Doing more with the same time- what a week!

I re-wrote the draft and the header of this post almost four times, before deciding to just go with it and publish it! I kept thinking whether people would be interested to know about my week and weekly chores or if I should just write a personal journal entry instead. In the end, I just thought, forget it, stop thinking and just write. There isn’t anything in this post that is going to offend anyone so just write it. It still can be a personal journal entry- in fact, aren’t all my posts here a kind of personal journal entry anyway? My travel accounts are my own and my book reviews/thoughts are my own- so why not this?

I also felt like I wanted to share my joys with the world this week. I felt that I was able to achieve so much and experience so many new things this last week, that I should fan my ego a little and let everyone know how great it feels! All moms would agree when I say that it is hard to find time for yourself, between house chores, toddler chores and other chores. But trust me ladies, when you try and carve time out for yourselves, you feel so awesome in hindsight!

So, here is a quick re-cap of my week- rather the ‘me-add-ons’ that I did over the past few days, over and above my usual 9-5 job, and my parenting/home chores. Also, special thanks to my partner, for watching the toddler so I could go and have fun 🙂

• I went to a social meet up at a pub in St. Albans, and met some amazing and funny women! It was so great dressing up, and having a drink with women who were funny, well read, mothers, students, everything that evening! Can’t wait for our next meet up for the book club discussion with them later this week:) I did this on a weekday on Thursday, after I was back from my work, had picked up my daughter from day care and cooked dinner for the other two members at home. Usually, you would feel exhausted after all this, as did I. But those 2 hours were so worth it!
• On the insistence of my partner, and my own will this time, I managed to go for a run or a work out session most of the days this week! I ran 4K on one of my runs and even discovered a beautiful running track quite close to where I live! It feels amazing afterwards. Especially after a day of sitting and when you’re back from a sweaty work out/run, and get to take a shower and have a beer and play with your toddler. It feels like a day that ended on a good note. I also tend to sleep better on such days, I realised:) I’m trying hard to reduce my tummy flab, but exercising also helps me sleep and feel better afterwards, so I hope I can keep the drive on:)
  

  

  
• The best part of the week was my tour to Harry Potter studio at Watford on Saturday!! I had been waiting for this day since the last two months and it couldn’t have been a better day for the tour! I left home at 10:30 am, after breakfast and took an Uber to the studio. I spent the entire morning at the studio reliving all my memories and gaping at the amount of work and talent that went into making my favourite book series into my favourite movie series! I had Butterbeer and loved it! I was glad that I had come here alone, I need to wait a few more years to bring my daughter to enjoy the world of Harry Potter, but I was a little sad that I didn’t have a friend to share my experience with. I took the bus home and reached home at 3:30 pm that day. Luckily my daughter was still napping and she hadn’t troubled my partner too much. We ended a brilliant day with watching the Champions League Finals at the David Lyod’s coffee shop area and had pizza for dinner. It was such a great day!
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• I baked my first blueberry muffins on Sunday, and they turned out to be surprisingly delicious!! I was so proud of myself, since I am not much of a cook. I wish I had a picture to share. My toddler is on a eating strike, so that was disappointing, but my partner and I loved the muffins..lol!
• I finished two books last week and was able to write a review too!! Woop Woop!
  

  
• I finally managed to update my personal bullet journal and my paper book journals too (can’t post a picture of the personal journal, but will show you guys my updates on the paper journal soon:))
• I also spent a lot of extra quality time with my adorable daughter this long weekend, to make up for the time lost on Saturday. I have a lot of mom guilt, most moms have it I think. Dads somehow are immune to this, how lucky. So I feel terrible taking time out for myself at the end of the day or on weekends, even for important things such as socialising, exercising or grooming. But I have to keep reminding myself that my child is not my judge or my enemy. And that I can make up for quantity by quality. So, I try to show her how much I love her by spending quality time with her over the weekends, whenever I can 🙂
  

  

And just like that, the long weekend is over! The work week has started, and I’m still on track with the running, and my reading. My writing project for Story a Day has taken a bit of a backseat, but I hope I’m able to carve out some time for that too. How was your weekend and how do you manage to carve out time for yourself? 🙂