Until writing this I have NEVER thought of myself as an ‘instamom’. Content creator? Some days. Influencer? One time, I thought ‘maybe’. I am just another mom running from drop off back to a house filled with dirty plates which I will potentially put away before going to the gym and then back to the carpool lane for pick up. After pickup, it’s always the same thing; kids: “Mom, can I watch a show?’ me: “no.” kids: “whyyyy?” me: “because I said so.” I love what I do, but I never know what to say I do when people ask me about my work. I usually say I am a stay-at-home-mom because that’s what I am most of the time but then I have this weird hobby/job where I take a million pictures and share them online and sometimes I get paid to do that…so that’s a job. That last part is beyond my wildest dreams. So if we’re into labeling it, I’m a bit of an instamom. Definitely a creator. Once in a blue moon, an influencer. But always a mom with too many messes to clean. BRB, off to update my Linked In. What does a typical work day look like? I thought I’d share. Hint: it’s not nearly as glamorous as it looks it photos.
7am wake up begrudgingly. I am not a morning person. Need latte. I get the kids ready for their day, feed them breakfast, etc. They act like they have never gotten ready before and are super confused about what ‘getting ready’ looks like. They play, whine and seemingly look for all the ways to make a mess. There are lots of reminders to put on shoes and brush teeth as if this is the first time we have ever gone through this. It’s really frustrating.
8:15 leave the house for school.
9:00 get back home usually with Gunnar, but 2 mornings a week he is at school. If he’s with me he watches Blaze and the Monster Machines so I can work for a bit in the morning. If he’s not with me, I work and feel slightly less guilty.
11:00 go to the gym. I use my Sweat App to workout for about 45 min.
11:45 shower off and leave the gym with a smoothie from Earth Bar. OMG I live for these.
12:30 spray tan. I am SO white and I try to spray tan before most shoots. Ideally, I tan the day before because it needs time to develop, but this week this is what I can do. I will probably be ghostly white with just a tiny hint of bronze in these photos and I’ll have to live with it. I drive to pick up Gunnar and try not to eff up my tan.
1:00 work some more at home. I eat lunch at my desk. It was probably a frozen meal. I throw on some makeup and curl my hair.
2:45 get Harlowe and hope she’s in a good mood because we have to do photos today.
3pm Kara is already at our house to shoot. She’s been shooting us for almost 2 years and is really great with the kids. Neither of my kids is super cooperative at photo shoots and I actually am okay with that. I don’t want them to be used to posing for photos unless that’s something they are in to. They don’t have their own Instagram and I plan to make sure it stays like that for a LONG time. I’d rather them just be kids so I only really involve them when they want to be part of it …or if a candid is snapped 😉
That being said, shooting with kids is a delicate situation and it’s usually annoying AF. We try to make it quick, but I’m almost always embarrassed (by their behavior and mine) by the end and missing at least one planned look because we ran out of time.
4pm leave the shoot and drive straight to Harlowe’s dance class. Everyone asks why I look ‘so nice’ today and I realize I usually look like I just got attacked by a flock of seagulls. Thank goodness for photo shoot days or I might not ever wash my hair.
6pm make it back home and meet Kara again to finish the last look. Luckily, the time has allowed my spray tan to darken because we are shooting a sports bra and leggings for Spiritual Gangster.
7pm everyone is starving (mostly me) so we order in. Tonight it’s PF Changs.
8pm put the kids to sleep, clean up the dinner mess and then sit back down to work for a bit
9pm watch TRHOBH and have a glass of wine. Maybe two because I deserve it.
Wearing: Jumpsuit also comes in black, shoes | Harlowe’s sweatshirt/joggers | Gunnar’s tee
