The Roundup // May 2025 Edition

May was a lot. I haven't had such a busy month since September/October of 2023. While there were so many good things this month, I am hoping June slows down a bit because I am not a fan of going constantly like I have been.

My Bookshelf

I got the bug to re-read some books that were childhood favorites. My library had three books from the American Girl History Mysteries and then I grabbed my top four books in The Royal Diaries.

• American Girl History Mysteries: Night Flyers, Hoofbeats of Danger, & Secrets on 26th Street.
  
• The Royal Diaries: Cleopatra VII, Jahanara, Anacaona, & Anastasia.
  
• The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella. Intriguing and mind-twisting book! I'm not sure how I feel about it but I'm reading the sequel so it's at least good enough for that.
  
• The rest of the Orchard House Bed & Breakfast series by Heidi Chiavaroli. My library bought the rest of them and I'm SO EXCITED to read them.
  

Also, the next book in the Timeless series was released this month and I can't wait to get my hands on it :)

Things I'm Loving

• The Tigers. I just have no words. I've never seen this in my years as a fan and we are at the top or near it in so many categories. We are solid in all areas and doing this with a bunch of injured regulars! It's just so much fun!
• These chocolate muffins. I've made them twice and they are so good! I like to make a chocolate icing to put on top so they become like personal cakes more than muffins.
  
• A weighted sleep mask. I borrowed this from my mom and loved it so much! She has two so I got to keep it. I actually think it's making a difference in my sleep.
• Seeing my nieces and nephews in their school musical. Still living the dream over here that I get to do things like that!

Life Update

My grandmother had surgery right at the end of April and was in the hospital for two weeks. My mom stayed with her pretty much the whole time, so I was doing her cleaning, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner every night... I definitely had to pay special attention to my time management for those two weeks. Grammy came home on Mother's Day and is doing well but her recovery will be long. Thank you if you are one of the people praying for her!

I was not able to start my "dates with myself" this month due to all the craziness, but I still was surprised by how much I did for myself and how I made time to do things. In fact, one of my crazy weekends was made crazier because I said yes to one more thing. I was asked to go photograph my cousin's equestrian event. This added to an already packed day but I wanted to do it so I did. Other examples were going to a different church one Sunday, going to a hangout with Bible study, and a coffee date with two of my friends. I'm so glad I did them even when they added to a busy month.

Speaking of the Bible study hangout... it was because some members of our group went to New Zealand last year and the family they stayed with there came to visit here! They came to America for a trip but made Michigan one of their stops just to meet the rest of our Bible study! They were such a sweet family and I loved meeting them! The mom really blessed me and made me feel very seen.

Business News

One weekend I had FOUR photo events in two days! I had the Novella Sessions scheduled and a brand session (stay tuned for a blog post featuring that) and then last minute I got asked to photograph an equestrian event and confirmation at my church. It was fun but definitely a lot!

No new location visits this month (shocking, I know) but editing is starting to get going. I have a lot assigned to me but it's always waiting on the photographers to get the catalogue over to us.

Baby Chance born May 4th

This cluster of dandelions was begging for a photo

An absolutely stunning sunset. The God-rays were amazing!

Baby shower! It was too cute :)

We all coordinated! (It was more obvious in person :)

This shirt needs its own story time. We needed a shirt for a family activity that would fit all of us and we could cover in velcro. So I went to the thrift store. As I'm looking in the XL/XXL men's section, I find this shirt. This is the gym where we took a homeschool gymnastics class TWENTY YEARS AGO (this year is exactly twenty years). It's where we met some friends who were friends of ours for fifteen years; the mom was one of the ladies to start our homeschool co-op. To find this shirt, at a thrift store far from the gym, and this specific year is such a gift. It's the latest in a series of small things that feel like God is saying to me, "I see you". It's just a shirt (that we are basically destroying) but it's so much more to me.