of it, and it was bittersweet in late October when I accepted a great opportunity at PayPal. 

I accepted the Director role in mid-October and had exactly a month to enjoy my time not working. Jenn and I saw a few shows, including going down to the Pantages to see Hadestown.  One of my favorite memories was going to Oak Glen to go apple picking. We had done it almost every year while living in New York and wanted to try to recreate some of those memories. The apple picking was nowhere near as nice as those in upstate New York, but we were able to pick a few apples (with Elle and Frasier's help) and have lunch at the little marketplace in Oak Glen. That also brought us to Halloween. Jenn had beautiful grand visions for Elle's first Halloween, where she could go out and trick-or-treat. We all dressed up, Elle was Winnie the Pooh, Frasier was Tigger, Jenn was Piglet, and I was, of course, Eeyore. We bought Elle's costume at Pottery Barn, and the rest at Amazon, and the difference was striking. Elle was the cutest Pooh Bear; her little wobble as she walked was the best. We had Jenn's Dad and Joan over, and her cousin Holly joined as well for the festivities. Sadly, as we walked around our neighborhood, we began to feel that the entire area had decided not to participate. Each house was dark, and it wasn't until we threw in the towel and walked home that we found one house that had candy left outside. That was it, that was the extent of her first Halloween. We promise to do better next year, Elle!

We started out in November, going to Knife Pleat, a one-Michelin-star restaurant in South Coast Plaza, to celebrate my new job. It was a tougher than expected job market and I was extremely proud of the role I accepted and the ones I turned down. And to have an evening with just Jenn and I to reflect on the massive decisions we made this year and the future ones we'd need to make. In a lot of ways this was the calm before the eventual work storm. Before work started Jenn and I spent a few weeks looking for a nanny to watch Elle when I started. After a pretty lengthy search we were able to hire Norma who has been with us for a few months now and has been absolutely incredible. 

A few days after our celebratory dinner, I packed the car with Elle and Frasier, and we met Jenn at the Westin in Palo Alto following her work meetings in San Francisco. After I accepted the job at PayPal, I'd be in the San Jose office 3 days a week, so we set out in search of a new home up north. Originally, we had planned to board Frasier, but he was limping again after playing fetch, so he got to make the trip with us. The hotel and its location in Palo Alto were great, and we enjoyed the downtown area each night after touring houses during the day. We cast a very wide net for our first look around. We started in Palo Alto and branched out to Los Altos, San Jose, and back up to the East Bay in Danville and San Ramon. There were a couple of areas we liked, but nothing that was a lock. We left the tour a few days later, a bit more confused and less sure of where we'd end up. At the time, we had a few months before our lease in Newport Coast ended, so we planned to do more house hunting in early 2026. 

Because we brought Frasier, Jenn rented a car and drove Frasier and Elle home while I got ready for my first day at PayPal. With Jenn's luck, she got a flat tire halfway through and had to stop a few times to put air in it before she was able to get home. She eventually made it, and I moved from the Westin to the Hyatt Place (across from the office) to start my first week. It was so hard being away from Jenn, Elle, and Frasier, especially after being home for six months. But I got back into the work rhythm and, for the next several weeks, flew from SNA to San Jose, working out of headquarters for a few days and the rest at home. 

The first few weeks flew by, and Thanksgiving arrived with me home for the entire week and us hosting Jenn's Dad and Joan. Jenn did an amazing job decorating the table, while I was in charge of making the food. We went the traditional route with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls, and some really nice bottles of red wine. It was my first time cooking Thanksgiving in around a decade, and I forgot both how fun and tiring it was. For dessert, we had a fantastic apple pie we got from a local bakery to round off a great meal. The next day (as we do every year) was our day to decorate for Christmas. Jenn has been dreaming about decorating a house for a long, long time, and she went over the top in not only decorating the house but also making it extremely special for Elle. So much so that Elle is still saying "Santa" long after the decorations are taken down. 

We reached the last month of the year. Our house was fully decorated, the Christmas music was playing, and Jenn and I had extremely busy weeks at work. In between work and getting used to a new routine with Norma, we celebrated Hanukkah, saw The Christmas Carol at South Coast Rep for the first time in many years, and watched a bunch of Christmas movies with Elle. When it came time for Christmas, we had a big family celebration at my parents' house in Menifee with all the cousins and a surprise guest appearance from Santa himself. There's a picture of all the kids in front of the Christmas tree, and you just wonder what it will look like in five or ten years. 

On Christmas Eve, we made the last-minute decision to go to dinner at Gulliver's, a prime rib restaurant across the street from John Wayne Airport. The restaurant was packed, but we got to sit next to a giant Santa that Elle was mesmerized by all night. While Elle slept, Santa was busy building her big present this year a Kitchen set and watching our traditional Christmas in Connecticut. On Christmas morning, Elle was far more aware of what was happening this year, dug into way too many presents, and so did her brother, Frasier. Jenn and I opened gifts while Elle took a nap. We had Jenn's Dad and Joan over for Christmas dinner. This time, I made Coq au Vin, and it was far better than my Thanksgiving dinner. Elle was such a happy kid on Christmas; it was fun to see her play with her toys and enjoy Christmas. 

And that brought us to the end of 2025. We spent New Year’s Eve taking a few long walks around the neighborhood and park, having dinner at Marche Modernne with Jake, and watching When Harry Met Sally to close out the year. It's amazing how much has changed in a year. We are now back in Southern California and figuring out whether this is our permanent landing spot or if something else is in our near or distant future. Elle is now 1.5 years old, talks, has an expansive vocabulary, can sing her ABCs (her favorite), can count to 12, can spell her name, and is a sponge for learning. She loves learning new things, and it's something both Jenn and I are constantly trying to nurture. Even more than that, she's a happy, fun kid to be around. She loves to play and is still attached to Jenn at the hip. One of the best developments lately is that she and Frasier are starting to play together more, and it's so fun to see. 

Let's not forget Jenn. Not only is she doing amazing as a Sr. Director at work, but she's balancing that with being an absolutely incredible mother. Elle is in love with Jenn. The two are so connected that it reminds me so much of Jenn and her Mom. Frasier and I are the third and fourth wheels to their party, respectively. Jenn and I have been together for 22 years (married 16 of those), and there's one thing I know about her: she doesn't do anything less than 100%. But when it comes to being Elle's Mom (and Frasier), it's 1000%. She gives it everything she has, and the crazy part is she'd be the best Mom at her 5%. She is so loving, caring, nurturing, and present for Elle at all hours of the day that I just sit back and marvel. As Elle has grown up over the past year, so too has Jenn as a Mom. We’ve moved away from purely taking care of Elle to much more nurturing and developing. I can’t imagine what Elle will be like when I write this post a year from now.

We had a great 2025, and I'm grateful for all that this year has brought our family. And now onto 2026, a year that feels just as up in the air as 2025 did, but with a family of four that's ready for whatever comes next. Thank you 2025 for a great year, and 2026, let's make it even better! 

Joel

https://www.worldofjoel.com
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Our Favorite Things from 2025