A (Birth)Day in the Life

Welp, I’m 34. In case I was going to forget, my daughter told me first thing yesterday morning that I was already looking older. She meant it as a compliment and I’m trying to take it as such. 

I love reading other people’s “day in the life” posts and decided l would kick off 34 with one of my own.

Good Morning

7:15 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

7:24 Alarm goes off again. Hit snooze again.

7:33 Alarm goes off again. Finally roll out of bed. I work from home Tuesdays and Thursdays which is great for my sleep schedule. I am naturally a night-owl who stays up until midnight. Working from home twice a week lets me grab an extra hour of sleep those mornings.

I roll out of bed, get dressed and head downstairs. My daughter is already down there and asks for a bowl of cereal for breakfast so I get that for her while I’m starting my computer.

8:00 My team is issuing a press release this morning and it looks like we’ve had some edits come in overnight. I review those and call our newswire service to go over what changes they need to make. Then I get a last minute request from my VP to include another image that doesn’t actually exist but is a combination of two text cards. I use Photoshop to combine them and he likes it! I take 10 seconds to pat myself on the back because two months ago, I could barely open a file in Photoshop. My practicing (and meeting with a Photoshop expert) is paying off!

9:00 Our baby-sitter arrives at the same second we’re getting our press release on the wire. Once she’s settled with the kids and I get a few emails out, I run upstairs to change into more suitable clothes. I end up working on another issue by email for 30 minutes or so, but by 9:45 I’m out the door.

10:00 I arrive at my favorite coffee shop, Bloc. After ordering my usual caramel latte, I settle in at the coffee bar because this place is jamming today. 

I don’t know why, but I get my best work done in a coffee shop. I’m not sure if I feel motivated because I’m out of the office or maybe I’m just energized by the conversations happening around me paired with the smell of fresh brewed coffee, but either way, the next few hours fly by. We are working on closing out our department budget so I spend most of the time going over all of my invoices to make sure there’s nothing outstanding. 

A woman on my team also sends a note to everyone announcing that it’s my birthday. Within minutes, I’ve got 10 emails wishing me a happy day. Even on days when the work is difficult and stressful, it’s made better knowing that I work with so many good people.

Good Afternoon

12:30 I leave the Bloc and go to… Starbucks LOL. I want to make sure I use my birthday reward so I get a caramel latte and figure I can save it for the next day. The caprese chicken sandwich sounds good too so I grab one for lunch and head home.

1:00 Sarah, our sitter, heads out. In the afternoons, Dude naps for a few hours and Bean has what we call “Quiet Rest Time.” This is when she plays quietly in her room for 30-60 minutes… we always hope she’ll take a little nap but it never happens. Either way, it’s a nice break during the day for everyone. I start triage on my inbox, which has been largely ignored for the last week.

2:15 I decide to do the be.come project. This is another perk of working from home. Lots of people on my team head to the gym over lunch so I figure this is kind of the same thing. I’ve also noticed that my anxiety stays in check much better when I break up my work day with some movement. When I finish 30 minutes later, I’m a gross, sweaty mess but I’m also happier and more relaxed. My dad then calls to wish me a happy birthday. I am so happy to hear from him. He’s not great with dates, so I don’t ever expect to hear from him specifically for my birthday, but he remembered. 

2:45 Bean is back downstairs from her rest, so I get her settled on the couch with a movie and a snack. It’s 90º today, so I don’t really want her outside at this point in the day when the sun is strong. I park at the kitchen table and review a couple of press opportunities for the company.

4:00 T gets home from work and takes the kids outside to play. A few minutes later, there’s a knock at the door. It’s my mother-in-law with a birthday card and a piece of strawberry shortcake. I start crying and hug her. My mom always made me strawberry shortcake for my birthday. At this point, it’s been 9 years since I had it on June 27, so it’s especially touching that she brought this over. I decide that on my birthday, I can eat dessert before dinner, so I take it back to the table and crush it while going through emails.

Good Evening

5:30 Time to get dinner going. I usually try to center our meals on a protein and veggies because we have no trouble eating carbs in this house. But some days call for baked mac and cheese at dinner. I whip that up and we sit down around 6 to eat. My husband likes it but the kids don’t. They inhale mac and cheese from a  box, but apparently have zero interest in the homemade stuff.

6:30 I realize that we have four Amazon boxes sitting in our entryway. Our subscriptions were delivered over the last two days, but four boxes feels like a lot. I grab the smallest one to see what’s in it and am totally surprised to see that my best friend sent me a birthday present.

For the last 10+ years, we’ve sent each other flowers for our birthdays. She texted earlier this week to say I wasn’t getting any this year, and I assumed she had just been too busy to place an order. She just went back to work after having a super-cute little boy so it’s a busy time. Instead, she mailed me what she called “MPP IRL.” So sweet. I FaceTime her to say thanks.

7:00 Bean is melting down at this point, so it’s time for the kiddos to get their baths. She’s in bed by 7:30. We read a few books, snuggle for awhile and then she talks herself to sleep. Tonight’s talk was… interesting to say the least.

8:00 I head back downstairs where my husband and son are. Dude is just now getting sleepy, so we snuggle for a few minutes and then the boys head upstairs. I clean up the kitchen and am back on the couch by 8:30.

Now it’s time to get some more work done. I usually try to get another 30-45 minutes of my 9-to-5 work done at night. Once that’s done, I start working on MPP. By about 11 though, I’m ready to turn in. It’s been a long week.

Good night!