In photos: One day in Amsterdam (June 2014)

Over a year ago I shared this post of photos documenting a single day in my life while we were living in Brighton and I worked on the same sort of thing I'm working on now (client work, my blog, my books).

Here's what a day in my little life looks like now.

I woke early. I had a lot of work to finish today as I had friends coming to stay. I also have a new diary that I need to fill up with work trips, festivals, and time away with friends, so I did a bit of scheduling too. Even so, I still read a few pages of my book while I ate breakfast. This is a new habit I'm trying to introduce into my daily routine so I don't rush straight into my working day. It also means I read a little bit every day which is important for my reading challenge (which was pathetic last month). I'm currently reading a collection of short stories by Daphne du Maurier. They're really good. Then I went to Albert Cuyp Market which is very close to where I live. I bought some plants, flowers and fresh veggies. I managed to do half the ordering in Dutch!

I came home and potted the plants. I've been feeling a bit green fingered recently albeit in the most amateur way. If you have any tips for really-hard-to-kill house plants I'd love to hear them! I had a quick lunch (so quick I forgot to photograph it) and then went for a quick bike ride with NewMan. I try to do some kind of exercise every day but thanks to aching muscles from a boxing bootcamp in Beatrixpark the night before, I couldn't face running so a cycle it was! Back home, I then sat down at my desk and did my best to finish the rest of the work I had to do. In recent months I've tried to separate my month into two weeks of client work and two weeks of working on my blog and books. It doesn't always work out so clean cut (and travel doesn't help, in the best way possible!) but it's nice to have the flexibility so I can organise my time as I want to and I definitely benefit from having longer amounts of time to focus on my book.

On this day I was actually finishing the bulk of my client work as well as doing some planning work for Must Love Festivals . I had some company while I worked. When we moved to Amsterdam it was something of a priority for me to have a desk and a better work set up as I was increasingly suffering from back pain. So, if you're interested, here's a bit more about my work set up as displayed in this photo because it was very easy and affordable to achieve! The desk is an Ikea bargain; I think it was about €16.00 for the legs and top! My laptop is an Asus Zenbook and it has proved to be one of the best investments I've ever made as it's very light and about ten times as quick as my old Macbook. It also happened to be a fraction of the price of a Macbook Air, which would have been my laptop of choice if money was no obstacle. That said, it's been a surprisingly smooth transition to go back to a PC. I also have an Acer monitor and I bought a cheap Logitech keyboard and mouse (total for all three was around €130.00). I can't stress enough how much of a difference it makes to work at a desk with a monitor compared with bending over my laptop while sitting on the sofa or on a hotel room bed.

Some days it's too easy to work through until the evening but one advantage of having guests is I have to stop so I can clean the house and make the spare room ready for my friends arrival from London. Once they'd arrived we drank prosecco on the terrace before heading out for quick drinks in a local bar - surrounded by orange flags, of course - and dinner at one of my favourite Amsterdam restaurants, Pekelhaaring . What does a day in your life look like? Post a link to a post you've done which is similar to this.

Frances M. Thompson

Londoner turned wanderer, Frankie is an author, freelance writer and blogger. Currently based in Amsterdam, Frankie was nomadic for two years before starting a family with her Australian partner. Frankie is the author of three short story collections, and is a freelance writer for travel and creative brands. In 2017, she launched WriteNOW Cards, affirmation cards for writers that help build a productive and positive writing practice. When not writing contemporary fiction, Frankie shops for vintage clothes, dances to 70s disco music and chases her two young sons around Amsterdam.
Find Frankie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+.

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