DITL - 2024

It's time for my annual DITL. Every year (save a couple in the middle there), I photograph an entire day of my life. I've been doing it since 2011. So, the girls were 3 when this started, and now they are 15. And we have a record, year by year of what an average day looks like through the ages. Here is 2024.

I wake up at 6 a.m. and I wake up the girls.

I make them breakfast and lunch while they get dressed and ready for school.

Carlos takes Fletchie for a walk and I throw in a load of laundry while the girls eat.

Off they go!

I get to work and check in with my boss. She's the best.

I get to my desk and make my to-do list. First thing today is a shoot at a wildlife conservation foundation!

We saw cheetahs!

And hyenas!

And tigers!

And more cheetahs! Babies! And then it's back to the office.

I work on a podcast instructional manual and sneak some food.

I attend a corporate zoom meeting, copyedit a community planner script, and copyedit a web story.

Then I check out a magnet program for Natalina. Didn't end up working out.

Station leadership meeting at 4 and I'm done for the day. (at work, anyway). But we have our body combat launch on this day, too! So I rush home to get ready.

Carlos was washing the car.

Natalina was snuggling the dog.

And I had to eat something before the launch because a handful of Life cereal wasn't going to cut it. Then I get ready and head to the gym.

Success! It was Mardi Gras themed. That brings us to dinner time.

Okay, laundry, dishes then dinner.

Tired but here it is!

Then I walk the dog, while the girls do chores and homework. And then finally. Finally.

It is time for bed.

I know this is VERY picture heavy for a DITL, but believe it or not, I pared this way down, lol. It was a long, varied and exciting day, for sure. Next year, I'm sure it will be boring. Here are all the years past, if you wanted to see what my life has looked like on Feb. 13 throughout the years.

2023

2022

2021

2020

2017 

2016 

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Resolutions - 2024

Resolution time for the new year. 10 for me, 5 for the kids. Let's do it.

10. Read 12 books.

I got 11 last year, plus two half read each. I think I can do this.

9. Fix three things about the house.

I'm thinking the bathroom, a door, and one other thing, undetermined as of yet.

8. Make more money at one job.

This past year I dropped a lot of money because the rate I was working was not sustainable. I work 2 full time jobs and 2 part time jobs currently, to make the salary of what I believe 1 full time job should pay me. So, I'd like to do that. Be it a promotion or a new job, idk.

7. Figure my shit out.

I'm in the middle of some hefty inner work, It sucks a lot. I've made really big strides since I started in March of last year, but they've been deconstruction. I'd like to move to reconstruction. But I've a while to go yet.

6. Go out with a friend twice a month.

I didn't do this last year, and I really think it would do me good.

5. Get the house clean.

This is a lot harder than it appears. The house is big, we have a lot of stuff. At this point, I haven't dusted in years. More clean, less clutter. 

4. Gym 4 times a week.

This does take a lot of my time, but I'd like to keep it up.

3. Give every interaction the honesty and brevity it deserves.

I'd like my communications to be clearer, and I'd like to take up just a little more space for myself. Not automatically take on the blame for problems or the weight of mishaps, particularly the 95 percent of the time I have nothing to do with them. I don't need extra explanations or context.

2. Better outer self care: hydration, skin care, nails, hair. Look put-together.

I do some of this. I try to drink enough water, I would like to at least use lotion (the rest of skin care is beyond me), keep my nails good, maybe better than they are now, keep up with my hair routine.

1. Do one thing that makes me happy every day. 

I'll have to try to keep up with this, marking it down, day by day.

Kids:

5. Help each one further their interest: acting for Dulce, working out for Natalina.

4. Save $10,000 more for them each.

3. Help them navigate life and be as happy as possible for the long term.

2. Guide them through their learner's permits.

1. Increase their responsibilities. Help them be more ready for independence.

Resolution Check-in - 2023

Every year I do 10 resolutions for myself and 5 for my kids, and then don't look at them until the next year when I see if I actually did any of these things. Here's what I wanted to do in 2023. And what I actually did.

10) Get my hydration levels to over 50 percent.

0. I stuck at 48 percent at the highest

9) Exercise consistently 4 times a week.

1. Done.

8) Keep my nails nice.

1. Done

7) See two friends a month, and do two family activities a month.

.5 we did two family activities a month, but I don't think I saw two friends a month in a concentrated way.

6) Fix three things about the house

0. I looked into fixing the doors, too expensive. I looked into fixing the windows. I cannot. They don't sell window panes separately, and the whole windows would need double panes to keep up with new regulations. I set up to redo the girls bathroom, but that will happen in January. I DID get a landscaper to fix up the yard. Looks good.

5) Make $120,000.

0. I made $25,000 LESS than I made last year. A high-paying freelance client fell off. But working two full time jobs and two part time jobs plus doing all the family stuff still exhausted me.

4) Achieve something notable at work.

1. Huh. I forgot about this one. I got one of my staff a promotion and a fairly hefty raise to go with the title. (Still garbage, but that's corporate America for you).

3) Read 12 books

1. Okay, so technically I finished 11 books, but I'm halfway through two more, so I'm counting this. 12 books is a LOT for me.

2) Get this house clean

0. Nope.

1) Fix all landscaping and back deck.

.5 I did the landscaping, not the deck.

TOTAL: 5/10




For my kids and I, I resolve the following:

5) Help them navigate tween-teen years, be someone they can trust and love.

1. Doing the best I can. I think they know they can trust me.

4) Get them involved in more household duties.

0. They are still doing the same household chores, but at least they are doing that.

3) Save $10,000 more each for them.

1. Done.

2) Pay full attention to them when they ask me for something, but don't make them think the sun and moon both revolve around them.

.5 I have done a pretty good job with this.

1) Help them get involved in sports, extracurricular activities or something else they like and can consistently contribute to.

1. Dulce is in the school play, and Natalina is regularly going to the gym.

3.5/5

DITL - 2023

Every year I do a DITL (I skipped 2018 and 2019 but I've been back on track for a couple years now). Through the years, I photograph an entire day, usually around Valentine's Day, simply because that happened to be the day that I started it all in 2011 or so. It's cool to look back on how the days have changed.

Morning starts at 6 a.m. now that the girls have to make an earlier bus.

Wake up for everyone.

Breakfast ready.

Lunch ready.

Blood pressure medication keeps my body from stroking out, so that's good.

Fletch is ready for his walk, but not quite yet.

Breakfast time!

And I get ready for work.

Girls missed the bus, so we get to drive in morning school traffic.

Almost there.

And off they go, Bobcats.

Get to the office.

First thing I do is replenish the coffee for the office.

I check my email and make my to-do list for the day.

Morning rounds with my production staff, Elena and Gator.

Then I visit the reporters, since I've just come off a stint of being acting news director and I miss them.

My production manager comes in to ask if he can go home yet, and the answer, of course, is always no.

This is the system where I enter the promos. Each video segment gets a code, a time code, a title and description. That code goes into the system, digitally connected to the video which I upload to a different system under those numbers for Elena to fill the log with and for master control to hit the button when it's time to play it.

I check in with Ryann, our digital reporter, before heading to lunch.

I go home, throw in some laundry and get my lunch ready. I'm hungry bc I forgot to bring any cereal for breakfast.

Leftover beef stew, biscuit and some reading. Borrowed this book from my daughter.

Just because I'm on lunch doesn't mean Carlos or Fletchie are. Hard at work, these two.

I then start making dinner. It's a two-part process.

Grab a quick hug from my husband before going back to work.

I approve the community planner which airs throughout the week on our channels, after I pick three events and Elena writes a script off those descriptions, gets a voice over for it, then puts all the graphics and text together.

This is a PSA. I go through what they send us, and choose which ones we will air. I download the video.

Then I give the videos a code and put them in the system.

Here are the back satellites, where we transmit and receive information.

I color in between tasks to chill out.

End of the day and I've done only part of the list.

Time to go home.

I change up and go to body combat right away. I get out a little after 5 and this class starts at 5:45.

Afterward, a couple of us talk for a few minutes.

Back home for part two of the dinner.

This is tomato crab bisque. Audrey taught me the recipe years ago. 

It's the perfect complement to the sausage bread. My mother's recipe.

We all eat up.

Fletch helps me fold the clothes.

Then it's good night for everyone.

And that is a typical day in 2023. I've now had this job for 15 months, the longest I've ever had a job where I go to the office every day.

To see the other years, here are the links!

2022

2021

2020

2017 

2016 

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011