No one ever won an award for being busy.
My day-to-day is always really varied because I have a few different 'things' I do for work and I feel very lucky that my 'busy' is made up of all the stuff and people I love.
I'm at Mamamia part-time, hosting the podcasts 'Nothing To Wear' and 'You Beauty'. I'm also the co-founder of a pregnancy and postpartum skincare brand, Brillo Beauty.
Outside of what I get paid to do, I have a little boy who started kindergarten this year. My husband works for an interstate company so travels a fair bit and my beautiful mum has been dealing with some health issues of late.
So, while I really don't like the term 'juggle' it sometimes feels like my various balls are in the air and I have to try and catch them all with precision timing — or at least know which ones are glass and which are plastic (aka what can be moved down the to-do list).
One of the very cool things I get to do as part of my role at Mamamia is test-drive cars. I put them through their paces not on a race track but as a mother and woman who requires a vehicle that can make my life easier regardless of which hat I'm wearing that day.
Image: Supplied.
Recently, I had the chance to drive the GMC Yukon Denali — a premium SUV that's new to Australia — for a week. It's the kind of car you'd usually associate with long road trips or towing something massive (it has best-in-class 3,628kg braked towing capacity) but I wanted to see how it fared in the everyday: navigating narrow inner-city streets, juggling kindy drop-offs and running a household on the go.
Spoiler alert: despite its size, it handled beautifully. The lane assist and 360-degree camera made it surprisingly easy to drive and park — even in Sydney's more chaotic spots.
To really put it to the test, here's what a day in the life looked like for me.
My five-year-old wakes me up with a dramatic claim that he "broke his leg in his sleep" and definitely can't go to school. Translation: "I just want to hang out with you, Mummy." After our morning cuddles (he sneaks into our bed most nights) we head downstairs and start the day.
I check our shared Notes app — my husband and I log everything from appointments to photos of our son's lunchboxes so we know what foods are currently not "disgusting". He's very specific.
Breakfast for the child, the cats and me (protein smoothie). We order our staples like cereal, cat food, toilet paper, etc. from Amazon, which is set up as a subscription so they're delivered every six weeks. It's a game changer — I love anything that helps automate our life with a set-and-forget option.
I double-check the calendar — our work schedules are synced so we can coordinate things like vet appointments. Today the cats are due for their vaccinations, so I drag out the carriers and they disappear immediately. Typical.
Image: Supplied.
Everyone's packed and dressed (more or less) and I've got my oversized tote with everything I'll need until dinner time. School bag? Check. Cats in carriers? Check. Showered and vaguely presentable? Sort of.
My son's beyond excited to hop into the GMC Yukon, which he calls "the coolest car ever".
To be fair, the red-carpet-style retractable step that appears when you open the door is objectively cool, especially if you're five. Inside, there's a screen in the back — basically in-flight entertainment — which he insists the cats need so "they don't get scared at the vet".
The GMC Yukon's interior is massive, with multiple configurations depending on your setup. School bags, cats, podcast gear, product boxes — it all fits with room to spare.
I pull into the Brillo Beauty office car park and take a second to pat myself on the back for getting everyone where they needed to be on time. The cats are at the vet and my child is (finally) in his classroom after begging me to stay at drop-off for longer.
I listen to the end of a podcast for five minutes of peace before heading into the day's next thing.
An hour of power in the warehouse and the team and I have perfectly packed a heap of influencer gifting boxes we're providing for an event collaboration as well as some product packs we're donating for a charity auction.
We use the workflow app Trello to keep track of various tasks for the business — I don't think we could live without it.
The gifting boxes look beautiful but definitely can't be squashed — so I fold the car's back seats down and carefully load them in.
From there I'm off to the Mamamia office to record two podcast episodes.
My sister calls and asks if I have capacity to take Mum to her specialist appointment that afternoon. Mum currently requires a wheelchair and portable oxygen machine when she leaves the house, which, as you can imagine, are both quite cumbersome.
I have a virtual meeting scheduled for the afternoon but I can easily take that call in the car.
One of the best things about driving the GMC Yukon has been how easy it makes multitasking — it has Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, wireless charging and a premium Bose sound system with 22 speakers. Whether I'm taking a work call, listening to a podcast or letting my son DJ from the back seat, everything just works.
A productive meeting happens while I'm on the road, all hands-free, and my darling mum — along with her medical paraphernalia — is in and out several times, from her home to the doctor's and back again. I'm feeling very smug and accomplished.
Back to school for pickup. My son's pleased he didn't have to get a needle today and we head to the airport to collect my husband.
Everyone's home: cats, kid, craft projects, carry-on bags, snacks and my Mary Poppins tote.
I'll spare you the chaos of dinner refusal (cats), bedtime antics (child) and inbox catch-ups (parents). But I'll say this: that car made everything smoother. More manageable. Even fun.
At the end of the day, I climb into bed dreaming of heated massage seats and wondering if I can squeeze in a five-minute nap in the car tomorrow. Just to try it. For research. Obviously.
Book a test drive of the GMC Yukon Denali online or visit your nearest showroom.
Feature Image: Supplied.
