the hot goddess

Hello, January

Hello, 2025. Hard to believe this will be my 65th year of living and third year of immigrant life as a solo midlife expat in Portugal. Many things have me smiling as we enter January.

This is my first Christmas tree since moving to Portugal.  It’s my boyfriend’s tree, but we decorated it together, and I contributed my handmade giant paper snowflakes to his home’s holiday decor.

Christmas trees and decorations in my homes in the U.S. would’ve been taken down by now. New Year’s Day was always the last hurrah for my Christmas decor. But here, lingering with things (and people) that bring joy seems natural.

Label joy. Boyfriend bought these cooking wines because he thought the labels described me, complete with my retro black cat-eye glasses. The red wine is “Independent Woman” and the white is “Sophisticated Woman.” Fortunately, they were out of the Bossy, Smart-Ass, Controlling, and Overthinking labels, for both mulheres and homens.
We used the Independent red to make Italian red wine cookies. They are supposed to look like the inset photo. An independent survey confirmed my batch looked remarkably like shit. Not too tasty, either, but so much fun in the kitchen.
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio performed at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon was a post-cookie-fiasco treat. The backdrop of the museum’s gardens through a glass wall made it all the more magical.

I was surprised to realize I miss singing in a choir. I performed in the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus and in my high school’s a capella choir when I was young, but age has rusted and cracked my alto voice. Boyfriend is encouraging me to audition for a local Portuguese choir here, but if anything is worse than my singing voice now, it’s my singing Portuguese. And my playing piano. And my dancing. I love all things musical, but they are not loving me back. Oh well. Joy is joy, and trying to (re-)learn my musical pursuits makes me — and others watching me — laugh.

Holiday walks brought their own joy. Silver Coast weather has been unbelievably spectacular for weeks.

New Year’s Day was glorious.
Yellow wildflowers have exploded everywhere.
They danced up a storm on a particularly windy day at the coast.
I’m not the only one soaking up the sun on my walks. Seriously, how can you not smile at all this goodness?
And if each day here has you smiling, just wait until day’s end. Every day. One amazing sunset after another in my front-row view.
OK, not front-front row. But close.

Of course, I can’t end my welcome to January without a dose of signature snarky snickers.

These juicy language lessons on Duolingo have me laughing every day.

Source: Duolingo app
Ummm…
Subjunctive tense is way more Portuguese than I need to know at this point. I will never remember how to conjugate verbs in the subjunctive form, but I will always remember this lesson’s soap-opera scenarios that had me laughing out loud.

The year 2024 was a spectacular year in my personal universe, although I lamented the sad and troubling developments in my birth country and our world. I worry about what 2025 might look like, while also looking forward to my own milestone events.

Let’s try to keep worry at a minimum if we can.

Source: Insight Timer

Soon, I will leave Portugal on a one-month “bucket list” trip in celebration of turning 65. More on that later. This birthday will officially boot me out of the “midlife” category and into the “senior citizen” section of life. Hello, discounts! Don’t expect me to change The Hot Goddess tagline anytime soon, though. Midlife forever! No worries about that.

Thank you for reading! ❤️ As you make your way through 2025, may you succeed in finding and appreciating the small joys that are all around you each day, and in trying not to let the sun set on anger or regret. Happy New Year.

“As we begin this new year, how do you want to show up? I believe we attract the energy we give. I choose light and laughter and love.

“I have many imperfections that are magnified with age, while many others are softened and mellowed as age ushers in wisdom. I choose to stop scanning for defects, and instead scan for joy.

“I choose to celebrate the start of every new day, not just the start of a new year. Cheers to you, showing up with your light every day.” 

~ The Hot Goddess

All images are my own, except as noted.

The Hot Goddess

Instagram: retired_rewired_inspired

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49 comments

  3. What a joyful and heartwarming post Natalie. I love your humor, determination, gusto, and the great summary on how to live. May your year be full of love and laughter and may I learn from your example. Happy Birthday adventure! 💓

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  4. Those photos, wowsa! So beautiful! I remember how beautiful the sunsets were in the Sonoran Desert when I lived in Tucson, AZ, but those colors were due to the dust hanging in the air and the light refracting off it. I’m pretty sure that’s not the case whereabouts live!

    Wonderful to muse, and the benefits of getting older is we get to release the old inner judgments about ourselves and learn to appreciate our daily lives and the people in it.

    I’m concerned as well what is coming around the corner for the US, though I have to release any worries, and hope for the best. Hope your 2025 is spectacular!

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  6. Dancing Yellow Wildflowers – a celebration of life indeed! I recently tipped over into the next decade (you’ll be there in 5)…and I’m all in in MMXXV! Your walking photos are an inspiration as well and coincidentally coincides with the following:
    I just read a (tongue and cheek) poem by Billy Collins called, “Solvitur Ambulando” from his ‘The Rain in Portugal’ collection…I thought of you! Firstly, do you know the translation? Of course you do. “It is solved by walking” I left it for last to give you time to do a quick translation. Good job! 🙂

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    • Laura, thank you so much for adding to my knowledge! The best kind of holiday gift ❤️. I would’ve gone with “Solitary Ambulance” 😂, so your faith in me exceeds my actual ability, but thank you for the compliment. My research taught me the correct translation, from Latin, which you kindly included. Your comment also prompted me to look for Collins’s book, and I found the poem, Solvitur Ambulando, as well as the poem that contains the book title reference, On Rhyme. The last two stanzas of that poem struck me, as I’ve seen similar scenes here:

      “That’s why instead of recalling today
      that it mostly pours in Spain,
      I am going to picture the rain in Portugal,
      how it falls on the hillside vineyards
      on the surface of the deep harbors
      where fishing boats are swaying,
      and in the narrow alleys of the cities
      where three boys in tee shirts
      are kicking a soccer ball in the rain.
      ignoring the window-cries of their mothers.”
      Thank you again for this, Laura. Happy New Year to you and yours! ❤️

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  12. Happy Birthday and enjoy your travels. I am 66, single and planning a exploration trip from New Orleans hopefully this Mardi Gras, in March 2025.

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  17. Natalie, thank you the lovely post and the beautiful pictures! We’ve had the wettest, darkest, mildest midwinter on Vancouver Island that I have experienced since moving here, so your pictures of sunny days and sunsets are greatly appreciated. As for turning 65…jump on in! The water’s fine! And so are you 💕

    Deb

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  19. Happy Birthday and Happy New Year!! I love seeing all these beautiful pictures – they definitely help lighten the mood back here in the USA. I’m going to focus on fun and lightness in 2025 because everything feels so mean and dark right now. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!!!!

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  20. Envy is such an ugly emotion but I can’t help but feel a twinge of it every time I read your blog. I must remind myself that I am living the one life I’ve chosen and I love it but…yours looks pretty fabulous too. I’m looking forward to hearing about your travels! I hope they include Spain as I have such great memories of travel there.

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    • Ah, Judy, thank you for your warm words! ❤️ Aren’t we both lucky to be living the lives we’ve chosen and that are right for us? I am beyond grateful. Wishing you a wonderful 2025! ✨️💖

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  22. When I saw the labels on the wine bottles, they reminded me of some of your photos. The resemblance is clear—well done by your boyfriend! Besides, the description of “independent and sophisticated” seems pretty accurate to me. I also had a good laugh about the Italian red wine cookies. Have a great trip, Natalie, and cheers 🥂 to 2025 and your birthday.

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