DAY IN THE LIFE: The Woman Who Does It All Cathrene Tarukwasha does whatever it takes to make her clients' lives a little bit easier, offering time-saving solutions.

Home

6am Eyes wide open, mechanically drag myself to turn on the computer. I turn on the coffeepot en route to the bathroom. It's nice to have a small apartment!
6:15 Check CNN.com, what's happening in the world?
6.20 Check TMZ.com, what's the latest on Britney Spears? Heath Ledger is what?! Yes, I am addicted to all forms of gossip and am not ashamed of it.
7:15 I'm on my second cup of industrial-strength coffee from Parkson's waiting for emails to dump into my Outlook Explorer.

Clients

7:20 First email--one of my clients needs to know if there is a Montblanc store in Shanghai, and if so, "do they carry high-end jewelry?" Hmm... Montblanc... don't they just sell pens?
7:25 Thank Google! Apparently not! They carry pens and more and one of their largest stores in the world is at CITIC Square! Who knew? Copy down address, prepare invoice--that will be RMB150--and email everything back to client.
7:45 Second email-a client needs 20 Terracotta Warriors bought and shipped to Italy, so I will need to have my assistant find statue distributors in Shanghai, as well as from the main source in Shanxi and get quotes. We'll compare the quotes, including travel arrangements, insurance, etc. THEN we'll need to figure out what happens to the statues when they reach Italy. Too many details, I'll leave this for tomorrow morning.

To Do

8:00 Check appointments--easy day today. It's off to a showroom to check merchandise or a client, drop off a candle sample at a wedding client, check out a car dealership, go pick up money, buy kiddie swimwear and check out at least three Mandarin schools. It is on! On my way I'll pass through CITIC to see if Montblanc is still there. This is Shanghai, after all, the demolition and construction capital of the world!

Into the World

9:00 Out the door, praying for a taxi, almost forget my keys (again!)
9:05 Find a taxi and then it's off to the showroom.
9:15 Showroom salesmen insist on showing me every piece of equipment in their space and how to work it (the trainer is kind of cute, though).

Lunch

11:00 Appointments done, I check email again. I forgot about the 2pm appointment with a potential client. Text message comes in: "Lunch?" Sure, I have just enough time to grab lunch and gossip at Wagas on Huahai Lu before I head to Pudongland.
3:00pm Exhausted. Lunch made me sleepy and the meeting almost put me to sleep. Metro back to Puxi. I am literally under this man' s armpit which is not emitting a pleasant smell. Maybe soon I will be able to afford taxis, or my own driver. I tell myself to stop daydreaming.

Coffee

3:30 Coffee with my friend Phil at Boonna to swap the latest gossip and wax poetic about the many benefits of coffee (which is all he talks about).

Work out

4:00 Ambassy Club Gym for an hour of exercise. Well, to be honest, I just sit in the sauna for an hour and call that exercise! (It's exercise! I do Tai Chi every Sunday to tone up!)
5:00 Off to Xintiandi with a client to check out flower arrangements at Secret Garden for her wedding. It's nice to be surrounded by foreign nationalities (French, Russian, Chinese and me, Zimbabwean) and still use Chinese as the common language.

Girls' Night Out

7pm Home to shower and shave--it's girls' night out!
7:45 One more look at my inbox. An email from a client-he has found the creme-colored candles we were looking for.
8:00 Dinner at Des Lys on Xinle (they have the best homemade Molotovs!) with the girls. As usual the subject is boys boys boys, a predictable subject we never get tired of.
10:00 Off to Zapata's, then Laris. Yeah, we like to mix it up!

Home

1:00am Check email one last time to make sure there are no emergencies. I have one from an overseas client telling me the package arrived and my work is done.
1:15 Bed time and I will sleep well. It's been one looong day.

VERDICT

"People buy my time in order to save themselves time from doing otherwise mundane or time consuming jobs," explains Cathrene. So what are some of the weird things she's done? Aside from buying replica Terracotta Warriors, she's directed a Christmas play with Chinese actors, found a hypnotist, and filled a hundred balloons with candy and delivered them, too. You can find her at http://www.timesavers-shanghai.com. Got something to say about Cathrene's day? Tell us at www.cityweekend.com.cn/dayinthelifeSH.