Frigidaire just released the third and final video we did with them for the kitchen renovation in Pittsburgh. It’s a sweet Day In The Life of the Worrall family kitchen. We shot it on our very last day in Pittsburgh after Chris and I had 2 hours of sleep. AndiAndrea directed and filmed the entire thing and I loved just standing back and watching the kitchen we worked so hard on being used and enjoyed. You can watch the short video below.
To go a long with it, I thought it would be fun to share a little day in the life around here.
4:30am: My alarm clock rings and I double check to make sure this morning’s post went live and roll out of bed to get ready for the gym with my phone’s flashlight as my guide.
5:00-6:30am: I’ve been meeting my girlfriends at the gym at this time every morning for about a year. It’s ridiculously early, but getting my heart rate up and chatting with these ladies is honestly the best way to start my day.
6:45am: I get home to a quiet and dark home. Charly looks up and gives me one snore before laying back down and closing her eyes for five more hours. I hop in the shower and get ready for the day before anyone wakes up.
7am: Chris’s alarm clock goes off as I’m blow-drying my hair. He wakes Greta up and heads to the kitchen while she gets dressed in the outfit she picked out the night before.
7:30-8am: We all meet in the kitchen where Chris is making breakfast for everyone. I double check Greta’s homework (and usually find some math sheet with a back side that we forgot to do), pack a lunch for her, and do her hair–her least favorite thing in the world. In the midst of this, our nephew Jordan also comes upstairs and I hear Faye yelling from her crib, “Mom!!!! I’m tired!!!” Which is her way of announcing she’s awake–it’s very relatable. We all sit down for a few minutes and scarf down the sweet potato hash and eggs Chris made and Jordan rushes out the door for work. Chris runs Greta down to school a few blocks away. This is also known as the busiest 30 minutes of our whole day.
8am-9am: After we clean up breakfast and make beds, Faye usually brings me 5 books to read to her or we get out the markers for her to color while I share the day’s post on social media and then get her dressed for the day. Meanwhile, Chris updates our finances and has a business call with someone on the east coast. A few months ago, he left his day job to continue his marketing consulting business he’s had for years. He also is heavily involved in the projects side of the blog every day.
9am-10:30: Our nanny (who’s also our sweet, newlywed niece), Breanna, comes from 9am-2pm Monday-Friday. She was an elementary ed major and is so amazing with Faye and sneaks in a lot of early education to their play. They’ll usually go play downstairs, or go to the park most of the morning (though mornings here now are getting a bit cold for a morning visit to the park). I settle in at my desk and start editing photos, and answering emails (I usually wake up to about 85 new emails and get anywhere from 200-400 emails a day from readers, brands, clients and other bloggers we’re working with throughout the day). Today’s Thursday, so Chris goes to Yoga at this time which has been great for his back.
10:30am-noon: I always aim to get the next day’s blog post written before lunch, which generally takes me 2-3 hours depending on the length and how many photos it includes. Chris gets home and showers and is busy answering his own emails or on a call and always starts making lunch.
Noon-1pm: Jordan comes home and he, Breanna, Chris, myself and Faye all sit down together for lunch. It’s usually a Blue Apron meal (<—- that link will get you three free meals on us if you never tried it) and this day it was Hoisin Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry. Then Faye goes down for a nap and Jordan heads back to work 2 miles away.
1pm-2pm: While Faye naps, Breanna usually tidies up the kitchen, runs a few errand for us and heads home for the day. Chris adds an electrical outlet to the island in the kitchen (post coming soon!!!) and I hop on a call with a favorite brand out of Chicago that we have big future plans with.
2:30pm-3:30: Greta gets home from school which is always a highlight of the day. We have an after school snack and check on her homework. She reluctantly cleans up her room and empties the dishwasher and then skips out the door to play with the neighborhood kids. (Or sometimes everyone ends up at our house.)
Chris has to run to Lowe’s (about 30 minutes away) to pick up some supplies for an upcoming project and I paint the socket he installed and photograph it and the photos for the upcoming blog post before Faye wakes up around 3:45. He decides to take her with him since she loves rides in the truck. (If you follow me on snapchat, you know all about Faye and ch-ch-trucks. If you don’t, we’re working diligently to help her fix her “ch” sounds so they no longer sound like “ff”. You can watch the video here if you missed it.)
4pm-5:30: I photograph a corner of the house for this evening’s Instagram photo, answer more email and try to do some online window shopping for a room we’re getting ready to start next month. Jordan gets home and starts showing me his new business cards and telling me about his day.
6pm-7pm: Greta busts through the front door ready for dinner and Chris comes home a few minutes later with a pile of lumber, a happy Faye, and two bags of Thai takeout. I double check that tomorrow’s post is scheduled, send my phone the picture for Instagram from my computer and attempt to shut my computer for the day.
7pm-8pm: Both girls take baths and I scrub and comb their hair and the whole house puts on pjs. Faye’s go on backwards since she has started unzipping her jammies during the night. It’s books, songs, prayers and lights out by 7:30-8pm.
8pm-10pm: We watch Friends on Netflix and I post a photo on Instagram and answer as many questions as I can on the blog and social media. Chris updates our media kit and sends it to a few inquiring brands and helps me empty out my inbox. I try to head to bed around 9:30 and sometimes Chris and Jordan stay up watching a movie or playing a video game.
This is just one, random, unglamorous Thursday, but I hope it gives you a peek into our lives or maybe a little background of the blog. It’s definitely evolved over the years where I used to spend most of my days working on projects, now there is so much more computer work. But I couldn’t be happier to be doing what I’m doing. It’s fun to have Chris home and see him grow his own business and help on projects when he can.
Thanks for sharing! It’s so fun to see how people’s days go. It seems like everyone has a crazy/hectic schedule and I always wonder how everyone else does it!
Oh you are so lucky to have Chris help with the cooking so often (and did I see that right – you guys tag-team the laundry??? Just wow…)
These days I’m balancing a full-time corporate job, the blog, a full-house renovation AKA a gazillion DIY projects, most of the house chores like cooking and laundry and cleaning… oh, that list goes on and on and on…!
We used to have a “housekeeper” come twice a week (she was actually our niece, too); she’d cook a meal that would (hopefully) last us two days and do general cleaning, and I absolutely LOVED it. (But I must admit it was extremely strange at first – some people would make not-so-nice comments about us not having children and yet needing a housekeeper (?!), so I definitely related to the conversation in this week’s podcast.
Now that our niece is back in school and extracurricular activities started back up, it’s a bit difficult to squeeze into her schedule, ha!
Nice to have a little behind-the-scenes idea to get to know you guys more! Definitely relate to Faye’s way of waking up though… :)
You are a rockstar…that is all I have to say! lol Loved reading this day in the life:).
Loved this post so much, thanks for sharing! Also I must’ve missed the faye video originally but I just can’t stop laughing. Howww do you keep it together?! She’s adorable.
I would love to know where the cloth napkins are from and if you like them? I’ve had some before but they never seem to hold their square shape and it drives me nuts ;). Thanks!
These are from Target! We’ve had them for over a year and they still look nearly new.