A day in the life of ... Latoya Meuris
Ina
So, so you guys want to know about my life?
Then come with me!
My treasures
With two still fairly young cats, I rarely need to set my alarm clock. I usually wake up with Daigho somewhere against my legs and Ghibli on top of me. They know I'm the one who always feeds them in the morning, so yes....
On November 8, 2020, they will celebrate their second birthday. In any case, it's never boring with our darlings 😊
I think I'm a pretty healthy sleeper: I don't go to bed too late and am always up before eight. Of course, the first thing I do in the morning is feed the cats. Then I log on to my work's intranet. I work as an English and German translator for a German translation agency. Before that, in my first year I had to go back and forth between Rijswijk and Utrecht by train every working day, which were pretty long days.
But I have actually been working from home for over three years. Once a month I go to the office in Utrecht, to my two colleagues at that branch. I often hear people say they can't work from home, but that doesn't apply to me. I enjoy seeing my colleagues every now and then, but I also enjoy working at home.
I usually don't start working right away, even if I'm already logged in. I often check for urgent emails or translations and then I have breakfast first, often with an episode of one thing or another on Netflix or my own series on DVD. My breakfast is usually a smoothie of Greek yogurt, unsweetened almond milk and frozen banana. I have trouble eating breakfast in the morning so this is ideal for me.
I work either in my study with a computer and two monitors (very handy when I have to translate texts from a PDF, for example) or downstairs with a laptop. I have the right equipment for this, such as a laptop support, so that I can work as ergonomically as possible. Most of the translations I receive have to be done with different translation programs. I have a degree in translation and have actually been in translation and word processing since I graduated. I love the work and because the translations are also often very diverse, it rarely gets boring. From recipes to complicated technical manuals. The only thing I never actually do is legal translation. More than once there is a cat with me when I'm at work....
The amount of translation work varies from day to day. I may spend ten hours in a day finishing a particular assignment, or I may have a day with nothing to do. Then those are often the days when I do a lot of writing in between. Or reading. To be honest, I prefer to be busy, but it can be very welcome when I don't have any assignments and I'm in the middle of a story and want to use my inspiration.
Sometime between breakfast or lunch I often go for a run or just a half-hour walk, if work and weather permit. This is very important when you work from home and also have a sedentary job. Just a breath of fresh air and some exercise. My cats also often provide distractions. Ghibli in particular is someone who demands attention. She does this, for example, by bringing one of her favorite toys - a simple wide hair elastic - to me. That is then my clue that I should throw that so she can chase it and bring it back. Daigho has his own playtime and sometimes acts so crazy that we are all in tears.
My husband André works irregular hours. If he has an early shift, he is often home by 3:30 in the afternoon. That is usually the time I also stop working, depending on my starting time. Precisely thanks to my working from home and his irregular working hours, we can often go out for sports during the day. I personally really like that, because in the evening it is often much too busy. We do fitness together - the Milon circle - and tennis. In addition, there is always badminton on Monday and Friday evenings, which we also try to go to as much as possible. We find sports not only important for health and to keep fit, but also very fun, especially tennis and badminton.
If André is just home in the evening, we have a nice dinner together with an episode of Star Trek, or Masterchef Australia or My Kitchen Rules, whatever we just recorded and follow. Yes, we are both Trekkies and proud of it 😛 I love cooking very much. For me that's mostly low-carb (fish, meat, cauliflower or broccoli rice, fresh vegetables), except on days when I exercise intensely, then I make "regular" meals for both of us. We always try to live as healthy as possible.
Our evenings are often very quiet. Sometimes we meet up with friends for a coffee and when we are just at home, we play a board or computer game, read a book or do Diamondpainting. When I'm writing a new book or have gotten editing work from my publisher, I'm often upstairs in my study working. But I have many other hobbies. I love to draw and paint, mostly Japanese anime. I also play guitar, ukulele and keyboard, and sing incredibly.
We are real nature lovers and have been on many beautiful vacations. We have been to New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, Canada and America. Always where there is a lot of nature and we can enjoy hiking and seeing animals. For those who didn't know yet: Ireland plays a big role in my book "Broken Breath." Here is a picture of the cemetery described in the book and of The Beacon in Baltimore. 😊
Author: Latoya Meuris