I set my word of the year as “flourish” in 2023, and in many ways, I feel like that was a success. There was some genuine heartbreak along the way, but even in the midst of it, I felt so serene—and oddly prepared—thanks to all of the work I’d been doing in therapy and on my own time. Because I had set up my environment to be supportive (and because I was willing to ask for extra support when I needed it), I could flourish through every season this year. I am so proud of myself and also so grateful for the help and encouragement along the way.

Wishing you all a very happy new year! 💕 

Friends & Foes

Best Tennessee friends left behind: Jim, Jacquie, James, and Christy
Best new friend in Ohio: Lauren
Best BFF: Tyler, always
Best brother: Adam, always
Best new therapist, and not just because she complimented my brows one time: Ashley
Best community: basically all of the Souls streamers and their respective communities, but specifically the cuties of Twitch and YouTube who watch @LilAggy with me most nights (I got asked to be a moderator! It has been super fun!)

Best person who will haunt me for the rest of time: whoever was dressed as Winnie the Pooh and slowly trudged through an abandoned part of rural Tennessee in the pouring rain on January 22
Best worst temporary coworker, who managed to call me fat and unlovable while smiling and making a mess of my paperwork: Doreen

Home & Abroad

Best city abandoned forever: Crossville, TN
Best thing I did for myself before moving: playing the Minimalism Game, twice (I purged 1,000+ belongings in total, and I cannot even tell you how life-changing it was)
Best thing I decluttered: probably the lavender toga and coordinating purple sash I made for an eighth grade party celebrating all the Latin we had learned that year
Best thing I absolutely did not declutter: the Laura Ingalls Wilder dress, apron, and bonnet that my grandma made for me when I was young
Best mini road trip: Chattanooga, TN, to go to the aquarium and bully my friend into getting pedicures with me
Best reminder that I need to travel more in 2024: this blog post

Health & Wellness

Best life change overall: learning to ask for help, oops
Best result of asking for help: getting out of debt completely
Best new hobby: helping other people declutter and get organized—being bossy and helpful at the same time
Best physical health investment: that very trendy Stanley water bottle that holds 40 ounces and actually keeps me hydrated somehow, gross
Best mental health investment: the revamped chocolate croissant from Panera (or maybe the Calm app? hard to say)
Best worst illness that I wasn’t prepared to experience in my thirties: SHINGLES. ON MY FACE AND HEAD.

Entertainment

Best TV show, which I will bully you into watching: Only Murders in the Building (affectionately referred to as “the Murder Cuties show” by me)
Best movie, and yes, I dressed up in pink to watch it in the theater: Barbie
Best new-to-me musical artist: Emei
Best Emei lyric that I will always scream-sing in the car: “Who’s your therapist? . . . Fire your therapist.”
Best book that I actually enjoyed (instead of hate-reading): The Book of Boundaries

Best streamer, and not just because he made me a chat moderator: LilAggy
Best streamer to introduce me to “gyatt” and other Zoomer slang: BanjoTheUncle
Best cozy content gamer: OlaOh (please, please, please check out her short-form content on YouTube, too)
Best simplify-your-home content on YouTube: The Minimal Mom
Best manifesting-your-dream-life content on YouTube: all of those crackling fireplace videos, which I use while saving up to buy my dream home with a fireplace in the bedroom, eee 💕

Best previous editions of Skirts Awards: 2019, 2018, 2014, 2013, 2011

FRIENDS & FOES

Best boyfriend: J, always
Best new crush (sorry, J): Wendy from Billions
Best relationship GIF: the WWE one; he knows

Best friend: Tyler, obvs
Best brother: Adam, the only family member who might also read this list
Best inside joke: Grandma's got a mint!

Best person to cuss at (with love) when anything tech-related goes wrong: Tim Apple
Best person to cuss at (with slightly less love) when my mail gets locked in the wrong mailbox or left on the wrong porch every damn week: WHO KNOWS, but you probably shouldn't be working for USPS, missy
Best person to hate for the rest of time: the lady at the leasing office who refused to fix my air conditioning unit in a sane way, leaving me and my stressed pet in a sweaty nightmare for the hottest two weeks of the summer

SOCIAL MEDIA

Best Twitter account actually used: @BigSkirtsEnergy
Best new Twitter bio: "Bury me under the GBBO tent."

Best videos on Instagram: hedgehogs with their heads stuck in toilet paper tubes; the hedgehogs love it almost as much as I do
Best photos on Instagram: hedgehogs in hats

Best blog moved from Movable Type to Ghost: THIS ONE

Best vlogs on YouTube: Zoe Sugg
Best travel content on YouTube: Currently Hannah
Best yet-to-be-posted videos on YouTube: mine

HOME & ABROAD

Best prickly pet: Gus, still
Best purple console table purchased: this one
Best candle burned: Chicago, by Homesick
Best new vehicle: Kia Sportage, mostly because it isn't "The Hamster Car"

Best new-to-me dining experience: real, actual ramen
Best “dang, I miss Chicago, but this will do for now” pizza: Mio's Pizzeria in Cincinnati, OH (at least one location makes the cut)
Best new-to-me imported candy: Maltesers

Best vacation: Dallas, TX, with J
Best mini road trip: Lexington, KY, with my mom
Best part about Lexington: a luxury apartment directly above an Anthropologie, my new dream home
Best parade attended: the Cincinnati Zoo penguin parade
Best worst geocache: the one with all of the spiders

ENTERTAINMENT

Best can't-wait-for-more-episodes television shows: Billions and Star Wars: The Mandalorian
Best thing to come to the United States on a very slight delay (and also the best show to watch on repeat literally every week): Great British Bake Off, and Henry was my favorite
Best show that also ended in a very controversial way: Game of Thrones (holy cow, was that finale actually in 2019?)
Best moment of Wrestlemania: BECKY

Best video game watched: Assassins Creed: Origins (Playstation)
Best video game played until my arm started cramping: Mario Kart Tour (iOS)

Best book read for self-improvement: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Best book read to expand and challenge my worldview: Educated
Best book read purely for entertainment: Good Omens

Best podcast with three dudes: My Brother, My Brother and Me
Best podcast with two ladies: This Might Get Weird

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Best encouraging book: The Road Back to You (I need to do an entire post about how I'm learning to embrace my fierce, aggressive, protective nature rather than hiding it for the sake of weak men)
Best encouraging Netflix show: Brené Brown: The Call to Courage
Best tools for bad mental health days: the You Feel Like Shit website and the Sanvello app (formerly called Pacifica and recommended last year, too)

Best life hack: digital receipts (and coupons) at CVS, y'all
Best tiny splurge: pick-up ordering for groceries

Best all-around fitness app: Peloton (thanks, J)
Best yoga app: Down Dog
Best sleep tracking app: Sleep Cycle
Best hydration tracking app: WaterMinder

Best self-care gift: a stationary bike
Best self-care purchase: vlogging camera, which is a weird but effective way to inspire myself to tidy up around the house, take care of myself, process some thoughts out loud, go on more adventures, and generally just set the bar a little higher for myself
Best self-care project accidentally abandoned: KonMari, oops
Best self-care project currently enjoying: this gosh dang blog post, y'all—may 2020 be just as award-worthy for all of us!

Best previous editions of Skirts Awards: 2018, 2014, 2013, 2011

Social

Best nickname given: Ice King
Best nickname received: Fire Queen
Best nickname stolen: Knife Pervert
Best Twitter name squatted: @BigSkirtsEnergy

Best boyfriend: Ice King
Best new crush (sorry, boyfriend): Marty Scurll
Best friend forever: Tyler, aka @thursdayschild

Best new Twitter bio: "I'm into smart and beautiful chicks fucking everyone over."
Best inside joke: "Sip."
Best imaginary harem invented with Tyler: The Great French Bless-up

Home & Abroad

Best pet adopted: Gus the Explorer, a very cute and very aloof hedgehog
Best furniture inherited: a couch, finally; I sat on wicker chairs for two full years
Best plant not killed: a bird's nest fern ordered online from The Sill

Best meal cooked after a month with Blue Apron: this tilapia recipe, omg
Best food not found in Tennessee: bagels
Best pizza shipped across the country: Giordano's
Best new-to-me root beer: Virgil's

Best whiskey bar for @whiskeyskirts: The Stave Bar
Best beer not consumed: Clown Shoes
Best winery to frequent with my grandmother: Stonehaus Winery

Best event attended, #sincerely: NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed
Best geocache found: definitely not the one that required walking through small ponds in a forest until my socks and shoes were destroyed forever, Dad
Best unhappy travel companion: Gus, who does not like road trips one bit

Entertainment

Best new television show: The Good Place
Best television show to watch on repeat literally every week for the entirety of 2018: Great British Baking Show
Best television show for taking nine seasons to give me the romantic relationship I wanted all along, oh my gosh, just kiss already: Frasier

Best album for really letting loose in the car: A Pentatonix Christmas, which was on repeat for at least two full road trips
Best soundtrack to encourage speeding: Baby Driver: Music from the Motion Picture
Best Pentatonix song covered by my church (with a professional beatboxer and everything!): "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

Best movie sequel watched out of order, oops: Once Upon a Deadpool
Best oh-so-pretty movie that was also oh-so-good: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best holiday movie watched with family: The Christmas Chronicles

Best video game watched: Assassins Creed: Origins
Best mobile game completed in one sitting: Donut County
Best mobile game full of garden gnomes: Sims Mobile

Best book read for self-improvement: The Five Love Languages
Best book read to expand and challenge my worldview: The Hate U Give
Best book read purely for entertainment: Foundation

Best podcast that I will actually stay caught up on: My Brother, My Brother and Me
Best podcast that I am very behind on but still love: Roderick on the Line
Best podcast episode that I immediately wanted to listen to a second time: Kristen Bell's interview on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

Miscellaneous

Best app: Pacifica, a mental health app which I downloaded at the recommendation of my boyfriend; I love it so much that I spent real money to unlock additional features for a year

Best smart home upgrade purchased for a hedgehog: Philips Hue bulbs, one of which is set on a schedule to simulate summer sunrise and sunset in the guest room (to help my nocturnal hedgehog maintain a steady schedule even in the dark winter months)

Best day of the whole damn year: November 16, when a new Panera opened in Tennessee (only thirty minutes away from my house; prior to that, the closest one was two hours away)

Best previous editions of Skirts Awards: 2014, 2013, 2011