A day in the life of Heather...

Hey all! Today, we have Heather a friend of mine, who unfortunately does not have a blog! Thanks for sharing your day with us Heather.. and sadly, she sent me some really cute pictures,  but I didn't know how to get them out of Word and didn't look until tooo late so I attempted to add some of them back in but in my trying to get them saved in Paint I messed some up.. I suck.. Sorry Heather!

Hi, I am very excited to share with Emily’s readers what a day in my (uneventful, yet fulfilling) life is like. My name is Heather and I am a working mom with a long commute. During the week, every day is pretty much the same, but I chose to document a typical Wednesday because aside from the weekends, that is the day I get to spend the most quality time with my  3 year old daughter Charley.

4:45am: The alarm sounds and I hit snooze.

5:02am: The Alarm goes off again and I get up, mosey on to the bathroom while my husband is still snoring.

5:10am: Find my way to the kitchen to take my vitamins and make my morning tea.

5:15-5:45am: Iron my clothes and put on makeup…I don’t even bother fixing my hair anymore, it is either in a loose braid, a messy bun, or a frizzy hot mess.

5:45am: Matt, my husband, brings me breakfast consisting of eggs & ½ a grapefruit.

5:55am: I get a sippy cup of warm milk ready, put it by “the chair” as my daughter calls it, in my bedroom, turn the TV to Arthur and go wake up the sleeping beauty.

6-6:15am: Flurry of activity, dressing me, dressing Charley, getting her a banana, then a cheese stick, then she tries to trick me into giving her popcorn. In between, I get my lunch packed. Then we all three end up in the bathroom dancing and brushing our teeth to the tooth brushing song on Charley’s step stool. Finally get hugs and kisses from daughter and husband and hit the door for my long commute into Atlanta.

6:15-8:00am: Drive the 44 miles one way to my office. (I am usually at the office at 7:15, but today it rained and Atlanta stops when it rains.

8:00: Usually the first one at the office, I am the personal assistant to our CEO and Executive Assistant for Human Resources for an auditing firm. I turn on lights, gather newspapers, turn on my computer, and put my lunch in the refrigerator. Make a cup of coffee.

8:00-9:00am: Catch up on email, check personal email and internet message boards I frequent, look at my calendar and the calendars of those I support to see what is on tap for the day.

9-10am: I am working on the Holiday Party Invitation, various tasks from New Hire Letters and book orders, to Management Reports, to Staffing Tracker.

10am: Morning snack: greek yogurt and a peach, 2^nd cup of coffee. Check various message boards I frequent.

10:15a-12:30p: Work.Work.Work. More administrative work, from preparing invoices for approval to re-stocking the break room, working on a Management Report project for our Commercial Division which involves “cleansing” the report of all client and vendor identification and developing a spreadsheet for reference of who the actual client of the cleansed report is, and doing a lot of personal stuff for the CEO.

12:30p-1p: Lunch! Usually leftovers and a cucumber/tomato salad…at my desk. Today it is a Stuffed Pepperoni Sandwich. Check various message boards I frequent.

1-4:00p: Work.Work.Work. I received a new Management Report due November23rd. I checked the length and it is 50 PowerPoint pages with lots of data. I have to clear my schedule to dedicate 100% of my time on it so that the many back and forth drafts will get it completed and to a final approval by next Tuesday so that I can print/bind and ship 30 copies to the Principal to arrive by Wednesday for presentation to the client November 28^th. (These are very complex reports where I have to check the math and claim amounts, ensure every page lines up with the page before and all data is accurate for the audit. It is my responsibility to make them look “pretty” and professional and check formatting/punctuation/grammar, etc.)

4:00p: The weather is really terrible, so my boss told me to leave 15 minutes earlier than I normally leave on Wednesdays to ensure I get home in time to change and get Charley to “Mommy & Me” Gymnastics.

5:15ish: Stop at package store to get wine for Survivor.

5:30-6p: Arrive home to hugs and kisses from both of my biggest fans. Change into comfortable clothes. Matt is feeding Charley and getting her into her gymnastics leotard.

6p: The 3 of us hop in the car and head to gymnastics. I ask Charley about her day, but she wants “Music”, so I put in the Cinderella soundtrack and we sing along changing “Cinderella” to “Charley-rella” where appropriate. J She holds my hand from the backseat and we share the moment together.

6:20-6:30p: We are waiting for class to start. This usually consists of watching the team girls practice their floor exercises. Charley cheers for each one very enthusiastically and loudly.

6:30-7:15p: Gymnastics! Matt comes out after warm ups and the 3 of us go from station to station. Bounce house, Beam, Trampoline, Airplane ride on the zip line, bungee swing, and bars, to the mat to practice rolls and then back to the Bounce house.

7:15-7:30p: Drive and arrive home.

7:30-7:45p: Spot clean the dirty girl put her in her Jammies.

7:45-8p: Catch the last 15 minutes of Clifford the Big Red Dog, snuggling in “the chair”.

8p: Bedtime for Charley

8-9p: Salad, Wine & Survivor night with Matt

9-9:15p: Shower (Matt moves to the living room to watch TV)

9:15p-10p: I watch Criminal Minds and catch up on Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends

10p: EXHAUSTED! Bedtime!

For years I’ve been saying I will get everything together the night before, or this will be the week I am organized and not in hurry, but it has yet to come to fruition. I think I am comfortable with semi-organized chaos. So this concludes a day in my life as a busy working mom with a long commute.

My day starts with “the chair” and ends with “the chair”. I live for that chair.