Operation: Early Bird

For the most part, I enjoy getting up early in the morning. I think that started in college. I could get up, exercise, read, do any number of other things before the campus was buzzing. Even after working the residence hall desk until 2am, I'd still be out of bed by 5:30 or so. Of course, college was a prime napping time in my life, too. Strangely, as my commitments have increased and my time has grown more valuable, it's actually gotten more and more difficult to get up early. I want to change that.

That's where Operation: Early Bird comes in. Over the last month or so, I've managed to get myself out of bed pretty close to the 5:30 am alarm clock. Before, I was setting my alarm for 5:30 but I would hit the snooze button until 6:30. Not cool. To make the change, I started with a realistic wake up time (6:15, maybe) and used that for a week or so. Gradually, I bumped the alarm back in 15 minute increments until I was back to 5:30. As a side note, the change of seasons has probably helped...much easier to get out of bed when it's not a pitch black winter morning.

So, why am I doing this.? Well, there's a couple reasons:

1. Family Time: I'm fortunate enough to have a very flexible work schedule. The earlier I get to the office, the earlier I can leave (within reason). This translates into more family time in the afternoon.

2. Flex Time: I've been trying to go to most of our pregnancy-related appointments. If I get into the office early, I can make up this doctor time without too much hassle.

3. Art: Even with making up the time for the pregnancy appointments, I've got extra morning time. I could continue to come into the office early but I'm not sure I can get away with leaving at 3:30 in the afternoon.

My plan is to take that time and direct it towards artwork. I've broken out some of my art material. I'm starting with my Prismacolor Colored Pencils. I remember really enjoying them before and I was fairly adept at using them. I may venture into some gauche painting and/or artist markers but we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I noticed my colored pencils tout the fact that they feature a NEW Complete 90's Color Range. That tells me how long I've had these things. It also makes me wonder if I'm missing Blind Melon Green and Vanilla Ice Blue.


Today was my first art session and it went well. I did a quick sketch of this werewolf guy. It's decent. It also really looks a lot like this guy in my Bible study. Hmm.


Wish me luck.