FriYAY! Head Starts & Slow Mornings 🌿🧘‍♀️

 Happy Friday, friends —

This week brought the perfect little pocket of breathing room.

I’ve been working from home the past two days and honestly? Productivity was the vibe. Checked off everything I needed to, with a few bonus to-dos for good measure. Sometimes a quiet space and a good coffee rhythm are all it takes.

Today was a scheduled rest day from both running and strength training, so I took my morning nice and slow — a little light yoga on the backyard pavers while the sun came up, just me, the birds, and a sky slowly stretching awake. I may have also walked on the treadmill afterward too just to get some additional steps in because, I can't sit still lol

The house is sparkling (thank you, past me, for deep-cleaning last night), and the weekend already feels a little lighter because of it. No sunrise miles today meant I could savor the quiet and start the day on my terms.

I swung by Publix after my lunch call and got some ingredients for a Italian chicken recipe with some red wine and I can't wait to toast to the weekend ahead. Matt's off this weekend, which means Sundays lunch plans will likely include a visit to Mr. Gordos after we run with our run group.

Here’s to clean spaces, strong boundaries, slower mornings, and weekends that start with intention.
We earned this one. 

You know what else I've earned? It's another book. Shouldn't shock anyone by now. I'm about to find out who killed Jimmy Peralta and once I've confirmed my suspicion on the unlikely killer with a secret motive, it will be time to get back in touch with H.D. Carlton with 'Hunting Adeline'

I read the first book, Haunting Adeline, last year — and let’s just say there were parts that were… a little too hot for daylight hours, if you catch my drift. Definitely not my typical genre, but H.D. Carlton knows how to hold a reader hostage (sometimes literally, sometimes emotionally — if you know, you know). It’s giving dark romance meets psychological thriller, with just the right amount of danger and dysfunction to make you question your taste in fictional men.

And speaking of questionable taste… let’s talk about Zade. In my mind, he is Ronnie Radke from Falling in Reverse — tattoos, eyeliner, brooding chaos and all. Matt is well aware that this is my imaginary goth boyfriend lol and honestly? He’s come to accept it. Marriage is about compromise, and sometimes that compromise is letting your wife read about fictional felons while sipping iced coffee under a storm cloud of her own making.

After dinner, you can find me nesting with a warm blanket, a candle that smells like “Blood Oath” (because of course it does), and finishing up my Jennifer Hillier before starting on part two of the dark saga — Hunting Adeline. I’ve heard it’s even more unhinged than the first one, and emotionally? I’m not sure I’m ready. But physically? I’ll be wrapped in my favorite blanket and daring the clouds to roll in.

Here’s to dark fiction, gloomy weather, and a weekend curled up with morally gray men and absolutely zero regrets.

🖤