Liz Rasley lives in Sachse with her husband, Brandon, a family law attorney, and two children: Claire, 4, and Isaac, 3 months. She is a senior social media strategist and writer, and is seemingly always doing the laundry.
4:40AM I’m trying to wake up. I’m usually a morning person, but today not so much. Yoga and morning writing should help considerably. I sleepily walk to the coffee maker. I’m in an on-again, off-again relationship with coffee.
4:50AM I’m actually up now, hoping that the little peeps I hear are just leftover dreams and not the kids waking up. They can’t be up yet, can they? I grab coffee, start my yoga video and…
5:10AM Another set of peeps. The baby is up. It’s mama time. I gulp my coffee, say a little prayer, and answer the siren’s call of life with children. I groggily remember how thankful I am for my children.
5:35AM I’m feeding the baby. He is delightful and full of so many giggles. But the food … Goodness, the food. I start mentally calculating how big of a loan we’ll need to feed Isaac through his teenage years. From my quick math, it’s another mortgage at least.
6AM Brandon and I attempt to get ready while getting the kids ready too. It’s a mess most days, and some days someone poops or cries or can’t decide on a sock color, which holds us back from getting out the door at 7:10am, which is Mama’s daydream that’s not grounded in reality.
7:25AM We are finally leaving. I survived the intense sock color negotiations amongst other things. Claire ends up with one striped sock and one polka-dot sock and is happy now. I try to quietly come to terms with just how long this took.
7:35AM The kids are dropped off and on their way to playing peacefully with others. I’m still working on calm. Driving to the train with good music blasting helps.
7:45AM I write some and review today’s agenda as I commute to work. I cannot tell you what a sanity-saver the train is; I have time to myself, by myself! And no traffic or worrying about traffic. It’s a win-win, in my opinion.
8:30AM I start the day by checking in with everyone at the office, checking emails and checking on my clients' brand pages, which is all part of the deal for social media. And news — knowing what’s currently trending, well, everywhere, is vital to my position.
9:30AM I take to the tasks of answering comments and messages, and liking responses and comments, pinning, and re-pinning on all my clients’ social media networks.
11AM I’m writing topics and working on images for some social posts with the copywriters and our art director on the account. They are awesome and creative. Well, creative is an understatement. They have great ideas emitting hourly from their pores.
12:15PM Lunch. Today it’s out of the office. A quick jaunt down to the Dallas Museum of Art to get me walking and out of the office (it’s a beautiful day!) helps me rejuvenate.
1:30PM I meet with the creative team to go over some ideas for the next couple of months and promotion periods.
2:16PM I eat a piece of chocolate. Or two. Today it’s all about See’s Candies’ Scotchmallows from a photo shoot. Oh, the delicious side effect of working with candy clients.
2:30PM It’s Wednesday, so my coworker friends come around with cookies via a scooter in honor of our friend Keye, who we lost in 2010. We work in advertising, so scooters and cookie eating are, of course, part of the job description.
2:30PM I do a little light Pinterest-ing. Did I mention I love my job?
2:45PM A little light tweeting and checking in again on social networks, looking at recent posts and comments. Also, a quick check of the news to make sure I’m abreast of changes or updates.
3PM I have several quick impromptu meetings, including class updates for our training programs at Integer. I schedule some workshops for training at our Integer office. Yeah, I do that too.
4PM Another quick meeting, checking in on projects, and one last round of engaging on social networks.
4:45PM Following up on any last details before I head out.
5PM On my way to my lovelies. I hope to score a seat on the train to read one of the several books I’ve got going all at the same time. Some of which I started, ahem, when I was still on maternity leave. Oh, life with two small ones; this is just how it goes. The train is packed, so I stand and remind myself of all the articles I’ve read about how sitting leads to, you know, death. I make another mental note to stand during all train rides, and perhaps all day at work too. But no, I’m not obsessed about it. Too much.
6PM At home with the family. Dinner, playtime, bath time all in successive order and time speeds by much too fast. The tantrums, not so much. But that’s part of parenthood. My family is messy, lovely and overflowing with frailties, joy and laundry, but mostly joy. So much joy. My husband arrives a champ, as he helps with the whole circus of getting the kids to bed before he even eats dinner. That man, I tell you.
8:30PM Quiet time for parents. We watch silly shows, talk about our day, do dishes and prep for the next day. Again, over all too soon. This is our life at the moment, so we grab ahold of the moments we have and protect them something fierce.
10:30PM Prayers. Can’t ever have too many.
10:40PM I somehow think now’s a good time to start a post on my blog. It isn’t. I quickly realize this and schedule time for Saturday.
11:05PM I pick up a book to wind down, somehow gracefully and elegantly falling asleep on the actual pages; it’s a glamorous life I lead. Brandon laughs while he kisses my forehead and removes the book as he turns out the lights. Rinse and repeat tomorrow.
Published May 2015
