A Day in the Life + Chocolate Mint Protein Pudding

Hi friends!

So I’ve been seeing a lot of ‘A Day in the Life’ posts around the blogging world, and it has inspired me to do one myself. I enjoy these posts because it gives me a further glimpse into the blogger’s life and lets me get to know them a little better. I love reality TV like the murder show Snapped and the addiction series Intervention because I’m just really interested in the psychology behind people and why they do what they do. Okay okay, I also like trashy reality shows like The Real Housewives too. My theory is that if you like reality TV, you enjoy ‘A Day in the Life’ posts. Do you agree?

My schedule varies day-to-day, largely because I have a flexible work schedule (which I am so thankful for!). Sometimes I’ll grab lunch or have a smoothie date with a friend; some days my workout is just a long hike with my pup in the early evening; some days I go food shopping and run errands all afternoon, and then will be working at 10 pm. Sometimes I have more work to do, sometimes I have less. It all depends, and I like to switch it up! But here was my day one day last week:

7:30 – I wake up, say hi to my little family and check my email and social media.

7:45 – 8:00 – Time to get up! I throw some workout clothes on, get ready for the day, feed the pup, and drink a big glass of water while deciding what type of quickie workout I’m going to do.

8:00 – 8:30 – On most days I fit in a morning workout of some sort, and a lot of the time it’s some form of yoga. I alternate between doing my own practice, a Jillian Michaels’ Yoga Inferno DVD workout, or a YouTube video. Today I decided on this yoga video via Sadie Nardini, one of my favorite YouTube yogis. My legs are sore from my barre workout the day before, so the stretch hurts so good!

8:30 – 9:00 – Not bothering to move from my workout area in my spare bedroom, I stretch out while logging into my work email and Skype account (I do a lot of work communication on there), and I respond to some emails.

9:00 – Fooooood! I make a jumbo pumpkin pancake topped with cinnamon and honey + an apple/carrot/spinach/celery/ginger juice.

9:15 – 12:30 – I settle into my office for the rest of the morning. Today work includes following up on customer projects, designing a Photoshop template for a client, conducting a short interview, and doing some social media work.

12:30 – 1:15 – I clean my pool, water my plants, and take Harley to a nearby park to get some of her energy out.

I usually let her off the leash and throw her the ball for a bit, but it’s kind of a bust today because for some reason it’s swamped with people – construction workers, kids everywhere, people running around the park. It’s too much temptation for my pup, so I keep her on the leash and we do a few laps around the park. It feels good to be out in the sunshine though, so no complaints! Plus, she looks pretty content with our outing:

1:15 – 1:45 – Lunchtime! I throw together a new combination that turns out to be deeeelish – what I’m deeming a chocolate mint protein “pudding” bowl:

I made it by combining the following ingredients in a food processor:

• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 scoop protein powder (I used Puritan’s Pride natural soy protein)
• 1 g of stevia sweetener
• 1 TBSP cocoa powder
• 1/2 TSP matcha powder
• 1/4 TSP mint extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate almond milk

After pulsing until smooth, I added 1 TBSP of chocolate & mint chips and a chopped up Zing chocolate mint protein bar (love them!) to the pudding. I spooned it all into my parfait cup, then added some Kashi cereal on top.

It was so good and totally hit the spot for my chocolate mint craving!

I read other blogs and answer blog emails as I eat…. Okay you got me, I actually devour this yumminess in 5 minutes flat.

1:45 – 5:15 – Back to work for my PR job. I put some pitches together to send to editors and work on my clients’ editorial calendars for next year. My mom and best friend Meg both call during this time, and I chat with each of them as I simultaneously publicize a press release and go back and forth with people on my work email. I also eat a Greek yogurt around 4:30.

5:15 – Time to move! I do a 30-minute HIIT workout via FitnessGlo + a 20-minute kickboxing workout via Jillian Michaels + a few minutes of stretching.

I also put my legs up in the air against the wall for a solid 10 minutes while I read a magazine – what’s referred to as leg drains (that sounds kind of gross, right?). I started doing it just a few days ago, and it’s supposed to flush out the venous blood from your legs post-workout so that fresh blood can pump back into them when you stand up. I’ve noticed that my lower legs look kind of puffy sometimes, and I have recurring injuries on my left calf and foot, so I decided to start doing this once a day to see if I notice a difference. I’m hoping that it increases my blood circulation post-workout.

6:15 – 6:45 – I make dinner for my hubby and me and feed Harley. Tonight I put together creamy tomato soup + mini grilled cheeses. I unload the dishwasher, organize my kitchen a bit, and post on social media while the soup is cooking.

6:45 – 7:15 – A and I enjoy our dinner and talk about life, as we ignore Harley being a brat and already whining for a treat. I think Daylight Savings is confusing her and she has been asking for her nightly treat super early!

7:15 – 7:45 –  I play around on my piano. Ever since A bought me one for my birthday, I have been enjoying getting back into playing – something I did and loved my entire childhood. I find it relaxing, and slowly my technique is coming back.

7:45 – 8:45 – Time to get my learning on! I listen to an IIN lecture and take notes. I may or may not get sidetracked and check out things on Instagram and Twitter during the lecture a bit as well.

(Speaking of social media, I’m just starting to get into Pinterest, so let’s connect if you’re on there! I’ve had an account for awhile but have been getting more active on it in the last week or two.)

I also eat a caramel. I usually like something sweet after dinner, and dark chocolate or a caramel will do the trick most of the time.

8:45 – 9:00 – I hop into the shower. Confession: I totally don’t shower right after my workouts a lot of the time. Whoopsies.

9:00 – 9:15 – I go back and forth over my blog email about an upcoming collaboration and submit links for a Twitter ad campaign that I just completed.

9:15 – 10:15 – Blogging time! I photo edit some food pics in Photoshop, write the post, upload everything, and schedule the post to go live the next morning.

10:15 – 11:30 – I start to unwind for the night and get ready for bed. I watch part of an episode of The Voice, then part of a show about missing people hosted by Natalee Holloway’s mother. I always get sucked into shows like that, especially right before bed (See? As mentioned above I love murder mystery shows!).

11:30 – I’m exhausted but can’t fall asleep right away because I’m thinking about the 12-year old boy who disappeared during his paper route from the show. I constantly seem to do this to myself at night, but I calm my brain down by taking deep breaths and thinking about what I’m going to eat for breakfast (<— true story!!).

And that’s all she wrote!

—–

One thing that I’ve found interesting in reading a lot of these day chronicling posts is how early most people wake up. I’ve definitely had points in my life where I had a standard 5:30 or 6 AM wake up call, and times in my life when I slept in till 9:30 every day (College – the good ole days!). I think that the time that I go to bed (11-12) and wake up (7-8) is my ideal resting period, and I love it.

Tell me… What are your ideal sleep & rise times?  What type of social media is your favorite? Thoughts on leg drains?