As I started working on my art practice goals for 2026, I was thinking about choosing my theme for the year. I often have a short phrase that’s a goal for what I’d like to do more of in the upcoming year. Last year it was “Use what you have. Do it better.” That was great for me last year and I did think about it when I was making decisions about what to work on or change about what I was doing.

This year’s theme is a little different: Bring more joy.

We had a rotten end to 2025 with a lot of losses in our family. The landscape here in Minnesota right now is stressful and scary. And all I could think about is “How am I going to make art and run a business with all of this going on?” The answer was to find moments of joy.

There are a lot of hard things that we all have to find a way to get through, like processing grief and the loss of peace and safety in my community. One way I have found that helps me is to take a minute and find something that brings me joy every day. Sometimes that is really HARD.

Sunday, I sent a text to a dear friend who I haven’t talked to nearly enough in the last few years.
Monday, I stitched many stitches on a new class project with frogs, which I love.
Tuesday, I got to share the news about an art exhibition I was asked to co-curate. Such a fun experience.
Wednesday, I got some super-secret exciting news about something sure to bring a lot of joy.
Thursday, I responded to email subscribers who wrote me notes after reading my monthly newsletter. This is one of my favorite parts of sending it out is the conversations I get to have.

Today I also remembered that I bought a deck of “conversation starter” cards, like an ice breaker game with a series of questions. Coincidentally the theme I picked out for that card deck: JOY.

So I am going to try to answer one of those questions each week here on the blog. One of my other goals is to write more here and this I think will help me do that. So today’s questions is this:

What’s your favorite thing to ask other people about?

The obvious answer is their pets. I love to know all about your companion creatures. I have too many neighbors whose dogs I know without knowing the names of their associated people. Ha!

The less obvious answer is I love to know about the odd things people love. What’s the odd thing you collect? What are you passionate about? What’s your odd hobby? One of my things that I love is striped socks. I wear striped socks nearly every day; I hardly own any pairs that are a solid color. I have a few pairs with chickens and vegetables, but stripes are my thing in nearly any color or configuration. They are olive green with white stripes today.

So what do you love? Fess up in the comments!