1. Getting up early. Is there anything better than a nest on the couch with a big sweatshirt of Ben’s over my pajamas, a blanket from the storage ottoman, Wordle, and a steaming cup of coffee from the pot that wakes up 10 minutes before I do? I LOVE that little silent epoch before I exercise and start my day for real.
2. Using my elliptical as a standing desk when I WFH during preschool hours. I need to work on the lighting in the storage room where I stash my exercise equipment, but walking while I work is really fun and keeps me from doing housework while I am kid-free.
3. Using my portable waterproof speaker to listen to a book while I take a shower at night. I love listening to a book while I clean the kitchen after dinner, but this has become a luxury since Ben spends the time between dinner and bath doing the other half of the drop-off loop I do after school, plus hockey runs and carpools. Harry and Jack have stuff at night, too, so I need up cleaning up while loosely supervising Minnie, and I can’t wear headphones or get lost in a story. Listening in the shower is a great way to connect with whatever book I a in the middle of before I switch gears and hang out with the big kids before bed. This week, I adored The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (which was a DNF for me in print), and I just started The Covenant of Water, which is 31 hours long, so even at double time, I need to listen OFTEN because it’s due in a week!!
4. Grocery shopping online in front of my Google calendar. Will I ever go back to trolling the grocery aisles for our big weekly shop? I really can’t imagine it. I load a giant car at Metro Market (our Kroger-branded store) while having some wine and contemplating the onslaught of the next week from the comfort of my couch on Friday evenings (WE LIVE A WILD LIFE) and crowd sourcing ideas for dinners and lunch snacks from whichever children trickle through the room. I also fill a simultaneous Target cart for random household needs and popular food item that the grocery store is running low on. We pick this stuff up on Sunday mornings, typically, maybe Saturday, depending on what the weekend looks like, and I supplement as needed throughout the week from the cute local place where we buy wine and cheese, or the co-op where I find my favorite coffee, or Trader Joe’s if Minnie and I need a way to fill an afternoon. If we are super low on snacks, I also shop Costco via Instacart— that way my in-person, one-off Costco shopping is pleasant, not onerous with a billion flats that I am loading into my trunk.
5. Mixing colors and patters and dressing like the old academic I am.
Some videos from the week, just for fun:
I love love love getting up early! It's such a lovely part of my day, reading and drinking a zillion cups of coffee, before I start my yoga and exercise.
ReplyDeleteI listen to so many podcasts but never audiobooks. I always think maybe I should try them, but then I never do.
I have abandoned podcasts almost completely, but they were my usual listen a few years ago
DeleteI have a post in my draft folder all about current routines. My favourite is your cozy morning routine. IF ONLY I LIKED MORNINGS. But I love quiet time. I usually grab that at the end of the day not the start because my kids still wake up TOO EARLY FOR HUMAN BEINGS...
ReplyDeleteI am spent by the end of the day, so I gotta get it first thing.
DeleteYou are the cutest - love your multi patterned outfit. I need to make Getting Up Early a regular part of my days because I agree that it's magical. But... so is snuggling under the covers for an extra 15 minutes, and I have to make some hard choices.
ReplyDeleteI'm a morning person-- always have been
DeleteThat early morning oasis is my favorite! I loved Covenant of Water because there's an elephant in it and there were glimpses of places I'd grown up in. I think Verghese reads the whole 31 hours himself, right? How awesome!
ReplyDeletehe DOES read it and does all the accents-- it's a delight so far
DeleteI will give up a lot in my life to be the person who choose my own produce. I understand the convenience of grocery store pickup, I really do. But I also wouldn't have impulse purchased that lemon-lime Jarrito's if I wasn't in the store!
ReplyDeletesometimes the produce is bad, it's true.
DeleteAha! This is a partial answer to the question of how you read so many books- you listen to them in the shower. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to ask how early you have to get up to make all this happen... you snuggle on the couch while drinking coffee, do your workout, get all the kids off to school... I have a feeling this all starts much, much earlier than I want to get up!
I get up at 5:05 :)
DeleteSO MANY QUESTIONS. What are you WFH doing when you are ellipticaling? Trying to picture you balancing your laptop on the elliptical (and massively confused!).
ReplyDeleteAlso also - what speaker do you use in the shower? I would love to do this, but... no speaker.
Is your "cute local shop" Brennan's?
What coffee at the Coop?
Help me learn, please. :)
My chromebook or my iPad pro fit perfectly on the ledge of the machine-- my Macbook Air is too wide, so I can work on my computer and walk- it's pretty great. Yes, Brennan's!! I love JBC coffee and I think the co-op is the only place to get their beans ion the west side. I have this speaker: https://www.amazon.com/JBL-Clip-River-Teal-Noise-Cancelling/dp/B07Q8WH9TX/ref=asc_df_B07Q8YSRZ7/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=343276534709&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6857186839877319986&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018950&hvtargid=pla-751723686861&mcid=01cc589b1c8d3bc08b3026ec42d9e586&ref=&adgrpid=69379650672&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-62tBhDSARIsAO7twba8E96wCjZ6e3v-nnNPhZJGUyQjSWwgu1RLlnoP67k51u9flv5H214aAqiJEALw_wcB&th=1
DeleteI wondered if it was an iPad or Chromebook - thank you for reassuring me that you're not balancing your laptop on the elliptical. ;) And thanks for the local recs AND the speaker rec. Ponder, ponder.
DeleteThat dive is amazing! I also am a morning person, and cherish that bit of time with my tea and my wordle before yoga and walk and then work. Throwing kids into the mix appears complicated, though perhaps you can come home and shower after dropping them off, before going to teach?
ReplyDeleteI have a pretty morning routine but it does not include blankets and coffee. I usually go straight to working out before my brain registers what I am doing LOL it sounds delightful to just "be" for 10 minutes before the world wakes up.
ReplyDeleteLisa here. I have a speaker in my shower too for podcast listening! I wish I was morning of a morning person! A 5 am wake up is too early for me though!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDeletePlease read my post
ReplyDeleteI love my waterproof speaker for listening to podcasts/audiobooks while I shower. It actually is hard to transition to showering WITHOUT a podcast/audiobook when I'm on vacation with someone else, haha.
ReplyDeleteMy current morning routine is feeding the cats and then sitting on the couch for 30 minutes playing games while I wake up. I want to be more productive but dang, it's such a calm way to wake up, too!