Week In The Life 2024 | Ali's Tuesday

Welcome to Tuesday for Week In The Life 2024. 

One of the questions I got yesterday after sharing my day was whether I was using any "lenses" this year. In some past years I've used a lens each day (such as "around here" or "gratitude") to help focus my journaling. I'm not doing that this year but as I was thinking about it I recognized that I'm actually using one simple lens this year: in this season. 

I've been using the word "season" a lot recently and I love using it as a way to describe different chapters of my life. It also helps me understand at a deeper level that things simply come and go. 

Here's a look at my Tuesday: 

Aaron and Audrey were already out of the house by the time I was up today. Betty was up at 6:30am but I think she just went downstairs and got in bed with Elliott. She waited patiently outside our door for her breakfast. 

Anna making her breakfast and coffee. Today she had a PSAT and got to leave school once that was done. In the car on the way to school we talked about how this is a good chance to practice the test and to just do your best but not put all your worth on the outcome of a standardized test. 

Our morning drive takes about 5-7 minutes to get her to school. Betty loves to come along for the ride. We both look super serious in this photo - we were easing in to the day. Today I'll do this drive four times: school drop off, school pick-up, lacrosse drop off, lacrosse pick up. 

Next year when I do this project it's likely that all our kids will be drivers. 

I have so many photos of driving kids to school over the years. This is a shot I've repeated year after year and one that I love looking back on in my projects. 

Today's outdoor morning task was to plant some buttercruch lettuce in one of my empty pots. It's a tiny little task that I will be enjoying throughout the summer. 

Aaron eating breakfast and listening to his sports and/or pop culture podcasts. 

Adding some paint to my current canvas. I'm loving that I'm taking photos of my painting in progress each day this week. 

Breakfast toast. We don't always buy tomatoes all year long - we tend to save it for the summer months when they are more local. On the last Costco trip Aaron bought some to have on burgers (weather warming up also means more burgers) and I'm trying to remember to use them whenever possible. They were really good added onto my avocado toast. 

Sometimes I eat breakfast at my desk and sometimes I eat at the table and sometimes I don't eat breakfast. 

After I'd sat at my desk working on my current Project Life spread I got up and went to the kids bathroom and bedrooms to take some photos. I took a photo similar to this a few years back when each kid had their own towel cover. I like how this one shows the passage of time simply by the labels. 

I shared a photo similar to this (a close up part of the top section) a few months ago on Instagram. I knew I wanted to take another one to add into my project this year. Two teen girls means a wide variety of product (way more than I use) and scents and scrubs and make up. 

Audrey's room which started out as Anna's room when I moved in 14 years ago. 

Anna's room which started out as Simon's room. 

I love that she has two baskets of stuffed animals. I love that she's saving and drying all the roses she's received from her boyfriend. I love the the hanging rack for sweatshirts is helping even just a tiny bit with putting her clothes away. 

Back in the office and taking photos of my Project Life spread. 

On my Instagram chat with Laura earlier today (you can watch that here) I talked about this photo and how I often take photos of the transitions. I also mentioned that the transitions I experience throughout the day become the reminders to me to take another photo. In this case I was heading out to pick up Anna from her early school release. 

Evidence of this season. 

She came home and was super excited because we had those tomatoes and some mozzarella and basil so she could make a caprese salad for lunch. She's taking a photo of her lunch to share on the socials.

While she made her lunch I started some beef in the instant pot for shredded tacos for dinner. 

Aaron taking advantage of the awesome weather and his laptop. 

Anna had the whole afternoon off until across practice at 6:30pm. She was due for a rest. She's in a going-going-going season with sports and friends and school. Also, there's nothing like you own bed. 

Painting in progress. Just letting it evolve. It might look very different tomorrow. 

Recording a voice over for my Project Life video after editing.

Getting ready for my Instagram chat with Laura talking about this project. 

Our local farm delivery box arrived with the first strawberries of the season along with some spring onions, leeks, snap peas, chives, kale, ground pork, and ground sausage. 

After I finished up my work tasks I headed outside to cross a few things off my metal list. I added a couple more sweet pea starts to my experiment on the chimney (there's a cattle panel wrapped around to give them some supports). 

I also decided to try growing sweet peas between two roses in the area where I've grown pumpkins. I grabbed one of my round cattle panels I've used in pots in the past and dug a hole for it and planted some sweet peas around the outside. Curious to see if this will work. With gardening I'm really more curious than anything else. 

I definitely plan to plant some pumpkins in this space too. 

It was 71 degrees here today. In April. 

Dinner was shredded beef tostadas. Anna's dishing hers up - it was just the two of us eating together tonight. Audrey was having dinner with her Mom. Aaron was waiting until later. Elliott was still out and about. 

Then it was off to lacrosse practice. 

After dropping Anna off I took Betty to the dog park. We come every couple of weeks and do a few laps around the perimeter. Betty is the kind of dog that will play and then when she notices me walking away she follows. She's the first of all the dogs I've had to stick so close. 

Water dog all the way. 

After the dog park Betty and I headed over to a local ball field to watch Graham (Katie's son) play baseball. We were just there for a little bit but it was so fun to watch him out there (he's a serious baseball dude). Katie texted me later that he stole home to win the game. Go Graham! 

Next I took the suburban through the car wash. It's pollen season around here already and the car is just covered with a thin layer of yellow pollen. I love that this photo includes both the time and the temperature. After the carwash I did a quick trip home to chop up the veggies and then headed back out again to pick up Anna from lacrosse practice. 

And this is me now - back in the office for just a few before heading to bed to watch the Shogun finale. In this season of life I don't find myself working in the evenings very often except during this project and sometimes during December Daily®. There were years and years that I worked all kinds of hours when the kids were smaller and I was doing "all" the things (so thankful for my team now). I've learned how to better leave work stuff in the office - especially reminding myself that the list will still be there tomorrow. Katie has been so good helping me remember that over the years. 

This project is so worth it. Even when I'm tired at the end of the day I know that it is 100% worth the effort to get these stories recorded. 

Thanks for being a piece of my story.