A day in the life diary
that nobody asked for
I don’t know about you but I’ve always loved to peek into other people’s lives. Maybe that's why I love honest songwriting, memoirs, nonfiction stories. I’m always curious about how other people live. I remember as a child, pondering what other family’s morning routines were like. How early did they all wake up? Who woke up first? Do they have breakfast together? Did they eat cereal? Were the kids allowed to have pop tarts? These curiosities have remained with me and were especially fed by living in New York City for ten years. Walking down any street was fascinating as you could easily peer into the windows of small apartments with flowers potted on the fire escape, large brownstones with chandeliers glistening through the windows. You could witness people reading a book on their couch, putting dishes away in the kitchen, even intimate moments like getting into the shower. You got to see so many different kinds of living within a matter of moments, strolling one block. New York City has a special way of invading privacy while under the umbrella of beautiful autonomy.
It makes sense that one of my favorite features of the NYTimes is their Sunday Routine series. It features a different New Yorker every week on how they spend their Sunday. Nobody asked me to do one for myself but progressively I’m realizing, no one needs to ask for me to do something!
So I thought I’d share a Wednesday in my life.
This last week felt like the ending of a marathon. It’s been a particularly busy few months, working incredibly hard to bring in enough income to save to allow us a little bit of time off welcoming a baby into our family (the reality of being two self-employed musicians with no parental paid leave) and readying our home for this new season of life. So maybe this is more of me publicly documenting a snap shot of life before it changes yet again.
Here we go!
Wednesday Dec 18th, 2024
1am: I awoke with a wave of nausea, prickly heat running over my body and I ran to the bathroom. My constant companion for this entire 9 months unfortunately has been nausea and vomiting.
7am: I was thankfully able to fall back asleep until about 7 when my daughter typically wakes up. I hear my husband Aaron go into her room as he always does with his cheerful good morning greeting. I slowly stretch and roll myself out of bed to join them for our morning routine.
I stretch in the living room as Georgia cheerfully runs around, gently hops on my back as she is very aware and careful of her baby brother in my belly, chattering away and asking questions the entire time. We have about an hour and a half to have our breakfast, (oatmeal with chia and hemp seeds, maple syrup, berries and bananas), play a little more, get our clothes on, convince G to have her knotted curly hair combed out and pack up into the minivan.
8:30am: I drive my daughter 20 minutes to her school drop off. School drop off is always a cheerful event. Her school has a lovely community minded culture with parents stopping to chat and hug as we hand off our little ones. Georgia and I have a few clingy hugs of our own before she dives into her teacher’s arms and is ready to start the day.
9am: I drive 30 months south of Nashville to a suburb where my midwives’ office is. I have some time to kill so I stop at the Target to run some errands before my appointment. Today I have a stress test where they monitor the baby’s heart for 20-30 minutes to see if there are any fluctuations while he moves. He passes with flying colors. Then I meet one of my 10 midwives at the center that could potentially deliver my baby and discuss how I’ve been feeling, making sure he’s still in the right position (he was breech two weeks ago) and going over intentions for the birth.
12:45pm: I finally get out of there a little later than expected. I get home just in time to jump on my computer and start one of my songwriting mentorship sessions. As I burst into the kitchen I find Aaron whipping together a homemade apple crisp. We have a potluck holiday party at our daughter's school right after pick up and we had not discussed what we were going to bring. Thank God for Aaron, his memory and his skills in the kitchen.
2:30pm: I finish up my 90 minute mentoring session with a student I’ve worked with for awhile. We started working together years ago on piano lessons, took a couple years off and now she’s in my songwriting program. She’s now also a new mom and it feels especially nourishing, for myself as well, to be helping facilitate focused creative work for her in a time of so much change in her life.
2:45pm: I run upstairs and we quickly get out the door to make it in time to Georgia’s school for the holiday party. It’s already feeling dark and cold but the kids and parents are all bundled up as we sip hot cider, fill up on snacks, single christmas carols and listen to her teacher tell a story at circle time. Aaron’s apple crisp is a hit.
5pm: As soon as we arrived home, my friend Daniel texted to see if he could stop by to drop off a gift he’s been carrying around the world for me the past year. We met at a show in San Francisco a couple years ago, then re-met in Stockholm, Sweden a couple summers ago when I played Stockholm Honky Tonk’s mini festival. The sweet people of Stockholm Honky Tonk gave Daniel a tshirt and note to bring to me when he was next through Nashville at the same time that I was and we finally found the right time. Full story is at my IG post below.
6pm: After Daniel leaves, we have a quick dinner of leftovers, bath and bedtime routine for Georgia. Watching her fall asleep as she sucks her thumb and clings to my hand with her free hand is honestly one of my favorite moments of the day. I’m soaking it in these last weeks before there will be a newborn needing my attention as well.
Outta there by 8pm!
Then it’s back to work
8:30pm: out in the studio with Aaron.
A friend reached out the day before asking if I was available for some demo work for an ad. The life of the freelancer is to make time whenever a work opportunity comes up. ESPECIALLY when you’re about to head into unpaid maternity leave. So the answer was of course, YES and THANK YOU. And thankfully I have a talented husband who records me and will always say yes when I say, ‘shit, I just had a job come in, I know we’re both so tired but can you do this with me?’ The benefits of working hard to become a real team.
9-10pm: receive the brief from the company, take in directions and record the vocal track and parts requested. After a little bit of back and forth with the producer on the west coast, we got what they needed.
11pm: after a quick bath to ease my incessant lower back pain followed by my nightly bowl of cereal alongside my unisom & B6 to keep my nausea at bay, prenatal pills and magnesium, I turn on Gilmore Girls and finally fall asleep probably 5 minutes into the show.
Thankfully I slept through most of the night without any nausea interruptions. The next day started over with the usual morning time. While Georgia was at her last day of school before break, Aaron and I had back to back tapings for the Other 22 Hours that were so fulfilling, the second one had the both of us plus the guest in tears. Those will air in March!
Thank you all for reading my random thoughts, explorations and ruminations, this past year. It brings me a lot of joy to have this space to write, share and read your responses.
A few things!
New songs coming out starting in January. If you haven’t yet, please follow me on whatever your favorite streaming platform is and/or Bandcamp! 2025 is the year of independence and self-funding so I will be unabashedly promoting and asking for help spreading the word more than I like to! And paid subscribers here will always get this news and exclusives BTS first! (For instance, this post shares the new song coming out in January!)
My webstore is on sale with 25% for a few more days! I just stocked up on sizes for my If I Wanted Your Opinion T as well as the Desert Dove T.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!!! Hope you are feeling loved, warm and safe. If the holidays are hard for you, I am especially holding you in my heart. Wishing you hope and faith.
New song info and early sneak peak below for paid subscribers!
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