I’ve never written a detailed “Day in the Life Of” post. To be honest, it’s always felt a little self-indulgent to me. My days can be frazzled and hectic and mundane and not always pretty. I didn’t see how talking to you about my minute to minute activities could possibly help you live a more full and healthy life.

Then I realized that I love reading other “Day in the Life Of” posts. When I find a writer or healthy blogger I admire, it’s nice to see what their day really looks like. It helps motivate me when I see how different people use the same 24 hours in a day.. It also helps to give me ideas for healthy meals and toddler activities and quick workouts when I need some refreshing. Finally, it helps me realize I’m not alone in this crazy life. We are all here just doing our best for ourselves and our families. Some days are easy – some days are hard. But we aren’t alone.

There are a few things you should know before I tell you all about a day in my life:

• I work out of the home about 25 hours a week (including commute time). I see an average of 40 physical therapy patients during those hours. The hours are spread out over four days, with some being longer than others. So each day looks a little different!
• I currently do my writing and Jessica Valant Pilates online work in the hours I have when my daughter is at school and I’m not seeing patients. Occasionally I’ll sneak in some work after she goes to bed, but I try my best to be done working by dinner time (It doesn’t always work that way :).
• We moved to Denver only 6 weeks ago and are still settling in. My daughter is switching schools soon so her school hours are more family friendly, we are moving into our permanent home in two weeks and my work hours will be changing as I add a few Pilates clients. So things aren’t quite in a routine yet over here!
• I’m 22 weeks pregnant, so my workouts look differently than they did six months ago :).

Today I’m sharing my typical Tuesday with you. This is a day my daughter has preschool and I see clients from 11:00-6:00.

Enjoy!

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6:30am
Alarm goes off. We have an hour before we need to leave for preschool. We are currently driving 40 minutes each direction for a month long summer program for our daughter. It’s a great school and I’m glad we did it, but I would never recommend driving that long to anything with a preschooler. She doesn’t love getting up early and it makes us all feel rushed. We are going to be at a much closer school soon which will help the early mornings!

In this hour I shower and get myself ready. I start getting breakfast ready for everyone and make my tea. I made overnight oats the night before so breakfast is a little easier to get on the table. I’ll be gone from 7:30am-6:30pm today, so I am taking basically an entire grocery store with me. I’ve prepped most of my food the night before to make things easier in the morning.

Once our daughter is up we rush to have her eat, change clothes, braid her hair and get her in the car.

7:40am
Finally driving! In traffic – boo. That just means more time to sing together!

8:20am
I drop my daughter off at her preschool. This is always one of the hardest parts of my day! I also finish my overnight oats in the car because I couldn’t get to it at home. (I always do this after my daughter is out of the car when I’m not driving. The first reason is due to safety and the other is because, if she sees me, she will want to eat it all :).

 

8:40-9:20am
There is a beautiful open space area behind my daughter’s school with amazing trails for walking. I take a 40 minute walk while listening to some favorite podcasts. I’ve had quite the back pain with this pregnancy and walking is one of the few things that doesn’t hurt, so I do it almost every day. I also crave fresh air and sunshine and know this is my one chance to get it today.

9:20-10:00am
I start driving towards the physical therapy clinic. I first hit a 24 Hour Fitness on the way. We’ve had a membership for years and I love that I can find a gym in just about any city or neighborhood I’m near. I stop for just 20 minutes to do a quick upper body lift and stretch out.

10:00-10:45am
Drive some more and stop at a Starbucks to grab a half-caff coffee for the day (I drink 5 oz of it and it’s heaven). I also use their wi-fi to chat in the Jessica Valant Pilates Facebook Group and publish a recent blog post.

10:45am
Eat a mini egg frittata that I had made over the weekend. (I mix eggs with spinach and smoked salmon and roasted potatoes. I then pour the mixture in muffin tins and bake. It’s the perfect protein snack for this pregnant mama!)

11:00-6:00pm
See clients all day! I chose to work through lunch so I can get off earlier, which means being very strategic about what I bring to eat and also making sure I find time to fuel my body. On these long days I typically bring a mid-morning protein snack (my mini egg frittata or some yogurt), lunch of a lentil and kale salad, a mid-afternoon snack of a protein bar, a piece of fruit, extra raw nuts/trail mix, my vitamins and lots of water.

6:10pm
Leave work and deal with more traffic. While completely stopped on the highway I send selfies to my daughter who apparently is starting to meltdown because she’s hungry and tired and missing Mommy. Yes, mom guilt is real.

6:30pm
Home! Dinners on Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty up in the air because those are my two late days. We should be eating right when I get home in order to get our daughter to bed on time. I usually just text with my husband around 5:00 to figure out what our plan is. It consists of either leftovers from something I made the night before, take out they pick up for us or something we throw together fast. Tonight we end up making sandwiches and chips and salsa. I’m not a big sandwich person, but I’ve been craving them during this pregnancy. My favorite current creation is two pieces of sprouted bread, hummus, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, roasted red peppers and melted sharp white cheddar cheese.

7:00-7:30pm
Dinner clean up and playtime. We either tag team a quick clean up and then all play together, or my husband cleans up while I get extra daughter snuggles and laughs that I missed while working today.

7:30-8:30pm
Shower or bath time, brush teeth, jammies, book reading, goodnight stories, tickles and lights off for little one.

8:30-9:15pm
I shower if I need to and finish any kitchen clean up or laundry that needs to be done. I also prep food for the next day (depending on if I’m working at the clinic or at home) and get my daughter’s things ready for school. I literally get anything I need out and ready for the next day. I don’t trust myself to do it in the morning rush :).

9:15-9:30pm
Get out my mat and foam roller and do my own physical therapy exercises and stretches for my back. If you have PT exercises to do every night I feel your pain. I would rather just go straight to the couch half the time. But make yourself do them! I promise they make a difference.

9:30pm
Finally sit on the couch with my hubby. We usually put on the tv for an hour, but occasionally bring out our laptops to get work done. With my pregnancy and back pain I find it’s best for me to take an hour to just lay down on my back at this time. It’s usually an internal fight between getting work done and just laying there and feeling baby boy kick :).

10:30pm
Finally lock up and get ready for bed!

11:00pm
Goodnight!