a day in the life of hayley

you are invited to spend a day in the life of her.

the gal who you might think has it all together.  the mama who seems to do it all. 
guess what?  she doesn't.

let's fight those lies.  this series is an effort to dispel the superwoman myth.  it is a time to be encouraged and a place to be challenged. 

i have invited some wonderful women who want to be real with y'all.  they want to share their struggles and triumphs.  they want to give you a true glimpse into their everyday.  it might not be glamorous, but it is real and beautiful.

  come walk a bit in the shoes of another.  

***************************************************

Hey y'all! I blog at Tiny Twig Goes Out on a Limb, have written an eBook (The No Brainer Wardrobe), and open a semi-annual pop-up shop aptly called The Tiny Shop, which reopens with new stock at the end of April. I am crazy excited to inspire women to create lives of more passion and less fuss. Oh, I also share my days with three tiny and charming little boys...they keep me busier than busy.

My day really begins the night before. I try to spend a bit of time planning my to-do's for the next day. If I don't do it at night, the next day starts out a little crazy. However, crazy is not unknown to me, so if that happens--we roll with that, too.

The next morning starts bright (or dark...) and early. Normally, our middle guy lumbers into our bedroom clutching his floppy and well loved Curious George. I guide him into the next room, flip on cartoons, and doze off again snuggled on the couch. We love this room, it's connected to our bedroom and has a fireplace...totally sold us on the house. Very romantic, but also very practical. :)

Eventually boy #3 wakes with a cry wanting a morning bottle, which wakes up boy #1 who then wants breakfast (all 4 courses!) immediately. This is my least favorite time of the day. Everyone wants something from me, and everyone is talking at once. Historically, I'm chipper in the morning. Currently, the morning is a necessary evil. It is not my shining moment.

After getting the boys breakfast, I sit down and begin my to-do list. First thing, I like to read through my blog feeds and schedule my tweets for the day using Buffer. This allows me to be untethered from Twitter, knowing that I am still putting out good content to my followers. I tweet on four subjects: faith, creativity, motherhood, and life-management. I'll comb my blog reader and the news for articles about these subjects--those are the tweets that get scheduled.

Soon, I'm on to emails and the boys have brought Play-Doh, monster trucks, and dinosaurs to the table...literally. We like to talk about our plans for the day and I listen to their boy sound effects and they retell their dreams from the night before. I am busy catching up with blogger's who've written reviews of my eBook, women who purchased it, and weeding through other opportunities and correspondences in my inbox. This is a sweet time of day.

I throw in a load of laundry and rush the boys to get dressed so we can drive to preschool.

Because my wardrobe is so small, it only takes me a minute to pick out what to wear, hallelujah! I throw it on and sweep my hair up into a pony. A bit of concealer, a bit of mascara and I'm herding the boys downstairs for shoes and socks. We drop boy #1 off at preschool, and head out to run errands.

We have to hit the post office today to mail off goodies to giveaway winners. I don't love the post office, but boy #2 feels pretty cool getting to throw the packages into the "magic door". We also run to Target to pick up some household necessities. Finally, I head to Old Navy to grab a shirt for a photoshoot I have in the afternoon for new headshots.

Before I know it, I'm in the preschool pick-up line. While we wait, I check a few blogs, tweet back to people who have interacted on Twitter, and maybe check the Tiny Twig facebook page. That way, when we get home, we can do lunch and playtime uninterrupted.

After we get home, we eat, play, and then rest for awhile. After that, it's time to get ready for the photoshoot. The plan for the rest of the day is headshots, preschool parent-teacher conference, and then dinner with the neighbors. The boys go to bed at 7:30pm. Husband and I both spend about 45 minutes wrapping up work, and then it's time for us to hang out until bedtime at about 11pm.

I don't do it all, and on days when I try--I certainly don't do it all well. Just like anyone, I do my best to love my people well, and do the best work I can. Sometimes, one end of the scale dips lower than the other. In my world, that's ok. I don't judge my life by the days, but by the weeks and months. I am becoming convinced that "balance" is a myth, unattainable and vicious to pursue.

***************************************************

oh hayley, what a great perspective.  measuring my life by weeks and months is so much healthier than judging it by a handful of choices or the happenstance of the day i am in.  thank you for that reminder.
xoxo,
annalea