{best} Case of the Mondays: Elizabeth Anne Russell

We all know Mondays suck. 

Each week, I will feature a Monday in the life of someone who can provide some comfort/humor/ inspiration to the start of your week. 

This week. Meet Elizabeth Anne Russell. 

She's a Manager at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. And also a grad student pursuing her MBA. And active in the community. And a wife. and a friend. Dang girl, how do you get it all done!? 

One word to describe Mondays to you? Pivotal. A well organized, healthy Monday is the recipe for a successful week. 

5:45am Alarm goes off and I have 15 minutes to pull myself out of bed and throw on workout clothes.

6-6:45am Our trainer Jeff Garner shows up at the door. My husband Drew and I are in the Professional MBA Program at Queens University, and we were finding it difficult to find time to make it to the gym after a long day at work between homework and class. We decided to give personal training a shot, and were very lucky to find someone that would train at our house. We meet with Jeff twice a week in the morning for pretty hard core (or hard core to me) interval training. Also, it's pretty fun to workout with Drew in the morning.

6:45am Green smoothies and Coffee.  Drew and I divide and conquer breakfast, and this is probably the best part of the morning yet. Drew is the master coffee maker - usually fresh pressed coffee with cinnamon, stevia and almond milk. I make smoothies with spinach, berries, frozen bananas, protein powder, green superfood, chia seeds, a little ice and almond milk. They are so so so good. 

7:00am Devotional. On this day, I only had time to read a short devotional from Jesus Calling. Psalm 143:8. Prayer with Drew. Prayed for our week ahead and for protection and guidance for our family. God, show us what to do now and next. 

7:15am Shower and get ready for the day with the Today show on in the background. 

8:00am Commute to work and call my grandmother, GG. I love calling my grandmother every morning on my way to work. She lives in the mountains and is an absolute firecracker. I'd be lucky to have half the energy (and sass) she has when I'm her age. 

8:15 - 9:00am -  Prioritize my To Do List and Work Plan for the week | I feel incredibly blessed to be on a local Charlotte project. In the consulting world is is highly unusual to not be on the road 4 days a week, and I do not take a day for granted here. 

9-11:30am: Back to back Meetings Development Status meeting, Core Team Meeting, Testing Team Meeting and Leadership Meeting. The mornings or typically slammed with meetings as we get the team aligned with our project objectives and status for the week. 

11:30am - 5:30pm More meetings throughout the day: Testing meeting with the client, testing status meetings, Pre-Triage Meetings and Triage meetings to review defects found throughout the day. A co-worker drops off a salad for lunch! 

5:30pm It's finally time to work on deliverables and pull out the growing to do list. I answer ~40 emails and pull out the BRD (Business Requirements Document) for revisions

6:30pm Update the BRD and send out our daily testing status report to the client

8:00 Drive to Ru-Ru's to meet our Life Group for dinner. Drew and I are very blessed to lead a group of married couples in a Bible Study once a week. Since we are in between studies, this week we are meeting for dinner on Monday night instead.

9:30pm Homework time at the Russell Residence. I work on a case study for my Wednesday night Creative Connections MBA class, and talk through my final project

10:30 - 11:30pm Prep for Tuesday. The key to our crazy busy schedule is organization. I pack lunch, layout Tuesday's work outfit, return a few work emails, and get ready for bed. If I can keep my eyes open, I read for a little before turning out the lights. 

Want more {best} Case of the Mondays Series? Meet Emily. And Me.