Day 3: 5:43AM

Success...
I awoke and quickly grabbed the clock. 5:43 am!  For a moment, I was so excited by one single thought:
 
Mission accomplished! Morning person status achieved!  I awoke before the alarm!

Then I came to my senses and realized that it was probably the obnoxious, howling wind outside the window that interrupted my sleep, not some miraculous overnight transformation into a morning person.  I guess I have the weather to thank for my accomplishments today.

I felt unusually clear-minded this morning.  So clear minded that I skipped the quiet groggy stage all together.  I walked into my friend's living room (I'm still stuck in Kwig), plopped down on the couch, and got straight to work.

Yes, work.  I returned emails.  I organized documents.  I updated websites.  I researched.  I worked!


However...
As productive as that felt, it's still not exactly what I'm looking to gain from my mornings.  My dream of the perfect morning would look more like this: Wake up, turn on a small light. Read some news while drinking coffee.  Go for a run.  Do some Yoga.  Take a shower. Eat some breakfast.  Paint a painting.  Write a novel.

Ok, maybe not all on in one morning, and maybe not in that order.  But these are the sorts of relaxed, wholesome, still, quiet, calm ways I want to spend my mornings.  What I hadn't considered is that I travel so much for my job.  In the month of November, I was only at my own house for 12 days.  That means 18 nights were spent on peoples' couches, spare beds, or classroom floors.  That means that over half of my mornings are not even spent in my own space.

I really need to figure out what it will mean to be a morning person while traveling.  What will that look like?  What do I want out of my mornings when I wake up on a classroom floor in a sleeping bag surrounded by desks, completely unmotivated to get up?

Day 3: 6AM... sort of?

After a crappy, coughing night of sleep I woke up at 6AM to the sound of squabbling chickens. We introduced a new chicken to our coop last night after she was ostracized from our neighbor's flock down the street (Ostracized not Ostrich-Sized).

I went out and refilled their food and checked on the newbie who's name is 'Water' according to our neighbor's children. Water was tucked under the nesting box hiding from the other two. I shined a flashlight in on her and she just looked up at me with her pathetic, beady little eyes. Poor little chicken.

After working with the chickens for a bit I went back to bed but didn't fall asleep until about 7:45. I then proceeded to sleep until 10:30. Oops.

I'm not sure if I should count this as my sleep in day this week. Or if I have a valid excuse because I'm getting sick and I didn't sleep much. Vickie?

In any case, we are headed to Boston in about an hour. Paul had to set-up a separate makeshift coop for Water after she was attacked by the other two hens. Nasty, oppressive little creatures.

Day 2: 6:34 AM

Day 2 and I'm already sleeping in?  God, I'm weak!

Good morning from Kwigillingok, AK.

While traveling here, I happily accepted the opportunity to sleep at a friend's house rather than the school's library.  Fortunately for me, I also told these friends about the morning person project, which is why my sleeping in stopped at 6:34 with a timid knock on the door.

"Vicki?  Don't you need to wake up now?"

Accountability

Day 2:

• Tried to read the news.  Was depressed.
• Read the weather forecast.  Became more depressed.
• Settled for a cup of coffee and some good conversation with friends.

TIMING...SNOW WILL BEGIN TO FALL THIS AFTERNOON AND QUICKLY BECOME
BLIZZARD CONDITIONS. WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH AND SHIFT TO
THE NORTHWEST WEDNESDAY MORNING AS CONDITIONS IMPROVE.

IMPACTS...SNOWFALL COMBINED WITH STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW 
WILL PRODUCE WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS. TRAVEL WILL BE DANGEROUS. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS
AND POOR VISIBILITIES ARE LIKELY. THIS WILL LEAD TO WHITE-OUT
CONDITIONS...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. ALL TRAVEL AND
OUTDOOR ACTIVITY IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED.

It's quite possible that I could get stuck here in Kwig with this weather.

Day 2: 7:47AM

I'm tired and cranky. Getting up was difficult. I shouldn't have stayed up watching The Muppet Movie until 1AM. Also the red wine and gold fish didn't help.

I washed dishes and cleaned up the living room. Then I read the news online which made me mad. The news usually makes me mad.

My throat is scratchy and I feel like I'm getting sick and I'm thinking about taking a nap.

More later.


Later:

I stayed awake until 11AM and then... after eating scrambled eggs and watching the Daily Show online... I took a nap. I slept for an hour and missed yoga. But now I feel awesome! So awesome in fact that I think I'll go for a little run.

New things to try to avoid grumpy napping tomorrow:
- No alcohol or snacks after 9:30PM
- Be in bed by 11:30PM tonight

Gloria is not a morning person. She is a cat.

Paul's Complain-o-meter:

During Katie's 27 day odyssey of trying to not be miserable in morning I'm going to periodically offer a secondary perspective on her "progress". Included in each of these posts will be a rating of how much Katie complained that day on a scale of 1-10... the "complain-o-meter". 

In terms of Katie's grumpiness this morning I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary (as compared to other days when she tried to wake up early). There was a smattering of whining and pouting, some humble suggestions from yours truly were ignored and there was a nap.  I think I'll consider today the baseline and submit a "complain-o-meter" rating of 5 - moderate complaining.

6:01 AM

I'm awake.

Friends told me,

"you know, 

to be a morning person, 

you're going to have to start going to bed earlier."  

This morning, I learned that I have wise friends.  Perhaps 1:30am wasn't the best choice of bedtime for the eve of becoming a morning person.  Lesson learned.

Even so,  I am awake and it is 6:01 am.

Coffee.
Oatmeal.
Silence.

Some cleaning up and organizing.
Packed bags.

It's nice to start the week out feeling organized, what a nice calm before the storm.  Heading out to the airport now, let the week begin!

Day 1: 7:47AM

I did it. Woke-up before 8AM. (And actually, according to my internal clock which is still on Pacific time, 8AM is more like 5AM.) I'm pretty sure I was unusually cheerful this morning despite feeling a little nauseous and confused. What does one do this early in the day?

My first move was to put on polar fleece from head to toe. Then I made a perfect cup of black chai tea with agave and milk. Paul and I sat down and worked on our epic grocery list. And after I change into normal clothes we are going to Trader Joe's.

Notes:

- Waking to Bob Marley 'Stir It Up' helps me to feel wonderful upon wake-up.

- Going to Beer Table at 11PM last night and indulging in a gigantic beer does not make me feel wonderful upon wake-up.

Good Morning World.

We are Morning People

Hi.

Katie and Vickie are morning people. They just don't know it yet. Right now when morning rears its ugly head, they bury their's beneath blankets and pillows. However, the two are embarking on a transformative journey! Watch as they shed the cocoon of hibernation, stretch their butterfly wings and greet morning as a happy, bright time of opportunity and hope!

Join them on this 27-day adventure as they blog about their troubles and triumphs. Between November 28 and December 24, 2011 the two will challenge each other to wake-up and begin the day by a certain time. Read their profiles to learn more about the specific details.