Working From Home: Tips To Create A Space You WANT To Work In

If you are one of the guys or gals that are now permanently working from home - this blog post is for you. We all had the temporary work set-ups that barely held on through the thick of the pandemic. But for those still working from home, our home office situations are really being put to the test. Sitting on an ugly, uncomfortable home office chair every now and again used to be manageable but gone are the days. We are on a mission to create a functional, beautiful space that just begs you to work in it. So here are some of our top tips!

1. Have a happy focal point - I don’t know if there’s anything more stressful than having a chaotic workspace with just too much visually going on. Of course the papers, pens, and sticky notes that you use every day are going to pile up. But choosing one item that makes you happy or brings peace and having it be your focal point will elevate your mood and maybe even your creativity! Whether it’s a calming piece of wall art, a few nicely framed family photos on the wall, or even a pretty vase with a few flowers in it. Having something special to look at will help lift your mood and clear your mind.

2. Make it smell good - Candles or essential oil diffusers are the perfect addition to a work space to add a little coziness and warmth. Calming oils like lavender can help ease stress or more invigorating scents like peppermint can give your brain a wake up call. Because let’s be honest - most of us have a desk crammed into a bedroom corner and there’s a good chance there’s dirty laundry piling up nearby…nobody needs to smell that while on a Zoom call. 

3. Light it up - Whether it’s a small desk lamp, a floor lamp nearby, or even some flameless candles, I love to have a soft light source besides an overhead light. That way if you’re getting work started early or even burning the midnight oil, you can still see what you’re doing without having a bright main light on 24/7.

4. Bring on the greenery - Plants naturally purify the air and produce oxygen so having them in a space you spend a lot of time in can be good for your health! Not only do they physically benefit you but emotionally as well, since they’re known to boost your mood and concentration. And if you don’t have a green thumb or are allergic to plants (is that even a thing?) consider adding a few faux stems in a simple vase to bring some “life” to your space! 

5. Get organized - These days there are SO many cute desk organizers, pen cups and calendars, you name it somebody’s made it. I like the look of a marble, wood, or natural woven textured organizer to ground the space and bring some natural materials in. I notice when my home or space gets messy quickly it’s usually because things don’t have a proper place they belong yet. So get ahead of that mess and have a beautiful set space for all of your daily work materials! You will be sure to thank yourself later.

---

If you’re in the market for a new desk or work chair, you’re in luck! We’ve rounded up our top picks for pretty and functional desks and chairs for your home office. Find more on our LTK!

---

What's In My Luggage?

This weekend Curtis and I took a quick trip to LA to surprise by brother for his birthday, so for this week’s ‘What’s In My Cart’ I thought it would be fun to do a ‘What’s In My Luggage’ instead. We’ve got a big round up of my top travel essentials and the perfect carry-on bags to shove it all in for a quick weekend trip!

Find more on my LTK!

1. iFLY Hardside Fibertech Luggage 3 Pc Set : Great set for a great price! I use the larger suitcase, Curtis uses the carry on.

2. Sheer Luggage - Toiletry Bag : If you haven’t made the switch to a clear toiletry bag - I highly recommend it. So cute and so easy to see what you crammed inside last minute.

3. Lululemon Free to Be Bra : My favorite sports bra with its soft fabric, support, and fun strappy back.

4. Lululemon Align High-Rise Short 6" : My favorite shorts for working out. We like to find a gym or run the strand.

5. Miamica Travel Laundry Bag : An easy way to keep track of your dirties.

6. LEVI'S Ex-Boyfriend Trucker Jacket : The best jacket to fly with because it’s lightweight, easy to take on and off, or stash on your luggage/under your seat/on your lap.

7. Black Slim High Split Jeans : Going out to dinner jeans, love the slits to show off your shoe game.

8. Boxy Teddy Bear Cardigan : Cozy and cute. Can be dressed up or casual.

9. Lilah Black Heels : Perfect for dressy casual dining. Great low heel for easy walking.

10. Slim Mom High Ankle Jeans : Flattering, high waisted jeans. Simple to dress up or down!

Find more on my LTK!

1. Nike Blazer Low Platform : Stylish and comfy for walking. Love anything platform and white!

2. Rib-knit Cardigan : Perfect for layering & love the blue shade.

3. Gingham Shirred Tie Shoulder Cami Dress : Lightweight, long enough to feel comfortable & cover with a jean jacket, sneakers or sandals.

4. Gold Hoop Earrings Set : Small, easy to pack & change out daily.

5. Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 Instant Camera : The most fun way to make memories on a trip!

Here is my round up of carry-on bags, perfect for a flight or even a road trip!

Find more on my LTK!

Game Night

You know that I speak it like it is and you can take that for what it’s worth. With four kids, Curtis and I don’t get a lot of alone time, together or as individuals. While sometimes I may be hiding in my closet just to escape, on my better days I can embrace our crazy household and come up with activities to accept our circumstances. The pandemic left behind a few hidden blessings by the fact that we were forced to spend more time together and really benefited from that. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to get those adult nights out as they come maybe once a year but finding a way to not only survive all this time together, and really welcome it, has taken a shift in my thinking. 

I will admit, and I feel guilty about it – there are days that I wish we didn’t have anyone in tow, sucking our souls. Yes, I love them. Yes, they are the best parts about my life. Yes, I cannot fathom life any other way. And yes, sometimes I want to run away. BUT I am working on that last part – recognizing when I need to put down my phone, close my laptop, or find a way to check my anxiety. I have made a goal for myself this year to savor their childhood more. I even put that on my mirror to see every day. It’s so easy to wish the time away, but then it happens, and I’m only wishing for it to slow down or go backwards.

Something we have taken on this past year are family sleepovers. We’ll either take over the living room and watch a movie or play games and set up sleeping bags in mom and dad’s room to dream the night away. Here’s a list of some fun games that I think you will enjoy with your own circus. 

While getting away may not be reasonable, sometimes Curtis and I are able to play games with our friends or family when the kids are either occupied or in bed. And some of the games that make this list are played better alongside a cocktail and no parents or in-laws in sight. Here are some of our fav adult games. 

ADULT GAMES

Keep these on hand for couples game nights, date nights, or hanging out with the in-laws (maybe)

1. Cards Against Humanity : A classic party game, always outrageous and hilarious.

2. Listicles : As you can guess from a Buzzfeed game, this one is full of pop culture and funny relevant themes. Feels like an updated Scattergories!

3. New Phone Who Dis : Guess the replies to ridiculous text messages in this adults only game. Maybe don’t bring this one to Thanksgiving with your in-laws…

4. What Do You Meme? : The funniest, often too relatable memes and insane captions to match. Like in Cards Against Humanity, pick your favorite answer!

5. The Game Of Things : Read a prompt such as “Things…you shouldn’t do in an elevator” and guess who said what. You will be crying laughing in no time.

FAMILY GAMES

Whip these out for some family fun!

1. Kids Create Absurdity : Just as funny as Cards Against Humanity but age appropriate! This will get the kids cracking up, especially when they get to fill in their own blank cards.

2. What Do You Meme? Family Edition : We love the adult version so much, this will be a hit with the younger crowd too! Hilarious memes and captions.

3. Wavelength : A telepathic game that gets conversation rolling. Great for family reunions, up to 20 players!

4. Play Nine : This looks and sounds like a boring golf game but hear me out…it is seriously addicting. Perfect for ages 8+.

5. Codenames : A social game full of teamwork and spies. Try to guess your teams words without guessing the other teams, and whatever you do avoid the assassin!

Love Is Brewing

We lived near Portland, OR for a year and a half and loved going to watch the Trail Blazers play.

This year will be our 10-year wedding anniversary and as cliché as it goes, I can’t believe how quickly time as flown by. I know I sound like a character from the cheesiest rom-com, but I still get excited to see Curtis when he walks in the door. When he calls or texts me just because, it makes my day. He’s my best friend and biggest advocate. That’s not to say we don’t have our moments (or weeks) but all in all, we’re all in.

I thought I would take this Valentine’s Day to share our love story, the good, the bad, and the past 13 years. Curtis likes to tell people that the first time he met me he thought I was a total B. I always feel the need to defend myself because I was brand new to a coffee job, never having made coffee, and I was stressed out! He does admit that after that initial meeting, I was much nicer. In 2007, I started working at a coffee stand a block away from his job at UPS. I’d see him almost every shift as he’d pull up in his silver, Toyota Corolla with a Buckeye nut garland strung around his rearview mirror. Over the course of the next year, we got to know each other strictly on customer and barista relations. Well, strict might be too strict a word because we did have many lingering conversations as he sat waiting to drive into work on slower afternoons. We were both in relationships, and both being the loyal partners that we are, didn’t cross the line. I still remember the day he walked up to the coffee stand to say goodbye. He was leaving for Iraq that summer and this was his final visit. Rather than getting his usual iced mocha, he got a fruit smoothie to cool off with after playing golf. I can even picture that I was wearing a jean skirt, black Tory Burch flats, and a black and white striped tank top. Funny that I can recall these things when the intentions of our relationship were completely pure of heart. Maybe my gut knew what the future held. I said my goodbye to him in almost a question because as a 20-year-old college student, I wasn’t sure if I would still be where I was or gone, completely unsure if I would see him again.

Many car selfies were taken at this time! Camera phones were just getting good.

Summer passed by, as well as the long-term relationship I had been in with my first ever, serious boyfriend. Fall came and went, and we rolled into winter. I was sad, lonely, and still living at home while I went to school. The new year rolled around and Curtis had popped up in my Facebook feed. He had joined Facebook months prior and had asked to be friends. I mean you aren’t official until it’s on Facebook, right? (After we started dating, he admitted that he only joined Facebook to keep up on me.) And funnily enough, I remember telling him all about it while making him a coffee one day, explaining the ins and outs. That’s probably the one and only time I have ever been more adept in something technology related than Curtis. Anyway, he had messaged me that he was going to be home for leave for a couple of weeks. When I messaged him back, he had already returned to Iraq after having just spent two weeks in town. I missed him by a few days. We chatted on Facebook messenger for a bit that night and every so often throughout the course of the next 7 months. Very, few and far between. I had mini relationships during that time so my correspondence would go in accordance with my relationship statuses. He would send me messages and I may or may not reply because of that loyalty I mentioned. Course now I know who I should have been loyal to. We were back to fall, a week after my birthday, and Curtis popped into my head.  I went to our latest chat on Facebook to see he had left his phone number back in August and told me he would be home again.

During his time away, he had gone through a divorce with his first wife, Jack’s mother. This had been planned before he left for overseas, and being the gentleman that he is, he didn’t share this information with me because he didn’t want to talk about such life situations with only a barista/Facebook friend. Getting married as teenagers had not worked for them, but they remained friendly.

I responded to that message with the news that I worked at a different coffee stand and that my shift was the very next day. Well, what do you know, he showed up that next day, in now a silver SUV and wearing a pink tie. I couldn’t believe I was seeing him again in real life and I think he felt the same way. I had darker hair, his hair was lighter than I visualized, and we chatted for some time before the next car pulled up and he was off to work – to a job that didn’t require a (pink) tie. This job was way on the other side of town, in the opposite direction of where he lived and came from. I must have made good coffee. Right as he pulled away, I went back to our message thread on Facebook to find his phone number and I texted him that we should go out for drinks – I had plans with my sister-in-law and friends that weekend.  From Curtis’ perspective, he opened that message and fist pumped. He was in. And boy were we both in for it.

A few days passed and we had planned to meet up at the most hipster dive bar in downtown Oly. The kind of place you have to linger at the bar for 20 minutes for the too-cool bartender to notice you all while your friend lingers to find an open booth. I still love to listen to Curtis’ rendition of how this night started. His wingman had bailed on him, and he was scrambling to find someone else to fill the bro code shoes. I was already at the bar with a group of people when he came alone and saw us all sitting at a table. His version goes that I was the one talking, sitting at the head of this table and he didn’t want to be THAT guy to walk up and interrupt. He opted to use a last lifeline and phone a friend. When that didn’t make him a millionaire, he went the bathroom and decided once outside he’d send me a text that he wasn’t going to be able to make it. However, when he walked out of the bathroom who else would be standing there in this rom-com than the one and only, me. I yelled his name and gave him a big hug. Would it surprise you if I said that I still remember what we both wore that night? Sort of a common theme with me. He wore a black, North Face fleece and I wore a black tank and laced up heels. You know, early twenties bar hopping attire. We went to other bars that night, he put his hand on my knee, and we hit up Taco Bell before our DD that night drove him home. After he got out of the car, I said to my SIL that I should have kissed him. Almost two years to the day after first meeting, we spent our first time together without a car or building, in between us.  

We took the next night off from one another and I tried to go against my nature by playing hard to get for the next weeks. That didn’t last, and we were together nonstop from every moment after. I don’t remember exactly when we first said I love you, but it did not take long. Curtis was living with Jack and a roommate in a house close to downtown and I lived with my parents. I don’t know why, but it’s kind of embarrassing to admit that it didn’t take much time before we moved into an apartment together, my cat Charlie and all. From then on Curtis, Jack and I were The Three Musketeers. I won’t tint your glasses by saying it was all easy. He still needed time to heal, from his past and from war. I needed time to grow up and we both had to learn to trust again.

After several moves, coffee jobs, pets, and his proposal two years later, the three of us were living back in Olympia, officially a family, Facebook official and all. Almost a decade has passed, and I can honestly say the years have become better and better. Our past has made us stronger with each new stage, and while I can’t say exactly what it is that makes us tick, we have figured out how to remain best friends and raise our other besties all while trying to out love the other. “Tik-Tok goes the clock” as Kesha says and as sure true that saying goes – our nights may look a bit different than they did when we started dating. (And when this song was playing in the clubs we danced in.)  We do, however, still wake up “in the morning feelin’ like P Diddy” about our love story and this life we have built.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Taken by Taylor Stuck Photography

Xoxo, Meegan

What's In My Cart?

It’s Friday! That means the pre-kend is here and so is another round of What’s In My Cart? We’ve got items big and small this week - see below each specific item that’s in my online shopping cart and why it’s there!

1. Ruffled Marble Bowl

I’ve shared this item briefly on Instagram before but it’s been a while - I’ve been drooling over this ruffled marble bowl for what seems like ages. I have officially taken the next step and added it to my cart - the shape and textures are just too good to pass up!

2. Cloche with Matches

This adorable glass cloche for matches would be so pretty alongside a nice candle and maybe a brass candle snuffer. So much more homey and visually appealing than a zippo or bulky lighter.

3. Wicker Spoon Wall Hanging

I love the antique look to these wicker spoons, they’d go great in my kitchen. They look like they belong in an old historic farmhouse without being too cheesy or farmhouse decor-y if that makes sense?

4. Sand CQ-03 Area Rug

This rug is lingering in my cart. It’s a great neutral rug with that perfectly worn-in look. These types of rugs are great around pets and kids because the faded pattern conceals spills or stains so well.

5. Vegan Suede Clutch

The suede on this vegan leather clutch looks so soft and just like real suede! Would be a perfect bag to dress up an outfit for a night out.