Planner

Day 6, Monday: If you couldn't answer with your job, how would you answer the question, 'what do you do'?

I plan. I've always been a planner. I just can't help myself. It makes my world seem calm when things are scheduled, coordinated, and organized. I consistently manage about four different calendars and I love the sense of control this gives me. I have my work calendar for the nine-to-five stuff, my personal Google calendar which Stew and I both access, my family Google calendar which is shared for our whole family, and Stew's shift calendar so I can coordinate everything according to when he's going to be working. And somehow I am able to integrate them all seamlessly.

I generally have us booked out about six months in advance. This was the case even before I had to work within the constraints of a fire fighter's schedule. My life has always been busy, but once Stew and I combined our lives (twice the amount of friends and family!) things really got crazy. However, I thrive on the type of planning and organizational skills this requires.

When Stew got his 2013 schedule back in November, we sat down with our calendars and planned out each and every one of our summer vacations, making sure we spent equal time with both of our families and tons of our friends. It's like this all year long... We plan out holidays, birthdays, camping trips, lake house vacations, weddings, ski trips, baby showers, bachelor parties, concerts, football games... you name it, it's probably on our calendar. And that's just the weekends. During the week, we fit in happy hours, breakfast clubs, shows, concerts, book clubs... and of course the basics, like grocery shopping and the gym.

I do try not to overbook us, but it honestly seems inevitable. We just like to do a lot of stuff, with a lot of different people. And having it all planned out makes me feel in control. I'm definitely not a huge fan of spontaneity. I thrive on both long and short term planning. I love making lists and then checking things off those lists. We're always looking forward to the next adventure, and life is definitely never boring... because I've got it all planned out.