Mum vs Life: Sally Obermeder "Sometimes when I am home I switch off totally"

Welcome to the summer series of Mum vs Life. Each week we’ll bring you our favourite celebrity mum who will take us through their day. This week we feature writer and TV host Sally Obermeder who gives new meaning to the word BUSY.

SALLY OBERMEDER

WAKE UP

I generally get up around 6.30 or 7 with Annabelle. Saturday and Sunday I alternate a sleep in with my husband Marcus. One of us sleeps in while the other gets up for Annabelle. I generally prefer a Sunday sleep in because even though I’m exhausted by the time Saturday rolls around, I prefer to have a Saturday afternoon nap. I kind of feel like this way I get an extra sleep both days! Cheeky I know but Marcus prefers it… I swear!

ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON?

I’m definitely a morning person. I wake up smiling and talking the second I open my eyes. Annabelle is the same. Marcus is the opposite.  If I don’t work out early then generally speaking I don’t do it at all. Even if I’m dead tired, I’m usually ok with half an hour. A cuddle and a coffee usually do the trick.

I am ashamed to admit before I’ve even rolled out of bed I check emails. It’s a habit that’s been engrained in my after five years in daily current affairs TV. After that, it’s exercise gear on and straight for the Nespresso if I’m working out. Otherwise it’s straight into Annabelle’s room to watch her while she sleeps for the last few minutes. It always makes me smile.

PJ’S OR T-SHIRT?

Hehehe what a cool question. It varies widely. When I can’t be bothered a singlet and hipster briefs or in winter my ten year old Abercrombie & Fitch trakkie daks. When I’m feeling motivated to make an effort I choose silk or lace.

BREAKFAST

I find that If I skip breakfast I end up eating substantially more through the day and by dinner it’s an all-out blowout. Eating breakfast keeps my sugar levels and appetite on an even keel.

I’ve recently turned to green smoothies for breakfast and I’ve found that they’ve had a huge impact on my health. I have a Vitamix and so I make a smoothie filled with loads of veges for breakfast. Typically it would be something like broccoli, celery, kale, baby spinach, kiwi, banana and orange. I would then add Vital Greens powder, flaxseed, black and white chia seeds and a scoop of kefir. Since doing this my skin looks better, I’ve lost weight and I have more energy. I put it down to all the vitamins and minerals I’m getting. There’s no way I could eat that amount of veges every day so this is an excellent way to sneak them in and it allows me to maintain an alkaline diet which is a healthy way to live.

HOW ARE WEEKENDS DIFFERENT?

I still do the green smoothie but typically it’s as a snack and instead I like to go out for breakfast. Sonoma sourdough with avocado, tomato, smoked trout or smoked salmon and poached eggs. Sometimes on a lazy Sunday I’ll do a croissant with cream cheese and cured trout … or if I’m feeling decadent then just a croissant with loads of butter and a smidge of jam. I love butter, and I’m generous with it!

BATH vs SHOWER

A shower at night and it’s luxurious. I like a super-hot shower and I have about a thousand different products I like to use.

The shower is my down time. Sad but true.

GETTING DRESSED

I decide what to wear based on my mood and what I’ve got on that day.

I like the process. It’s all about how I feel – sometimes I start with the shoes, other days it might be all about the dress. No matter what though I hate to leave the house feeling less than fab. When it happens I end up hating on my outfit all day and wishing I’d worn something else.

The closest I come to a “uniform: is my tendency to wear dresses. If I can’t think about what to wear then I opt for a dress. It removes that whole “does this go with that” stress. Dress + awesome heels = instant killer outfit.  I actually dress very similarly at home and at play. When friends drop in unannounced they sometimes ask “are you about to head out” and I laugh. It’s because I look like I should be going out. For many many years I saved all my special clothes for a special occasion. And then no matter what occasion I had, I would decide it was never special enough. Then inevitably the trend would come and go and my clothing would still be sitting there hanging in my wardrobe with the tags left on waiting for something “special”. I decided long ago to stop doing that. Sometimes just being alive is special enough.

WORK

For my Channel Seven job (co-host of The Daily Edition) I leave for work at around 10.30am and I  arrive at the Channel Seven studio at around 11am for hair and makeup. On Monday and Thursday’s I also work at my other business – running my blog swiish.com.au  So on those days I generally do 3 hours work before I go to the Seven studio and then five or six hours work afterwards. I try to keep to this routine so that on the other days Annabelle has my undivided attention.

I’m co-hosting The Daily Edition which is an afternoon news and lifestyle show. We cover the latest in global and local news, as well as issues of the day. There’s also health, wealth, fashion, beauty, celebrity  and showbiz thrown in . It’s a new job and I’m so thrilled to be part of such a fantastic team and we’re having a lot of fun making this show, which is everything you could ever ask for.

I’m also an ambassador for a few different brands, so that means attending events or doing various publicity commitments. I also go to events for work after hours, but I generally limit this to a maximum of once a week because I hate missing Annabelle’s dinner, bath, book, bed routine. It’s our special quite time at the end of the night to cuddle and connect.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT WORK?

I love the creativity, and excitement of my job. I also like having somewhere to channel my passion and energy that is separate to my home life, separate to me being a mum and wife. I was a late starter in TV (30) and I worked for many years for free doing work experience and studying. From there I worked at Sydney Weekender as a travel reporter  and then I went to Today Tonight and became the National Entertainment & Lifestyle Reporter. I worked there for five years interviewing Hollywood celebs covering all the fashion, beauty and lifestyle stories. The Daily Edition launched in mid-June and I’m co-hosting alongside Kris Smith and we’re joined by Tom Williams and Monique Wright.

Sometimes when I am home I switch off totally – other times I find it close to impossible. I find that it depends greatly on how organised I am. I operate the best when I am on top of my emails and have a clear to do list. I live for good organisation.

Our Swiish office is full of females and it’s got that air of buzzy business. The team are generally quite workers except my sister Maha, who I launched Swiish with. We both have the same genetic habit of talking to ourselves as we type, think, and read which is annoying for everyone else!

FOOD AT WORK

80% of the time I buy my lunch. It can be anything from Mexican to Lebanese to Italian to Japanese or sometimes a hot chicken roll with gravy. Like getting dressed in the morning it’s all about how I feel. Life is too short to eat stuff you don’t want to eat.

I drink three coffees a day. I love coffee and wake up thinking about it. After my green smoothie in the morning I have a skinny macchiato and then I have a long black. At around 3pm I have a weak skim cappuccino. I generally drink herbal teas at home after dinner.

EXERCISE

Exercise plays a big part in my life and it always has. I do tend to have an all or nothing personality so since recovering from cancer I’ve tried to change my goals and just make it more moderate and more regular, because

I find consistency with exercise the hardest thing. I am a morning exerciser so I like to do it first thing and get it done and out of the way.

CHILDREN AND WORK

Annabelle is still too young to understand what I do but I hope that she finds a passion that is truly hers and follows it. I want to guide her and help her without imposing my own preconceptions onto her. It’s a tough balancing act as a parent, but I want her to find her own path … and not be broke in the process!

EVENINGS

We eat in most nights unless we’re having dinner with friends. Annabelle has dinner at around 5-5.30pm and Marcus and I have dinner together once she’s gone to bed at 7-7.30pm. Annabelle is still young so she gets her own dinner but I’m looking forward to her eating with us.

I end my day with my favourite person, Marcus. Talking, watching TV and reading and talking some more. Usually we have to force ourselves to go to bed on time because we’re tempted to stay up and talk and hang out. So we try to stick to a 10-10.30pm bedtime so we don’t get too tired, me especially.

HELP

My mum and dad are awesome and they look after Annabelle while I’m shooting the show, three days a week. I have a babysitter who looks after her while I’m filming on the other two days.

I feel bad sometimes and I wish I could take her to work with me and keep her under the desk, nice and close to me, but that’s not happening so I’ve tried as best as possible to accept that I’m doing the best I can for her, for me and for our family as a whole.

Marcus and I have also learnt to work well as a team to make sure we each get enough down time, and so one of us will spend some solo time with Annabelle while the other catches up with mates or has a manicure (yes that one’s me, not Marcus).

BEDTIME

I’m asleep within seconds unless something is really troubling me. If it is then I need to talk it through with marcus otherwise I cant sleep. I get about 6 to 7 hours but I’d prefer 8 to 9. A Saturday afternoon nap is something I try to always do, but often the lure of a good book or a pile of trashy magazines is too irresistible. I should love to do more often.

TIME MANAGEMENT

I like to cook in batches if I can and freeze meals. That’s a huge time saver. The slow cooker in winter is also a godsend, because you throw it all in and come home and it’s done. Plus it makes great leftovers. I also do meal swaps with my sister, so if she makes a big batch of soup and I do a big patch of prawn curry then we split it and swap. Two meals – one lot of cooking and cleaning.

I also freeze all my vegetable and label them in zip lock bags so that I can make smoothies quickly in the morning. There’s no fussing that way and also no wastage. Before I started this system I was forever throwing away fruit and veges that had gone off before we had a chance to eat them.