my rituals: ann-marie espinoza of ann-marie loves

I’m not saying I have a unique blog necessarily, but I do find it hard to peg it to one category. Food? Yes. Fashion? Sometimes. Life musings? Occasionally. Pets? Oh yeah. It’s a varied assortment of everything that matters most to me, and that’s the same reason I fell in love with Ann-Marie Espinoza’s blog, Ann-Marie Loves, a curated collection of happy, honest things and thoughts. She writes about everything from working at home and thrifting to wedding planning and crafting, and runs an online paper products shop with charming stamps, prints and more.

The Pasadena-residing designer/stylist/crafter oozes that sunny California aura — she went to college in San Diego, too! — so of course I asked her to share her rituals. Today she tells us about the joys of getting up at 10 a.m. and the key ingredient to productivity.

Name: Ann-Marie Espinoza
Age: 27
Hometown: Simi Valley, CA
Current City: Pasadena, CA
Professional title: Designer / Crafter / Stylist

Thanks to my freelance lifestyle, my mornings are generally pretty open, so I wake up somewhere between 9-10 a.m. Once I’m awake, I immediately grab my phone and scroll through Instagram for a few minutes before getting up. Since I follow hundreds of inspiring people, Instagram always gets my creative juices flowing and propels me out of bed!

Breakfast is my absolute favorite meal of the day, so right after waking up, I make a bowl of oatmeal topped with berries + almonds, along with a piping hot cup of coffee, and sit on the couch for a half hour or so. I savor these quiet moments to myself by catching up on blogs, writing in my journal, or simply soaking up the morning sunshine that floods my living room.

Several times a week, I’ll walk over to one of my favorite local thrift shops and look around for anything new and exciting. Lately I’ve been on the hunt for interesting containers to grow my houseplants in, including wicker baskets, wooden bowls, and galvanized steel boxes. I never know what I’m going to find!

Over the past several years, I’ve realized that squeezing in a daily workout is KEY to my productivity and overall happiness. I am a huge fan of Zumba, yoga, biking, and going for long walks around town to run errands. It doesn’t matter how I get my exercise in, just so long as I get it in.

At the end of every day, I always take a few extra minutes to clean up my workspace and put everything back in it’s proper place. I find this particular ritual to be the most rewarding; not only do I go to sleep knowing that my office is clean and organized, but I get to wake up to a fresh space that’s ready for my next greatest project! It’s the gift that keeps on giving! ;)

Thanks for playing along, Ann-Marie! You can also follow her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.