Things That Have Kept Us Busy During Quarantine

Hey y’all – Carleigh here! If you don’t know, I am Hannah’s personal assistant and lead Media Manager for our client work with The Cake Media!

Wow wow wow this is such a crazy time. This is definitely one our children/grandchildren will ask us about one day. There is no doubt a heaviness hovering over us all right now stemmed in uncertainty, but there are also good things to come out of this time. I know God will use this for His good, and I know that He is still good. I pray that you are able to believe that today. If you haven’t read our most recent posts of encouragement and truth to turn to in this time, you can check them out here and here. God’s character doesn’t change regardless of all that is around us, and we find peace in that here at The Cake HQ!

I wanted to share my own list of activities and practices I have been doing to keep myself busy and positive during this time along with a few more of Hannah’s (in addition to this list she shared!), because I think we can never have too many ideas of things to do! These are things I’ve done in the recent weeks that have brought me joy, given me something to focus on, and kept me motivated to maintain some normalcy through all of this. I’m praying for all of you during this and I hope some of these ideas bring you some joy!

1. Bake bread (or something else!). Yep, I joined the masses of people deciding to bake right now and baked bread on my own for the first time last week. And it was awesome!!! There’s nothing like freshly baked, homemade bread for a little comfort food right now. My mom uses this recipe for french bread and shared it with me… it turned out so good! It took up an entire afternoon and gave us some delicious bread to go along with our meals for a while. It was yummy AND helpful for quarantine food! Hannah is determined to try homemade cinnamon rolls- pregnancy cravings. 😉 This recipe is a seemingly simple GF cinnamon roll attempt.
2. Read. If you don’t like to read maybe this won’t work for you, but I LOVE to read! Well, I used to, before the endless years of being forced to read for school. I’ve been trying to get back into it for fun as an adult and I figured there’s no better time than now! It’s been really enjoyable to sit in quiet and read for a bit instead of watching tv all day. I have to be intentional about less TV and it’s been really helpful for my mind.
   Hannah and Paul have started listening to the Audible of Capital Gaines! 
3. Home projects. We’ve still been in our house for less than a year, so I still have a million things I want to do! I decided that instead of shopping for new nightstands for our bedroom I’d redo the ones we already have. I painted them white and have ordered some new knobs for the drawers and I feel like I have a whole new space! It took up a couple of days and made me feel real accomplished. I’ve also been going through all of our clothes and random drawers and organizing, which always feels amazing and makes the day productive!
   Hannah is starting the nursery for Baby R AND ALAS… The pink front door saga CONTINUES. The HOA just shared to implement social distancing… neighbors don’t have to get six signatures to approve colors for their exterior projects… If you’ve been around… you know what we are talking about. It was a big hoopla two summers ago. 😉 Somehow in the last week, the neighbors now have a beautiful shade of teal for our Cape Cod style homes and we are DETERMINED to make a pink door happen when in quarantine!
4. Stay in the Word. Consistently reading my bible has always been a struggle for me, but now especially in this time I’m clinging to it for hope and truth. I definitely believe that it has helped this enneagram 6 stay calm and hopeful, and I truly do see God working in us during all this craziness. You can read the Embraced devotional (linked below!) that Hannah and I love, or you can read the First 5 App daily reading plans. Currently it’s going through 1 Chronicles, and Hannah is loving it.
5. Self care. I’ve been doing a lot of self-care with all this extra time. Using all my face masks and painting my nails have been my go-to! We linked some of our favorite self-care items below!
6. Zoom/FaceTime. People are all about Zoom right now! It’s so great. Every week my friends and I have a scheduled Zoom call where we just “hang out” online for an hour or two to catch up, encourage one another, and just see each other’s faces! Marco Polo is also a fun app to connect with others on video too! (<<<Hannah uses Marco Polo with everybody from her besties to her mom to her grandma… for real, everybody!)
7. Movie Nights. My husband and I have been loving doing little movie nights together in the evening or on the weekends. We usually watch a little TV together anyways in the evening, but something about picking a movie and making a snack to go with it feels so much more intentional. We recently decided to go through all the Marvel movies in chronological order (even though we’ve already seen most of them), and we’re really excited to go through them over the next several weeks!
8. Workout. This one has definitely been hard, especially with the excuse of my gym being closed. But I recently tried out an app that I am LOVING to use at home! And this is coming from a girl who literally hates to workout at home. I’ve been using The Sculpt Society by Megan Roup and it’s actually been really fun. You get a free two week trial to test it out and I think I’m going to sign up for subscription now that my trial is done!
   Hannah uses Obe App usually, but also just downloaded the Peloton free trial for 90 DAYS Y’ALL… NINETY! She has been doing their equipment free workouts with her husband, and really loves it.

Our hope in this time of quarantine is that you figure out ways to make the most of all this. How can we pray and be vigilant of the reality we face while also choosing joy? That’s our challenge to you! We pray you are truly making the most of your time at home and finding ways to be intentional with those you love. Below you can find some of our favorite at-home items- from the coziest sets to the self-care items we are using!

xoxo, Carleigh

Hannah’s Favorite At Home Self-Care Products

(Beauty to every day make-up to home organization to comfy sets!)

**Do not use the Good Genes while pregnant… but it’s THE BEST product for even skin tone!**