Hailey Hudson's Blog, page 33

Blogmas 2018 Day 11

Public schools were delayed this morning in our county, but although it was cold, it wasn’t really icy. As usual, I was so tired and having a lot of nerve pain in my legs when I got up, but for the most part I managed to get over it.

8:15 — answered emails and did some GA Fam proofreading

9:00 — breakfast

9:30 — finished and submitted my Amazon ecommerce post for a new client, the SaaS company, and made a bunch of phone calls (my bank, my rheumatologist… hardcore #adulting)

10:45 — worked on my how-to guide about small businesses buying wholesale from China

11:45 — easy workout (stretching, bodyweight strength stuff, and tap dancing), then shower and lunch

1:40 — sent LOI’s to companies

3:15 — finished the homeschool feature for the January issue of GA Fam

4:30 — stopped working for the day, took a break, and wrote some Christmas cards to clients. Then I focused on the stupid Christmas project and freaked out and FINALLY got it done, hallelujah. That was such a relief. An expensive relief… but a relief nonetheless.

Brooke picked me up and we went to the Dahlonega square for dinner. It was absolutely beautiful! None of my pictures do it justice, but all of the trees were decorated, so as you walked down the sidewalk there were lights over and around you and it was magical.

We had dinner at an Irish pub (while we were waiting, we took our beeper and walked around the square, and then we had to run back to the restaurant pretending we didn’t have a bomb that was about to go off). I had a grilled cod sandwich and it was good; we sat in a dreamy lit-up screened-in porch and lingered and talked.

After dinner we went to small group, where we watched holiday baking shows and played Drawful, a game on Jackbox TV.

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Today’s song crushes: Sue Me by Sabrina Carpenter and this cover of Skyscraper.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

 

Blogmas 2018 Day 10

Are you bored yet with the rundowns of my workdays? Here’s another one…

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8:15 — answered emails and did some proofreading for Georgia Family

9:00 — ate breakfast and cleaned the kitchen

9:30 — worked on finding people to interview for a how-to piece I’m doing on small businesses buying wholesale from China

10:30 — got ready to go and played with the baby my mom keeps (except I guess he’s technically a TODDLER now…)

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11:00 — was SUPPOSED to leave to go counseling, but I couldn’t find my wallet anywhere. After tearing the house apart for 30 minutes, I gave up, canceled my appointment, and began the process of canceling my debit card and getting a new driver’s license. The last thing I used my wallet for was on Friday; I paid for my food in the Panera drive through and then put my wallet in my laptop case, but it’s not there now. It just vanished. I was super frustrated. But I’m so glad that, just before going to Panera on Friday, I went to the bank to deposit a check, and randomly decided to also deposit the $200 cash that was in my wallet.

11:30 — tried to get back to work finding some sources for a dog article but was really frustrated and tired and distracted. I put sweet potato fries in the oven for lunch and worked on my pros-and-cons of homeschooling article (except there ARE no cons–that’s kind of the point–and I was yelling at my computer reading online about what people think are the downsides of homeschooling, haha. It’s all lies!).

1:30 — after lunch, I worked on a blog post about how ecommerce companies can succeed on Amazon. It’s a paid trial post for a new client, an SaaS (software as a service) company

2:30 — answered emails, took phone calls, and applied to jobs until 4

4:30 — finished my blog post for Territory Supply, a “gear battle” comparing outdoor footwear brands Keen and Merrell

After dinner we decorated the Christmas tree and I read Breaking Point in one sitting. Kristen Simmons is SO underrated; she’s one of my favorites. I have to admit the main reason I finished Article 5 yesterday was because of the relationship between Chase and Ember, but by book #2 that was just a nice bonus and the plot (mysterious snipers, betrayal, so much action) had hooked me.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 9

This morning I woke up exhausted after 13 hours of sleep because that’s the way my body works. I decided to skip church because I wanted to have energy for our activities later in the day, and because it was IMPERATIVE that I get this stupid Christmas project done TODAY. Although, I ended up not actually doing much work myself–I have recently discovered the beauty of outsourcing and it is saving my life. So I mostly journaled and watched YouTube videos instead.

After lunch we went to get a Christmas tree. We went to Home Depot, a local Christmas tree farm, and the Lowe’s thirty minutes away before finally finding a tree that was a good height and decent price. Apparently, there’s a national Christmas tree shortage because after the Great Recession 10 years ago, people quit planting Christmas trees.

Back home, I caught up on some correspondence re the job I’m outsourcing and then we got ready to go. My dad did some freelance video scripts for a nearby (kinda) church, so this evening we went to see their Christmas program that included the videos he helped with. His video scripts were good.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

 

Blogmas 2018 Day 8

This morning Joshua and I slept in and headed home from Brooke’s around 10. I had been planning to drive up to Blairsville today to take some photos for a magazine feature I’m doing for Blue Ridge Country Magazine, but it was raining with a chance of snow and also I felt awful, so I didn’t. At home, I wrapped Christmas gifts, cleaned my room, cleaned the bathroom, and rested in bed for several hours before trying to finish a Christmas project. I couldn’t get it done and the headache that had been lingering all day returned full force, so I gave up and went to bed for the night at 6 because I was so exhausted.

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Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 7

Hooray for rainy, cozy Fridays! I started the morning doing a lot of proofreading work on the January issue of Georgia Family Magazine (where I’m the copy editor as well as the associate editor). Then I drove through the bank (building that savings account!), drove through Panera Bread, and went to Brooke’s house, where I’m puppy sitting. I spent the afternoon working in a quiet house with a fire and a puppy… nothing better!

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My afternoon to-do list included things like having a meeting with someone from my freelance writing course who is going to do some editing for me; edits on an Eastern Mountain Sports piece; writing a Territory Supply article giving the history of two outdoor footwear/apparel brands; and spending an hour and a half doing a small rush work job that consisted of two short MLB articles (which was fun! I write about softball a lot and youth athletics a lot, but not MLB as much, although I obviously love MLB).

Early in the evening Joshua came over to join me. We watched Full House and played with the puppy until bedtime.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 6

This morning was filled with answering emails, signing contracts, communicating with interview sources, and putting the finishing touches on the thyroid medication blog post.

At 11:00 I had a good meeting with the growth manager of the corporate e-learning company I write video scripts for. Moving into 2019, they’re looking into the possibility of me expanding into helping with their content marketing strategy as well, so we discussed what that would look like. It was exciting.

Joshua and I went next door and puppy-sat and then I did a 30-minute leg workout while listening to my “training motivation” playlist. Normally working out makes my health problems worse, but I love working out. So instead of doing intense training 6 days a week like I did in high school, I now try to do non-cardio-based easy but effective workouts about 3 days a week or whenever I feel halfway decent.

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Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

Nothing can stop you if you don’t stop for anything.

Have the discipline to say no when others around you choose to be average. 

After lunch I finished a 3,000-word blog post for Lyfe Marketing on strategies for online lead generation. I also tried not to freak out about how many people I had to get back to (seriously, I can’t get any actual work done because I’m so busy answering emails).

On Thursdays I go to the library to get books and then I pick up the little girls next door from school (I can read my new books in car line… it’s a great system). Today I babysat them for around an hour and then came home, where I spend thirty minutes answering emails and making invoices and then an hour or so applying to jobs. I ended the day with a few episodes of Boy Meets World season 2 after dinner and then went to bed at nine.

Here’s what I did two years ago  today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 5

On Wednesdays I sleep in and get started later because small group goes so late on Tuesday nights. Today I started work at 10 with some small marketing/administrative tasks and then tried to focus on my thyroid medication blog post, but I was just so dead tired. I tried unsuccessfully to track down an interview. Then I edited the softball feature I wrote yesterday (which I just love so much haha), edited a “what writers can learn from Harry Potter/JKR” piece I’m doing for Craft Your Content (the editor left notes on my draft nerding out about HP and it was so fun!), and then had lunch (while reading this interesting article on Christian art) and got ready.

My friend Andrea and I went to a Christmas tree farm today! It’s the same place my dad took me to about a month ago. There are Christmas trees, a cafe, greenhouses (I felt like we were in Frosty the Snowman when we went into the warmth and the door slammed behind us), and a store (and we also found a random baseball field as we were walking around the property, which I of course thought was so cool). It’s such a cute property. We got candy cane mochas and walked around the enchanted forest of Christmas trees in the wind and cold… it doesn’t get more Christmassy than that! We had so much fun.

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Back home at 3:00, I finished my coffee while answering emails and messages (Sophie wanted my coffee SO bad), then I got down to work and finished writing the Georgia Family Magazine feature on tips for kids who are transferring schools. I also spent an hour or so vetting prospects (and listening to The Nutcracker twice through). Now I’m going to bed with Misty Copeland’s book.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 4

Today got a whole lot busier all of a sudden, and I woke up exhausted and stressed about how everything was going to happen.

My 9:00 meeting fell through due to a miscommunication about time zones, so I tried to work on an email newsletter about probiotics, but I was so tired and so busy trying to figure out my schedule for the rest of the day that I couldn’t really focus. At 11:00 I went next door to take care of (and meet for the first time) our neighbors’ new Yorkie puppies.

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My tap dance class was moved to today, but it was 45 minutes away instead of 10 and I was tired and busy, so I didn’t go. After learning that a blog post on thyroid medication was due a day earlier than I’d planned, I spent a couple of hours working on that.

At 2:30 I interviewed a softball coach for a feature, and then I had to do some quick revisions on a video script. Next I wrote the bulk of the softball feature (on college softball teams that “adopt” kids with cancer). It flowed very easily; I had a full 1,000-word feature in 30 minutes. I also fleshed out my plan for potentially hiring a VA in 2019 and started on a feature for the January issue of Georgia Family Magazine; it’s due tomorrow, but I didn’t have the quotes I needed until yesterday, and I like to write articles around quotes rather than crowbar the quotes in later. Finally, I had to work past dinnertime doing more revisions on the video script.

Overall, it was a stressful and frustrating workday and everything kept changing schedule-wise.

After dinner I finished the last Shadow Children book and then Brooke picked me up for small group. There were six people there last night and we normally just sit around and talk and laugh or sometimes play board games.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

Blogmas 2018 Day 3

Today was a pretty good example of an average work day for me. There was a lot of finishing projects I didn’t have time for when I went out of town last week, and a lot of seeking out interview sources for magazine features I’m doing this week/month. Most days I map out my work by the hour, and here’s what today looked like:

9:00 — wrote an email newsletter on fibromyalgia

10:00 — edits on a “what writers can learn from J.K. Rowling” piece I’m doing for Craft Your Content

10:30 — late breakfast because I was too nauseous to eat when I first woke up

11:00 — worked on a blog post for Lyfe Marketing on online lead generation

12:00 — worked out (this video that targeted biceps and shoulders, some extra push-ups for good measure, and stretching) and took a shower

1:00 — tracked down some interview sources for softball + education features that are due this Wed.

1:30 — finished a blog post on softshell vs. hardshell jackets for Territory Supply

2:50 — after a snack break, brainstormed interview questions for someone I’m interviewing this week for a magazine feature

3:30 — applied to a few jobs/pitched magazines

4:30 — brainstormed and found/contacted interview sources for a magazine feature about pet insurance

5:30 — wrote the Editor’s Note for the January issue of Georgia Family Magazine, where I’m the associate editor, and attempted to clear out all the random stuff in my inbox

After dinner (oven baked tacos, carrots, fudge), I published an interview with Sara on THC (complete with an exciting announcement!), worked on a Christmas project, read dog tweets to my mom, and laughed at this until I cried before going to bed with a book at 9:00.

Funny Sophie stories from today: our neighbors across the street put up Christmas balloons, and she keeps barking at them (this isn’t actually funny, it’s annoying) (SPEAKING OF NEIGHBORS, I just learned I get to puppy sit tomorrow!!). And she stole a piece of lemon peel from the trash can, but the joke was on her when she realized what it was; she HATES lemons and ended up dropping it and just kind of glaring at it.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?

 

 

Blogmas 2018 Day 2

It was a really pretty day today, 65 and sunny after the fog burned off, with wet leaves everywhere.

This morning I went to the 9:30 service at church (I normally go to the 11:00, but we needed to get on the road). I stayed up too late last night and as a result was in pain this morning and it was a struggle! I love this song that we did. Here are my sermon notes…

After lunch, we left for Tennessee for my grandpa’s choir concert. On the way, Joshua and I read the Shadow Children book series (I’m one book ahead of him–he’s never read them before, I haven’t read them in years) and we argued about vines (the road work vine is the BEST EVER and will never die). My grandpa’s concert was great as usual and afterwards we ate too much food at the Epicurean (cheese rolls, gyro plate, coconut pie).

We got home at 8:30. I felt awful and immediately went to bed and slept for 12 hours.

Here’s what I did two years ago today and one year ago today. What did you do today?