Busy Season - Monday

4:35am - My alarm goes off and I get out of bed. I am pretty tired. I didn't sleep too well last night. I think it is because of the anticipation/stress of the upcoming busy season. Despite being tired, it is time to head to the gym. I set out everything I need for the gym - my clothes, iPad, headphones, water bottle, and a banana the night before. That way I can get ready quickly and disturb Alison's sleep as little as possible. My goal is to be at the gym before 5am. Today I am right on schedule. I arrive around 4:50am. The biggest benefit to going to the gym this early is that it is not at all crowded. I get on a treadmill and run for 3.2 miles. I like to watch a movie while I run. Today I watched part of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. This was an easy run to get the week started. It took me about 40 minutes including some time to warm up and cool down.

5:50am - I am back at my apartment getting ready for the day. I shower and get dressed. Since today is a holiday for Alison she gets to sleep in a little bit. This also cuts down on my morning routine because I don't make her lunch. I eat some cereal for breakfast and I am ready to go.

6:30am - I am in my car and on the way to work. I recently signed up for Audible so I can listen to audiobooks during my commute. It has been great. I am currently listening to The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham. It is a really interesting book about value investing. Another benefit of leaving early to work is that traffic is usually really good. I think the Martin Luther King holiday helped as well because I-15 was not busy at all.

7:00am - I arrived at work. I park across the street from my client so I have about a 5-minute walk in the morning. This morning it was raining, but fortunately, I had an umbrella in my car so I didn't get too wet. When I arrive to work it is pretty dark. Fortunately for the busy season, we are in a room with lots of windows so I do get to see sunlight during the day. It is a pretty little thing, but it makes a big difference. I spend my morning on the computer. Since the busy season is just starting we have begun to get the trial balance and the first round of support. I spend a lot of the morning going through the support we received from the client and sending out more requests.

11:40am - After working through the morning it was time to grab some lunch. Today we had an unusually large team. The partner and a few other audit executives were on site for some meetings. We decided to head over to Maxwell's. It is an east coast eatery that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We had a large group, but they were able to seat us right away. However, the service today was slow, which ended up being problematic because a few members of our group had to get back for some meetings in the afternoon. I had a Chicken Parmigianino sandwich for lunch. It was pretty good, but probably not the healthiest option. It is always nice to take a break during the day to relax and take your mind off work. It helps really long days flow better.

12:50pm - After lunch, the day seemed to fly by. I continued to send out requests and worked on a few special projects for the seniors on my team. I spent a few hours sorting through invoices and reports. We wrapped up work by 7pm and walked out to our cars. On the way home I continued listening to my audiobook. Coming home later makes for a nice commute. I made it home in record time.

7:25pm - After I got home Alison and I warmed up dinner. Between school and work, Alison and I have become so busy that we make almost all of our meals in advance so that we can eat healthily and quickly. Tonight we had a Pizza Pasta Bake from Our Best Bites. It is one of our favorite freezer meal recipes. We ate and chatted before watching some Parks and Recreation relax. Then I set out my work clothes and gym clothes before getting into bed. We were ready to call it a night by 9:00pm.