On on My Day Off

Today was a very "on" day for it being my day off. This morning everything was pretty normal. I recently realized that a "day in the life" for me would involve me waking up to my husband letting me know that my alarm is going off. Yea, let's be honest, I still sleep like a rock, which means that waking us up really is a two person job. At that point, I get up and start getting myself ready. 

Sometime during the morning routine, Miss Isla lets out a whimper to let me know that she's awake. At that point, I drop everything I'm doing to go in and see how she is. These days I'm greeted with a cautious smile from a baby standing at the end of her crib. She grows more and more toddler-like every day. This morning, I got Isla ready and sat down to feed her while doing my make-up. It's amazing how multi tasking becomes more necessary when you're a parent.

Around that time I started getting nervous that Branden wasn't going to get up in time. I interrupted his sleep a few too many times in a quiet panic. Usually I just expect that he needs more time to get ready than he really does, but today was the exception. I wanted to drop him off at work early so that I could get my hair done, and like anyone asleep, he had forgotten that today was an early day. Ultimately though, we got ourselves out of the door just in time. 

We dropped Isla off at daycare on our way out of town. I really wish I would have been able to keep her with me today, but these days she's a little wiggle worm, and wouldn't make it through a 2 hour hair appointment. For the first few months of daycare, dropping her off was a lengthy process, and could turn traumatic at a moment's notice. These days, however, she practically jumps out of our arms to go play with her friends in the mornings. That made my day without Little Miss Isla a little more bearable.

As we headed to Branden's work I calculated that I would only be about 5 minutes late to my appointment... but it turns out that Google let me down by about 5 minutes every time today. I scrambled to get downtown and quickly sat in the chair. There was a 92 year-old lady getting her hair done at the same time I did. She talked about the food that her mother used to make. Apparently they lived somewhere in the midwest far away from stores. It was interesting to hear her talk, and now I'm dying to find out what tomato jelly and mustard pickles taste like.

Earlier in the day, the scramble to get out of the house left me mascara-less. So the moment that my appointment got out, I headed over to target before heading south to UVU. I had agreed to judge a mock pageant for one of my friends from back in my Miss Provo days. It's crazy to believe that was 7 years ago. Unfortunately, the start time got changed on me, and I only made it half-way before I realized that 1-I was going to be late, and 2-I was out of gas. In the decision to risk it or not, I decided late was better than stuck on the side of the road. One thing that added to my stress was the fact that this was at a university that I'm completely unfamiliar with. That meant, driving around until I found the building and then trying to scout out a parking spot during a hectic first week of school. 

Photo by Tierra's Photo Blog

When I walked in the doors I was greeted by the view above. I pulled out my phone to figure out where I was going and I was happy to see that it was the lecture hall immediately on my left. I had every intent of being the "difficult" judge. After all, what better way to prepare someone. The only thing I was difficult with were my questions. I've been out of the pageant world for about 6 years now, and my pageant skills are a bit rusty. However, despite my pageant stale-ness, I was able to contribute some things to think about for the interview, and I think the contestant will be strong competition at her pageant on Saturday.

Photo by Rick Satterfield

I had made plans to meet my cousin for a afternoon at the Provo temple. Unfortunately, she never explicitly RSVP'd, so I wasn't 100% sure that we were going. I called her to let her know that I was running late, and may not be able to make it, but we managed to get there just in time. For anyone not familiar with LDS Temples, they are a place that we go to ponder about God, Christ, and our life here on earth and in heaven. I went to the temple on Monday of this week too, when I was having a particularly hard day. I left feeling so comforted. It was exactly what I needed. I didn't expect such a profound experience today, but I left feeling inspired and even more comforted than before. If you want to learn more about temples, I have included a couple of videos at the bottom of this post.

As soon as I left the temple, I jumped in the car to go get Branden from work. Once, again I got there 5 minutes later than Google led me to believe. But we still got to daycare in time, and got to see Miss Isla's beautiful smile. After a quick trip to the grocery store, we all settled in for a quiet evening at home. Now, looking at everything I've done today, it's no wonder that even my days off feel like days on.