How It Started
Hi, I’m Leah. I built Adulting Architect because nobody handed me the plans either.
Of all the overwhelming seasons, one stands out: my spouse and I were raising our kids, and our son woke me up three times a night from the time he was a newborn until he started kindergarten. On top of that, I had a three-hour daily commute, a demanding full-time job, and a full-time bachelor's degree program, all at the same time.
And another, a few years later: caring full-time for my mom as she recovered from a hip fracture and a stroke, with dialysis three times a week and help with her daily care, all while keeping up with my son’s baseball schedule and attending graduate law school.
Each time, motivation wasn’t what got me through. Systems were: simple routines, written-down plans, and a way to decide what mattered today (not to mention my Virgo ways). I’ve also spent more than 20 years in contracts management, where the job is turning complicated, high-stakes work into checklists and processes that hold up under pressure.
One day my daughter joked that adulting was too much and she wanted to return it. We both laughed, and that’s when it clicked: the hard seasons don’t come with a return policy, but they’re a lot easier to get through when you can laugh along the way.
So I built Adulting Architect: free checklists for the stuff adulthood never came with instructions for, plus merch for the thoughts every adult has had at least once before 9 a.m., like objecting to the entire day before it’s even started, or wanting to circle back to bed. Because some days you need a plan, and some days you just need a good laugh at 40% capacity.
Adulthood is always a work in progress. Draft, revise, and keep going.
Thank you for supporting a woman-owned small business.
— Leah
Come say hi on Instagram: @adultingarchitect