Hannah Morrison

Checking In On YOU

Hey, babe. What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. How are you holding up? I don’t know about you, but despite the obvious frustrations and inconveniences of quarantine, I have found it somewhat therapeutic in a weird way. I feel so many emotions that range from angry to sad to content… and everything in between. But, I have truly loved being home so much with my son and husband unexpectedly before Baby R makes his arrival. We’ve had a whole lot of snuggles and extra family time, which has been so sweet to me. It’s been fun working from home WITH Paul, which we used to do. And, it’s been fun to go on family walks around the neighborhood whenever we feel like it. All in all, though so many unknowns can haunt my mind (I am not excluded from the economic toll this crisis has taken on our country), I am so grateful. I love that this time has forced me to get back to simplicity. It’s forced me to go slow. It’s forced me to snuggle with my son more and laugh with Paul more.

Funny as it seems, crisis can bring out the best in us (while also uncovering the very worst). I pray your time at home has brought about more good than bad. I pray you are taking advantage of every spare moment you get, and that when “normal life” comes back, you take with you lessons learned in this weird season.

If you are a nurse, doctor, or ANYBODY working hard still to care for our country – please hear from the very bottom of my heart, thank you. We love you. We are staying home as much as possible for YOU. We are practicing social distancing for YOU and for our family members who need help from our world to prevent the spread of this virus. Thank you for all you’re doing. I wish I could hug and kiss each and every one of ya. Or send you all Tiff’s Treats. Regardless, I hope you hear my sincerity. You are loved and appreciated and so seen in this household. Thank you.

If you are a teacher somehow teaching children online and discovering creative ways to continue pouring into your students- thank you. You learned an entirely new way of connecting and teaching over night… WOW. You are a hero. Thank you.

Tonight, I will be doing a giveaway with some of my favorite IG gals from all over the country to give a lucky winner a gift that makes home COZIER in this time that is seemingly uncomfortable and weird. Be ready at 7 PM CST to see what all we have for you! IT IS SO GOOD.

In the meantime, I have below a round-up of just a few favorite things for you and some sales that you could take advantage of right now, if you are in need or looking to support businesses while their doors are shut.

60% off Nasty Gal online

15% off PinkLily ‘March15’

ASOS 20% off site wide when through the app

Anthropologie 25% off home and furniture to make home cozier 

American Eagle/ Aerie 40-60% off whole site

Urban Outfitters up to 50% off home

 

The Banking Hack That Changed Our Budget


Whoa, we are talking about money? … YEAH. We are. And I am so excited about it, because the system I have implemented over the last 6 weeks (3 paycheck rounds) has legit changed our entire banking system. We have actually hit our goals and gained more in our savings faster than ever before. Know why living in an open and honest community of friends is so important? You LEARN from each other! I am in a group text of like 13 girls from my church who are my closest gals. They encourage me when I need it, are my biggest cheerleaders, and are always the first people I go to for outside wisdom.

Somebody in our group asked for budgeting tips, and I loved reading everybody’s responses. While some had great systems others replied “FOLLOWING THESE ANSWERS!” We are all learning from one another and gaining wisdom, both in our walks alongside the Lord as well as how we parent, start companies, and *yes* budget/spend. I love my girls, and they are seriously so special to me. All this to say, two of our ladies both mentioned they have multiple accounts they transfer money to immediately upon getting paid. So, according to their budget, they allocate money to different bank accounts. It’s essentially the Dave Ramsey envelopes system… sans the envelopes. I had a hard time sticking to the envelope system with a kid in tow all the time. I can’t unbuckle my kid and go inside to pay cash for my gas all the time or bring in $60 for groceries but my bill is $62. This system is the best of both worlds and it’s truly rocked mine.

We have one bank account with 3 checking accounts and 3 savings accounts. This makes it really easy to transfer between the sub-accounts when they’re all under the same main bank account. We are members of a credit union that I have been part of for over 15 years, and I absolutely love them. Find a bank you can trust, ask questions, and that has great benefits for you. Our categories are as follows:

  1. Main Account/Bills: This is where all payments go first and where we have automatic withdrawals setup from.
  2. Main Savings: This is that emergency fund we should all have and the account we are chunking anything extra at the end of the month into! We also do an amount every month on the 15th directly into it, no questions asked. It is as though it never existed now.
  3. Groceries: I send half our grocery budget on the 1st and the other half on the 15th to make CERTAIN I keep us on track. It’s so hard not to overspend on food, but this has helped me so much seeing a specific number allocated ONLY for groceries for two weeks. GAME CHANGER.
  4. “Other” Savings (Currently our Babymoon): This is where we will put money aside for trips. Currently, we are putting money aside for a babymoon, which is looking like a staycation because of the coronavirus and overall sicknesses going around. If I weren’t pregnant I would not be NEAR as careful, but it’s just not worth risking it right now to travel with a babe in tow (at least as of now, this is the direction we are leaning).
  5. Date Nights/Fun Money (This is technically in one of the “savings” accounts”): I put our whole month’s “fun” money in on the 1st. This is for date nights, lunch outings, etc. It’s helped me A LOT to see how much more we usually would spend on this category if I didn’t intentionally put a number in there to keep us on track with our budget. YIIIIKES.
  6. Business Checking: This is my business account where I pay all employees from and have auto-payments from clients go to. It’s helped with our Quickbooks to track my income for The Cake!

On my app, I literally can just press “transfer money” in the top corner of my screen and move the money around immediately upon spending. So, we only have debit cards connected to our “Main Bills” account, but then immediately will transfer out of the proper category into our main account to replenish. I have ran into the issue ONCE where I did too many transfers in a certain timespan, and I could only transfer the rest of the month by going into my credit union. But, it wasn’t terrible and was still worth it!

I hope this helps you and inspires you to figure out how you want to budget better for your own family. This system has truly been a game changer and I legit get excited every payday to move money into the proper accounts. There truly is something significant about seeing, by category, the actual amount you have from your budget toward things. I took over our budget back in August and ran into the issue so many times that we had “x” amount of dollars in our account, but I didn’t realize that number was already allocated to so many other things. Now, that’s literally impossible to do. If I see for groceries on the 10th that we have $65 left for the next 5 days, then that is what I spend!

The Daily Schedule that Changed My Time Management

 

Today is for ALL of you. Whether you’re a college student, a working woman, a momma who works in an office, a stay home momma who works at home all day raising babies, or -like me- a momma who runs a company from her home. No matter what your situation, this is for you. Time management is hard to nail down. There are so many distractions to bump us off our goals for the day, and I know that all too well. With a toddler pulling at my leg as I edit content for clients or capture images for a campaign while Knox plays at my feet, or it’s my phone dinging notifying me of emails or Instagram comments… it’s hard. Life is hard to stay on track with and manage your time well, getting all the things done in a day that need to be done, if we aren’t meticulous in the way we manage every single minute we are given.

Anybody else with me? How am I supposed to get my work done, raise a healthy and happy child, drink enough water, eat the right food, cook meals for my family, make it to the gym 3 times a week, AND have some time to myself for my sanity?… Surely I need 50 hours a day to make this happen, right? Girl, I feel you. I have been you before. I have been there. I am in recovery for never putting my phone down, never closing my computer, and multi-tasking at all times. I used to think I was a rockstar for “balancing” so much… but really, I was just dying inside and missing the fullness of moments.

I want to share my schedule with you that’s really helped me. It requires discipline, but man does it work. And of course, there are days things just don’t pan out accordingly. But, for the most part, this is what I live by and  I try my very hardest to schedule meetings and shoots and all the things within these guidelines!

My Daily Schedule:

6 AM Wake Up (often it’s earlier, but this is the time I must be out of bed by)

6:10-6:40 Quiet time, prayer, cup of coffee

6:45-7:30 MIT Part 1: Most Important Tasks, this is my first part of the day to review my schedule for the day, reply to emails/send out reminders for my day, attack anything necessary for the day that came in over night. This is often my most creative time to write as well (devotionals/blogs/etc.)

7:30 Knox Wakes Up: Make breakfast, color, play

9:30 Gym: My goal while pregnant is the gym 3 times a week! I will share my alternate schedule below for the days that I don’t go and do a home workout.

10:30: My gym has a coffee shop and we pay a little extra a month on our membership to get up to 3 hours of childcare a day! It’s like having a nanny built into our gym. They are great and we trust them, so it’s been such a good fit for us. I work in the coffee shop and finish out my MIT Part 2. This is usually my time to edit content/captions/client work.

12: Home for lunch!

1: Knox naps, I get some time to clean/do laundry/rest/read/watch an episode of something I want/Work if needed

3: Knox wakes up, play, color, go for walk, prep dinner together, etc.

5: Start dinner! This is family/daddy time while I cook.

7: Milk and wind down time for Knox/read books/maybe watch 1 episode of something depending on tv time for the day

7:30: Bedtime for Knox

***On days I do a workout from home, Knox will often take a nap at 10 AM. As long as he gets about a 2 hour nap every day, he is happy and sleeps great at night! 

The thing that’s been most significant for me that I encourage you to do for yourself in order to accomplish work most efficiently is that you MUST set aside intentional MIT time. Trying to do your most important tasks of the day while multitasking makes your work less-than and it will take way longer than necessary. I find I can knock out my MIT in about 3 hours a day or less IF I set aside the intentional times to do so. I also have a nanny every single Wednesday (it was Tuesdays but just changed for scheduling needs with our nanny!), so I know it’s my day to have for photo shoots and any big projects I might have to work on. It’s rare I have meetings or shoots on any other days of the week, which helps with our childcare budget and keeping it at the number we know to set for every month.

What you don’t see in the Instagram posts: Knox at my feet and climbing all over everything… hehe. 

We all face challenges with our jobs and our working environments. I love that no matter what our days look like, we are all hardworking women looking for ways to maximize our time and what we are passionate about! That’s why this schedule truly is so great. Be intentional with every minute of your day- it will help you accomplish more. Set aside time and tasks for certain times of the day! You can do this. I believe in you, go-getter.

xoxo,

Han

Getting in the Kitchen with HelloFresh!

Phew, how has this month already come and gone so quickly? January is always so weird to me, because it feels like Christmas was ages ago… You know, like so last year… 😉 But in reality, it’s only been a few weeks. Anybody else feel so off the first couple weeks of a new year? To kick off our year right, we have made sure that our meal plans are back on track after all the craziness that ensues during the month of December. We ate out so much over the last 6 or so weeks that I am pretty sure it was more than the rest of the year combined.

I am so pumped to partner with HelloFresh to kick off 2020 and share why it’s so important to me to get into the kitchen this year! I believe so wholeheartedly in family time, cooking together, and eating at the dinner table together every night. I mean, truly, we eat at our table almost every single night, other than nights we have family or friend outings for church, etc. I grew up eating a home cooked meal at the table with all 5 of us every night, so I honestly don’t know any different. All I have ever known is you come home after work and start dinner so that your family can be together and eat well. It is just something of importance I carried into my own little family. But, whether you grew up that way or not, I really believe cooking together and eating healthy meals as a family is so important. Knox has also shown interest in the kitchen, too, which has made trying to include him in making the meal fun for us! He gets a kick out of just standing on a chair by the island and watching me, if anything.

I love HelloFresh, because their recipes are fool proof and also something I probably wouldn’t pick on my own. Not because it doesn’t sound good… but because if I was just scrolling through Pinterest, I would feel intimidated by ingredients in a lot of the recipes and just count it out. But, HelloFresh makes it so easy to try new recipes, challenging you to try something new with EASY to follow steps + ingredients all included so you don’t have to worry about a thing. After I finish a HelloFresh meal (in usually about 30 minutes, mind you!!!), I feel empowered and like I should earn a degree in cooking. I also have a stack of about 30 recipes now that I keep on-hand from HelloFresh for when I meal plan for those nights that we don’t have a HelloFresh meal to cook. So one way or another, we cook HelloFresh in our home a lot! Either their recipes or their full meal delivery. To date, our absolute favorite meal we’ve made was the Poblano Enchiladas… OH MY WORD. Y’all, it was so good. Paul took one bite and said, “Whoa, best one yet!”

With our food allergies (Paul is allergic to dairy and I am allergic to gluten/yeast), HelloFresh is really easy to navigate for us because every ingredient is individually wrapped with its own individual nutrition facts. I never have to guess what I can or can’t have! Plus, I like to feed Knox as “normal” of a diet as possible until we know otherwise. But I have been praying he has no food allergies, and so far so good! So, for example, our Poblano tacos required 3 different versions: Dairy-free with corn tortillas, dairy-filled with corn tortillas, and then the normal recipe as it was sent for Knox. The filling was the same for all of us as well as the red sauce they sent ingredients for! You can do this for pretty much any HelloFresh recipe, if you pick wisely. Obviously, you don’t want to pick a breaded chicken recipe if you have a gluten allergy. But for the most part, I would say 90% of the meals can be modified for people in your home with allergies. If you don’t have food allergies… GO HAM! They’re all so amazing. Each week has different options to pick from, so you never will grow tired of their meals!

If you want to challenge yourself to new recipes and family time in the kitchen in 2020, click here to get 10 free meals off your first month of HelloFresh! (Purchase Required)  

A Decade in Review

As I sit with a cup of coffee in hand far earlier than I hoped to be awake, my baby and husband fast asleep, I am filled with awe. Is that allowed? Can you be in awe of your own life? I am not in awe because we are filthy rich, live in a massive home, or are notable people. We lead fairly simple lives. Busy, but simple and full. We know what it means to want and know what it means to be with plenty. We have good days, we have bad days. We are, well… normal. My life isn’t “awe-worthy” to somebody from the outside, I suppose. At least, not according to the standard of perfection set by the unachievable mark we have defined for us by media and magazines. But, wow, it is to me. We inch closer and closer, by the hour, to a new year and a new decade. The entrance to a new phase in history, a new moment in time, and I just want to note it. I want it to go slow. I want to put a sticky note in time right here that says “Some of your best!”

The last 10 years I saw dreams grow legs and start to wobble. From a 17 year old girl with dreams of a big city, becoming a famous news broadcaster (chummy with Kathie Lee and Hoda, of course), and hoping to marry at some point in time to a now 27 year old woman who works from her home office (or, honestly, the sofa with a baby and dog on her lap), with a little boy pulling on her hair as she types and edits, and a husband she could have only dreamed up. No super fancy cars or lavish trips across the world…at least, not yet ;)… but a heart overflowing with every dream she could have ever asked for answered in a special way immeasurably better than she could have ever asked or hoped for.

Have you ever seen a video of a baby giraffe or, you know, something cute and gangly like that try to stand after birth, wobbling to and fro, and then before you know it they’re standing in all their gangly glory? Then, they begin to run. They don’t have the whole running thing down perfectly, so the mom has to gallop alongside to direct, but they are off none the less. That is what the last 10 years have been. From wobbling on the ground to a gangly, guided gallop, and now a rather confident and solid run. In what direction, we don’t fully know. 😉 I certainly don’t have it ALL down, y’all, but I do at least have down the running part fairly well. More precision and direction, perhaps, comes over the next 10 years. Although, I selfishly hope I never fully know what direction I am running. An idea, yes. But I never want to be so in charge of where my feet go that I forget to run where God directs me still, like a little foal needing the mother to guide and redirect as I stumble over my feet.

Ten years ago, I was a girl with white blonde hair, because I didn’t know to ask for full highlights instead of dyed hair. … It’s true. We all learn over time the important things, haha. I simply knew I wanted bright blonde hair that wasn’t yellow-y… and left with a head of white hair. It took some time to reel back in from that one (see above haha). And quite a few tears. And one breakdown that allowed me to go home early from school, which my mom NEVER allowed. So… we all know it was bad. Real bad.  I couldn’t find a good picture of my white blonde hair… and I am sure it’s because I wanted no record of it.

I went to school as a very thirsty Christian. I had been a believer my whole life, but I was on the cusp of really figuring out why I believe what I believe and how I wanted my faith to look. Let’s just say, those were interesting years. Sometimes a little embarrassing to think about. I was so clueless about so much and so young. So thirsty and curious to learn ALL the things I knew nothing about in regards to my faith. I learned a wealth of knowledge in regards to life and faith from ages 17-19, and thank God for that. I settled down on the “fiery faith” thing and really found my step, my own faith and my own ideals according to my own relationship with Jesus. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything, though I would like to keep some of it in the vault for just me to know about haha. I truly am thankful, though.

I met my husband at 19 and married him at 21. It was 2012 at The Village Church. A cute boy with a hoodie over his head and blue jeans with black converse sat in front of me. His eyes and gorgeous lashes along with that tan skin paired with blonde locks that peeked out from underneath the hood yanked my attention, and I was smitten. I knew I wanted to chat more after church, but for the time being had to sit behind his cute hooded head and imagine what he was like as I tried to focus on the sermon. He heard me singing and says that is how he knew he wanted to know me more. I remember that moment in time so vividly. I remember the moment I met the man who would change the course of my life so perfectly, and I wish there was a way to capture moments in your mind and pull it out onto a video so it never goes away. Nerd alert: You know how in Harry Potter they can pull out memories with a wand and put it into a pool of memories?… that’s what I want for this moment in my life. Along with the second I met my son, Knox.

 

In 2014, I married my best friend. And the cute, hooded boy I fell in love with was my husband. And y’all… our first year of marriage was hell. If you are a newlywed thinking to yourself “What did I do? What happened to the cute couple we were at 19?”… you aren’t alone. It happens. NOT to everybody. In fact, I hate when people almost will it upon others that their first year of marriage will just inherently suck, because theirs did and it’s the cliche “first year” thing. I don’t wish that for anybody. But, for us, ours was shy of a disaster. I can giggle at least a little now about it. But I spent many nights wailing in our bathtub, because it was the only room in our studio loft with a door that locked. I threw a remote and a couple punches, and we threw around the “D Word” more than either of us like to admit. We were young, broke, and dumb… lol. But for real. I learned at a young age, and unfortunately it had to happen my first year of marriage, just how much a need for financial security ruled my heart. I had never had to think about money until I was married and had none. I didn’t know I could feel so angry or insecure until I had virtually nothing (or so I thought nothing- I focused on the wrong things). And WOW did it rock my world. I had never really known what it was like to be told “no” or to have to let wants die so that we could.. well, eat. I will never forget Paul sitting me down to say, “Hannah, if we have 10 lemons to live off of each month, but you want to spend 12… it won’t work.” Y’all… I needed HEEEELLLP lol. Living in Dallas, the home of the “30,000 Millionaire” didn’t help either. That is a term for Dallas, because everybody is sucked into a materialistic way of life as they are surrounded by actual rich people. And it’s actually hard to know when you’re out in Dallas who is actually wealthy, because everybody is trying so hard to achieve the facade that they are. In short: Dallas wasn’t good for me. It took time to completely weed out of me what was so icky and I didn’t even know existed until it was shoved in my face with an ugly mask. But wow, praise God. I would say this was the greatest and most substantial (arguably) thing I learned in my life in the last ten years that has truly made me a different person entirely from start to finish of it.

2015 was big. Firstly, in January of 2015 I started my blog. Below is a photo from my very early days! I wasn’t certain what it would look like except that I wanted to defy the “Dallas Blogger” thing and do it differently. In the middle of all the fake and the fashion, I wanted to create something that showed you can love those things, fashion and nice things, without losing yourself. And you can most certainly be “real.” Thus, The Cake was born and here we are nearly 5 years later. Then, that fall we moved to Mckinney to be part of a church plant and start our life’s call to do ministry alongside one another. Funny fact: My first date with Paul, we sat on a bench in early November over hot apple cider talking. He let me know he was called to be a pastor and wanted to plant a church one day. He told me that if I didn’t feel a call to that, then we shouldn’t really continue dating because it’s pointless. LOL. To the point! What was crazy, is ever since I was a little girl, I told people I thought I would marry a pastor.

Moving to Mckinney was the best thing we ever did. We have never been healthier or more full than doing ministry together. Moving to Mckinney didn’t fix everything, but it sure did bring out of us a closer version to who we were created to be. The last 4.5 years have been some of our best. Hard as hell. Am I allowed to say that? Sorry… err…honestly, so freaking hard. But the best thing that’s ever happened. We’ve launched two companies, seen our bank account and our little family grow, and it’s been the sweetest adventure of all time.

In 2016, I was burned out. I was exhausted and working (no joke) 8 different contract jobs at once trying to get my dreams rolling to really make money doing my own thing. Blogging wasn’t a hobby anymore as I booked jobs with Dillard’s and a full Valentine’s Day campaign with BareMinerals, and I found out I LOVED creating quality content with purpose. And, I loved styling photo shoots. It was so much fun to me, whether for myself or others. I just found out I loved being given a product and making others see through a lens how great it was, too. I spent hours a day in my car driving to Oak Cliff for one job while also working 40 minutes away at a Pure Barre, and blogging for companies who had hired me to do so on the reg in the meantime. All while growing The Cake by Hannah content and doing photoshoots with Hannah Hagaman to create a look for my own blog. By the end of 2016, I quit almost everything for my sanity and put all my cards into the blogging thing. I found out I was really sick, got diagnosed with a slew of issues (that actually made my entire life FINALLY make sense), and I knew I needed to redirect things and focus. Paul was getting into a groove with his new job, and I could slow down a little bit. Despite cutting our income in half for about two years, we were happier and healthier than ever.

2017, I  got pregnant with our son. What a sweet year. I learned more about myself than ever before from a tiny 6 pound 11 oz. ball named Knox. I have never felt more fulfilled or content than now. The last two years have been some of my best, and as I watch my sweet boy grow and become a true little kid, my heart aches inside. The wrinkles on my forehead are ever-present and my dark circles seem almost permanent like a tattoo, yet I am the happiest I have ever been. 2018 is kind of a blur, mostly due to a growing human I had to keep alive, and 2019 I launched a new company that has changed our lives.

It’s hard to label myself an “entrepreneur” but here we are. I took the things I learned over the last 9 years, what I love and how to do it, and started training people under me to do it for others. My love for styling shoots and creating content bled into other people’s companies. The Cake Media Management was born in April of 2019, and truly has bec0me more than I thought it could be or ever would be.

PHEW, that was fun! I legit have tears in my eyes recalling all that God has done in these ten years. So here we are, about 48 hours from 2020. And, from just the couple of things I know are for sure coming this year, I literally am giddy with excitement. I can’t wait to bring you along the journey of the next decade here in this tiny corner of the Internet. I have no idea what all will come, but I do know that I am so ready. Right now, there are so many unknowns in our life that I know I should feel entirely overwhelmed. And, honestly, Hannah 8-10 years ago would be having a full-on panic attack right now. But, isn’t it funny what time and age does? In a weird way, I am ready to walk alongside my husband, hand in hand, and take on the world together despite the amount of unknowns we have in front of us. I am ready to see more dreams that have been deep inside our souls grow legs and take life right before our very eyes.

All I know is that I have God, my best friend, and my son by my side. And that truly is all I need. I can say that so wholeheartedly. It’s proven true the last 10 years, and I know it will stand firm the next 10 to come.

Happy New Year, y’all. Thank you for being part of this amazing journey. Thank you for being part of my life the last 5 years, and thank you for loving my little family. You are so much the reason I can say I am living my dream life. Simple and full. And so full because of each and every one of you.

xoxo, Han

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