7:15 a.m.: My gentle Sleep Cycle alarm starts going off. Lila is laying with me in bed, so I wrap an arm around her and snuggle her close to my chest. This is the only time she lets me snuggle her close like this, and I love it so much!
7:30 a.m.: I get up, pee, pull my messy hair back into a pony, and throw on a shirt and cotton shorts. Then, I eat a simple breakfast (string cheese and yogurt) while reading blogs. I start a load of laundry, feed the cats, and tidy up the kitchen.
8:30 a.m.: I sit down at my computer to start my workday. My morning is fairly uneventful. I answer emails, have a check-in via Slack with one of my writers, and spot-check a bunch of website pages that were posted to clients’ websites last week to make sure they’re formatted and linked out correctly.
10:15 a.m.: I take a break to do today’s Wordle (a hard one! It took me 5 tries), transfer the laundry from the washer to the dryer, do my morning skincare routine, and make my bed.
10:45 a.m.: Back to work. I answer a Facetime call from my mom at some point and we make plans for lunch, and also go off on a tangent of looking up tickets for Jim Gaffigan (he’s coming to Tampa in February!).
11:20 a.m.: I stop working, put on real-person clothes, and then pick up my mom for lunch. We have a short-and-sweet lunch date at Chick-Fil-A (our fave!) and I return home to see that my Book of the Month box arrived. Yay! Since it’s my birthday month, I got to pick out a free book and I chose Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
12:45 p.m.: Back to work! I answer more emails, handle some website posting, and take care of an assignment issue that cropped up (which entails playing around with a few of the writers’ assignments to make sure everything is even).
2:00 p.m.: I start feeling sleepy, so I decide to take a nap on the couch.
3:00 p.m.: Nap is over and I feel very refreshed! I pop a cookie in the microwave to warm it up (20 seconds turns any cookie soft and gooey and delicious!) and then return to my desk where I answer some emails (once I became a manager, keeping up with my inbox became a full-time job!) and continue publishing website content.
4:45 p.m.: I’m at a natural stopping point so I put on my sneakers and head outside for my daily walk. It is gorgeous outside. In the low 80s but with a really nice breeze. It felt divine! During the walk, I leave a video for Mikaela and pick up my mail (two political mailers, a credit card offer, and the weekly junk mailer, bleh).
5:15 p.m.: I need to log a bit more time of work, so I settle in to spend an hour or so working on one of my long-term projects (building out a content library for our writers). It’s one of those big projects that I have to work on in tiny bits, so I try to set aside an hour or two a day to work on it. However, when work gets busy, it’s the first thing to fall off my to-do list. Thankfully, I’m in a slower period of my month so it’s something I can easily tackle. Once I get to a stopping point (for today, at least) in that project, I start looking over the schedule for one of our contractors. I need to make sure she has everything she needs (client notes, content plans, etc.) for her November assignments. I make some notes of what I need to follow up on tomorrow, and then I’m done for the day.
6:40 p.m.: I take a hot bubble bath and it feels so good! I read my book and enjoy the bubbles.
7:00 p.m.: I preheat the oven and while it’s doing its thing, I read some blogs, work on this post, and fold laundry. Can you tell I’m a multitasker? Oops! I also pop my pizza in the oven.
7:30 p.m.: Pizza is done! It’s time to settle on the couch to watch an episode of Love Is Blind. Ooh, the men this season are driving me crazy. Almost all of them are just the epitome of toxic masculinity. Gross.
8:45 p.m.: I sit down to continue working on this post and reading blogs. I take breaks to start my nighttime routine: putting away my laundry, doing my skincare routine, cleaning up the kitchen, and brushing my teeth.
10:15 p.m.: Nighttime routine is done, so it’s finally time to get in bed with my book. While I read, the cats jump on the bed to snuggle with me. Eventually, I close my book and queue up an ASMR video to lull me to sleep.
11:10 p.m.: Lights out!
Are you a multitasker, or do you like doing just one thing at a time?
monday in the life: 2020, 2017, 2016, 2015. and 2014
I’m not good at multitasking. What ends up happening is that I get focused on one thing and the other thing I’m doing just fades from my mind. So if I’m doing laundry and cooking, I’ll ignore the washer and dryer beeping while I’m cooking until the washer and dryer give up on me and then I forget about the laundry until ten o’clock at night when I wake up in a dead panic because there are wet clothes in the washer. This is why i have lists. Because even if I ignore the washer and dryer while I’m cooking, if it’s not crossed off my list, I’ll eventually get back to it. I don’t really believe that people can multitask (you can really one do one thing at a time), but some people are better about switching their brains into different modes and between different tasks more quickly than others.
Also, I’ve heard such good things about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but a quick search of my blog shows I’m sort of meh on author. Hm. Maybe I’ll get it from the library.
I totally get what you’re saying about multitasking. For me, it’s less about doing multiple things at once but that I can jump from one task to another to another really quickly. Maybe TOO quickly, lol. I wish I could focus on one thing at a time!
I always seem to do multiple things at the same time – cooking and cleaning the kitchen and running to get the mail in between, exercising and listening to an audio book, watching TV and knitting, helping the kids with something while folding clothes and the list goes on.
Yes, yes, yes! This is my life, minus the kid part, haha.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow sounds interesting! I am excited to hear what you think of it.
I love the pic of Eloise helping you at your desk!
What bubble bath do you like to use? I use Dr Teal’s.
I do multitask and I should not – I am horrible at it. And I am so scattered lately, probably because of this. The pandemic killed my attention span.
I just like using body wash as bubble bath – Caress, Softsoap, and Dial are my current faves. A good scent is a must! I’ve used Dr. Teal’s before and I really like their lavender bubble bath. I need to get it more often!
The pandemic really killed my attention span, too. It’s bad!
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the Tomorrow book! I really liked it.
This sounds like a really nice day! My dream job would be to work from home with my cats all day… the problem is, I’m such an introvert i would end up never going anywhere (at least you got out for lunch with your mom!) Oh, and I could picture never putting on real-person clothes ever again…. that would be me. But it sounds fun when you describe it!
Haha, this has been my exact problem with working from home. I have to be really intentional about getting out during the week because I can get sooo very lazy and then that makes me lonely and it’s a vicious cycle. But it is so, so nice to be home with my cats every day!
I always love to get a glimpse into your day! 🙂 It seems like you have a pretty good routine.
I am definitely a multi-tasker, although I realize every once in a while that it doesn’t work in every situation. When it comes to work, I like to focus on one (max. two) things per workday… otherwise, I feel to scattered to get anything done. It can be hard because lots of my tasks are big and I can’t easily check off things.. I often work on something for days or weeks.
That makes a lot of sense when it comes to work, considering the kind of work you do! I tend to be a multitasker at work, and I’ve recently realize how much better my days go when I focus on one task at a time. I need to get better about that!
I love these kinds of posts so much! I just love a peek into people’s days. I am a bit of a multi-tasker, in that I will “dovetail” tasks, but sometimes I just like to concentrate. When it comes to chores around the house, I like to start things and then get other things done; it feels nice and efficient.
Yes, I am such a multitasker when it comes to chores and getting things done around my home. Focusing on ONE thing at a time just doesn’t work for my brain!
Ah this is so fun to follow. And also interesting to see how other people work. For me at first glance it looks like lots of breaks and smaller chunks. I wonder if that is a regular day. For me when I have those days I often not feel so productive and other times very much so.
Yes, I am definitely someone who works in smaller chunks and I love taking breaks throughout the day. This week is a slower one for me, work-wise, so I’m giving myself more breaks than usual.
I am also a multitasker. I know it isn’t optimal sometimes but it is the way my brain works!
It sounds like a great day overall. The kitty snuggles sound so nice. I wish our cat liked me. Ha! She is all about Phil!
Yes, it’s how my brain works, too! I like that I can easily jump from task to task, but I do wish I could focus more easily on some tasks.
I love these glimpses into others’ days. You’re so good at sharing the details and taking pictures! That’s where I would fail – I don’t do or eat anything interesting. 😉
I am often a multitasker when it’s something that’s not deep work. For me, deep work = manuscript writing, reviewing documents, etc. I also find that some days, I get REALLY into something and just keep going on it (if I’m moving forward, why not?) and other days – like today – I am SO scattered thanks to meetings and last-minute requests, etc.
I’m with Jenny, though – working at home = holing up at home. Good for you for having lunch with your mom.
My days aren’t all that interesting, either! But I don’t think it matters how interesting (or uninteresting) our days are – it’s fun to get these glimpses into someone’s day-to-day life. 🙂
I have had to become much better about making sure I get out and do stuff during the week. I am a hermit by nature, but it leads to bad bouts of loneliness if I don’t force myself to get out and see people!