I don’t know how I found them, but I follow two creators who share “day in my life” reels and I find them soothing to watch from time to time. One of them is more of a health food / fitness gal, and the other lives a lifestyle very different from my own (distant phase of life — recently-married, no children), but for some reason, watching them tidy their homes, get ready (or unready) for the day, go grocery shopping reassures me that we’re all moving through life and its routines and demands in our own ways. They help me romanticize the “unfashionable middle” of everyday life a bit more, too. I write a lot about leaning into the routine, showing the “profoundly ordinary” some love; these inspire me in a different way to do just that. They also prompted me to track my own day, but in my own medium (writing), so here goes:
6:40 a.m. The Hatch Restore wakes me with its gradually-brightening light and birdsong. I’m still completely obsessed with this thing and even ended up waxing poetic about it while on the dais with Grace Atwood at my Charleston book event. I can’t stop talking about it. It enables me to keep my phone in my studio versus at my bedside, and my sleep habits have improved to an unbelievable degree because of this.
6:42 a.m. Morning chatter with Landon. “How did you sleep?”, etc. (One of those subterranean ways we say “I love you.”) Then I read Kin for a few minutes. When you don’t have a screen nearby, you reach for a book, or just lay there with your thoughts. It’s such a soft unpetaling into the day.
6:50 a.m. Sit at the edge of my bed and contemplate getting up for a full, round minute.
6:51 a.m. Wash face, put in contacts, brush teeth and hair. Put on sweatshirt and socks — it has been a cold May and we have a house that retains the cool thanks to geo-thermal heating.
7:00 a.m. Wake my children. One of my favorite moments of the day. I love seeing their tiny bodies curled up in blankets and pillows and stuffed animals or sprawled across their bedspreads. The full-body peace of childhood slumber! I rub their backs to wake them.
7-7:40 a.m. A hurricane of activity, set to the usually lovely and occasionally irritating WETA classical station (Landon and I hate baroque music, which the morning DJ, Linda Carducci, seems to favor; the minute we hear the harpsichord, Landon says: “Oh, so it’s going to be that kind of day, Linda” — ha). Make breakfast for my son (my daughter eats hers at school!), make smoothies for Landon and I (always the same green kale one — 20g kale, 1/2 avocado, 1 banana, 3/4 c orange juice, 1/2 cup water, 1 cup ice), empty dishwasher, pack lunch, fill water bottles, chase down elements of their school uniforms that appear to have sprouted legs overnight, expedite the children, answer questions like “if you fell really fast, would you turn into a ball of fire?”
7:40-7:50 a.m. After I’ve seen both children out the door, I ping-pong around the house moving random detritus from point a to point b — books and clothing back into bedrooms, sports gear into the sports cubby, breakfast dishes into dishwasher, socks into dirty laundry bin (sigh, the socks!!!). I recently saw this Instagram post that said, “one day, it’ll just be two coats on the rack.” I normally disassociate with that kind of content, the sort reminding you how fast motherhood goes, because I already feel enough guilt as it is, and I think I already do a pretty good job of witnessing the everyday parts of motherhood. But this one has lodged deep, and I call it to mind while confronting my current-season rampage about socks. My kids leave them everywhere — on the chairs and floor of our family room, by the steps to their bedrooms, in heaps by their discarded shoes. How do they wear so many different pairs of socks?! I feel like an average day involves me putting at least four to two thousand pairs of socks away. But anyway, I look at the socks, and I think about how one day, there will be a bare floor where dirty socks used to be, and how I’ll probably miss them in a strange way. I power through.
7:50-8:15 a.m. Check email; return texts. Digital prayer circle with my mom (we text each other the praying hand emojis every morning to let one another know we’re praying — she sends a new prayer each Sunday). Drink smoothie. Stand outside on the back patio to witness the weather and watch for birds. Try to tamp down the growing feeling of dread that I need to be on the Peloton in 30 minutes. I normally love to get on the bike but on this particular morning, I cannot fathom moving my feet at a high speed. Unseemly for a slow start Monday! Not just unseemly — torturous. Text my sisters (who will be joining the ride) to let them know I have zero interest in doing this spin. “Me neitherrrrrrrr” they chirp.
8:15 a.m. Run to desk to get a stray cat sentence down on paper. Get dressed in exercise clothes. This is 1/3 of the battle. Fill two water bottles. Complain to my husband about the imminent exercise as I make my way downstairs, and he responds with all the glowing things I normally tell him about exercising. They sound Pollyanna today.
8:30 a.m. Get on the bike to ride with my dad and sisters. Text my sisters intermittently throughout the ride. Halfway through, I write: “I wish we could reward ourselves with a fancy latte and bagel after this,” and then, a few minutes later, add: “Actually I’m going to get an iced latte as a reward after this — I just remembered I’m an adult and can do what I want! Of course would be better with you.” One replies: “Last night, we walked to a bodega and got Twix ice cream bars because we can.” LOL!
9:30 a.m. Somehow finish the 30-minute spin, a 10-minute core video, and a 10-minute arm/shoulders video, running solely on the vision of an iced oat milk latte. The power of a “vacation” coffee promise on a Monday morning cannot be underestimated. When I emerge from the basement, I beg Landon to come with me to pick it up, and he agrees! We like to wedge dates in wherever we can; sometimes a car date while running errands is just what the doctor ordered. Between picking up my iced latte at Grace St Coffee (I love their order ahead option) and stopping at a bakery (Fresh Baguette) to pick up a ham and swiss baguette for lunch (and a croissant for my son’s lunch the next day), we run through the week’s logistics, meal plan, social agenda, and also make old married people comments about the weather, the new house being built in our neighborhood, the degree to which we are sore from the weekend’s activities.
ABOVE: MY MUCH-AWAITED LATTE; THE PHOTOS DON’T DO JUSTICE TO THIS SWEET TEXTURED GINGHAM ATHLEISURE PULLOVER — A PIQUE MATERIAL! NOTE THE CHIC COLLAR!
10 a.m. Everything shower Monday (during which I’m fully writing — in my head — a musing I’ve been thinking about over the weekend). Emerge from shower and drip onto paper while jotting down my thoughts.
10:15-10:45. LED Mask (while reading the new Carley Fortune — like dessert for breakfast), then skincare, blow-drying my hair, and makeup. Put on my Suzie Kondi terry cloth set. I normally get “all the way dressed” but it’s cold (55!) and rainy today and I just want comfort.
LEFT: CURRENTBODY LED MASK (USE CODE JEN10) AND CARLEY FORTUNE’S LATEST // RIGHT: SUZIE KONDI TERRY SET
10:45 a.m. Begin to panic that I haven’t actually started my day, but then remind myself “it’s gentle start Monday” and I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. I hit the ground running every other day of the week; Mondays are for rest and reset. (More musings on Gentle Start Mondays here.) I’ve also learned over many years of writing that I need days that run a bit fallow, or that appear to. A lot of pre-writing happens off the page, while I am busy with other preoccupations. This, too, is a part of writing. This, too, is the job.
10:46 a.m. Read a few poems from Mary Oliver’s Felicity collection. I must read before I write, and Oliver capably settles the last of my “I haven’t started my day yet” nerves.
10:56 a.m. – 12:29 p.m. Writing block.
12:30 p.m. Lunch with Landon at the kitchen counter — ham and swiss baguette and a side of tomato soup (homemade, thawed from a baggie in the freezer).
1:00 p.m. Meeting to discuss my newsletter — I’ve hired an email expert to improve the look and feel. We go over lots of treatment options. I make quick decisions. I’m like this about visual stuff — I know immediately what I like versus don’t.
1:30 p.m. Writing block, mainly trimming fat. Answer emails.
2:30 p.m. Observe agita bubble up as I realize I am out of time and have a lot more to write and respond to, and then remind myself: this, too, is part of the job: getting my son from school.
2:37 p.m. Leave for carpool. Listen to a playlist I put together for one of my fictional characters in the car. I find this to be helpful in turning on an editing tap. I jot down a few notes and thoughts on the fiction project, check emails, and coordinate a happy hour with a few mom friends while waiting in the carline.
3:00 p.m. My son runs into my arms at pick-up holding a cup with a seedling he grew at school. He is a tangle of observations and questions: another highlight of a normal day. He insists on listening to dreadful music all the way home, which I indulge. (He’s currently obsessed with this synth dance type of music that feels completely at odds with 3 p.m. on a Monday.)
3:15 p.m. Bring my son home, prepare him a snack, and help him find his tennis clothing. Sneak in a few minutes of email while he’s changing and eating his snack. Begin to put this post together.
ABOVE: MY SON EATING A PICKLE AS A SNACK…WITH THE CUTEST TENNIS BAG; WE LIKE THE LACOSTE TENNIS SHORTS AND THE UNBRANDED WHITE PERFORMANCE POLOS FROM J. CREW (I STOCK UP WHEN ON SALE) FOR HIM
3:40 p.m. Leave for tennis. Listen to more synth dance music and Pokemon chatter. I love his little voice in the backseat.
4-5 p.m. Watch my son play while intermittently reading Kin and eating rye pretzel slims. I notice a beautiful stand of hydrangea and send a photo of them to my mother. When I scoop up my son from the court, a buddy of his says: “Great job today, Hill.” I text his mother about this kindness.
ABOVE: I’VE LEARNED OVER TIME TO PACK A BLANKET FOR BLEACHERS WHEN IT’S UNDER 70 DEGREES; 55 IN THE SHADE IS FREEZING (tHIS ONE IS CHAPPYWRAP’S LIGHTWEIGHT STYLE — USE CODE JEN20!); TOTING MY LA LIGNE X RDV TOTE FULL OF BOOKS, SNACKS, WATER
5:30 p.m. Home! Check in with my girl, who’s just returned from soccer practice, and then retreat to my studio for a final block of writing.
6:20 p.m. “Close up shop” at my desk — move any incomplete to-dos to tomorrow’s list, review what’s ahead, clear my desk of water glasses and stray paper and pen. There is always a feeling that I could sit here and work for another couple hours, but I remind myself: the work will be here tomorrow, too.
ABOVE: A JOYFUL COLOR PALETTE BETWEEN MY APL SNEAKERS AND MY BEDROOM RUG
6:30 p.m. Take a short walk around the neighborhood. It’s lovely, shrugging off my writing before slipping into the evening by getting outside. It’s chilly but the sky is light and lively: there is a sense that summer is close at hand. Catch up with a few neighbors in the cul de sac.
6:45 p.m. Normally, we eat as a family, but Landon and I treated ourselves to Thai food the children will not eat on Sunday night, so we feed them separately and plan to eat the leftovers after they’ve gone to bed. We supervise their dinners while catching up about the day, tidying, loading the dishwasher.
8 p.m. Begin nightly bedtime ritual in which my kids pretend like they’re surprised they have to do the same exact things they do every single night before bed. Lol. This last year, we’ve added a silly pre-bedtime-step my son loves: we all race upstairs together. I “lose” every night, and the children usually fight over who actually won between the two of them.
8:10 p.m. Prayers and affirmations with my son, then read together (we’re reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle), kiss his perfect little face, complete nightly negotiation about how many minutes he can read before his light needs to be out (it’s always ten). Say prayers and affirmations with my daughter (she no longer likes me to read to her!) and kiss her perfect little face.
8:30 p.m. Dinner and TV with Landon. We’re currently catching up on the newest season of “Hacks,” which we interrupt with a dozen pauses to insert observations, “oh, I forgot–“, etc.
10:00 p.m. I try not to touch my work again after closing up shop, but tonight, I put the finishing touches on this post. Then bedtime skincare, turn on the Hatch for my 30-minute wind-down, read, intermittently ask Landon why he’s laughing (thing he’s found on Reddit), sleep.
Post-Scripts.
+Adventures in nursing — for moms in that phase of their life!
Shopping Break.
+A top seller among Magpies recently (and I strongly personally rec this): the Ayr Tate. Selling fast in the blue but I personally think the white is more versatile and would rec starting there. SO GOOD. It has this incredible broken-in, brushed-soft oxford material, sort of like something you’ve owned for years and years. And the fit! The stand collar that frames the face! The boxiness! A truly standout staple.
+Two great everyday shorts for summer: these striped pull-ons (a little more polished than a boxer style but just as easy to wear; I own in a solid), and these $128 “parachute” pull-on shorts, which Buck Mason cannot keep in stock!
+My current favorite fitness top layer. It’s a heavier-weight performance material that holds its shape nicely, and you can’t beat that color! Also loving these faded sweat sets and we nearly sold out the gingham version of this dress, but it’s still available in a really fun punchy red.
+Does anyone have a strapless bra rec? I need a new nude one and my two favorite undergarment companies (Negative and Eby) don’t carry strapless — probably because they acknowledge that all strapless bras torture women. My research suggests the Wacoal Red Carpet is the way to go. Can anyone confirm or deny? It’s in my cart pending a fervent suggestion from a magpie!
+BTW, if you are looking for the best everyday bra, it’s the Eby Relief; the best lounge bra is the Negative Whipped — currently available in really cute nautical stripes and hydrangea blue! I’m obsessed with this color (actually called “muse” on their site); if you’ve been waiting for a moment to buy their incredibly comfortable and sexy lounge pants, this is a great time to snag in a fab limited edition hue. Go up a size in the pants.)
+Love the silhouette on these linen pants — esp that rope cord drawstring! Chic chic!
+Big sale happening at Boden! Highlights include this Asha-esque caftan, this denim shirtdress, and this chocolate and white striped sweater (now under $100).
+Boden also has some cute everyday outfit pieces for kids on sale, like these retro style shorts, these terry shorts, and these overalls.
+The cover up you’ll wear all pool season long. Love both patterns, but would get the green for myself!
+Adorable little woven bag — obsessed with that pom detail. While you’re there: people absolutely lose their minds over these socks, and I love the blue color. I have them in my cart.
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I really enjoyed this post! My mom always had the WETA classical station on in the mornings and evenings, so it’s made me nostalgic for my childhood too. As for strapless: I’m a E cup, and I’ve found that tape + nipple cover combo is 1000000x better than any strapless bra. The only caveat is that you might need a little help, pending the dress, to make sure it’s not visible.
Wow! I had no idea you could do this! What tape do you use? Fascinating!!
I genuinely hate strapless bras, a lot of them use a non-slip that makes my skin blister like I’ve been burned and I got a scar from one a few months before my wedding that was visible in my backless gown. Depending on the dress, I either pay to have cups sewn in by a professional tailor (RWI, if the dress is fancy ask your local wedding dress shop who they recommend) or wear nipple covers, or honestly just go for it. I’ve had small and very large sizes in my life what with recent breastfeeding and I will not go quietly into a bra that makes me miserable. I’ve actually swapped all my uncomfy bras for Aubade (€€€), Solid & Striped (€), and the rare old Calvin Klein microfiber pushup, because it turns out I’m irritable and snappish if I have to wear an irritating bra and it negates any sexiness from even the most lovely matched set
I completely relate to and respect this hardline stance!!! The idea of having cups sewn in is intriguing me. Thanks! xx
Do you have a favorite Wind Down option on the Hatch? I have been doing the singing bowls, but I’d like to add more peaceful sounds to my repertoire!
Hi! I do “Icelandic Waterfalls” for wind-down, and then cricket song while I’m sleeping. I love the waterfalls one. It makes me feel peaceful, and somehow the descriptor “Icelandic” makes it feel even more remote, quiet, serene!
xx
I LOVE THIS!! Can’t beat a “day in the life” post, and yours is full of charming details…I love your morning contemplative practice lol. And I think we need a custom Hill Spotify playlist bc now I’m dying to know more about his dreadful music! Around here, I’m asked to play music from Sing and Sing 2 (mostly tolerable but I was already over a few of those songs even before they appeared in those movies…) or “pump up music” (usually on the way to soccer). I asked my girls what their walk up songs would be (we were at a local university baseball game and they were excited to hear Forrest frank) and my 8yo chose Sandstorm and my 6yo picked We Will Rock You – no hesitation from either one, haha. During the school year, my Mondays start at 5:15am so I can get my peloton ride in before the girls are up, so I’m looking forward to gentle start Mondays once summer hits! Hoping you’ll share more of your days…maybe a summer vacation day in the life? Or food diary?
Yay! Thanks! Hill’s current favorite songs are “On and On” by Alok and Dynoro and “Back in Time” by Marshmello and Carnage. LOL. Listen at your risk…HA.
Love the idea of asking your kids their walk up songs! They picked good ones. Sandstorm would be right up Hill’s alley — but I hesitate to introduce him because I’ll probably be listening to it from now until August 1st every time we get in the car.
Would love to share more posts like these – thanks for letting me know you enjoyed!
xx
Strapless bra I recently bought and am loving: Natori – Minimal Plunge Tailored Strapless Bra. Stays put, shapes and has a bit of a plunge so it stays hidden, as well.
Oo thanks!