Today’s daily features jewelry designer and blogger Jennifer from Odette NY, which happens to be one of the most gorgeous jewelry companies out there. Honestly. I’m so pleased to be featuring a wider variety of independent artisans and am hoping you’ll see some new faces on the Dailies in the coming weeks! Take it away, Jennifer!
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7:18 am
No alarm, just some temporary paper shades and a whole lot of sunlight. Wake up and make the bed. Reassure husband that his slightly crumpled shirt and overgrown facial scruff will indeed look okay for work (this is probably selfish since I like it this way). A smooch and he’s out the door.

7:45 am
Turn on Miss Silvia, our eight-year-old espresso machine and the love of my morning. This really is her name; we didn’t make it up (just ask google). I make a latte with what coffee geeks refer to as microfoam. Sadly, I am unable to make good latte art this morning.

8:00 am
Trying to implement a morning sketch time to help me balance design with business. I work on a few sketches for a cuff design to go with my jellyfish necklace. It’s challenging.

8:30 am
I check my inbox. I just bought this antique wire file basket at the Brooklyn Flea, so I put it to use with my pending projects. I fill out some paperwork for an upcoming event, go over some orders, and then check my other inbox.

9:00 am
Answer a few e-mails, post about lovely distractions (cupcakes!) on my blog. Read about more lovely distractions on other blogs. I check in with new sales rep Crystal, who is helping me out on the west coast (and knitting me a scarf)! The paper airplane painting is by my friend Mike and the photograph was taken of us in Paris by my friend Karin.

10:45 am
Eat an orange passion fruit yogurt and muesli cereal for breakfast. To my dismay, the cereal gets soggy while I take the photograph. Head around the corner into my studio. Work on an order for Linnet, one of the stores that stocks my line in Japan. They ordered the new bullet hole necklaces, so I am adding the rose gold vermeil chain.

11:45 am
Work for a while on the new unisex division of the line. Take some photographs for the website. Pull a few molds to bring with me to the jewelry district to have castings made. Force myself to eat some lunch. I’m not a big lunch person; I much prefer breakfast and dinner. Eat a small bowl of Greek pasta salad leftover from the weekend. Have two mini cupcakes also leftover from the weekend with some lemonade.

3:00 pm
Walk to the subway in the hot sun. The stations aren’t air-conditioned but the subway cars are. Arrive at the jewelry district on 47th Street and head to my various contractors.

4:30 pm
Since I’m close to the mega-Anthropologie at Rockefeller Center, I decide to stop in to escape the heat. I buy a simple sundress and because I decline a shopping bag, they enter me into a going green raffle. Of course, my suspicious mind just thinks they are planning to sell off my phone number. I meet my friend Nilam in front of her office at 30 Rockefeller. We go get ice cream because it is 95 degrees. Head back home to Brooklyn in a slight sugar coma, which I decide is good for braving the crowded rush hour trains.

6:20 pm
Answer a few more e-mails. My husband comes home and refuses to try on any of my new unisex pieces. I threaten to take the wedding band I made him away but then realize that might be a bad idea. I forgive him and vow to make man jewelry that he will wear if it’s the last thing I do. Tummy growls and I think about dinner.

7:30 pm
It’s hot outside, so we decide on just a simple pasta. We make a green pasta with broccoli rabe and a green salad to try to negate all the mini cupcakes and ice cream of late. There is nothing on TV so I want to watch our latest netflix movie, Control and he wants to watch Mythbusters. We settle on Larry King and some tivoed Sex and the City.

11:40 pm
Eyes are getting droopy and I’m ready for bed. Read the leftover Sunday Times until I fall asleep.

Today’s Daily is total swoon-worthy. Alyson from Unruly.Things was sweet enough to agree to broadcast her schedule throughout Design for Mankind. From rats to cats, eats to treats and a few songs inbetween, I’m in looooooove with her day.

Thanks, Alyson!
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6:00
my cell phone alarm starts beeping. I hit snooze and shove it under my pillow to mute the next time it goes off. some days I wake up before my alarm goes off. today is not one of those days. we were up later than usual last, so today is a day when the snooze button goes off until we absolutely have to get out of bed.

6:20
I hear two hungry cats outside our door. usually Moose wakes us up a few times in the middle of the night by banging on our bedroom door, but last night he was good. he and Chuck meow until I get up to let them in the bed room. they love to snuggle in the morning. plus it helps me wake up dlb.

6:35
dlb gets up out of bed and gets in the shower. at this point, I stretch my whole body out over the bed. I bring my knees up to my chest and then do a few twists. once I’m nice and stretched, I get up to feed the cats and start breakfast.
Chuck is usually a little more antsy to be fed in the morning than Moose is, and he walks in between my legs as I stumble to the cabinet to get their food. both of them want a little bit of water poured on their dry food and meow at me until their bowls are nice and moist.
I pull the blinds all the way up and take a look out at the weather. rainy and dreary. I remind myself to make sure I have my trench and umbrella.
I put some water on to boil for oatmeal and two mugs in the microwave to fill up the french press. we eat oatmeal every morning. today it’s blueberries and honey – my favorite.

6:40
dlb gets out of the shower and it’s my turn. I update him on the status of breakfast and I jump in to clean up. though I try to be a quick in the shower, it rarely happens. especially on mornings where I’m a little sleepy like today. the warm water feels so good.

7:00
I sit down to breakfast with dlb. I open up my computer and begin reading emails. if there is anything important that I need to address, I’ll do it then but usually I wait until the evening to reply to personal emails. I take the time in the morning to browse through Google Reader and check on updates to my Flickr contacts photos.

7:25
shoot. I’ve spent too much time reading blogs and now I’ll have to rush to get my hair blow dried and straightened. I try to think of what I’ll wear while I’m fixing my hair so I won’t get that blank look while I stand in front of my closet.

7:35
I usually have help picking out my clothes in the morning. today it’s a black pencil skirt with a white and black striped button down shirt and a black necklace.
two particular rats are often playing on the bed or fighting over who gets to lay in the laundry basket while I’m getting dressed. {we call them rats rather than cats when they are being bad}

7:56
I’m officially going to be late to work, but at least I live close by. I’m going into work a half hour early today so that I can go to a 4:30 yoga class this afternoon. we head out the door and race down the stairs to the car.

8:05
five minutes late, I arrive at work. I greet the receptionist with a friendly good morning and continue on to my desk. today is a busy day. we’ve got catalogs going off to print and images that have to be up on the web. we also have a email that needs to be created to be set to go out later tonight.

8:10
I flip on my computer and begin checking my email. my boss has scheduled a meeting with the web/creative team at 9:00 in his office to discuss our upcoming email schedule and web changes.

10:25
my stomach is growling. I head to the lunch room to grab my soy yogurt. mmm, black cherry. I take this time to check my email, post a few things to unruly-things, and do a quick browse through my Google Reader.

12:15
lunch time! the weather has vastly improved and the sun is shining! I’m meeting dlb today for lunch. he has had a busy schedule this week with finals so I’m glad that he can meet me for lunch. we go to one of my favorite spots close to my office, The Blossoming Lotus. I order the Salud Salad and he orders the Hummus Sandwich.

12:45
back to work. I begin working on the email to go out tonight. it’s a father’s day promotion highlighting our new luggage collection.

3:40
I’m tired and need some energy. I grab my mug and head to the lunch room to get some hot water for tea.

3:55
oops. I got distracted internet browsing. focus!

4:10
my boss is in a meeting and it’s run over. I’m impatiently running around the office trying to get his approval for the email so I can arm it before I leave for yoga.

4:20
whew… I get the email approved and set to launch. I turn off my computer, grab my bag and yoga mat, and I’m out the door.

4:30
yoga. time to release the day.

6:05
on the way home, I decide to snap my 366 photo in the side mirror of the car. the sun is shining super bright and it makes for a good, easy picture. we stop by the market to pick up some fresh flowers. a bunch of brilliant blue ones catches our eye.

6:15
we get home and I put down my things, pull out a vase for the flowers, and start preparing dinner. tonight we’re having pizza, a big favorite in our house.

6:30
I sit at my computer while letting the dough rise and the oven pre-heat. I begin replying to emails I received earlier this morning and talk to dlb about his day. dlb decides to open a beer. it’s one of our favorites, Lagunitas Lucky 13. I put some cheese and crackers out for a light snack.

dlb takes a break from his work and starts playing the guitar. sometimes he makes up songs and I sing along to them. tonight it was a little ditty about Chuck and Moose.

7:35
the pizza is in the oven. it’s a cheesy one with a homemade basil pesto base, roasted garlic, and goat cheese. I cook it at 515 degrees on a pizza stone, so it only takes about 5 minutes to bake.

8:00
we finish dinner and clean up.

8:10
I sit down at my computer again and begin working on some blog headers that need to be completed. Moose jumps in my lap. he likes to snuggle with me while I’m working.

8:25
the sun is setting and the sky is gorgeous. the days are getting longer, and we usually have daylight until close to 9pm! I’m easily distracted by the sunset.

9:45
I’m tired and decide it’s time for bed. I brush my teeth and wash my face. then I remember I haven’t uploaded my 366 for the day. I quickly import it into my computer, adjust the size, and upload it to flickr.

9:55
Chuck and Moose need to be fed so I pour some food and water into their bowls. they are happy cats.

10:05
I’m in bed. I decide to start browsing through my neglected June issue of Domino, which as sat by my bed for 6 days. I don’t make it very far as my eyes are feeling really heavy. lately I’ve been so tired at night that reading just puts me to sleep.
dlb joins me. I put my magazine down and we chat for a few minutes.

10:30
the lights are off and sink down underneath the covers. once I get comfortable I’m asleep in no time and dreaming.

Eek! I’m so excited! Last time Jen joined us for The Dailies, you fell in love with her [ok, I totally did, too!]. The style! The photography! The glamour! In case you’re not familiar with Jen, she’s the writer behind My Polaroid Blog, which has been getting manic press these days [yay, Jen!].

Naturally, that kind of awesomeness can certainly translate overseas. Don’t believe me? Jen has agreed to let Design for Mankind readers tag along during her fabulous trip to Paris. Ahh, je l’aime juste.

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4:13 am – - – It’s hard to sleep in Paris. I’m just so excited. It’s our second day here and I still haven’t adjusted to the time change. I will say that I find insomnia totally bearable in France.

9:02 am – - – Ok, now this is more like it. 9am is a totally respectable time to wake up while on vacation. We are sharing an apartment for a week with our friends Jeff and Lisa. It’s wonderful.

10:30 am – - – Everyone is showered and out the door. It’s cold and raining, but it doesn’t matter. Andrew and I each have 2 cameras around our necks. I guess that is why no one is really speaking French to us. They can tell we are tourists. That’s fine with me. It can get quite scary when someone tries to speak French to you when you don’t speak French. It’s so fast. I just stare and stay as still as possible . . . maybe if I do this, they will just walk away.

10:42 am – - – Breakfast at a great café by our apartment. We forgot our handy traveling translator so we each order some sort of egg dish and hope for the best. It’s kind of fun ordering breakfast and not really knowing what you are going to get. It was delicious as were the café au laits.

11:55 am — Off to the metro station. We love the metro. It’s so easy and affordable. We’ve also been walking a lot. We don’t walk at all in L.A. As a matter of fact I will circle the Target parking lot several times just to get a spot in front. I don’t walk. It’s different in Paris and I love it! Today we are headed to Montmartre (my mom has assured me I will live it, so I’m figuring it’s kind of bohemian).

12:30pm – - – We’re here and for some reason there are about 10 flights of stairs to get out of the metro station. I take back what I just said about walking.

1:15pm – - – We stop at this great little bar called le rendez vous des amis, mainly because we stood at the bottom of yet another enormous flight of stairs and thought that we just can’t tackle them without a drink. We ended up having a couple of drinks. The place was so great. The boys had beers, but lisa and I noticed that everyone in the place was drinking something with limes in little glasses so we said, “we’ll have what they’re having.” Ti punch. Yum. Strong, but yum.

4:15pm – - – Several hours, several flights of stairs and a couple of nutella crepes later and we are done with Montmartre. What an amazing place. Great cafes, great markets, great shops. And now we’re off to the Moulin Rouge.

6:00pm — Ok, where is this place? We keep seeing windmills, but none of them look like the one in the Baz Luhrmann film. Isn’t it supposed to be huge? Where is Ewan McGregor?

6:28pm – - So it seems we were walking in the wrong direction. We worked it out. The boys were in charge of the maps. Maps can be challenging. I think that is exactly what I said to Andrew, but my tone might have been a bit questionable (I was very tired from walking and coming down from my ti punch). He informed me that he would not be speaking to me for the rest of the trip. I’m wondering if that’s a bad thing? For the record, the Moulin rouge wasn’t really worth the walk, but it had to be done. We’re heading back to the apartment to freshen up, drop off the day’s purchases and regroup.

8:30pm – - – So we’ve freshened, dropped and regrouped. Andrew was brave enough to try to call Hotel Du Nord to try and get us a reservation for tonight. Keep in mind none of us speak French. We actually called another restaurant first, but they spoke no English – - so it got tricky. Success! They speak English and can accommodate us. Hooray. Off to Hotel Du Nord.

9:30pm – - – Ahhh, Hotel Du Nord. So French, so very, very French. The service was a bit questionable, but we are afraid to say anything. We are just trying our best to be very pleasant, humble Americans (and one Australian). Today we learned how to order a carafe of water, so we’ve been ordering it wherever we go, since it is one of about 3 french phrases we know. Our first day we went to a café and when the waiter came to greet us I was trying so hard to be friendly so in my friendliest voice I said, “Au revoir! Au revoir!” He was so bewildered. And I was so confident in my delivery. It wasn’t until he ran away (literally ran) that we all realized that I was saying goodbye and not hello. We all got a good laugh.

11:52pm – - – Back to our neighborhood with bellies full of red wine and steak and French fries (hooray for French fries. They somehow feel sophisticated here)- – but we still had room for hot chocolate before bed. Fortunately all of the cafes in our neighborhood stay open really late. So we indulged. We’ve been doing a lot of that. I realized that earlier tonight when I started dipping my French fry into the pool of butter atop my steak. There is no turning back.

1:30am – - All brushed up and tucked into bed. Another wonderfully exhausting day, sore feet and all. Tomorrow we head to the Eiffel tower. Oh, and Andrew has lifted the ban on talking to me, I think he forgot about it. It’ll be our secret.
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OK, it’s official. Je suis amoureux.

My dear friend Amy has been working her little pika off to bring you Pikaland‘s first ever Pika Package, full to the brim of FABULOUS indie goods. Seriously. I’m swooning. Enter the giveaway right here. [congrats, amy!]

p.s. Stay tuned this week for Amy’s very own Daily! So excited!

So excited to bring back another exciting edition of The Dailies! I’ve been slacking on getting these together; my apologies, but we’re back with a bang and Angie from Poketo! What a lovely, busy day she has, bursting with creativity— see below! [Thank you SO SO much, Angie dear!]
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7:30 am: wake up. sleep some more

8:00 am : get out of bed. take shower.

8:30 am: make coffee. Don Francisco is our new favorite coffee. Today’s breakfast is cottage cheese and strawberries. Ted liked the combination but I didn’t. I wanted yogurt and strawberries instead.

9:35 am: get a few things from the garage to send out to online shoppers and drive to work. we live in Echo Park in Los Angeles and our studio is in downtown LA, which is only about 5-10 minute drive.

9:45 am: get to work. check email and flickr, our favorite thing ever. we’re both totally addicted to it. Ted’s been slowly posting pictures from our trip to Glasgow. It was a totally magical time. We were part of the Glasgow International Arts Festival, Scotland’s equivalent to the Whitney Biennial. We worked with a Glasgow-based gallery, Hitherto, to put together a Glasgow Artist Series Wallets. At the opening night, Stevie Jackson of Belle and Sebastian along with Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub and 1990s played! We shot some videos and put them up on flickr and Youtube.

10:00 – 12:30: lots of little things. taking pics of the zines that we brought from Glasgow and Edinborough and putting them up online. there are so many amazing talents. Edited some texts and put up more pictures for the Travel Journal. we used it on our travel in Scotland!

12:30: lunch break. went shopping yesterday and bought food for work. i usually make lunch for our assistant and interns. we have a wonderful assistant, emmanuelle, who quit her much coveted yet “soul crushing” job at a top talent agency in Hollywood to come back and work for us. She was our first ever intern. she actually is the one that convinced us that we might need help. before her, having someone to work with us never even occured to us. i remember talking to a writer at NYTimes and saying “yes, we do everything… everything from start to finish, ideation, creation, packing orders for stores and individual shoppers, going to the post office, everything.” and i murmured to myself. “we should really find an intern.” he actually printed that line in the article!

Today, I made oven toasted open sandwiches with roasted bell peppers, sardines, sun dried tomatoes, fresh mozarella cheese topped with a little olive oil. It was yummy. We love food! If you look at our flickr, you’ll see at least 50% of our photos are of food.

1:30 go back to work. take some more pictures of the zines. trying to figure out how to use facebook while ted is working on a short video of our trip. Talk to artists giving feedback, directions. Emailed with collaborators.

2:30 have a short meeting about the upcoming Poketo Warehouse $5-10 SALE on 5/10 at 510 S Hewitt #506 Los Angeles 90013 from 10am -5 pm(we thought about doing 5am -10 am but didn’t think many people would show up and 5pm-10pm would be conflicting with too many people’s saturday night schedules). so dorky i know but don’t you find it so catchy and fun? [editor's note: YES!] we were very excited about all the 5s and 10s. haha.

this is our first warehouse sale ever. we’ll be selling wallets, tees, plates, stationery and even some one-offs and archived items. And for those of you who missed the First Editions Prints Show, here’s your second chance to check it out! we still have all the prints hanging on our wall. come over for some good tunes, cupcakes, and discounted goodies! [editor's note: I will SO be there.]

3:00 pm – 5 pm: do some more little things… emails, some more short bursts of brainstorming. looked at artists designs, feedback, art directions, and etc.

5:00: ted’s working on a video promo. i take a little flickr break. i’m really addicted to it!

5:30: going back to work.

7:30: Tonight is a late night. Finished uploading all the zines and nervous system’s jewelry. Ted finished making the video promo and is on our youtube.

8:00: went up to the rooftop for a little breather before going home. it’s a warm night tonight. We never get tired of the LA’s night skyline.

8:30: by the time we got home my mom was almost done making dinner for us. she comes over at least 1 or 2x a week. it’s so nice to have mom’s food. she’s a phenomenal cook. tonight she made little pancakes with fish and squash along with some soybean paste soup with tofu and onion. yummm…

9:15 we don’t have cable so most of our channels are always fuzzy, some slightly more(NBC) some very fuzzy(CBS), and some semi-clear(KCET, ABC). we just use rabbit ear antenna. We were flipping through the channels and found a show called “Secrets of Magic” that showed how all the magic tricks are done. now we know how a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat, how a woman gets locked up in a box and comes out unscathed after all the knives go through her and etc. it was pretty fun despite how cheesy it was. =)

10:00 we tried hooking up the tv to the computer and tried streaming 30 Rock, our new favorite show, just discovered last week. We’re pretty late on catching up with TV shows. We only discovered LOST about a year ago when all the hoopla had already died down.

10:30 my mom wanted to look at all the pictures from Scotland. We took over 1000 pictures so it took a little while.

11:30 Pretty beat. getting ready to go to bed now.

You’ve seen her on DesignSponge. On Decor8. On Print and Pattern. And of course, right here. But have you met the real Erin Ruth? The brain behind the wrap? Look no further… it’s DAILY TIME! Take it away, dear Erin!
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this is my day for sat, april 5th. not exactly my typical day since i usually wake at 7, but it’s a saturday, right?

10:00 wake up; i’ve been in and out of sleep since 7:45, but my dog is now standing on my face staring at me. the second i open my eyes she smothers me with kissses and hops around the bed like a bunny rabbit. i can’t help but laugh! my husband is already up, but that’s only because I stayed up last night finishing the wine and catching up on my tivoed kardashians and the hills (i know, i know- but i’m ADDICTED!)

i wash up and wander into the kitchen to make breakfast for my husbands bday- which was actually yesterday, but he thinks he gets the whole weekend :) i realize one of the lightbulbs has gone out on the ceiling fan, so i try to fix it. when i’m up on the chair i realize how dirty the fan is, so now i have to clean it or it’ll haunt me the rest of the day.

10:45 ok time to cook… i’m making mini berry turnovers. pretty easy w/crescent sheets, cream cheese, fresh strawberries & blueberries and a few other things.

11:15 breakfast (ok, maybe more like brunch) is served… yummm

11:30 time to get some work done! i have a bunch of orders and samples to get out before a much dreaded trip to the post office.

1:30 packages are ready to go, but maybe i should change out of my sweat pants 1st…?

2:00 i hate going to the post office as one guy that works there is very mean and i always get him…. yup just what i expected, i think he was waiting for me! he wasn’t so bad today and at least there was no line!

i get stuck behind a school bus on the way home. what is it doing out on a saturday anyhow?

2:15 back home… i finish packaging a shipment that will go to fedex later and realize we have to get to the dump before 3pm. I have tons of boxes and recycling that is taking over the pantry so I grab my husband and we just make it before the gates close.

3:15 i heat up some leftovers from dinner last night for us, clean up the mess I made from all the packaging, and fold laundry (the fun never stops!).

4:00 i start working on rolls for a wholesale order that i want to get out early next week. change of plans- the in-laws call to tell us to come over earlier for drinks before we go to dinner for the bday boy. ok, gotta shower and get ready now then.

5:00 head over to the in-laws. grab my white spring jacket and pretend it’s actually warm out.

5:30 yummy wine from a great vineyard sonoma, snacks and a few good laughs before we make our way to the restaurant.

7:30 there is an hour wait at our favorite stir fry place so we grab a seat at the bar and wait for our table.

8:30 we get a table and load up our plates with lots of goodies to bring to the grille. we have a great time- the atmosphere is loud and fun with crazy lights. we eat and drink until we’re stuffed…

12:20 time for bed! we are exhausted and someone is waiting patiently for us.

[Thanks so much Erin for having me & everyone else for reading my day :)]

Thank you SO SO much to all of the readers who voted– I’m amazed at your quick and detailed responses and am closing the poll b/c well, I’ve got what I need!

If you missed the reader survey and want to put in your two cents, email me at designformankind@gmail.com, or click here and tell me about it. I LOVE feedback and it’s proven to be VERY helpful in the shaping of the new site!

Also, it looks as if the majority of you click over to Design for Mankind to get your daily dose of inspiration in a variety of ways— so you’ll continue to see a bit of everything: fashion, decor, art (and LOTS of it!), photography and DIY projects. I’ll be giving you more Trend Alerts, more Dailies and continuing my monthly E-Zine project as always!

Thanks for your support— love to you.

BIG treat for y’all today. HUGE! Massive! Victoria from SFGirlByBay (one of my FAVORITE virtual stops on the Design for Mankind bloggin’ train) has kindly agreed to display her day for ALL of us to see. Nothing like a bit of Monday morning voyeurism!

In case you’re unfamiliar with the dailies, Design for Mankind has commissioned fellow artists/bloggers/designers to share their days with us— from dawn until dusk! Check out last week’s dailies in case you’re in need of some additional stalkage…

NOW ON TO THE FUN! Thanks SO much, Victoria— you’re a gem.
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7:10 am – the blasted alarm goes off. it’s supposed to be one of the alarm clocks that flashes light to wake you and then blows your head off, but my bulb died. it’s loud and i groan.

7:12 am – grab the laptop and bring it back to bed with me to upload the first blog post of the day. i write them the evening before so it just usually needs a tweak or two, and then up it goes. forever.

7:20 am – turn on my transistor radio to my favorite morning station, KFOG. my dad always listens to a transistor radio in the morning, and i like that i do it, too and i like the tin-y sound of it. i also love my smart morning dj, Dave Morey, the voice of reason. if i’m having a bad day, he cheers me right up because he is not too perky. he’s just normal and calm and really smart.

7:21 – i head into the kitchen to make my morning latte in my beat up little espresso maker.

7:30 – shower & shampoo.

7:40 – i apply war paint and blow dry. i hate blow drying my hair and should i ever be rich beyond my wildest dreams there will be someone there for a blow out each and every morning. no, really.

8:30 – i am dressed and ready to go to the office. i get to wear my new Jil Sander shoes that I got for free at a recent clothing SWAP at artist Leigh Wells’ house. yipee!

8:40 – this is a ‘real job’ day, so i hop in my ride and drive past the Asian women doing tai chi in Washington Square Park in North Beach. I love watching their graceful moves and wish I had more time.

8:45 – i stop at destijl, one of my favorite coffee spots for yet, another latte. yes, i am caffeinated.

9:00 – i arrive at the ‘real job’, Heat, an advertising agency along the waterfront in an old Pier building which has been restored.

9 – 12 – i do the job, with involves art buying and print production. i source out photographers and illustrators to execute the designs my art directors come up with and then work with a color separator to retouch the images. today i have an appointment with a photographer to review his portfolio.

12:30 – said photographer arrives and is so freaking handsome i can barely look at his work. of course, he is wearing a wedding ring and speaks fondly of his 1 year old daughter. not only is he cute, and nice, he’s very talented. how annoying.

1:00 – i am outta there. i only work right now on tuesday-wednesday-thursday from 9am to 1pm. print production is slow right now at the agency and it’s all about TV. i am okay with it for now as the blog and the keep calm posters keep me really busy. we’ll see how that goes.

1:15 – i am on the road with google map in had to find and visit Flora Grubb Nursery. i have posted about her before, but have yet to visit in person and take some photos, so I head out to the Hunter’s Point area of the city. it’s a really unusually warm day for february in the city, so i put the top down on my vw bug and the sun feels really good on my face. the google map is wrong and tells me to turn where i know i shouldn’t, but i do it anyway. it’s a dead end so i go the way i think i should and find Flora Grubb just fine. whew.

1:30 – i cruise around the massive Flora Grubb Nursery and admire the exotic plants and cool outdoor furniture. i take lots of photos for a post next week on the blog. it’s an amazing space. Flora lost her shirt in the dot.com crash and became a palm tree broker, of all things, and now has this beautiful nursery. good for her!

2:30 – i am back on the road, top down and headed back home with a few plants i picked up. the patio is looking pretty sparse due to all the rain so i plant just a couple of things to brighten it up. there will be much more planting in the spring as i love to garden what little outdoor space i have.

3:00 – okay, time for some blogging. i sit down at the sfgirlbybay home office and get started on tomorrow’s posts. it doesn’t feel like work though because i truly love it. it encompasses all that i love – writing, design and photography. i didn’t even know what a blog was 18 months ago. who knew i would find what i believe is my niche.

5:00 – time to fill some orders for my Keep Calm & Carry On posters. i love all the pretty colors, but packaging them is time consuming. i pack up all the orders i have to date and get them ready for a post office drop in the morning. i do believe the post office hates my guts and cringe when they see me coming.

6:00 – it’s getting to be dusk out there and it’s a pretty night sky. time to start winding down my work at the computer, but i want to answer some emails before i shut down for the night, so i work at that for awhile.

7:30 – i am tired and hungry and just eat leftover grilled salmon and cucumber dill salad for dinner. it’s quite good, though.

8:00 – now my eyes are really feeling tired, but i light my usual candles in my bedroom to relax and crawl under the covers. i really like this book i am currently reading and can’t put it down even though my eyes feel like sandpaper. i read far too long.

11:30 – oh my gosh – i didn’t realize it was THAT late and i finally turn out the light, blow out my candles and fall asleep.

Oh I’m so excited to share today’s feature in the dailies series. Kim and Jo were the first bloggers to embrace my teeny little blog last August, and I have these ladies to thank for inspiring me to begin on my own blogging journey! See? They really DO desire to inspire!

Anywoo, Kim and Jo were kind enough to walk me through each of their days from across the country— Kim in Canada and Jo in Australia. Although they’re blogger partners-in-crime, they keep VERY different schedules and (to everyone’s surprise!) have never even met.

I find their days fascinating, yet simple. The perfect day in my opinion! Thanks, ladies!

KIM:

5:15am I used to get up at 4:30 but since I moved last month, I’ve been
able to cut an hour a day out of my travel time to work and I realized
getting up that early is just stupid. Actually, my cats usually start
jumping around the bedroom and howling and driving me nuts about a half
hour before my alarm goes off. They want me to feed them so I head
downstairs and do that, and turn on my laptop. I check the blog, emails,
and see if Jo is online. It’s usually easier to catch her in the
evenings (my time) when she’s getting up for work (the following day her
time).

6:30am I head off to work. I can walk to my office which takes about
half an hour. This is all the exercise I get. Sad, but true. This
morning I got to walk in a blizzard. That’s always fun. Stop at coffee
shop for a tea.

7:00am I’m at work and ready to start an exciting day as a web developer
for the federal government. It’s not really very exciting. My job eats
up a lot of my brain juice. Coding is a lot of problem solving, and can
be exhausting by the end of the day. You may wonder why the blog doesn’t
have all sorts of bells and whistles since I’m a web developer. It’s
because my job involves only coding the behind the scenes stuff. Because
I spend my entire day sitting in front of a computer, I have a hard time
going home and doing the same thing all night. That is why I can’t
frequently visit all of my favourite blogs. If I did I’d LOSE MY MIND.
And the best part about working for the government? EVERYTHING is
blocked here – no eBay, no email, no blog, no Flickr etc. etc. Us public
servants can’t be trusted. ;)

11:30am I’m starving and since I work compressed work weeks (I work an
extra 50 mins a day so I can have every second Monday off), I usually
work through lunch and scarf down lunch at my desk. Sometimes I sneak
out to meet my sister at an art store a couple blocks down. In the
summer we may go to the Byward Market and hit my favourite store Zone,
or go visit the stray cats that live behind Parliament Hill.

3:30pm My day is finally done and I start heading home – hopefully not
in a blizzard. I walk through Chinatown and sometimes stop in the shops
to look for trinkets (like I don’t have enough). At the end stretch I
walk through a bit of Little Italy and try not to look in the windows at
the pastries and pasta.

4:00pm I get home, shovel the driveway, hang out with my 5 cats, check
emails and the blog (and post something), watch tv, make dinner, make
some calls, depending on the weather I might vacuum water out of my
basement, IM with Jo, take a quick look on eBay and Etsy for stuff for
my house, do some blog research…..and go to bed.

JO:

5.00am Roll out of bed with the sun and the noisy parrots in the trees outside my windows. Boil the kettle and boot the computer. Check emails, etsy orders, stats and blog while showering, ironing clothes and painting my face. Pack up my etsy orders to post during my lunch break. Love selling my prints, hate the packing!

6.00am I’m normally settled down for an hour on the computer for blog surfing and chatting to Kim online. It’s the only time we can guarantee that we’ll both be on. It helps having 2 people to share the work load but we always like to consult each other on the important things like what to do with Kim’s new house and what we are buying on ebay or etsy (oh and blog things too).

7.00am Dash out the door to jump a train to work. Stare out the window and take in all the little details. I’m a visual person so I’d rather watch the world go by than read a book. Besides my favourite thrift store is on the line and the manager Phillip always puts something he knows I’ll like in the window for me to spot! Grab a coffee on the way from my fav local cafe. Cappuccino if I’m rested or a double short black is I’m still beat.

7.30am I work for the Homeless Health Outreach Team, a mental health outreach team based in the city centre. My office is surrounded by peep shows, drug dealers, churches and thrift stores. Sadly I am moving on shortly to take up a research position and I’ll miss my lively neighbourhood! After studying and working in the interior design industry I’ve gone back to my first love, health. I studied medicine for a number of years but decided that design was for me. Now I’m back in the mental health area and loving it. The blog gives me a chance to keep up with my love of interior design.

12.00pm After slaving away the morning at work I escape for lunch which is usually on the run as I scour the 3 thrift shops within a block of the clinic. I love the thrill of the hunt and will miss it when I change positions. Less “junk” in my house though!

12.30pm Back to work already! Bummer!

4.30pm Head back home craning my neck to spot what treasures Phillip has left in the thrift shop window to tempt me.

5.00pm Turn the computer back on and in between prepping for dinner and checking the early news I begin to write the day’s posts. I’m 14 hours ahead of the east coast of America so my day is ending as your’s is starting. Since I took my week off blogging recently I’ve been writing my posts at night instead of prepping a week’s worth on the weekend. Must become more disciplined again! I like to be offline by 7.00pm so I can eat dinner and watch the news. I’m addicted to news and current events. I even have news radio playing when I’m on the computer. What a tragic! As fellow bloggers will know the hardest thing is the research. Posting is relatively easy although Kim and I code our posts to get the layout we like. i spend hours and hours a week roaming the web looking for things and people to post. almost all of us have full time jobs as well as blogging. What a luxury not to have to work and devote your time to blogging. My day job keeps me real.

7.00pm Relax, have a glass of wine with dinner and watch TV. I try to keep weekends free to go to the movies, catch up with friends, go out to dinner, have breakfast at my favourite cafe, scope the art galleries – all the things normal people do but more and more my time is taken up by blogging. Kim and I are determined to make Desire to Inspire the best we can.

9.30pm Getting sleepy. Maybe I should go to bed! Got to be up at 5.00am again. Where’s my book? Just a couple of pages before sleep.