Tag: Self Care

The Blog Wants to Know: Jan. 2026

We’re starting up another year of “The Blog Wants to Know” where we ask staff members questions about their everyday lives. Stay tuned all year for some great recommendations, shared memories, and heartfelt words of advice from our amazing library staff!

For this month’s question, we’re looking into 2026 with hope, promise, and accomplishment.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? It can be big or small. It can be a trip you hope to take, a project you hope to finish, or a professional or personal goal that you hope to achieve. 

Kathy, Public Support Services: “To go on a trip with my sister now that she has retired. Hoping to convince my husband that we should go to Michigan and see the grand baby.”

Dawn S., Youth Services Coordinator: “I hope to take better care of myself this year.”

Shane, Public Support Services: This year, my goal is to practice tarot more often and pull and interpret at least one card per day. To facilitate this goal, my partner got me a Writual Journal for this year. It’s a helpful addition that combines astrology with tarot. It has card spreads for moon phases, monthly pages, and you can also use it for daily to-do lists and other journaling. So far, I haven’t missed a day!”

Hannah, Assistant Director: “I set the goal to journal every day. Nothing fancy, just dumping a random stream of consciousness onto a piece of paper. I love stationary, and I recently branched out into the fountain pen world and splurged on a Midori Codex 1 day 1 page journal.”

Ashley, Interlibrary Loan and Cataloguing: “In February 2026 I will turn 40!  This always seems like such a big number but I am going to try to make it fun rather scary.  I have dubbed 2026 ‘My Fortieth Year Extravaganza!’.  I want to do something fun each month to celebrate the year.  

Ashley with her parents at Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle overlooking downtown.

In February I am actually going to Seattle for five days.  The big reason for this is I was born up in Tacoma (just south of Seattle at the Air Force base there) and thought it would be a great way to celebrate.  I will be there on my actual 40th birthday!  On a side note, the Seahawks are playing well and may make it to the Super Bowl which is also that weekend and would be fun to experience the game with other 12s. Go Hawks!

In May my parents and I may go see Styx at the Park City Arena.  Then my hope for the fall is to take a trip to Wisconsin and try to go to a Green Bay Packers football game at Lambeau Field with my dad.  Go Pack Go!

The other months are currently open for ideas.  I hope to make this year one to remember!”

Now it’s your turn. Let us know what are some of your hopes and goals for the new year, and we can’t wait to be a part of it!

Monica’s Musings: Goblin Mode

Goblin Mode by McKayla Coyle

“Honoring our goblin selves means celebrating our passions, asserting our right to green spaces, listening to our bodies, watching the world with curiosity, and prioritizing comfort.” – McKayla Coye, Goblin Mode

Summary: Embrace your inner goblin! Learn to decorate, dress, craft, forage, and live according to the goblin principles of community, diversity, proud weirdness, and joyful mess.

Do you ever feel strange, gross, chaotic, underappreciated, or like you don’t quite fit in? Great news: you might be a goblin! That means your imperfections and idiosyncrasies are the most awesome things about you, and you can build a more balanced, comfortable, harmonious life by accepting and honoring them—taking inspiration from the frogs, fungus, moss, rocks, and dirt that goblins love.

Can a mushroom give you fashion tips? Can a snail teach you to be a better person? You bet they can—and in this book, you’ll also learn to: Build a moss garden for your lair, grow and use medicinal plants, forage for berries (even in the city), mend your cozy sweaters, display your cool rock collection, and more!

Anyone can be a goblin, and Goblin Mode includes life advice for celebrating physical and mental diversity, rejecting prejudice, and generally hanging on to a little joy. Featuring 25 whimsical illustrations by Marian Churchland, Goblin Mode will help you rethink your relationship with your body, home, community, and the earth.

My Thoughts: Goblincore is an aesthetic and subculture inspired by the folklore of goblins, centered on celebrating natural ecosystems usually considered less beautiful by conventional norms, such as soil, animals, and second-hand objects. This book is so cute and fits the goblin core aesthetic quite nicely. It discusses the history of the term “goblin,” with its negative connotations throughout history, and how it has recently been reclaimed to mean something positive and relatable.

This way of life is about finding positivity, beauty, and joy in the world around you. You get craft ideas and helpful tips on plant and pet care. My favorite chapters were about dressing comfortably, decorating your home in a way that makes you happy, and how to wallow and take time for yourself. I recommend this to anyone looking to connect with nature and embrace themselves without conforming to society’s standards!