Life Lately + Thanksgiving Ideas + New Meal Plans Live

Hello friends! I realized that it had been over a month since I last posted a Friday Favorites update on October 3rd. Definitely time for a life update. However, if you are looking for Thanksgiving ideas, I've got plenty for you!

And don't forget:

10+ Healthy Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers (my favorite part, lots of enchiladas on this list, ha ha)

My recipes are tried and true! Let me know if you plan to try anything!

WTE? Meal Plan

I missed updating a new meal plan last week (I'm a one-woman show over here, but I've got a new one up now for y'all!) I try to never miss more than one week in a row! I actually added this week and next week already! Get the links in the library of resources!

Kitchen Remodel Updates

Some of you may recall our little home renovation saga: we had a leak in the RO line valve that feeds the fridge, which managed to damage a significant portion of the kitchen cabinets and all the flooring in the dining room. When the counters were removed so the drywall and cabinets could be repaired, those were damaged too. It was… a whole thing.

The good news? Things are finally moving along, and we’re in the home stretch. Since the floors were already torn up, we decided to go ahead and fill in our sunken living room (something we’d wanted to do anyway). After that, we had to wait 2–3 weeks for the concrete to fully cure before the new flooring could go in — but it’s in now, and it looks amazing.

I thought I was going to be able to shoot a ton of recipes while we were still semi-functional in the kitchen… but the counters were removed much sooner than expected, and then the backsplash came off too. So instead of cranking out content, I may have gotten 2–3 recipes filmed before everything disappeared. Classic remodel timing.

Yesterday and today, the painter is here fixing and repainting the rooms that had drywall damage. Counters and the new sink are scheduled for Monday/Tuesday, so my total time without a functioning kitchen sink will end up being just under two weeks. Not terrible… not great… ha!

That Time Of The Year

After Hand, Foot & Mouth this summer, we were actually on a hot streak — no major illnesses from July through November. With three kids in school, I consider that a small miracle. But the streak ended in dramatic fashion when my oldest fell 6–8 feet at an indoor playground on his birthday. X-rays initially showed three compression fractures, but by the time we saw the spine surgeon, he felt confident it was more likely a bone bruise. He told us to come back in two weeks if it still hurt… and it didn’t. KJ is totally fine now, but it was terrifying in the moment.

That was the last week of October/first week of November, and things just kept rolling from there. Our whole family got hit with whatever mystery bug is going around — the one with the nausea, vomiting, and respiratory symptoms. Naturally, Mr. Hungry went out of town right then, and the kids started dropping like flies the very first night. I spent Thursday through Sunday juggling sick kids and remodel chaos until he got home.

I officially reached my limit when one child had a poop accident and then proceeded to slide down the stairs on their butt. When I tell you that Mr. Hungry walked in the door and I immediately walked out, I mean it. I picked up my best friend, and we headed straight to HomeGoods, Goodwill, and Postino so I could fully decompress.

Thank God I took that break, because that very night our two-year-old started with classic croup symptoms — the barking cough, the stridor, the whole thing — and it dragged on all week. She ended up needing an in-office steroid treatment, and then a three-day home course plus medication for an ear infection. It was… a week.

Ferritin / Iron Deficiency

One thing I completely missed when I ran my own functional blood panel earlier this year was my ferritin level. It came back at 25 — technically low — but everything else looked great, and I wasn’t having any symptoms, so I didn’t think much of it. We moved shortly after that, and in the chaos, I didn’t take the deeper look I would have taken for a client.

For context, ferritin’s laboratory reference range is huge — usually something like 13 up to 390 ng/mL depending on the lab. So technically, 25 isn’t “out of range.” But research consistently shows that optimal ferritin is much narrower: most people feel best between 50–70, and many athletes or heavy exercisers actually do better above 70. So in functional nutrition, a ferritin of 25 absolutely raises a flag, in fact, anything lower than 30 can be symptomatic.

A few weeks after the move, I started having these strange lightheaded, dizzy episodes that would come and go (I now think it would improve when I was consistent with supplements, then wane after my period and/or when I was less consistent.) Eventually, it got so bad that I felt like I might pass out while picking up my kids from school. I was spiraling, thinking the worst, while simultaneously trying to brush it off as anxiety… until I stopped myself and thought, “Okay, what would I check first if this were a functional nutrition client?”

That’s when it hit me — the low ferritin. I went straight to my doctor, and thank goodness she took it seriously. Not all practitioners recognize iron deficiency without anemia (meaning your iron stores are low even though your hemoglobin hasn’t dropped… yet), even though it’s well documented in the research.

She rechecked my labs, and my ferritin had crept up to 29, but still low enough that she recommended supplementation and aggressive hydration. It took about a week to feel even halfway better, two weeks to feel somewhat human again (with some rough days sprinkled in), and a full three weeks before I felt normal.

My symptoms were all over the place: heart palpitations, chest tightness, very mild shortness of breath (I noticed it walking up the stairs and thought, wow, I really need more cardio), dizziness that progressed from occasional to constant, massive anxiety, a weird sense of detachment, difficulty focusing, and major, major brain fog. I even had hot/cold intolerance — I’d drink something cold and immediately need sweatpants and a sweatshirt. It took a few Reddit boards for me to be convinced this severe of symptoms could be ferritin, but I found plenty of people in the same boat. It was wild. My goal now is to get my ferritin above 70, which is typically where people feel their best. Just wanted to pass it along in case it helps someone!

Gardening/Caterpillar Fun

I bought a basil plant from Sprouts and was so proud when I kept it alive a whole month! Then, some little friends started to eat it. We caught them and raised them. KJ is obsessed with bugs, so he had the BEST time.

Can you spot him below?

They were just your average moth, but still a lot of fun for the kids!

Random Eats

I've been loving these protein shakes for the extra dose of iron I get in them! It's plant-based iron, so not as absorbable, but still helps!

My bestie made me one of these Eat Royo bagels she got at Whole Foods, honestly they were so good and only 70 calories for the entire bagel!

We tried Birdcall in Gilbert. The food was okay, just okay. I personally wouldn't go back because I didn't think it was worth the $45 we paid for such a basic meal, but then again even Chipotle is like 30 bucks for a basic meal nowadays so IDK.