I’ve asked some of my favorite creative mamas to help out while I’m away with our new baby. Today we get a look behind the scenes at a day in the life of one of my favorite stationers – and mama of two – Liz from Linda & Harriett! –Nole

Photo by Kristin Gladney

6:15 am
Wake up to take our dog for a run in the park. I hear Griffin singing to himself in his room, so I go in & ask him if he wants to watch Arthur while I go for my run. Of course he says yes! This way, he won’t wake up my husband John for at least another 28 minutes, and won’t be too bummed (at all, really) that I’m leaving. He still asks for a kiss & a hug – and lately has been pretty fierce with both which makes my heart swell.

7:30 am
Back from my run and find John, Griffin and Louise all eating breakfast. Get ready for the day. For some reason, the morning is the one time of day where it doesn’t even occur to me to look at email, texts or Instagram. The rest of day, not so much.

9 am
Griffin’s preschool hasn’t started yet, so I leave for work a bit later, once our beloved nanny arrives. Always with an iced coffee in tow. It’s supposed to be 90 degrees today!

9:30 am
At the studio and write seven cards to go with the seven care packages I’m mailing to Sweden today – to thank John’s aunts and cousins for hosting us for a week this summer. I’m sending them all the L&H Seasonal Card Box Set, one of my favorite gifts to give. John’s aunt & uncle who hosted us the whole time (and even gave us their bed!) is also getting two mugs & kitchen towels from More & Co., my favorite online shop for buying gifts.

10 am
My assistant Sarah is busy fulfilling orders. We have our big 25% off sale this week, so it’s busy around here. Our USPS guy is on vacation and we’re trying to figure out how to get these out, since scheduling a pickup doesn’t seem to be working. Our building neighbor, Tattly, nicely offers to send their USPS woman up to us. And it works! Phew!

10:15 am
Call with Dara from Simply Framed, the online frame shop we’ve partnered with for our new prints. They do such a fantastic job & I’m thrilled to be working with them to offer my customers high quality framing. Dara is working on a project and has asked me to get involved. I love her energy and am fueled by it.

11:15 am
Emailing a lot! We’re trying to find a new studio space because our current building in Dumbo isn’t renewing leases. I’ve been looking for four months and finally found the right one. So I’m going back and forth a lot right now with the sales rep as well as my husband – who, thankfully, is way more real estate savvy than I am (and also thankfully has a ton of patience for me being way less savvy). Fingers crossed it works out!

12:00 pm
A text comes through from Molly at Chairloom. It’s a photo of a love seat she’s just reupholstered in the custom textile design I did for her – an Alexander Calder inspired Philadelphia print. A pretty thrilling moment to see it come to life! I text her back immediately with lots of high five and praise emojis, and then secretly send it to a few family and friends who I know will appreciate it. I share it with my assistant Sarah. We’re both excited.

12:15 pm
Lunch at my desk. Open faced sandwich: (always open face – which to me feels like I get two sandwiches!) sourdough with avocado, sea salt and cheddar. It’s easy & never fails to the spot. Siggis yogurt. Seltzer. This is the one time during the day at the studio where I check my favorite sites, like Oh So Beautiful Paper 🙂 or Cup of Jo or NY Magazine. Because I like to be home with my kids in the morning and evening, my time at the studio is limited, so I try to stay focused on work while I’m there.

12:45 pm
Finally sit down with my brush, ink & lots of paper — my staples. I have been silently working on a big project that will debut next year, and I am trying to develop as much work as possible for upcoming meetings with my partner. I did some drawings today that made my heart race (like literally beat faster – no joke) which is always a good sign and motivates me to keep at it.

4:15 pm
Leave studio early to take Griffin on a play date. School hasn’t started yet, and it’s not often that he & I have one on one time anymore, so I jump at the chance when my friend asks if we want to come over. She whips up a batch of kale chips while our kids build garages out of magna tiles and throw airplanes around the room. On the way home, I feel grateful for the flexibility to do this this afternoon.

6:30 pm
Return home to hear hip hop blaring from the bathroom where John is giving Louise a bath. This is a common bath time ritual for John. He loves all kinds of music and plays it during bath time on a portable speaker, so it can get pretty loud. Because of these bath time sing-a-longs, Griffin can now accurately identify images of Bob Marley and Toots & the Maytals.

7:30 pm
Our kids are generally pretty good at going to bed, which allows us some nice down time. Tonight, we order in Indian food, which despite the 85 degree heat, we’re both craving and haven’t had in months. While we wait for it, we clean up a bit and then hop on our laptops. I see an email from the sales office of the new studio to say that our application has been approved – hooray! One step closer to a new space.

8:30 pm
I shamelessly find watching tv to be a great way to wind down, (maybe with a glass of wine too!) but we have been in a funk lately. Orange is the New Black, House of Cards – we need to get on it! John suffers through a DVR’d episode of the RHONY Reunion show with me, which is pretty bad, but pretty good. But pretty bad. Buuuut, pretty good. I take this welcomed brainless time to look over our calendar for the fall and put some deadlines in place for work. I can’t function without a deadline on the Google Calendar. I also place an order with soap.com — my go-to source for all our baby & household needs. I even buy my fancy mascara through them! I don’t know what I would do without online shopping. It’s pretty much this working mom’s dream come true.

10 pm
I love reading magazines through Next Issue on my iPad every night before bed. Tonight I read the Obsession with Foxcatcher in New York Magazine, and it has me excited to see the movie – which takes place near where I grew up.

10:45 pm
Reading before bed always makes me so sleepy. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thanks for having me, Nole!

Top Photo by Kristin Gladney; all others by Liz Libré of Linda & Harriett