Sometimes when I have the chance to grab coffee with a girl friend, I get asked, “So how’s life?” For some reason, I find myself at a loss for words when it comes to that question. It’s routine, it’s fun, and it’s busy, all in one. I thought it’d be fun to give you some iPhone snapshots of what a typical day looks like for us!

7:35am – Little V normally wakes up sometime between 7am-8am, which means that’s when we wake up too. I know most kids (and adults) wake up earlier than that, so we’re not complaining! Not too long ago we made the decision to live in the same neighborhood where we work, and it’s helped us achieve a better work-life balance.

7:50am – After going through my morning skincare routine, I stick in my contacts and get breakfast started for the family. Milk for Little V (hooray, no more breastfeeding!), and usually eggs of some sort with whatever ingredient is in the fridge. Meanwhile, Mr. Wonderful does the diaper changing and snot sucking (Little V has been congested of late).

8:10am – We eat, taking turns feeding Little V and laughing at all her wonderful ways. This girl smiles through life, whether it’s sipping milk, dancing in her chair, or trying to sound out new words.

9:00am – Time for daycare. We’re lucky that we got accepted into a place that is only two blocks away from our current apartment. And yes…in San Francisco there is an entire application (and sometimes interview) process to get into daycare. Even though I applied when I was pregnant, a space didn’t open up until Little V was 10 months old! We are still #52 in another local daycare we applied to, no joke.

9:20am – I throw on some clothes (leggings and a sweater), clean the kitchen and get to work. In case you don’t know, I’m a stylist! The best part of my job is being able to do nearly everything from home, including meetings with my boss.

12:00pm – Lunch. Then yoga class. Or my weekly physical therapist appointment. Or lunch with Mr. Wonderful. Just depends on the day.

2:20pm – Throw in some laundry (dirty baby clothes never end), then work again.

3:45pm – Start prepping for dinner. We live right above a Whole Foods supermarket, which has really made the transition into parenthood that much easier.

4:35pm – Time to get ready to pick up Little V. The day just flies by! We drop by Whole Foods to pick up some fruit and mochi for dessert. I spend the rest of the afternoon with her until Mr. Wonderful comes home.

6:30pm – Daddy’s home! I swear this is Little V’s favorite part of the day. It doesn’t matter how much time I spend with her, she loves her Daddy. I finish cooking dinner while Mr. Wonderful plays with his girl. Today’s menu: okonomiyaki (a Japanese savory pancake).

6:40pm – We pray. We eat. We talk about our day. All is good (except for the part where Little V continuously chucks food onto the floor).

7:15pm – I clean up, while Mr. Wonderful slowly starts the bedtime routine (quiet play, clean change of clothes, read books).

8:45pm – Lights out for Little V! Some nights we try to catch up on the mail and mundane chores, while other times we cycle through our TV/Netflix shows (Big Bang Theory, Fresh Off the Boat, Blackish, Mind of a Chef, Chef’s Table). I have 30 minutes of physical therapy exercises to do every day, so watching a show makes it less boring. Occasionally I’ll use this time to blog.

10:30pm – Bedtime skincare routine, then off to bed. Sometimes one of us will stay up reading, but lately I’ve been fighting a cold so it’s an early bedtime for me…

Good night!

Some readers have asked where I’ve been, and when I would start writing again. Little V is already 7 months old–where has the time gone?

It all started with a foot injury in late June. An innocent pair of new, flat sandals did me in this time (two years ago it was a pair of too-tall heels). My podiatrist gave a little laugh at my vanity, but assured me it would be better in two weeks. Fast forward three months later, and the pain from my foot has spread to my heel, ankle, and entire lower left leg. Add on the classic aches and pains of motherhood–back problems and tendonitis–and I was forced to slow down. Way down.

Around that time, I came across this old but still relevant New York Times article called “The Joy of Quiet.” I began to ask myself why I even had an Instagram account. Once upon a time I used to care about winning followers, but sitting on my phone for hours, pretending to like strangers’ photos so that there was a chance they would like mine, just seemed completely pointless. But that’s what many bloggers did, so it seemed necessary to play the game.

And yet…how could I have spent all that time differently? Thinking about the hundreds of hours I have probably spent on social media makes me a little sick inside.

Being immobile has forced me to do things only when they count. I currently can only walk 5-10 minutes at a time, ideally followed by resting/sitting for an hour or so. When every step you take suddenly becomes a precious commodity, you do only what is necessary and important (gotta go to the bathroom…then heat up my lunch…grab a bottle of water…and my laptop).

But the true lesson has been in learning to rest. I don’t mean napping the day away, but gaining the ability to sit quietly, understanding the value in observing, and being content in the stillness of it all. There is a beautiful simplicity when babies can be completely enraptured by something as unassuming as an empty potato chip bag. The bright colors, the artificial smell, the crinkly sound, the way it floats briefly in the air when tossed. Little V has more fun with wrappers than the Fisher Price toys that were gifted by friends. Appreciating a potato chip bag may not add much value to my life, but seeing something through my child’s eyes certainly does.

When a stranger starts to coo at Little V, she will respond by studying the stranger’s face. I’ve often wondered what she is looking at. The eyes? The hair? And then I wonder when was the last time I really looked into someone’s eyes (not even my husband’s, I’m afraid to say). As an art graduate, I was trained to observe. Somehow, in the last decade, I’ve regressed in my ability to notice what is around me.

And so despite my recent handicap, I’d like to think I’ve gained a new gift of slowing down. It does mean fewer blog posts (for now) and more time for Little V. It means going out less and staying home more. But most importantly, to the relief of Mr. Wonderful, it will mean fewer Instagram photos of pastries and tea, and more time actually enjoying the pastries and tea (sorry honey, for all the times our drinks got cold).

Are you happy with your pace of life? Do you think it’s ever possible to “slow down” too much?

Trying to set aside an entire weekend never happened for us (who wants to clean when the sun is taunting?), so we committed to decluttering a few weekday nights a week. This meant turning down double dates and fun events so we could clean. It meant “working” after a long day at work. Not fun. But commitment is the first step, and the ultimate goal of having a more simplified home kept us going. It took us about a month, but we did it!

Here are our tips:

1. Stop hoarding hotel shampoo/bath gel.

If you stayed at an expensive hotel and took home the cute bottles of shampoo, then use them once you get home. Yes, I know they’re great to have on hand “in case Aunt Jane comes over,” but that doesn’t mean you need to have ten sets lying around ready to go. Shampoos do go bad. Mr. Wonderful and I had accumulated so many miniature toiletries that we now have several full-size bottles worth of product. We’re finally using them ourselves.

2. Donate hobby items you haven’t used in more than 5 years.

Even though I haven’t touched my art easel in ages, I was convinced that as a college art major I would one day get back into it. And maybe I still will. But when that time comes, I can buy another art easel. Meanwhile, it was taking up valuable real estate and contributing to the clutter.

As for the expensive items you bought and never used? You’re not going to get the money back by keeping it. Donate it for a tax deduction, or try selling it on eBay or Craig’s List.

3. Upgrade your VHS/cassette tapes.

If you still have all the Disney movies on VHS, it’s time to buy your favorites on DVD. Or better yet, get an upgraded Netflix subscription so your kid can watch Frozen twice a day and you can still watch Robert Downey Jr’s latest movie. When your child is finally sick of Elsa throwing icicles, you won’t be stuck with a useless rainbow disc and its plastic case.

As for the stack of home videos, it’s time to convert them to digital before it becomes so antiquated that businesses stop offering those services.

4. Take a photo of unwanted gifts. Then toss.

There are some gifts you just can’t get rid of, not even at white elephant parties. I have a very sweet aunt who also gives extremely ostentatious gifts, which are simply not my style. One year, she gave my family a very expensive, very ugly vase. We banished it to a dark corner of our storage closet. After many years, we finally got rid of it. If you’re feeling some guilt over the decision, take a photo of it as a respectful memory.

Note: Don’t donate anything personalized. The person who gave you the gift may eventually find out. If it’s a book, rip out the handwritten note. Otherwise, play it safe and throw it away. It’s ok. It doesn’t mean you don’t love them.

5. Let go of old love letters.

It was kind of hilarious to read letters from high school crushes who claimed “they would never live” if we never ever got together. Ah, teenage romance. I’m pretty sure they’re living now, and doing well. After having one last chuckle, it’s time to let those go (especially if you’re happily married).

6. Limit your items to a certain number of boxes or shelves.

The best way to stop the overflow of items is to limit yourself to an allotted space. Mr. Wonderful and I have two shelves for cookbooks, one shelf for board games, and one shelf for music books. When we do buy a new board game, another one has to go.

7. Allow yourself one (or two) boxes of miscellaneous items.

We all have some random knickknacks or childhood toys that make us smile every time we look at them but are completely useless. Mr. Wonderful and I each have a couple of boxes under the bed where we store these items. I don’t know why his McDonald toys are worth keeping, but as long as they all fit in his box, I’m not going to judge (and he doesn’t comment on my 29-year old stuffed bunny that has filling coming out of its butt).

What decluttering tips have worked for you? I’d love to hear!

“You can’t be serious,” I said, dangling the white strip in his face.

“You never know when you might need it,” he insisted. I rolled my eyes. Heaving a sigh, he tossed it in the garbage.

Next, I eyed a dusty box of mints. “We’ve been dating for over two years and I’ve never seen you eat these.”

On cue, Mr. Wonderful took out a mint and popped it into his mouth.

“Still good.”

So you can imagine how much junk has accumulated after eight years of living together in the same place.

With our recent decision to move from the suburb to the city of San Francisco (where the average rent is now more expensive than New York City!), we also faced a loss of over 400sq ft worth of space. Having lived out of a suitcase for seven months, we figured it would be easy to throw out a bunch of things. And whatever didn’t fit into our new apartment, we would stuff into an external storage unit at $90/month. It seemed like a small price to pay to hold onto our childhood memories and sporting goods. Two carloads to Goodwill later, we congratulated ourselves.

Then Mr. Wonderful read this blog. Somehow he became convinced that we could actually get rid of almost everything in our storage unit, too.

I laughed. “What, you’re going to get rid of your golf clubs?”

“Yeah.”

I stopped laughing. My pack rat husband was serious. The table was turned, and I tried to convince him that getting rid of 20 boxes was not going to be easy. But then this question haunted us – was anything in our storage unit really worth $1000+ a year to keep? What was the point of having 50 DVDs if all we ever watch is Netflix? What was the point of keeping an art easel if I haven’t painted in over 5 years? What was the point of keeping greetings cards from people whom I haven’t talked to in nearly two decades?

None. I wouldn’t bother saving any of it if our storage unit caught on fire. In fact, I would probably feel somewhat relieved.

So…we did it. I still can’t believe it, actually. We did manage to fit a few more boxes at our new place, and I didn’t quite throw out all my greeting cards (things that make you smile are still worth keeping) but Mr. Wonderful did indeed get rid of his golf clubs. I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of us.

“Hey, I haven’t had these in awhile,” Mr. Wonderful said, pulling out the same tin of mints I almost threw out a decade ago. He popped one in his mouth.

“Still good.”

What are you holding onto that you should probably donate or throw away?