Heeeey youuuu guyssss.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

I’m channeling my inner 1980s Goonies love with that line. Please tell me you know that I’m talking about so I don’t feel old as heck.

This entire last week has been incredibly boring in terms of fun things because it’s been filled with work. Sooooo since I’ve been doing a lot of the same things day in and day out, I decided to bring you along on one of those days (hello Monday). And give you a peek inside. To see what I do all day!

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

First things first: I gotta work out. Well. I don’t HAVE to, but if I do, it just makes my day better. Always have been a morning workout person, always will.

In last month’s favorites, I mentioned my love for turbofire and it’s sticking… but mostly because of this ridiculous weather. Like I am not even stepping foot outside in the wee hours of the morning. I used to workout at like 5AM but my, my… things have changed. Mostly because I am going to bed later and refusing to wake up earlier. Eddie probably appreciates it though because it allows him to ease into his day without me yapping in his ear. These days, I normally wake up around 6 or 6:30 and don’t work out until 7:30ish.

It COULD be earlier but I take part in this terrible internet-generation thing that is called sleeping with your iPhone. Okay. I don’t necessarily sleep WITH it, but it’s like five inches from my head and it’s the first thing I grab before my eyes even open. Meaning I’m usually responding to emails and stalking instagram in bed for an hour before I actually get up.

At least I’m actually GETTING UP though. In my winter haze part of me just wants to work from bed. Once I do, I workout. Because if I don’t do it then, chances are I won’t do it at all. Some things never change.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

Almost immediately afterwards, I’m eating! Or drinking. In this case, drinking. I’m not a huge shake-for-breakfast person but there are two instances where I deem them necessary: when I’m in a rush and when I’m going to be developing recipes all day (read: constant snacking). They are super fast and easy, plus I always have the ingredients right there. They only take minutes. This one consisted of almond milk, baby kale, frozen strawberries, frozen banana, frozen greek yogurt, coconut oil and ground flaxseed. Please note the wonderful shade of greenish brown.

Also please note the green bits. I think I have worn my Ninja blender out. I have been adamant that I will never buy a Vitamix (I’d rather buy shoes!/purses!/makeup!/a new house!) but, um, I’ve been up since 4AM this morning because I couldn’t sleep and was googling them from under the covers. It might happen.

When it comes to cooking and development days, I try to have everything planned out in advance. Especially in the winter because if I have to photograph things, I don’t have all day and evening since it gets dark earlier. BUT. Many times I forget stuff at the grocery store and have to run out before I get to work.

This was one of those days, which obviously lead me to a drive-thru. French vanilla iced latte. I told you I can’t quit the iced drinks.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

Then I do my thang. Cook and test and retest some recipes and photograph some junk and all that jazz. I start around 8:30-9ish and get.it.done. When I’m working in the kitchen, something else NEEDS to be going on to keep me moving. I usually have four options:

1. blasting pandora stations through my Bose iPod dock. I need something super upbeat that allows for random dance party breaks when needed. I also appreciate something old-school and familiar so I can shout (I mean sing) the lyrics as loudly and obnoxiously as possible. my favorite stations include but are not limited to: robin thicke, beyonce, backstreet boys (yes… shut up), kelly clarkson, mariah carey, whitney houston, rhianna, miranda lambert, en vogue, TLC and LFO.

2. you tube videos! You guys know I love watching beauty videos on youtube and stuff like that, so some days I will just watch a bunch for hours on end while I’m in the kitchen. It changes things up.

3. netflix netflix netflix. ummmm remember last summer when I blew through the ENTIRE series of the West Wing in like less than two months and wouldn’t shut up about it? Yeah. Like 155 one hour episodes? This is how. I prop my laptop on the counter and watch for hours. See?! I swore I didn’t sit on my ass watching TV all day.

4. audio books. I really gotta be in the mood for this one, but let me tell you… when I was testing recipes for the cookbook, I had fully exhausted my music options and was bored. Listening to books is not my favored way of “reading” them, but when I had 16 hour days, it kept things moving right along.

I do my version of “work.” Eddie thinks my version of work includes watching the The View and baking cookies. Okay, not really, but that’s what he likes to tell people because he thinks he is funny.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

I had two massive recipe fails this day. So lovely. I’ll be sure to tell you all about them… in December when I talk about my recipe disasters. I also had two winners so I wasn’t crying into that massive bowl of fluff.

Luckily, I made some delicious falafel (holy crap this was so good) that took only 20 minutes. I’ll tell you about that soon. I threw it on a salad for lunch with feta and my favorite vinegar and oil. I realize that my salad looks like dog food. Perhaps this should not have been that day that I decided to share my daily life with you. Oh well… let’s just pretend this is real world: how sweet eats, episode 1. Featuring ugly salads and brown smoothies.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

I also made a batch of roasted chickpeas because they are one of my weekly staples. Normally I will eat them on a salad or just have a handful (read: the whole pan) for a snack. Seriously one of my favorite things in the universe.

My usual favorite lunches include some form of eggs and/or avocado toast. Good avocados are nonexistent at the moment… gotta make due with what I’ve got.

Room for sugar, always.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

I pretty much eat lunch in front of my computer. I do sit down to eat, which is one battle I win. But I’m still connected to all technology and doing some work things too. I don’t hate it.

On a good day, by mid-afternoon I can start cleaning up my trashed kitchen and doing my least favorite chore which starts with the letter d and ends with ishwasher. On a bad day, I’m still doing that around 7 or 8 PM. Just depends on how the cookie crumbles.

Back to work I go though, and the last two weeks I’ve had some book edits to accomplish. When I’m not doing this, I might be writing or working on other projects. The moral of this story is that there is no TYPICAL day.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

(SUMMER PLEASE)

This is the time of day where I STRUGGLE. I get tired. I want to sit on the couch and be lazy. I don’t want to clean up or do any more work or do anything at all actually. I want to watch sixteen episodes of sons of anarchy and then google written recaps of them. Sometimes I will have coffee here, but not on this day since I had that giant cracked out latte earlier and I don’t want to feel like I can’t think straight. Usually a snack helps along with blasting some loud Whitney Houston until my eardrums burst.

SOME days, like maybe once a week, if I get a lot done quickly or strike a deal with myself to work late, I’ll sit down and edit some photos or do dumb busy work that needs done and watch a DVR-ed show or the most recent episode of Nashville for the tenth time that week. Things like that. Mini break.

More often than not though, I try to have a snack that doesn’t make me feel like garbage. My easy go-to’s are apples with peanut butter. I almost always have peanut butter of some sort at this time during the day because it gives me a little energy boost and holds me over for yoga. Yesterday I had peanut butter with chocolate chips (aka, food of the gods). Occasionally I’ll have some almonds and chocolate or some cheese. Maybe even peanut butter toast with banana. Whatever is around – it could even be a recipe I’m working on. This is also my favorite time of day to have some juice or kombucha, the latter being my preference.

I just love it here.

I don’t know why. Good reasoning, Jess.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

I do everything in my power to go to yoga in the evening. I talked about this in my first Wednesday post, but I kind of consider it my mental downtime. I much prefer yoga in the evening to the morning because it clears my head and I’m able to release all the tension of the day. Even more importantly, it gets me out of the dang house. This is NECESSARY for me this time of year. With working at home and how gross it is outside and how dark it gets early on and… and… and… it saves me. It gives me a little bit of social activity and is a nice way to break up the day. This is the exact time that I got really into yoga a few years ago and it was for those reasons.

It does, however, take a large chunk out of the evening and if I have a ton of stuff to get done, I try to at least pull out my mat at home and do an on demand 15 minute episode (which I almost always hate) or my own thing. In the warmer months, on the weekdays this is the time that my cousin and I will take a big walk. Again, love it. Both are such great ways for me to begin winding down the day.

BUT! I almost always try to get dinner somewhat prepped first. Some days, this isn’t a big deal since I’m in the kitchen anyway. I’m still on a roll of planning dinners ahead which was one of my goals this year. We eat LATE. In fact, I’ve always eaten late. My dad didn’t get home until later when I was a kid so it wasn’t unusual for us to sit down together as a family around 8 or even 9PM. The time that Eddie gets home varies and if it’s going to be super late and I’m starving, I’ll eat. I don’t mind eating dinner around 8 or 9 though… I like it. Dinner at 5 or 6? Foreign concept to me. I would need another meal before bed! This night, I ended up prepping some baked chicken parm which looks like a slop pile mess in a baking dish.

With prepping before, it’s usually almost ready when I get back and I’ll only have to do a few things before eating. That included: making some pasta and a little arugula salad. Easy.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

After dinner I’ll usually work a bit more unless I’m in a yoga coma. If you’re a yoga person, you probably know what I’m talking about. Sometimes (like maybe once every few months) I end up in a class that sucks everything out of me to the point where I can’t do ANYTHING. For that reason, I try to finish any work that needs to be done for the next day early on. Usually I’m anywhere from two to three weeks ahead because I’m a headcase freak that fears always being late. All craziness aside, my preference is to do work that can be done in front of the TV (i.s. photo editing, loose project planning) at this time, then Eddie and I may watch an episode of whatever we are watching or like now, watch the Olympics.

Many nights I will do a face mask while finishing up whatever needs to be done. I used my favorite queen helene mint julep mask, but I’ve only been doing that once every other week or so since my skin is insanely dry. I’ve been sticking more with a moisturizing mask (like the glam glow I mentioned last month) or even a homemade one.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

(hi there. this is horrifying.)

If I have to do work that takes brain power (uh, like writing and paying attention to stuff), I’ll either go upstairs and sit at a real desk (sometimes I love that and sometimes I don’t) or turn off all the mind-stimulating things and work until around 10:30 or 11. I’m trying soooo hard to step away from technology for at least an hour before bed, but it currently isn’t happening and it’s killing me. I suck. My sleep is a train wreck. I’m working on a few projects at the moment that need lots of attention and more often than not, the computer.

I know it’s terrible for me buuuuut… I really like to work too. I actually love it.

real life wednesday I howsweeteats.com

Most nights I will try to journal a bit before bed (depends on how much/what I’ve been writing that day) and for sure – read! Remember last week when I shared that I was reading the Goldfinch? Well. Yeah. I still totally am but I haven’t progressed much since this week has been busy. Also, when I read in bed I often read on my iPad because Eddie has a tough time falling asleep if I leave a brighter light on. I need an old-school 1980s light-attached-to-the-headboard reading light. Sounds like a plan.

Sometimes I will binge-read magazines here, but that’s something I like to do on the weekends too. P.S. whoever designed that cover up there GETS ME. It was made for my inspiration pin board.

And that’s that! That’s a Monday. I’m stereotypical and like to make Mondays the busiest days. That way, the week can only get better. Right?

(these posts are kind of turning into a how-many-words-can-I-write-before-it’s-asinine kind of thing. think I’m winning at that.)