Hannah Morrison

Dresses for Every Summer Occasion

Can you believe it’s summer, y’all? It’s time to whip out those beach towels and swimmies, and your favorite summer dresses. Here in Texas it’s a good day if we are under 95 degrees, so I can assure you I pretty much live in my swimsuit or a light dress from now clear through September. I love summer brunch on the patio in a cute, flowy dress. Or shopping in a cute maxi that’s easy to run around in. And, it seems we always have so many weddings that vary in formality during the summer! I love a good casual wedding as much as I love a more formal attire wedding. (Have I ever mentioned before how much I just love weddings?) I have curated my favorite dresses for you, from casual summer days out and about to those summer weddings! Everything in the “Middle Ground” section below can easily be dressed up or down, depending on shoes, hair, and jewelry!

My top favorite dress brands right now happen to be two bloggers who own their own dress lines. If you’re looking for a classy dress, you cannot go wrong with Rachel Parcell or Gal Meets Glam! My dress featured in today’s post is a beautiful dress by Rachel Parcell. Check out the sleeves! I love simple elegance when purchasing a fancier dress with a higher price tag. The more simple, the more timeless. The blush is currently sold out online, but the black is still available! Who doesn’t need a beautiful LBD year-round?

Happy summer, friends! I hope it’s filled to the brim with watermelon, wet swim suits, and great friends. Well, and show-stopper dresses, of course.

xoxo, Han

All photos by Cottonwood Road Photography for The Cake by Hannah

Casual
Middle Ground
Fancy

How To Curate Baby’s Closet On A Budget!

Someone asked me recently, “How do you keep up with Knox growing so much and his closet?”

It’s true, your baby grows by the day. I have literally walked into Knox’s room multiple times in the morning and been like, “Oh my gosh, you grew. I just know it!” I have some tricks, and found certain types of items will last longer for your growing babe. Do not spend a ton of money on clothes, y’all. Here’s how to curate a wardrobe for your growing baby that will last longer!

Jumpsuits are where it’s at! I have found that the one piece playsuits/jumpsuits/rompers (whatever you want to call them) can be bought big, and therefore will last a lot longer! Just buy up a size! Knox is 5 months and wears 4-6 month outfits perfectly. But, I have been buying 6-9 mos. playsuits, because he can fit into them and they will likely last until 9+ months. Onesies are hard to make last, because it’s just true that once they’re too small.. they’re too small. You can’t get around making buttons snap together that just can’t anymore. With a playsuit, though, you can roll the pant legs if bought a little big, and there’s plenty of space for their body to grow without it being hazardous around the necks or face! Target’s Cat & Jack brand has two pack playsuits, and I am obsessed with them. Cat & Jack is our favorite around here, followed by H&M Baby. I literally cannot go to Target without leaving with a new $10 or less jumpsuit for Knox.

Packs of Cheap Onesies! Mostly the plain white, but Target has great cute ones for super cheap, too! Koala, Gerber, or Carter… whichever is on sale at the time… haha. We keep these in high supply because they’re so cheap and can be soiled without getting upset over something cute getting ruined. Knox is in these the most around the house and it’s what he sleeps in. Like I said above, onesies are hard to keep up with the growth in. But, a good pack or two of plain white ones are so cheap and are great for everyday stuff without the fear of a blowout ruining your favorite outfits for baby!

Mixable and Matchable Sets! Short and tee sets with matching onesies or bibs (I will link some below!) are great, too. Buy three piece sets that are interchangeable. I love that you can get a tee and pair of shorts that not only go together, but can also be paired with a white onesie, or a tee with another pair of pants you have. Think about buying what you can get the most wear from!

Variety of pants! Like your jumpsuits, buy these a size up in the jogger fit. Nobody will know! They are supposed to have a saggy bum- that’s the jogger look- and as long as the waist isn’t hanging off, it’s a great way to purchase something they can grow into. As far as pants true to size, again, think “How many different onesies do I own that these can go with? If you have a bunch of white onesies… the answer is “A LOT.”

Sleepers WITHOUT Feet! Like a onesie, when you put feet on the jammies, you limit how long they can be worn! But without feet, they last longer. Your baby can rock some high-waters as long as the body fits still!

Forget Shoes… Unless They’re Super Cheap. Go For SOCKS! Shoes will either be pulled or kicked off, guarantee it. Unless they are $5, don’t even think about buying shoes. Socks are harder to get off, come in packs, and are much easier to buy as baby grows. I buy all kinds of cute socks for different outfits. They do the trick!

Purpose In YOUR Ministry

Today’s blog post is actually this past week’s Sweet Thoughts devotional that I send out weekly to my VIP email subscribers. There was such an outpouring over this devo, people sharing their stories with me or simply a reply saying they connected deeply with this one, that I thought it needed to be shared with everyone.

If you aren’t signed up for my weekly devotionals, you can here. I don’t spam you. Scouts honor. This is a way for us to connect twice weekly: my devotional on Tuesdays at 6 AM + my Friday round-up. By being on this list, you get first notice for new products in The Cake Shop, and sometimes I even send out special discount codes just for YOU guys that nobody else gets. I get a bit more personal in my Sweet Thoughts, because this is where we take our Cake Community relationship to the next level.

xoxo, Han

Today’s Scripture: Luke 10:2

You have significance. You have purpose. You have influence. You get to be the hands and feet of Jesus. You have a ministry. Yes, you. You have a ministry.

Today’s devotional may as well be titled “Hannah’s thoughts after Chapter 10 of her book, Uninvited.” Y’all, if you listen to anything I say in this whole email, please let it be to go buy Uninvited to read. Every woman should read this book. It’s scarily like reading my own diary… I mean seriously. And, I think you just might connect at that level with it, too, because I believe at our core we are all so similar. Us women, though unique and made so differently, I can guarantee there are times in your life you can recall feeling rejected or insecure. Am I right? Does that rejection still follow you around from time to time? I once heard my pastor say in a sermon that we often live with a 13 year old view of ourselves still. That statement blew my mind, because it was so true for me. Our insecurities and our fears, so much of it can likely be pinpointed to somewhere around 13 years old. Living with a 13 year old view of myself is why I can often function out of a fear of rejection as Hannah the 25 year old. It’s why I can see myself as not quite good enough or cool enough. It’s why I have a tendency to sink back to the corner in a room of women, and it’s why “mediocre” is a lie I have to battle way more than I would like to admit.

So what’s this have to do with the verse for today? There is room for you. In fact, there is need for you.

“What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the
God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.”

There is plenty of space at the table, and no ministry is too small. Whether you have thousands of followers on Instagram or your ministry as a stay at home mom is your children, you are significant and you’re playing a role in the harvest. The work of your hands and your words matter. Sometimes I can look around and compare what I am doing to others, and feel immediately insignificant. “Oh, she’s famous. She has a much larger platform than I will ever have. She has it covered.” FALSE. This scripture in Luke shows us that the harvest is in surplus. It’s so big that we actually don’t have enough hands willing to work to get it all done, and we are called to pray for more. Your ministry matters. Your influence matters. No task, no work, no effort for the kingdom is too small. Your life matters and it has purpose. The author of Uninvited, Lysa TerKeurst, encourages us to live with an abundance mindset. Meaning we ought to live in a mindset that says there’s plenty of space for all of us to succeed. There’s plenty of space for all of us to do whatever it is that YOU do. Yet, we so often live in a scarcity mindset. Because of insecurity, we fear there isn’t enough space for all of us to succeed, and therefore it’s hard to cheer on others who seems to be doing better at what we so desire to do. In the same manner, when we live in a scarcity mindset we can discount ourselves and cheapen our worth. When we live in scarcity, we believe someone is taking our place in the race and therefore we lack worth. Comparison, my friends, will destroy you. Battle the urge to compare your influence to one another’s. Your story matters, and it can glorify Jesus in ways that so-and-so’s can’t. Not because yours or hers is better, but because you were given your exact journey to glorify the name of Jesus in ways someone else’s just can’t.

The harvest is many. There are so many lost who need to hear your story. They need to hear what Jesus has done in your life that delivered you from rejection to acceptance. From living in scarcity to thriving in abundance. It’s by your story that the harvest hands grow in number. Your story has power through the work Jesus did in you and for you.

Live in abundance. Live knowing you have purpose. Live knowing you have influence. Never shy away from the opportunity you’ve been given to be the hands of the harvest.

Got It From My Mama

Obviously, this year’s Mother’s Day is particularly sweet. It is my first as a mom myself. You know, other than being a dog mom to Presley. 😉 It is amazing how becoming a mom has grown my love for my own mama even more than I ever thought it could. I mean, my mom was already the first person I called when I was upset or needed to vent. We have always been close. But, it’s amazing how still, somehow, my heart grew with gratitude for her when Knox came.

Having Knox has shown me hands-on just how much my mom did for me and my siblings. Being a mom is not for the faint of heart, y’all. It’s tough work. It’s a constant sacrifice. It’s eating last. It’s being chin deep in laundry and drool. It’s becoming a human mattress. It’s turning into a human jungle gym.

Truly, at our core, moms influence who we are and the way we view our world from the youngest age, arguably more than anybody else. She has taught me so much. To be okay with trying new things and failing. To believe I can do anything. She allowed me freedom in creativity. Although, sometimes I wish she had told me not to walk out of the house with some of the outfits I put together in my youth… But look at me now mom! HAHA. I guess she knew what she was doing, because I do fashion for a career now. She always knew how to turn absolutely anything we did into some kind of a lesson. She is a teacher in every manner of the word. That overflowed into our home growing up.

Funny Side Note: I, for whatever reason, remember MOST when she taught me to always wear full panties in a dress. I am sure she wishes I vividly remembered a far more important life lesson… but that one truly is one of my most memorable words of advice. I recall it every time I put a dress on still, 15 years later.

There are so many qualities of my mother I hope to mimic in my own parenting. But, there are a few that really stick out to me. It’s her ability to use every opportunity as a teachable moment. Watching her play with Knox has been so fun, because it’s shown me how. When playing, when reading, when laying down for a nap… you can always be showing and teaching. I love that about my mom. She also is quite possibly the most understanding human on the planet. She always sees the other side of situations and is compassionate. Far more compassionate than I could ever even hope to be. But, I hope to be like that, none the less.

Above all, my mom has taught me to just be there. Be there physically, be there emotionally. Be there when you’re tired and would rather skip practice. Be there when nobody else will be. Be there when it’s your duty to be. Be there because you want to be. Be there when the world says to give up.

Be there.

My mom has always been there. Which, believe me, I don’t take for granted. From my childhood, never missing a thing and teaching me the same qualities of responsibility and showing up, to adulthood sleeping on the sofa at the hospital waiting for Knox to be born. If Knox can look back on his life when he is 25 years old and say, “Mom was always there”, then I feel I ran my race well. Not “Mom did it perfectly” or “Mom never messed up”, but “Mom was present. She cheered me on. She was my biggest fan, even when I failed.” That’s success in this crazy journey of motherhood, if you ask me.

Mamas, remind yourself to be present. And grace. Give yourself a lot of grace. Believe me, I am preaching to myself first. It’s hard to be a mom, a business owner, a dreamer, a wife… it’s so hard. But, remind yourselves to be present and that you don’t have to do it perfectly. None of us can. Your kid will  mess up. They may even hurt you. So much is out of our control from the second they’re born. But, the one thing we can control and do often is to show up. We can be there. That’s your greatest role in motherhood. Put down the phone, say more no’s to things that take you away and more yeses to things that allow life experiences together. Knox has changed my life in every way possible. My perspective on life, wants vs. needs, feeling content in all things, and living in an abundance way of thinking… it’s all changed because of my son.

Happy Mother’s Day to you. To the new moms, to the seasoned moms. To the mom just trying to make it, to the mommy-to-be. To the foster moms, to the adoptive moms. We celebrate you all today. You are a rockstar.

xoxo, Han

 

xoxo, Han

Photos by MG Photography for The Cake by Hannah

How To Use LiketoKnow.it & Shop With Me!

“Hey Hannah, where did you get…”

One of my favorite parts of my job is finding clothes that I know you would love and (especially) are a great price. I am strategic in the things I purchase, and actually keep a monthly budget in my business to find things that I think YOU would want for your own closets. Then, I style and photograph them for you!

There are two ways you can always shop what you see me in, and I want to give a rundown of those for you today.
  1. LiketoKnow.it App
    The LiketoKnow.it app is free, and the best way to shop what I link in my Instagram feed. You can screenshot my pictures on Instagram, and they will show up in your app. OR, the best & easiest way, is to simply “Follow” me on the app, and I will show up in your influencer feed with all my latest Instagram posts.There is no easier way to shop what your favorite bloggers are wearing than in this app. You can see our whole outfit laid out easily, it’s clickable, shoppable, and you can even “Wish List” items for later purchases if you cannot buy it right then. So many of the purchases I make come from the LiketoKnow.it app, shopping my favorite influencer’s feeds!Here’s a step by step for you:
    App Store | Download App to Phone | Click Magnifying Glass/ Type THECAKEBYHANNAH In Search Bar | “Follow” Me | Click Any Photo/ See All Linked Items | Click Item To Shop or Wish List It |
  2. “Shop My Looks” Tab
    If apps just really aren’t your thing, you can always shop my looks by going to the Shop My Looks tab on the top of my website. This updates in real time with my Instagram feed, just like the app, and has the same shoppable photos for you.

At the end of the day, whichever way you choose, it means the world that you shop with me. I put a ton of work into what I do, and the more you choose to shop with me, the better I can do this blogging thing full-time for you. I take it seriously that you have welcomed me into your lives as a lifestyle and fashion blogger. In an odd way, I really do feel like we are friends through these squares. This community means more than I can express through a computer screen. Grateful for each and every one of you!

xoxo, Han

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