#OneDayHH 2020

Last Thursday was my seventh time participating in #OneDayHH. Led by one of my favorite podcaster/bloggers, Laura Tremaine, One Day is an annual fall Instagram challenge to capture a regular day in your life, hour by hour. Since I now have a public Instagram account for this blog, I was able to participate in the traditional way for the first time! But I also wanted to blog the whole thing as a story like usual (I didn’t post everything on Insta). I enjoy looking back on my days as a whole, especially since my life has changed so much over the last few years.

Fun fact: on last year’s edition (which was in November), we made an offer on the house we now live in. I didn’t feel like I could include such a big, stressful thing while it was in process… but in the background of the timeline of that day, we were talking numbers and sending paperwork back and forth. Crazy.

Fun fact 2: I’ve used the same Picmonkey filter for all my One Day blog posts. I like the consistency.

And now, the hopefully only of its kind… One Day in a Pandemic.

Past years: 2013 // 2014 // 2015 // 2016 // 2017 // 2018 // 2019

6:45 am: My alarm goes off. Since I exclusively work from home, I’m getting a lot of extra sleep, which is by far the best thing about the pandemic. On a gym day I get up about an hour earlier, which is still luxurious compared to what I was used to. At first I tried to get up at the earlier time and do yoga on non-gym days, but quickly lost motivation, even though I love yoga.

Anyway, I usually lay in bed for at least 15 more minutes looking at my phone. This video of a beaver building a dam in a house brings me joy.

7:05 (ish): Up and functioning.

7:15: Go downstairs to find Rufus. Give him lots of pets, follow him to the front door, and see a pile of junk mail I need to recycle. Put mail in the recycle bin. Give Rufus his first drink of the day.

7:20: Do my hair and my skincare. Current morning product lineup. About a year ago I splurged on a set of travel-sized Ouidad products and have noticed how much better my hair looks when I use their heat spray. So I bought two full-sized bottles recently when Ulta had them for half price (rare).

7:27: Check the forecast, since it’s still hot and it seems that should be, like, ending soon. Not today.

7:30: In the beforetimes, I absolutely had to be out the door by this time. I do not miss commuting. At all. It’s exciting that there’s a chance I may never have to commute five days a week again.

7:45: Coffee is ready and so is breakfast – the only meal Taylor and I consistently sit down to together. He cooks, usually a waffle and either eggs or bacon. Sometimes we have omelets. We like to watch the Today show, on a delay so we don’t get caught up in the 10 minutes of commercials at the top of the hour.

8:00: Workstation is ready. As I’ve mentioned before, I work in our upstairs sunroom, which is also my closet (#oldhousethings). The view and good light are unbeatable. I’m interested to see if working at bright windows, instead of in an interior cubicle, helps me with SAD this year. (We’re home at least through the end of 2020… after that, who knows.)

Taylor also works from home in our official “office” room. His job is permanently remote, and he has zoom meetings all day every day, whereas I usually only have a few per week. We’re very privileged to have our own spaces during this time.

8:10: Good-morning text from my sister.

8:15: Half of my planner spread for this week (and my daily meds). Haven’t made much progress on my minimal to-do lists lately.

9:00: I bought these cutoff-hem skinny jeans at Goodwill for three bucks, four score and several pounds ago (they were big at the time). They have become my lifeline in 2020. I’d wear them every day if I wasn’t terrified of them getting too worn out. I wish I could clone them. The brand is Stylus, which I’ve learned is a JC Penney brand they don’t make anymore. So far I’ve found one additional pair on Poshmark, which, despite being the exact same brand and style and a size up, are not as comfortable as these.

9:30: As usual, I can’t show much about my actual work, but I’m already knocking out a variety of tasks including doctoring a PowerPoint.

9:40: Take advantage of a pause to put something on my face. Some days I don’t wear makeup at all. When I have zoom meetings or an appointment, I usually stick to brows, eyeliner, and some sort of base. Today, because it’s a special occasion, I’m adding something slightly resembling an eye look!!

9:50: I frequently send good Timehops to friends and family. This is my favorite “before and after,” of me and my friend Wes at Cooper-Young Beerfest 2016. Enjoying good beer in big, happy crowds. Those were the days.

10:00: I hear the Roomba start up downstairs, which reminds me that it’s time to make the bed. This ritual ensures that I get up and move a little at some point before noon. (Miraculously, today the Roomba completes its entire cycle without getting stuck on anything.)

10:30: Mid-morning snack. Another 2020 lifeline: Extra Toasty Cheez-Its.

11:30: Shauna Niequist is raving about this apple cake recipe in her One Day posts, so of course I must go pin it immediately.

11:45: Heading downstairs. I got this basket at Target to corral our flip-flops that were all over the living area. It was a good investment. Also, my new Entertainment “Weekly” has arrived. (There’s no rhyme or reason to when our mail comes.)

I eat lunch in the backyard unless it’s raining or too cold. Having leftover spaghetti that Taylor made for me by request. It’s still good.

12:13 pm: I have something to do later, so I ate quickly and now it’s back to work.

1:30: Hot discussion in the group chat about John Piper’s article (sort of) condemning Trump. I feel like it’s too little too late, but at least he spoke up?

2:00: Taylor emerges from his office for Afternoon Hugs. I require periodic hugging throughout the day.

2:15: Going to the basement to get Rufus’s cat carrier. I realized I’ve never shared any pictures of this area. I mean, it’s a basement, but they’re not common in the South and I never thought I’d have one. This is just one section. I’m grateful for all the storage it provides.

2:30: Rufus has his annual checkup, pandemic-style! I have to stay in the car and listen to T. Swift while they take him in for a quick exam. The vet pronounces him “perfect” in both health and behavior. <3 On the way home I remember a few things I intended to ask her about, but forgot in the weirdness of the situation. Sigh.

2:50: Back at home, Rufus receives treats and settles into one of his favorite spots under the coffee table.

3:00: My brother calls for a quick catch up. He just went to Idaho for an elk hunt where he hiked 40+ miles in the wilderness and could have been trapped for days by bad, freezing weather. Typical situation for him.

4:00: The view of the backyard from the sunroom window. Taylor has worked hard for months to establish a lawn, and it’s finally taken off! The green makes everything look so much better. Hopefully what’s there will survive the winter, and then he’ll re-seed on top of that in spring.

4:15: Mid-afternoon snack. Dark chocolate cherry is my favorite KIND variety.

5:05: Leaving to go to training! Here’s a pic of our scarecrow. On the way, I listen to the first full episode of Rachel Wilkerson Miller’s new podcast, which I just found out about today!

5:15: In the car, I get a text from my friend Kelsey telling me about a nice elliptical her friend is selling. By the next morning we’ve arranged to buy it. Now we can cancel our gym membership and not have to take the risk of going there. I’m excited!

5:30: Weekly session with my trainer and friend Kara at her house. I’ve been working with her since June and am really glad to be doing so. Today I’m kind of on the struggle bus, but we get it done.

6:15: Taylor encouraged me to pick up something good for myself on the way home, and I know exactly what I need!!

6:40: Arriving home, I see my old filing cabinet ready for Facebook Marketplace porch pickup. My parents gave it to me for I think my 13th birthday (I was That Child who begged for office equipment). When we moved in January, I finally got a new one with more features that I need as an adult. Still, I’m sad to see the old one go. Thanks for the memories, filing cabinet. ** single tear emoji **

6:45: Eating my delicious fajita steak salad at the bar in the kitchen. Taylor is in the midst of a Breaking Bad rewatch, and its chaotic dark energy is too much for me in These Times, so I need to be somewhere I can’t see it. My current read is the debut novel by Doree Shafrir, co-host of the Forever 35 podcast. It’s good.

7:00: Taylor comes in to make cookies for us from one of those Duncan Hines bagged mixes. The dough doesn’t look right and we can’t figure out why. He adds more water. The result is a weird, flat (but still tasty) mess. Live and learn.

8:00: Last presidential debate. I’m yelling at the screen within two minutes. On Instagram, friends ask why I’m exposing myself and/or Rufus to this. Mainly because I just want to lay down for a while near my husband (who’s not bothered by All The Drama to the degree I am).

8:45: I tap out of the debate and give Rufus his bedtime treats. When we first started this routine, he understood the schedule, but now he meows for treats anytime we’re in this general area.

9:00: Upstairs for bedtime skincare, followed by my One Line a Day journal.

9:15: It probably does no good to abandon the debate if I’m still following it on Twitter.

9:30: I fall asleep with the light on. This is 41. Good night, everybody!