
Are you ready for all the things from May?
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
I made the joke to Carrie that this month’s recap is probably just going to be wildlife from the backyard and some food…that may not be too far-fetched! Things have still felt a bit heavy around here, but definitely some lighter parts are shining through too. I’m really trying to get my groove back (is that a thing?) and reset for this summer.
I’m getting a little more in the rhythm of sharing on Instagram stories and posts here as well, and truly want to continue that trend into being more consistent. I miss you guys when I’m not here chatting with you!
So grab your coffee (or fave beverage!) and let’s dive into all the things from May!
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.
US Open Qualifier


You may remember me mentioning Kyle’s qualifier last month, it actually fell the weekend after I posted it so I’m still including it here in May’s post. While I so wish I could tell you he made it, I can still tell you how much he grinded it out and worked hard the entire time! I’m so proud of him! The course was set up like a beast and a few holes got away from us with a bunch of water. I really enjoyed being his caddie though and tried to encourage him along the way.
I only almost dumped his clubs once, they nearly turned over on a hill, but I quickly learned I had to hold the top of the bag as I was pushing the cart, haha! Always something kooky! There are officials everywhere making sure you stay up with the pace, but I think I made friends with a couple of them!
I couldn’t take photos the day-of his qualifier, so the ones above are just from the practice round. We got to ride in a golf cart that day, but I was busy taking notes for him.


I took a couple snaps of our beautiful hotel room, we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express and it was super nice and comfy! We ate dinner the night before his qualifier at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, it was so delicious! Kyle thought my eyes were bigger than my stomach by ordering the lobster queso and chips, but we ended up eating the whole thing, haha! I love lobster! My plate was the steak and scalloped potatoes, and he got steak with street corn.
All The Food


Would it really be one of my lifestyle recaps without food? Of course not!
Kyle is doing so well with eating better and I’m trying to follow suit, but not as well as him, haha. I splurged on the pizza and fried pickles you see above, it was delicious! I usually just get banana peppers on my pizza, but this one had pepperoni, sausage, and bell peppers.
We had some wings for Memorial Day weekend along with jalapeno poppers I made (I use the 1/3 less fat cream cheese and then mixture of breadcrumbs and garlic powder sprinkled on top). A couple of days ago, I made my super-duper easy beef and noodles. I really need to get that recipe on here because they are delicious and fast! I just use no yolk noodles, a container of Hormel beef tips (time saver and delish), and a package of beefy onion seasoning (gives it big flavor, I use this seasoning a lot in other recipes too).
By the way, see the little glove by the chopped veggies? Kyle got me these cut-resistant gloves because I was so prone to nicking myself with knives and they are amazing!
Little Joys
Small moments that made this month feel warm, cozy, or meaningful.


My father-in-law and I usually have lunch once a week, however, this year has been off to a bit of a wonky start. He had his cancer treatment through the bulk of earlier this year (he is doing so well now!), and I’ve been a little swamped with parents’ appointments and different things popping up. Yesterday we went to a dairy bar that is very popular that I hadn’t been to before. I got a beef BBQ sandwich with fries, it was delish, and Kyle told me it was a crime not to get a milkshake, haha, I got a small mountain dew instead.


I know someone is shaking their head like, this girl has lost it. You’d be right, haha! I miss our cats so so much. The 27th made three months since we had to put our sweet Draino girl down, and so I’m really hooked on the wildlife in the backyard. Pretty sure it’s turning into the animal planet!
I know I’ve shared little Alvin the chipmunk with you before here, but turns out that Alvin is a girl. She had babies! I call her Mommy Alvin because I just can’t call her anything else after all this time. They are absolutely adorable! I will save you all the sketch details, but we had two snakes go into their tree stump and it was a whole thing, so they’ve scattered a bit and I usually just see one or two now.
We also had one of our precious bunnies (they’re wild rabbits, I’m just claiming them as my own!) get hit in front of the house a week ago. I sobbed the entire time going out to pick it up, it was awful! But I didn’t want the birds to pick away at it and have to look at that all day either.
Cultivate Corner
Think intentions, small habits, new collabs, and routines.
Summer Reset Series

I’m finalizing some details for a new series to share with you next month! I’m calling it the Summer Reset series. It’s going to dive into romanticizing your summer, setting summer goals that are not overwhelming yet help you stay on track with big picture goals, new meal planning and recipe ideas, and more! This series came to me when I was gifted this beautiful Cultivate What Matters Fresh Start Weekly Goal Planner, and also because if you’ve followed along with my lifestyle recaps this year – it’s been a rough one! I could really use a reset.
I’ve already got a YouTube video flipping through all the pages so you can see it first-hand if it’s something you’d like, and next I actually want to go through the prep work with you along with my summer goals! If you decide to check out Cultivate’s planners or accessories, you can use my code MAKELIFEMARVELOUS to save 10% on your order of $25 – but right now you can use their code REDWHITEBLOOM to save 25% sitewide, so do that if it’s still working when you’re viewing this!
I’m trying to figure out what I should share here on the blog for you versus what to share on YouTube or socials. I don’t want to bore people here with a bunch of video content because I think it’s kind of a different audience that prefers video versus reading posts.
Should I still break down some of the info from the video into pictures and then write out a blog post here for you? I’m thinking snippets over on Instagram that shares where to find more of that content, kind of like what I did in this Instagram reel for the planner. Very excited to hear your genuine thoughts!
One New Small Improvement


That’s a wrap on this month’s all the things, sweet friends! I hope you enjoyed this little post and can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments. Did you have anything fun happen this month?







Losing a pet leaves such a massive void, so it makes total sense that you are fiercely protecting and loving your backyard wildlife right now. Caddying at a U.S. Open qualifier sounds like an incredible experience, even if those water holes sneaked up on you guys.