Have you ever wanted to speedrun life? That was 2025 in a nutshell. It was a year on the move, with almost 70k miles of travel across 13 trips and over 100 days away from home. That was on top of two moves, first from Portland to Walla Walla and then from Walla Walla to Ireland. Exhausting? Yes. But also restorative, invigorating, and fun. Forget AI, the most agentic thing you can do is go build a good life.
2025 was also the year I started to blog again as I published 11 blog posts, almost all of them from November onward. My journal in Day One created a new habit to write each day and that flowed into blogging. I plan to keep at it in 2026.
I read 34 books, which is a light year for me, but I took more notes than in years past. Without reservation I’d recommend Paul Kingsnorth’s Against the Machine, Geraldine Brooks’ Memorial Days, and John Gribbin’s The Scientists. Most of what I read this year was in print, as physical sticky notes help me keep track of passages that influence how I think. I learn best when information is tangible and free of a digital display.
January
Charlotte and I packed up a combined 20 years of life in Portland and moved to Walla Walla. We’d both tired of city life and itched for a fresh start in a small town. The space from Portland and everything of the last couple years was needed. I think much of what we committed to the rest of the year only came as a result of the space we gave ourselves to start over and ask what we wanted out of a life together.
February
Work took me to Washington D.C. for a team meetup and then to Manila for WordCamp Asia. We added a week in Singapore on the way home as it’d been on Charlotte’s bucket list of destinations for years. That made it a perfect place to propose and create a memorable engagement trip. One of my favorite things is to share what I know of a place and watch someone experience it for the first time.
We splurged on the trip, with dinners at Seroja and Thevar. It’s great that tasting menu restaurants now offer non-alcoholic drink pairings. Seroja’s were significantly better, in part because they didn’t try to mimic wine. The chef said they treat the pairing like a sauce and aim to extend the flavor and experience of the course. Thevar on the other hand had the most memorable dish, which was this spice-laden chicken taco of sorts that was so delicious the chef made us a second one.
March
This was a relatively routine month at home. I upped my running discipline and committed to run the Crater Lake half marathon. My go-to route took me from central Walla Walla out the Mill Creek path and around Bennington Lake.
April
The best way to plan an international move? Spend time in the country. We spent 2 weeks traveling around Ireland; it was less a tourist trip and more a chance to get a feel for different regions.
Every person we talked with welcomed us with open arms. We had Airbnb hosts offering places to store our things once we move, baristas suggesting small towns to consider, and every single person in Waterford telling us that we should absolutely move to Ireland and should absolutely not move to Waterford.1 We flew home 100% committed to the move and confident that Ireland is where we want to call home for many years to come.
May
We spent a long weekend in Portland with friends as the hardest thing about moving was the lost time with people we care about. From there Charlotte flew back to Ireland to look at homes for sale. We ended up not buying something before the move, but her trip opened up new ideas for where we wanted to settle long-term. The weather this time of year out in Walla Walla was also perfect, which made for easy running.
June
We are not cruise ship people, but we did spend a week sailing to Alaska with almost 30 members of Charlotte’s family. The scenery and marine life were incredible. My best tip for cruise travel is to spend the money for your own balcony. That dedicated outdoor space provided much needed quiet and privacy. The post-trip COVID was much less fun and threw a serious wrench in my running plans. Cruise ships overall feel, to me, like a classic case of premium mediocre in action.
July
After celebrating our small wedding with family and friends in Portland we spent a week on the Big Island of Hawaii. We sat down to breakfast one morning and Charlotte realized that Kīlauea was erupting. We finished up food, threw sunscreen on, and headed out the door, grateful that the park was just a mile down the road. We headed home 4 hours later; by then a line of cars almost a mile long waited to enter the park.
If you’re headed to the Big Island be sure to check out the botanical garden, grab breakfast at Caffe Florian, and the birria queso at Pi’ilani’s. The manta ray snorkel and SCUBA trips are also worth every penny. Packed full of people? Yes. But also an encounter with animals that’ll give you newfound reverence for nature.
An international move is no small feat. We split ours up into two phases and late in the month flew to Dublin to move into our apartment, get initial paperwork sorted, and get things prepared for the pets. It was a whirlwind trip, but made the rest of the move so much easier.
August
One of Charlotte’s family traditions is a regular Diamond Lake camping trip. A handful of us also ran the Crater Lake half marathon. June and July were not great training months and I entered the race in less than ideal shape. I finished in 2:24, which I considered a win given the course had over 1,700 feet of elevation gain (and was run at 7,000 feet). At the end of the week, and with the move to Ireland just a few weeks out, we were able to give away almost all our camping gear to family members.
September
It’s a bizarre experience to have a one-way ticket out of the country with your pets in the cargo hold below you. All things considered, our move was seamless. However, it turns out that animals also get jet lag; genuinely did not have that one on my “relocate to another country” bingo card. It took a solid week before they adjusted, which meant a lot of disrupted sleep as Mushu would wake up at 3:00am and expect breakfast.
October
A month in which we settled in. We built new routines, explored Dublin, and enjoyed the (more frequent than we expected) stunning sunrises from our apartment.
November
I got back into a blogging routine and rebuilt this site with a new WordPress theme. We also jumped fully into the home purchase process. I now feel spoiled that this is a 30 to 45-day process in the US. It’s 3+ months here and everything goes through solicitors rather than real estate agents. It’s frustrating in the moment, but we’re on track to be in our absolute dream home on a few acres in western Co. Cork by February.
December
We spent 2 weeks on a whirlwind trip to see family and friends in the US. This meant a few days in Portland, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. We thought it’d be a break from winter weather, but instead got a dumping of rain and cooler temperatures. It was admittedly a little strange to be back “home” when it no longer is, and it was a wonderful experience to fly back into Dublin and feel at home.
- By the third or fourth person we talked to it became a running joke between us. I’d never experienced that level of love for one’s country and complete apathy for one’s hometown. ↩︎
