Happy
New Year!
2025
2025
from josh + emily
see older years here!
chapters
mar
jan
feb
apr
may
jun
sep
jul
aug
oct
nov
dec
January
the year kicked off on new years day with emily + zizi sprinting down orange grove blvd to watch the rose parade, which was genuinely exciting
in our yearly goals we commit to being a fit fam, and emily starts working out with bella
(fun fact:
meghan trainor’s trainer)
josh and zizi have a cute little outing: she gets a unicorn dress + they sit together in silence at a restoration hardware store
We cement our friendship with zizi’s school bestie, going to vasquez rocks and dinners together
horrific fires take over altadena and malibu…
the smoke becomes unbearable so we escape to mission viejo for the week with zizi + hobbes
We find out my best friend from college, ivana, and her family’s home burns down from the fires 💔
abraham joins us and we make an ai music game where one person puts in something like “the mighty mighty bosstones of korea” and the other two have to guess the inputs
emily assembles 10+ friends to make ivana + dave’s new apartment into a home in less than 48 hours ❤️
in all of the fire chaos, emily realizes kindergarten applications are past due and scrambles to get those in.
josh cries while touring the school we eventually determine as first choice for zizi
josh launches internet + warranty services while pretending to be an insurance salesman (leading to creating absurd presentations because regular ones are super boring)
we hire a new assistant that (once again) doesn’t work out
josh becomes chief investment officer of “sowin family office” with emily as cfo and chief of stuff (per usual)… trying our hand with pre-ipo investments and more
and we troll the ceo of the company that bought us with a “ask us anything” town hall question that made zero sense and agree to never do that again* because he’s incredibly nice and we are terrible people
*we are very sorry and will never do it again
the embarrassing question submitted:
“in light of the rapidly evolving macroeconomic landscape and its nuanced implications on our organization’s vertical integration strategy, coupled with the ongoing transformation initiatives around operational agility and customer-centric product innovation, could you elaborate on how leadership intends to synergize cross-functional collaboration—particularly within the context of interdepartmental knowledge transfer mechanisms and resource optimization frameworks—while simultaneously maintaining a scalable yet localized approach to market expansion, all without compromising our commitment to esg principles, stakeholder engagement, and long-term value creation?”
February
we have a leadership onsite, mostly everyone cries + freaks out (things are not looking good) and we decide to send a team member to bulgaria for the month against everyone’s will
the lead investment banker at the private equity company that acquired us gives josh a bear hug and it is oddly endearing
and take haley to toppers pizza and a little hike
josh gets zizi a custom “chicken nugget” sweater
emily’s mom celebrates her 50th anniversary of coming to america, on a yacht in marina del rey with 100+ friends and family
we have lunch with business people who we think are our friends but will eventually betray us
emily has a superbowl + presentation night themed birthday party at jenny + greg’s house in minneapolis (with 4 days of advance notice)
emily also falls flat on her face after jumping for joy
haley + emily decide to crash abraham’s solo night in hollywood at daniel donato’s cosmic country concert
our first toe-dip into pre-ipo investments: spacex and anthropic
we try to convince toppers to open their small pizza chain in pasadena, but they won’t talk to us.
zizi asks to get the “gracie abrams” haircut
and josh + emily get the iconic yellow couch from a cool shop in l.a.
(which would be featured in our short film in 2026)
March
zizi gets accepted into our first choice for kindergarten and we’re happy about that!
josh + abraham (and hobbes) spend some bestie / business time together in the mountains
we randomly meet the “dancing trombone” guy at dinner and he tears up when we pick up his tab
erik + kat get married in hawaii! 🌺
spend time with mom + andras in hawaii after the wedding festivities
we get an important acquisition holdback reversed (thanks to emily’s expert balance sheet forecasting)*
*had no idea what
i was doing
emily + zizi have fun trying out splat art studio for the first time
go to a pickaxe launch event and met dylan, who insisted he was from alabama even though he was clearly from new york
and hobbes came to emily’s house for the first time to practice kitty-sitting ❤️
April
emily + zizi officially kitty sit for hobbes for the first time while josh hangs out in hawaii
we host ariella + fam at the house and its pure chaos with 4 girls
our first home depot trip results in fighting over ketchup on a hot dog
emily makes zizi take a pretend entrance exam to her school she was (already) accepted to
we wait a week before telling zizi she passed the exam and got in!
leadership onsite in marina del rey – things are much better with the team, things are looking up
emily makes a magazine about the trip
started fixing emily’s terrible credit due to mis-managed credit cards from blue kazoo, which is on the rocks
brainjolt smashes all previous records and has the best month in history
and we find out the depths of the betrayal from business “friends” who, in so many words, were sleeping with the enemy. brutal.
May
took zizi to san francisco to see the visitor’s, visit the vogels, and have clam chowder at hog bay island
josh + zizi buy shoes together
emily + zizi go to sacramento and go to the blue house in ladybird
haley, josh, and emily go to the school benefit and are the only people there as a group of 3
emily + haley interview cecilia for a special mother’s day podcast and ask loads of juicy questions
we shop around beverly hills and have a julia robert’s in pretty woman type rude encounter which is funny
kat gives zizi a rainbow dress and zizi asks her if they can get married
zizi becomes obsessed with statues, specifically the benjamin franklin one in glendale
josh goes to kauai by himself but the trip gets cut short to come home for a very sick hobbes
josh himself is in poor health – stomach, feet, everything is falling apart
realize we are weeks away from hitting our goals for the year and try to negotiate for more
we make an offer on a pasadena business center for half the listed amount, and they take us somewhat seriously
zizi graduates from preschool
and we go to our first new school party, make some parent-friends and josh gets asked to hang a pinata for the first time ever
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
