I’ve come to really value “me time” over the past few years. Even though my kids are now all in school full time and I work from home in a quiet house, I still wake up early so I can get some quiet, creative me time in before the rest of the people in my house awake. My mornings absolutely depend on it. If I don’t get up a solid hour before my kids do and take care of myself first, the rest of my day seems to go to shambles. Quiet time to center myself each day is pertinent to my overall mood and happiness.

So, what does my morning “me time” look like? It’s a little different each day, but for the most part I follow the outline from my Miracle Morning schedule. I make time for stretching/yoga, affirmations, meditation, reading, journaling/planning and creative time. In addition, I make sure to eat something along with my morning coffee that doesn’t require a lot of effort, yet still tastes amazing and fits in with “me time”. …

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Have you all heard of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod? I first learned about this book when I began Bullet Journaling last year, but it took me this long to get on board, read the book and actually implement what I’ve learned.

About The Miracle Morning Based on the premise that how you start your day largely determines the quality of your day, your work, and your life, The Miracle Morning gives you the ultimate morning ritual and teaches night owls how to beat the snooze button, even if you’ve never been a morning person.

I’ve only been practicing The Miracle Morning for a few weeks now, so I’m no expert, but it really has been transformative for me. I’ve always been somewhat of a morning person, and have known for years that when I wake up before my kids, get ready and have some time to myself, my day is considerably better than when our morning routines coincide.

Over the past few weeks I’ve discovered some tools that have really helped me to succeed with my Miracle Mornings. I thought I’d share those tools with you, so if you try it, you’ll have an upper hand from the get go. But first, let me tell you what my personal Miracle Morning looks like:

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An alternate title for this post could easily be “I Hated Mornings But Now I Love Them”.

I love mornings… in fact, the early morning hours are easily my favorite time of day. It didn’t used to be this way…even as a child I never really slept in, but I was definitely not a rise and shine and have a smile on my face kind of kid. As an adult I would get up when my alarm went off, but grumble through my morning routine, wishing I could just crawl back under the covers.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m still not a happy, cheerful morning person (I prefer to speak to no one during the first couple hours of the day) but I love the quiet and stillness of the morning so much, it is worth it to me to get up and get my day started.

Have you wished you were a morning person? Here are 3 key things I’ve done to become a morning person… maybe they’ll help you too!…

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Before I had kids, back when I was working 60-70 hours a week trying to get ahead in my career, I would dream about being a stay at home mom. I would picture myself getting up early in the morning, catching up on the news each day by watching The Today Show, pouring myself a nice cup of hot tea and enjoying a nice leisurely morning with my baby.

Little did I know that once I began having kids, my mornings would look nothing like my dreams. Who knew that my alarm clock would no longer be needed as my bundles of joy would be up and wailing before the crack of dawn? Showers, if they were taken that day, would be with a baby bundled in a bouncy seat near by or a baby monitor in full view with flaring red lights indicating that my little one needed some attention. Oh and that fantasy about watching the Today Show and sipping hot tea? Has not happened one single time in my 8 years of parenting.

There are some mornings, like this morning, where I get a little taste of what that ideal morning would be like. All four kids get up and get ready without much intervention, we come downstairs and gather around the table ready to dive into the Cinnamon Swirl Bread I made the night before. I do get a cup of tea, but instead of listening to the news of the morning delivered by Matt Lauer, my news comes in the form of four little chatterboxes making me giggle at their views on life and the world. And that’s when it dawns on me…I would gladly trade my present reality for a million fantasies of my past.

This recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Yeast Bread features a McCormick Roasted Cinnamon Spice, which just so happens to be part of the spice prize package being given away over at Food on the Table. Head over there before December 7th to enter the giveaway and check out my guest post about my first cooking experience with Chicken Thighs! (Plus, I’ve shared an amazing recipe for Honey Spiced Chicken Thighs. So delicious!)

Have a perfect start to your morning by pairing this bread with a cup of homemade Peppermint Hot Chocolate!

Recipe: Cinnamon Swirl Yeast Bread (slightly adapted from the wonderful blog, Honey & Jam)

• 1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
• 2 cups warm milk (about 110 degrees)
• 7  cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 stick butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ tsp coarse salt
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and whisk to combine. Add the flour, butter, sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a big round. Sprinkle with cinnamon and knead and fold until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4. Make the filling. Combine sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl.

5. Generously butter two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans set aside.

6. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll each half out to a large rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans – about 10 inch. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle each with half of the filling.

7. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough in. the roll the dough towards you, gently pressing forming a tight log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loafs in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F.

Transfer pans to the oven. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 55 minutes. Turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

You will notice that my bread doesn’t have a any “swirl”. I failed to seal the edges of my bread completely and a lot of the filling came out into the loaf pan. The flavor was still there, but not much swirl. To see what the bread should look like with the beautiful cinnamon swirl, check out the photos at Honey & Jam.

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