Mornings are a bit of an adventure these days. During the week, Kendrick usually spends the night in Connecticut or leaves while it’s still dark out to make it to his first class, so when the kids wake up (simultaneously, just to maximize the chances that both will require help with ten thousand things at the exact same moment), I’m on my own. Waffles and juice and what-are-we-going-to-wear-today and spit-up on the comforter and diaper changes and dogs that need to go out immediately, please. It’s all very exciting.

Now, coffee is non-optional, but all of my other basic needs – brushing teeth, breakfast, pants that are not of the pajama persuasion – generally need to wait until things calm down and my daughter takes her first nap, sometime around ten. Makeup? I don’t think so. I’m lucky if I even see a mirror before I leave the house for my first excursion of the day.

But here’s the problem: I don’t have time to care what I look like in the mornings…but I still sort of…do. And what I’ve found is that the best way to allow myself to get out of the house makeup-free but still feeling confident enough to face the world is to put in a little extra effort the night before, so that I wake up looking (at least somewhat) refreshed.