Good morning! I hope your Monday is off to a good start.
I had a wonderful weekend at the beach with some of my favorite people.
We celebrated my friend Laurel’s birthday and had a great time catching up in the sun. We ate cupcakes and I also had my first chicken and waffles experience at Metro Diner (um, delicious)! They top the Belgian waffles with strawberry butter and mix a little hot sauce into the syrup, so it’s sweet and spicy.
Today
I have a bunch of early shifts on my work schedule this week, which is a bit of a bummer. I ended up falling asleep for two hours in the middle of the day yesterday and as someone who never naps, I was so happy I had a chance to catch up on some sleep. (To those of you who work the night shift or have little ones who need your attention at all hours of the night, I tip my hat to you!)
I am having a hard time falling asleep when I get into bed early at night and waking up at 4:20 a.m. leaves me feeling more than ready for a normal wake up time by the time the weekend rolls around. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a good night sleep and fall asleep right when I crawl under the covers tonight!
I arrived at the gym before 5 a.m. to open and worked through the morning. Now I have a super short break before it’s time to work again. I’m teaching a functional class today and spent some time creating an upbeat playlist and six quick, sweaty circuits last night. I hope the class likes it!
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning included a bowl of overnight oats that I prepped last night. I polished off the last of a container of freshly ground almond butter from Earth Origins yesterday and mixed the oats in the container to get the very last of the almond butter.
Topped with walnuts and shredded coconut!
I hope you have a great week!
Question of the Morning
- If you could create your own hours at work, what hours would you work?
- Have you ever had to regularly wake up ridiculously early for work or work the night shift? How did you handle it?
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I was a swimmer my whole life and early morning practices were a regular occurrence so I was MORE than ready to be done with those my senior year in college. Also, my first year in my professional career they needed someone to work 3rd shift and it was a huge adjustment. Yogi sleepy time tea became my best friend. It works! Trust me, just drink a cup at night before bed and you will be out!
I’ve never had to wake up before 6am for work. My boyfriend has had some early flights interstate lately for work though and he’s had to get up at the same time as you and I just admire him and you for being able to do it.
I would so struggle to get to sleep as I’m a bad sleeper at the best of times.
Im so jealous of that sunny beach weather you are having! It is still freezing here.
Mmmm…love those chicken and waffles!
If I could create my own work hours, I would work from 9-3:30. This way and I wouldn’t have to get up too early and I would get home early enough to still enjoy the day.
I get up much earlier than I would wish to – but it’s because I do pick my own hours to a degree. Most people in our office work M-F 8-4:30. I come in at 6:30 and leave at 4, but only work 6:30-10:30 on Fridays. Coming in early is so worth it to have my Friday afternoons off. During the school year I use the time to study, otherwise I run errands and take care of projects. It’s super!
11-5 would be nice because you wouldn’t have to get up to early, get a good run or workout in, relaxing breakfast and no rushing (that would be a pretty short workday though lol) Years ago I worked at a private hanger and sometimes had to be there for early flights, so would be up and out the door by 4 30 am. I lasted 2 months on that shift …. Yuck:(
I work 9-5 but if I know I’m not leaving the office for lunch that day, I can work 10-5. It’s so wonderful because my previous job had me being at work at 7 (and I’d still work until 5) but it was a 45 min. drive. I love that I can wake up and actually get things done before work or sleep in if I need to!
I’m sorry you haven’t been sleeping all too well! I have the sme problem whenever my sleeping schedule gets messed up, but I cna nap like a champ which usually helps me ward of the weariness of a long day. I’ve never tried chicken and waffles before, but I love sweet and salty combinations, so they look right up my alley!
I just tried overnight oats for the first time yesterday and I am loving them…which is saying a lot because I am not an oatmeal fan. I guess that I only like my oats cold! 😉
Those cupcakes look to die for!! What flavors were they?
they were delicious! triple chocolate, raspberry lemonade, strawberry shortcake, cookies ‘n’ cream, pineapple upside down cake and crème brulee! they were all from the blakley house in ocala and we ended up getting more from a cupcake place called cupcake girls in jacksonville. so delicious!
I don’t think I could wake up that early everyday! I am a morning person, but not quite that early hah. If I could choose, I would go with 7 or 8 am. You’re not up super early and you get home in the afternoon.
Sleep is so important – such a bummer you’re having a hard time getting to sleep! Lately, I’ve been getting up at 4:45AM (EEEK!) so I can get in a solid hour at the gym before work. It’s tough but I go to bed SUPER early so it’s working… for now.
I do prefer to work in the morning, but not THAT early. I’d love to wake up, get to the gym and then get to work around 8 or 9. That’s my schedule today so I guess that’s good but my schedule is pretty much different every day so I do understand the challenge. For my the issue usually comes down to dinner…when I work until 7:15 or 7:30, by the time I get home, I’m RAVENOUS and even if my dinner is mostly prepped, it still takes too long to get together. haha
I have to say even being from the south I have never had chicken and waffles. I have seen it numerous times – looks like something I’ll have to try sometime! I have had a hard time sleeping lately took, mostly because I just can’t shut my mind off!
I get up at 4 am too and have been having a hard time sleeping. The heat and my roommates liking to keep our house temp up certainly don’t help! Then there’s the fact that it takes longer to get dark out which I think is confusing my body and brain. Bah humbug 🙁 I feel your pain!
exactly! it feels so weird to go to bed when the sun is still out!
If I had to pick my own hours at work I would probably choose about 9 a.m. I am a morning person and I like getting my workouts done right when I wake up, but yet I don’t want to have to wake up before the sun to actually do it! Props to you in getting up so early, even when you just wake up to go to the gym.
Sleep well tonight!
Being a non napper myself I can totally feel your pain. I wish when I had early mornings / late nights I could snooze! My brain just does not shut off : ( I love my work hours right now, I work 7-3 and then hit the gym at 4. I eat at my desk so no lunch break needed!
The worst hours I’ve ever had to work was when I worked at Buffalo Wild Wings. They are open from 10AM – 2AM pretty regularly. I was in college at the time so on Saturdays or Sundays I was known to work from noon to 2AM. Then drive 30 minutes back to my campus and have an 8AM class… I just kind of dealt with it… I was also 20 at the time so I didn’t burn out quite as easy!
chicken and waffles?! i’ve heard of it, but not sure i can get down like that 😉 haha i’m usually a good sleeper, but my dog zoey was super itchy last night which kept me up. i actually went and got her a tshirt at 2:30 in the morning!
Those chicken and waffles look so good! Especially with the sweet and spicy strawberry butter.. Yum!
If I could pick any work shift, I would definitely choose three 12 hour day shifts! That would be a dream to then have four days off a week! 🙂
Oh yum – that chicken and waffles look delicious. Plus the beach. Perfect weekend!!
Oh my gosh those chicken n waffles!! I need to try these sometime! All through middle school and high school I had swimming practice in the morning and I had to be there by 530 in the morning. It took about 20-30 mins to get there so I would set my alarm for the last possible second for me to leave my house and drive sleepily to practice, sometimes I would get there and be like um how did I get here!
I used to have a really crazy work schedule working at a hospital. I worked 7pm-7am but I worked 7 days on then had 7 days off. So during the time I worked all I did was work and sleep! The days I didn’t get much rest were so hard on me that I made sure I got lots of sleep. I am a different person when I’m tired haha.
I’ve never had chicken and waffles before! It’s something I’ve always wanted to try though 🙂
When I used to work out in the evenings at a gym I loved the 7-5 schedule. I am a nanny so 10 hour days, 5 days per week is normal for me. Now that I run outdoors I like my 8:15/8:30 start time. It allows me to get up and run at 5 and have plenty of time to get ready and out the door by 8.
I do create my own hours for Health Coaching! I love working Mon-Thurs. Some days, evenings, some days mornings. I love the mix up! Mondays, I do evenings. Then Tuesdays I do morning through the afternoon. Wednesdays, I do mornings, and Thursday’s, I do evenings. This gives me a chance to work with people in different time zones, and also gives me flexibility in my own schedule! Plus, when you love your job it’s not hard to work 🙂 Are you still blogging as your full time job?
Mmmm now I want to make some strawberry butter! That looks so good. Man, I don’t know how well I would do with having to get up that early. My hubby has to get up at 4:00 everyday, but I don’t until 7. I think my perfect hours would be something like 10 or 11 am to 5pm 🙂
your OO always look so great, I want them for lunch now ahaha. there is a restaurant in cincy known for the chicken and waffles and I still need to go!
I would make my hours 10-2, lol. I used to have to work overnights when I first graduated and it was so hard to stay awake. It’s peaceful compared to working the day shift but I hated it. I like my sunshine too much to sleep all day!
you need to pull the sides of your bikini up a inch or or two. it will make you look less hippy
I used to have work shift work at the hospital, with a newborn!! I had to work at 5 am until 130pm I loved getting off early but wow does the morning come early when you get 3-4 hours of sleep. If I could pick my own hours, I would work 10-3 everyday!!!
When I worked on a construction site for three months, I had to get up at 5 am every morning. We worked 10 hour days and it was 1-1.5hrs to get to the site, so we wouldn’t get home until about 6pm, then off to bed by 9 to start all over again the next day.
These days, as a grad student, I do set my own hours. I lazily get in about 10am every morning. It really works for a night owl like me!
The worst shift I ever had to work was during freshman year in college when I worked at a restaurant. Because of what I was in school for, I was on campus from 8-5 Monday-Friday. I was also supporting myself 100% so I had to work pretty much everyday. My work schedule was 5:30pm – midight Monday-Thursday, 5:30pm-1:30 or 2:00am Friday. Double on Saturday meaning 9am-4pm then back on at 5pm-1am. Sunday I just worked the morning shift 9-4 so I had time to catch up on some homework that night.
It was the hardest year of my life but it definitely taught me a lot.
I love how those belgian waffles look! The addition of strawberry butter sounds unique and flavorful!
4:30am is pretty early to get up, but I don’t understand why you’re having such a hard time with it given how early you get up on non-work days to exercise. Isn’t it just a 30 minute difference (if that)?
I used to work at a youth residential treatment facility, and every other rotation was nights. I found it really tough – without a good 8 hours of sleep I’m not quite with it the next day. My body never knew when it should be sleeping or awake!
Looks like a fun weekend! I have never tried chicken and waffles but always wanted to…Seems like such an odd combination!
I’ve found that I’m more productive the earlier I get up.. But I have a really hard time getting out of bed if I don’t have an obligation such as work or travel or something that other people are counting on me for. For a while I had a job where I had to be to work at 5 AM every day of the work-week. But on the plus side, the latest I would get off would be 1, so I’d have the rest of the day! I’d definitely choose starting earlier.
My normal work hours as a lab tech are 0700 to 1515 days…and I do a stretch of 6-7 nights every month from 2300-0715. My ideal hours would be 0600-1415. I love to start early and get home early. Getting home at 330pm is ok, but earlier would be better. I do love my nights as a change of pace from working with so many people around (there’s just two of us on night shifts each night), but recovery is hard. I usually only have a day and a half off to turn around back to day shifts again.
One of my roommates works at a bakery/cafe, so she has lots of weird hours. On cafe days she has to be to work at 8, but on bakery days she has to be there at 5, which makes for a pretty big difference in wakeup calls! We were actually just talking about all of this yesterday (I had to get up at 4:30 this morning in order to get my run in before work–I normally run in the afternoon but it’s supposed to be STEAMY in Chicago this week, so I decided it was worth getting up to not die on my run) and we decided the ideal work schedule is college, where you can finagle things so that you never have to do anything before 11 and can be done with everything by 2 or 3. That’s pretty ideal in my mind! (Although I must say, as much as I miss college scheduling, I do not AT ALL miss the homework and studying that comes along with that kind of schedule. It’s a lot nicer to be able to leave work and have the rest of the day to do with as you want rather than leaving class and still having a billion hours of classwork to do until the semester ends).
I never used to nap until night shifts entered my life when I became a nurse. I used to feel guilty napping during the day….but now that I work both days/night shifts rotating, I give myself permission to nap and it’s ok. Plus I feel better. My optimal work schedule would be solely day shifts but right now I’m surviving a combo of days/nights.
I would definitely work from 8-1. I currently work from 7-3:30. I like being at work early and having the rest of the day/evening to do whatever I want! I don’t normally nap but it is glorious when I do! I, too, have a hard time falling asleep at night- I think that’s just my overactive brain!
Those cupcakes look amazing! I could eat one right now, even though it’s not even 11am yet.
I pretty much pick my own work hours (minus the number of hours worked, I have to work an 8.5 hour day) but I still get up really early. I wake up at 4:30am so that I can leave the house by 6am and get to the office by 7:30am (I have a very long commute). I work until 5pm and then get home around 6:30pm (I would like to leave earlier but I am a slave to the commuter bus schedule). I get to work so early so that I can leave early – although getting home at 6:30pm doesn’t seem very early… it’s better than 7:30pm. I guess if I could have the bus schedules cater to me, I would prefer to leave work at 4pm and get home around 5:30. I do work from home two days a week though so that is a big PLUS – I can sleep until 5:45am those days (because I still have to take my husband to work and drop off my son at daycare).
I’m not sure how I handle it because I still go to bed around 11pm and my son doesn’t sleep through the night yet so I am constantly up feeding him or dealing with him fussing. Can’t wait for a peaceful night!
I love chicken and waffles! So bad for you but soooooo good!
If I could create my own work hours I’d definitely start late and end early, but I don’t think any job would go for that! I have to be at work pretty early (for me), and I just go to bed at grandma time because I am a zombie monster without sleep!
Looks delicious!
I suck at waking up early in the morning! I hope you start to get some later shifts soon!
I don’t know how you wake up at 4:20. My fiancé used to wake up at 4 to get to work by 5 and I would never ever wake up to his alarm. Weirdest thing ever. BUT he would be home at 2!
If I could make my own hours I would work from 8-12 break 12-2 and work until 5:30! That’s what my brother does in Singapore and I think it’s perfect!
My body craves routine so if I have to wake up early or stay up late, I adjust my schedule slowly throughout the week in terms of my sleep schedule. Adequate sleep is very important to me to function or else I’m super crabby AND I crave LOTS AND LOTS of food.
Have a great week! Food looks great. You guys look great in your swimsuits!
If I had to create my own hours for a job it would probably be 3-10. I’m definitely a morning person and I love to lay out in the sun for a bit so this would be fitting for me! I had to wake up at 4:50 when I was student teaching so I could workout and have time to get ready. It took some adjusting but I realized I just had to get my ass in bed by 10 PM
If I had to create my own hours… Well I think I wouldn’t HAVE hours haha. I hate having a set schedule, although I’m not sure why since km usually naturally up earlier.
I tried chicken and waffles for the first time ever a couple months ago and i’m OBSESSED – it’s so good!!!
Julie, I actually work at my school (Georgia Tech’s) gym and when you’re low on seniority you always have to open at least once a week, meaning for an entire semester I had to get up at 4:15 and be there at 5:15 every Monday morning. Not to mention, I had class from 9am-5pm on Mondays, as well. Needless to say, it was ROUGH. I also had trouble getting to sleep early on Sunday nights, so I started taking melatonin to relax me and that really helped. I usually just took 1/2 1 mg pills and that did the trick!
When I work the morning show I have to get up at 230am!!! The worst part is I have to do my hair and makeup since I am going to be on tv… It never gets easier lol!! I like 8-4!!