Hey friends!

I’ve been procrastinating on writing this post—I'll admit it. Last week we officially moved out of our temporary living situation and into our permanent home, and as you can imagine, it was a whirlwind. Between packing up, cleaning, and merging everything from Arizona and Texas into one house, it’s been a lot.

The good news? Unpacking went way faster than I expected. We don’t have anything on the walls yet (I don’t count that anyway), but most of the everyday essentials are in their places and actually usable—major win! I’m just so happy to be settled again and, honestly, I’ve been walking around with a very grateful heart. After everything, it feels so good to exhale.

To top it off, we’re going out for ramen with some friends tonight and I couldn’t be more excited—or more thankful to be surrounded by community again. It’s the little things, right?

On the kid front, KJ started school the very next week, so I was scrambling to make sure he had everything he needed. Thankfully it was only a three-day week, which gave us time to figure out all those “firsts”—like how long it takes to get there, the drop-off and pick-up process, and the school lunch sitch.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DNEdWX7zu-7/?igsh=MTB0Ym4zMWYyc2Zvbg==

I did manage to make a batch of Healthy Waffles to get us through the first month of school though!

PS Here are my go to school lunch supplies!

KK has his orientation next week and starts the following week, so he's been getting lots of one-on-one time with Mama. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how well he entertains himself without his siblings around to ~~play~~ fight with.

Things are starting to settle—well, as much as they can with three kids six and under and two working parents.

On the work front, I’m easing back in after a long break (the kids had HFMD right before the move), and truthfully, I’m dragging my feet a bit—even writing this post took some pep talking. I know I want to get back into a consistent rhythm with social media and blogging, so I’ve been thinking about what that looks like for me moving forward.

One thing I do know? I’ll be sharing at least 1–2 high-protein slow cooker recipes a month. That content has performed really well and it’s exactly what I need in this season of life: protein-packed, minimal-effort meals that are ready when we walk in the door after a busy day. I have a feeling a lot of other moms can relate.

If you have other requests for the rest of the year, I’d love to hear them! More air fryer meals? Sheet pan dinners? Quick throw-together recipes? Let me know what you’re looking for—I’m all ears!

The Hunting Wives

"The Hunting Wives" has been everywhere on my social feed as the hottest new Netflix show, so Mr. Hungry and I decided to see what the hype was about.

Whew. It’s a total train wreck—in the best way possible. The kind you just cannot look away from. Safe to say it’s the main reason we didn’t get nearly enough sleep this week… binge-watching one episode after another.

I’d give it a solid 10/10 if you’re in the mood for drama, scandal, and a little chaos. That said, it’s definitely not for everyone—so I recommend skimming the trigger warnings before diving in.

Insatiable Trilogy

My friend and I recently tore through the Insatiable series by Leigh Rivers and… all I can say is: move over fantasy romance, apparently dark romance is where it’s at.

Funny thing is, I read Butcher & Blackbird a while back and thought dark romance wasn’t for me—I borderline hated that book. So I went into Insatiable super skeptical. But wow. It totally flipped the script. We read it at the same time and flew through the trilogy—it was both of our first real intros to dark romance, and we were instantly hooked.

Here’s a taste of what you're signing up for:

In Insatiable, we meet Kade Mitchell and Stacey Rhodes—two emotionally scarred souls drawn into each other's orbit through layers of obsession, trauma, and survival, all with evocative, psychological tension as their past and present collide.
Then in Voracious, the stakes escalate. Stacey is desperate to escape abuse, while Kade is trapped in a twisted criminal underworld. Their connection deepens amid betrayal, manipulation, and everything in between.
Restitution continues this emotional rollercoaster and promises to deliver the final, heart-pounding chapter of their journey.

It shot straight into my top three series of all time, right up there with The Wolf Hotel series and, of course, ACOTAR.

When I recommended it on the blog, my aunt asked what I meant by “spicy,” to which I replied, “Things you can’t even imagine, ha!” And let me tell you—Insatiable might be the spiciest thing I’ve ever read. Especially that first book. Things definitely mellow out a bit in books two and three, but that intro? Not for romance beginners. bahahahahah

I’ll be honest, I didn’t read the trigger warnings—but I probably should have. This trilogy is darker than the pits of hell, no joke. But even with that… I could not put it down.

And now? Now I fully understand all the dark romance reader memes I see on the ‘gram. Y’all weren’t exaggerating.

There are several books by those Titles so find the right one on my romance Amazon list here.

Food Saviors

This Chicken Florentine from Costco paired with steamed veggies and protein pasta has been saving dinner time recently!

Healthy Breakfast Quesadilla

I've been making my healthy breakfast quesadilla on repeat for breakfast/lunch as well! I used to eat it daily, then took an extended break and now I think the obsession is back.

Amazon Favorites

This little athletic skirt is by the same Amazon brand I buy my cheap leggings from and it's so comfy, basic AF, and cute! It is pretty short, but has athletic shorts underneath. I don't think I'd actually work out in it, but it's great for Mom days around the house or running errands.

I swear my butt isn't that flat though ha ha

So moving means a lot of random purchases, here's what we've loved:

These non slip fish decals instead of moldy nonslip matts. They took 24 hours to install, but now they look so cute. (I've decided to full embrace that bathroom as kid only ha ha)

Light up flamingo chlorine pool floater - the kids love this so much more than I thought anyone could love a chlorine pool floater.
This bathmat rug - in front of the kids tub.
This kitchen rug runner I had saved in my reels forever and I love it as much as I thought I would (a lot.) Our floor is a light grey title so it adds some warmth and homeyness.

This bathmat for our guest bathroom, it feels homey but still fits with our very millennial grey color scheme! I also go this wicker toilet roll holder for that bathroom and now I want one for every single bathroom.
This under the rug matt, my husband was very adamant the boys have a place to wrestle so we bought a plush rug and matt, and it does seem safer than a normal rug for wrestling and couch wars.
I'm a sucker for kitchen organization, and while I have a lot of things already. I also got these cabinet door drink lid holder and pots and pans lid holders.
For the boys room, this Melissa and Doug toy chest has been a life saver. It took us less than 40 minutes to put it together and now there is no stress to "organize" groupings of toys which no one is doing anyway. Also it's too heavy for dumping so they can't dump it out they have to sift through it. It controls mess and looks great.

Fitness

My fitness has consisted of 10-20,000 steps a day trying to get things settled ha ha I was working out before that but struggled with time, consistency etc just purely do to not really having access to a gym when the kids were sick. That's what happens when you move. I'm getting back into the swing of things slowly!