Day In The Life: Winter Edition

Gah! Today's the deadline to participate in my friend Laura's Day In The Life blog post series. I really wanted to play along; loved documenting my day last fall and truthfully, loved to read and compare everyone else's "day in the life" too. I meant to snap some photos on Saturday for a weekend edition, but I got busy and forgot until about mid-day. Then I meant to start it yesterday, but I forgot again. My head was filled with first-day-of-school to do lists from the moment I opened my eyes. So, today, TODAY is the day I selected to document a day in my life: the winter edition.

6:18AM
I woke up with a jolt in the midst of some crazy dream about Andi and I being on the run from the law. Not exactly sure what we were running from, but we were driving a stolen Ford Taurus (those old ones that are sort of bubble shaped, remember those)? He dropped me off at the airport so I could catch a get-away flight to Kansas City (apparently cops can't find you there?) but Andi had my ID in his wallet. (which happens to me about once a month - we go somewhere and I give him my ID so I don't to carry my purse and then I drive around for a week or so before I remember to get it back). Of course I couldn't get on the flight because I didn't have my ID and then .... I woke up. Not sure what this dream means, but I'm certain we didn't steal a Taurus. My ID, however, is still missing...


6:35AM - 6:55AM
At this point, I still haven't remembered to document my "day in the life" so there's no photos to share. I can tell you I jumped in the shower at 6:35AM, ate a bowl of Lucky Charms with cut-up pieces of banana dunked into the milk and watched WCCO News from 6:45 - 6:55AM. I contemplated laying in bed for another 20 minutes to catch the news headlines on The Early Show but I opted against it; decided I'd better get moving.

6:55AM - 7:15AM
I picked out a long-sleeve gray shirt to wear with work slacks that are jean material (I feel very rebellious when I wear them!) and accessorized with a black scarf to dress it up a little bit. After throwing on some foundation and brushing my hair, I slipped on my black snow boots (which by the way, is one of the worst aspects of living in arctic Minnesota. At what point does safety and warmth beat out cuteness? When your feet are soaked to the bone because your girlie shoes can't handle the snow/slush/cold, that's when)!

7:38AM
I finally remembered this little "day in the life" project on my drive into work this morning. I also notice it's a balmy 7 degrees outside. Why do I live here again?

ps... that's right. I do have warning lights flashing on my dashboard. I'm one of those people who neglects to EVER investigate what the red blinky light means.

7:45AM
I arrived at work and walked into my office. It's a disaster area, but it's to be expected as I share an office with another Marketing Manager, 2 graphic design interns and 1 marketing intern. This place is always a mess with boxes, posters, coupons, etc.

7:50AM
I opened my desk drawer to find a rubber band and snapped. I seriously don't know how this place gets so messy. I spend the next 10 minutes cleaning out my desk drawer. Fill up an entire quart-sized Ziploc bag with pens alone. Ridiculous.

7:50AM - 10AM
Since yesterday was the first day of second semester at the U, I didn't have a minute of time in the office. So I spend the morning by myself (surprisingly) in the office answering emails, writing a schedule for next week's marketing interns, printing signs and organizing marketing materials for this afternoon's manager's meeting.

10AM
Hungry again. I snagged a KIND Bar from my bag to munch on. Do you ever eat these bars? They're amazing. The Peanut Butter and Jelly is my favorite. Or the Macadamia Nut. Yum. Today it's a Walnut and Date bar, half smashed from riding around in my work bag but still tastes alright.

11AM
Run down to one of our convenience stores to check on their status. We opened a new Subway inside the store yesterday and it's been slamming. I noticed the placement of chip racks still haven't been moved per our discussion on Monday. I finally decide to do it myself. Reset the chips and moved the racks near Subway's queuing lines. Hello! Let's make some money!

11:30AM
Jump in my car and head over to the Student Union. We opened a new pizza concept in the food court yesterday so I need to check on the customer flow and product. My interns are there selling meal plans.  One of them is wearing giant heels which coincidentally is a bit of safety hazard in food service. Mental note to speak to interns about attire in the work place (and by the way, doesn't everyone else see the sensibility in wearing snow boots to work in the wintertime)? Everything else looks ok here; it's crazy busy. I head back to my car and back to my office. But before I leave, I grab a slice of cheese pizza on the run...

NOON
I check a few more emails and help the other girls in the office assemble new terracycling collection boxes. It literally takes 4 of us to sticker those suckers!

12:30PM
I check my personal email and scan Facebook. For the first time in a long time, there's a good deal on www.livingsocial.com. $20 Amazon.com gift card for half price. I buy one; we all know Amazon delivers to our house just about every other day ... might as well save myself a few bucks on my next purchase.

2:30PM
I dial into a bi-weekly conference call. Drives me nuts today just like it does every other Wednesday. There's 50+ people who call in and every time the line beeps, the moderator says "who's there?" Why doesn't she just host a WebEx and she can see who logs in? Do we all have to listen to 50+ beeps and responses? It's like nails on a chalkboard ...

3:00PM
Jump in the car and head back to the Student Union to pick up the meal plan orders from lunch. My team does a great job and makes 6 sales. Before I leave, I poke my head into the manager's office and tell him he's doing a great job. He had a record sales day yesterday and I know he's stressed.

3:30PM
I'm 15 minutes late to the meeting but it hasn't even started yet. It's going to be a long one, I can already tell. We talk sales from the first day's opening and I reinforce some marketing tactics.


4:45PM
Meeting ends. I jump into my car and drive to the new 5 Guys restaurant in Dinkytown. One of our corporate support people are in town for the new store openings and we decided to meet for dinner.

It smells sooo good in the store! I order a cheeseburger with tomato, pickle and lettuce. We all share an order of hand-cut French fries. They're hot and salty and delicious.

6:30PM
After lots of girl talk and work gossip, I hop into the car and head home. I'm sure Chloe pup is bursting at the seams by now. She runs out of her little apartment in the garage (doesn't your dog have her own room?) and shutters when she hits the cold. It's now 5 degrees - awesome.

7:00PM
Turn on the t.v. and crawl into bed. It's my relaxing time. 8PM - Andi calls and he's still at work. I contemplate waiting to watch all of ours shows recorded in the DVR but eh, he won't care right? I watch The Good Wife, Modern Family and Cougar Town.

8:49PM
Super exhausted so I'm going to bed. I know - lame! Maybe someday I'll be able to stay up late like a big girl.