April 21, 2015

Morning Rituals (with coffee, of course!)

Last summer, I wrote about my coffee habits.  They're still pretty much the same.  I have decided that I'm an Americano drinker and that lattes are fewer and farther between because sometimes they're just too sweet.  When Wayfair asked if I'd share my morning coffee ritual for their #CoffeeMyWay campaign, I was happy to revisit the topic. 

My mornings start inhumanely early.

First, we could talk about how a certain ginger-dog will wake me up at any time between 2am and 5am because he "needs" to go outside.  He just likes to go out and sniff around because he's bored in the middle of the night.

Second, my alarm goes off at 5am.  You see, I have to leave for work at 7am.  Half an hour of my morning time is usually eaten up by playing with the dogs and feeding them.  I feel bad for locking them up all day so I try to amuse them a bit in the mornings.
Another half hour would be me getting ready.

The hour portion of that 2 hour window would be me sipping coffee, eating breakfast, watching the news, and just relaxing before a busy day ahead.

I know it's strange, but I can't just get up and go in the morning.  I used to back when I was in high school and college, and even my first year of teaching.  But now I know that my days aren't really my own because I'm held to a pretty rigid schedule from 7am when I leave the house to 4:30pm when I get home from work.  I don't get a chance to relax or run errands or just be, so I've adapted to becoming a lark (a term from Gretchen Rubin's book) and getting up early so I can fit that time in.

We bought our Keurig in November of 2011 and I love it.  I couldn't see us ever going another way.  In fact, I'm not even sure how to use a regular coffee pot.  I never measure it out correctly. I don't pre-set the Keurig, but I fire it up as soon as I get out of bed.



My favorite mug is this Penn State one that I got around the time we bought the Keurig.  We had two but one broke in the dishwasher.  I care more about the structure of the mug (big, heavy ones are best) than what's actually on the mug. I own prettier ones, but this has been my favorite so far. Odd, right?

My preferred coffee these days is Dunkin Donuts K-cups. To be honest, the first thing I do after I add a tablespoon of Coldstone Sweet Cream creamer to my coffee is sit down at my laptop to see if there's an email from Scott.  Isn't that kind of sad?  But 'tis the life we live I guess.  Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't.  Regardless, I browse through this or that online or maybe read a chapter of a book while the local news plays in the background.  Checking the weather is a must for me. Then a certain ginger-pup starts whining and that means I need to feed the dogs and start getting ready.

Sometimes I think it's really odd that I've turned into a morning person because this is a recent development, just within the last 3 years.  Before that, I was a get-up-with-just-enough-time-to-get-out-the-door person.  However, I've realized it's now the most relaxing part of the day...here's a day in the life post from last fall.  It's pretty much the same now.

What's your morning ritual?  Where do you drink your coffee or tea?  ASAP in the a.m.?  Or do you wait until you get to work or school? At least once a week, I stop for another drink at Starbucks on the way to school.  

10 comments:

  1. My morning ritual is pretty much the same. I get up, let Emma outside, feed her, and then make tea and oatmeal for breakfast. That part never changes, I like it that way. :)

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  2. I'm an early riser too. I need that time between 5 and 6 for just me....to sip my coffee, follow up on all things social media, then shower and get ready around 6 and then get my son ready for school.

    I use the refillable pods on my Keurig to save $$$ and always usually stop somewhere too on my way to work for another caffeine beverage....coffee in cool months, iced tea in warm.

    I have an elderly pug who sleeps all the time so I bring him outside right before we leave.

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  3. I became a morning person too so I can have that "me" time I need. I complained over the weekend (we were busy) that I just wanted ONE DAY to sleep in. J's response was "You don't have to be at work until 11:30...you can sleep during the week if you'd let yourself." I don't though because otherwise my entire day would be work and nothing else. Plus, I'd have no time with Bailey, no time for blogging, and no time to clean my house. So 6AM it is.

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  4. I want to do this, give myself more time in the mornings, but sleep always seems to win! I know whenever I do get up earlier and have more time to leisurely eat breakfast, read, etc. I feel so much more relaxed even as I'm leaving for work and it just seems to make the whole day go better! I'm trying to push my wake up time back a little bit at a time and see if that helps!

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  5. You're better then me - I get up at 5:15 & have to be AT work at 7... & it takes me 40 minutes to get there. Needless to say, my coffee is drank as I'm RUSHING to work :)

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  6. I don't think it's sad at all.. I literally used to wake up and check my email/facebook (because KC and I would facebook message most of the time) when we were dating long distance.
    i am definitely a rush and go kind of person though I try and at least have half an hour of meandering about, making my smoothie and such.

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  7. I didn't think I would like our Keurig as much as I have been, but it's been so handy to make coffee really fast before work in the morning. I usually make a travel mug with just a little bit of half-and-half and Stevia and take it to work. I tend to only need about 45 minutes to get ready to leave in the mornings, so I definitely don't get up early enough to actually make coffee and drink it and read the news or whatever. I like sleep more than that!

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  8. I drink it when I get to work. Unless, of course, it's the weekend. Then I like to drink it outside and I definitely drink it first thing.

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  9. I am a huge morning person. I get up at 4:35 am each day, get my work out in, get a shower, create a blog post and read blogs as I sit coffee, play with my dogs then do my hair and leave for the day. Even on weekends when I don't have to be anywhere, I naturally wake up around 6am and like to sip coffee and read a book. Sweet cream is my favorite creamer flavor too!

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  10. I feel the same way about mornings. Or at least too when I was working. I gave myself about two hours to get ready, drink coffee, and relax before starting the day!

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