New Things to Try in 2011

With everyone kicking off the new year with resolutions and advice on how to improve this and fix that, I started to think about something that I'd like to improve - my mornings. I'm up at 6am everyday and have a 40 minute commute to work, and it's been getting harder and harder to wake up. Here are some things I'm going to try to make my mornings go a bit smoother and put me in a great mood for the day.

1.  Prepare for the next morning the night before. I can't tell you how many times I've run out the door later than I wanted because I was trying to find everything I needed for the day. After reading 10 Ways to Upgrade Your Morning Routine, I am definitely going to start doing a better job of getting everything ready at night so the next morning is smooth sailing.

2. Do push ups in the morning. Well, I'm going to try. There's no saying if this will actually stick or not. I tend to be really into stuff like this for about 2 weeks and then forget about it, so we'll see if we can't make this stick around for a while!

3. Drink more water. My boyfriend Kacey has been after me for years about this and I finally started getting better about hydrating this year. Even so, I know I'm not drinking enough water so I'd really like to get a giant water bottle, fill the whole thing up with water and some lemon slices, and sip on it all day.

4. Apply more face masks and scrubs. Apart from being fun and girly, there is a point to this one! I tend to be so sleepy when I wake up that I zone out in the shower and suddenly I have 10 less minutes to get ready. Yesterday I concocted a homemade face scrub from olive oil and brown sugar and applied it to my face in the shower. It kept my mind occupied so I wasn't blankly staring at the wall while I waited for my conditioner to rinse out, and I saved myself 10 minutes of wasted time.

5. Take vitamins daily. When I was living out in California I did this all the time, but I've been pretty lax about it recently. I'll take them if I remember, but honestly I'm not that good at remembering. I think I may start leaving the bottles out on the counter instead of in a cabinet, out of sight out of mind, right?

And if none of those work, I'll just dance around a bit!