6:40 A.M. I rely on my kids to get themselves out of bed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work, so I’m usually up early to get them going. One of the first things I do is get the coffee brewing on my Elektra machine, which was my 35th-birthday present to myself. It cost as much as my first car in college—a 10-year-old Volkswagen Jetta. But the enjoyment we get out of this machine, the number of friends we’ve kept because of it? I like to say that it inspired [husband] Jerry’s show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. We use Black Cat espresso by Intelligentsia. For breakfast, egg tacos with tons of salsa and cheese are a big hit in our house. I’ve been getting rid of sugar because my husband saw a documentary about the dangers of it. I’m trying to walk the walk and help our kids be better at making choices, which is impossible in this day and age.
8:00 A.M. After the kids are on their school buses, I do some form of exercise. I have so many injuries, I’m pretty much an orthopedic nightmare. I work with AJ Fisher of Corectology, who is really patient and intelligent about how not to get hurt. Otherwise I go to a yoga class. I should get into water aerobics. My sister has taught it for years and years. It’s how they train racehorses, and I want to be a racehorse. But I certainly have those moments where I want to give up exercising, stop worrying about what I eat, and just get really fat. I waffle a lot on the superficial things. Basically I wish we could all just agree to eat pasta every night.
9:00 A.M. I have an addiction to Net-a-Porter. I call it my “breaking news.” Most days I’ll read The New York Times app or articles on the Skimm so I know a little bit about what’s happening in the world without going down the rabbit hole. But on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have my breaking news with Net-a-Porter. I peruse the site for a while, put things in the basket, and let some time pass before I hit “buy.” Hopefully by the time I go back, whatever I’ve picked out either is gone or I’ve gotten over it. At this point I won’t wear anything that isn’t comfortable. I’m 45 years old, I’ve got three kids, I’m married 17 years, and I just won’t be uncomfortable anymore. If I wear heels, you get 10 percent of me because I’m 90 percent distracted by how miserable I am.
9:30 A.M. My work with Good+ Foundation, which is dedicated to breaking the cycle of family poverty, is my full-time job, so I usually have meetings throughout the morning and afternoon. We work a lot with Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, and our newest partners are actually Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter, who I liken to the Wizard of Oz. At our inaugural meeting they offered to show me their distribution center, and I was like, “I would never peek under the curtain like that!” I don’t want to ruin the magic. It’s the same feeling I have about meeting famous people; I like to keep their aura and not ruin it by meeting them because you never know how it’s going to go.
12:00 P.M. I tend not to have sit-down lunches with people, but I’ll have a quick bite. I’ll go to Juice Press and get the cauliflower soup. I believe in the power of vegetables.
12:45 P.M. In the afternoon, I go to my test kitchen in the meatpacking district, where I worked on the recipes that are in my new book, Food Swings. I was raised eating really healthy, clean foods, so I want my family to eat really great, wholesome food. There are days when my kids say that what I’ve cooked is “weird,” and I’ll think that it would be so much easier to go get frozen dinners. Sometimes I relax, though. I love stopping at McDonald’s for fries. I compromise on those kinds of things because they’re fun. Ultimately I try to pick my battles but win the war.
9:00 P.M. When my kids are asleep, occasionally I’ll go out to dinner with friends. The other night I went to Le Coucou in SoHo with [designer] Adam Lippes and [philanthropist] Jamie Tisch. You have to get the roasted chicken there. I had the Dover sole with grapes and mushrooms, which is also amazing. The chocolate mousse is world famous. Okay, not world famous, but people know about it. I like that the restaurant is quiet. I’m too old to be shouting, and Jerry doesn’t do well in restaurants that are loud. I’ve been with him almost 19 years, so at this point I seek out restaurants that are ambient. Whenever we go out he uses a noise-meter app to check the sound level, and if it’s too loud we do a U-turn. We’re all so tired, who wants to yell? Jerry and I aren’t great about going out just the two of us, though. As annoying as this sounds, we just love being home with our kids. They are at this really cool age where we can have real conversations with them, and we have so many running jokes. My daughter, who is incredibly funny, has her learner’s permit right now, which is crazy. Jerry taught her to drive stick shift on our very old [Land Rover] Defender. It’s a beast. Every one of his cars has a history. He has one that we call “the Countess” because it was owned by this badass countess who drove it through Africa long ago.
10:00 P.M. Before bed I’ll pick up a novel. I’ve had to put Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad on pause for the moment because of how intense it is. Jerry is always like: “What happened?! Just tell me what happened!” It’s like describing a movie. On Friday night I love to stay home with my 11-year-old and watch The Flash. Sometimes when we’re switching channels and Seinfeld comes on, we’ll sit there for two to three minutes and have a laugh looking at Daddy and his clothes and his hair, but we don’t watch it all the way through. It makes Jerry uncomfortable.
Jessica's Must-Haves
From left, clockwise: “Narciso Rodriguez is one of my favorite designers and closest friends. He’s an architect for women.”; “Co has been the answer to a uniform for me.” Co dress, $795, net-a-porter.com; “Sometimes I take the kids to Shake Shack or McDonald’s. It’s important to compromise on junk food.”; “I’m a big proponent of cannibis-infused lotion, and I love Lord Jones.” Lord Jones Pain and Wellness Pure CBD Body Lotion, $50, lordjones.com; “Balenciaga sneakers are the best thing I’ve bought all year.” Balenciaga speed trainer, $565, 212-206-0872.
