AK Monthly Recap: November 2025

Aha, here we are! Last month, I wrote that I probably wouldn’t be able to get a November recap out due to my travel schedule, but I got to work and wrote the lion’s share of the recap before setting off on my trip.

Not only that, but I got to writing my best and worst of the year posts ahead of time. All I have to add is anything that happens within the next few weeks. I’m proud of myself for actually getting that done ahead of time!

Let’s dive into November. The month was GOOD.

Destinations Visited

• Prague, Czech Republic
• London and Abbots Langley, England
• Willemstad, Shete Boka National Park, Lagun, Westpunt, Klein Curaçao, and Jan Thiel, Curaçao

Highlights

Great times in Prague. Most of the month was spent at home, and it was so nice to get quality time at home with Charlie, the cats, and my friends.

One highlight was going to a screening and discussion of the film Dogma, which somehow I had never seen. Turns out it was intentionally impossible to stream because Harvey Weinstein was holding onto the rights…but BITCH IS BROKE NOW, so he sold it and we can watch it again! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy! Oh, and the movie was great!!

We also had our five-year-old niece and three-year-old nephew over to bake a yogurt cake, a dish that every French child knows how to make. It was fun and I can’t wait to bake more with them later this winter.

And we got to enjoy a nice creative market in Prague, where we found a local vendor selling salted caramel cashew butter. OMG, THAT STUFF IS GOOOOOOD. And dangerous.

And we not only had our first snowfall of the year in Prague, but we had snow THREE DAYS IN A ROW! I think this year is going to be an intense winter.

A quick and nice weekend trip to London. Charlie and I did a quick little trip to see his family as we won’t be seeing them for the holidays this year. We visited London for two nights, had some good times with the family, visited the Museum of Natural History, and ate SO MUCH GOOD FOOD.

One of the highlights was Cafe de Nata, a chain specializing in Portuguese pasteis de nata, but with lots of flavors. We loved the tarts with raspberries and pistachio best.

Brixton Village was also a fun food stop, where we ate delicious Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican dishes. (Yes, London finally has GOOD and LEGIT Mexican food!)

Flying business class on KLM. At this point in time, Charlie and I earn a decent amount of credit card points and we hoard them until we have a good opportunity to take a business class flight with KLM (and get two new KLM Houses for our collection).

This month, we flew from Prague to Amsterdam to Curaçao in business class, and it still blows my mind how damn PLEASANT long flights are when you have a comfortable seat, delicious food, and incredible service.

A beautiful trip to Curaçao. We kicked off our four-week trip to the Caribbean in Curaçao, an island country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I am working with the Curaçao Tourism Board to highlight some of the best parts of this country.

I really like Curaçao! This island is an absolute feast for the eyes, from the brightly colored Dutch architecture in Willemstad to the beaches of Westpunt, which feature some of the bluest water I’ve ever seen.

Some of the highlights were spending the day at Mondi Beach Club (which has a GREAT cabana deal for two), taking a boat trip to Klein Curaçao with Mermaid Tours (they have a great little compound for their guests), and just driving around and finding cool beaches and taking photos. Willemstad is a pretty awesome Caribbean city, too.

Challenges

I wiped out in the snow and fell on my face. Fun times! I was on my way to a doctor’s appointment at the hospital, and I slipped in the snow, fell on my hands and knees, and my head seemed to just kiss the sidewalk.

But that kiss was enough to grow into enormous egg on my head. (I went in to see my doctor, an ENT, and she said, “You’re just here for your ear…right?”)

Not only that, but I shattered my phone screen in the process, just two days before we were due to leave for Curaçao. Replacing the glass was a big expense that required me to raid the “new tech” sinking fund in my budget. That category is supposed to be for fun stuff!

It’s been almost a week and the bump is gone, thankfully, but it’s still tender on top.

An ear issue that snowballed into something more. I keep most of my medical stuff private, but every now and then something happens that I think more people should know about — so take the time to read this.

Earlier this month, I woke up with what felt like a blocked ear. It seemed clogged and I couldn’t hear as well on that side. I started experiencing tinnitus, and later, pulsatile tinnitus (hearing your heartbeat in your ear). After a few days with home remedies, I saw my GP, who thought it was irritated and gave me some drops.

That was a mistake. I should have seen an ENT, not a GP, as ENTs have the equipment to diagnose more serious ear issues. I made it to the ENT five days after seeing the GP, took a hearing test and didn’t hear as well on my left side, and found out that I was likely experiencing Eustachian Tube Dysfunction.

Eustachian Tube Dysfunction is when the small tube that connects your middle ear to the back of your nose stops opening and closing properly. It can trap fluid or pressure in the ear and cause muffled hearing, pain, or sometimes dizziness.

And if you don’t get it treated in a timely manner, it can lead to permanent hearing loss.

The treatment is a course of powerful steroids, and I am so relieved that THEY WORKED. The meds took effect slowly, and recovery was not linear, but over the course of two weeks, I was back to normal.

Let this be a lesson to you — if you have unexplained ear issues like this, don’t go to your GP. Go straight to an ENT. Those few days can make a difference in preserving your hearing.

New This Month

Most Popular Reel on Instagram

Autumn Vibes in Italy is an ode to our time in Piemonte in October this year. If you want to experience Italy when the fall colors are most beautiful, you will love Piemonte in October!

For more live updates from my travels (currently posting a lot of Curaçao stories!), follow me on Instagram at @adventurouskate.

What I Watched This Month

Pluribus. Guys, Pluribus is THE new It Show on Apple TV+, and you need to watch it!!!

I don’t want to give much away, because it’s better going in knowing less. Do know that this show is by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad (my all-time favorite drama!). And this is SUCH a Vince Gilligan show.

The interesting shots. The long, mysterious cold opens. The super-fast plot speedalongs that take place in episode two, while a lesser showrunner would save it for the season finale. THE CHARACTERS.

Seriously, this show is wild. Give it a watch.

Also this month, I watched The Diplomat on Netflix, which is SUCH A GOOD POLITICAL THRILLER, brilliantly cast, and feels like a nice grown-up show. So glad they’ve expanded each season to eight episodes rather than six.

And finally, Charlie and I have been watching Knife Edge on Apple TV+, which is a fun documentary series about different restaurants around the world trying to get Michelin stars. It’s really entertaining and full of surprises.

(And it makes me want to dine solo at all of them, because every time a mysterious solo diner walks in, everyone freaks out and thinks they’re a Michelin inspector and treats them like a VIP.)

What I Listened To This Month

I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which I am enjoying immensely. I am loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve somehow missed my entire life until now!

In November, I picked up the pace and listened to more than usual — albums 209-176. I have listened to more than 300 albums in less than a year! That blows my mind. Here are the highlights:

Favorite Discovery: Tommy by The Who. I’ve listened to a few albums by The Who on this list and they were decent enough, but the scope and ambition of Tommy floored me.

I was only familiar with their song “Pinball Wizard” (I even performed it with my glee club in college!), and I knew this album was a whole musical, but I didn’t expect it to be…taken so seriously, if that makes sense?

I expected this album to be a bunch of songs telling a story. I didn’t expect orchestral pieces, repeating musical motifs, and an equally surprising amount of bombast and restraint. Really wild, really interesting, and just a pleasure to listen to. My favorite album by The Who for sure!

Other Favorite Discoveries: Tha Carter III by Lil Wayne, Forever Changes by Love, Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen, Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G., Body Talk by Robyn, Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy.

Favorite Revisited Album: Brown Sugar by D’Angelo. D’Angelo is one of my all-time favorite artists and I was devastated when he died last month. I wrote in my newsletter about what his music meant to me over the years.

More than anything, D’Angelo’s music feels supernatural to me. And Brown Sugar is the album where you feel this the most — it feels SO familiar, and yet completely original. You know this music inside your soul.

Brown Sugar was the album that spearheaded the neo-soul movement of the 1990s, taking the vibes of classic 70s soul, gospel, and blues, and adding on 90s modernity and hip-hop. These songs are incredibly smooth and luscious. The arrangements are stripped down and intimate. And my favorite thing is that the lyrics are so respectful to and loving of women.

Give Brown Sugar a listen. I want more people to know D’Angelo.

Favorite Songs: “Lady” by D’Angelo, “Joga” by Bjork, “Comfortable” by Lil Wayne and Babyface, “Call Your Girlfriend” by Robyn, “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, “Rock Lobster” by The B-52’s, “Burn Hollywood Burn” by Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Big Daddy Kane.

Get the playlist: I’m creating a playlist of my favorite songs from the 500 albums — maximum one per album — on Spotify. You can listen to it here.

Lowlight of the Month: Slanted and Enchanted by Pavement. I honestly don’t know why Pavement has three separate albums on Rolling Stone‘s list. They are a middling-sounding alternative band from the 90s. Like a bunch of high school kids performing at the local VFW hall.

And it’s not the genre. Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer are both 90s alternative bands that might not has always received a lot of respect, but their albums on this list (Siamese Dream and Weezer, respectively) are FAR better than anything I’ve ever heard by Pavement.

Also, I love Otis Redding, but did Rolling Stone really have to include a compilation album with four different versions each of “Shake,” “Old Man Trouble” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” along with six different versions of “Respect”? Come on.

Random Music Thoughts: I have been furious at Kanye West since he started saying horrifically anti-Semitic things, and that anger flares up whenever I listen to one of his albums. This month, Graduation.

Because I LOVED KANYE. His music was the soundtrack to my club nights in Boston in the 2000s. Graduation is a fucking great album, Kanye is one of the best hip-hop visionaries of all time, and if he wanted to ruin his own life, that’s fine, but he ruined his music for all of us.

It’s worth noting that the Rolling Stone list is full of problematic artists, because, hey, musicians are very often problematic. The sheer number of rock stars who slept with underage girls, for example, even when society didn’t see that as a bad thing in the 1970s compared to today.

But seriously, Kanye being an actual Nazi in the year 2025 is a truly unique and undeniable level of depravity.

What I Read This Month

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (2025) — Elizabeth Strout’s latest novel about the residents of Crosby, Maine, asks questions about what makes a meaningful life. There’s not a lot of plot in this book — but there are a lot of conversations and feelings.

This is the second book of Strout’s I’ve read — the first was Olive Kitteridge — and now I want to go back and read them all in order. I don’t think jumping into the latest was a bad thing at all; this book is more about getting to know people’s feelings than anything else.

Above all — I love the no-nonsense rural New Englandness of the characters. I love how every single emotion is noticed and given attention. And I love how this shows people in their complicated glory.

That might not sound like the type of book you might like. But I really love books like these.

Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller (2025) — I’ve been telling you guys forever that you need to watch the show Somebody, Somewhere on HBO, which is the most delightful and life-affirming show, and it made a star out of Jeff Hiller, who won the Emmy for his performance this year.

I adore Jeff and I am SO, SO happy for his success. There are two things that I enjoyed about this light and delightful memoir. The first is that Jeff himself has read TONS of celebrity memoirs (in fact, each chapter has the title of a celebrity’s memoir!) and he knows what works, what doesn’t, and what people actually want to read.

The second is that this is a work memoir. I adore work memoirs and how they teach you so much about how different jobs work, and this goes into depth about the nitty-gritty of being a working actor — particularly a character actor like Jeff, who has shown up in everything from 30 Rock to Super Bowl commercials. The kind of actor you spot on the subway and you know you know them from somewhere.

But yes, this book was a delight. Highly recommended. I didn’t get it as an audiobook, but people say the audio version is terrific.

Coming Up in December 2025

December began with a few more days in Curaçao. Next will be Barbados — country number 92! We are spending a few days in Barbados and getting to know the island, particularly on a cultural angle, before we set sail on our cruise.

Yes, our cruise! We will be spending a week on a small ship cruise with Star Clippers, who are hosting us. The cruise departs from Barbados and visits St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Martinique. I am so excited to visit these new destinations and enjoy the small ship cruise life!

Next, we’re flying to the island of Dominica for a bit of down time and nature time. Our final destination will be the island of St. Martin (French side!) for a few days.

And then we fly home to Boston for Christmas, where I’ll be spending time with my loved ones in Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont.

We fly back to Prague at the end of the month. And I won’t be going anywhere for two months after that.

What are your plans for the end of the year? Share away!