Letter From TeriLyn – January 2026

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I feel like every parent in the South is feeling a little bit scattered lately. I always crave the return of a routine after the holidays, and we started to get in a groove. But then, the big storm hit… and everything’s been in limbo for the last two weeks. No school, short school, cancelled appointments, moved meetings. I was talking with a fellow mom while we chaperoned a field trip today about how January is usually nice because it’s a reset, and it has been anything but. 

I’m very over the snow, and I’m very much looking forward to a family trip we booked! We haven’t been on a true family vacation with all of us (not counting trips to visit family), so this will be so fun! We’re headed to Turks & Caicos, which I loved last year, especially because it’s so easy to get to. The direct flight + Heather managing all the logistics makes it much less overwhelming.

I’ll know I’ll get stressed once I start packing, but at least I have Heather to manage all the reservations and any changes that come up. Plus, she already confirmed that we got an upgraded room, so we now have an ocean view!

Thomas is at such a fun age. His imagination is through the roof and he’s just so sweet and funny. He also started pulling Halloween decorations out again in January, and honestly, I didn’t care since I was so ready to see Christmas decorations go. I pick my battles and usually, Thomas’s decorating desires is not a battle worth picking.

And Charles is a typical two-year-old, second child, i.e., WILD. Once in a while they’ll play well together, but mostly Charles just annoys Thomas by stealing his toys or hitting him. But hey, we’ll get there… right??

December was insane with all of the sales and content going out, on top of the usual holiday madness with family and friends, so it was nice for January to be a little slower from a partnership perspective. (Especially since everything else in January was nuts!) We still had some fun partnerships with brands I love:

Work also felt hard in January since planning for the year takes so much time. I absolutely love strategy and goal setting for my business, but it’s easy to get behind on the day-to-day tasks (like not even posting on Instagram for the last two weeks, oops). But I’m excited because I’m finally hiring a social media assistant, which will lessen the workload on both Salem and me.

I’m also hiring an in-person assistant! One of my regular sitters is going to take on more hours to help me with inventory and filming throughout the week, which are very time-intensive to set up and clean up. The actual filming isn’t usually too long but when I film (especially with multiple outfits), it leaves a bit of a mess. Case in point below – that’s what my closet looked like after filming a YouTube video about how to style wide-leg jeans.

It’s always nerve-racking to hire since contractors are a big expense, but even if my revenue is temporarily down and it gives me more time to be present with my kids and work fewer early mornings and late evenings, it’ll be worth it. 

I also want to free up my time to work on the things that have to be me (filming, photos, etc.) and for the things that I enjoy most (strategy, SEO research and writing blog posts). It’s requiring a bit of a restructure on my team and cross-training, but I think it’ll make us more efficient and hopefully help everyone have more ownership and freedom in their work, which is always a good thing!

HEALTH

I didn’t work out much in January, compared to my baseline routine. I’ve been making the same dinners on repeat, and vegetable consumption has been rare. And sleep has been a mess since at certain times in my cycle, I get horrible insomnia. Then, when that passes, I get horrible night sweats.

I’ve had it on my to-dos to schedule an appointment with my doctor to discuss hormone replacement therapy (which I really need, given my premature ovarian failure), but again… that whole lack of a routine means that appointments kept going unmade and other appointments kept getting rescheduled. 

I’m also due for a mammogram follow-up. I had a pretty big scare last year around this time, and while it all turned out okay, it’s stressful to go back into that type of appointment. 

Alright, I’ll wrap this up and get back to my spreadsheets with goal planning! Thank you for being here!