Mer's World

So, my goal in the coming weeks is to share a bit more of my daily life with you. The point of this blog started as healthy living, and in the past year has covered lots of ground- healthy eating, weight loss, stitching, shopping, travel and god knows what else!

In my spare time (which you’ll soon see is minimal), I track 100+ blogs in my Google Reader. Many are healthy living related, several are home design blogs with many needlepoint shops and blogs thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the blogs I read related to healthy living are written by women who don’t (by my definition) have a standard 9-5 kind of job. Many run their blogs, have books or other freelance publications and a huge amount of flexibility in their day-to-day lives (again, from my perspective)! The point isn’t to minimize their efforts or work, but rather provide another perspective to managing healthy living goals and a (somewhat?!) standard work life balance.

So, here is a day in the life…

5am- fling arms wildly to try and find phone. Hit snooze and say bad words loud enough to wake husband.

5:30am- swear and jump out of bed (sending cat flying) and causing dogs to start barking

5:31am- realize husband forgot to set up/turn on coffee. Swear. Again.

5:45am- stitch 3 threads on current needlepoint project, check and return work emails, prep lunch/purse/anything else for the day

6:45am- start beauty routine (shower, blow dry, makeup, flat iron), select suit separates, ruin at least one pair of pantyhose, change mind about skirt/top, change, switch shoes, add jewelry, fix makeup

7:25am- turn on egg pan with 2T of salsa, let dogs out, leave note for dog walker, pay bills on iPhone while adding 2 eggs to salsa, prep coffee (half caff) to go, remember to let dogs in, lock Croix in his house, eat eggs, leave dishes in sink for loving husband

7:45am- out the door, arms full of purse, lunch and coffee, avoid spilling breakfast or coffee on way out door, admire flowers in front yard while waiting for garage door to close

8:45am- start day at office with another cup of decaf, print out schedule of meetings, respond to emails and voicemails, remember all the things you forgot to do, re-evaluate ‘to do’ list, say more bad words

9:00am- start meetings, tackle small projects, handle problems as they come up, drink more coffee, start running behind schedule

10:00am- nonfat decaf venti latte, 5 minute breather

1:00pm- lunch at desk, return phone calls while handling priority emails, prep for afternoon meetings or projects

5:30pm- start wrapping up for the day, find at least 10 more things that need attention today, more bad words, run into at least 5 people that just need ‘a minute’

6:00pm- hope I’ve missed the worst of the traffic, pull out of office garage into gridlock, turn up music and sing along, call family and friends for reality check, call Brian to ask what he wants to do for dinner, realize my gas light is on, decide to deal with it later

6:45pm- pull up to the house, hoping Brian has arrived first, clean up the dog shit in the dining room, free the dogs from captivity, laugh at their antics in the yard, feed them, start dinner, change into workout clothes, check work email and respond to anything that’s come up

7:00pm- hand off dinner duty to Brian to finish, race downstairs and do 30 minutes on the treadmill , grab mail to read as I walk, feed cats (or else they will stare at me through whole workout!), shop online via iPad

7:30pm- dinner, usually eaten at the kitchen island with Brian with quick day debrief, give him hard time about forgetting coffee setup, bitch about day, don’t mention online or eBay shopping

8:00pm- walk with neighbor, 2 miles with killer hill, bitch about day

8:30pm- catch up on personal email, Facebook, twitter, read, stitch, stare blankly off into space- depending on the day, watch Big Bang Theory reruns, relate to Penny, make to do list for next day

9:30pm- bed prep (face wash, brush teeth, moisturize), read really trashy books until eyes droop (11ish?)

And, then wake up and do it all again tomorrow.

Yeah, I know there are some gaps in the day- like most of my work day, but trust me when I say it’s fast-paced, stressful at times and mentally challenging all the time!!

So, you can imagine my freak out when I think about starting a family and adding an infant to the mix. Excuse me while I go grab a martini- while I still can- and relax for a spell with my trashy romance and needlepoint hobbies!

Hope you had a great 4th of July, enjoyed a day off and are stuffed full of BBQ and red/white/blue treats!

What is your day like? How do you find balance?