It’s been a long time – years, maybe? – since I’ve done a day-in-the-life style post.  I can’t even remember the last time, to be honest.  But now seems as good a time as any, and as luck would have it, #OneDayHH 2017 just took place.  So what better day to feature?  (For those not familiar, #OneDayHH is an annual social media event, hosted by Laura Tremaine of The Hollywood Housewife, in which participants are challenged to capture and share snapshots of an entire day’s activities.  It’s always in early November, and always on a weekday, because the idea is to encourage people to look for the little moments that are worth preserving in their everyday lives – not just the big events or particularly photogenic shots.)

Anyway, #OneDayHH took place on November 9 this year – a regular Thursday for me.  Here’s what I was up to.

6:20 a.m. Nugget is up and therefore so am I.  It’s a workout off day, so I try to maximize my sleep, since it has been so crummy lately, thanks to a bad cold going around the house (anytime anyone has a cold, it means less sleep for Mom).  I didn’t set my alarm, so I just wake up whenever my human alarm clock goes off, which is 6:20 today.  I get him out of his crib, change his diaper and let him play for a few minutes while I get ready for my day, until Peanut gets up and we go downstairs.  I set them up at the kitchen table with their breakfast and “Doc McStuffins” on the iPad, then make Nugget’s lunch.  He is getting soup, green beans, cheese, a blueberry breakfast bar, and homemade plum applesauce, plus a yogurt for his “second breakfast” once he gets to the nanny share.

7:15-7:30 a.m.  Back upstairs and it’s time for Nugget to get dressed for the day, which he does not want to do.  Peanut is already dressed and ready to go – as is the rest of the family.  I chase the lone holdout around his room until I finally catch him and wrestle him into sweatpants and a cozy long-sleeved t-shirt.  Then we’re all out the door together.

7:45 a.m.  Steve, Peanut and Nugget drop me off at the Metro station – I’m the first stop in the morning circuit.  They head onward to Peanut’s school and then Nugget’s nanny, and then Steve will go back home to work (he works remotely from home).  Meanwhile, I wait on the platform for my train into D.C.

8:15 a.m.  I’m off the Metro and back above-ground at Gallery Place.  Normally I would go straight to work, but I need to make a stop first.  In the hustle of getting everyone ready this morning, I forgot to eat.  So I head for Bakers & Baristas, the neighborhood indie coffee shop, to grab a quick breakfast to bring to my desk.

8:20 a.m.  In line at Bakers & Baristas.  I order a London Fog (half vanilla steamer, half Earl Grey) and a pastry to take to my desk.

8:25 a.m.  Tea in hand, walking to the office past a row of Capitol Bikeshare bikes.

Still 8:25 a.m.  On my other side, the National Portrait Gallery is looking lovely under the grey morning sky.

8:30-11:45 a.m.  I’m at my desk.  This is my favorite corner, which I decorated with some of my favorite pictures and mementos – Instagram prints, birthday party invitations, and Adirondack 46 mountain patches from the peaks I’ve bagged.  I can’t show you the rest of my desk, as it is (neatly) piled with confidential client documents.  Anyway!  I fire up my computer, read news alerts and emails, and then look over the pleadings in a case that I’ve just been pulled into – getting up to speed on the issues so I have a better sense of what documents are going to be relevant.  Three hours go by in a flash.

11:45 a.m.  I am starting to get a headache (something is going on with the generator, and it’s making our whole hallway smell electric).  I decide a pick-me-up is in order, and use my favorite teapot to brew some “Earl on the Beach,” a loose tea my BFF, Rebecca, sent me from her local tea shop in Virginia Beach.  (Later, I will be dismayed to discover that the brand-new replacement basket I ordered for my tea leaves has a hole in the mesh.  Grrrr!)  Back to my desk, and my reading.

12:30 p.m.  Lunchtime.  Normally I would walk outside to either pick up lunch or just get some fresh air, but today we have a CLE (that’s “Continuing Legal Education,” for my non-lawyer friends) program scheduled – and lunch is provided.  I eat a cheese and veggie wrap while listening to a presentation on best practices for crafting and managing litigation holds.  In my day-to-day world, this is very important and high stakes stuff – mistakes can be very costly, and we are extremely serious about getting it right.  I found the presentation really informative and interesting – good use of my lunch hour!

1:30-2:15 p.m.  I work on some administrative tasks that are not a lot of fun, but have to be done.  My headache is coming back, so I decide it’s time for some fresh air.

2:15-2:45 p.m.  I feel my headache coming back, and I think fresh air would help, so I decide to walk to the courthouse – might as well make productive use of the time – and pick up a form I need for the Virginia Bar.  (I am licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C., but am in the process of applying for a license to practice in Virginia, too.  Virginia requires a huge stack of forms and documents, so I’ve been on a bit of a scavenger hunt to gather everything I need.)  When I get to the courthouse, I put my bag down to be scanned, and tell the security guard, “I’m here for a–” and before I can finish, she interrupts me: “Certificate of Good Standing?”  I laugh and ask how she guessed, and she said, “You were just too poised when you walked in here.  Usually people look nervous.  I though, either she’s here for Good Standing or she’s filing something.”  Ha!

I walk through the metal detector and down to the Attorney Admissions Office, where there is no line – so I am out the door, my Certificate of Good Standing in hand, in less than five minutes.  (For my non-lawyer friends, a Certificate of Good Standing is a piece of paper from the powers-that-be in a jurisdiction, saying that my license to practice law in that jurisdiction is active and current – meaning I haven’t been suspended from the Bar or gotten behind on my dues.  I need them for both of my states in order to submit to the Virginia Bar.  For New York, I have to write a letter and get the Certificate mailed to me, but for D.C. I have the luxury of just walking down the street.)  On my way out the door and back to my office, I look around at the courtyard, which has been improved since I was last here a few months ago.  I particularly like the quote: “All citizens are equal before the law.”  I think of Tuesday’s election results in Virginia and smile.

2:45 p.m.  I am back in my office, and I have a text from our sweet nanny.  Every day, she sends me the pictures she snaps of Nugget and I save them to my camera roll (one reason my phone storage is shot).  Seeing his little face always brightens my day.  Today she sends a bunch of pictures of Nugget with the other kid in the nanny share – they’re such good friends!  So cute.  I spend the rest of the afternoon working on my Virginia Bar application, including making a 30+ minute call to Virginia Bar IT Support.  Oof.  (They’re very helpful, and it turns out I alerted them to a problem with a hyperlink that could have impacted 500 people, so I guess that’s my good deed for the day!)  I spend most of the time drafting answers to the Character & Fitness questionnaire, update my scavenger hunt spreadsheet (where I am tracking the status of all of the documents I have requested) and chat with a partner who stops by my office just to say hello (so nice).

5:15 p.m.  I save and close my Virginia Bar application and head home.  I am not loving how dark it is, but I do like the pretty twinkle lights that the vendors have strung up in the Thursday afternoon farmers’ market that I walk through on my way to the Metro.  I always think I should stop and buy something, but I am always in a hurry to get home – today is no exception.

5:50 p.m.  I’m home!  Peanut and Nugget are finishing their dinner in the kitchen.  Every day when I walk into the house, they scream with joy – it’s the best way to be greeted, EVER.  Today, after they finish shrieking their happiness, Peanut goes back to the lolly she was working on, and Nugget asks for “uppy!”  Of course, at that moment, I get a work email that needs an immediate response, so I jump back on the computer and quickly take care of it.

6:25 p.m.  I take both kids upstairs to get ready for baths.  Peanut plays contentedly in her room, but Nugget – the Pisces – has to be involved in any activity that includes water.  Somehow, I manage to get the bath prepared.  He almost falls in (fully clothed) three times, but this is not my first rodeo, and my bathtub-dive-rescue instincts are sharply honed.  I bathe both of the kids while Steve is downstairs taking care of his own urgent work email.

7:10 p.m.  Both kids are clean and cuddled up in their coziest jammies (our upstairs Thermostat was on the blink yesterday, and it got kind of cold overnight – Steve fixed it, but I still wanted the added insurance of fleece pajamas).  It’s time to start winding down, but Nugget is in hardcore bedtime-avoidance mode – running around, wearing Peanut’s hat, and playing “picnic.”  Eventually I get both the hat and the basket away from him.  He’s not very happy about it.

7:25 p.m.  Ready to read!  Nugget chooses “A-B-C-3PO” for a bedtime story.  Usually, we do two or three – or sometimes more – but he did so much stalling that we only have time for one story tonight.  Fortunately, “A-B-C-3PO” is a long one.

7:35 p.m.  See?  Still reading.  It’s a really funny book that we all enjoy.  My favorite parts are the breaks I get every few pages, because whenever Darth Vader appears (quite frequently, as it happens) Nugget must sing the Imperial Death March, shout “Luke, I am your father!” and profess his undying love for the Sith.  After we finish the story, I tuck him in and Steve sings to him while Peanut and I start reading in her room.  We are reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins – a chapter every night – and after we finish our chapter for the evening, she gets to pick out a picture book.  Tonight, it’s “The Princess and the Pea.”

8:00 p.m.  Both kids are in bed, and I am downstairs and STARVING.  I heat up a bowl of homemade vegetable soup with pinto beans, and stir in plain yogurt for extra protein and creaminess.  Meanwhile, Steve shows me the treat he bought for us to enjoy after dinner.  Yum!  He sits at the table while I eat my dinner and we talk about our days.

8:35 p.m.  Couch time!  I cuddle up under my favorite blanket to finish The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.  I’m almost done, so I wrap it up after only a few more minutes of reading, then turn to Jane Gardam’s The Flight of the Maidens, which is out of renewals at the library.  About an hour and a half of reading and sipping the stout we are sharing, and then it’s time to turn in – I have early morning yoga tomorrow.

10:00 p.m.  Lights out!  All too soon, my alarm will be ringing and it’ll be time to get up and do it all again.