RACHEL'S STORY...

When I was born, my mom made me a quilt. Let's rephrase. When I was born, my mom started to make me a quilt. And she finished on the day I left for college. Now my mom is one of those has-it-all-together women, so this procrastination was a freak occurence for her. But rather than learn her all-togetherness, procrastination was the skill I decided to take.

But I recently became a wife. And let's face it, it's strange to label myself as that because besides loving my husband, I don't really act as such. But I'd like to.

The other day, my husband (who I have lived with for over a year) said to me, "we don't have an ironing board, do we?" Embarrassingly, the answer is yes, we do. I've just never used it. Sidenote: what we don't have is a vacuum. This brings me to my next thought. Since I've become a wife, I feel way less wifey than ever before. And I don't like that. There's something about this rite of passage that makes me want to denounce my modern ways and embrace old school wifehood. But how to find the time?

Marriage for me coincided with my first ever full time job (at the ripe old age of thirty). So all of a sudden I find myself with no time to do anything. Or maybe I'm spending all my free time complaining about having no time, therefore encroaching on the free time I actually do have. Which leads me to the conclusion that it's simply not possible to do it all... and I call bullshit on anyone who claims they can. And I believed that until I had drinks with my agent.

My agent, is a hip, cool, stylish, successful businesswoman, wife and mother of two. MOTHER OF TWO. And somehow she finds the time to get her kids ready for school, workout for an hour while reading scripts, work all day, spend time with her kids after work, make a gourmet meal for she and her husband, have drinks with ME, and still actually sleep. On a daily basis. I'm not sure if I can squeeze all of this in on a weekly basis. All I manage to do on this list is ... none of it. Just kidding, I totally microwave Trader Joe's frozen food.

So I think it's time to embrace this wife/adult thing and actually act like one. And now, not 18 years after I start.

AUDREY'S STORY ...

Before you get all "how dare you want to be a housewife" on us, let's get this out of the way: we have jobs. We love our careers. And that's kind of the problem ... how the hell do you do all the stuff that you're supposed to as a woman/wife/girlfriend/person while still doing your full time job that leaves you tired at night? Or are we the only ones who just don't get it?

Let's rewind 12 hours:

My boyfriend and I went to dinner last night with a recently engaged couple. Half way through the wife-to-be telling me about her day, I started to shrink in my chair. If the wine hadn't been $14 a glass, I would have ordered two more glasses to chug.

Here's my typical day:

- wake up. Complain .

- try to work out. This in itself felt like an accomplishment. Boyfriend and I make it to the gym by 8 which for us is a huge deal. I last 20 minutes on the treadmill.

- go to work

- lunch break aka gossip time

- come home and take dog out for short walk. Ooops, forgot to buy him food. I can do that tomorrow, right?

- go on the internet and look at dumb blogs that serve no purpose (or do they?)

- decide to go out to dinner because we haven't grocery shopped and we're too lazy to figure it out.

- sleep

Here was her typical day:

- wake up

- prep dinner for she and her and fiance (this is where I start sweating ...)

- go to work

- go to gym at lunch break and get work done while on treadmill for the whole hour

- come home and make beautiful, mouth watering dinner that she had prepped that morning

- serve fiance cheese while cooking

- watch a TV show and discuss

- sign up for a class to better herself

- peacefully go to sleep

Where did I go wrong? I have a very capable role model of a mother who managed to work, raise 5 kids, feed us, seem like she was around a lot, keep the house clean ... I guess I just didn't pick up anything from her?

So that's it - I must figure it out. I must figure out how to do all of this stuff and still have time to decompress in a calming yoga class. You know, because I don't break a sweat - it's just sooooo easy for me. (a girl can dream.)

Plus, I want to be a woman you want as a wife. There, I said it.