5 Steps to Your Best Morning Ever

Get to bed early enough the night before! The best mornings start the night before. Try to plan for at least seven hours of sleep per night and plan your bedtime accordingly. I turn off all electronics 30 minutes before I want to be asleep just to allow plenty of time to get relaxed.

Practice getting up with your alarm. I'm reeeeally bad about pressing snooze three or four times before I actually get out of bed which probably annoys my roommate to no end (sorryyy Liv). But I've noticed that if I hop out of bed on the first buzz, I have more energy and motivation for the next couple hours. It definitely takes practice--I know I'm working on it myself!

Eat a healthy, rounded breakfast. Most importantly in my opinion, try to eat a good serving of protein in the form of lean sausage or peanut butter or greek yogurt. 

Do something difficult. This one's kind of crazy, but I'm serious! Researchers at the University of Nottingham found that our willpower is greatest in the morning. Think about what you could accomplish if you put that to good use! 

Start your morning with some stretches! I enjoy doing a couple yoga-inspired stretches in the morning to get my muscles warmed up for a long day. Keep reading for my 10-minute yoga routine to kickstart your day!

First off, make sure you have a high-quality mat. I absolutely love this beautiful mat from Optimistic Elephant. It's super high-quality and really thick. This is really helpful if you ever have wrist pain doing yoga, like I do. Plus, the beautiful design makes me happy and that's always helpful in making my morning better.

1. Start standing with your feet hip-width apart and reach above your head, leaning back.

2. Swoop forward and hold opposite elbows allowing your jaw to slack and your head to hang.

3. Walk your hands out to a plank position, keeping your body as straight as possible.

4. Keeping your elbows as close to your sides as you can, bend at the elbows and come down to the ground, or hover if you can to complete the chaturanga.

5. Swing your body forward into a cobra or upward facing dog pose, with your thighs on or off the ground, looking to the sky.

6. Come back into plank and slide back into child's pose. Feel free to bring arms around to your feet.

7. From plank, lift your hips into the air and come into downward dog, bending the legs one at a time for a stretch. Complete poses 3-7 as many times through as you'd like, flowing through at your own pace.

8. From down dog, lift on leg into the air, keeping a straight line through the body and hips in line.

9. Pull that leg forward and into your chest for a lunge.

10. Step forward with the other leg and stand straight.

Do you practice yoga? What does your morning routine look like?

This post was brought to you by Optimistic Elephant, an etsy store full of inspiring yoga mats and accessories. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Call Me Sassafras!

Weekly Goals #37

Helloooo! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fun, between the craft fair and shopping with friends, except for this crazy weather! It's been insanely windy + cool (think low 60s!) + we haven't had a good beach day in a week! Oh well. This week is pretty routine. Other than working, my only real plans are hanging out with the gal pals tonight, potentially dying my hair turquoise/purple (whaaaa?! just the tips!). 

What are your plans for the week? 

Last Week's Goals:

+ Exercise 120 minutes. Rocked this. As of Friday, I had only put in 40 minutes and got discouraged. But then I remembered that I still had three days to go! In the end, I finished the week with 135 minutes, mostly of walk/runs and conditioning. Yay!

+ Read for 30 minutes a day. I came fairly close to this one. It would have been a lot easier to get the reading in if I had had good beach days, but I just had to read inside most days. I finished Ender's Game and surprisingly, hated it. It was awful. Speaking of awful, I'm reading a Jon Sharpe western book (I think called Desert Death or something like that) and I just can't take it seriously. Also: too many sex scenes. 

This Week's Goals:

I want to do something a little different this week, maybe for the future as well. I'm going to separate my goals into categories (body, mind and blog) so that I make sure I'm working on different areas of myself. Hopefully this means my goals will be more interesting and varied!

+ Body Love: exercise 120 minutes and run the 5k race. My town hosts a Summerfest every year and I'm pretty sure I saw a sign somewhere that there's a 5k race? I probably won't be able to run it all, but that's okay. But, I'm giving myself permission to wuss out if it's expensive/conflicts with my schedule, since I'm not sure when it is.

+ Mind Love: find a new podcast to keep my mind going during the summer. My favorite podcast to listen to during walks is True Murder because it's like watching SVU while exercising, but it's not exactly the most mentally stimulating. Anyone know of a good science/easy French language podcast? 

+ Blog Love: comment on three blog posts every day. It's really low, I know. But I am so guilty of being that silent lurking blog reader. If you comment on my blog regularly, I probably read your blog. I am just awful about commenting. But, I will say. If you don't have disqus, I don't bother. Get that installed, yo.

What are your goals this week?

Weekly Goals #28

(Yay Images)

Hey hey hey nuggets! As we speak (aka I write, you read), I'm in a hotel room in sunny Denver, getting ready to leave for Breckenridge! I'm so excited to spend the week with H and friends skiing it up + being cute little snow bunnies! H would like to make it known though that he will never be a "cute little snow bunny," but I think we all know the truth. 

Even though I'm on vacation + not working this week, I think it's really important to focus on goals + living focused. So let's recap goals!

How did I do last week?

Pretty dang good, if I do say so myself! Starting on Monday, I forced myself to wake up at 5:20 (ughhh) before classes and do my Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred workout. Obviously, that's super early, but it's actually forcing me to go to bed earlier, which I love. And the workout (though I'm still on level one) is getting way easier than it was when I started. I consider myself in decent shape but I actually had to take a rest + modify some of the moves the first few times around (because I can't do pushups for a whole minute). But I'm proud of myself for making it a priority + working out four times this week even though I really, really didn't want to some days.

I also got completely ready for Breckenridge! I've got some great posts planned for you this week, some of which are guest posts from fabulous people and some of which are my own. I hope you really enjoy them! And I managed to pack all my stuff and get on my flight early Saturday morning. And I didn't forget anything except my sleep mask, which is totally fine because I'm always the person who forgets absolutely everything. Like on a recent trip, I forgot my iPhone in the car, my keys on the plane and then my toothbrush at home. So I'm doing alright! Go Allie.

What are my goals for this week?

Obviously, I'm on vacation so I'm taking it pretty easy this week. The one thing I will say is that I want to make sure to exercise this week. I will be skiing + I'm not sure how much that will wear me out though. So if I'm just exhausted on ski days, it's fine if I don't work out, but I'm still making it a goal to pay the fitness room at our lodge a few visits, even if it's just for a short jog. 

I'm also going to be reevaluating some things about my blog in the coming week, so be on the lookout for another survey coming up, even though I just had one in January. It's not out yet, but just a heads up. And again, it will include a giveaway (for something good!) so be sure to take part. Plus, I'll love you forever if you do. 

That's all lovebugs! Talk to me--what are your goals? Do you exercise on vacation?

Weekly Goals #26

Hey loves! I hope you had a fantastic, utterly stellar weekend! I had a pretty great one myself. Saturday, I woke up early, on my own (which is the greatest feeling ever) and got right to work. I've really grown into my Saturday morning routine (which I described in a recent productivity post) + I'm actually getting stuff done on the weekend! It's so lovely.

Saturday night, I went out with H on our quasi-Valentine's Day date. We made yummy pancakes, and he indulged me by making mine super underdone, just the way I like them. Then we headed off to a concert for some local bands. We had a great night!

Last week, in my weekly goals post, I really enjoyed sharing some of the things that made me laugh that week + a lot of you did too! Let's be honest, Monday's just need more laughter. Here's some more silly things to get you through today!

 

How did I do last week?

Last week was just crazy. Classes were pretty much insane and my computer just decided to be a douche on me, basically all week. Not cool. Point is, my wishes didn't go all that great + I'm just trying to make excuses. I made a goal to go running and ended up just going once. But ya know, I didn't specify how much sooo I was sort of successful? 

My goals for this week:

But I finally found a plan that I think should be good for me. I'm past a couch to 5K plan, but a 10K is a wee bit ambitious these days. In my previous/better running days, I was using Hal Higdon's 1/2 marathon plan. Obviously, that's not a good choice for me either, but I did find a couch to 8K plan that I'll use. Because I'm not training for any specific race, I'm definitely not exercising six days a week, because that's just unrealistic and I'll get frustrated with myself if I set the bar that high. My goal is to run two miles on Monday and two miles on Wednesday. I definitely hope to step that up in the coming weeks but, this week is pretty busy, plus from Thursday on, I'll be in Michigan and there's no way I'm running outside there. 

My second goal is to actually finish that nonprofit website, you know, the one I meant to finish like three weeks ago? To be fair, I don't actually have a deadline until the end of February, but I want to finish it as soon as possible. 

That's about it! What are your goals for the week?

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Weekly Goals #25

Heyyyy nuggets! Happy Monday. Yeah right. Actually, I had a pretty good weekend so I'm not too stressed going into Monday. On Thursday, my computer just decided to peace out on me + wouldn't turn on or cooperate with me. Let me tell you, I spend a whole lot of time on the computer and that was super stressful. I was panic-emailing all my clients telling them I'd be back as soon as possible + I'd try to make sure I didn't lose their designs and in general, trying to stay sane. Thankfully, all my clients are lovely + rational people + no one got mad at me :) On Saturday I got my computer up-and-running so I worked through the weekend to catch up on lost time. 

Despite all that, my weekend was really nice. I had a lovely date with H that involved watching SVU (fact: I'm actually addicted to watching SVU) + eating a whole lot of Qdoba. So duh, that was good. And that put together with the fact that I got some nice sleep + eno (hammock) time, I'm one happy girl! 

In my effort to keep things that way for the rest of today, I've decided to share some sort of funny things along with my weekly goals on Mondays. Guys, I'm telling you straight: the humor section on Pinterest = GOLD. I'll tell you a thousand more times; it's just beyond great. Please tell me someone else thinks this is as hilarious as I do: 

This is how I felt every. single. moment of the Superbowl.

Guys, I'm just sitting at home alone, laughing out loud. I feel like a weirdo.

Okay, let's be serious. Back to the actual point of this post now. Since it's Monday, it's time to set my goals for the week and recap how I did on my goals from last week. 

How did I do last week?

Last week, I made three goals: to continue writing posts ahead of time/stick to my editorial calendar, be at least 80% done with my drunk driving awareness campaign site for a local law firm + to continue practicing journaling. 

Number one? Booyah. I'm not as far ahead as I would like to be, but I'm currently about five posts ahead of schedule, which I have to say, feels AWESOME. I never really understood the point of writing ahead of time before I tried it, but I'll admit that I'm officially a believer. Now, whenever I'm in the mood to write, I'll sit down for a few hours and crank out 2-3 posts, just like that!

Goal number two (making progress on my charity site) was pas bon this week. I only finished two pages out of ten for the entire site. But I'm okay with that. My "due date" that I've made for myself is still more than a week away + with all my computer issues, my design time had to be focused on my more immediate clients. 

Goal number three was also a success! I'm really not a big fan of journaling, but I'm learning to like it. I journaled three times this week + I'm really proud of myself!

My goals for this week:

A few days ago, I shared my goals for all of February. The hardest of those goals for me will be to continue building a habit of running, so I'm going to focus on that this week. I really have a love-hate relationship with running. I hate the actual act of running, but I love the pride that comes with running further than I have before, the strength I feel in my body + the endorphins. This week, I'm going to run three times, even if it's a short, mini, 15 minute jog. Whatever gets me outside + moving.

I'm just gonna stick with that for the week! That'll be tough enough.

What are your goals for the week? Do you run (help!)?

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Catching My Eye.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVc-Z8yFYW8]

This week: I finished school (for the year)!♥celebrated the boy's sister's birthday with dinner & cheesecake♥started my half marathon training plan♥started my summer reading for European History♥went on many Roo runs!

Now, for the best of the interwebs.

♥Do cabins make you nostalgic and warm and fuzzy inside? If so, Cabin Porn has pages and pages of beautiful cozy cabins around the world.



♥Slightly profane, this gallery shows pretty much every hilarious post on tumblr.

♥This list of 100 best American movies needs to be somehow incorporated into my summer to-do list. I have to say, I'm quite proud that I have seen 13 of these movies--even if most of them were in my Film Studies class.

♥Carrie at Dream Green DIY make these awesome gold and neon DIY bookends out of rocks. Definitely a project I'd love to do! Only problem--bookends take up room that I need for more books. Tragic. #litworldproblems



♥Fun and semi-useful, this chart for better understanding your haters is both simple and resoundingly true.

♥As a girl who doesn't plan on having kids, this article about the life of childless adults showed me two sides of the issue I thought I knew well.

♥You May Have Missed: moving out: a tribute to a childhood home♥Cover it Up//An Anthropologie Playlist♥3 Awesome Tumblrs You Should Follow♥DIY Patterned Envelopes♥

 

Love, A.