Can you believe it’s time for June’s all the things?
Welcome my version of a monthly recap post that lands here on the final Friday of each month. In case you missed any of the previous months, be sure to pop over using the links below!
- All The Things | January 2026
- All The Things | February 2026
- All The Things | March 2026
- All The Things | April 2026
- All The Things | May 2026
Goodness, this year is flying by at lightning speed and it’s nearly July, sweet friends! I’m having heart palpitations just writing that honestly. I love summertime, but feel it goes by quickly enough on a normal, so I really need to time to slow down just a bit. I am a little excited for my birthday next week, it’s on the second, and then my older mom turns 80 the following week – so some fun stuff!
You know the drill! Grab your coffee (or fave beverage!) and let’s dive into all the things from June!
Life Lately
This section is always a mix of personal life, blog life, and everything in between — the real behind-the-scenes of the month.
Movie Date
Kyle surprised me with a movie date early this month and much to Carrie’s dismay, it was The Mandalorian and Grogu, haha! He picked out a cute dress for me to wear the morning-of and I still didn’t realize we were going to the movies, I kind of thought it was a dinner date. But I made a meal on the buttery popcorn! I really liked the movie and if you enjoy Star Wars, I’m sure it’s a must-watch on the list!
P.S. I was a bad blogger and only snapped this single (grimy) photo that evening!
Kyle’s Birthday
I spent a lot of time prepping for my husband’s birthday presents this year. I always do my best, but he is the better gift-giver 10x over. I was determined to make this one a lot more thoughtful though, and it required me to grab some things ahead of time to be sure they’d arrive in time. You know how the shipping woes can be!
I got him a Pebble Beach photo from the shop online and then bought the frame from Amazon for it. I only put it upside down once in the frame, and then once I got it right, I noticed all this verbiage all over it….telling me to please remove the plastic wrap from BOTH sides before putting the photo in. Ha ha! That is so my luck. I also made him a Pebble Beach photo on Erin Condren’s website (they have the prettiest framed custom photos, they make perfect gifts!).
I also got him a Whoop fitness band. Have you heard of those? The PGA Tour has a contract with them so all the golfers wear them and use it track their health. It doesn’t have a screen like my Apple watch, but I think that’s another reason why Kyle will enjoy it hopefully. He doesn’t love all the gadget stuff beeping at him, haha.
While he did love all of his gifts that came in his “fort” (the picture frame came in a massive box, so I just put everything in it and taped it up, haha), I think he enjoyed fishing on his birthday weekend the best! We caught 18 fish (we throw them back!) and even survived a nearby tornado that morning, so it was exciting to say the least. You might imagine I was panicked when we were driving to the pay lake and saw trees down in multiple places and debris everywhere!
He caught the biggest fish at 30 pounds, and got his picture taken by the pay lake. So I got a picture of the picture basically, ha ha! I packed us some snacks, which always includes my favorite pasta salad that is reserved for fishing only. It’s Taylor Farms American Style Pasta Salad. So good! The little duckies were adorable but they are also little thieves! They kept coming by our bait and even got into the bucket, haha.
Father’s Day
Father’s Day started off like our typical Sundays where I’m jetting off to my mom’s super early to do her errands before church and Kyle is off to play golf. We went to my in-laws that afternoon and enjoyed some family time and delicious food. I celebrated with my dad on Tuesday because my older parents do not love going out on holidays, but do enjoy eating yummy food, so he picked Texas Roadhouse. My cousin tagged along too, and we had a really fun time!
Little Joys
Small moments that made this month feel warm, cozy, or meaningful.
I was driving down to my mom’s for an appointment and had just left Biggby Coffee when I saw this gorgeous rainbow. I took a photo was I was safely parked by my mom’s mailbox. I’m so happy I was still able to see it the rest of the 20ish minute drive there! God’s promise was on full display and I had such a special prayer on my heart, so this really touched me.
Such a silly little thing that makes me happy, but my flower pot is bursting with these two types of flowers from Mother’s Day! If you remember, my mom gave me hers and the church also gave me one even though I’m not a mom. I’m enjoying watching them grow!
Meet my accidental early birthday present! As soon as the box labeled Warmies arrived on the porch, I knew I was not supposed to see it, haha. I had been going on and on about this cute cactus that I got as a gift for someone, and then I just think they’re all adorable. I told Kyle he could save it still because I didn’t know exactly which one he picked, but he ended up giving it to me that evening. He got me this adorable Cardinal! Those are special around here because we look at them like visitors from Heaven and you know how much I adore our wildlife here. I was trying to come up with a name for him and landed on Louie after seeing a headline for the St. Louis Cardinals. I love him! He’s so soft and cozy!
Cultivate Corner
Think intentions, small habits, new collabs, and routines.
Storing photos from photo to hard drive monthly
I have been so bad about letting my photos stack up on my phone! It’s all fine until I am getting ready to save a YouTube video and then I realize I’m totally out of space. It’s the worst! So I’m trying to make a habit of doing a photo and video dump at least once per month onto a hard drive, it seems to be helping so far. I also noticed I was saving a lot of things I didn’t need, like screenshots of random things I send to Kyle or friends, and they just take up big space.
New recipe fun
This really wouldn’t be my ATT blog post without including food somewhere, would it? Haha! I have been loving following The Tipsy Housewife on Facebook, I have yet to see a recipe that doesn’t look delicious. I finally decided to try one of them when I saw her viral pregnancy subs (I’m not pregnant, that’s just the name of them). They were so good and I actually just picked up sub rolls so I could make more this weekend.
I also put a new spin on Simply Taralynn’s Almost Carbless Nuggets, where I subbed plain panko breadcrumbs for the almond flour. The almond flour version is incredible, but Kyle is trying to cut calories and it’s pretty heavy on that note. We really liked the panko version and will be making them again soon!
Currently Reading, Watching & Loving
Things I’ve been loving, watching, reading, or reaching for lately.
The Valley, Real Housewives of Rhode Island, Gilmore Girls
Not much has changed with my tv shows with the exception of adding in Gilmore Girls recently to watch with Carrie! The Valley is as crazy as ever with the entire “darkside Danny” narrative (he does irritate me more this season, but they still took it way too far). I miss Beverly Hills housewives, but watching Rhode Island with my SIL has been fun! It’s down to the reunion episodes now. I can’t get over how psycho almost the entire cast is in one way or another, but I suppose that’s what makes it entertaining, haha. I won’t spoil anything, but my mouth dropped wide open at the end of the season finale with Rulla’s news!
I am loving Gilmore Girls and we are in the second season now. It’s so fun to chat about the episodes and I feel like there’s already been some memorable moments or quotes. Chad Michael Murray has been my nemesis on the show so far, he just irritates me so much, haha, but I know his character is supposed to be a jerk. I bet we’ll be in season three by the next ATT post!
That’s a wrap on this month’s all the things, sweet friends! I hope you enjoyed following along with me over this past month. How was your June? Can’t wait to hear all about it in the comments!
![Thoughts on 2020 & My Word for 2021 BEFORE READ-MORE Let’s be honest, 2020 was a tough year! I had a whole lot of beautifully-laid out plans that unfortunately just didn’t happen. Partly because of the pandemic, and partly because of my mindset. I found myself just sort of depressed and couldn’t really find the motivation I needed. Thankfully, ever since the holidays, I’ve felt like this universal shift is coming and things are going to be so much brighter this year. I’m definitely pouring all of my positive energy into making my goals happen this year, no matter what things look like with the pandemic. I have to realize that it’s not within my control what happens in the world. I just have control over myself. I wanted to share with you my biggest takeaways from last year. I want to stay mindful of these three things during 2021, and beyond. Plus, I’ll be sharing my word for this year at the bottom! Take Care of Your Loved Ones This past year tore us away from our family and friends. It was heartbreaking for so many, especially to those who are now grieving over some of them. As each year passes, it is almost always on my mind that some of my loved ones may not make it to see another year. That probably sounds very morbid and daunting, and is probably just a result of my life experiences. But it has opened my eyes to really pay special attention to those I love the most. I want to show them that I care while they are here. I want them to know without a doubt that I’m there for them and will do anything in my power to help them. I work very hard to not take anyone for granted because we never know when our time is up. Protect Your Peace I learned how important protecting my peace was last year. I felt like I was going through a multitude of things. Some of the things that were bothering me the most, I couldn’t even control and didn’t directly involve me. They involved loved ones. I’m sure many of you have had similar situations where you have family members that can sometimes play a toxic role in your life. As a result, I really needed to rely on creating healthy boundaries and sticking to those. It’s an ongoing difficult situation for me, but I have truly handled it better than I ever have before. I hope to continue to grow in this area and get better with those healthy boundaries. Try to Control What You Can Control (Not What You Can’t) This one is pretty much directly tied to what I just mentioned about protecting my peace. I’ve spent so much time (that I can never get back) stressing myself out over things I can’t control. Mostly in regard to loved ones, but also the world as a whole. While I choose not to talk politics in this space, I think we all can agree that things have just been a mess in the United States for the past year and even right now. The pandemic, the mud-slinging, all of the sad news that’s plastered all over the tv or our social media...it’s just exhausting. I just had to cut out most of the news because it was so depressing. Short of voting and praying for things to get better, that’s really all I can control. The rest of it will be what it will be, and I’m really trying to remind myself that each day. My Word for 2021 is Growth I’ve been flip-flopping between ‘change’ and ‘growth’ for my word this year. I realized what I wanted for this year was way more like ‘growth’ than ‘change.’ My thought process on using ‘change’ was that I was creating these new habits that were going to be life-changing and help really boost me to achieving my goals. When I thought about it a little more, I realized ‘growth’ really summarizes what I want to embody this year the best. It still requires change to happen, but it just seems like a better fit to choose ‘growth.’ [PIN] I hope you’ve gained a little something from reading this post, friend. I’m wishing you an amazing week filled with lots of joy. ust on a fun side note, I’m looking forward to watching The Bachelor and WandaVision this week. Do you have any fun shows/things in general you’re looking forward to? Let’s Chat! Do you identify with any of these takeaways from 2020? Have you chosen a word for this year? Fun question: Have you been watching The Bachelor this season?](https://i0.wp.com/www.makelifemarvelous.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Thoughts-on-2020-and-Word-for-2021.png?fit=150%2C126&ssl=1)
Oh I love how you mix real life, little joys and heart behind the scenes. June sounded so full.
Thanks so much Candice, I appreciate you! It was a very full month, but lots of good things so we will take it! 🙂 Hope your June was wonderful!
I’m wondering when Chad Michael Murray will return since he got in trouble! You have so many yummy food photos, but those homemade subs you made look the absolute best to me right now. I really love a good sub! I love your red Cardinal!! I should gift one of those for Autumn, she would love it. I’ll have to see what other animals they have!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I don’t think he will be back on the show, but we shall see! The subs are delicious and I’m actually eating one now, haha, they are definitely in the weekly rotation going forward. I bet she would love it too – they have tons of other animals if she has a more favorite one than the cardinal!
I love your monthly round-ups and especially all the food pictures. I hope Kyle had a great birthday – you had some wonderful gift ideas, especially the Pebble Beach photos.
Julia x
https://www.thevelvetrunway.com/
That makes me so happy Julia, thank you so so much for being here! I was excited that he enjoyed his birthday gifts, I kind of went all out this year and really hoped he would, haha!
Such a fun and heartwarming recap! I loved reading about all the little joys that made your June special. Wishing you a very happy birthday and a beautiful month ahead!
http://www.itsjulieann.com
Aww, thanks so much Julie, that makes me so happy you enjoyed this one and thank you tons for the birthday wishes! It was a wonderful one. 🙂 Hope your July is starting off beautifully!
We started watching Real Housewives of Rhode Island a bit more and now I can’t wait for the reunion! I had to do a rabbit hole of reunion previews just now. Looks good! You got Kyle some nice gifts for his birthday. And those subs look delicious!
The reunions really do look good and lots of drama, which is very expected after that wild season, haha! I need to watch those, I think they’re all out now. Thank you so much Laura, these subs are really good and love that they’re so easy. I just had one for lunch!
I love the gifts you got your husband for his birthday! That Pebble Beach photo is cool! Looks like a fun time fishing too! I love Rhode Island and keep forgetting there’s a housewives show I need to watch!
Have a safe and happy 4th!
Jill – Doused in Pink
Aww thank you friend!! I really tried hard to make his day special. Hope you enjoyed the rest of Rhode Island housewives, I still need to catch the reunions!
Happy new month, Ashley. I love the new look on the blog. Beautiful post as always. 🙂
Annie,
https://www.anniesfooddiary.com
Happy July, Annie! 🙂 Thank you so so much, you are too kind!! Hope you have a wonderful rest of this month my dear friend.
Love the sweet gifts you got Kyle! Didn’t you love the Mandalorian and Grogu? I thought it was so adorable. Flowers bring me joy too so I totally get it with our flower pot. It’s gorgeous!
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
Thank you so much Kathrine, and yes, I thought it was really good and Grogu just is so so cute! You always have the most beautiful flowers this time of year!!