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.
Thanks Melody, I appreciate that so much, this feels like a void that’s never going to be filled, but thankful for all the time we did have both of our cats. It really was a neat experience to do together, and I’ll be cheering him on the next tournament! Wishing you a wonderful weekend! 🙂
So good to catch up with your my friend! That is so cool that your husband tried to qualify for the Open. He must be an incredible golfer. Glad you stayed at a cute place and got some great food. I love all the wildlife in our yard too. Brings use closer to God, don’t you think? I would love an Insta reel on your planner. Have a wonderful summer and can’t wait to see what you share next.
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
Aww, thanks my dear friend, I so appreciate that and he really is fantastic. I know it’s all going to click one day and he’ll be out there where he belongs on the tour! I absolutely agree with you about nature bringing us closer to God, it is just so peaceful watching those sweet babies outside and to think that He created it all! Wishing you an amazing summer too Kathrine, and so so blessed to call you my friend!
I know how hard it is to get the motivation to do things after a going through a tough period, but I hope all the small things like revamping your shower, catching up with your father in law and enjoying the wildlife in your garden are bringing you joy.
I have no idea about golf, and I don’t think I’ve read this before, but is Kyle a keen golfer? Do you often travel with him to tournaments? It sounds like you’ve had the chance to visit quite a few different places over the years.
Sarah
http://www.oomphlondon.co.uk
Thank you so much Sarah, I truly appreciate that and I think all those little things are really helping and I’m trying to just take things one day at a time – which is hard me because, well, anxiety, haha! Aww, I know I seem a little biased as his wife, but yes, he’s very good at golf and has played a lot of tournaments. Usually I’m not the caddie so this was a major difference, but have had the pleasure of joining him a lot of the years and it is just incredible to watch him play.
Hope you’re having an amazing week, my friend! 🙂
I understand that and how you take things slowly because of anxiety. For me, I tend to do less since lockdown and now find myself feeling anxious over things I never used to.
It must be so nice to get out and watch him, I hope you had nice weather throughout to do that. It looks nice from your photos 🙂
Covid was such a scary time, I definitely get that and it really changed my perspective on things for sure.
Thank you SO much, it was such a blessing to be there and yes, I have to say it was beautiful and am so thankful! 🙂
Oh Ashley, I love how you’re finding joy in the tiniest backyard moments while still honouring your grief. Your Summer Reset series sounds like the cosy, low-pressure kind of reset my tired millennial heart has been craving.
Thanks so much Candice, I am doing my best over here while missing my precious cats. I know you know this grief all too well, it’s hard to lose our fur babies. Thank you SO much about the summer reset series, I hope you’ll really enjoy it and you’ll start seeing some posts soon for that!
The US Open Qualifier must have been an amazing experience for both of you, even if Kyle didn’t make it this time, and it looks like you had a wonderful stay and an amazing dinner! I’m really glad that your father-on-law is doing so well and that you managed to get lunch together – he must be so proud of Kyle too.
I am looking forward to your summer reset series, too, and that planner looks like the perfect accessory.
Julia x
https://www.thevelvetrunway.com/
Yes, it was so so fun to do it together and I foresee it happening again in the future if he can put up with me caddying again! 🙂 Thank you so much Julia, I appreciate you and all of your support, can’t wait to share the summer reset posts soon!
If you ever add a curtain to your shower, Wayfair has some really cute and inexpensive ones. I get my liner from Amazon usually and have reordered it multiple times. My big thing is the magnets have to do their job!! I hate weak magnets on shower liners! And, I noticed you left out the snake photos!!! And I’m glad you did! Good grief! The golf qualifier and all the food looks like the highlight of the month (besides the cute chippies). I feel like Kyle takes you on golf trips a lot and a I take Brian on race trips! Ha ha!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Thank you for the heads up on Wayfair, I’ll remember to start there! I would like a matching curtain, I think it just looks cuter. Our other bathroom has a pretty liner and curtain, but for some reason I just never got around to this one that we use every day, haha! I didn’t even share the snake(s) debacle on IG stories, I figured no one else needed a potential heart attack, although you were lucky enough to get all sorts of photos and videos in real time, ha ha, I’m so sorry! Yes, that’s exactly right about the trips! 🙂 Thanks so much my friend!
I’m so glad that you had some great moments in May. It’s so great to hear you speak so highly of your spouse.
I’m sorry to hear about your cat. I hope you’ll be blessed with another fur baby soon.
I’ve started to create planners. It’s been a fun activity. I haven’t gotten them fully live yet because I’m still working out kinks as I learn. But I think you’ll like them too once I conquer it. 😉
Aww thank you Crystal, I am so so blessed to have him, God is good! I really hope the right fur baby comes along for us someday in the near future, both of ours were rescues so I can see him/her finding us instead of the other way around, haha. Oh that is SO incredible that you’re creating your own planners, I love that, I will definitely check them out once they’re posted!! That is so exciting! 🙂
I always enjoy these monthly catch-up posts! I’m glad your mom’s stress test went well, and I had to smile at you adopting the neighborhood critters as honorary pets. The chipmunk and black cat sound adorable! I’ve never seen chipmunk babies!
That makes me so happy Laura, I always look forward to yours too!! Haha, I’m becoming some crazy backyard obsessed lady with these sweet babies outside. The chipmunks have my heart! We never had them here until this year, which is so odd, but they’re just adorable and make me so excited every time I see them!
All of the food looks so good!
Jennifer
https://curatedbyjennifer.com
Thanks so much Jennifer!!
It’s always important to find joy in the smallest things, especially after going through a tough time. I hope you’re doing ok! The food at the hotel you stayed at looks tasty, and it looks like May has been good for you. Here’s to a good June!
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Thank you so so much Lucy, I appreciate you so much and I am doing well. I really think things are brightening up around here! 🙂 Yes, I love that and am wishing you a fantastic June as well! It’s my hubby’s birthday month and July is mine, so those are two fun things at least!!
What an amazing experience for your husband to do the Open qualifier! And you being his caddy is so cool too! All of the food looks delicious and is making me hungry! lol. We have so much wildlife in our backyard and I love it!
Jill – Doused in Pink
Thanks so much Jill, I so agree, I loved being there with him! We really get a lot of cute little critters out there and while I always enjoyed them even when we had our precious cats, I definitely have fell in love with them more since then!
Great recap 🙂
Aww thanks so much Kinga!! 🙂 Always enjoy your recaps too!!