Bump & Hustle

Perfect Doesn't Exist, But Co-Parenting Does: Why Family Is A Verb

Kat Inokai — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 06:11:10 GMT

Years ago, my ex-husband and I used to talk about how we were going to come through our divorce. We were going to write a book together about how to do it right. I was going to keep blogging on the topic. Maybe he would do a podcast episode with me about it. We could help people. We would be transparent and stay open in our relationship. We would always be friends. We would actively co-parent every step of the way. We aimed high, and I'm glad we did. Our separation agreement was written by...

Ghosts of Christmas Now: Dealing With Grief During The Holidays

Kat Inokai — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 04:34:51 GMT

Grief is a strange beast. It stops and blocks your path suddenly just when you've found a happy, heart-thumping pace, or t-bones you unceremoniously at light-speed, flattening you into a trauma pancake when you least expect it. I personally feel like Nostalgia and Grief hang out in the same circles. But while Nostalgia may make me more prone to watching 80's holiday specials with all the commercials on YouTube, occasionally misting over at my childhood and wondering at the passage of time;...

'Expert' Opinon

Kat Inokai — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 22:00:21 GMT

A few weeks ago I found a brand collab from years ago printed out in a stack of paper more than ready to shred. I remember I didn't book this one. It was a large brand looking for a 'disabled influencer/expert/advocate'. They had approached me directly, and we went a few rounds, but in the end it didn't pan out and I was glad for it. I thought a lot about these brand asks over the years. How I felt like I'd reached a milestone when I was first approached, and how I gradually grew confused as...

New Category For The Old Ceremony

Kat Inokai — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 03:51:06 GMT

Recently I started re-reading my old Bump & Hustle blog plosts. I've been writing it since 2010 and the journey covers a lot of ground. It's tone and content has shifted so many times, with stories about being a new mother, smatterings of small business, sharing my fertility journey, my general health, my marriage evolution and memories of our homes... and always with '5 tips' here and there! Of course there are generous sprinkles of outdated brand collabs before 'collabs' as a word were a...

A Shrinking World In A Blister Pack

Kat Inokai — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:44:49 GMT

I decided to try medication for my endometriosis. Provided it was endometriosis. The pain was at its worst a seasoned and chronic "8/10", snapping my eyes open at night, covering me in a blanket of sweat and twisting me into odd shapes as I clutched my side. At best it was a buzzing "4/10" that had me wearing my heating pad like a strangely crafted underwear at all times, while on every form of medication and leaning into every distraction and healing modality. I hadn't slept more than three...

The Knowing And Not Knowing Of It All

Kat Inokai — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 18:44:22 GMT

I have endometriosis. I didn't always know. But I knew something was off. I always had painful periods. I have had horrible cramps, horrible draining cycles, and later, experienced multiple miscarriages. Before I solved the riddle of my reproductive body, I was told by my ObGyn that I 'might' have adenomysosis but that there was no way to confirm that without a hysterectomy and a biopsy afterwards. This was back in 2008. I was told I didn't have endometriosis after an exploratory laparoscopy...

All The Things That Happen

Kat Inokai — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 22:15:12 GMT

It's like I can't remember the last few years. When did I have my surgeries? When did my dad die? When did I travel? The timing seems like it doesn't add up somehow and every single time I look back I wonder, is this a strange side effect of grief? Or depression? Is this still a neurological side effect of hemiplegic attacks? A cognitive blur or maybe my ADHD? An issue with my memory that just needs me to focus more? All of the above? I am usually so good with timelines, but the last few...

Meeting Me Now: Long Format Girl

Kat Inokai — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 16:57:53 GMT

It's not that I'm that different, but I am. It's that I used to instinctively, truly without thought, tell my story as a direct extension of what had just happened in my life. My brain effortless veered toward the words and the screen, and the ease of the spill-over was not something that I stopped to measure. When that changed, I became fixated on how to recapture that Me back. That brain back. One fluid motion - action, grab phone, tell story, post. Instagram was where I lived. That's how...

The Wall of Silent Words

Kat Inokai — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 15:02:13 GMT

For years now - four years now - I have been wanting to jump back in to the joy of sharing my story. I miss it. I miss the rolling of the words through my brain, scrambling off my tongue and onto the page. I miss humbly searching for the right order of things and the satisfying breath as language falls into place. I haven't had that in a long long time. In 2021 I shifted directions for a lot of reasons. My health was not great, but at the same time, that was what I was writing about....

Tween Secrets Revealed And Free Download!

Kat Inokai — Tue, 12 May 2020 20:13:05 GMT

Vee and I made a free download for you to play your own game of ‘what does your Tween really mean?’ Check it out!

Mother's Day Delivered: Last-minute Quarantine Gift Guide

Kat Inokai — Sun, 10 May 2020 01:36:25 GMT

This is for you last-minute Mother’s Day gift hunters- and yes, they all deliver to your door. You’re welcome!

Vegan, Gluten-free double cinnamon glazed donuts

Kat Inokai — Fri, 08 May 2020 12:53:30 GMT

2 of my favourite donut recipes to celebrate International No Diet Day. Content Warning: disordered eating As I talked about in my post about Blueberry Donuts with a Lemon Glaze, donuts in general used to be a trigger food for my diet brain. They used to set all manner of calculations spiraling – how many calories did I just eat? How much sugar was in that? And when my disordered eating intensified in my 20s, I would feel sheer panic and shame after eating even a bite of one. I would...

Riots not diets, and blueberry, lemon-glazed donuts for all!

Kat Inokai — Fri, 08 May 2020 12:50:58 GMT

2 of my favourite donut recipes to celebrate International No Diet Day The first time I was told to go on a diet I was 8 years old. I had made a national gymnastics team, and the first thing I had to do when I came to practice was step on a scale.⁣ ⁣ I was put on a strict ‘no carb’ diet to get my weight down so I could ‘present better’. ⁣ ⁣ My amazing grandma pulled me out of there so fast I didn’t even know what was happening, but the damage was done. ⁣ ⁣ “I […]

12 things to remember when you're having a tough day in quarantine

Kat Inokai — Fri, 08 May 2020 08:33:16 GMT

Tough day? You are not alone. Here are 12 reminders I lean on when I’m low – even when I’m not in quarantine. I hope they bring you some deep breaths and let you feel my virtual hand squeeze. 1. You are not less because you are doing less.⁣ ⁣ 2. Your world is not smaller because your view is smaller.⁣ ⁣ 3. You are allowed to feel things beyond the parameters of ‘I’m ok’ and ‘we’re fine’.⁣ ⁣ 4. You do not not need to snap out of it or feel better by anyone’s timeline, incl...

More Recipes Than Feelings. Go Figure.

Kat Inokai — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 08:13:13 GMT

When I started writing here, I thought I’d be turning to words as my solace. However it appears that I’m eating my feelings instead – and as someone who has struggled with disordered eating in the past, I can honestly say I’m glad for it. I just didn’t think I’d be more productive and experimental in the kitchen than with my writing. But I suppose this is yet another facet of myself that living through this bizarre time of physical distancing has shown m...

Vegan, Gluten-Free Tortillas

Kat Inokai — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 03:32:40 GMT

Otherwise known as my family’s answer to the cry of ‘WE NEED SOMETHING TO PUT STUFF IN’. Usually I meal plan. I do this for 2 reasons. One, it eases my compulsive planning brain, and second, it keeps me on budget. But let me just say that this whole COVID-19 thing has been filled with unexpected consumption rituals that have us straying from carefully prepped meals and instead has us scarfing down many many warm -often sweet – carbs. (Check out my drool-worthy, vega...

Drool-worthy, Vegan, Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls

Kat Inokai — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 22:52:01 GMT

Ok. I am by no means a recipe blogger. I’m just not. I’m one of those people who will google a recipe halfway through attempting it with no direction whatsoever, who then gets pissed off that a writer has included the entire history of pizza in what is supposed to be a simple how-to. What can I say? I’m a cut to the chase kind of gal. Not knowing the history of cinnamon rolls, or why they are so damn addictive, I will keep my story super short. COVID-19 has me baking a lo...

Try, Try, Again

Kat Inokai — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 02:20:24 GMT

I never thought I’d be launching a new blog in the middle of a global pandemic, but here we are. Poof. And just like that, 10 years of my writing disappeared. It’s amazing how quickly things can change; how the elusive bonds that tether us to what we define as ‘us’ can dissolve. My old blog, thebumpandhustle.com, got lost in the ether in the weirdest hosting mishap. When I’m ruminating and my brain stumbles to the ‘why’ of it all, I can only conclu...