prettystitchmachine

Dec 28, 2025

reflections on 2025 and future plans

kia ora, hi machines -

i made a somewhat informal announcement on my instagram in the last couple of weeks regarding some changes in my life behind the scenes. i want to take this time to reflect on 2025 as we quickly approach 2026. some of this story is going to go back all the way 2019.

2025 was a year of so many firsts and big changes. i quit my day job, a job i really loved doing and had spent almost six years at. i remember starting out as a newly graduated medical lab scientist, not enjoying what i was doing or the hospital i was working at but it felt like the next logical step at the time - microbiology was what drew me to lab sciences, so of course i should work in microbiology. so i stayed at the hospital i did my clinical rotations at. i bought my first car right before i graduated, prepared myself to work on an off-shift and hunker down but after a month or two i found myself dreading going to work. i was miserable. i felt like a glorified lab assistant - and that isn't to knock what lab assistants do, but i had just graduted and wanted to use all of the knowledge i had just spent years learning.

so, i quit. i found a new job in blood bank at a closer hospital, a hospital my mom worked at for many years, the hospital my little brother was born at. the hospital i wanted to be at all a long but the cards weren't dealt that way prior to this point. i remember calling my mom and my old program advisor, anxious that i was making a mistake and scared of blood banking. in hindsight, it was the best decision i ever made. i joined a solid team and finally felt challenged and that i was really helping patients. this big shift happened all back in 2019.

then 2020 hit, and everyone has a pandemic story. it really did seem like everything that was going wrong in people's lives was exaserbated and brought painfully to the forefront, my life was included. i broke up with a shitty boyfriend after a traumatic catalyst of his own horrible choices and actions that were happening right under my nose, while i was working in a hospital where we were being told to try to make a mask last for a week. about a month after that, my mom became very ill. shortly after that, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma. that rocked our family to the core and continues to to this day. she passed in march 2022. all throughout that time, i was still working in blood bank, it kept me sane even if it was an insane job to begin with.

in the middle of all of that, i was trying to date, to put myself out there after being a serial long term monogamist - what the fuck was a dating app? it was such a nightmare. by the end of summer in 2022, i had given up and resigned myself to being single, i was as content as i could be, although maybe a bit burnt out from work. then, that goofy thing of when you stop looking, something will happen, happened.

i had, and still have, a small handful of online mutuals. when i find a creator i like, i tend to follow them on the platforms i'm most active on, mostly instagram. so, i followed this guy from new zealand, he was clever and cute and absolutely hysterical. then he posted that he wanted a more private place to post more real life things, he granted the follow request, i thought we had chatted a bit and seemed to get on, why not. we would continue replying to each other stories, commenting on ponderings and memes. i most definitely have the specific post saved somewhere in my camera roll, i'm not going to go dig it up but it was along the lines of 'i can't do dating apps, i need 1-2 years of friendship and yearning' - that did us in. we started chatting and agreed we were both interested in each other, just one problem, i was in chicago and he was in new zealand. it didn't put me off immediately, why throw something away that could be amazing, even if there are a few clear hurdles? they weren't insurmountable. then the i love yous came, then the how can we see each other, then how soon can we see each other, then the is this going to work for real?

i flew out to new zealand in summer of 2023, flew out on my birthday. for three weeks, we spent time together and explored wellington. i think after the first evening we knew we wanted this to work and we were going to do whatever it took to make that happen. we figured i had the most transferable skills, so i began the process to get my education and certifications transferred to new zealand. in the mean time, we planned a trip out for him to visit chicago and do all the same fun stuff, explore and meet friends and family. then came the crunch time, saving and preparing to move to new zealand. i'm skipping over a lot of fun details in the middle but this is already a pretty lengthy story eh?

so april 2025, i completed my last day of work, saying goodbye to a place of stability for me. i packed up my suitcases, sent some boxes ahead of me, had some fun and food with friends and family and then i was off. i had interviewed for a new blood bank position in wellington before i even left the states - i was a preferred candidate, and i provided references. the day i land, i got a phone call (via dion's phone since i didn't have a NZ number yet) and was told that i couldn't get the job - it had to go to permanent resident/citizen and that was the only thing their other candidate had over me. i was crushed, it felt like my one real opporuitnity to get back into a lab here was already gone. we had been watching similar positons over the two to three years of long distance to get an idea of how often jobs came about and i knew i was going to be waiting a while after. and in hindsight, i think in that moment i knew the next year ahead of us was going to be a struggle.

so i decided to focus fully on cross stitch, rebranding from campxstitch to prettystitchmachine and trying new things - christmas stocking patterns, plastic canvas, more flash, try doing some markets. this was all while i continued to apply for any and every lab position that came available in the area. at first i was getting some interviews but i was generally overqualified and still, i didn't have a right to work, even though my profession is a tier 1 green list need for nz. then i stopped getting interviews. dion was also trying to move up or make some horizontal moves and his situation became the same as mine, but he was still working at his job in the meantime. we started expanding our search outside of wellington - still no dice. moving out of wellington would put strain on our finances even further, we couldn't flat with our friends, might need a car, so on and so fourth.

in the meantime, dion supported both of us. i have never had to depend on a partner in this way, i was and am so grateful but i saw and still see the toll it's taken on him. to make matters worse, he has gotten sick more times this year than he has in the last five. then to compound it all, the stability of his job became very quickly unstable. we were about to be up shit creek without a paddle. after some very hard weeks of high stress, long conversations, hard conversations, we found our answer and resolve: return home to chicago.

i've never particularly struggled to get job offers, back in 2019 when i was dying inside from my first job, i managed to get about five job offers before i made my move to leave. i knew i could do it again, hell maybe i can go back to where i was. but how was dion going to come with me? american immigration is a bit intense and scary right now. we spoke to a few attorneys, we found someone who shot straight with us and we felt more confident in our decision. but then we got faced with another dilemma - either we get engaged and get a visa that route, or we get married and get a visa through that route. which was going to be easier, 90 day fiance or just get married? we knew getting married was always in our plans, i wouldn't have moved abroad if it hadn't been. so decided, fuck it, let's get married now while we're still together in new zealand before we return to long distance while i get back to work and he takes care of himself until we can get a visa sorted for him. is it ideal? no, but we're willing and ready to make it work. we started long distance, we can do it again if we know a more secure future is on the other side of it.

while i'm sure many people will think i am crazy for returning to the united states, it really is a case of the grass is not always greener. new zealand is essentially in an induced recession, with a hiring freeze on healthcare workers. kiwis themselves are having an incredibly rough go at life, add being a migrant into that, it's almost hell in paradise. i have loved my time here, and we're going to continue enjoying our time together until i return to chicago. i mean, we're getting married, that's pretty exciting, even if it isn't how we imagined it would be, i can't complain about getting married to my best friend. we have an opportunity to own a house in chicago and to live a generally more comfortable and supported life around friends and family.

i don't want to jinx anything but i have been making some moves toward employment in the background and have a good feeling that i will be able to get back to work and hit the ground running once i return. dion's basically allowed me to do an art residency in a beautiful country with him and our friends for a year, and new zealand will always be a home to us. my cross stitching may take a bit of a back burner in the next few months while we deal with a small elopement ceremony and enjoying new zealand before i fly back but i have plenty of design ideas and plans to explore!

i've met some incredible people here in aotearoa and i've connected with more people online that encourage me and make me laugh and enjoy this hobby and community every day. i'm sad to leave nz but i'm excited to go home and for what is ahead for us, even if it's not the easiest route. i plan on getting back to some more traditional fabric pieces and continuing my escapades into plastic canvas in the new year. i'm hoping to expand my pattern library and community chest - so if you've ever wanted to test stitch, hit me up in the new year!

TLDR: i need a job and i'm moving back home to get one. i'm getting married!

with so much love,

jane