Koffee Talk with Karlee: A day in the Life of a Food Blogger

Monday

7:30 –

Crap, I slept in. I spent the majority of the weekend walking over bridges and up hiking trails. And last night was spent making grandma’s Dutch apple pie while watching Riverdale. I have only blog groceries and so I post on Instagram about how terrible I am at meal prepping on Sundays, like the rest of the natural world is doing.

I shower and put on make-up for the first Monday in a while. My breakfast is a slice of buttermilk bread, toasted and slathered with a healthy helping of butter, black coffee on the side.

9:30 –

While waiting for a package to arrive at my doorstep, I realize that my car is bone dry and I need to get gas before heading to a shoot, for which I’m already running behind. So, the idea of grabbing a cup of Starbucks is squashed and I leave as soon as the package hits my fall doormat, lacking the extra bounce of a grande americano.

10:08 –

I arrive at the photoshoot in north Portland so that means I’ve spent 15 minutes driving in circles for the perfect parking spot. The next 5 hours consist of shooting stop-motions with my colleagues on a fun project for an Italian brand.

In between my responsibilities, I e-mail brands and sign a new contract for a brand with whom I’ve previously worked. I start brainstorming recipe ideas. I write a few people about my workshop this weekend and I send in a draft for a forthcoming sponsored post for approval.

We leave the shoot having finished half of the project and bellies full of Grand Central deli sandwiches. Mine was a turkey chutney with avocado. It was everything.

4:00 –

I run home to charge all the batteries real quick-like before getting back in the car with grandma’s Dutch apple pie, a small side table, a basket and my camera equipment. The drive to Sauvie Island always reminds me of my hometown of Corvallis. It’s golden and makes me miss the frangelica coffee from New Morning Bakery.

I arrive at the Apple Orchard and meet my friends for a collaborative shoot. Jen, the owner of the orchard, drives us around the trees and tells us all about the different varieties.

I try really hard not to gasp when I hear that they have “Hidden Rose.” I’ve been looking for these apples since 2015. I try to act cool, but I can’t and I proceed to talk about them the rest of the night and well into the golden hour as I shoot my Dutch apple pie under an apple tree and against the falling Oregon sun.

The whole drive home is painted in dusk and I thank God for all my blessings, for this job, for my friends and for this beautiful state.

Tuesday

6:00 –

After a quick shower and glow, I put on my favorite pair of jeans and a new shirt that was given to me by my friend. It has the three Sanderson sisters on it and reads “Squad.”

7:00 –

I sit down at my desk to write, e-mail, and I upload the photos I edited last night from the shoot at the apple orchard. I fit in some quick bookkeeping and reply to comments on the blog. Breakfast is just black coffee since I have absolutely no appetite.

9:00 –

I uber to Jacobsen Sea Salt to pick up goodies for my gift bags and flaked sea salt for the tables at my workshop this weekend. I stop myself from making any real purchases. It wasn’t easy, since there was a cherry smoked salt and honey that was calling my NAME and a few choice pork chops, I’m sure.

I uber again to North Portland to finish the stop-motion contract. By the day’s end, we have a quick October scheduling meeting since I’m helping my friend with her business, so she can leave to work/vacation in Europe. We talk about all the weekends and nights I’ll be working and I push down some major anxiety.

8:00 pm –

A major panic attack hits and I try my best to put everything in perspective, while doing some google-recommended breathing exercises. I am absolutely overbooked and fighting the invisible elephant that seems to be sitting on my chest. This is most definitely not the glamorous end of entrepreneurship. It’s not all cupcakes and pictures. It’s long hours, hard work, feast and famine.

11:00 pm –

I manage to come down long enough to put some blinders on and go to bed with a stress headache.

 Wednesday

7:00 –

A quick half shower and a throwing up the hair into a messy bun is all I need before I head downstairs for a cup of coffee and a quick house pick-up. I rearrange the kitchen so I can start the process of bulk baking 15 cakes for the workshop this weekend. I ruin the first batch. I make double batches in my large Kitchen Aid and try to resist licking the bowl after each group.

Between each round of cakes, I set up for the new one while watching Gilmore Girls and, as the cakes cool, I do some computer work. I turn down a job I previously committed to because I’m too overworked and I don’t have the time that I thought I would. I wrestled with it for a while because I hate disappointing people, but in the end, it lifted that elephant on my chest slightly.

I post on Instagram and I obsess over an editing issue on the photo.

2:15 –

The cakes are finished and the kitchen is cleaned. I finally unwrap the shipments for the week and get very excited for the upcoming shoots I’ve been planning.

3:00 –

I head upstairs to the prop room where I keep all my workshop equipment and organize it according to the event this weekend. I make notes of missing items that I need to pick up at the store while To All the Boys I Loved Before plays in the background.

4:40 –

I organize all the gift boxes for the workshop. They are too cute! I fill them with Rodelle vanilla, vanilla bean, cocoa powder and add in a box of Jacobsen Salted Caramels. I wrap the boxes in the most boujee velvet caramel colored ribbon and have a little squeal for their cuteness.

5:40 –

Daniel is home and we share a quick dinner before I wrap up the cakes and pile them up to be taken to the freezer in the garage. We grab the spider killer before we leave and go to war against a very large spider (named Aragog, I assume) that has taken our front door hostage. It doesn’t go down without a fight.

8:15 –

It’s scary movie night and we are just about sinking into the movie when I get a call from a PR company I work with that is helping with the event this weekend. Daniel and Ryan (our scary movie night friend) continue to watch the movie without me while I work upstairs for the next 20 minutes.

I finish the movie while working on the workshops schedule of play. And this night I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.

Thursday

6:30 –

I wake up, but instead of moving immediately, I catch up on Instagram while lying in bed. I’m showered and powdered by …

8:00 –

I grab my phone for a quick “Koffee Talk with Karlee” on Instagram to catch up with my people before I hit the ground running. I’ve got a lot to accomplish today so I bust out some e-mails, before I make cookies for a food photography deadline.

I make a list of things to do in the order that I need to do them.

There is an issue with a sponsored post that I turned in for a draft at the beginning of the week. I fix it and send it off again.

10:00 –

I try to shoot the cookies but the light isn’t cooperating. So I spend an hour flattening boxes, cleaning the kitchen and prepping dinner for that night. Before I finally execute the perfect light for a little creepy photoshoot with these cute little mummies for Sur La Table pictured below.

12:30 –

I have an orange for lunch but that doesn’t satisfy, so I make half of a grilled cheese sandwich on buttermilk bread. I’m frustrated that I feel like I’m not allowed to eat a whole sandwich at lunch and this thought tailspins me into thinking about performance eating. Can’t I just eat a sandwich?

1:00 –

I decide that the best way to spend the rest of the day is to snuggle up on the couch, put on a movie, edit and create the stop-motions that are due the next day.

6:00 –

Daniel rushes through the door and I need a major break from staring at my computer screen watching carrots dance all day. So, we head out for a walk and find ourselves in a few shops around St. Johns. I pick-up a cardamom-scented candle and then we head to the grocery store to pick up the last items for Saturday’s workshop.

9:00 –

After putting away all the groceries, I make a cup of chamomile tea, grab my laptop and head upstairs to work from bed and make the finishing touches on the stop-motion project.

Friday

7:00 –

It’s the day before my cake workshop, the sun is peeking through the bedroom blinds and I anxiously jump out of bed to put all of the last details together. I quickly eat a Greek yogurt and wash it down with hot coffee before I grab my keys and head out the door.

10:00 –

I drive through 23^rd street on my way to a Zupan’s. A florist there helps me put together two bouquets. We decide on hydrangeas, mini roses, rose hips and some small lavender flowers and this and that. She went to college in my hometown and we talk about the things we miss about that little, quiet place. I get in the car and an e-mail pops up on my phone revealing to me that I’m not right for a brand that I want to work with.

But, by the time I drive home I’ve been accepted for another campaign that I was really hoping for. And just like that, I’m back in the game.

12:00

I’m starving and the only thing that sounds good is an apple and crackers. As an added bonus, it’s a great food to munch on while I finish the photo edits that are due to a client today. I count the quantities of all the things needed for the workshop for the umpteenth time. It’s a ritual that, without it, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

3:00 –

I organize the kitchen, getting it ready to make a very large amount of vanilla bean frosting, when I get two text messages. One from my mom saying she’s on her way and another from a client who is having issues viewing an asset I sent over. I spend the next two hours trying to resolve the issue and, when I do, I throw my hands in the air and high-five my mom, who has arrived by that time.

6:30 –

I’m a third of the way through making the frosting, and gabbing with my mom, when Daniel walks in with mac & cheese from Elephant’s Delicatessen. I scarf it down as if it has legs and is about to leave me.

9:30 –

I’ve just cleaned up from the last batch of frosting. My mom and I split a crème brulee and sit on the couch to watch a movie, paint our nails, and finish up some last-minute details, like making signs and creating the playlist. I settle on my fall favorites: a mix of Louis Armstrong, Marion Harris, and a few Parisian-inspired film scores.

Saturday

8:00 –

My mom and I walk to get coffee, while Daniel grabs some fresh bagels from Bernsteins. We load up the car and hit the road.

11:30 –

The workshop is set up and ready! I have time to take all the needed pictures and sit down with my helpers to talk about the schedule of play.

1:00 – 3:00

We cake.

5:00 –

Daniel and I eat pizza with our friends. I play fun games with their little girls, while I calm down from the full day/week behind me. When I get home, I see a clean house, Blue Star donuts on the coffee table and Sleepy Hollow (the Tim Burton version) is queued up and ready to be played.

9:15 –

I fall asleep while Ichabod Crane accuses Katrina Van Tassel of calling upon the Headless Horseman.

Sunday

8:30 –

I slept for 11 hours. What in the literal world!?! I swiftly run downstairs to put on a pot of coffee and sit on the couch with Daniel, wholly and completely rested. I start to clean up and re-organize the workshop supplies and put the Olive and Artisan aprons in the wash before I move onto another impending deadline.

11:30 –

I make a batch of already-tested mini pecan pies and prepare for their close-up. I run upstairs to my prop-room and pick out the props, decide on the backdrops and styling. These photo shoots are always a long process so I boil down some apples, oranges and cinnamon sticks to give the house a fall aroma and listen to the workshop playlist.

5:00 –

I download the photos to my computer for post-processing while I clean up the kitchen and shooting area. Daniel leaves for a Blazer game. I burn my new cardamom candle and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind plays, while I edit photos from the workshop and the mini pies shoot. The sun sets slowly through the trees outside my window and I welcome another week, living this crazy food blogging/entrepreneur life.