Today I’m participating in the WordPress weekly photo challenge and this week’s theme is “good morning”. Well, I don’t know how things look like where you live, but it’s a beautiful morning here in San Diego! Sunny and cool when we got up, but it’s warming up quickly. It will be in the 80s most of the afternoon. It can be very hot in September and October (terrible for wildfires), so I’m enjoying this weather.
So what am I doing this morning? I took my home office to my local mom and pop coffee shop to spur my creativity and change my mindset. Here’s my workstation, where everything I need is in front of me, including my cup of tea. With the mandatory spill-proof lid to preserve my laptop and my phone. :-)
WordPress weekly photo challenge: Good Morning! Working at the coffee shop
I wanted to take a picture of the view from the window I’m sitting by but the sunlight is way too bright for my cell phone camera. So you’ll have to trust me when I tell you I’m looking at mostly poplar trees, with their leaves slowly turning to yellow.
So far it’s been a good morning for me. I’ve spent the first two hours working on a writing assignment for a client. Then another half hour sending out emails chasing payment for invoices. And now I’m rewarding my hard time by working on the next photo selections for my 2014 calendars. You can view my calendar themes here and the first calendar photo choices here.
I really enjoy working in this type of environment, as I seem to find “the flow” a lot more often than when I work at home. And they have great background music, so that’s a plus. I’m not the only one who seems to benefit from working in a coffee shop. I heard J.K Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book that way. If you work from home, do you sometimes take your work to a different location for a change? And if you work in an office, do you sometimes work from home or somewhere else to purposely break the routine?
Perfecting Motherhood 
The poplar trees sounds like a nice view. I go into an office in town 2-3 days a week for a few hours, then write in my office at home, and sometimes switch out to the couch in the living room when I’m tired of the office chair.
That’s a nice variety you get to enjoy for work! I hear you about getting tired of that office chair. I have yet to find a chair that’s actually pleasant to sit on for more than 10 minutes.
I’ll sometimes take my laptop to different locations in my house (like to my treadmill…), but I don’t work in coffee shops or other public places unless I’m waiting at an airport or something. I don’t think I’d have a problem working anywhere else, but I’ve just never felt the need.
Glad you had a productive morning. We’ve had wonderful weather here, too. Other than some brief rain yesterday and today, we’ve had some nice sunny skies. :)
Wow, enjoy the nice weather while it lasts! I watched The Ides of March not long ago (great movie by the way) that takes place in Columbus, OH, and all the outside shots were cloudy, of course.
Glad to hear you can find the flow in your own home office. I do sometimes, but mostly when working on personal projects I enjoy most. Not as much when I work on client assignments, when I tend to procrastinate more, but that’s what pays the bills so I’m glad I can find one way to get them done efficiently.
Living 30 minutes south of Cleveland, there seems to be plenty of sunshine my way. I couldn’t live in a place that was always cloudy. Of course, we don’t get the daily sunshine you do. I’ll never forget the week I spent in San Diego for a conference. Sunny and 75 every day. Gorgeous!
To be honest, it’s not always sunny in San Diego. We get the May Gray and June Gloom months, lots of clouds and marine layers hanging around for most of the day. That’s why I enjoy living more inland than by the shore, as most of the morning clouds burn off when it can be cloudy and cold by the beach the whole day for weeks. A lot of tourists can come here in May and June are quite surprised by this weather.
A perfect entry. Coffee at the start of day, my kind of morning too. Have a fun weekend!
I’m a tea drinker and there’s no better way to start the morning than with one of my favorite flavors, like Earl Grey.
Home is where my work is, so sometimes I go elsewhere to get away from it. :-) I’m also a tea drinker and I have a pot a day.
janet
Nothing better to keep you going that sipping tea the whole day!
Sounds like you got your day off to a good start.
I sure did! And now I don’t have to work this weekend and I have time to focus on my calendars. :-)
Good luck with your calendars! I don’t think we’ll be seeing 80 degrees around here for a long time, but hopefully I’ll be surprised. Your view of the poplar trees sounds like a perfect one. Usually when I’m writing at home, my view is of squirrels and chipmunks running around like crazy and sometimes they can be pretty distracting.
Trust me, when I see squirrels in my backyard, it’s very distracting as they’re usually eating the stuff I work hard to grow. I found out today that some damn squirrel ate all of my begonias in bloom!!! Flowers and stems included. There’s literally almost nothing left where the plants were. As I want to grow some flowers from now on, I need to pick some that are toxic to the squirrels, without being toxic to my kids and myself. Another challenge to add to my list, haha!
That’s funny – those begonias must be good – maybe I’ll try eating some!
Haha, they’re probably toxic! But knowing those squirrels can thrive on squirrel bait, I wouldn’t be surprised if they enjoyed any poisonous plant or flower.
Where will you take your coffee break? ;)
You know, I’m sitting at the same coffee shop today again, a week later, and I got all of my freelance writing projects since I got here. This is definitely working for me and I’m not enjoying sipping my tea any less.