2026 Side Quests

At the end of 2025, when everyone is exploring and declaring their New Years Resolutions, I stumbled upon a creator that discussed a different way to do it. Instead of a resolution they choose some goals for themselves but refer to them as whimsical side quests. 

This I identify with. This I can get behind. I love whimsy and I do see my hobbies as side quests from the required parts of life. 

I found two side quests for myself. The first was reading. I love reading and always have but the past few years have been pretty stagnant. And I say that even having read 15 books in 2025. That is very little for me. But reading is important because when I am actively in a book I am less active in my phone. And I hate being in my phone but I, like most people in the year 2026, are addicted to my phone. Better to be addicted to a book, though. 

So, I already knew that reading more was a goal. But then a fun, whimsical, read-a-long fell into my lap whilst I was perusing Instagram. What Vivi Reads created an launched a Taylor Swift themed readathon. 12 albums paired with 12 months. 

What a fantastic idea. And I loved the way she structured it. She came up with vague, open-ended prompts that fit the themes or colors of the album and you could find whatever book you wanted that fit into that prompt. 

I have done just that, and dragged a few friends along for the ride, which makes it even more fun. Through this I have also discovered and begun to utilize Libby, an app for borrowing your libraries digital book collection. I love a good Kindle read, and I hate going to the library because it's a bit far from me and I never return books on time. 

In January and February I have read 17 books, most of them coming from a read-a-long prompt, but some just that I wanted to read. Which is lovely and a lot of fun. I am sure to hit my original goal of 24 books sometimes in the next two months and then we will just have to see where 2026 takes us. The success of this side quest had fully solidified me on the concept of whimsical side quests, so we continue. 

The next idea I got from the original side quest creator I already mentioned. And it was to pick a cookbook and cook your way through it. I own plenty of cookbooks that I love but non that I felt were no-skips. So, I started a quest to find a cookbook that I wanted to cook all of. 

And then, it presented itself to me. The perfect cookbook. Spectacular Spreads by Maegan Brown was on a shelf in a small store in our downtown area. My mom and I chose to patronize this store because it, and a few others, had recently announced their closures due to the building being bought out and their leases not being renewed (curse you big business that force out small business). 

This cookbook is a cookbook but is also a hosting guide on how to make gorgeous and interesting food spreads for a crowd. And I love a charcuterie board. I also love hosting, so I really was a perfect combination of things that I love. 

Furthermore, I had fallen a bit in love with another creator on Instagram, Becca from Host in Your Home. Her simple and straight forward approach to hosting is so inspiring to me. I have been planning a home bake shop for months that I just need to execute. Spectacular Spreads not only fulfills my desire for a cookbook I can side quest but also a secret third side quest of hosting people more often this year. 

The first, second, and third iterations of using this cookbook have already been planned for the next few weeks. You can bet I will share all about them. Hopefully it will inspire you to find a side quest of your own. 

Oh, and I picked a very small additional side quest of making a Strawberry Rhubarb pie this year. I will tell that story when I end up making it.