Our Life Rhythm. OMG those words are the worst.

I mean, I could technically call this a schedule, but where’s the dream-catcher-moon-tide-glow-beam fun in that?

You can call it a groove, a rhythm, a flow, pulse, WHATEVER. But we all have one, whether you like it or not. You’re like, “wait is she talking about a period?”

Recently on IG I posted about our Mondays. What I love about Mondays. What I achieve and tackle on Mondays. And that got a lot of us talking about life rhythm. Which then led me to ask if you wanted a life rhythm dedicated POST. And you said omg girl yes. So here we are.

I promise I won’t say period again in this entire thing.

Maybe.

And of course this post is being published less than three weeks before school starts, so this whole thing will be null and void by then. (hold me.)

Let’s start with sleep! I get a lot of sleep. Lights out by 9:30pm most nights. Even weekends. I’m sorry but those cells aren’t going to turn themselves over.

And you won’t believe this, but we get the kids in bed (most nights) between 7 and 8pm. I obviously know that will shift over time, but I’m milking it like a psycho while I can.

Mondays and Wednesdays I’m up by 6:30am, while Tues/Thurs/Fridays are 5:25am. I have NO IDEA why I set my alarm years ago for 5:25am and not 5:30am. I think somewhere in my cerebrum I convinced myself that those extra five minutes would be gold. Verdict’s still out.

I write blog posts early on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, but I edit and load the photos the day before. You didn’t ask for all these details but YOU DO KNOW WHO I AM, RIGHT?

Thiiiiiiis is a question I get asked constantly. “How often do you run?” “How far do you run?” “What time of day?” “What are your kids doing while you run?” “How many times have you listened to Folklore while running?”

Mon/Wed/Fridays with the hopes of a weekend walk or run.

A 5K each run. (actually it’s right under four miles, but whatever) (in colder months I run on my treadmill with Aaptiv! Here’s a post on that.)

8am! The kids are watching cartoons or eating breakfast with Aaron or playing and/or destroying something.

825346534646757564343. Obviously.

*Also, excuse my trashed running shoes. I’m overdue. Way overdue.

Oh also!

(by the way, this is a water jug filled with cucumbers (I do realize you can see that with your eyeballs), but I made it cute so that all day long I’ll refill my glass and get my 87 thousand ounces in. When it’s cozy, you want it! Life hack.)

I SHOOT recipes on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes on Tuesdays, if I can swing it. Sometimes that changes if I’m behind in certain life areas, like grocery shopping, or needing to finish a book, or if I need to finish a book. Also if I just need to finish a book.

The kids’ rhythms? Honestly, I couldn’t be luckier in this regard because they have each other, get along with each other, love each other, need each other, haven’t murdered each other yet, and play together all.freaking.day.

And I’ll be honest, I’m not one of those “NO SCREEN TIME” moms (because please.), but most of the time they’re content making art, writing books (Will writes books constantly and I die of the cute), taping collected jingle shells to their stuffed animals and putting (my) socks on their legs and playing Mermaids for six hours a day. They just figure it out. Most of the time. S. . . some of the time.

We will pop on a movie (or Sarah and Duck, or Ben and Holly, or Pulp Fiction (<jk>) late afternoon if they’ve played all day and it’s too hot to be outside. This is pandemic living and we’re making it work.

Back to Mondays.

Mondays are my fresh-start days. I coffee, I run, I turn on jazz or classical, light incense or diffuse oils and strip the sheets, start the laundry, jot down meal ideas, water the plants, vacuum the rugs, leaf blow the patio/porch/walkway, edit Tuesday’s blog post, WASH MY HAIR. You know I only wash on Mondays. It’s a hustle day but it’s also weirdly cleansing.

(I’d also like to note that I vacuum rugs and leaf blow every other day. It’s that one thing that completes me. Some people have lovers. I have a leaf blower.)

Oh and Oh OH OH – I can’t not include this morning ritual in my rhythm post. EVERY MORNING I start the day with the New York Times newsletter, which includes the Mini Puzzle. And it’s set to a timer, so that’s self-competitively. . . fun? I’ll go with fun. I’ll do that one, then 7 Little Words, theeeen if I’m feeling ambitious I’ll start “The Universal Puzzle” (as my mom calls it and recently introduced me to it). It’s a big one, and is also set to a timer, but you can pause it which is less stress-inducing.

You can tell my age by how many words I’ve written that involve crossword and puzzle.

Reading! (you’re like, FINALLY)

In short, I read when I can. What I do is – after I shoot a recipe- I’ll clean up and sit down for 25 pages. Then get up and tackle a few things. There’s this late-afternoon gap between work and dinner that for me, is the perfect reading chunk. Then after dinner while the kids are playing or showering, I’ll get in another 15 pages. Then once they’re in bed, I GET IN BED and keep reading. Weekend mornings I love to sit outside and get in 25 pages before starting the day. Then when the gap makes itself available later in the day, I get in another few pages. And then more at night. Sundays are biiiiiig reading days. I get on that sofa and I do NAWT move. I feel like this boring.

What am I forgetting? Yard work! I do the yard work. Most of it, anyway. I’ll pick a morning (post run) and knock it out while I’m gross. You’re like, “Wow this so fulfilling, Bev. Please keep talking about sweat glands.”

This is going to send your eyeballs to the back of your skull for the rest of time, but I spend a lot of time . . . nesting. Updating little things around the house. Filling planters, cozy-ing little spots and corners, playing with lights and pillows and rugs. Obsessive thrifting and garage sale hunting for vintage treasures. I’m a homebody by nature, so most of my energy is devoted to making our space into something bordering on Parisian jungle chic slash hippie garden grandma.

Are we okay?

And that’s it! I feel like I covered everything. And like I said, (virtual) school starts early September, so basically throw all of this out the window in three weeks.

Minus the leaf blower.