For Mansfield mom Amy Preston, life’s a party—one that never stops. Preston arranges Insta-worthy celebrations through her small business, Peace, Love and Parties, and she co-owns Olive–The Beauty Lounge with her husband Kyle as well as another stylist. When Preston isn’t perfecting the tresses of her clients, she’s styling her three daughters: Ava, 15, Eden, 11, and Liv, 7.
6AM I wake up at this time every day without needing to set an alarm (which is annoying on days off). I grab my phone, check my emails for work and check out the weather to see how to dress the kids—since we are in Texas.
Since I am an early bird, I usually take the kids to school, and my husband picks them up. I always try to get totally dressed before I wake the kids. It makes my life so much easier.
7AM It’s time to wake the girls up. We have three daughters. Being a hairdresser, I love that all our girls have such different hair. Ava is a brunette; Eden is a blonde; and Liv is a redhead. Ava, our teenager, is the hardest to wake up, so I start with her.
Then I head to our other kids’ rooms. Eden gets herself ready and always has her outfit laid out the night before; she is our perfectionist. Liv has the attitude to go along with the hair. She always has a strong opinion about her outfit choice for the day, so this takes a good 10 minutes. I walk back by Ava’s room again to tell her for the second time to get up. Teenagers! Then I turn on the TV and eat breakfast.
Next, brush and style everyone’s hair for the day. I always laugh to myself because I have never seen three girls dislike getting their hair done as much as our girls. And they have two parents who do hair for a living.
7:45AM We run around making sure everyone has what they need for school and try to get everyone in the car. Backpacks, water bottle, computers, chargers—oh, and masks. This is a big one, because with girls, the mask has to match the outfit. There have been many times we have had to turn back around and go back home because they got the wrong mask.
We finally get in the car and head out. Our girls are in three different schools this year, so I make the rounds. I usually fit in a quick Starbucks run after school drop-off to start the day right.
8:30AM I come back home for a few minutes. Luckily, we live about five minutes from our work. I talk to my husband about our day and business while he is finishing getting ready. By this time, we usually already have a full text conversation going with our business partner, just bouncing ideas off each other.
9AM We arrive at work with a busy day of clients in the chair. I’ve been doing hair for over 25 years, and I feel so lucky to actually love what I do. Most of my clients have been with me for years, so I look forward to seeing them.
NOON Time for our Friday business meeting. We are in the process of building our own building after renting for 12 years, and there is always a lot to talk about. We do not have an office in our current space, so we sneak over to a nearby restaurant to meet and eat a quick lunch.
1:30PM Our meeting is over, and I head back to the salon. We usually have a few things from our meeting to discuss with our front desk, so we run items by them before starting on our afternoon clients. My husband gets off work early to grab the girls from school.
In between clients, I am checking emails and answering questions for our staff throughout the day. Multitasking at its best.
5:30PM I’m done with clients for the day and start to head home. I usually call my mom on my way home and talk to her about my day. I have not seen my parents in person since December due to the pandemic, so I try to call as often as possible.
Since I work so close to home, I usually sit in my driveway and chat for about 15 minutes or more, just to decompress and zone out for a minute.
6PM My husband is the cook of the house, thank goodness. It’s not my thing. Fridays are usually different for us, though. We are both so tired come dinnertime that it’s almost always pizza delivery for the kids and Blue Mint (our favorite Thai food place) takeout for us. Tonight is no exception. Yum!
7PM We all get in our PJs and put on Netflix and chill out. We try not to talk about work, which can be super difficult, given that we are married and business partners. It’s Friday, which means we don’t make the kids go to bed at a certain time. We all get to wrap up our week together.
Family time is the best time, and I absolutely love having us all together snuggled up on the couch. Being a working mom is a challenge, but I feel like I am hopefully setting a good example for my girls that you really can do it all.
It’s not always easy, but I love having a career, running a business and trying to be the best mom that I can possibly be. Goodnight!
Fast Facts
What she’s reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
What she’s watching Just finished Ted Lasso on Apple TV+. Loved it.
Favorite indulgence Give me any kind of bread and I’m happy.
Yearly destination Seaside, Florida
Where she goes for retail therapy Target, of course.
Favorite movie It’s a Wonderful Life
Favorite song Right now, it’s Tame Impala’s “Let It Happen.”
First celebrity crush Kirk Cameron (Does that age me?)
Favorite date night spot Pre-COVID-19, it was Mi Cocina in Downtown Fort Worth.
Favorite family tradition Waking up Christmas morning together in our matching Christmas PJs and opening Santa’s gifts
Best purchase ever My Dyson hair dryer. I can’t use anything else now.
Dream job I’m doing it!
What she does when life gets stressful Drive around in my car and listen to Howard Stern on Sirius
Hobbies Party planning for friends and clients
She wishes she had more time to Vacation with my family
Looking forward to Going to concerts again
Celebrity mom she admires Drew Barrymore
Favorite thing about Mansfield The friendly community is the best.
Photo courtesy of Jenn Boilla at Storyteller Photography.
