Dating Show, Hostel Life + June 100 Challenge - May 2025 Life Recap
Monthly check-in for people who, like me, like to snoop on others' lives.
Towards the start of every month, I share a look back at the previous one. It’s a fun way to share behind the scenes of my goals while staying accountable to reflection!
May’s Recap ✍️
Theme was: “Life Comes First.” ✌️I knew I was going to be traveling, working events, and squeezing in opps. So I started the month reminding myself that those Life Things had to be prioritized over work. And that’s okay.
I tried to be proactive with my scheduling, email auto-responders, and slower deadlines. And just having that motto in the back of my mind gave myself some grace to let the work pile up a bit while I got to spend time with friends and family instead! Worth it.
Big wins: Recertified my Wilderness First Responder. Closed out the storytelling night season and hosted both a sustainable tourism summit and a comedy show (and got to spend the day running around with 2 pro comedians!). A Mount St. Helens summit. 🌋Kicking off the summer concerts I emcee. Running and hiking around Moab, a former home (and still soul home). And, of course, two weddings of amazing friends and a bachelorette party of another amazing friend. #blessed
Challenges: No free weekends! 😫 Every day was accounted for in May. The one weekend day that was partially open, I ended up cleaning out the garage and doing yard work. And now I have a TON of garage-found items that I’m looking to sell or give away, and we all know that listing shit on the classifieds is another part-time job. Phew, I’m tired. (Also, my car broke. And now I’m on the hunt for a pickup truck. LFG.)
Core 4 and Angie 3.0 progress: If you’ve been following along since the new year, I hope it’s cool to see that by now, 3 of my “I wish I did that” behaviors have become mostly second nature: eating before coffee #2, outdoors by 11am, and now, “sun before screens.”
But where I’m wobbling just a bit is my 2025 word of “spacious.” Obviously, my May recap isn’t that spacious. 😉BUT, I’m finding ‘lil nooks within days to add a teeny bit more space/breathers, and it feels better than last year. I think that starting in Q3 (woah), I’ll refresh my Core 4 to add a behavior that encourages more spaciousness… Ideas?!
50M race training progress: It was all fun and games until last week… I started my 50 miler running plan right after my bike race, and it was actually less cardio than I’d been doing, so most of May felt like a recovery month. 🏃♀️
But last week’s 2.5 hour long run made me realize WE DOING IT. It was warm, brushy, buggy, muddy… all the late spring elements smacking me in the face to welcome me back to warm season ultrarunning. :) That said, I’m so stoked for this training. Race is end of August!
Best thing I spent money on: Opting for a hostel instead of a hotel! In an 8 day period I attended 2 weddings and a bachelorette party. One of the weddings was in Moab (yay), where hotels can run $250-300+ a night (gah). 💸
I stayed in the hostel before in a shared room with a friend and for $16/night, it was fine. I did upgrade to a private room (actually a little cabin with a bed) and shared bathrooms just a short walk away for $48/night. I am SO happy I saved those hundreds.
Worst thing I spent money on: Since last fall, every handful of weeks I order a box of easy recipe meals from Hungryroot (food delivery). They’re pretty quick but tasty meals to put together during those weeks when I literally can’t even and don’t make time to eat a great, filling meal (or buy groceries. Like, I can’t survive on microwaved quesadillas long term.) 🍎
Anyway… Lately it’s been losing its glow. The box I got last week was $226.74, giving 6 lunches/dinners and 1 breakfast (for 2 people, sometimes with leftovers). BUT. There was a leaky hummus, smooshed arugula, 2 missing items, and still $226. I think I’m kinda over it and want to find a better way to find ease and convenience without paying the extra… Might go back to my grocery pickup summer plan!
New in the media:
Trip reports: Mount St. Helens and Dog Mountain tips
Hosted: What it Takes to Paddle 2,000 Miles to the Arctic with a Friend (and Write a Book About It!) with Natalie Warren | See Her Outside Podcast
Solo’d: The Biggest Mistakes I Made While Building My Business | Shiny Objects Podcast
Trip reports: Mount St. Helens and Dog Mountain tips
June’s Focus
Theme: “Fun as a Metric.” - I have some Big Things on the June cal. And I don’t want the work ones to only be focused on financials. I don’t want the training plan to only be focused on miles. I don’t want the stress of planning outdoor trips to take away from the joy. Instead, this month, I want EVERYTHING to consider FUN as a guiding metric, too! 🎉
Excited for:
Co-directing an all-women’s marathon!
Rafting the Rogue River!
2 MORE weddings in June!
My annual bike-n-wine around town silly day with friends in costume!
Needing to buy a new car OMG don’t get me started!
THE JUNE 100 CHALLENGE! Join me in combining outdoor movement, storytelling and charity! 💪👀🌲
Looking for:
Applicants to the weirdest thing I may ever do: The Gorge Dating Show! (For folks local to the Gorge, apologies to exclude faraway friends on this one!)
Outdoor orgs, travel companies, and guiding services who need better menstrual cycle materials for their trips and adventures! 🩸 Tell me who needs this!
Work together:
Free workshop I’m hosting: Use Your Adventure for Your Career Goals 💻
Gorge: Buy a ticket for Cocaine Yogi and come to The Dalles’ inaugural Gorge Speakeasy
Sign up for the Wild Woman Marathon, 50k, Half Marathon, or Relay!
If you’re a woman looking to launch your own website or other public platform this summer, reach out, I may have something helpful! ❤️
May Snapshots
7 photos from the month…
My Q’s for you…
What’s your #1 question when it comes to menstrual cycles during outdoor adventures?
What’s your max on how many weddings you’ve attended in a year?
What are your favorite pickup trucks vs. what to avoid?
Next week you’ll get my radically honest answers to the nosiest questions you can ask me… So go ahead!: