This & That | How to Hide Ugly Cords

School started today! James is officially a second grader!  You super long time readers (thank you!) will remember that I started this blog when he was just 4 months old!  And now he’s seven! The first day of school always brings a mix of emotions from sad and sentimental to excited about the new school year and happy to get things organized in our home!  So, with that in mind, I’ll kick this This & That post off with a few productivity tips and organizing hacks!

HOW TO HIDE UGLY CORDS

Ever since moving into my gorgeous home office, my dirty little secret has been the ugly office cords that hung down and made a mess of the room!  I hid them away for photos, but in real life, they were a tangled mess! I got inspired to get them cleared up when I saw how my friend Kelley hid the cords in her home office.

The funny thing is, tackling this chore took all of 15 minutes tops!  Why do we put off these kinds of things?!  The ‘after’ makes it so worth it!

how to hide ugly cords.1

To appreciate the “after” though, you need to see the “before.”

office cords before

I work from a laptop that’s plugged into my big Mac monitor (two cords) and then I have a lamp (another cord) with an extension outlet because my small tv is plugged into the wall outlet, leaving room for only one other plug in the wall.

So, I used the ledge under my desk to hide the extension outlet and secured it with clear packing tape.  Then, I taped the longer cords to the back desk leg.  You can see my whole office with sources here.

how to hide ugly cords

But back to getting organized, I can never have too many planners!  In my defense, each one serves a particular purpose.  I need to have a planner that has a weekly page with times so I can visually see appointments and commitments blocked out.  It takes me a long time to create blog posts, so the space in between those commitments is what I know I have for blog posts. And after my mom leaves at 3 p.m., I don’t get any more blogging done unless it’s after Jordan goes to bed, but that’s rare.  My goal for each day is to be done by 3:00, so it’s not weighing on me and I can just focus on kids and dinner and all that stuff!  I can’t get any computer work done after that anyway with a busy toddler running around!

weekly passion planner

I bought the Passion Planner for that purpose of tracking my day and just started using it.  I like that it has the times on the side of each day, and starts with 6 a.m. and goes all the way to 10:30 p.m.  That’s great for writing in those early morning workouts. And it lays flat without a coil in the middle- those drive me crazy because it’s hard to write near the middle of those kinds!

There’s lots more you can do with this type of planner, but so far, I’m just using the monthly and weekly layouts.

Passion planner.1

Passion planner.2

I love using these erasable colored pens in the planner and in general.  It’s amazing how well they erase with the attached eraser!

READING

My new fall Magnolia Journal magazine arrived and it’s chock full of so many good things.  Over the years, I’ve switched from hard copy magazines to subscribing and reading them online with the Zinio app, but the Magnolia Journal, I love to hold in my hands and read cover to cover. You can read about our trip to Waco and Magnolia Market here and see some of our Magnolia Market decor here.

galvanized Magazine holder

Similar File Bin

I’m halfway through Cultivate by Lara Casey and it’s pretty good, although if you want to really dig deep, I say check out Brene Brown’s books.  One thing that’s already resonated with me from Lara’s book is this message: “Everyone else was saying, “Do more! Be more!” And you know what? That was wearing everyone out. We began teaching something entirely different: Do less. Do what matters.”

It’s so true. I kept wondering why I felt so tired all the time.  The answer smacked me upside the head several months ago when I realized, “Hello! You had a baby!”  Sure, she’s older now, but she requires so much time and energy and attention and so something had to give.  I realized I couldn’t do everything like I was doing before she was born.  Duh. But I still wanted to and I was holding on so tightly I was getting rope burn.  Once I stopped resisting that, and loosened my grip, things got better for me.  For instance, that whole setting office hours thing I mentioned above.  I have a “day in the life” post planned with some friends at the end of this month (August 30th) if you want to hear more about the day-to-day around here.

WATCHING

I freely admit to being a fan of reality TV.  You people who don’t miss a beat will realize I was watching Flipping Out in the office pics above! I can’t wait for the new season! I’m dying to see Jeff and Gage with their baby!

But, have y’all seen Sweet Home Oklahoma? I started binge watching it this weekend.  It’s about 3 best girlfriends, one ex, their kids (and dogs) and so funny and real and awesome all rolled into one.  These women’s relationship remind me of the kind of friendship I have with my own 3 best friends (nothing is off limits and we laugh til we cry) and I couldn’t live without them.  The show is served up with a hilarious side of comedy and I swear I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard when Pumps was lost driving to New Mexico and trying to get directions from Siri!  That was some funny sh*t!!!

DRINKING | VIETNAMESE ICED COFFEE

I blame my girlfriend Ali-Shaun for getting me hooked on Vietnamese Iced Coffee this summer!  At the end of the school year, before one of the kids’ baseball games (our sons were on the same team), I was eating at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant and posted a quick pic on Stories.  She saw it and texted me asking if I was still there.  I was.  Then she asked if I could bring her an iced coffee to the ball field.  Of course.  But when they delivered the drink to my table, I had to taste it first. 😉 Hooked immediately!

Vietnamese iced coffee

Vietnamese iced coffee is made with strong coffee and sweetened condensed milk over ice.  Not only does it taste delicious, it’s a mighty strong afternoon pick me up.  I found this recipe by Hungry Huy for how to make it at home if you’re interested.

The funny thing is, I’ve recently significantly reduced my meat and dairy consumption, so I haven’t had one in awhile, but it was definitely my signature drink the summer of 2017!

WEARING | BEAUTY

We’ll be heading to New Orleans with two couples soon, so I’m thinking of taking this breezy dress (with pockets) that I showed you in August’s Monthly Loves for sightseeing during the day, and this romper dress for a dinner out.  I just ordered this adorable tiered babydoll tank, so I hope it arrives in time and fits!

I also recently bought this (Hip ‘n’ Happy) lip liner and lipstick (Pink Plaid) and it’s a very pretty pale matte pink, just what I was looking for!

pink lips

I wore it to lunch with my girlfriends Sara & Veronika on Friday.  We ate at Hungry’s in the village and there are so many good and healthy things on the menu there!  And valet parking so you won’t be driving around hunting for a spot!

pink cold shoulder dress

Dress ⋅ Similar Lace-Up Heels ⋅ Necklace ⋅ BagRing

I also got a ton of questions about what lip color I was wearing in this pic below.  It’s Twig by Mac with Spice lip pencil.  That Spice pencil is an oldie but a goodie!

embroidered top

Top (40% off) ⋅ Shorts ⋅ Sandals ⋅ Similar Bag

YOUR HELP!

Last but not least, I’ve been working on a weekly newsletter to send out to subscribers that should be good to go starting this weekend!  The newsletter will feature a new recipe each week, favorite weekend steals, a peek of what’s coming up, a recap of the previous week’s posts in case you missed something, and more. But what should I call it?  So far, Honey We’re Home Weekly Edition is all my brain has mustered!

You can subscribe to my blog and newsletter by entering your email address under my picture on the right side of my blog. If you subscribe, you’ll get one email when a new post is published and one email on the weekend with the newsletter. Thank you tons!! 

Okay friends, I think that’s it for now! The first day of school is also a half day, so I’m turning right around to pick him back up! Have a great week!

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

27 Comments

  1. I was so excited to see the Passion Planner in your blog because I use it too!!! Love it!!! I used the classic bound one also. Then recently I printed it out and punched holes in it and incorporated it with a Big Happy Planner and now I have the perfect planner that I can add/remove pages, change out the covers, etc. And don’t get me started on all the happy planner stickers…… 🙂

  2. Thank you for the book recommendations. It started me down a fun rabbit trail and I have a long list of books to chose from! In my mind, I associate your blog with bees because of the Honey part of your name, so I think a name such as The Honey Comb is cute for your weekly newsletter.

  3. Alright girlfriend, you look like you’re a teenager (in all the best ways) — I mean, I need your skin care/hair care tips. All of them! Haha! I really like Honey We’re Home Weekly. Nice and simple. 🙂 Happy first day to James!!!

  4. HWH Weekly Edition is nice! Other suggestions: HWH Happy Hour (because who doesn’t love a HH?!) or HWH Weekly Roundup — good luck!

  5. I love the idea of the weekly edition. Your recipes are a hit in my household. I need more workout routines.

  6. I cannot wait to see/hear about your trip to New Orleans! Please do a full post on where you eat, what you see and do, what you wear, etc. because I need your help to plan our future trip 🙂

    xoxo, SS

    Southern and Style

  7. Pioneer has an easy cold brew recipe for DIY Vietnamese coffee. Signing up for newsletter now. Love your this & that posts. So much good in one quick read!

    1. Hi Beth! Now that you mention it, I seem to remember something about the PW recipe! I love how she always reminisces about her love of sushi and iced coffee! I watch her show and have all her cookbooks! Thanks so much for subscribing!!

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