The Cake by Hannah

A small town girl spreading kindness like buttercream frosting

What Makes Me Smile

Merry Christmas! Today I have teamed up with an amazing service called Smile Generation to share what makes me smile this holiday season.

 

To me, enjoying the holidays means slowing down to actually enjoy it. Gone are the days of saying “yes” to everything and flying by the seat of my pants, barely making it through the holiday season with so much as a single night home to enjoy my tree. I don’t want to live like that, and I hope you don’t either. Life is too short to live by other people’s expectations and obligations! 

What makes me smile are slow nights in my home with cocoa, a fire, and Christmas pajamas watching Knox play with his choo choo by the Christmas tree. It’s watching my favorite Christmas movies with my husband. It’s dancing to Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas album in the living room. It’s making my favorite family dishes and forgetting to count the calories. It’s driving through neighborhoods and pointing out our favorite Christmas light displays. It’s saying “hello” to the stranger at the mall or buying them their cup of coffee. It’s eating our traditional Christmas Eve meal around the table on my great grandma’s China. It’s setting up Santa Claus after Knox has gone to bed. It’s baking cookies and eating that third one just because it’s Christmas and you can. It’s calling your family Christmas morning that you don’t get to be with. It’s watching their face light up when you see them open the gift you knew they wanted the most.

So many things make me smile at Christmas time, and you can find me grinning ear to ear all season long. I feel like a little girl all over again during the holidays, and especially so now with a son to celebrate the magic with. I am proud to partner with Smile Generation, because they take the burden off your shoulders of trying to find the very best for your family. Every mom wants the best for their kids, and now you can find it without the pesky (and sometimes pricey) trial and error. We’ve had our fair share of bad doctors and dentists, and I certainly never want others to have to go through the “sifting through” process like we’ve had to do. Smile Generation has done it all for you, finding the best dental and oral cosmetic offices for you so you don’t have to worry about it. Whether you need just routine care for your family (those twice a year appointments!!), whitening, braces… you name it, they can help you find the best! And with less worry, you can focus more time and attention on the people you love most. And that is something you can always smile about (with pearly whites, might I add)!

 

Home for the Holidays!

Heya babes and HAPPY SATURDAY!

Okay, so by the title of this, you’re probably expecting some post with links to all the things you need for your home to make it beautiful for Christmas this year. There’s a time for that, because believe me… I believe in that. I love making my home as festive as possible every year and creating a special place for memories for my little family.

However, that’s not the point of this post. (If you want decor ideas, go here!) But here is what I wanted to share about a little: Prepping your home for the holidays goes way beyond the garland and ornaments. As the holidays inch closer and closer, I know there is probably this looming feeling of “gotta do”, “gotta buy”, “gotta deal with x, y, or z”, because the holidays can often bring up within us hurts or unmet expectations or a need to buy and spend and keep up.

DON’T DO IT! This year, I hope you can feel the freedom from pressure of the outside- whatever that may be for you. Whether  it’s certain people or just cultural pressures, you are free from that and you just have to walk in it. Here are a couple ways you can ENJOY your holidays more this year!

 

  1. Choose a budget for your family over the next two months and stick to it. Pull the cash and put it in an envelope titled “Holiday Fun.” Seriously, cash envelopes are a game changer. If you can’t put your whole budget in the envelope ahead of time, then go through your budget for November and December to see how much you can put in it bi-monthly as you plan for your Christmas activities. Include outings and presents in this budget! Then, stick to it. It’s that simple. Go through lists of things happening in your city this season and pick the ones you really want to do! Plan out your holiday season and make it FUN without spontaneous spending. Get a calendar and write out on it family activities for the season. Family movie nights in, Christmas light drive, hot cocoa and visiting Santa, Christmas shopping day, etc. You will enjoy the holidays more without the pressure of money or overspending. That starts with planning it out well!
  2. To start off this year on the freedom train, yeah we are calling it that, I spent hours this week cleaning my home out of things we don’t need anymore. Bags of baby clothes, toys, odds and ends, clothes from mine and Paul’s closet… PURGING. I do this fairly frequently with my own closet, but I forced myself to get rid of baby things we don’t need or use finally (and I may have cried packing up Knox’s tiny sneakers that don’t fit anymore.) We went through all of his toys and got rid of ones he doesn’t tend to play with so that they can go to other kids who will. We sat down and dumped out everything! Knox helped as I would ask him what he wanted… I am not kidding, y’all. Your kid isn’t too young to make choices! We will take all of our donations together to the local Goodwill and make it special. I want Knox to hear us, though he won’t fully grasp it right now, say how important it is to give away what we’ve been given. We get to graciously give to others and share things. That is the spirit of Christmas and I want my kid to KNOW IT from as young as possible. That’s the gospel on full display for my 2 year old.

Anyways, we got rid of so much. I have ONE drawer of tiny baby toys in our office for future babies, and then one 3 shelf unit in Knox’s closet of toddler toys he actually plays with. A couple friends told me recently they actually OFFER to their kids a few options for the day and their child chooses one or two toys to play with… We have tried this for two days and already it’s amazing.  Rather than making a disastrous space to play, dumping out everything, they have a few toys to be imaginative with for the day. Knox played with his Christmas Train and Tree for 4 hours, role playing and laughing by himself. FOR REAL. All from just having less to overwhelm his ability to play. Kids get over-stimulated with too much… and now I believe it more than ever before.

Give this a shot! I want to know how it works for you. At the end of the day, the holidays are honestly better when rooted in simplicity. I mean it. More isn’t better. Spending doesn’t mean special. Enjoy your time with your family and make the most of every moment this holiday season! Your home can be the most special space for your family, and it starts with simply being intentional!

xoxo,

Han

 

3 Things That Changed Our Budget & Created Margin

Heya babes! Today I am sharing about that dreaded “B Word”… Budget. WHOA WHOA, what word did you think I meant!? Ok, just kidding. BUT, for real. How many of us hate the word “budget?” I used to hate talking about the budget, money, or anything of the sort because I just didn’t want to know. This was, of course, no help to my husband who was trying to keep us on track.

For 2019, the word that Paul felt on his heart for our family was “margin.” We felt this was for our time, family, and money. I am sharing today 3 things we use that has brought margin for our family’s finances with the hopes it will do the same for you.

  1. I took over the budget. We decided to do this for a couple reasons- one of them being to make me feel the weight of our money. And now that I have… I ain’t going to lie… I freaking love it. Like, neither of us want to go back to Paul doing it. It’s become a GAME to me. I love running our budget. I love knowing how much value even $5 spent here and there is, and how quickly it adds up and cuts into our margin. I literally look at my budget spreadsheet every.single.day. I legit asked Paul today as I left the house, “Hey babe, can you make sure lights are off when you leave? The electricity bill was high last month.” LOL. WHO AM I?! I encourage you, if you don’t know your family’s budget or are like how I used to be (“I just don’t wanna know”), then I would seriously consider running your budget even just a one month commitment with your spouse. This will help you both!
  2. Twine App. Paul started using Twine as our external savings account. We found it way too easy to “steal” from our savings when it was in our bank account. If we really wanted to establish margin, we needed to remove that savings account from our grasp altogether. We send money over every month and it is accruing interest like a true Savings Account. It helps you set goals, too! It’s so great.
  3. Robin Hood/Stocks. You guys, this one has been a game changer for us. Like, life-changing. As part of his mission to create margin for our family, Paul began educating himself on stocks. We have some big goals to pay off everything but our mortgage as quickly as possible (cars, school, etc.), and this has been HUGE for us. We are talking a side income for our family FROM STOCKS. Robin Hood helps manage your stock investments easily and is linked to your bank. We have a healthy number in there we keep for daily investments, and Paul sends the surplus he’s made that week to our bank. He has really figured out a system that’s almost fool-proof. However, we don’t budget this profit into our monthly budget just in case there’s a low week or month. I assess what we made and allocate the earnings accordingly toward debt. As of now, Robin Hood is our debt payer and it’s been such a blessing!

Whether you do these exact steps, or you figure out something else that works for you, I hope you know you CAN create margin with your budget. It takes getting everybody (yes YOU!) on board with unified goals. You can do this, y’all!! You can spend and save wisely, and steward your money well. We are cheering you on!

Silky Smooth Jazz Fall Playlist

The soundtrack to fall is jazz. It just is.

Like, the whole earth needs jazz when the nights get crisper and the leaves start to change. And because this is fact, I have created a Fall Playlist with my favorite silky smooth jazz. Most of it’s from the 50’s, though I have some of my current favorite jazzy stuff on as well.

Shop my dress you see, here! This is literally my favorite dress is my closet right now and I get so many compliments on it every time I have worn it. The shape and ruffles are so feminine!

 

 

How I Saved My Eyes + My Bathroom Refresh!

You guys, okay. I am excited for today’s post for two reasons:

  1. I finally am sharing a peek at our fresh bathroom! It’s nowhere near done, but I am so excited about where it’s headed.
  2. Today is a prime example of working with a brand I LOVE and use already.

Here’s the thing you guys… I am blind. Like, so blind. I must be in contacts or my glasses at all times other than sleep or I will be useless. I have had glasses since the 4th grade and have worn contacts since 7th grade. The first 13 years of wearing contacts, I only wore monthly contacts. I would order a 6 month supply and switch them out roughly every month (but was really bad about keeping up). About two years ago, for some reason, my eyes basically just were rejecting contacts. Didn’t matter the brand or how on top of switching them out I was. My eyes were fuzzy, itchy, and red all the time. I thought I would never be able to wear contacts anymore and have to get Lasik if I ever wanted to see again sans glasses.

Then, it was actually my best friend who suggested trying dailies (which I didn’t even know existed!) and it changed the entire contacts game for me. I will never do anything other than dailies now that I know how much it helped me and saved my eyeballs. I have been using Cooper Vision’s Clariti Daily Contacts for two years! So, when they randomly reached out to me asking if I happened to use them… I was like WHAT?! YES. YES, I DO!

I order mine through Costco. DUH. And it’s so much cheaper than anywhere else! This is one of those things I know is so niche, but I really do care and these really did change my eyeballs and saved their life. *I am not being dramatic.* Things got so bad it would feel like I got sunscreen in my eyes if I looked at the sun. This all went away almost immediately when I changed contacts!

OKAY, so next up: MY BATHROOM!!!!!

We have these colors all throughout my house now, and I am here for it. My walls are SW Alabaster, vanity is SW Inkwell, and my doors are a fun mixture of 1/2 Stardew and 1/2 Uncertain Grey. You just come in and ask for a half gallon of each and then to mix it together! It’s so pretty.

We are slowly painting all the doors in our home this mixture, and are restoring some furniture with the Inkwell. I also have some dreams of an Inkwell accent wall in my dining room with gold frames! A key to freshening up your home is picking a pallet and sticking to it in all your main spaces. It helps your resell value and is just aesthetically pleasing.

I linked below some of the additions to our bathroom I have in my cart, waiting for my budget to say “go!” 😉

 

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