Freelance Life Archives - Travel Write Draw by Meagan Morrison

Highlight Real Podcast with Travel Write Draw’s Meagan Morrison

I sat down (virtually) with the ever lovely Josephine Kimberling of Highlight Real Podcast to talk all about the highs…

Darlings 🥹!! I finally got to see, for the firs

Darlings 🥹!! I finally got to see, for the first time ever, the @TravelWriteDraw x @BlueSkyPlanners collection in full @StaplesStores 😭!! Utterly surreal to get to share this experience with my sister, who witnessed me painting a number of these pieces during lockdown, at a time when I wasn’t sure my business would ever survive the devastating impact of the pandemic. Fast forward 3 years later and my first ever collection of planners and calendars are available at 1,035 Staples stores across the US. Never EVER give up on your dreams, friends!! Thank you to every single one of you who has already purchased from the collection or sent through heartfelt words of support. I’m grateful beyond measure!!

All my love, xx MM

My Loves!! I’m so beyond excited to FINALLY shar

Darlings!! Just 1 more sleep to go before my 26 pi

Darlings!! Just 1 more sleep to go before my 26 piece collection of CALENDARS 🗓️ & PLANNERS 📚 starts to drop nationwide at the stationery store of my childhood dreams 😭. 1,035 stores in collaboration with the one and only @BlueSkyPlanners!! Details will be revealed tomorrow and I’ll be pinching myself until then 🥹!!

All my love, xx MM

Friends!! March Madness has officially arrived and

Friends!! March Madness has officially arrived and so too have the @MarriottBonvoy campaign videos I shot this past January 🥹🫶🏼. I swear, I really did miss my calling to become a pro baller 😩🏀!! Be on the lookout for these fun lil clips running both on IG & TT and thank you once again to my wonderful #MarriottBonvoy fam for the opportunity!! I cannot WAIT to see who wins the championship this year!!

All my love, xx MM

📹 by @DamonChamberlain

Darlings!! Mark your calendars (and make room for

Darlings!! Mark your calendars (and make room for a new one 😉) because something verrry special is dropping for the first time EVER on March 20th 🗓️📚🦋🍋🌹!! This collaboration has been several years in the making and I’m over-the-MOON that it is finally arriving at a nationwide, specialty retailer, in just a few days 😭!! Can you guess what it is?! More details soon, my loves!! xx MM

Hello Loves!! I was so busy all week drawing (quit

Hello Loves!! I was so busy all week drawing (quite literally) inspiration from Italy for a project, I almost feel like I went there…almost 😂🇮🇹🍋💫. It had me looking back at my archives of Italy illustrations, so I wanted to share a couple with you. With my flights finally booked to a new and warm destination, and the promise of Spring in the air, I’m sending out all the Italian aperitivo vibes to you!! More updates soon, darlings, and happy Sunday!!

All my love, xx MM

#ad Darlings!! Officially adding FACE-PAINTING to

#ad Darlings!! Officially adding FACE-PAINTING to my art resume now thanks to @MarriottBonvoy 👩🏼‍🎨🎨✨!! @TheUconnHusky challenged me to turn student athletes, @EricaSolomen and @MackenzieFitzpatrick, into mini Huskies and you ALL know just how much I love to test out new canvases!! The only problem I encountered was that he tried to take credit for my work LOL!! It was so fun to take on this game-day tradition in style, from the presidential suite at @HartfordMarriott. Swipe to the very end to see how my first foray into face-painting turned out and a BIG thank you to my #MarriottBonvoy family for the experience!! I can't wait to see who makes it to the Final Four this year!!

All my love, xx MM

Photos by @DamonChamberlain

Darlings, I’ve been receiving some really exciti

Darlings, I’ve been receiving some really exciting travel related project enquiries in my inbox as of late, which has my heart absolutely racing for our first big adventure of 2023 🥹✈️!! It’s been several years since my trip to Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar and I have been itching to go back ever since. Camping overnight in the Serengeti while wild elephants brushed against our tents, is a certain kind of magic that I can’t quite put into words. Hot air ballooning over the endless plains while the sun rises, and lions feed on their fresh prey, will stay in my memory bank for a lifetime. I have a sneaky suspicion we have some next level adventures in store for us this year 😉. Stay tuned!!

All my love, xx MM

#ad Surprise, loves!! In continuation of last year

#ad Surprise, loves!! In continuation of last year's partnership with @MarriottBonvoy and the @NCAA, I went back to school to join the athletic department at the University of Connecticut for some game-day traditions!! If you followed along with my journey to Minneappolis to watch the Women's Final Four 🏀, then you may recall seeing the Connecticut Huskies competing for the Championship 🏆!! I loved getting to meet two brilliant UConn athletes and students, @EricaSolomen and @MackenzieFitzpatrick, AND hangout with @TheUconnHusky, mascot with the mostest 😝. Stay tuned to see how all three of them put my artistic skills to the test!!

All my love, xx MM

Photos by @DamonChamberlain

Darlings, tmrw I finally get to share with you my

Darlings, tmrw I finally get to share with you my latest collaboration with my @MarriottBonvoy family 😍!! Before I do, I’m looking back tonight on some of my fave pieces I’ve created with them since the spring of 2021 💗. Commissioned by the incomparable, brilliant @LauraKTroy, who’s vision and passion for storytelling knows no bounds!! I’d love to know, which of the 10 illustrations are YOUR faves?! Let me know below!!

All my love, xx MM

#MarriottBonvoyPartner

If I told you that these first 2 photos and the la

If I told you that these first 2 photos and the last were taken 9 years apart, would you believe me?! February 2023 vs May 2014 with the same haircut, same nail color, and a TWD illustration on my iPhone case to boot 🤯!! I don’t normally indulge in gratuitous selfies but I finally had the chance to do evening glam with my new cut and decided to document it. As I was looking back through old photos the other day, my jaw hit the table thinking how similarly I look now (plus or minus a few wrinkles 😆🫶🏼) to how I did then!! It feels like I’ve returned home in my own skin 🥹😭💫 . I’ll save further introspection on that for another day since I have to start painting for a new deadline today. But if anyone else out there happens to be on a similar path this year of looking in, and reconnecting with the ✨essence✨ of you, just know that you are not alone. And what a joy it is!!

All my love, xx MM

My loves, since I haven’t had a moment to paint

My loves, since I haven’t had a moment to paint new personal work, I hope you don’t mind revisiting one of my fave NYC pieces with me tonight 🥹💗🗽. I finished this work at the start of 2021 when, much like today, I was spending quite a bit of time in the city. Every brushstroke in this piece is filled with love and gratitude for a city that has pushed me, driven me, humbled me, held me, and inspired me. I especially love how the light shines through in this painting; the abstract nature of the ice breaking through to water. A reminder that even in your toughest days here, you will always find your way back to the light.

All my love, xx MM

Darlings, HI!! If you follow my stories then you k

Darlings, HI!! If you follow my stories then you know exactly what I’ve been up to this past week 😂…some not so fun stuff 🇺🇸 and then PAINTING 😍!! Here’s a little behind the scenes glimpse at a new stationery collection I just wrapped, while I go back to proofreading the 24 PDFs stacked on my desk of not so fun stuff 😩. Oh the ebbs and flows lol. Bye for now 💗 xx MM

HAPPY LOVE DAY, DARLINGS!! I know I’m a lil late

HAPPY LOVE DAY, DARLINGS!! I know I’m a lil late to post on the grid but here is my Valentine’s meets NYFW illustration for yous 💗🫶🏼!! And since many of you enjoyed my V’Day PSA in my IG stories this morning, a gentle reminder that every relationship you have in life, be it romantic, friendship, or professional, starts with YOU!! The love, value, and respect you have for yourself sets the bar for everyone and everything else. I hope you all had a great day celebrating, but above all else, I hope you showed love and compassion to yourself!! xx MM

I shared this the other day in my IG stories and y

I shared this the other day in my IG stories and your responses were so heartfelt and touching, it had to hit the mainfeed 🥰💗. I know a lot of people dismiss manifestation as woo woo but neuroscience and quantum psychics have bridged the gap to show this isn’t remotely unfounded. Our thoughts and feelings are SO powerful. We can quite literally shape our future. This is but one of many examples of things I have so firmly believed in and willed into reality. We ALL possess the ability to do it, so what are you/me/we waiting for? 😉

All my love xx MM

CHOP, CHOP 🥹✂️💫!! Hello again world, it’s me, Meagan. I didn’t realize how much I was hiding behind my long blond hair until I cut it all off!! Somewhere along the way these past couple pandemic years, my hair extensions became my security blanket to help me combat a range of fears, from getting older to being on my own. And it worked, at least superficially.

With all the extra length, suddenly men were taking note; quite literally running across avenues to get my number lol. I went from feeling generally invisible in NYC, year after year, to feeling SEEN. Even on my worst days, when I felt zero confidence internally, I knew I could always count on my long blond hair. For all these reasons and more, I decided to cut it off. Why was I clinging to such low level validation to feel secure?!

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote “ruin is the road to transformation”. And I’m learning in my kundalini practice that “discomfort is the currency for transformation”. You can’t expect to grow if you cling to all your familiar pacifiers. It might seem ridiculous to you that cutting my hair off can be this deeply psychological. But SO much of our identity is wrapped up in how we look. My hair had to go if “I” wanted to grow.

At least for now…

I’d be lying if I said that I feel totally confident without all the extra length and fullness. I’m having to dig from somewhere else entirely to feel solid in my skin again. And that is precisely the point 🤌🏼. I’m sharing this all with the hope of letting other women, who might feel this way, know that they aren’t alone. And so the journey to finding REAL confidence from within begins…

All my love xx MM