Monthly Recap | May 2025

BOOKS

Reading Stats of May

• Books read: 9
• Number of pages read: 2,891
• Average star rating: 3.4
• Average time to finish a book: 7.6 days
• Format breakdown: 44% audiobooks, 33% print books, 22% e-books
• Genre breakdown: 78% fiction, 22% nonfiction
• # of DNFs: 1 (When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon)
• Audiobook reading: 36 hours, 13 minutes (actual listening time: 21 hours, 33 minutes)

Reading Superlatives of May

• The best book I read in May: The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
• The worst book I read in May: Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly
• The book I thought I would love more than I did: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
• The book that lived up to the hype: Look Closer by David Ellis
• The most disappointing read: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)

1. The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
2. Look Closer by David Ellis (audiobook, 2022) ★★★★★
3. The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation by Suzanne Stabile (e-book, 2022) ★★★★☆
4. Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean (e-book, 2010) ★★★★☆
5. The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆ 1/2
6. Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan (print, 2025) ★★★☆☆ 1/2
7. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (print, 2023) ★★☆☆☆ 1/2
8. Lease on Love by Falon Ballard (audiobook, 2022) ★★☆☆☆
9. Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly (audiobook, 2023) ★☆☆☆☆

MEDIA

• The Amazing Race, seasons 2 and 3 (Paramount+) – It’s been fun to revisit the early seasons of The Amazing Race. So much drama and fighting! And so much old-school technology. In one episode of season 2, one of the contestants convinces a woman to give him her cell phone and said he would mail it back to her. Damn! (I also giggled during one challenge where the contestants used a digital camera to get a picture of themselves in front of a landmark, and then had to find a photo shop to print out the photo.)
• Survivor 47 (Paramount+) – I was satisfied with the winner of this season, even though I really wanted someone else to win. But it was a fun season, even if superfans found it a bit boring.
• New Girl, season 2 (Hulu) – I finished season 2! Nick and Jess, Nick and Jess! A Taylor Swift cameo! I’m looking forward to moving on to season 3 soon.
• Dirty Dancing (Fandango) – All of the heart-eyes for this movie! I understand why so many people love it, and young Patrick Swayze can get. it.
• Over Under Achievers (podcast) – I had deleted this podcast from my feed a while ago since it seemed like all of their episodes were behind a paywall and I didn’t feel like coughing up the money. But they must have changed course because now all of their episodes are free again, so I’m very happy to listen to them talk about sports and pop culture and Survivor and other nonsense.

MONEY

Favorite purchase of May: 

The girls’ newest scratching sleeper – I don’t know what to call these items, other than a scratching sleeper. It’s basically a big scratching pad that had a small indentation in the middle, perfect for curling up and sleeping. While I personally do not think sleeping on a scratching pad would be particularly comfortable, the cats definitely do. They use the sleeper daily and sometimes fight over who gets to sleep in it. So I bought a second one with flamingos all over it, and they are very happy. You can see both sleepers in the picture above. Eloise is lying on the new flamingo sleeper, and the other one is behind her. (I usually find these at Home Goods or TJ Maxx, FYI!)

Most delightful little indulgence of May: 

Felt-lined dice cup ($7) – We love playing Yahtzee during game night, but I despise how loud the plastic cup is when you’re shaking the dice around. Plus, in the game we recently bought, the cup can’t even stand up on its own! (Design flaw.) So I paid $7 for this felt-lined dice cup, and it makes those Yahtzee games so much nicer.

Most regrettable purchase of May: 

Boxing gloves cat toy ($9) – I bought this toy as part of the girls’ birthday present, and they could care less about it. I hung it up and tried to get them to play with it, but they just looked at me like I was crazy. Win some, lose some.

Number of books purchased in May: 8

• The Names by Florence Knapp (BOTM)
• Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin (BOTM)
• The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (BOTM)
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Barnes & Noble)
• The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi (Barnes & Noble)
• Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (Barnes & Noble)
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters (Barnes & Noble)
• People Person by Candice Carty-Williams (Barnes & Noble)

Best recommendation:

Mystery coloring book ($10) – I mentioned this coloring book in one of my TGIF posts, and I am here to give it my whole-hearted recommendation. I am obsessed with this coloring book. It is so much fun to use and I keep it open on my dining room table so I can color a little bit at a time. I will say that the boxes that you need to color in are quite small, so it could be aggravating for some people to use. But I’m loving it so much!

BLOG/PODCAST

On the blog, I gave you some of my mundane bathroom details, based on a post from Diane. I wrote When Hard Work Pays Off, which is about what I did to help improve my bloodwork numbers. I also invited you to take a tour of my bookshelves and shared my new Admin Sundays routine.

On the podcast, we released two episodes. First, we released an episode about motherhood from the perspective of two childless women in their thirties. This was a very spicy episode because neither Bri nor I are interested in having children, and we have some very particular ideas why. I was heartened that two friends (who are mothers themselves!) reached out to say how much they loved the episode. I was really worried we were going to hurt some feelings!

And we released an interview with one of Bri’s friends, Jackie. She’s an enneagram 4 and a surgeon, and I was very surprised when I learned her enneagram number! (Enneagram 4s are the “feelers” of the enneagram and tend to be more creative types.) This episode was interrupted multiple times by Jackie’s cat, Tootles, and he was very pleased with his podcast debut.

JOURNAL

Samples from my One Line a Day journal

• May 1, 2025 – My bloodwork came back! Fasting glucose is normal, A1C is down, and cholesterol is normal. Oh, happy day!
• May 2, 2025 – So much anxiety last night. I wonder if my Lexapro taper is kicking in? Starting Prozac today.
• May 10, 2025 – Saw a horrific accident near Starbucks. I hope everyone is ok.
• May 12, 2025 – Met up with Amber and Mom to do more London planning. The itinerary is coming together.
• May 18, 2025 – My first drag show! It was so much fun and so beautiful to see the queer community celebrated.
• May 19, 2025 – Vet appointment for Eloise. She gained a pound – yay! But she needs dental work – boo.
• May 21, 2025 – New fave routine: HIIT class and then going into Publix for a Dr. Pepper and candy bar.
• May 24, 2025 – A fun day with Mom! We did a lot of shopping and then ordered pizza and watched Dirty Dancing. <3
• May 27, 2025 – Met Moose, Mark’s new dog! He is so sweet and lovable. He kept bringing us toys to play with!
• May 28, 2025 – Eloise’s is officially a Banfield cat! $650 a year for their wellness plan, which includes dental cleanings.

Previous years:

• May 3, 2022 – Grandma would have been 80 today. I miss her so much. I can’t believe she’s been gone for 6+ years.
• May 10, 2023 – Met up with the girls to celebrate Katie’s birthday. Told them that I’m bi and have a girlfriend!
• May 30, 2024 – We saw Nate Bargatze! He was amazing!! We also explored NOLA – aquarium, brunch + drinks. A good day!

SUPERLATIVES

• This month’s chapter title: New Experience, New (Fur) Nephew
• Weather notes: HOT. It’s summer in Florida. Most days have highs in the low 90s with 60% (or greater) humidity.
• Favorite meal/snack: I had a delicious sandwich at a new-to-me place this month. It had this amazing aioli spread and then the bread itself was so good. Yum, yum!
• Something I learned: The best way to remove period stains from fabric (ugh).
• An unexpected delight: My brother adopting another dog! They didn’t expect to, but Moose fit in so well with their family (and other dog, Cici) and needed a loving home.

What’s the best book you read in May? What has the weather been like where you are?