I quit my afternoon coffee. Not because I wanted to — because I found something better.

You know that wall you hit every day around 2–3 PM? I used to just accept it as the cost of doing anything. Another coffee, a quick spike, then the crash — and somehow I'd still feel dehydrated by dinner.

Then I tried X·E Fountain, Pique's brand-new electrolyte energy drink, and I genuinely wasn't ready for how good "no crash" could feel.

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The cucumber-celery-lime flavor is so crisp and refreshing — it's basically stolen my afternoon coffee slot completely.

For launch, get 15% off for life

Hullo, friends.

I’m determined to live life more intentionally. What’s even more important… is the living.

For years, I was in survival mode. And there’s little joy to be found in that kind of existence.

So, I’m resetting my nervous system. (By implementing the Phoenix Reset Challenge. It’s FREE to join! And I practice what I preach, so you’ll see me posting my progress.)

I’m taking a long look at what is and isn’t working in my life. And as much as I still miss my sweet girl, I’m finding joy in all the changes I’m making.

I have no doubt they’d all be Kenna approved. Why? My life has a lot more pink.

🩷 Nicole

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered gnocchi.

Naturally, I mean this in the sense that I decided it could be a lower gluten pasta option and was readily available in the grocery store. So I made it. Having never eaten it previously, I created a mediocre butter garlic and parmesan version.

Then Jennie and I went to Crave while we were in Myrtle Beach, and we ordered gnocchi in vodka sauce with shrimp and burrata.

The vodka sauce was so flavorful. The gnocchi were like tiny potato pillows in my mouth. And the burrata fed my soul.

So when I decided on a recipe for this week, obviously, I wanted to recreate it.

Here’s the thing. I think many of us don’t ever think about recreating restaurant meals, like the chef holds the magic spoon and a degree from the Cordon Bleu.

Fortunately, restaurants practically hand us the cheat code. It’s often right in the name of the dish: Gnocchi in Vodka Sauce with Barrata.

This was not a Da Vinci Code situation.

So, armed with the ingredients list, I bought what I needed and made my own version. We had shrimp with it at the beach, but I wanted to try it with proscuitto.

And yes, the burrata matters.

It softens the saltiness of the prosciutto. It makes everything creamier. It turns perfectly good gnocchi into the kind of dinner where you sit there thinking, Oh. Well. Look at me making restaurant food in my kitchen.

After tasting the dish, decided I probably didn't even need the prosciutto next time, but no matter what:

Buy the burrata.

Not just literally. Figuratively too.

How many times have we quietly decided not to do or try something?

We make excuses for waiting like…

Someday.

We become incredibly skilled at postponing ourselves.

And I understand why.

Life wears you down.

Sometimes it feels less like juggling plates and more like juggling flaming chainsaws while someone stands nearby asking whether you remembered to switch the laundry.

We move from deadline to deadline.

Problem to problem.

Emergency to emergency.

Eventually, something subtle happens.

We stop wanting things.

We stop dreaming.

We stop asking ourselves what might feel good because we're too busy figuring out what absolutely has to happen next.

Survival becomes a lifestyle.

We forget this life is too precious to be merely survived.

I know that in a way I desperately wish I didn't.

I thought I had more time with Kenna.

There was no warning that an ordinary day would divide my life permanently into Before and After.

And grief has made me think differently about time.

Sure, I procrastinate and scroll like everyone else, but I’ve made a conscious decision to not only live, but live well.

I refuse to renovate the same room twice because I was afraid to choose what I actually wanted the first time.

I won’t eat food I don't enjoy simply because it's familiar.

I no longer postpone the trip, the project, the conversation, the ridiculous hobby, the afternoon with someone I love, or the thing that makes me light up because joy must be earned.

Years ago, I read an essay by Robert Fulghum about a man who complained about his lunch every day.

Finally, Fulghum asked him who packed it. Ready?

The man packed himself a lunch he didn’t enjoy every single day.

And the solution seems obvious.

If you don't like your lunch, pack a different lunch.

We do this too. Maybe not with lunch.

Pause for a moment. Think about something that you’re unhappy about. Now, consider how to improve the situation.

We circle the answer.

We trip over the answer and curse at it.

And still somehow miss it.

Pack a different lunch.

Buy the burrata.

Don't survive so well that you forget to live.

Last night my daughter Rachel and I talked about grief.

About Kenna.

About everything we wished had happened differently.

And the reality is… nothing can be changed.

No amount of guilt will give us another chance to revise an ending that has already been written.

So what’s the answer?

Build a life free from regrets.

Paint the wall the color you actually wanted.

Make the call.

Try a new hobby.

Try something new because it delights you.

It doesn't have to be expensive, dramatic, or Instagram worthy.

It just has to be yours.

Because there will always be another deadline.

Another bill.

Another problem demanding attention.

Life will never officially announce:

📣 Congratulations. You may now begin enjoying yourself!

So we have to let joy live alongside everything else.

And every now and then, when something small would make an ordinary dinner feel a little more delicious—

buy the damn burrata.

Ingredients

Instructions

That’s it. Pick a protein, skip it entirely, or make it your own.

⚡ The burrata is not optional emotionally. 😂

The Phoenix Reset Challenge is your gentle reset system for rebuilding from burnout, heartbreak, overwhelm, or a season that changed you.

It’s here when:

With the Phoenix Reset Challenge, you stop spinning in overwhelm—and start rebuilding with calm, clarity, and momentum.