I’ve been blogging a lot recently about my new life/routine in Chicago.  I’ll stop soon.  Promise.  Just not today!

I think these ‘day in the life’ type posts are ones that people like to read because [when written honestly] they give real glimpses into someone’s every day life.  Even if it’s very routine and “normal.”

With that, I present you with a day in my Chicago life (and after this I will pick a new set of topics to blog about!).

5:25 am – Vishnu’s alarm goes off.  I wake up first, roll over, and ask him to turn it off.  I lay in bed for five more minutes before throwing the covers off and getting started with my day.

5:40 am – After changing into my workout clothes, I make Vishnu a breakfast shake, and head to the gym in our building for a date with my friend the dreadmill.

IMG_1348

6:30 – 7: 30 am – I shower, get ready, make my shake, drink my shake, and head out the door.

Mocha protein shake

7:30 – 7:50 am – It takes me 7 minutes to walk to the train station.  Thankfully, it’s not too hot outside (yet!).  Surprisingly, the train is super packed, but I’m ok with it because I only have to endure being a sardine for two stops.

7:50 am – 12:00 pm – Work, work, work, work, work with a side of catching up with co-workers.  My morning consisted of a series of calls and meetings.  It was one of those days where instead of crossing things off my to do list I ended up adding a bunch of stuff.

Work desk

12:00 – 1:00 pm – Two of my coworkers and I headed to Taco Bell for lunch.  Yes, you read that right.  We consciously chose Taco Bell for our lunchtime meal.  And I’m not even going to lie…it was so good!

1:00 – 3:30 pm – More work, work, work, work, work.

3:30 pm – Our company gives out coupons for free fro-yo (a well-kept secret!), so a few of us headed downstairs for some kefir fro-yo.  I topped mine with toasted almonds and chocolate chips.  Yum!

3:45 – 5:30 pm – More work, work, work, work, work.

5:30 pm – Before heading home, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a prescription for Vishnu along with some lip balm (also for Vishnu!).

5:40 – 6:05 pm – As I’m taking the train home, it starts pouring.  Thank goodness I had an umbrella in my bag.  However, after this wet/gross walk home, I decided that I need a new bigger umbrella.

Rainy Day in Chicago

6:05 – 6:45 pm – I help my sister troubleshoot something and then hang out with Vishnu for a bit before heating up our respective dinners.

6:45 – 8:00 pm – We watch Chopped while eating dinner (African peanut stew for me and turkey chili for Vishnu).  I also throw in a load of laundry during commercial breaks.

Oh She Glows African Peanut Stew

8:00 – 8:30 pm – I clean up in the kitchen and make Vishnu’s lunch for the next day.

8:30 – 9:45 pm – I’m super tired but manage to stay awake long enough to type up this post, chat with Vishnu, and watch a little more TV.

9:45 pm – We get ready for bed (man, we’re old!).

10:00 pm – LIGHTS OUT!

And that, my friends, is a typical day in my Chicago life.  It’s not super exciting, but I’m interacting with 20x more people on a daily basis compared to St. Pete, so there’s that!

Your turn – What time do you usually wake up and go to bed?  What do you do for a living?  What’s your office culture like?  

By Parita

7 thoughts on “Day in the Life – Chicago Edition”
  1. Haha no shame in the Taco Bell game! And free froyo is awesome! My office is very casual. Most of us work from home most of the time, so when we go in there’s lots of chatting. I like the social nature of it but if I really need to get something done it’s easier if I stay home, haha.
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  2. Your day sounds kinda like mine: a routine I try to keep with as much as possible! I work as a software engineer in QA so I spend my days writing code. So being a tech company, they’re all about the open space concept and no cubes and the whole “collab” space culture. We also have standing desks so we aren’t stuck sitting in front of a computer all day long. I try to take walks so I’m not staring at a screen all day, too. I usually get up around 5:30 and go to bed any where from 10:30-midnight. It’s bad, I know, but I only need about 6-8 hours of sleep to function the next day haha.

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