Can you believe it’s the mid-year 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
- All The Things | June 2026
This month was so full of birthday celebrations, golf for Kyle, and lots of doctor appts for the parents and random other things popping up! I really enjoyed July overall and while I’m finding myself missing our sweet cats (do you ever get over pet losses? I’m starting to think not!), it has been a very happy month for the most part. I have found myself SO out of routine lately though, so I’m craving getting myself back into a steady blog routine around here.
I promise to all my sweet blogger friends that I haven’t been visiting as often – I miss you TONS and have just fell very behind on blog reading, I will be trying to catch up and do better in August!
Now’s the time to grab your coffee (or fave beverage!) and let’s dive into all the things from July!
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.
Kyle’s Qualifier
Kyle played his Ohio Amateur Golf Qualifier in Cincinnati on my birthday this year, and I got to be his caddie again! Losantiville Country Club was a beautiful course. Kyle has played it before, but this was the first time I’ve been there. I was so thankful I got to ride in the cart with him because there was a chance that they’d run out of carts and I’d have to walk it. I would have done it though!
I didn’t really get any photos during the round since I was focused on his game and also the fact that it was 110 heat index of all things, but we survived and he came SO close to actually making the cut.
Fingers crossed for next year’s qualifiers! The US Open is going to be played in Pebble Beach next year and you might remember he played there last October, wouldn’t that be such a cool thing for him to make the cut?
Birthday Celebration
So I mentioned that my actual birthday was spent at Kyle’s qualifier. We did find an Outback Steakhouse on the way home and had a very yummy dinner. I was a bad blogger and didn’t take a photo, but was just so exhausted from the heat that day! I got the grilled shrimp with rice and bacon macaroni and cheese. The macaroni was SO good, but also so unhealthy, haha!
I opened my birthday presents ahead of time just because we were going to be gone, and it was so fun! Kyle got me the sweetest Warmies to add to my stuffies collection (still a 90s child at heart!), a pair of cozy Warmies slippers and a beautiful pair of new tennis shoes! I told him I wanted a neutral pair of On Clouds awhile back and then he got me these. I LOVE them! I have had a couple unfortunate stains get on them but I was able to get those out with some Dawn Powerwash spray.
My best friend Stephanie sent me Lord of The Rings themed presents and she went all out! She got me the books, all of the movies including The Hobbit prequels, a recipe book that has some fun stuff I’m excited to try soon, and a blanket with a LOTR quote on it.
Carrie from Curly Crafty Mom sent me the sweetest sourdough gifts with everything I need to get started on my sourdough journey. I’m so excited! I plan to start mine in the fall and will be sure to share that with you here. Check out her sourdough starter blog post if you’re interested in the process, that’s what I will be following and probably texting her 155345 times anyway when I get started, ha ha!
I also got the most thoughtful gifts from our dear friend Sherry! She got me these delicious coffee grounds that are locally made and roasted, along with an overnight face mask and peptide serum.
I’m so very blessed at 34! While the presents were wonderful, the most important thing to me are the people. I am so thankful God gave me a loving husband and I still have my mom, my older parents, and my sweet in-laws, and genuinely kind and supportive friends (that includes you reading this – thank you for being here with!).
My Older Mom’s 80th Birthday
*My family dynamic can be confusing in a hurry, but my older mom is my aunt who I consider my mom just the same as my bio mom. I’m a lucky girl to have both of them!*
My older mom turned 80 on the 9th of this month and that does not seem possible! If you knew her, you wouldn’t dream she was even close to 80. She and my dad get around so so well and are just very independent. I hope I can do the same at their age! One of my brothers and his partner came in for the week to celebrate with her and it was so wonderful. We went to Texas Roadhouse for her birthday lunch and they gave her this cute necklace! They brought her a chocolate dessert too but she absolutely hates the idea of them singing happy birthday to her (that’s a big thing there!), so we made sure they didn’t do that, haha.
Little Joys
Small moments that made this month feel warm, cozy, or meaningful.
Hummingbird Feeder & Flower Flourishing
I originally bought a smaller hummingbird feeder from Walmart and while it was adorable, it produced zero birdies and sadly the ants took it over. I love our home, but we have the woods out back and live in the buggiest place ever it seems like, so it just made it extra hard! Carrie recommended getting this hummingbird feeder because it was glass, has little perches (I had no idea they liked those, so thankful she told me this), and has a built-in ant moat at the top. Kyle hung it up for me a couple of weeks ago and within the first hour, we had our first visitor! I’ve named one of the males Reuben and the female Greenie, but haven’t named the other one we see. He’s such a cutie though and always sits and sort of admires the feeder before drinking, haha!
I know I’ve shared my flowerpot here before and have been really lucky about it growing well, but I noticed it was sort of stalling out. I asked ChatGPT what to do about it and it told me how to properly prune the zinnias and petunias. You might guess I was doing it wrong before! Anyhoo, it is really thriving big time now! I love being able to see it out of the office window along with the hummingbird feeder while working at my desk. It really brings me a lot of joy!
Lewis Bake Shop Buns
We’ve been trying to eat better at home and cut some calories when possible, so I was really excited to find these Lewis buns at Walmart. I sort of cringed before buying them because I wasn’t sure if they would be any good. I can tell you I was pleasantly surprised that they are actually delicious and SUPER soft! I started out with the hot dog buns and just picked up hamburger buns this week for pulled pork I made.
Peep sweet little CinnaBUN in the middle!
Cultivate Corner
Think intentions, small habits, new collabs, and routines.
Guest Posting on Curly Crafty Mom
For those of you who follow Curly Crafty Mom too, you may remember she was just on vacation. She was so incredibly kind to ask me to guest post over on her blog while she was away! I shared my most popular blog post with her which is my chocolate mayo cake, so be sure to hop over to her blog and check that out if you haven’t already! So many people in my life ask me to make it often and I promise that you can’t taste the mayonnaise in it!
YouTube Planner Videos
I shared my Laurel Denise July planner video earlier this month, and just shared a plan with me video with the Cultivate What Matters Fresh Start Weekly Goal Planner a couple of days ago. I had a sweet comment asking for the weekly planner video and was happy to get that out for her, and hopefully everyone else finds it helpful too!
Currently Reading, Watching & Loving
Things I’ve been loving, watching, reading, or reaching for lately.
Gilmore Girls
Carrie and I are strolling right through this show and it’s still really fun to chat about the episodes! We are about midway through season 4!
Aldi Finds
This one is more of a request than anything else! Our Aldi just opened up literally yesterday (no, I was not one of the 200 people camped out at the front door, but I did go this morning, haha!) and it is such a beautiful, spacious store. Sadly, I don’t know all the good stuff that is worth snagging because I’ve never shopped at one of those stores before. Do you shop at Aldi? Tell me all the secrets! Kyle has tried these chicken and maple snack sticks and knew he liked them, so I only picked those up along with a shopping bag for future use.
That’s a wrap on this month’s all the things, sweet friends! I hope you enjoyed this jam-packed July recap and I would love to hear how your month went. Wishing you a very blessed upcoming August and can’t wait to spend more of the summer with you here!
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