Time for an update – Hello 2026
While I have never been a “New Year, New You” kind of person, a kind friend pointed out that my portfolio site needed some love and attention, so I thought I’d bring you up to date on what I’ve written, where I’ve been and life in general.
So, hi.
Upcoming
We’re 52 days into 2026, and I’ve just completed my fifth trip, and the pace isn’t letting up anytime soon, although I hope to have a slower summer. I’m writing a lot of Texas stories – and open to taking on more – so I have a lot of planned travel close to home this year. My two biggest trips on the horizon are to Fiji and Switzerland. I’ll be in Fiji with PADI and Fiji Travel, and in Switzerland for my second Travel Classics.
I’m writing for a variety of outlets and have taken on several new writing clients in 2025. I’ve also received commissions from two new-to-me bucket list publications (please applaud), so I’ll be excited to share them when they publish later this year.
Subscribe To My Substack
I’ve hopped – sort of halfheartedly – onto the Substack bandwagon. I’m Jill_Goes and you can subscribe here.
My vision was to share behind-the-scenes snippets, like the story about how I went on a press trip with wine experts – as in real, fancy wine people – and tales from the freelance world, but I haven’t done too much of that. It’s sort of been the virtual example of inviting people to hang out at your house and then not being home when they arrive. Maybe I’ll get better.
Recent Writing
It’s hard to have favorites, but sharing a few of my favorite pieces that have been published recently:
Follow the Pasty Trail – Saturday Evening Post. My husband and I ate our fill of Cornish Pasties on our drive through the Keweenaw Peninsula and I wrote about the best way to replicate our trip. I was excited about eating nothing but pasties for three days, but I’ll admit that by the end I was ready to switch it up. It was my first trip to the UP and I got to see my husband’s college campus, so that was pretty fun.
You’re Probably Using Olive Oil All Wrong – Fodor’s Travel. An olive oil tasting in Messinia inspired this deep dive into olive oil and changed how I cook with and store it. This piece won an Honorable Mention in the 2025 International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association Excellence in Journalism Awards.
Where to Play, Stay and Eat in Frisco Texas, For Sports Fans – Matador Network. I’ve been trying to get up to Frisco for years and I finally made it happen for this story. Unfortunately, my trip coincided with the end of the big Texas Polar Vortex of January 2026, so I saw a different, ice-covered Frisco than most visitors to the city will see. And, I went inside the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and didn’t burst into flames, so I guess that’s something.
This New Boxed Wine is Made From 100% Texas Grapes and It’s Shockingly Good – Southern Living. If you’ve got the “boxed wine is cheap crap you buy for people who don’t appreciate good wine” stereotype going on in your head, you’re not alone, but this profile on Ron Yates’ Get Together Box might challenge your thinking.
Big Life News
I lost my mom at the beginning of 2025 – it’s been not quite a year. I got to see her the day before she died and I’m not sure she knew I was there. I haven’t fully processed her death. We didn’t have an amazing relationship but she shows up in lots of little ways in my day-to-day and I hope she’s at peace and happy.
My two teenage sons are in driver’s ed, and that topic seems to be dominating most of our at-home conversations. I am really not okay about this, partly because I hate that my kids are growing up so fast and partly because imagining them behind the wheel with no adult supervision is freaking terrifying.
