Thursday, February 14, 2019

Week Night Nighttime Routine

Whenever I take to Instagram and ask what posts y’all are interested in seeing it goes without fail that someone requests a morning or nighttime routine. This makes me laugh since I feel like it’s very boring, but here we are. I suppose that I can be a little bit nosey and am interested in other people’s habits so I get it, but I hope that y’all aren’t disappointed by the lackluster that is my normal weeknight routine. 

I’ve mentioned it time and time again, but I am undoubtedly a routine person (sometimes to a fault). If someone asks me to do something last minute, I have to remind myself that not going to the gym or being in bed at a particular time isn’t a big deal. With my roommate leading Bible studies for her job twice a week and so many friends in school studying weeknights are usually very quiet. Here’s a look at what I’m generally up to…


5:30 Off Work
When the clock rolls over to 5:30, I am headed out of the office. Fortunately, it’s starting to stay light a bit later which makes 5:30 not feel super late. I’m ready for the days where I leave the office and still have a good bit of daylight left but know it’ll be a bit before that happens. I keep my gym bag packed in my car so that I can head straight from work to the gym which is about 20 minutes away depending on the traffic on 280 (if you live in Birmingham you know exactly how unpredictable that can be at times). I usually listen to a podcast on my way to the gym to make listening to music while I’m there seem a little bit more exciting. 

6:00 Workout at the Y
Once I arrive at the gym, I head to the locker room to change. It depends on the day as to what I do there, but usually, I’m running on the treadmill (since I’m training for a half marathon in March) or on the bike or elliptical if it’s a non-running day. I end my workouts by stretching and depending on the day doing arms and ab exercises.

7:15 Head Home
Most days I am in the car heading home around 7:15. Once I get home, I catch up with my roommate if she’s home, put my lunch box in the kitchen, and am motivated by the fact that the sooner I shower the sooner I can eat dinner. 


7:30 Shower 
Although I shower every night, I wash my hair every other day. On the days when I don’t wash my hair, I use dry shampoo and blow dry that into the roots to refresh it a bit. Ever since doing a charity competition my senior year of college and not being able to shower for a week my hair has held up well with not being washed daily (proof that you can definitely train your hair to do this). 
When I do wash my hair, I use this shampoo and conditioner both of which I really enjoy. About once a week I’ll use this deep conditioner and let it sit in my hair for a bit before washing it out. Although I wash my face in the shower sometimes, I am unable to get all of my eye makeup off which is where my Makeup Eraser (you’ve probably heard me rave about this on social media) comes into play. All you have to do is wet the cloth and pat it on the area of your face that still has makeup on it, and it removes the makeup completely. I know it sounds crazy, but it works. On the off chance I still have any makeup left on my face I use the cutest face towels by the brand Weezie. These are the softest, fluffiest, and prettiest towels I own and I can’t help but love the cute embroidery on them. The navy color is perfect since I know that they won’t get stained, but the size, color, and monogram options on Weezie’s site gives you plenty of choices if you’re looking for a more personalized option. 

 

7:45 Make and Eat Dinner
Using the word “make” is generous in this scenario since I tend to do all of my cooking on the weekends so that I can easily heat up something I’ve made on weeknights. So by make, I really mean plate and heat up which on some nights can feel like equally as much effort as wiping something up, haha! After dinner is ready to go, I usually take my plate to the living room and eat in there. 

8:00 – 9:00ish Work on Blog Posts & Watch TV 
After eating and cleaning up after myself, I like to plop down on the couch and watch a bit of TV and work on blog posts. I try to do a lot of my blog work for the week over the weekend but inevitably end up with something that needs to be finished up. I usually give myself an hour to hang out and do this, but that also depends on what I’m watching and whether or not my roommate is home to join me in watching something. 

9:00 Blow Dry Hair and Brush My Teeth
Once I’ve motivated myself to get off the couch, I blow dry my hair (if I washed it that night) and brush my teeth in preparation for getting in bed. I recently discovered the most amazing hair dryer that leaves my hair looking bouncy and smooth while drying it in a lot less time than my traditional hair dryer. Enter the Revlon One Step Hairdryer and Volumizer. I had ordered this when it was out of stock on Amazon while I was still at home during Christmas so when it came in during January, I was excited to try it. I have since see n a lot of blog and social media posts about the tool and rightfully so. It does wonders on my hair and leaves it looking nice enough that I don’t have to touch it with any other styling tool. 

Once my hair is dry, I’ll brush my teeth, put lotion on, and pack my gym bag for the next day. 


9:15 In Bed Reading 
Around 9:15 I’ll get in bed to fill out my 5-minute journal and then read. One of my goals for 2019 was to get back into the routine of reading before bed, and I’m so glad that I’ve made this a priority since it has reminded me how much I enjoy reading. It’s also a nice break from looking at a screen since I spend a lot of my day doing that. Depending on the book, I’ll read a chapter or until I get tired before deciding to turn out the lights and call it a night. 

One trick I’ve learned that helps me to follow my bedtime and read at night is to set my alarm before I start reading with my alarms set for the next day knowing that I’m not going to pick it up again till I wake up. I can definitely get sucked into scrolling through social media aimlessly which usually leaves me bummed that I’ve wasted time I could have been reading. 


As boring as it may be, this is how most of my weeknights look. I have to laugh at how much better I am about sleep now as compared to when I was teaching and how much that has changed my overall attitude. Now if only I could tell my college self how important sleep is…

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