Awhile back I reflected here on the blog about being addicted to technology and not making enough time to read, learn, and sit still. (Read that here.)

Since then I’ve been making an effort to focus more, read more, and study more, but I’ve gotten quite caught up in all the new studio preparations and am only just now getting settled back into a “normal” routine so I haven’t had much of an update to share.

Today I am finally ready to discuss a new little tradition that I’m completely in love with:

morning porch reading

Since I’ve been spending time perfecting my little porch garden this summer the natural idea was to get up early in the morning, make coffee, and read on our screened-in porch. For me, this has become the perfect way to wake up, and I would feel lucky to be able to keep this habit always. (Even if it means one day getting up suuuuper early before my children wake up…I imagine that’s the kind of thing you need to do to keep sanity during your motherhood years, right?)

So I sit outside and read, and enjoy the morning calm and my pretty flowers, sans computer and phone. And Ben usually joins me. And we both sit and read in the quiet, because no one is ready for conversation first thing in the morning, are they?

Now I just need to find a way to make a living from a magical combination of reading, writing, learning languages, traveling, and making headbands…I’m totally working on it!