I love my morning routine. Now that the kids are home from school, everything is getting shaken up, but, more or less, this is ideally how I like to start my day.
1.Wake up and read a chapter of a good book before getting out of bed.(Ok, this rarely happens, either we have to hurry to get ready or Will or Hugh are not going to wait for me to linger in bed!)
2. Make the bed or pull the covers down to air it out. I can't really decide between these. So I just do each sometimes. Making your bed is supposed to make you feel accomplished and organized and set you up to do the next productive thing. Plus the room just looks so much better, and I love crawling into a nice made up bed at night. But then I've read about the recent studies that say airing it out is healthier to reduce the dust mites. So I do that sometimes too.
3. Get dressed in something I feel good in. This is usually workout clothes though, so that I'm more likely to do that if I'm dressed for it. After working out I like to wear some real clothes though and lip gloss and do something with my hair. I just feel better about myself that way, even if I'm not going anywhere. In the spring and summer I like to wear skirts and sundresses best. Wish I had more of them!
4. Start the coffee, take my vitamins, and make breakfast.
5. Eat breakfast and have coffee on the back porch. The fresh air and nature really refreshes me. Swing Hugh. I've hung his swing from the porch roof right next to my chair. :) This is one of my favorite me times of my day. I usually read the news. I like The Skim email newsletters, and I read email, blogs, Facebook. There's never time to get through it all though.
6. Morning chores. I've been working on getting some clean up routines into my life. In the mornings I start my machines- washing machine and dishwasher. Sometimes I'll even do the whole house laundry hamper pick up. I start at one end of the house, tidy a room, and put things that go in other rooms into the hamper as I take it with me through the house. Getting these few chores tackled in the morning makes me feel more organized and sometimes leads to more organization and maybe even some more cleaning.
While I pick up I like to listen to podcasts.
My favorites lately:
Sorta awesome
This American Life
TED radio hour and TED talks
Invisibilia
All Songs Considered
I went through a phase of listening to Serial season 1 and all of the podcasts about it- undisclosed, slate serial spoiler special, serially obsessed, the serial serial, and truth and justice podcast
More podcasts I haven't listened to yet, but would like to try:
A slob comes clean
Inspired to action
The Moth
Criminal
The Chalene Show
Happier
How to do everything
7. Exercise. This makes me feel better physically and mentally. I notice the difference when I haven't kept it up.
Currently I've been going through dymatize transformed workout off of bodybuilding.com for weight training which I alternate days with bikini body mommy challenge workout videos on YouTube for cardio. I started these after finishing a postnatal program earlier this year. At the end of those workouts I love to do a short yoga video to cool down. I just finished 30 days of Yoga with Adrienne and doyouyoga 30 day yoga challenge off YouTube.
8. Shower and keep the laundry train going.
I'd love to include going for a walk in the morning too, but I'm terrified of poisonous snakes out here and I'm almost certain we'd run into one on the brushy dirt road here. We do go for walks in the cooler half of the year though, when the snakes aren't around.
As the weather's heating up I like to switch to a tall wonderful glass of iced coffee in the mornings. I use Pioneer Woman's coffee concentrate recipe below and keep that stocked in the fridge all summer.
.
Perfect Iced Coffee
- PREP TIME:
- 8 Hours
- DIFFICULTY:
- Easy
- SERVINGS:
- 24 Servings
- 1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
- 8 quarts Cold Water
- Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
- Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
- Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2%% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!
(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)
In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.
In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.
