6:30 AM - my built-in alarm clock starts shouting DADA MAMA DADAMAMA LALA BITSY. I get up to get the baby and come back, and these two aliens have somehow joined us in bed. I get to the gym a few mornings a week at 7:15 AM, but thankfully, this ain’t one of them, so I dive right back into bed and we basically make the baby repeat a bunch of words after us and crack ourselves up. The sun is here in London (!!!!) and to have that be the first thing I see in the morning, along with all these giggles…best way to wake up. Calm before the storm.
8:15 AM - out the door and WOWWW what a circus. It’s like they forget every morning we brush our teeth and get dressed and other human morning things?? We’re currently in the middle of a morning routine overhaul where they tick off everything on their own, so I’m not parroting at them for an hour, but this morning was just one of those where I should have just grabbed a megaphone from the office and used it.
It has taken me YEARS to finally do this, but my commute is now an e-bike. I usually schlepp on the bus, but I’ve gotten over my irrational fear of biking in traffic, and it’s been a game-changer. Sun on my face, wind in my hair…talk to me come winter.
8:30 AM - two days a week, I’m at the office first, and I love it. I’ve usually got an early pickup in the afternoon, so it’s my chance to catch up on emails, plan the day and decide whom I’m going to harass in the office as they come in. I also attempt to put the 49,603 post-it notes I’ve written on the past day onto my work to-do pad. It’s the thought that counts. Inevitably, I just distract myself over the next hour with chat and reading USA reality star news and other ways to delay productivity until my coffee kicks in. No calls scheduled today, so no excuse not to cross off every single item!
10 AM - I’ve sent notes over on an edit we are working on for a client we know well. I love this bit of my job, watching edits and not only adding a note here and there from my creative opinion, but being able to watch it from the client’s perspective, remembering all their notes and their preferences…I take a lot of pride in directing the edit from that standpoint.
Midday - I don’t work on Fridays, and it’s about this time that I start my Thursday panic and try to get everything over the line on my slate ahead of the weekend. Our post team especially loves it when I do this.
12:30 PM - Mini-interview with Phoebe, our resident ray of sunshine. Coming back from maternity leave to meeting her and experiencing what she’s done for BearJam culturally & energetically has been a real treat.
2 PM - scrounge together a lunch from Sainsbury’s, trying to get as close to 3 billion grams of protein that a woman of my age evidently requires.
2:15 PM - I want a nap.
3 PM - ¾ of my way through the list! Completed tasks include, but not limited to: plugging in current numbers for a budget and planning on where I need to cut back (sorry, Trey!), inputting a client timeline, watching another edit, working on a PPM doc, asking our finance dept for forgiveness about a double payment I made, and not napping.
3:30 PM - scroll through pictures of the baby. We are very lucky to be in a nanny share with a woman who is a real-life angel, and while she’s got a fair few kids after school hours, she has my little one all to herself during the days, and she sends us pictures of their adventures, and it is the BEST. Makes my day, every day.
4:45 PM - Throw candy at everyone as a pick-me-up, James brings the Haribo, and I’m the distributor. This is followed by another quick scramble through my list and brings us to…
6 PM - Sayonara, BearJam! Back on my feet, home to the kids, teeth brushing, books and bed. Shocked if you’ve not fallen asleep yet reading this, but if you have - thanks for joining me on a Day in the Life. Until next time!?!