Some of my favorite “healthy lifestyle” bloggers occasionally write “Day in the Life” posts.  I always enjoy them – it’s interesting to read the minutia that make up a person’s day.  With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to do my own, “Day in the life of Sarah” post – and what better day than a boring Monday?!  If you make it to the end, kudos to you.

6:18:  Alarm goes off.  Snooze is set for 7 minutes, but I decide that I’m really tired and will wear my hair curly today, which means I won’t have to blowdry and straighten it = extra 15 minutes (probably less, but I push it).  I reset the alarm for 6:38.

6:38:  Alarm #2 goes off.  I set the snooze but get up before it goes off at 6:43.

6:43:  Turn on morning news, pour cup of coffee that automatically brewed at 6 AM, put in contacts, brush teeth, shower, comb hair & put in curly stuff, make bed, do foam roller stretches for my back, put clothes for the day in dryer with my wet towel to remove wrinkles, put on makeup, get dressed.

7:40: Put breakfast / snack snuff from fridge into lunch bag (I didn’t pack my lunch) and head out the door.

8:01:  Pull into parking lot at work, which means I’m “late” per usual.

8:05:  Arrive at desk.  Chit-chat with co-workers, wipe down my desk with cleaning spray (a Monday ritual), boot up computer, check emails and voicemail.

8:20:  Ask co-worker Alexa to put my icy hot patch on my mid/low back.  This is a daily occurrence, so she knows the drill. Since I’m not wearing a dress, we do this at her desk – it’s a private-ish area and I have no pride.  When you back hurts, it hurts, and icy hot patches are a godsend.  As are Alexa and everyone else who has seen too much of me in the name of coping.

8:21:  Head to break room to make breakfast.  Get really excited when I realize that I’m at the bottom of my peanut butter jar – peanut butter jar oats!  I head up the oatmeal per usual and then spoon it directly into the almost-empty jar before adding some fruit.  The warm oats melt the PB – it’s heaven.  Try it.

8:24:  Really get down to business.

11:34:  Eat a small handful of cereal to tide me over until lunch, which won’t be until later as I have errands to run.

12:11:  Leave building.  Drive to mall.

12:20:  Head first to the Gap to return two sweatshirt-type tops that I ordered online to wear on the plane to/from Spain, but didn’t like in person.  Then stop at Ann Taylor Loft to play personal shopper:  black leggings for my Mom (fail – didn’t have her size, just like at her store at home) and white camisole for Pam (win – visiting her in Spain in two weeks and am bringing her some requested items!).

12:38:  Lululemon draws me in – “just to see what’s new”.  Luckily, none of the new designs interest me so I leave after a quick walk-through.  My wallet thanks me.

12:43:  Leave mall and drive to Chipotle.  Was planning on picking up Subway at the mall (much easier and healthier), but I was craving Chipotle in a major way so went with it.  That’s what I call intuitive eating!

12:51:  Enter long Chipotle line.  Order my standard:  Salad, no dressing or rice, both kinds of beans (the musical fruit!), chicken, tomato salsa, corn salsa, a little hot salsa, cheese, a lil sour cream, and GAUC (worth the $1.95!).  Is it just me or are they getting stingy with toppings?  I had to ask for a little bit more cheese!  Also order a kids-sized chips – I just like to add a little crunch to lunch!  Refrain from ordering my standard iced tea and save a couple of bucks.  Side note:  in college, my girlfriends and I ate at Chipotle every single Sunday night for all of freshman, sophomore, and most of junior year before it eventually fizzled (don’t worry, our friendships didn’t!)

1:00:  Head for car, then realize I forgot fajita veggies like I always do.  Walk back into Chipotle, head straight for the counter and ask for a side of them.  You only get what you ask for!

1:13:  Arrive back at work, listen to voicemail, fill up water bottle.

1:20:  EAT this masterpiece.  Save half the chips for a later time.  I keep ziplock baggies at my desk for this very purpose – perhaps they will last until my next Chipotle visit!

3:14:  Refill water bottle.  Send more emails, talk on the phone with some of my Distributors, send even more emails.

5:25:  Leave work.  On a normal Monday I might stay an extra 15 minutes, but today I drive across the street to a Firestone to get my driver’s side front headlight replaced (my co-worker noticed it was burnt out – Thanks, Bill!).  Firestone tells me it’s going to be $45 to get it replaced – $45!!!  Right as I’m about to begrundingly pay – I can’t drive without a headlight – the mechanic realizes he doesn’t have the bulb in stock.  I leave, somewhat annoyed at the high cost and the fact that I’ll have to come back tomorrow.  But just as I”m leaving, the mechanic magically finds the correct bulb and replaces it – FOR FREE.  I ask him twice if he’s sure – I don’t want to get him in trouble with his boss – and he says yes.  I can’t help but think that this is what drives corporate business people crazy – that was a part and some labor! – but it was very kind of him and I drive away happy.

5:45:  Catch up with Ash on the phone while driving to the gym to teach spin class.

6:05:  Arrive at gym.  Change clothes.

6:20:  Do a quick 10-minute strength routine of push-ups, knee-to-elbow planks, side dips, and bicycle crunches.

6:30:  Enter spin room 15 minutes before class to get organized and help newbies get set-up.  Turns out, that wasn’t necessary today – only six people show up!  Tied for my smallest class ever.  The instructor before me had 22, so I’m very jealous.  The two pictured here are two of my regulars – hi Abbey and Ron!

6:46:  Class starts, one minute late.  I usually am very good about starting class right on time.

7:40:  Class is over, including cool-down.  It was hard, but the playlist I made was fun (“Tearin’ Up My Heart”) and I always love teaching.  Wipe-down bike, gather up gear and head downstairs to sign-out for class.

7:58:  Arrive at grocery store.  I prefer to go on Sundays, but since I was traveling this weekend I didn’t have a chance to go.  Hate going after spin as I’m usually starving, but amazingly the Chipotle kept me full all afternoon and all through my spin class – an extremely rare occurrence!  Zip-through grocery, picking up just a few essentials – produce, dairy, a few other goodies (those peanuts were $1 – great snack to keep me occupied at my desk!).

8:27:  Home!  Hold Susan (my cat, in case you somehow don’t know this fact) like a baby in my arms and watch as she stares up at me.  For real.  Don’t judge.

8:27:30:  Put Susan down and unpack groceries.

8:32:  Unpack gym bag, hang up clothes.  Pack pool bag for tomorrow night – might go swimming outside after work  (it finally feels like August!), or might go to yoga in which case I’ll come home first.

8:40:  Rinse off in shower, put on PJs.

8:52:  Make very random dinner.  Still am not starving, and tuna salad sounds good – something I haven’t made in probably a year.  Chop up some green onions, red pepper, and tomatoes, throw in pre-shredded carrots and corn as well as a small amount of capers for extra salty goodness.  Realize that both the jars of light mayo I have in the fridge are long expired (one was over a year old – gross, Sarah).  Don’t have any of the plain greek yogurt I normally buy (wasn’t thinking clearly at the store, apparently), so I improvise and use cottage cheese instead in addition to a few good squirts of spicy brown mayo.  Decide I also want a piece of toast with some cheese and a plain sweat potato, which I microwave. Like I said- very random.

9:15:  Sit down in comfy chair to eat and read blogs.  This dinner reminds me of the ones I ate in college.  Try to distract Susan from the tuna smell with some of her toys – it half works.

9:40:  Stop reading blogs and move on to writing my own!  This is a fun post to write and requires less “thought” than some of my other more content-heavy posts.  Susan sits next to me on the arm of the chair while I write.

10:10:  While the photos for this post (slowly) load, I get up to stretch my legs and clean-up from dinner.  I pour myself a glass of dark chocolate almond milk – yum.

10:20:  Sit back down to finish post.  Add photos, preview, make edits.

10:45:  Publish!  Not documented:  Taking out my contacts, brushing my teeth, and hitting the pillow.  Blogging keeps me up too late!

If you made it this far, it’s time for you to go to bed as well.

How was your Monday?!