It's a Not-So-Glam Day in the Neighborhood

Recently, I really enjoyed reading a post from Nilsa at SoMi Speaks about her typical day as a working mom. So, with her permission, I thought I'd outline my day in a similar fashion. Read on, then tell me about yours!

One of my go-to work outfits...bathroom fashion show in effect.

Wake-up. On the four days I work (Monday-Thursday), my alarm begins going off at 5:50 a.m. On a good day, I hit snooze four times and get up at 6:30. This allows me to be dressed and ready to leave the house by 7:30, which means Sophie makes it to school in time for breakfast at 8, and I get to work by 8:15. On a not-so-good day, I get up at 7, am ready to go by 8, and Sophie and I go through the Starbucks Drive-Thru for "breakfast in the car," before she arrives at school at 8:20-30, allowing me to get to the office by 8:45.

Shower. I try to keep my showers short, maybe 10 minutes. I get in, I use body wash, I shave under my arms (every day) and my legs (almost every day even in winter-can't stand going to yoga with stubble), I shampoo, then sometimes I shampoo again to give my hair more body, and then I condition.

Get ready. Once out of the shower, I brush and floss my teeth, clean and moisturize my face, put on deodorant and perfume, spray detangler on my hair and comb it, then dry my hair 75 percent of the way dry. I let the rest of it air-dry while I spend 10 minutes or so putting on makeup. My makeup routine, which I've been doing so long I can do pretty quickly, actually has quite a few steps. I put on lip balm and Neutrogena eye brightener to get rid of dark circles, then swipe on a light base and powder. Next, I use Benefit's Hello Flawless powder concealer to hide any blemishes or bags. Then, I put on lipstick, gloss, and blush. Finally, I brush and fill in my eyebrows a little, before putting on eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara. I know this sounds like a lot, but the name of the blog is Glam-O-Mommy for a reason! ;) Then, I throw on clothes and jewelry. ( I usually have at least an idea of what I'm wearing nailed down the night before.)

Sophie. While I am doing my wake-up/shower/get ready routine, J gets Sophie up, gets her dressed in her school uniform, and brushes and styles her hair. All I have to do then when I am ready is inspect her (pull up socks, adjust hair things, button buttons J overlooked LOL) and grab her backpack and whatever she needs for school that day (dance clothes for ballet, money for chapel, homework), which I always have ready to go and by the door the night before. And then we are off...

First Day of Pre-K

Commute. I work downtown and it's about a 25-30 minute drive with morning traffic (15 without). Sophie's school is three blocks from my office, so I take her in and get her settled and then am at my office within minutes. It's a pretty sweet setup and I'll miss it when Sophie goes to Kindergarten next year and goes to public school closer to our house.

Breakfast. As mentioned, I strive to get Sophie to school on time for school breakfast at 8. If we are successful, then I have breakfast at work as soon as I arrive, either a protein shake I bring from home or an egg or piece of toast or something I can buy in our cafe. And usually a Coke. I don't drink coffee, so this is my morning caffeine. On the days we are not going to make school breakfast, Sophie gets very excited about "breakfast in the car" LOL. We go through Starbucks and I get myself a Peppermint Hot Chocolate and some type of breakfast sandwich and get a Horizon chocolate milk and a protein box for Sophie. Sophie happily munches on the fruit, cheese, and scone, but makes me eat the hard boiled egg.

Lunch. When I am being good and focusing on my intake of calories, I try and bring my lunch, usually a soup and sandwich and some crackers or light popcorn, and eat a quick lunch in the cafe with coworkers. I also try to drink water with lemon during the day in addition to my 1-2 Cokes a day. At other times, I go out to eat for lunch. Last week was an exceptional lunch week. Monday, I had lunch with the mom of one of Sophie's classmates who I am getting to know better. Tuesday, J, who now offices closer to our house, was downtown at our offices for meetings, so we took the opportunity to have lunch together. (We used to eat lunch together every day when he worked down here.) Wednesday, my parents had joint eye appointments close to downtown, so we met up for lunch and it was nice to have an opportunity to chat with them without Sophie, who draws all their attention when she's with us, of course! Thursday, I brought my lunch and ate in the cafe.

Pick up. I leave work promptly at 5, pick Sophie up from school, then battle afternoon traffic all the way home. The afternoon commute always seems longer to me than the morning. I usually chat with Sophie about her day for a few minutes, then call my mother and talk to her until I pull in the driveway. Sophie often falls asleep in her carseat for the rest of the ride, as she no longer naps during the day.

Dinner. I don't cook. OK, that's not totally true. A few weekends ago, I cooked a nice spaghetti dinner on a Sunday. I've got a few things I can cook, but I don't enjoy cooking and it's the last thing I want to do after I come home from work. On the days I go to yoga I don't really eat dinner myself anyway. So during the week, either: A) J decides to cook, which happens about once a week. His meals tend to be experimental in nature. B) We make something easy like sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, or macaroni and cheese. Sometimes I make chicken burgers, which are pretty healthy. Sophie also likes the kiddie Graduate meals, which are well portioned and food-group balanced, or Lunchables, which I augment with fruit. Or C) We eat out or one of us picks up food. Another option we've taken advantage of recently is the chef at Sophie's school has been making healthy dinners that you can order, pick up, and take home at the end of the day. It's $20 for a meal for four, so J usually eats the extra meal for lunch another day. The chef follows the same guidelines he does for the breakfast and lunch meals he makes for the school in terms of healthy ingredients, all food groups represented, etc. The fact that Sophie is eating well twice a day already makes me not get too hung up on what to make for dinner.

Exercise. I've been doing better at this lately. I used to Jazzercise three to four times a week pre-Sophie and do a Boot Camp class periodically, but all those classes are right after work and harder to fit in to my schedule these days. My BFF and I started going to Bikram Yoga two to three times a week about six weeks ago. We usually go at 7:30, which allows me to get home, help Sophie with pre-K homework (don't get me started), and get her something to eat. Each Bikram class is 90 minutes and we sweat and sweat and twist ourselves like pretzels and it is so hard, because I am so inflexible I might as well be a plank of wood, but it's 90 minutes where I cannot be on my cell phone and no one can talk to me except the instructor telling me how to contort myself next, so I think it's good for my mental health, if nothing else.

I am surviving...barely.

Free time. After we get Sophie to bed (around 8:30-9) or I get home from yoga (9-9:30), I usually watch whatever's stockpiled on my DVR (Castle, Modern Family, The Good Wife, Big Bang Theory, Scandal, Elementary, etc.) and check Facebook and Twitter for an hour or so, then get everything (bags, clothes, etc.) ready for the next day and go to bed.

Sleep. I usually start getting ready for bed at 10 and am at least in the bed, although maybe not asleep, by 11.

So that's my typical workday...wash, rinse, and repeat. And just to give you the idea of what the rest of my week is like...

Weekends. Since I am off every Friday, I have a lot of quality time with Sophie on the weekends. We often go to lunch and to Children's Museums or playplaces or the park or some other activity on Fridays. Saturdays, Sophie has been taking soccer for over a year, but recently switched to basketball, so we enjoy watching her in her class on Saturday mornings. Some weekends, Sophie and I have playdates with my mom friends and their kids, sometimes we go out to dinner on Saturdays as a family. We spent part of a recent Sunday at a pumpkin patch enjoying some family fun! Usually though, I spend Sunday running loads and loads of laundry, getting things ready for the work week, and going to the grocery store. I am lucky to have an understanding husband, who mostly enjoys playing games on his computer anyway, and thus doesn't mind when I want to meet my BFF out for dinner and shopping or the occasional Spurs game on a Friday or Saturday. I'm also lucky to have the Grandparentals nearby, who need a Sophie fix if they haven't seen her in awhile, and occasionally keep her overnight on a weekend, which lets J and I have date nights.

Future WNBA Player maybe?

At the Great Hill Country Pumpkin Patch in Medina, Texas

Riding like the cowgirl she is out in the Hill Country!

So what does your workday/week usually look like? Do you ever feel like you are in a rut because of the routine or are your days/weeks different? What's your favorite day of the week? (Hands down, mine is Friday Funday!) Least favorite day? (Mine is Sunday. See: LAUNDRY.)