My Morning Routine

I really love to read “day in the life” posts. It just fascinates me to learn how other people spend their days! I wrote my own a couple of years ago here, but clearly my day-to-day has drastically changed since that post was published. So, I decided to break up my current day in the life posts into My Morning Routine, My Afternoon Routine, and My Evening Routine in case you’re as curious as I am! My day naturally breaks up into those three chunks, but breaking it up also ensures that the posts won’t be too long and rambling (no promises, though!)!

It is, of course, impossible to write what I do every day…so I will write what I do on most days. (As well as what I strive to do every day, but sometimes fail to do!) Here we go!

7:15am | Alarm Goes Off

Every morning at 7:15am, my alarm sounds. (An actual old-fashioned alarm clock, not my phone–we don’t bring any technology into our bedroom!) My goal is to actually get out of bed between 7:15 and 7:30am, but that rarely happens because Riley and I stay up so late. Instead, Charley leaves his crate at the beeping of my alarm, jumps onto our bed, and the three of us cuddle until 8am or so. Those 45 minutes are so bittersweet…they are warm and cozy with my husband and puppy (what’s better than than?!), but they are also the expiration of my sleepy time. I have never been good at getting up, but I can stay up all night long!

8:00am | Get Out Of Bed & Make Breakfast

We are so blessed that we get to sleep in until about 8am every day, especially since we are both chronic night owls! On the days when I get up a few minutes before 8am, I turn on the shower for Riley (so that both the water and bathroom will be warm), and start making breakfast. If we get up at the same time, I go potty while Riley gets into the shower, and then I head into the kitchen.

I have gotten really good at pulling together breakfast quickly. While Riley showers, gets dressed, puts in his contacts, and makes our bed (which takes about 15 minutes total–he’s fast!), I set the table, pour some juice, pull out supplies to make iced coffee (cold brew, creamer, and vanilla syrup), and whip up something yummy and filling for breakfast. Riley’s a screenprinter, and he’s on his feet about half the day, so I always make sure he’s full before he leaves home.

Most days I make “dippy eggs” (eggs over easy) and buttered toast for him, but some days I mix it up. Yesterday I made him an egg scramble with onion, tomato, and cheese…a couple days before that I made him a breakfast sandwich. A lot of times, I’ll ask him what he’s in the mood for when we wake up. If not, though, I always fall back on dippy eggs and toast–they’re his favorite! (With a couple of tomato wedges on the side if I have a fresh tomato!)

During this time, I will start making and packing Riley’s lunch as well. When I open the refrigerator to grab breakfast ingredients, I’ll also pull out sandwich makings or dinner leftovers. I try to save time by getting out everything I need at once so that I’m not opening and closing the refrigerator and pantry dozens of times each.

Sometimes, I’ll make myself breakfast, too (usually whatever I made for Riley), but other times, I’ll wait until he leaves for work to eat. I typically need about an hour after I wake up to have an appetite!

(Sidenote: my daily blog posts go live at 8:00am; they are scheduled in advance, so I do not have to manually publish them each day. I though I’d mention it, though, since that does fall into this timeframe!)

8:15am | Finish Packing Lunch & Clean Up

Around 8:15am (or earlier, if I finish up sooner), I call Riley to breakfast and he begins to eat. If I made myself breakfast as well, I’ll sit down with him. If not, I’ll finish up packing his lunch, put away everything I pulled out (except whatever I plan on eating later), and clean up. This usually means unloading the dishwasher and reloading it as well as washing out the pan I used for breakfast and wiping down the countertops. If I finish this quickly, I’ll make a cup of tea or coffee and sit down with Riley while he eats.

8:30am | Walk Riley Out & Take Charley On a Walk

By 8:30am, Riley is always finished eating. While he brushes his teeth and puts on his shoes, I’ll put Charley’s collar on. The three of us (me still in my pajamas!) then head outside to Riley’s car. We always hug for a moment, give each other a quick kiss, and say goodbye for the day. Before he hops in his car to leave for work, Riley always loves on Charley, too! Charley and I then take a short walk around the block so that he can go potty and wake up as well.

8:45am | Breakfast & Time With Jesus

Once back inside, I’ll grab something to eat. (Something simple, like a cup of yogurt, a bowl of cereal, or an egg or two.) While I’m putting together breakfast, I’ll also double-check that Charley has food and water in his bowls. Then, my goal is to spend somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes (or more, of course) reading my Bible, journaling, and praying. I was really consistent with this for a while, but in the past few weeks, I’ve definitely slacked off. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I best connect with God through writing, but now that I’m writing quite a bit each day as my job, I don’t have the same desire to journal that I used to. Riley and I have been praying through this and asking God to reveal new ways to me that I can connect with the Lord.

9:15am | Get Showered, Dressed, & Ready

I shower every other day (and have for as long as I can remember!); I have extremely dry skin and hair, so there is really no reason for me to shower every day. If I work out or get dirty, I’ll shower, of course. Otherwise, it’s an every-other-day thing.

I have written a lot lately about getting ready for the day. Here’s a post with all of the products I use, here’s a post with videos of how I wash my face in the morning and how I apply my makeup, and finally, here’s a post about the importance of putting on “real clothes” even though I work from home.

Depending on whether I shower or not, and whether I need to do my hair (or if it’s still fixed from the day before), this can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour total. For the purposes of this post, I’ll assume that I’m showering and fixing my hair on this day.

10:15am | Re-Read & Broadcast Blog Post, Check Email

Now that I’m set for the day–dressed, centered, and with food in my belly, I get to work. As I mentioned in this post, I always re-read my blog post after it’s gone live. I rarely find a typo, but sometimes I’ll reword a sentence or two after reading it with fresh eyes and realizing that it’s unclear or confusing.

Then, I broadcast my post on my Blair Blogs Facebook page as well as on Instagram. (Sometimes, I’ll wait until later in the day for Instagram.)  My post automatically broadcasts to Twitter, and since I basically never use Twitter anymore, I just let the auto-broadcast do its thing.

After all of that is complete, I check my email inbox. I usually have a few things that require responses, so I tackle those right away. Anything that’s leftover (and requires more thought or time), I’ll flag to follow up in the afternoon. That way I can get right into writing while I’m still energized and fresh.

10:30am | Begin Writing a Blog Post

I’m not going to go into deep detail about my blog post writing process (I already thoroughly outlined it in this post), but I basically choose a topic, start to research (if necessary), upload photos, and begin writing. This will usually take me at least until the early afternoon, when I’ll take a break for lunch, before finishing up my post and proofing it. (I’ll outline that in my afternoon post!)

12:50pm | Prepare Lunch

I always eat lunch at 1:00pm (which I’ll explain in my afternoon post as well), so I always pull away from the computer and prepare lunch around 12:50pm.

 

That’s my morning routine! Of the three sections of my day (morning, afternoon, and evening), this routine is easily the most predictable and similar day-to-day. What does your morning look like?